^ 


iiAiOlliiiilil, 


)    \ 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT 

of 

Huntington  Library 


HISTORY   OF  EUROPE 


FROM    THE 


FALL  OF  NAPOLEON 

IN  MDCCCXV 


ACCESSION  OF  LOUIS  NAPOLEON 

IN  MDCCCLII 


SIR  ARCHIBALD  ALISON,  BART. 

Aathor  of  the  "  History  of  Europe  from  the  Commencement  of  the  French 
KoToIution,  in  1789,  to  the  Battle  of  Waterloo,"  &c.  &c. 


VOL.  L 


NEW    YORK: 

H  A  E  P  E  R    &    BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS, 

329    &    3  31     PEARL    STREET, 
FRANKLIN    SQUARE. 

1  8  7  5. 


PREFACE. 


During  a  period  of  peace  the  eras  of 
history  can  not  be  so  clearly  perceived  on 
a  first  and  superficial  glance  as  when  they 
are  marked  by  the  decisive  events  of  war  ; 
but  they  are  not  on  that  account  the  less 
obvious  when  their  respective  limits  have 
been  once  ascertained.  The  triumphs  of 
parties  in  the  Senate-House  or  the  Forum 
are  not,  in  general,  followed  by  the  same 
immediate  and  decisive  results  as  those  of 
armies  in  the  field  ;  and  their  consequen- 
ces are  often  not  fully  developed  for  several 
years  after  they  have  taken  place.  But 
they  are  equally  real  and  decisive.  The 
results  do  not  follow  with  less  certainty 
from  the  movements  which  have  pi'eceded 
them.  It  is  in  tracing  these  results,  and 
connecting  them  with  the  changes  in  leg- 
islation or  opinion  in  which  they  origina- 
ted, that  the  great  interest  and  utility  of 
the  history  of  pacific  periods  consist. 

The  periods  which  have  passed  over  dur- 
ing the  thirty-seven  years  of  European  na- 
tional peace — from  the  Fall  of  Napoleon, 
in  1815,  to  the  Accession  of  Louis  Napol- 
eon, in  1852 — are  not  so  vividly  marked  as 
those  which  occurred  during  the  wars  of 
the  French  Revolution,  but  they  have  a 
distinctness  of  their  own,  and  the  changes 
in  which  they  terminated  were  not  less 
important.  The  resumption  of  cash  pay- 
ments in  England  in  1819  was  not,  to 
outward  appearance,  so  striking  an  event 
as  the  battle  of  Austerlitz,  but  it  was  fol- 
lowed by  results  of  equal  permanent  im- 
portance. The  Reform  Bill  was  not  the 
cause  of  so  visible  a  change  in  human  af- 
fairs as  the  battle  of  Wagram,  but  it  was 
attended  with  consequences  equally  grave 
and  lasting.  Without  pretending  to  have 
discerned  with  perfect  accuracy,  as  yet, 
the  most  important  of  the  many  important 
events  which  have  signalized  this  memo- 
rable era,  it  may  be  stated  that  it  natu- 
rally divides  itself  into  five  periods. 

The  First,  commencing  with  the  entry 
of  the  Allies  into  Paris  after  the  fall  of 
Napoleon,  terminates  with  the  passing  of 
the  Currency  Act  of  1819  in  England,  and 
the  great  creation  of  peers  in  the  demo- 


cratic  interest  during  the  same  year  iii 
France.  The  effects  of  the  measures  pur- 
sued during  this  period  were  not  perceived 
at  the  time,  but  they  are  very  apparent 
now.  The  seeds  which  produced  such  de- 
cisive results  in  after  times  were  all  sown 
during  its  continuance.  It  forms  the  sub- 
ject of  the  first  volume,  now  submitted  to 
the  public. 

The  Second  Period  is  still  more  clearly 
marked  ;  for  it  begins  with  the  entire  es- 
tablishment of  a  Liberal  government  and 
system  of  administration  in  France  in 
1819,  and  ends  with  the  Revolution  M'hicli 
overthrew  Charles  X.  in  1830.  Foreign 
transactions  begin,  during  this  era,  to  be- 
come of  importance  ;  for  it  embraces  the 
revolutions  of  Spain,  Portugal,  Naples,  and 
Piedmont  in  1820  ;  the  rise  of  Greece  as 
an  independent  state  in  the  same  year, 
and  the  important  wars  of  Russia  with 
Turkey  and  Persia  in  1828  and  1829  ; 
and  the  vast  conquests  of  England  in  In- 
dia over  the  Goorkhas  and  Burmese  em- 
pire. This  period  will  be  embraced  in 
the  second  volume  of  this  history.  The 
topics  it  embraces  are  more  various  and 
exciting  than  those  in  the  first,  but  they 
are  not  more  important  :  they  are  the 
growth  which  followed  the  seeds  previ- 
ously sown.  England  and  France  were 
still  the  leaders  in  the  movement ;  the 
convulsions  of  the  world  were  but  the 
consequence  of  the  throes  in  them. 

The  Third  Period  commences  with  the 
great  debate  on  the  Reform  Bill — of  two 
years'  continuance — in  England  in  1831, 
and  ends  with  the  overthrow  of  the  Whig 
Ministry,  by  the  election  of  October,  1841. 
The  great  and  lasting  efiects  of  the  change 
in  the  Constitution  of  Great  Britain,  by  the 
passing  of  the  Reform  Act,  partially  devel- 
oped themselves  during  this  period  ;  and 
the  return  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  to  ])ower 
Avas  the  first  great  reaction  against  thorn 
During  the  same  time,  the  natural  efii^cls 
of  the  Revolution  in  France  ajjpeared  in 
the  government,  unavoidable  in  the  cir- 
cumstances, of  mingled  force  and  corrup- 
tion of  Louis  Philippe,  and  the  growth  of 


OO'""  1>  r:^^ 


ruE  r  A  c  K. 


tlis-coutoul  iu  llio  infVrior  classes  of  sooiely, 
liiMU  the  ilisajijioiutinont  olthoir  oxpecta- 
iions  as  to  tho  rosults  oflho  previous  con- 
vulsion. Foreign  ei)isoiles  of  surpassing 
interest  signalize  this  period  ;  for  it  con- 
;ains  the  heroic  ellort  of  the  Poles  to  re- 
store their  national  imlojienilence  in  1831  ; 
llie  revolt  of  Ibrahim  Pacha,  the  bombard- 
ment of  Acre,  and  the  narrow  escape  of 
Turkey  from  ruin  ;  our  invasion  of  Af- 
jihanistan.  and  subsequent  disaster  there. 
This  period,  so  rich  in  important  changes 
ami  interesting  events,  Mill  form  the  sub- 
ject of  the  third  volume. 

The  Tourth  Period,  commencing  with 
tiie  noble  constancy  in  adversity  displayed 
by  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  the  Enghsh  Gov- 
ernment in  18-12,  terminates  with  the  over- 
ilirow  of  Louis  Philippe,  and  consequent 
European  Eevolutions  in  February,  1848. 
It"  these  years  were  fraught  with  internal 
and  social  changes  of  the  very  highest 
moment  to  the  future  fortunes  of  Great 
Britain,  and  of  the  whole  civilized  Avorld, 
lliey  were  not  less  distinguished  by  the 
brilliancy  of  her  external  triumphs.  They 
v.itnessed  the  second  expedition  into  Af- 
ghanistan and  capture  of  Cabul;  the  con- 
clusion of  a  glorious  peace  with  China 
under  the  "walls  of  Nankin  ;  the  conquest 
of  Scinde,  and  desperate  passage  of  arms 
on  the  Sutlej.  Never  did  appear  in  such 
striking  colors  the  immense  superiority 
\\  hich  the  arms  of  civilization  had  ac- 
quired over  those  of  barbarism,  as  in  this 
brief  and  animating  period. 

The  Fifth  Period  commences  Avith  the 
overthrow  of  Louis  Philippe  in  Februa- 
ry, 1848,  and  terminates  with  the  seizure 
<.t' supreme  power  by  Louis  Napoleon  in 
i  >52.  It  is,  beyond  all  example,  rich  in 
external  and  internal  events  of  the  veiy 
highest  moment,  and  attended  by  lasting 
Consequences  in  every  part  of  the  world. 
It  witnessed  the  spread  of  revolution  over 
Germany  and  Italy,  and  the  desperate 
rnilitary  strife  to  M-hich  it  gave  rise  ;  the 
brief  but  memorable  campaign  in  Italy 
and  Hungary  ;  and  the  bloodless  suppres- 
sion of  revolution  in  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  by  the  patriotism  of  her  people 
and  the  firmness  of  her  government.  In- 
teresting, however,  as  these  events  were, 
they  yield  in  ultimate  importance  to  those 
Xvhich,  at  the  same  period,  were  in  prog- 
ress in  tiie  distant  parts  of  the  earth.  The 
rich  territories  of  the  Punjaub  were,  dur- 
ing it,  added  to  the  British  dominions  in 
India,  which  was  now  bounded  only  by 


the  Indus  and  the  Himalaya  snows.  Al 
the  same  time,  the  spirit  of  republicai; 
aggrandizement,  not  less  powerful  in  the 
New  than  in  the  Old  World,  impelled  the 
Anglo-Saxons  over  their  feeble  neighbors 
in  Mexico  :  Texas  was  overrun — Cali- 
rOUNiA  conquered — and  the  discovery  oi 
gold  mines,  of  vast  extent  and  surpassing 
riches,  hitherto  unknown  to  man,  changed 
the  fortunes  of  the  world.  The  simulta- 
neous discovery  of  mines  of  the  same  pre- 
cious metal  in  Australia  acted  as  a  mag- 
net, Avhich  attracted  the  stream  of  migra- 
tion and  civilization,  for  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  mankind,  to  the  Eastern 
World ;  and  now,  while  half  a  million 
Europeans  annually  land  in  Amerif.i, 
and  double  the  already  marvelous  rale  of 
Transatlantic  increase,  a  hundred  thou- 
sand Anglo-Saxons  yearly  migrate  to  Aus- 
tralia, and  lay  the  foundations  of  a  sec- 
ond England  and  another  Europe,  in  the 
vast  seats  provided  there  for  their  recep- 
tion. 

Events  so  wonderful,  and  succeeding 
one  another  w-ith  such  rapidity,  must  im- 
press upon  the  most  inconsiderate  ohserver 
the  belief  of  a  great  change  going  forward 
in  human  aflairs,  of  which  we  are  the 
unconscious  instruments.      That  change 

is   THE   SECOND    DISPERSION    OF    MANKIND  ; 

the  spread  of  civilization,  the  extension  of 
Christianity,  over  the  hitherto  desert  and 
unpeopled  parts  of  the  earth.  It  is  hard 
to  say  whether  the  passions  of  civilization, 
the  discoveries  of  science,  or  the  treasures 
of  the  wilderness  have  acted  most  power- 
fully in  working  out  this  great  change. 
The  first  develo])ed  the  energy  in  the 
breast  of  civilized  man,  which  rendered 
him  capable  of  great  achievements,  and 
inspired  him  with  passions  which  prompt- 
ed him  to  seek  a  -wider  and  more  unlet- 
tered situation  for  their  gratification  than 
the  Old  "World  could  afford.  The  second, 
in  the  discoveries  of  steam,  furnished  him 
with  the  means  of  reaching  with  facility 
the  most  distant  parts  of  the  earth,  and 
armed  him  with  powers  which  rendered 
barbarous  nations  powerless  to  repel  his 
advance  ;  the  third  presented  irresistible 
attractions,  at  the  same  time,  in  the  most 
remote  parts  of  the  earth,  which  overcame 
the  attachments  of  home  and  the  indo- 
lence of  aged  civilization,  and  sent  forth 
the 'hardy  emigrant,  a  willing  adventur- 
er, to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  golden  lot- 
tery of  distant  lands.  No  such  power- 
ful causes,  producing  the  dispersion  of  the 


r  R  E  F  A  C  E. 


species,  have  come  into  operation  since 
mankind  were  originally  separated  on  the 
Assyrian  plains  ;  and  it  took  place  from 
an  attempt,  springing  from  the  pride  and 
ambition  of  man,  as  vain  as  the  building 
the  Tower  of  Babel. 

That  attempt  was  the  endeavor  to  es- 
tablish social  felicity,  and  insure  the  for- 
tunes of  the  species,  by  the  mere  sjiread 
of  knowledge,  and  the  establishment  of 

emocratic  institutions,  irrespective  of  the 
moral  training  of  the  people.  As  this 
project  was  based  on  the  pride  of  intellect, 
and  rested  on  the  doctrine  of  human  per- 
fectibility, so  it  met  with  the  same  result 
as  the  attempt,  by  a  tower  raised  by  hu- 
man hands,  to  reach  the  heavens.  Car- 
ried into  execution  by  fallible  agents,  it 
was  met  and  thwarted  by  their  usual 
passions  ;  and  the  selfishness  and  grasping 
desires  of  men  led  to  a  scene  of  discord 
and  confusion  unparalleled  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  world.  But  it  terminated 
in  the  same  result  in  Europe  as  in  Asia  : 
the  building  of  the  political  tower  of  Babel 
in  France  was  attended  by  consequences 
identical  with  those  which  had  followed 
the  construction  of  its  predecessor  on  the 
plains  of  Shinar.  The  dispersion  of  man- 
kind followed,  in  both  cases,  the  vain  at- 
tempt ;  and  after,  and  through  the  agen- 
cy of  a  protracted  period  of  suffering,  men 
in  surpassing  multitudes  found  themselves 
settled  in  new  habitations,  and  forever 
severed  from  the  land  of  their  birth,  from 
the  consequences  of  the  visionary  projects 
in  which  they  had  been  engaged. 

Views  of  this  kind  must,  in  the.  present 
aspect  of  human  affairs,  force  themselves 
upon  the  most  inconsiderate  mind  ;  and 
they  tend  at  once  to  unfold  the  designs  of 
Providence,  now  so  manifest  in  the  direc- 
tion of  human  affairs,  and  to  reconcile  us 
to  much  which  might  lead  to  desponding 
views  if  we  confined  our  survey  to  the 
fortunes  of  pai'ticular  states.  An  examin- 
ation of  the  social  and  political  condition 
of  the  principal  European  monarchies, 
particularly  France  and  England,  at  this 
time,  and  a  retrospect  of  the  changes  they 
have  undergone  during  the  last  thirty 
years,  must  probably  lead  every  impartial 

iierson  to  the  conclusion  that  the  period 
of  their  greatest  national   eminence  has 

passed,  and  that  the  passions  by  which 
they  are  now  animated  are  those  which 

(end  to  shorten  their  existence.  But  we 
thall  cease  to  regard  this  inevitable  change 

I'.ilh  melancholy,  when  we   reflect  that. 


from  the  eflect  of  these  very  passions,  the 
British  family  is  rapidly  increasing  in  dis' 
tant  hemispheres,  and  that  the  human 
race  is  deriving  fresh  life  and  vigor,  and 
spreading  over  the  wilds  of  nature,  from 
the  causes  which  portend  its  decline  in  it.« 
former  habitations. 

As  the  history  of  a  period  fraught  with 
such  momentous  changes,  and  distinguish- 
ed by  such  ceaseless  and  rapid  progress, 
as  that  Avhich  is  undertaken  in  this  Avork, 
of  necessity  brings  the  author  in  contact 
with  all  the  great  questions,  social  and 
political,  which  have  agitated  society  dur 
ing  its  continuance,  he  has  deemed  it  es- 
sential invariably  to  follow  out  the  two 
rules  which  were  observed  in  his  former 
publication.  These  were,  to  give  inva- 
riably at  the  end  of  every  paragraph  the 
authorities,  by  volume  and  page,  on  which 
it  is  founded  ;  and  never  to  introduce  a 
great  question  without  giving  as  copious 
an  abstract  as  the  limits  of  the  work  will 
admit,  of  the  facts  and  arguments  brought 
forward  on  both  sides.  The  latter,  espe- 
cially, seemed  to  be  peculiarly  called  foi 
in  a  work  which  is  more  occupied  with 
social  and  political  than  with  military 
changes,  and  which  is  occupied  with  a 
period  when  the  victories  were  won  in  the 
Forum  or  the  Senate-House,  not  the  field. 
The  author  has  made  no  attempt  to  dis- 
guise his  own  opinions  on  every  subject  ; 
but  he  has  not  exerted  himself  the  less 
anxiously  to  give,  with  all  the  force  and 
clearness  in  his  power,  those  which  are 
adverse  to  it  ;  and  he  should  regret  to 
think  that  the  reader  could  find  in  any 
other  publication  a  more  forcible  abstract 
of  the  arguments  in  favor  of  Parliament- 
ary Reform,  a  Contracted  Currency  found- 
ed on  the  retention  of  gold,  or  Free  Trade 
in  corn  and  shipping,  than  are  to  be  met 
with  in  this. 

In  making  this  abstract,  he  has  adopted 
two  rules,  which  seemed  essential  to  the 
combining  a  faithful  record  of  opposite 
opinions  with  the  interest  and  limits  nec- 
essary in  a  work  of  general  history.  The 
first  is  to  give  o?ie  argument  only  on  each 
side,  and  not  attempt  to  give  separate  ab- 
stracts of  the  speeches  of  difierent  men. 
Felicitous  or  eloquent  expressions  are  oc- 
casionally preserved  ;  but,  in  general,  the 
argument  given  is  rather  an  abridgment 
of  the  best  parts  of"  the  arguments  of  many 
difierent  speakers  than  a  transcript  of  the 
oration  of  any  one.  That  this  is  neces- 
sarv,  must  be  obvious,  from  ihe  considcr<» 


i'REFACE. 


Uon  that  the  author  is  often  called  on  to 
give  tho  marrow  ot"  an  arijuinent  in  three 
or  lour  nages,  which  is  oxpeniled  over 
s<.nJU'  huuilroils  of  Hansard  or  the  Mo/ii- 
tfur  ;  and  it  is  surprising;  how  ellectually, 
where  the  attoiupt  is  made  in  sincerity 
and  pood  faith,  it  proves  successful.  The 
second  is,  when  a  subject  has  been  once 
uitKuluced,  and  the  opposite  arfrumeuts 
fully  given,  to  dismiss  it  afterward  with  a 
mere  statement  of  the  fate  it  met  Mith,  or 
the  division  on  it  in  the  Legislature.  As 
the  same  subject  was  constantly  debated 
in  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  both  in 
France  and  England,  for  many  consecu- 
tive years,  any  attempt  to  give  an  account 
of  each  year's  debate  would  both  lead  to 
tedious  repetition  and  extend  the  work  to 
an  immoderate  length. 

For  a  similar  reason,  although  the  His- 
icry  is  a  general  one  of  the  whole  Euro- 
pean states,  yet  no  attempt  has  been  made 
to  bring  forward,  abreast  in  every  year, 
the  annals  of  each  particular  state.  On 
the  contrary,  the  transactions  of  difTer- 
ont  countries  are  taken  up  together,  and 
brought  down  separately,  in  one  or  more 
chapters,  through  several  consecutive 
years.  Thus  the  first  volume  is  chiefly 
occupied  with  the  internal  annals  of 
France  and  England,  from  1815  to  1820, 
when  all  the  great  changes  which  after- 
ward took  place  were  prepared  ;  the  sec- 
ond, besides  the  annals  of  France  and  En- 
gland, with  the  foreign  wars  or  revolutions 
of  Russia,  Spain,  and  Italy,  or  the  distant 
conquests  of  the  English  in  India  during 
the  next  ten  years.  In  no  other  way  is 
it  possible  to  enable  the  reader  to  form  a 
clear  idea  of  the  succession  of  events  in 
eojch  particular  state,  or  take  that  interest 
in  its  fortunes  which  is  indispensable  to 
Eu^cess  or  utility,  not  less  in  the  narrative 


of  real  ihan  in  the  conception  of  imagvo 
ary  events. 

One  very  interesting- subject  is  treated 
of  at  considerable  length  in  these  volumes, 
which  could  not,  from  the  pressure  of  war- 
like events,  be  introduced  at  equal  length 
into  the  author's  former  work.  This  is 
an  account  of  Literature,  Manners,  the 
Arts,  and  social  changes  in  the  principal 
European  states  during  the  period  it  em- 
braces. An  entire  chapter  on  this  sub- 
ject, regarding  Great  Britain,  has  been  in- 
troduced into  the  first  volume  ;  similar 
ones  relating  to  literature  and  the  arts  in 
France,  Germany,  and  Italy,  will  succeed 
in  those  w'hich  follow.  This  plan  has 
been  adopted  from  more  than  an  anxious 
desire — strong  as  that  motive  is — to  re- 
lieve the  reader's  mind,  and  present  sub- 
jects of  study  more  generally  interesting 
than  the  weightier  matters  of  social  and 
political  change.  During  pacific  periods, 
it  is  in  the  literature,  which  interests  the 
public  mind,  that  we  are  to  find  the  true 
seat  of  the  power  which  directs  it ;  and  if 
we  would  discover  the  real  rulers  of  man- 
kind, we  shall  find  them  rather  in  their 
philosophers  and  literary  men  than  either 
their  statesmen  or  their  generals.  The 
only  difierence  is,  that  it  is  a  posthumous 
dominion,  in  general,  which  the  author 
obtains :  his  reign  does  not  begin  till  he 
himself  is  mouldering  in  the  grave. 

By  steadily  following  out  the  rule  of  dis- 
missing every  subject  of  political  debate 
when  it  has  once  been  fully  laid  before  the 
reader,  the  author  has  no  doubt  of  his 
being  able  to  comprise  the  history  of  the 
whole  period  in  five  volumes.  The  last 
volume  will  be  accompanied  by  a  copious 
Index.  A.  Alison. 

Fossil  House,  Lanarkshire,  ) 
October  8,  1853.  J 


CONTENTS    OF    VOL.   I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SlMtRAI,  SICETCH  OF  THE  WHOLE  PERIOD  FROM 
THE  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON  TO  THE  ACCESSION  OF 
LOUIS  NAPOLEON. 

Resume  of  the  War  just  concluded.  —  The  second 
Drama  was  one  springing  out  of  Social  Passions. — 
Causes  which  rendered  it  so  Violent.  —  Govern- 
ments now  aimed  at  Peace,  and  the  People  clam- 
ored for  War. — Causes  in  France  which  predis- 
posed to  the  Revolution  of  1830.  —  Causes  which 
made  England  share  in  the  Convulsion. — Great 
^  effects  of  the  Revolution  in  both  Countries. — Po- 
litical Alliance  between  France  and  England 
which  followed  this  Change.  —  Effects  of  the 
Change  upon  the  Colonial  Empire  of  England. — 
Still  greater  Results  of  the  Free-trade  Policy  of 
England. — Vast  Extension  of  the  United  States 
of  America. — Vast  Increase  of  Russia  during  the 
same  Period. — Continued  Increase  of  Russia  from 
the  Revolutions  of  1830  and  1848. — Simultaneous 
Conquests  of  the  English  in  India,  and  their  Origin 
in  necessity. — Their  great  Frequency  and  Extent. 
— Revolution  of  1848  in  Paris. — Causes  of  the  Fall 
of  Louis  Philippe. — Calamitous  effects  of  the  Rev- 
olution of  1848  in  Europe. — Extreme  Violence  of 
the  Revolution  in  Germany.  —  Successful  stand 
against  the  revolutionary  Spirit  in  England  and 
France. — Restoration  of  military  Power  in  Aus- 
tria.— Restoration  of  military  Despotism  in  Prance 
by  Louis  Napoleon. — Great  Increase  of  external 
Dangers  from  the  Effects  of  the  Revolution  of  1848. 
—  Disastrous  Effects  of  this  Revolution  on  the 
Cause  of  Freedom. — Dangers  of  Great  Britain  in 
particular. — Causes  which  have  rendered  the  Con- 
dition of  Great  Britain  so  precarious. — Extraor- 
dinary Change  in  the  national  Mind  in  this  re- 
spect.—  Dangers  springing  from  the  Free-trade 
System. — Dangers  arising  from  the  Change  in  our 
foreign  Policy. — Gold  Mines  of  California  and  Aus- 
tralia.— Tendency  to  undue  Influence  of  Wealth 
in  the  later  stages  of  Society. — Way  in  which  this 
is  brought  about.  —  Influence  of  Contraction  and 
Expansion  of  the  Currency  on  Rome,  and  on  Eu- 
rope in  the  sixteenth  Century.  —  Vast  effects  of 
the  Expansion  of  the  Currency  during  the  War. — 
Great  Distress  over  the  World  from  the  Contraction 
of  the  Currency  since  the  Peace. — Amount  of  that 
Contraction. — Hopeless  prospects  of  Industry  in 
■'  Great  Britain. — Vast  effect  of  the  Discovery  of  the 
CalifornianGold. — What  if  California  had  not  been 
discovered  ? — Vast  blessings  which  its  Discovei-y 
has  introduced. — Immense  Ell'oct  of  the  applica- 
tion of  Steam  to  mechanical  Labor  and  Import- 
ance of  its  being  inapplicable  to  Agriculture. — 
Proof  of  this  from  statistical  Considerations.  — 
What  if  the  Case  had  been  otherwise?  —  Influ- 
ence of  this  Law  on  the  Fate  of  particular  Nations. 
— Great  clfcct  upon  the  Fortunes  of  the  Species. 
— P]fl'ect  of  general  Education  on  general  Morality. 
— Proof  of  this  from  various  Countries. — Reasons 
of  this  peculiarity  in  human  Nature.  —  General 
Power  of  Thought  over  Mankind.  —  Great  conse- 
quent Influence  of  Mind  on  human  Affairs. — Ease 
with  which  the  Press  may  be  perverted  to  the 
purposes  of  Despotism. — Great  effect  of  the  dis- 
covery of  Steam  and  Electric  communication. — In- 
creased corresponding  Activity  in  the  principles 
which  counteract  Evil. — Way  in  which  this  was 


brought  about. — General  longing  after  repreoen 
tative  Institutions. — Doubts  which  their  geners.1 
Failure  has  excited  among  Men. — Effect  of  repre- 
sentative Institutions  in  Britain.  —  Its  eflPects  its 
America. — Rise  of  Divisions  andPassions  of  Race. 
— Great  error  in  supposing  national  Character  de- 
pends on  Institutions. — V/ars  of  Races  are  tho 
great  passion  of  Eastern  Europe. — Doubts  as  ta 
the  wisdom  of  representative  Institutions. — Real 
Character,  good  and  evil,  of  representative  Insti 
tutions.  —  Great  effect  of  the  Social  Passions  of 
Europe  in  propelling  its  Inhabitants  to  the  New 
World  and  of  the  discovery  of  the  Gold  Mines 
of  California  and  Australia. — What  if  the  Case 
had  been  otherwise?  —  Increasing  Influence  of 
Russian  Conquest.  —  Migratory  propensities  of 
Men  in  the  youth  of  Civilization. — Corresponding 
moving  propensities  in  the  maturity  of  Civiliza 
tion. — Necessity  of  republican  Institutions  to  Colo- 
nial Settlements.  —  Adaptation  of  the  Sclavonic 
and  Anglo-Saxon  Character  to  the  parts  assigned 
them  in  their  Progress. — Destiny  of  the  raceof 
Japhet  in  reference  to  Christianity.— Increasing 
influence  of  Religion  in  Europe. — Differences  of 
the  era  of  this  Histoi-y  and  that  of  the  Last. 

CHAPTER  IL 

HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND   FROM   THE  PEACE   OF   PARIS, 
IN  1815,  TO  THE  END  OF  THE  YEAR  1816. 

Commanding  Position  of  Great  Britain  at  the  close 
of  the  War.— Statistical  Pacts  proving  the  general 
Prosperity  of  the  State. — Warm  and  general  An- 
ticipations of  general  Prosperity  on  the  Peace. — 
Universal  disappointment  of  these  Hopes,  and 
general  Distress.  —  Beginning  of  the  Distress 
among  the  export  Merchants. — Its  spread  to  the 
Agriculturists.  —  Severe  scarcity  of  1816.  —  Dis- 
tress among  the  Manufacturers,  and  Causes  to 
which  it  was  owing. — This  general  suffering  was 
not  owing  to  the  transition  from  Vv^ar  to  Peace. 
— Diminished  supply  of  the  precious  Metals  from 
South  America.  —  Simultaneous  and  rapid  Con- 
traction of  the  Paper  Currency  of  Great  Britain. 
— Important  Discussions  on  the  Property  Tax  and 
other  topics. — Argument  against  the  Property  Tax 
by  the  Opposition.  —  It  was  specilically  a  War 
Tax. — Not  necessary  as  a  general  measure  of  Fi- 
nance.— Argument  on  the  other  side  by  the  Min- 
istry.— No  breach  of  Faith  in  its  continuance.— 
The  Petitions  for  its  repeal  not  unanimous. — Ne- 
cessity for  its  Continuance. — Abolition  of  the  Tax. 
—Reflections  on  this  Subject.  — Vital  Consider- 
ations on  the  Cluestion,  which  were  overlooked  at 
this  Time.  —  Remission  of  the  War  Malt  Tax.— 
Reduced  Estimates  formed  by  Government.— Ar- 
gument for  a  Reduction  of  Expenditure  by  the 
Opposition. — Argument  on  the  other  side  by  Min- 
isters.—  Establishments  ultimately  voted.  —  De- 
bates on  Agricultural  Distress. — Argument  of  the 
Opposition  on  the  subject.  —  Argument  on  ilia 
other  side  by  the  Ministry.— Measures  of  Gov- 
ernment in  regard  to  the  restriction  of  cash  Pay- 
ments and  a  Loan  from  the  Bank.— Argument  of 
tho  Opposition  against  the  continuance  of  tho 
Bank  Restriction  Act.— Answer  of  the  Ministry. 
-Reflections  on  this  Subject.— Extraordinary  In- 
sensibility to  right  Conclusions  which  then  pro- 
vailed. — General  errors  on  the  Subject  which  llieu 


pr«v»iK>il.— C<M)ioliilnliiiii  of  tlio  Eiii;lish  nntl  Irish 
fcxiliiviuera.— Uofloctions  on  this  Siilijoct— Mo- 
lion  ri»(>«>itiii«  tho  Holy  AUinnco  by  Mr.  15io\ii;h- 
am.  —  Hill  lor  the  di-tontioii  of  Nnpoloon.  —  Mar- 
riai;i>  of  tho  I'riiiccss  Clmrlotte  of  NVnIos.— Votes 
for  public  Monumonts. — Mominionts  to  Sir  T.  I'ic- 
Ion  Biiil  others. —  lirants  to  tho  Ollicers  niui  Men 
employed  in  iho  War. — New  Coinage. — Uellec- 
tions  on  tho  preeeding  parliamentary  Narrative. 
—  KtForts  of  tho  factious  to  stir  up  Sedition. — Spa- 
licld  Uiots.  — Expedition  to  Aljriers.  — Outrages 
which  led  to  it.— Description  of  Algiers.  —  Lord 
Kxiuouth's  Preparations  for  nn  Attack. — The  man- 
ning and  liltins;  out  of  the  Fleet.  — Departure  of 
the' Fleet  andA'ovaLrc  to  Algiers.— Preparations 
oftheAlgerines.— Arrival  of  the  Fleet  off  Algiers. 
-Commencement  of  the  Battle. — Continuance  of 
tho  Action,  and  Positions  taken  by  the  Ships. — 
Destruction  of  tho  Enemy's  Ships  and  Flotilla. — 
The  Fleet  moves  out  of  the  Bay. — Results  of  the 
Battle,  and  killed  and  wounded.— The  Algoriues 
subuli^  and  Peace  is  concluded. — Honors  bestow- 
ed on  Lord  Exmouth  and  the  Fleet. — Reflections 
on  this  Battle,  ami  the  commencement  of  the  as- 
cendant of  Christianity  over  Mobammedauisni. — 
Progressive  ascendant  of  Christianity  over  Mo- 
hammedanism. 

CHAPTER  ni. 

HISTORY  OF  FR.\SCE  mOM  THE  SECOND  HESTOR.V- 
TICS  OK  LOLIS  XVIII.  TO  THE  OUDI.NANCES  OF 
SEPTEMBER  7,  1816. 

Extraordinary  DiflBculties  of  the  Government  of 
France  after  the  Battle  of  Waterloo. — Difliculties 
arising  from  the  changeable  disposition  of  the 
French  People. — Important  effects  this  produced 
in  1815,  and  Causes  of  the  violence  of  Opinion. — 
Unbounded  Humiliation  and  Sufferings  of  France 
at  this  time. — Which  occasions  a  universal  Re- 
action against  Napoleon  and  bis  adherents. — Dif- 
licalties"which  these  feelings  threw  in  the  way 
of  the  new  Government.  —  Difficulties  of  Louis 
XVIII.  in  the  choice  of  his  Ministers. — Talley- 
rand and  Fouche  are  appointed  to  the  Ministry. 
— Formation  of  the  Ministrj',  and  Retirement  of 
Chateaubriand.  —  The  King's  Proclamation  from 
Cambray. — His  entry  into  Paris. — Violence  of  the 
Royalists,  and  diflBculties  of  Louis. — Difficulty  in 
reff'ard  to  the  Convocation  of  the  Chambers,  and 
Debates  on  it.  —  The  King  issues  an  Ordinance, 
changing  the  mode  of  Elections,  of  his  own  au- 
thority.—  Royal  Ordinance,  changing  the  Modes 
and  Rules  of  Election.  —  Disunion  between  the 
King  and  the  Duke  d'Angouleme  and  Count  d'Ar- 
tois  as  to  the  Prefects. — The  Freedom  of  the  Press 
is  restored  in  all  but  the  Jounials.  —  Reasons 
which  rendered  the  Punishment  of  the  leading 
Napoleonists  necessary. — Lists  of  Persons  to  be 
accused,  prepared  by  Fouche,  and  sanctioned  bj- 
a  royal  Ordinance.  —  Ordinances  regarding  the 
Chamber  of  Peers. — The  Peerage  is  declared  he- 
reditary. —  Arrival  of  the  allied  Sovereigns  in 
Paris. — Army  of  the  Loire.  —  Its  Submission. — 
Disbanding  of  the  Army  of  the  Loire. — Reorgan- 
ization of  the  Army  into  departmental  Legions. 
— Breaking  up  of  the  Museum. — Desperate  state 
of  the  Finances. — Settlements  of  the  allied  Troops 
in  France,  and  their  Exactions. — Reaction  in  the 
South.  —  Massacre  at  Marseilles.  —  Departure  of 
Marshal  Brune  for  Paris.  —  He  is  murdered  at 
Avignon.  —  Further  Massacres  in  the  South. — 
Atrocities  at  Is'imes  and  the  surrounding  Countrj'. 
— Persecution  of  the  Protestants  by  the  Roman 
Catholics. — Temper  of  France  during  the  Elec- 
tions.— Their  ultra- Royalist  character. — Dismissal 
of  Fouche  from  the  Ministry. — Fall  of  Fouche,  and 
his  Death. — Fall  of  Talleyrand,  and  his  Ministry. 
— Ministry  of  the  Duke  de  Richelieu. — Life  of  the 
Duke  de  Richelieu. — His  Character. — Biography 
ofM.  Decazes.  —  DiflBculties  of  the  Negotiations 
nilL  ibe  allied  Powers. — Exorbitant  Demands  of 


CONTENTS. 


Austria  and  the  lesser  Powers. — Treaty  of  Pans 
— Convention  of  iiOth  November,  between  the  al- 
lied Powers,  for  Exclusion  of  Napoleon  and  hia 
Family  from  the  Throne  of  Franco.  —  The  Holy 
Alliance,  and  Causes  which  led  to  it. — Terms  of 
the  Holy  Alliance. — Treaties  regarding  tne  Ionian 
Isles,  a  Russian  Subsiiiy,  and  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte.—  Rellcctions  on  these  Treaties. — Violent 
Temper  and  Disposition  of  the  Chamber  of  Dcp 
uties. — Composition  and  Parties  in  the  Chambers 

—  The  extreme  Royalists  and  their  Leaders.^ 
The  Provincial  Deputies.  —  The  Opposition  and 
its  Leaders.  —  Composition  of  the  Chamber  of 
Peers. — Opening  of  the  Chamber,  and  Speech  of 
the  King. — Manner  in  which  the  Speech  was  re- 
ceived by  the  Chamber.  —  Ditliculties  at  taking 
the  Oath  of  Fidelitj-. — Answer  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies.  —  Law  against  seditious  Cries.  —  Law 
suspending  individual  Liberty. — Discussion  on  it 
in  the  Chambers. — Vehement  Discussion  on  the 
Law  against  seditious  Cries. — Law  establishing 
Courts-martial  for  political  Offenses.  —  Proposal 
for  rendering  the  inferior  Judges  removable  dur- 
ing a  Year. — Discussion  on  the  Acts  in  the  Peers. 
— Answer  of  M.  de  Fontanes  and  M.  de  Brissac. 
— Argument  against  the  Law  on  seditious  Cries. 
— Speech  of  Chateaubriand  on  the  Subject. — Re- 
flections on  the  Deaths  of  Ney  and  Labedoyere. 
— External  Influences  exerted  against  the  Gov- 
ernment—  Considerations  which  weighed  with 
the  Court. — Measures  of  the  Government  to  give 
the  accused  Persons  the  means  of  Escape. — 
Treachery  of  Colonel  Labedoyere. — His  Arrest. — 
His  Trial  and  Condemnation. — His  Death. — Trial 
of  Marshal  Ney. — His  treacherous  Conduct. — His 
Departure  from  Paris,  and  Arrest  at  Bossonis. — 
His  Trial  before  the  Chamber  of  Peers. — His  De- 
fense and  Condemnation. — Appeal  to  the  Capitu- 
lation of  Paris. — He  is  found  guilty,  and  sentenced 
to  Death. — His  Death  determined  on  by  the  King. 

—  His  Execution.  —  Reflections  on  this  Event, 
and  on  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  share  in  the 
Transaction.  —  Trial  of  Lavalette.  —  The  King's 
pardon  is  applied  for  in  vain. — He  escapes  by  the 
aid  of  his  Wife,  and  in  her  Dress.  —  Sir  Robert 
Wilson,  Mr.  Hutchinson,  and  Mr.  Bruce  enable 
him  to  escape.  —  Mode  in  vi-hich  they  effect  his 
Escape,  and  their  Trial.  —  Adventures  of  Murat 
after  the  Battle  of  Waterloo. — He  embarks,  and 
lands  in  Corsica. — His  arrival  at  Ajaccio,  and  de- 
scent on  Naples. — The  King  lands. — Where  he 
fails,  and  is  arrested. — He  is  condemned  by  a 
Court-martial. — His  Death. — Reflections  on  this 
Event. — Death  of  Monton-Duvemet  and  General 
Chartraud. — A  general  Amnesty,  ■which  is  cold- 
ly received  by  the  Chamber. — Modifications  with 
which  it  is  passed  into  a  Law. — Proposals  for  a 
new  Law  of  Elections. — M.  Vaublanc's  Argrament 
in  favor  of  the  ministerial  Project  on  the  Elec- 
tions.— Project  of  the  Royalists. — The  Project  of 
the  Rojalists  is  carried  in  the  Deputies  and  re- 
jected in  the  Peers. — The  Budget. — Ministerial 
Plan  on  the  Subject. — Proposition  of  the  Chamber 
regarding  the  Clergj-. — Argument  in  favor  of  aa 
Endowment  of  the  Church. — Answer  of  the  Min- 
istei's,  and  their  counter  Project. — Argument  of 
M.  Bonald  against  the  Law  of  Divorce. — Changes 
in  the  Administration. — Conspiracy  of  the  Liberal 
Party. — Outbreak,  headed  by  Didier,  at  Grenoble. 
— Exaggerations  of  General  Donnadieu,  and  need- 
less Severities. — Conspiracy  in  Paris. — Conspira- 
cy at  Lyons.  —  Preparations  of  the  Government 
fur  a  Change  in  the  Electoral  Law,  and  its  difti 
ciilties. — Speech  of  M.  Decazes  in  favor  of  a  Covp 
dElat.  —  Adoption  of  these  Principles  _  by  the 
King,  and  Preparations  for  carrying  them  into  Ex- 
ecut-ion. — Ordinance  of  Sept.  5,  1816. — Consterna- 
tion of  the  ultra- Royalists,  and  Dismissal  of  Cha- 
teaubriand.—Great  effects  of  this  Ordinance. — 
The  whole  Chambers  were  elected  bj-  royal  Ordi- 
nance.—  Reflections  on  the  Reaction  of  1815, 
which  was  forced  by  the  Nation  on  the  Govern 


C  0  N  T  E  N  T  S. 


IS 


inent. — Tho  greatest  Iniquities  of  the  Period  were 
committed  by  Juries. — Expedience  of  abolishing 
entirely  the  Punishment  of  Death  in  purely  polit- 
ical Otienaes. — Banishment  is  its  proper  Punish- 
ment. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

rOMESTIC  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND,  FROM  THE  COM- 
MENCEMENT OF  1817  TO  THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  BANK 
RESTRICTION  ACT  IN  1819.    . 

Vicissitudes  and  ceaseless  Chain  of  Events  in  hu- 
man AflFairs. — Exempliticatious  of  this  Vicissitude 
in  the  History  of  Prance  and  England  after  the 
H-evolution. — Consoling  Features  even  in  the  Ruin 
of  the  Old  ^Vorld.  —  Fundamental  Cause  vphich 
has  led  to  Disaster  in  France.— What  has  done  so 
in  England.— The  mercantile  Aristocracy  pursue 
Measures  for  their  peculiar  Interests. — Which,  in 
Ignorance,  are  supported  by  the  operative  Man- 
ufacturers.—  Reason  of  this  frequent  Disappoint- 
ment of  general  Wishes. — Continued  Distress  and 
Discontent  in  the  Country. — Plan  fomied  of  a  gen- 
eral Insurrection.  —  Meeting  of  Parliament,  and 
Attack  on  the  Prince-Regent. — Report  of  the  Se- 
cret Committee  in  both  Houses. — Suspension  of 
the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  and  passing  of  the  Sedi- 
tious Meetings  Act. — Measures  of  Government  to 
suppress  the  Insurrection,  which  breaks  out  at 
Derby. — Extension  of  the  Suspension  of  the  Ha- 
beas Corpus  Act. — B.estoration  of  Confidence  and 
improved  Prospects  toward  the  close  of  the  Year. 
— Finance  Accounts  of  1817,  compared  with  1816. 
—  Mr.  Peel's  Irish  Insurrection  Act.  —  Trial  by 
Jury  in  civil  Causes  in  Scotland. — Its  entire  Fail- 
ure.—  Acquittal  of  Watson  and  Hone.  —  Reflec- 
tions on  this  Subject. — Error  at  that  Period  in  the 
English  Law. — Good  effects  of  the  Suspension  of 
the  Habeas  Corpus  Act. — Motion  of  Mr.  Brough- 
am regarding  the  Trade  and  Manufactures  of  the 
Country. — Establishment  of  Savings  Banks,  and 
diminished  severity  of  Punishment  in  criminal 
Cases. — Return  of  Mr.  Canning  from  Lisbon,  and 
Death  of  Mr.  Ponsonby  and  Mr.  Horner. — Mr.  Hor- 
ner's Life  and  Character. — His  Character  as  an 
Orator  and  political  Philosopher.  —  Death  of  the 
Princess  Charlotte. — Universal  Grief  of  the  Nation 
at  this  Event. — Improved  Condition  of  the  Coun- 
try in  the  end  of  1817  and  Spring  of  1818. — Cause 
of  this  increased  Prosperity. — Steps  of  the  Bank 
toward  Cash  Payments.  —  Argument  for  the  re- 
sumption of  Cash  Payments  by  the  Opposition. — ■ 
Answer  by  the  Ministers. — Bill  of  Indemnity  for 
Persons  seized  under  the  Suspension  of  the  Ha- 
beas Corpus  Act.  —  Military  and  Naval  forces 
voted,  and  Revenue. — Expenditure,  and  Increase 
of  Exports,  Imports,  and  Shipping,  in  1817  and 
1818. — Grant  of  a  Million  to  build  new  Churches. 
— Treaty  with  Spain  for  the  abolition  of  the  Slave 
Tr.ade. — Alien  Bill,  and  Mr.  Brougham's  Connnit- 
tee  conceniing  Charities. — Efforts  of  Sir  Samuel 
Romilly  to  obtain  a  relaxation  of  our  Criminal 
Code. — Death  of  Sir  Samuel  Romilly. — His  Char- 
actor. —  Death  and  Character  of  Lord  lOUenbor- 
ough. — Death  of  Warren  Hastings  and  Sir  Philip 
Francis. — Sir  .lames  Mackintosh:  his  early  Life. 
— His  Character  as  a  Statesman  and  Writer. — 
His  Character  as  a  parliamentary  Speaker. — 
Death  and  Character  of  Uuccn  Charlotte. — Favor- 
able aspect  of  Affairs  at  the  opening  of  1819,  and 
Disasters  at  its  close. — (yomracncement  of  the  De- 
bates on  tiie  Currency  <Auestion. — Petition  from 
Bristol  against  the  too  speedy  Resumption  of 
Cash  Payments. — Its  tenor. — First  Speech  of  Mr. 
Peel  on  the  Subject. — Petition  of  tlie  Merchants 
and  Bankers  of  London  in  favor  of  continuing  the 
Restriction :  which  is  yircsented  to  the  House 
of  Commons  by  the  first  Sir  R.  Peel. — His  .Si)ccc!i 
on  the  Occasion  continued. — Arf.ninientof  Mr.  Peel 
in  favor  of  the  Resumption  of  Cash  Payments. — 
Argatnent  on  the  other  side. — Decision  of  Parlia- 
mcul  ou  the  Subject. — Reflections  on  this  Decis- 


ion.— Mr.  Vansittart's  Finance  Resolutions. — Mr 
Vansittart's  Finance  Plan  and  new  Taxes. — Sir 
James  Mackintosh's  argument  in  support  of  Crim- 
inal Law  Reform. — Ansvi-er  of  Lord  Castlereagh. 
■ — Sir  James  Mackintosh's  Motion  is  carried. — Re- 
flections on  this  Subject. — Results  of  Experience 
on  the  Subject. — What  has  caused  the  apparent 
Anomaly? — True  Principles  on  the  Subject. — Clan- 
destine Succors  sent  by  the  English  to  the  South 
American  Insurgents. — Argument  of  Ministers  in 
favor  of  the  Foreign  Enlistment  Bill. — Ansvsrer  by 
the  Opposition. — The  Succors  to  the  Insurgents 
still  continue. — Reflections  ou  this  Subject. — Vast 
Extent  of  the  aid  thus  afforded  to  the  Insurgents. 
—  Punishment  which  England  has  received  for 
this  Injustice. — Dreadful  Losses  arising  from  our 
Interference  with  South  America. 

CHAPTER  V. 

PROGRESS  OF  LITERATURE,  SCIENCE,  THE  ARTS,  AND 
MANNERS,  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN  AFTER  THE  PEACE. 

Great  Impulse  given  to  Literature  and  Science  after 
Jie  War. — Way  in  which  War  produces  this  ef- 
fect.—  Kapid  Progress  of  Steam  Navigation  in 
Britain,  and  of  the  Cotton  Manufacture.  —  Prog- 
ress in  other  branches  of  Manufacture. — Brilliant 
Eras  in  Literature  which  generally  succeed  those 
of  great  public  Dangers. — Literary  Character  of 
Sir  Walter  Scott.  —  Peculiar  Character  of  his 
Writings. — Their  elevated  moral  Character. — The 
Defects  of  his  later  Writings. — Lord  Byron. — His 
Merits  and  Defects. — His  Dramas  and  Don  Juan. 
— Moore  as  a  lyric  Poet. — His  Oriental  turn  and 
satirical  Verses. — Campbell :  his  vast  and  noble 
Genius. — His  Ijrical  Poems. — Rogers'  Pleasures 
of  Memory. — Southey:  his  peculiar  Character. — 
His  Merits  as  a  Historian  and  Moralist. — Words- 
worth :  his  Character  as  a  Writer,  and  great 
Fame. — Parallel  between  him  and  Goethe. — Cole- 
ridge :  his  poetic  Character.  —  Mrs.  Hemans.  — 
Crabbe. — Joanna  Baillie. — Tennyson. — Character 
of  the  prose  Compositions  of  the  Period. — Dugald 
Stewart.  —  His  want  of  original  Thought.  —  Dr. 
Brown. — Paley. — Malthus:  what  led  to  his  Doc- 
trines.— Great  Influence  and  rapid  spread  of  his 
Doctrines. — His  Errors,  and  subsequent  Demon- 
stration of  them.  —  His  Character  as  a  political 
Philosopher. —  Ricardo,  M'Culloch  Senior,  and 
Mills.  —  Davy:  his  philosophical  Discoveries. — 
Herschel,  Playfair,  D'Israeli,  Alison.  —  Modern 
Geology:  Buckland,  Sedgewick,  Sir  Charles  Ly- 
ell,  anil  Sir  David  Brewster. — Rise  of  the  learned 
Reviews  and  lengthened  Essays.  —  Rise  of  the 
Edinburgh  Review,  Quarterly  Review,  and  Black- 
wood's Magazine.  —  Jeffrey.  —  Brougham.  —  Sir 
James  Mackintosh.  —  Sidney  Smith.  —  Macaulay. 
— Lockhart.  —  Wilson.  —  Change  in  the  Style  of 
History. — Ilallam. — Sharon  Turner  and  Palgrave. 
— Lingard:  previous  Prejudices  of  tho  Historians 
of  the  Ref(jrmation. — His  Merits  and  Defects  as  a 
Historian. — Tytlor:  his  impartial  Character. — His 
Merits  and  Defects.  —  Napier.  —  Lord  Mahon. — 
Macaulay's  History. — Miss  Strickland.  —  Mitford. 
— Grote. — Arnold. — The  new  School  of  Novelists. 
— Miss  Edgeworth. — Mr.  James. — Sir  Edward  B. 
Lytton. — His  Merits  as  a  Poet  and  dramatic  Writ- 
er. —  Disraeli.  —  Dickens.  —  Thackeray  and  tho 
Dickens  School.  —  Miss  Austin.— Mrs.  Norton. — 
Mr.  Warren.  —  Carlyle.  —  Dr.  Croly. —  Hazlitt. — 
Bentham. — Chalmers. — Monkton  Mihies  and  Ay- 
toun.  —  L.  E.  L.,  Warburton,  and  the  Author  of 
Eothen.  —  The  Fine  Arts  —  Architecture.  —  Sir 
Thomas  Lawrence.  —  Turner.  —  Copley  Fielding, 
Williams,  Thomson. — Grant,  Pickersgill,  Swintoii. 
— Landsecr.  — Wilkie. — Chantrey. — Flaxman.  — 
Marochetti. — Mrs.  Siddons. — John  Kenible. — Miss 
O'Neil. — Kcan. — Miss  Helen  Faucit. — Decline  of 
the  Drnma  in  England,  and  its  Causes. — The  ex. 
thisive  System  in  .Society:  its  Causes. — Its  great 
ICffect  on  Society. — Increasing  Liberalism  of  the 
higher  Ranks. — Influence  in  Society  of  the  great 


CONTENTS. 


Whis  Ilonsos. — N\'l>u-li  was  wiinling  on  the  Con- 
sioalivfsulo;  raus«s  ol'llie  UlUiriiico,  und  ad- 
xaittit^o  ol  llio  NViugs  in  tins  ri'spcct. 

CHAPrr.K  VI. 

lUSTORV  OK  KRAXiK  KKOM  TllK  lOll'  b'ETAT  OV 
«IK|-TKMB>>K  5,  IHIG,  TO  THE  CREATION  OF  I'EEUS 
IN    l^l'J. 

ElTii-taof  the  Coup  (V  Etat  o(  5l]i  Scptombor,  181C. 
— Dtinocnitir  Basis  on  which  the  elective  Fran- 
chise was  tounded. — The  Elections  of  1815,  and 
Measures  taken  to  secure  them.— Etlorts  of"  the 
Kovalists  and  Liberals.— Kesult  of  the  Elections. 
— Internal  government  after  the  Coup  d'Etat  of 
5th  Seiiteinticr.- Great  Distress  in  P'rancc  in  the 
Winter  of  181l>-17.— Opening  of  the  Chambers.— 
State  of  Parties  in  tlie  Chamber  of  Deputies. — 
Centre  and  Left. — Law  of  Elections  of  5th  Feb- 
ruary, 1817. — Argument  of  the  Ministers  in  sup- 
port of  the  Measure. — Answer  by  the  Royalists. 
— Ii  is  passed. — Hellections  on  this  Law. — Laws 
on  personal  Freedom  and  the  Liberty  of  the  Press. 
— Projects  of  Laws  regarding  the  Liberty  of  the 
Press  and  personal  Freedom. — Argument  against 
the  Law  on  the  Liberty  of  the  Press  by  the  Op- 
position.— Answer  of  the  MinisteriaUsts. — Ex- 
treme Scarcity,  and  Measures  of  Government  in 
consequence. — More  liberal  System  in  the  Army. 
— Concordat  with  Rome. — Extreme  Difficulty  re- 
garding the  Finances. — Efforts  of  the  Emperor 
Alexander  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington  to  obviate 
these  Difficulties. — Convention  of  11th  February, 
1918,  for  the  Diminution  of  the  Army  of  Occupa- 
tion.— The  Budget  of  1817. — Law  regarding  Be- 
ijuests  to  the  Church. — Arguments  for  a  proprie- 
tary Clergy. — Answer  of  the  Ministerialists. — Re- 
s'ilt  of  the  Debate. — Modification  of  the  Ministry. 
— Biography  ind  Characterof  Count  Mole. — Gou- 
vion  St.  Cyr. — The  Elections  of  1817. — State  of 
public  Opinion. — State  of  public  Opinion,  and  of 
the  Press. — The  Orleanists. — Measures  of  the 
Session :  the  Law  of  Recruiting. — TheLaw  of  Re- 
cruiting proposed  by  Government. — Argument  in 
support  of  the  Project  by  Ministers. — Argument 
on  the  other  side  by  the  Royalists. — The  Bill  is 
passed  into  a  Law. — Law  regarding  the  Liberty 
of  the  Press. — Expiry  of  the  Laws  against  per- 
sonal Freedom  and  the  Prevotal  Courts. — Failure 
of  the  Law  for  establishing  the  new  Concordat. — 
The  Budget. — Conclusion  of  an  Arrangement  re- 
garding the  Indemnities. — Aix-la-Chapelle  and  its 
Concourse  of  illustrious  Foreigners. — Embassa- 
dors there,  and  Instructions  of  Louis  to  the  Duke 
de  Richelieu. — Brilliant  Concourse  of  Strangers 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle. — Conversation  of  Alexander 
with  Richelieu. — Conclusion  of  the  Treaty  of  Aix- 
la-Chapelle. — Secret  Treaty  with  the  Allies. — 
Answer  of  Louis  XVIIL — Secret  Protocol. — Se- 
cret military  Protocol. — Military  Arrangements. 
• — Secret  Royalist  Memoir  presented  to  the  allied 
Sovereigns  at  Aix-la-Chapelle. — Evacuation  of 
the  French  Territory  by  the  Allies. — Noble  Con- 
duct of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  on  this  Occasion. 
— Attempted  Assassination  of  the  Duke  of  W\'l- 
lington. — Visit  of  Alexander  to  Louis  XVIIL  at 
Paris. — Elections  of  1818. — Financial  Crisis. — 
Difficulties  of  the  Duke  de  Richelieu. — Divisions 
in  the  Cabinet,  and  break-up  of  the  Ministry. — 
Formation  of  the  new  Ministry.  —  Recompense 
voted  to  the  Duke  de  Richelieu,  and  declined  by 
him. — Measures  of  the  new  Ministers. — General 
promotion  of  the  Liberals  in  the  civil  Service. — 
Movement  against  the  Electoral  Law  in  the  Peers. 
— Argument  of  M.  Barthelcmy  for  a  Change  in  the 
Law  of  Election.  —  Answer  on  the  part  of  the 
Ministerialists. — The  Proposition  is  carried,  and 
vast  sensation  throughout  France. — Measures  of 
the  Cabinet,  and  Liberals  in  the  Chamber  of  Dep- 
uties.— Argument  in  support  of  M.  Barthelemy's 
Proposal. — Argument  ol   the   Ministers   on   the 


other  side. — Adoption  of  M.  Barthelemy's  Propo- 
sition, and  Defeat  of  Ministers  on  the  fixing  of  the 
financial  Year. — Measures  of  the  Ciovernment.^ 
Great  Majority  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  for 
Ministers. — Great  and  Lasting  Results  of  the 
Changes  already  made  in  France.  —  Repeated 
Coups  d'Etat  in  France  since  the  Restoration. — 
The  Coups  d'Etat  were  all  on  the  popular  side. 
— Causes  of  this  Peculiarity. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

SPAIN    AND    ITALY    FROM   THE    PEACE    OF    1814  TO 
THF,    REVOLUTION    OF    1820. 

Analogy  of  the  early  History  of  Spain  and  England. 
— The  Colonies  were  not  a  Source  of  Weakness 
to  Spain. — Colonies  are  always  a  Benefit  to  the 
Parent  State. — Support  which  Colonies  afford  to 
the  Mother  Country.^ — What  the  Colonial  Policy 
of  the  Parent  State  should  be. — Inevitable  Loss 
to  the  Parent  State  from  the  Separation  of  the 
Colonies. — Tyrannical  Ruleof  old  Spainoverher 
Colonies. — The  Trade  of  Spain  was  all  with  for- 
eign Manufactures. — Want  of  Industry  in  the  na- 
tional Character. — The  Physical  circumstances 
of  Spain  favored  Commerce,  but  not  Manufac- 
tures.— Effect  of  the  long-continued  Hostility  with 
the  Moors. — Impolitic  Laws  of  Spain  in  regard  to 
Money. — Important  Effect  of  the  Romish  faith. — 
Difference  of  the  Towns  and  Country  in  respect 
of  Political  opinion. — Disposition  of  the  Army. — 
The  Church. — State  of  the  Peasantry. — State  of 
the  Nobility. — Huge  gap  in  the  Revenue  from  the 
loss  of  the  South  American  Colonies. — Constitu- 
tion of  1812:  how  it  was  Formed. — Its  extreme 
Democratic  tendency. — Utter  unsuitableness  of 
the  Constitution  to  the  generality  of  Spain. — Uni- 
versal unpopularity  of  the  Cortes  and  Constitu- 
tion.— Influence  of  the  Cortes  on  South  America. 
— Situation  of  Portugal :  effect  of  the  Removal 
of  the  seat  of  Government  to  Rio  Janeiro. — Its 
general  Adoption  of  English  Habits  and  Ideas.— 
Character  of  Ferdinand  VII. — Ferdinand's  ar- 
rival in  Spain,  and  Treatment  by  the  Cortes. — 
Universal  unpopularity  of  the  Cortes. — Decree 
of  Valencia. — King's  Declaration  in  favor  of  Free- 
dom, and  Promise  to  convoke  a  legal  Cortes. — 
Universal  transports  in  Spain  at  this  Decree,  and 
the  King's  return  to  Madrid. — Reflections  on  this 
Event,  and  the  obvious  Courses  which  lay  open 
to  the  King. — Ferdinand's  despotic  Measures. 
Re-establishment  of  the  Inquisition. — Discontent 
in  various  Quarters. — Revolt  of  Mina  in  Navarre. 
— Fresh  arbitrary  Decree  of  Ferdinand. — Farther 

,  violent  Proceedings  of  the  King,  and  Porlier's 
revolt. — Its  Failure,  and  his  Death. — Invasion  of 
France,  and  Retreat  of  the  Spaniards.  Fresh 
tyrannical  Acts  of  the  King. — Change  of  Minis- 
ters, and  Policy  at  Madrid. — Restoration  of  the 
Jesuits,  and  other  Despotic  Measures. — Double 
Marriages  of  the  Royal  Families  of  Spain  and 
Portugal. — Creation  of  the  kingdom  of  Brazil. — ■ 
Insurrection  in  Valencia. — Abortive  Conspiracy 
in  Barcelona,  and  Death  of  General  Lacy. — Papal 
Bull  regarding  the  Contribution  by  the  Spanish 
Church. — Treaty  regarding  the  Queen  of  Etruria. 
— Treaty  for  the  Limitation  of  the  Slave  Trade. 
— Miserable  state  of  Spain  :  its  Army  and  Navy. 
— Extreme  penury  of  the  Finances  of  Spain.  De- 
cree, April  3,  1818. — Death  of  Queen  Maria  Isa- 
bella of  Spain. — Disastrous  fate  of  the  first  Ex- 
pedition to  Lima. — Fresh  Revolt  at  Valencia, 
which  is  Suppressed. — Causes  of  the  Revolt  in 
the  Isle  of  Leon. — Efforts  of  the  Cadiz  Liberals 
to  promote  it. — Insurrection  at  Cadiz. — The  Con- 
spiracy is  at  first  arrested  by  d'Abisbal. — D'Abis- 
bal  is  deprived  of  the  (Command  of  theExpedition. 
— Additional  Measures  of  Severity  on  the  part  of 
the  Government. — Yellow  Fever  at  Cadiz. — Sale 
of  Florida  to  the  Americans. — Marriage  of  the 
King. — Revolution  attempted  by  Riego. — Vigor- 


CONTENTS. 


ous  Measures  adopted  against  the  Insurgents. — 
Capture  ol'the  Arsenal,  and  Expedition  of  Riego 
into  llie  Interior. — Its  Deleat  and  Failure. — Per- 
ilous position  of  Quiroga  in  the  Isle  of  Leon. — 
Insurrection  at  Corunna,  and  in  Navarre. — Rev- 
olution at  Madrid  :  the  King  accepts  the  Consti- 
tution.— Reflections  on  this  Revolution. — Rapid 
advances  of  the  Revolution.— Reception  of  the 
Revolution  at  Barcelona,  Valencia,  and  Cadiz. — 
Massacre  at  Cadiz. — New  Ministry  at  Madrid. — 
First  Measures  of  the  new  Government. — Estab- 
lishment of  Clubs  in  Madrid,  and  other  Revo- 
lutionary Measures. — Legislative  Measures. — 
Meeting  of  the  Cortes  :  its  Composition. — Dis- 
orders in  the  Provinces. — Murder  of  one  of  the 
Body-guard,  and  Reward  of  the  Murderers. — 
Opening  of  the  Cortes. — Report  on  the  State  of 
the  Army. — Majority  of  the  Cortes  :  its  Leaders. 
— Suppression  of  the  Jesuits,  and  Measures  re- 
garding Entails. — Financial  Measures. — Tumult 
at  Madrid,  and  Dismissal  of  Riego. — Closing  of 
the  Session,  and  Rupture  with  the  King. — Re- 
ception of  the  Decree  against  the  Priests  in  Spain. 
— illegal  Appointment  of  General  Carvajal  by  the 
King. — Return  of  the  King  to  Madrid. — Victory 
of  the  Revolutionists. — New  Society  for  Execu- 
tion of  Lynch  Law. — Identity  of  recent  History 
of  Spain  and  Portugal. — Revolution  at  Oporto. — 
Which  is  followed  by  a  Revolution  at  Lisbon. — 
Establishment  of  a  Joint  Regency  at  Lisbon. — 
Return  of  Marshal  Beresford,  who  is  forced  to  go 
to  England. — Effect  of  the  Banishment  of  the 
British. — Reaction,  and  Adoption  of  more  Mod- 
erate Measures. — Commencement  of  Reforms  in 
Italy. — Breach  of  the  King's  promise  of  a  Consti- 
tution.— Progressive  but  slight  Reforms  already 
introduced. — Origin  of  Secret  Societies. — Their 
Origin  and  previous  History. — Commencement  of 
the  Neapolitan  Revolution. — Defection  of  Gen- 
eral Pepe  and  the  Garrison  of  Naples. — The  King 
yields,  and  swears  to  the  Constitution. — Causes 
which  prepared  Revolution  in  Sicily. — Revolu- 
tion in  Palermo. — Frightful  Massacre  in  Palermo. 
— First  Measures  of  the  new  Junta. — Failure  of 
the  Negotiations  with  Naples. — Suppression  of 
the  Insurrection  in  Palermo. — Renewal  of  Hos- 
tilities.— Meeting  of  the  Neapolitan  Parliament. 
— Insurrection  of  the  Galley-slaves  in  Civita 
Vecchia. — Commencement  of  the  Revolution  in 
Piedmont. — Revolt  in  Alessandria  and  Turin. — 
The  King  yields,  and  accepts  the  Constitution. — 
Resignation  of  the  King,  and  Proclamation  of  the 
Prince  of  Carignan  as  Regent,  and  the  Spanish 
Constitution. — General  Character  of  the  Revolu- 
tions of  1820. — What  caused  their  speedy  Over- 
throw.— What  should  the  Military  do  in  such  cir- 
cumstances? 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

RUSSIA   AND    POLAND,    FROM    THE    PEACE    OF    1815 
TO   THE   ACCESSION    OF    NICHOLAS    IN    1825. 

Vast  Growth  and  Extent  of  Russia,  America,  and 
British  India  in  recent  Times. — Increase  of  Rus- 
sia by  the  Treaties  of  1814  and  1815. — Important 
Acf|uisition  of  Russia  in  the  Grand-duchy  of 
Warsaw. — .Statistics  of  the  (irand-duchy  of  War- 
saw.— Establishment  of  the  Kingdom  of  Poland. 
— Biography  of  the  Grand  Duke  Con.stantine. — 
His  Character. — His  first  Acts  of  Administration, 
and  Training  of  the  Army. — Great  Advantage  to 
Poland  from  its  Union  with  Russia. — Great  In- 
crease of  its  Military  Strength. — Failure  of  the 
Representative  System  in  Poland. — Great  Influ- 
ence of  Russia. — Great  Wisdom  of  its  External 
Policy. — Their  Unity  of  Purpose. — Statistics  of 
the  Empire  ;  its  Population. — (Jrcat  Rapidity  of 
Increase  of  the  Russian  Population.  —  Great 
Room  for  future  Increase  in  its  Inhabitants. — 
Unity  of  Feeling  in  the  whole  Empire. — Reason 
of  this  Unity.     Their  Asiatic  Habits  and  Relig- 


ious Feelings. — Unity  of  Interest  in  the  Empire. 
— General  Insufiiciency  of  the  Schools  to  produce 
Enlightenment. — The  Clergy. — Rank  in  Russia: 
the  I'chinn. — Great  Power  given  by  the  Tchinn. 
— Caste  of  the  Nobles. — Of  the  Bourgeois  and 
Trading  Classes. — The  Serfs  :  their  Number  and 
Condition. — Privileges  and  Advantages  they  en- 
joy.— The  Tieglo  :  its  Advantages  and  EviJs. — 
Way  in  which  it  is  carried  into  Effect. — Con- 
trast of  English  and  Russian  Cultivators. — Opin- 
ion  of  M.  Haxthausen  on  the  Serfs  and  their 
Enfranchisement. — Evils   of  the  Russian  Serf 
System. — Foreign  Conquest   ever    forced   upon 
Russia  by  its  Climate. — Fear  the  universal  Prin- 
ciple of  Government  in  Russia. — General  use  of 
Corporal  Chastisement. — Character  which  these 
Circumstances  have  imprinted  on  the  Russians. 
— Causes  which  have  led  to   this  Character. — 
Great  Effect  of  the  Distances  in  Russia. — Civil- 
ization depends  entirely  on  the  Higher  Ranks. — 
Strong  Imitative  turn  of  the  Russians. — Military 
'  Strength  of  Russia. — The  Military  Colonies. — 
The  Cossacks. — The  admirable  Discipline  and* 
Equipment  of  the  Army. — Russian  Navy. — Rev- 
enue of  Russia. — Positions  of  the  principal  Ar- 
mies.— General    Corruption    in   Russia. — Enor- 
mous Abuses  which  prevail. — Striking  Instances 
of  this  Corruption. — Emigration  in  Russia  is  all 
Internal. — Great  Impulse  to  Agricultural  Industry 
in  Russia  from  Free  Trade. — What  is  the  Destiny 
of  Russia? — Two  different  People  in  Russia. — 
Liberal  Ideas  with  which  the  Troops  returned 
from  France  and  Germany. — First  steps  of  Alex- 
ander on  his  Return  to  Russia  in  1814.  —  His 
beneficent  Measures. — Marriage  of  Alexander's 
sister  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  of  the  Grand 
Duke  Nicholas  to  the  Princess  of  Prussia. — In- 
cessant Travels  of  Alexander  from  1815  to  1825. 
— Various    beneficent   Measures   introduced  by 
him. — His  arrival  at  Warsaw  in  1818. — Alexan- 
der's memorable  Speech  to  the  Diet.- — Journey  of 
Alexander  to  his  Southern  Provinces.  —  His  Ef- 
forts for  the  Enfranchisement  of  the  Peasants. — 
Transactions  of  1819. — Expulsion  of  the  Jesuits. 
— Great  Changes  in  the  Emperor's  mind  from  the 
Revolution  of  1820. — Violent  Scene,  and  Dis- 
solution  of  the  Polish  Diet. — Congress  of  Trop- 
pau. — Congress  of  Troppau  :  its  Resolutions. — 
Congress  of  Laybach. — Reflections  on  the  Divis- 
ion  among  the  Allied  Powers. — Limits  of  the  Right 
of  Intervention. — What  Share  had  the  Holy  Alli- 
ance in  this? — Attitude  taken  by  England  on  the 
occasion. — War  declared  against  the  Revolution 
in  Naples. — Unresisted  March  of  the  Austrians 
toward  Naples. — Subjugation  of  Naples,  and  Re- 
turn of  the  King. — Movement  of  the  Insurgenio  in 
Piedmont. — Meeting  of  the  Allies,  and  fresh  Rev- 
olution in  Genoa. — Increasing  Dillicultios  of  the 
Insurgents. — Total  Defeat  of  the  Insurgents  at 
Agogna. — Submission  of  the  Capital,  and  Termin- 
ation of  the  War. — Violent  Reaction  in  Italy. — 
Reaction  in  Piedmont,  and  Treaty  withAuslria. 
— Revolt  in  a  Regiment  of  Guards  at  St.  Peters- 
burg.— Ah^xander  refuses  to  Sui)port  the  Grec  ks. 
— Extension  of  the   Russian  Empire  in   North 
America. — Suppression  of  Freemasons  and  olher 
Secret  Societies. — General  Failure  of  the  JOm- 
jieror's  Philanthropic  Projects. — Dreadful  Flood 
at  St.  Petersburg. — Description  of  the  Situation  of 
St.  Petersburg. — Great  Inundation  of  Si.  Peters- 
burg.— Nobl(!  Charity  of  the  Emperor  and  Nobles. 
— Internal  Measures  of  1824,  and  Settlement  of 
the  Boundaries  of  Russian  America. — The  Em- 
press of  Russia  :  her  Birth,  Parentage,  Marriage, 
and  Character. — Amours  of  the  Czar. — Dealii  of 
Alexander's  Natural  Daughter. — Reconciliation 
of  the  Emperor  and  Empress. — Solemn  Service 
in  the  Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame  de  Kazan.— His 
Departure  from  the  Cathedral. — His  Arrival   at 
Taganrog. — His  last  Illness. — And  Death.— And 
Funeral. — Death  and  Burial  of  the  Empress.^ 


sil 


CONTENTS. 


II  ,  —His  FiiiliiK^s.— State  of  ihc  Suc- 

t-,  ,  I'liixiuf. — L'oustuiitmo  ri'liist's  tlic 

•J-;.,, i\  lliis  Oiimc  iibout. — Constimlmc's 

prvviou!)  Ki-minciiitioiiol  his  Ki^lit  ol  Siu-ccssion. 
—  Nii-hi>l;is  rt'tust-s  the  Crown,  luul  proi-luiiiis 
Con>iaiiliiu>.— Contest  of  (.ic-norositylwlwcen  the 
two  Hrothers.  anil  Nichohis  mounts  the 'rUrone. 
— Aei-oiint  of  the  Consiuriiey  jigainst  him. — De- 
tails on  the  Conspirney.— iTiformation  given  of  the 
Cons;.in«ev  to  Alexander.— riiuis  of  the  Conspir- 
ators.—A  Revolt  IS  decided  on  by  the  Conspir- 
ators.—Commencement  of  it.— Heroic  Conduct 
of  Nicholas  on  the  occasion.— Nicholas  advances 
ag.vnst  the  Kelu-ls.- Forces  on  both  Sides,  and 
Irresolution  of  the  Chiefs  of  tlie  Revolt.— Death 
of  Milar.-idowitch.- The  Archbishop  also  fails  in 
reducing  the  Mutineers.— The  Emperor  gains  the 
Victory.— Seizure  of  the  Leaders  ol  tiic  Conspir- 
acy, and  generous  conduct  of  Nicholas  to  the 
Privates. — Appointment  of  a  Commission  of  In- 
quiry.— Its  Composition  and  Report. — Leaders 
of  the  Revolt  in  the  Army  of  the  South. — And  in 
•  thit  of  the  West. — Arrest  of  the  Mouravicds,  and 
Outbreak  of  the  Conspiracy  in  the  Army  of  Po- 
land.— Its  Suppression. — Sentences  on  the  Con- 
spirators.— Their  conduct  on  the  eve  of  Death.— 
'1  heir  Execution. — Reflections  on  this  Event. — 
Noble  Conduct  of  the  Princess  Troubetzkoi  and 
the  other  Wives  of  the  Convicts. — Condition  of 
the  Exiles  in  Siberia. — Generous  Conduct  of  the 
Emperor  to  the  Relatives  of  the  Convicts. — Ex- 
piatory Ceremony  on  the  Place  of  the  Senate. — 
Great  Reforms  in  all  Departments  introduced  by 
the  Emperor. — Great  legal  Reforms  of  the  Emper- 
or.— Crime  of  the  Insurgents. — Coronation  of  the 
Emperor  and  Empress  at  Moscow. — Character 
of  tne  Emperor  Nicholas,  and  parallel  between 
him  and  Peter  the  Great. — He  is  essentially  Rus- 
sian.— His  personal  Appearance  and  Failings. 

CHAPTER  IX. 
ROYALIST  REACTION   IN   FRANCE. 

FR.VNCE  FROM  THE  COUP  D'ET.iT  OF  5TH  MARCH, 
1819,  TO  THE  ACCESSIO.X  OF  THE  PURELY  ROY- 
ALIST MINISTRY  IN  DECEMBER,    1821. 

Great  Evils  of  France  at  the  Close  of  1816. — Rapid 
Flow  of  Prosperity  which  succeeded  them  in  the 
next  Vear. — Brilliant  appearance  of  Paris. — Ex- 
ports, Imports,  and  Revenue  of  France  during 
this  Period. — Thorough  Establishment  of  Repre- 
sentative Institutions  in  France. — Which  have 
no  Effect  in  conciliating  the  Liberal  Party. — 
Popular  Acts  of  the  New  Ministry. — Return  of 
Marat  and  many  other  of  the  Proscribed  to  France. 
—Increasing  Strength  of  the  Liberals,  and  Re- 
sistance to  the  Government. — Law  regarding  the 
Press. — Debate  on  the  Return  of  the  Proscribed 
Persons. — Speech  of  M.  de  Serres  on  the  Sub- 
ject.— Immense  Sensation  produced  by  this  De- 
bate.— Increasing  Violence  and  Exasperation  of 
the  Press. — Budget  of  1819. — Preparations  for  the 
Election  of  1819. — Their  Result :  Election  of  the 
Abbe  Gregoire. — Biography  of  the  Abbe  Gregoire. 
— General  F"oy. — His  Biography. — M.  de  Serres. 
— His  Character. — Conversation  of  Louis  XV'III. 
and  the  Count  d'Artois  on  the  Election. — Change 
in  the  Ministry.  —  Violent  Attacks  on  the  new 
Ministry  by  the  Press. — King's  Speech  at  Open- 
ing the  Session. — Comparative  Strength  of  Par- 
lies in  the  Chamber. — Designs  of  the  Liberals  in 
Paris. — New  Electoral  Law  proposed  by  the  Gov- 
ernment.— Electoral  Law  finally  agreed  on  by  the 
Government. — Violent  Opposition  of  the  Liber- 
als.— The  Duke  de  Berri. — His  Biography. — 
Louvel,  his  Assassin. — Assassination  of  the  Duke 
de  Berri. — His  last  Moments. — His  Death. — Im- 
mense Sensation  which  it  produced. — Chateau- 
briand's Words  on  the  Occasioa  — General  Indig- 


nation against  1\I.  Dccazcs. — The  King  resolve* 
to  supi)ort  him. — He  at  length  agrees  to  his  Dis- 
missal.—  Resignation  of  M.  Docazes,  and  the 
Duke  de  Richelieu  sent  for. — The  King's  In- 
clination for  Platonic  attachments. — The  Count- 
ess l)u  Cayla. — Her  first  Interview  with  Louis, 
w)iich  proves  successful. — Character  of  M.  De- 
cazcs. — Merits  of  his  Measures  as  a  Statesman. 
— Division  of  Parties  in  the  Assembly  after  M. 
Decazes'  fall — Funeral  ofthe  Duke  de  Berri,  and 
Execution  of  Louvel. — Ministerial  Measures  of 
the  Session:  Argument  against  the  First. — • 
Answer  by  the  Government. — Censorship  of  the 
Press  :  Argument  against  it  by  the  Opposition. 
— Answer  by  the  Ministerialists. — Result  ofthe 
Debate. — Reflections  on  this  Subject. — Alarming 
State  ofthe  Country,  and  defensive  Measures  of 
Government. — Denunciation  of  the  Secret  Gov- 
ernment.— Ministerial  Project  of  anew  Electoral 
Law. — Argument  against  it  by  the  Opposition. — 
Answer  by  the  Ministerialists. — CainiUe-Jour- 
dan's  Amendment  carried. — The  Amendment  of 
M.  Boin  is  carried  by  Government.  —  Disturb- 
ances in  Paris. — Which  become  serious. — Loud 
declamation  on  the  Subject  in  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies. — Their  Suppression. — The  Budget. — 
Military  Conspiracy,  headed  by  Lafayette. — 
Their  Designs,  and  Efforts  to  corrupt  the  Troops. 
— Which  fails  by  Accident. — Lenity  shown  in  the 
Prosecutions. — Birth  of  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux. 
— Universal  Transports  in  France. — Congratula- 
tions from  the  European  powers,  and  Promotions 
in  France. — Rupture  with  the  Doctrinaires.— 
Views  ofthe  Doctrinaires. — Views  ofthe  Royal- 
ists.— Disturbances  in  the  Provinces. — Internal 
Measures  of  the  Government. — Changes  in  the 
Household, — New  Organization  of  the  Army. — 
Ordonnance  regarding  Public  Instruction. — The 
King's  Circular  to  the  Electors. — Result  of  the 
Elections  favorable  to  the  Royalists.- — Effect  of 
the  Change  in  the  Assembly. — Accession  of  V'il- 
Idle,  &c.,  to  the  Ministry. — Speech  of  the  King, 
and  Answer  of  the  Chambers. — Measures  of  the 
Session,  fixing  the  Boundaries  of  the  Electoral 
Districts. — Law  for  additional  Ecclesiastical  En- 
dowments.—  Modifications  in  the  Corn-laws. — 
Law  for  the  Indemnity  ofthe  Imperial  donataries. 
— Law  regarding  the  Censorship  of  the  Press. — 
Speech  of  M.  Pasquier  on  the  Occasion. — In- 
creasing Irritation  of  Parties,  and  Difficulties  of 
the  Ministry. — Rupture  with  the  Royalists,  and 
Fall  ol  the  Richelieu  Ministry. — The  new  Min- 
istry.— Reflections  on  this  Event. — Great  Effects 
of  the  Change  in  the  Electoral  Law. — Defects 
of  the  Representative  System  in  France. — Un- 
due Ascendency  of  the  Parti-Pretre. — Cause  of 
the  Reaction  against  Liberal  Institutions. — Death 
of  Napoleon. — Reflections  on  his  Captivity. — 
Great  Exaggeration  regarding  the  English  Treat- 
ment of  him. — Lamartine's  Account  of  his  Exile. 
— Irritation  between  him  and  Sir  Hudson  Lowe. 
— All  Parties  were  wrong  regarding  his  Treat- 
ment at  St.  Helena. — Change  on  Napoleon  before 
his  Death.  —  His  Death.  —  His  Funeral. — Im- 
mense sensation  it  excited  in  Europe. — He  was 
the  last  of  the  Men  who  Rule  their  Age. 


CHAPTER  X. 

DOMESTIC  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND,  FROM  THE  PASS- 
ING OF  THE  CURRENCY  ACT  OF  1819  TO  THE 
DEATH    OF    LORD   LONDONDERRY   IN    1822. 

Difference  of  the  Objects  of  the  Liberal  Party  in 
France  and  England. — Difference  in  the  Causes 
which  produced  Discontent  in  the  Two  Coun- 
tries.— Great  Effects  ofthe  Change  in  the  Mone- 
tary Laws. — Mr.  Smith's  Views  on  this  Subject. 
— Great  Effects  of  any  Variation  in  the  Value  of 
the  Standard  of  Value. — Examples  of  this  from 
former  Times. — Discovery  and  wonderful  Effects 


CONTENTS. 


of  a  Paper  Currency. — Advantages  of  a  Paper 
Circulation,  duly  limited. — What  is  the  Standard 
of  Value?  —  Vast  Effect  of  V^ariations  in  the 
Currency. — When  this  Effect  takes  place. — Vast 
Importance  of  an  inconvertible  Currency  as  a 
Regulator  of  Prices. — A  Currency  based  on  the 
precious  Metals  is  always  liable  to  Fluctuations. 
— Concurring  Causes  which  brought  about  the 
Bill  of  1819. — Danger  of  a  Currency  entirely  rest- 
ed on  a  Metallic  Basis. — True  System. — Peculiar 
Dangers  with  which  the  Resumption  of  Cash  Pay- 
ments was  attended. — Strain  on  the  Money  Mar- 
ket, from  the  immense  Loans  on  the  Continent. — 
Great  Prosperity  of  England  in  End  of  1818  and 
Spring  of  1819,  from  Extension  of  its  Currency. 
— Great  Internal  Prosperity  of  the  Country. — 
Disastrous  Contraction  of  the  Currency. — Its  Ef- 
fects on  the  Bank  Issues. — And  on  Prices  of  all 
Commodities. — Rapid  Increase  of  Disaffection  in 
the  Country. — Meeting  at  Peterloo. — Great  Ex- 
citement, and  Objects  of  the  Meeting.— Its  Dis- 
persion by  the  Military. — Noble  Conduct  of  Lord 
Sidmouth  on  the  Occasion. — Result  of  Hunt's 
Trial. — Reflections  on  the  Im[)olicy  of  allowing 
such  Meetings. — And  on  the  Conduct  of  the  Mag- 
istrates.— Seditious  Meetings  in  other  Quarters. 
—  Augmentation  of  the  Chelsea  Pensioners. — 
Meeting  of  Parliament,  and  Measures  of  Govern- 
ment.—  Lord  Sidmouth's  Acts  of  Parliament. — 
Impression  Lord  Sidmouth  and  Lord  Castlereagh 
made  on  the  Radicals. — Death  of  the  Duke  of 
Kent. — Death  of  George  III. — Deep  Impression 
which  his  Death  made  on  the  Country.— Birth  of 
Queen  Victoria.— Alarming  Illness  of  George  IV. 
— Ominous  Questions  regarding  the  Omission  of 
Queen  Caroline's  Name  in  the  Liturgy. — Re- 
markalile  Speech  of  Mr.  Brougham. — Cato  Street 
Conspiracy.^ — -Thistlewood's  previous  Life. — De- 
sign of  the  Conspirators. — Their  final  Plans. — 
Conflict  in  the  dark  in  the  Cato  Street  Loft. — 
Execution  of  the  Conspirators. — Disturbances  in 
Scotland  and  North  of  England. — Insurrection  in 
Scotland. — Outbreak  of  the  Insurrection,  and  its 
Suppression. — Death  and  Character  of  Mr. 
Grattan. — His  Character  as  a  Statesman  and 
Orator. — Increase  of  the  Yeomanry  Force. — The 
Budget  for  1820. — Important  Subjects  of  Debate 
in  this  Session. — Statistics  on  Education  in  En- 
gland and  Wales  by  Mr.  Brougham.— Difficulties 
of  this  Subject,  and  Necessity  of  an  Assessment. 
■ — Its  Difficulties,  and  Attempts  at  their  Solution. 
— Probable  mode  of  solving  it. — What  is  to  be 
done  with  the  Educated  Classes?  —  Effect  of 
Education  in  leading  to  the  Dispersion  of  Man- 
kind.—  Disfranchisement  of  Grampound,  and 
transfer  of  its  Members  to  Yorkshire. — Rise  of 
Free-trade  Ideas  among  the  Merchants,  and  Lord 
Lansdowne's  Declaration  on  the  Subject. — Lord 
Liverpool's  memorable  Speech  in  reply.  —  Ap- 
pointment of  a  Committee  to  Inquire  into  Agri- 
cultural Distress. — Opinion  of  Mr.  Brougham  on 
this  Subject. — Answer  by  Mr.  Ricardo. — Addi- 
tional Facts  since  discovered  on  this  Subject. — 
Commencement  of  iheTroubles  about  the  Queen. 
— Sketch  of  her  Life  prior  to  this  Period.  —  Her 
Conduct  abroad,  and  Proceedings  in  consequence 
of  it. — Omission  of  the  Qiieen's  Name  in  the  Lit- 
urgy, and  her  Return  to  England. — Her  Landing 
in  England,  and  enthusiastic  Reception. — Views 
of  the  Radical  Leaders  on  the  Occasion. — En- 
thusiastic Reception  of  the  Queen  at  Dover  and 
in  London.  —  I'ailurc  of  the  Negotiations,  and 
Commencement  of  the  Inquiry.  —  Scene  which 
ensued  on  the  Trial. — Progress  of  the  Trial,  and 
its  Difficulties. — Peroration  of  Mr.  Brougham's 
Defense. — Queen's  Defense,  and  Failure  of  the 
Bill. — General  Transports  of  the  Peojde. — Rapid 
Rcactio7i  of  Public  Opinion. — Consternation  of 
the  Ministry,  who  resolve  to  remain  at  their  Posts. 
—  Return  of  Popularity  of  Ciovernment,  and 
Causes  of  h. — Meeting  of  Parliament,  and  first 


Proceedings. — Debates  on  Foreign  Affairs. — Sir 
James  Mackintosh's  Efforts  to  Improve  the  Crim- 
inal Law. — Mr.  Canning's  striking  Speech  on 
Catholic  Emancipation. — Answer  by  Mr.  Peel. — ■ 
Which  is  earned  m  the  Commons,  and  lost  in  the 
Peers. — Lord  John  Russell's  Motion  for  Parlia- 
mentary Reform. — Appointment  of  a  Committee 
to  Inquire  into  Agrici^tural  Distress. — Bank  Cash 
Payment  Bill. — Mr.  Baring's  Speech  on  the  Sub- 
ject.— Vehement  Demand  for  a  Reduction  of  Tax- 
ation.—  Agricultural  Committee  Reports,  and 
State  of  tlie  Consumption  of  Articles  of  Luxury. 
— Increase  of  the  desire  for  Reform  among  the 
Agriculturists. — Coronation  of  George  IV. — Cer- 
emony on  the  Occasion. — Aspect  of  Wellington, 
Londonderry,  and  George  IV. — The  Queen  is  re- 
fused Admittance  :  her  Death. — King's  Visit  to 
Ireland. — Funeral  of  the  Queen. — Dismissal  of 
Sir  R.  Wilson  from  the  Army. — Changes  in  the 
Cabinet. — Retirement  of  Lord  Sidmouth,  who  is 
succeeded  by  Mr.  Peel  as  Home  Secretary. — 
Lord  Wellesley  appointed  Viceroy  of  Ireland,  and 
Change  in  the  Government  there. — Cause  of  the 
Wretchedness  of  Ireland. — What  would  have  re- 
lieved the  Country,  and  its  Neglect. — Ruinous 
Effect  of  the  Contraction  of  the  Currency  upon 
Ireland. — Progress  of  the  Agrarian  Disturbances 
in  Ireland. — Lord  W'ellesley's  able  Conduct  and 
Impartiality. — Dreadful  Examples  in  the  Disturb- 
ed Districts. ^ — Dreadful  Famine  in  the  South  and 
West  of  Ireland. — Suspension  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Act,  and  Insurrection  Act. — Divisions  on 
the  Catholic  Claims. — Increasing  Strength  of  the 
Minority  on  Parliamentary  Reform.— Peroration 
of  Mr.  Canning's  Speech. — Sir  James  Mackin- 
tosh's Motion  regarding  the  Criminal  Law. — 
Great  fall  in  the  Price  of  all  sorts  of  Produce. — 
Measures  lur  the  Relief  of  the  Agricultural  Class- 
es.— Detailed  Measures  of  Government  for  the 
Relief  of  the  Agriculturists.  —  Motion  of  Mr. 
Western  on  the  Currency. — Mr.  Huskisson's  Ar- 
guments in  Support  of  the  Existing  System. — 
Reply  by  Mr.  Attwood. — Repeated  Defeats  of 
Ministers  in  the  House  of  Commons. — Great  Re- 
ductions of  Taxation  introduced  by  Ministers. — 
The  Budget. — Reduction  of  the  5  per  cents. — 
Equalization  of  the  Dead  W'eight,  and  Military 
and  Naval  Pensions.— Details  of  the  Measure. — ■ 
Important  Small  Notes  Bill. — Its  Provisions. — ■ 
Six  Acts  relating  to  Commerce  and  Navigation. 
— Visit  of  the  King  to  Edinburgh. — Particulars  of 
the  Royal  Visit. — Death  of  Lord  Londonderry. — 
His  Character. — Its  indomitable  Firmness. — His 
Policy  m  Domestic  Affairs. — Political  Changes 
in  progress,  from  the  Resumption  of  Cash  Pay- 
ments.— Internal  Changes  arising  from  the  same 
Cause. — Lord  Londonderry  was  the  last  of  the 
real  Rulers  of  England. — Increased  ascendant  of 
the  Rulers  of  Thought. — Simultaneous  Outlireak 
of  the  Revolutionary  Spirit  in  Different  Coun- 
tries.— Different  Characters  of  the  Revolts  in  the 
different  States. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

ENGL.\ND,  FRANCE,  AND  SPAIN,  FROM  THE  ACCES- 
SION OF  VILLELE  IN  1819  TO  THE  CONOUESS  OP 
VERONA  IN   1822.' 

Divergence  of  Franco  and  England  in  regard  to  ihn 
Spanish  Revolution.  —  Peculiar  Causes  which 
augmented  this  Divergence. — Character  of  Mr. 
Canning. — His  peculiar  Style  of  Eloquence. — 
His  Defects. —  Viscount  Chateaubriand.  —  His 
Merits  as  an  Orator. — His  Character  as  a  States 
man. — His  Defects. — M.  de  Villelo. — His  pecu- 
liar Turn  of  Mind,  and  Course  of  Policy. — M. 
de  Corbierc,  M.  Mathieu  de  Montmorency,  M.  dc 
Peyronnet,  Victor. — Law  regarding  the  Press. — 
Its  Stringent  Provisions. — Discussion  on  it. — 
Rise  of  the  Carbonari  and  Secret  Societies  in 


C  O  N  T  E  N  T  S. 


France. — Rur  of  C'arK^nnrismiu  Franco. — Ahort- 
ivf  fonspiracv  M  Hflorl— Ucrtou's  I'oiispiniiv 
,,.  r,.:i.s  r.Misinracy  at  l<ii  Uocliillc. —  I'lu'ir 
I  ,1     K\.  .iiiion.  —  Killi'clioiis    on    tlicse 

[   .  Iii>urr.'.-tu>ns    at    (.'oliuar,    Marsi'illos, 

.  il.Mi  — lliulgrl  ol  lf<-i*.— Kavoralile  Utsiilt 
l.lfilious  lo  the  Royalists. — tjlate  ol  Pub- 
Alttinptcil  Ki-storaliouolllie  Koyal 
V  Mmlrul.  — Opiiiliisolllii'Uorles.and 

1  liio  Miiusurs. — (Jomlucl  ot  tlic  Cor- 

t.  ,  ..M>i  Vi>i'»iiiiim'Ut  Ola  Now  Ministry  .—ElVect 
pr..'l  i.-.-.l  in  Spun  l>y  iho  Crushing  ot  the  Rev- 
o!  11  .n  in  Italy. —Kxtraordinary  Outbreak  ol  Rev- 
..I  li  Ki.iry  Kury  iii  the  East  ol  Spain.— Revolu- 
ti.iiv  L.1W.S  passed  by  the  Cortes.— Barbarous 
M  ir  br  ol'tho  Priest  Vinuesa.— Institution  of  the 
Or  i  r  of  the  Hammer.— insurrection  in  Navarre, 
a:i  i  Ai<p>>intmentof.Murillo  at  Madrid.— Proceed- 
ings of  the  Cortes.— Deplorable  State  of  the  Fi- 
nances, and  Measures  regarding  them.— Fresh 
Tumults  in  Madrid.  —  Resignation  of  General 
Murillo. — The  Secret  Societies,  or  Communcros. 
— Rioio's  Plot  at  Saragossa,  and  his  Arrest. — 
Sujipression  of  the  Tumults  thence  arising  at 
Madrid.  —  Yellow  Fever  at  Barcelona. — Fresh 
Agitation. — Refusal  of  Cadiz  and  Seville  to  re- 
ceive the  King's  Governors,  and  Revolt  at  Corun- 
na. — Opening  of  an  E.xtraordinary  Cortes. — Con- 
tradictory Resolutions  of  the  Cortes. — Irresolute 
Canduct  of  the  King,  and  Royalist  Insurrection 
in  the  North. — Proposed  Laws  against  the  Press 
and  Patriotic  Societies. — Riots  in  Madrid  on  the 
pi-ssing  of  a  Bill  against  the  Press. — Composition 
of  the  new  Cortes. — New  Ministry. — Opening  of 
the  Cortes,  and  disastrous  State  of  the  Finances. 
— General  Disturbances  in  Spain. — Proceedings 
of  the  Cortes,  and  Progress  of  the  Civil  War. — 
The  Trappist :  his  Appearance  and  Character, 
an  J  Followers. — Desperate  Assault  of  Cervera. — 
Defeat  of  Misas. — Severe  Laws  passed  by  the 
Cortes. — Great  Extension  of  the  Civil  War. — 
Deplorable  State  of  the  Spanish  Finances. — Riot 
in  .Madrid,  and  Death  of  Landabura. — Commence- 
ment of  the  Strife  between  the  Guard  and  the 
Girrison. — Departure  of  the  Royal  Guard  from 
Madrid. — Progress  of  the  Negotiations  with  the 
Insurgents. — .\ttack  of  the  Guards  on  Madrid, 
and  its  Defeat. — Destruction  of  the  Royal  Guard. 
— Defeat  of  the  Insurgents  in  .\ndalusiaand  Cadiz. 
— Change  of  Ministry,  and  complete  Triumph  of 
the  Revolutionists. — The  New  Ministry,  and 
Provincial  Appointments. — Murder  of  Geoiffeux. 
— Second  Trial,  and  Execution  of  Elio. — Civil 
War  in  the  Northern  Provinces. — Vigorous  Meas- 
ures of  the  Revolutionary  Government. — Capture 
of  CastelfoUit,  and  Savage  Proclamation  of  Mina. 
— Continued  Disasters  of  the  Royalists,  and 
Flight  of  the  Regency  from  Urgel. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

CONGRESS    OF    VEROXA — FRENCH    INVASION    OF 
SPAIN — DEATH    OF    LOCIS    XVIII. 

Great  Effect  produced  by  these  Successes  of  the 
Liljerals. — Effect  of  these  Events  in  France  and 
Europe.— Lamartine's  Observations  on  the  Sub- 
ject.—Opposite  Views  which  prevailed  in  Great 
Britain. — Repugnance  to  French  Intervention. — 
Dinger  of  a  Renewal  of  the  Family  Compact  be- 
tween France  and  Spain.— Influence  of  the  South 
American  and  Spanish  Bondholders.— Immense 
Extent  of  the  Spanish  and  South  American 
Loans.— Views  of  the  Cabinet  and  Mr.  Canning 
on  the  Subject. — Coneress  of  Verona  aereed  oii 
by  all  the  Powers. — Members  of  the  Congress 
•Jjfife. — Description  of  Verona. — Views  of  the 
Different  Powers  at  the  Opening  of  the  Coneress. 
—Brilliant  Assemblage  of  Princesses  and  Court- 
iers at  Verona. — Treaty  for  the  Evaruation  of 
Piedmont  and  Naples. — Resolution  of  the  Con- 


gress regarding  the  Slave  Trade. — Note  of  En- 
gland  regarding  South  Amorican  Independence. 
— Instructions  of  M.  de  \  illelc  to  M.  de  Mont- 
morency regarding  Spain. — .Mr.  Canning's  In- 
structions to  Duke  of  V\  ollington. — Measures 
adoi)tod  liy  tiie  Majority  of  the  Congress  on  the 
Subject. — Questions  proposed  by  France,  and 
Answersof  the  Continental  Powers  and  England. 
— Views  of  what  had  occurred  in  this  Congress. 
— Views  of  M.  de  ViUele  and  Louis  XVIII. — 
Secret  Correspondence  of  M.  de  Villele  and  M. 
de  Lagarde. — Utliate  on  it  in  the  Cabinet,  and 
Resignation  of  M.  de  Montmorency,  who  is  suc- 
ceeded by  M.  dc  Chateaubriand.— The  Warlike 
Preparations  of  France  continue. — Failure  of  the 
Negotiations  at  Madrid,  and  Departure  of  the 
French  Embassador.— Speech  of  the  King  at  the 
Opening  of  the  Chambers.— King  of  England's 
Speech  at  Opening  of  Parliament. — Reply  of  the 
Spanish  Government. — M.  Hyde  de  Neuville's 
Address  in  Reply  to  the  Speech  of  the  King. — 
Speech  on  the  War  in  the  House  of  Commons  by 
Mr.  Brougham. — Mr.  Canning  adopts  the  Princi- 
ple of  Non-interference. — M.  de  Chateaubriand's 
Reply  in  the  French  Chambers. — Immense  sensa- 
tion produced  by  this  Speech. — M.  Talleyrand's 
Speech  on  the  War.— Vote  of  Credit  of  100,000,000 
francs. — Affair  of  M.  Manuel  in  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  :  his  Speech. — Storm  in  the  Chamber. 
— Expulsion  of  M.  Manuel. — Dramatic  Scene  at 
his  Expulsion. — General  Enthusiasm  excited  by 
the  Spanish  War. — Preparations  of  the  Lil)erals 
to  sow  Disaffection  in  the  Army. — Feelings  of 
Mr.  Canning  and  the  English  people  at  this 
Crisis. — Views  of  Mr.  Canning  at  this  Juncture. 
— Portrait  of  Mr.  Canning,  by  M.  Marcellus. — 
His  Opinion  as  to  the  probable  Duration  of  the 
War. — Views  of  George  IV.  and  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington on  the  Subject. — Difficulties  of  the  French 
at  the  entrance  of  the  Campaign. — Which  are  ob- 
viated by  M.  Ouvrard. — Forces,  and  their  Dis- 
position on  both  Sides. — The  Spanish  Forces. — 
Theatrical  Scene  at  the  Passage  of  the  Bidassoa. 
— Progress  of  the  French,  and  their  rapid  Suc- 
cess.—  Advance  of  the  Duke  d'Angouleine  to 
Madrid.  —  Advance  of  the  French  to  Madrid. — 
Entry  of  the  Duke  d'Angouleme  into  Madrid. — 
Advance  of  the  French  into  Andalusia. — Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Cortes,  and  Deposition  of  Fer- 
dinand VII. — Violent  Reaction  at  Seville,  and 
over  all  Spain. — State  of  Affairs  in  Cadiz. — 
Advance  of  the  Duke  d'Angouleme  into  Andalu- 
sia, and  Decree  of  Andujar. — Its  Provisions. — 
Violent  Irritation  of  the  Royalists  in  Spain. — 
Progress  of  the  Siege  of  Cadiz. — Assault  of  the 
Trocadero. — Operations  of  Riego  in  the  Rear  of 
the  French. — Defeat  and  Capture  of  Riego. — Re- 
sumed Negotiations  at  Cadiz,  and  Assault  of 
Santa  Petri. — Deliverance  of  the  King,  and  Dis- 
solution of  the  Cortes. — Scene  at  his  Deliverance. 
— First  Acts  of  the  New  Government. — Loud 
calls  on  Ferdinand  for  Moderation  and  Clemen- 
cy.— Sentence  of  Riego. — His  Execution. — En- 
try of  the  King  and  Queen  into  Madrid. — Dis- 
tracted and  miserable  State  of  Spain. — State  of 
Portugal  during  this  Year.  Royalist  Insurrec- 
tion.—  Royalist  Counter-revolution. — Triumph- 
ant Return  of  the  Duke  d'Angouleme  to  Paris. 
— Offer  of  Assistance  by  Russia  to  France  re- 
jected.— Views  of  Mr.  Canning  in  Recognizing 
the  Republics  of  South  America. — Mr.  Canning 
did  not  give  Independence  to  South  America,  but 
only  acknowledged  It. — Recognition  of  the  South 
American  Republics  by  Mr.  Canning. — Effects 
of  this  Measure  on  British  Interests. — M.  de 
Chateaubriand's  Designs  in  regard  to  the  South 
American  States. — Speech  of  Mr.  Canning  at 
Plymouth.— The  Elections  of  1824,  and  Strength 
of  the  Royalists. — Great  Effect  which  this  had  on 
the  future  Destinies  of  France. — Atpptins  of  the 
Chambers,  and  Measures  announced  in  the  Royal 


CONTENTS. 


Speech. — Law  of  Septenniality  :  Considerations 
in  favor  of  it. — Argument  on  the  other  Side. — 
Law  for  the  Reduction  of  Interest  of  the  National 
Debt. — Which  is  passed  by  the  Deputies,  Imt 
thrown  out  by  the  Peers. — Reflections  on  this  De- 
cision. Difference  of  the  English  and  French 
Funds. — Splendid  Position  of  M.  de  Chateau- 
briand.— His  Dismissal,  and  that  of  Marshal  Vic- 
tor.— Statistics  of  France  in  this  Year. — Reign 
of  Louis  X  Vin.  draws  to  a  Close. — His  declining 
Days. — His  great  Powers  of  Conversation. — His 


Religious  Impressions  in  his  Last  Days. — His 
Death. — Characterof  Louis  XVIIl. — His  Private 
Qualities  and  Weaknesses. — Political  Inferences 
from  the  Result  of  the  Spanish  Revolution. — 
Great  Merit  of  the  French  Expedition  into 
Spain  in  1823. — It  had  nearly  established  the 
Throne  of  the  Restoration.— The  French  Inva- 
sion of  Spain  was  justifiable. --Was  the  English 
Intervention  in  behalf  of  South  America  justifi- 
able ? — Its  ultimate  DisastK^us  Effects  to  En- 
gland. 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


CHAPTER  I. 


SENEllAL    b.KETCH    OF    THS    WHO£-E    PERIOD    FROM    THE    FALL    OF    NAPOLEON    TO    THE    AC0ESSIU5 

07    LOUIS    NAPOLEON. 


The   fall   of  Napoleon   completed    the   first 
J  drama  of  the  historical  series  aris- 

Resunieofthe  ing  out  of  the  French  Revolution, 
war  just  con-  Democratic  ambition  had  found  its 
eluded.  natural  and  inevitable  issue  in  war- 

like achievement;  the  passions  of  the  camp  had 
succeeded  those  of  the  forum,  and  the  conquest 
of  all  the  continental  monarchies  had  for  a 
time  apparently  satiated  the  desires  of  an  am- 
bitious people.  But  the  reaction  was  as  violent 
as  the  action ;  in  every  warlike  operation  two 
parties  arc  to  be  considered — the  conqueror  and 
the  conquered.  The  rapacity,  the  insolence,  the 
organized  exactions  of  the  French  proved  griev- 
ous in  the  extreme ;  and  the  hardship  was  felt 
as  the  more  insupportable,  when  the  administra- 
tive powers  of  Napoleon  gave  to  them  the  form 
of  a  regular  tribute,  and  conducted  the  riches 
of  conquered  Europe  in  a  perennial  stream  to 
the  Imperial  treasury.  A  unanimous  cry  of  in- 
dignation arose  from  every  part  of  the  Continent: 
a  crusade  commenced  in  all  quarters,  from  the 
experienced  suffering  of  mankind  ; — from  the 
east  and  from  the  west,  from  the  north  and  from 
the  south,  the  liberating  warriors  came  forth, 
and  the  strength  of  an  injured  world  collected, 
by  a  convulsive  efTort  at  the  heart,  to  throw  off 
the  load  which  had  oppressed  it.  Securely 
cradled  amidst  the  waves,  England,  like  her 
immortal  chief  at  Waterloo,  calmly  awaited  the 
hour  when  she  might  be  called  on  to  take  the 
lead  in  the  terrible  strife ;  her  energy,  when  it 
arrived,  rivaled  her  former  patience  in  privation, 
her  fortitude  in  suffering;  and  the  one  only  na- 
tion which,  throughout  tlw3  struggle,  had  been 
uneonquercd,  at  length  stood  foremost  in  the 
fight,  and  struck  the  final  and  decisive  blow  for 
the  deliverance  of  the  world. 

J3ut  the  victory  of  nations  did  not  terminate 
c  the  war  of  opinion  ;  the  triumph  of 

The  secniid  armies  did  not  end  the  collision  of 
drama  was  thought.  Franco  was  conquered, 
one  springing  but  the  principles  of  her  Revolution 
OMt   of  social  '  .'  .       ,        ,      , 

vassions.  were  not  extirpated  :  they  had  cov- 

ered her  own  soil  with  mourning, 
but  they  were  too  flattering  to  the  pride  of  the 
human  heart  to  be  subdued  but  by  many  ages 
of  suflering.  The  lesson  taught  by  the  subju- 
gation of  her  power,  the  double  capture  of  her 
capital,  was  too  serious  to  be  soon  forgotten  by 
her  rulers;  but  the  agony  which  had  been  pre- 
viously felt  by  the  people,  had  ended  with  a  gcn- 
Voi..  I.— A 


eration  which  was  now  mouldering  in  the  grave. 
It  is  by  the  last  impression  that  the  durable 
opinions  of  mankind  are  formed ;  and  eflects  had 
here  succeeded  each  other  so  rapidly  that  the 
earlier  ones  were  in  a  great  measure  forgotten. 
The  conscription  had  caused  the  guillotine  to 
be  forgotten  ;  grief  for  the  loss  of  the  frontier  of 
the  Rhine  had  obliterated  that  for  the  dissolution 
of  the  National  Assembly.  Men  did  not  know 
that  the  first  was  the  natural  result  of  the  last. 
There  was  little  danger  of  France  soon  crossing 
the  Rhine,  but  much  of  her  reviving  the  opinions 
of  Mirabeau  and  Sieyes.  The  first  drama, 
where  the  military  bore  the  prominent  part,  was 
ended ;  but  the  second,  in  which  civil  patriots 
were  to  be  leading  characters,  and  vehement 
political  passions  excited,  was  still  to  come ;  the 
Lager  had  terminated,  but  the  Piccolomini  was 
only  beginning,  and  Wallen.stein's  Death  had 
not  yet  commenced. 

Every  thing  conspired  to  render  the  era  sub- 
sequent to  the  fall  of  Napoleon  as  3 
memorable  for  civil  changes  as  that  Causes  which 
era  itself  had  been  for  military  tri-  rendered  it  so 
umphs.  Catherine  of  Russia  had  '^'°'*^"'- 
said  at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution, 
that  the  only  way  to  prevent  its  princi})les  spread- 
ing, and  save  Europe  from  civil  convulsion,  was 
to  engage  in  war,  and  cause  the  national  to  su- 
persede the  social  passions.  The  experiment, 
after  a  fearful  struggle,  succeeded ;  but  it  suc- 
ceeded only  for  a  time.  War  wore  itself  out ;  a 
contest  of  twenty  years'  duration  at  once  drained 
away  the  blood  and  exhausted  the  treasures  of 
Europe.  The  excitement,  the  animation,  the 
mingled  horrors  and  glories  of  military  strife, 
were  followed  by  a  long  period  of  repose,  during 
which  the  social  passions  were  daily  gaining 
stiength  from  the  very  magnitude  of  the  contest 
which  had  preceded  it.  The  desire  for  excite- 
ment continued,  and  the  means  of  gratifying  it 
had  ceased  :  the  cannon  of  Leipsic  and  Water- 
loo still  resounded  through  the  world,  but  no  new 
combats  furnished  daily  materials  for  anxictv, 
terror,  or  exultation.  The  nations  were  chained 
to  peace  by  the  immensity  of  the  sacrifices  made 
in  the  preceding  M-ar :  all  governments  had  sul- 
fcred  so  much  during  its  continuance,  that,  like 
wounded  veterans,  they  dreaded  a  renewal  of  the 
fight.  During  the  many  years  of  constraiiicil 
repose  which  succeeded  the  bat'ls  of  Waterloo, 
the  vehement  excitement  occasioned  by  tho  Rov- 


HISTORY   OF    EUrxOTE. 


[Chjip.  1. 


oluiionary  wiirs  ci>miiimii ;  Iml,  iVom  ilefaiill  of 
external,  it  tiinioil  to  iiiit-i mil  olijei'ts.  Dunio- 
cratio  liuuo  iiisiciul  of  iiiilitury  nmbitioii ;  the 
six'ial  Miocceiioil  the  nnlioiial  pajijiions;  the  spirit 
WHS  the  M\me,  Imt  ils  lielil  was  ohanjicil.  Mean- 
while the  blesseil  etVeet  ol"  loii^-coiitiiuieJ  pcaee, 
by  allKwiiiij  inclu^lry  in  every  quarter  to  reap 
i's  iVuits  in  quiet,  was  daily  aiiJinir  to  the  strength 
nnd  ef.er^y,  bceause  augmenting  the  resourecs,  of 
the  middle  class,  in  whom  these  feelings  are  ever 
the  strongest,  because  they  are  the  first  to  be  pro- 
moted by  a  change;  while,  in  a  similar  proportion, 
the  i>OMcr  of  government  was  daily  declining, 
from  the  necessity  of  providing  for  the  interest  of 
the  debts  contracted  during  the  preceding  strife, 
and  reducing  the  military  forces  which  had  so  long 
averted  ils  dangers  or  achieved  its  triumphs. 
The  chauixe  in  the  ruling  passions  of  mankind 

clearly  appeared  in  the  annals  of 
Govt-rnmcnts  nations,  in  the  thirty  years  which 
now  aimed  at  followed  the  lall  of  Napoleon.  Gov- 
peai-c.  and  the  ernmcnts  had  often  great  difficulties 
•^'ll^w^I"""'  to  contend  with— not.  however,  with 

each  other,  tiut  with  ilieir  subjects; 
many  of  them  were  overturned,  not  by  foreign 
armies  but  by  their  own.  Europe  was  often  on 
the  verge  of  a  general  war,  but  the  danger  of  it 
arose,  not,  as  in  former  days,  from  the  throne, 
but  from  the  cottage  :  the  persons  who  urged  it 
on  were  not  kinixs  or  their  ministers  :  they  were 
the  tribunes  of  the  people.  The  chief  efforts 
of  governments  in  every  country  were  directed 
to  the  preservation  of  that  peace  which  the  col- 
lision of  so  many  interests,  and  the  vehemence 
of  such  passions  endangered:  war- was  repeat- 
edly threatened ;  but  by  the  people,  not  by  sov- 
ereigns. The  sovereigns  were  successful;  but 
their  being  so  only  augmented  the  dangers  of 
their  position,  and  increased  the  peril  arising 
from  the  ardor  of  the  social  passions  with  which 
f.hey  had  to  contend ;  for  every  year  of  repose 
added  to  the  strength  of  their  opponents  as  much 
as  it  diminished  their  own. 

The   preservation  of  peace,   unbroken  from 
-  1815  to  1830,  was  fraught  with  im- 

Canses  in  mense  blessings  to  Europe,  and,  had 
France  which  it  been  properly  improved,  might 
'"^^h'^R°^^*^i  ^^^'^  '^^^"  ^°  '°  ^^^  cause  of  free- 
tionoflfeSO.  '  ^'^^  throughout  the  world;  but  it 

proved  fatal  to  the  dynasty  of  the 
Restoration.  From  necessity  as  well  as  inclin- 
ation— from  the  recollection  of  the  double  cap- 
ture of  Paris,  as  well  as  conscious  inability  to 
conduct  warlike  operations,  Louis  XVIII.  re- 
mained at  peace ;  and  no  monarch  who  does  so 
will  long  remain  on  the  French  throne.  Death, 
and  extreme  prudence  of  conduct,  alone  saved 
him  from  dethronement.  The  whole  history  of 
the  Restoration  from  181-5  to  1830,  was  that  of 
one  vast  and  ceaseless  conspiracy  against  the 
Bourbons,  existing  rather  in  the  hearts  and  minds, 
than  in  the  measures  and  designs  of  men.  No 
coccessioLs  to  freedom,  no  moderation  of  govern- 
ment, no  diminution  of  public  burdens,  could 
reconcile  the  people  to  a  dynasty  imposed  on 
them  by  the  stranger.  One  part  of  the  people 
were  dreaming  of  the  past,  another  speculating 
on  the  future  :  all  were  dissatisfied  with  the 
present.  The  wars,  the  glories  of  the  Empire, 
rose  up  in  painful  contrast  to  the  peace  and 
monotony  of  the  present.  Successive  alterations 
of  the  elective  constituency,  and  restrictions  on 


llie  press,  had  no  effect  i.i  diminishing  the  feel- 
ings thus  excited  in  ihc  minis  of  men,  and  which 
only  became,  like  all  other  cor.cealed  passions, 
more  powerful  from  the  dilliculty  of  giving  it  ex- 
pression.  France  was  daily  increasing  in  wealth, 
freedom,  and  material  well-being,  but  it  was  as 
steadily  declining  in  contentment,  loyalty,  and 
happiness — a  strange  combination,  though  one 
by  no  means  unknown  in  private  liTe,  when  all 
external  appliances  are  favorable,  but  the  heart 
is  gnawed  by  a  secret  and  ungratified  passion. 
At  length  the  general  discontent  rose  to  such  a 
pitch  that  it  became  impossible  to  carry  on  the 
government ;  a  ccnip  d'etat  was  attempted,  to 
restore  some  degree  of  efficiency  to  the  execu- 
tive, but  it  was  conducted  by  the  "feeble  arms 
of  confessors  and  kings;"  the  army  wavered  in 
its  duty;  the  Orleans  I'amily  took  advantage  of 
the  tumult,  and  the  dynasty  of  the  elder  branch 
of  the  Bourbons  was  overthrown. 

That  so  great  an  event  as  the  overthrow  of  a 
dynasty  by  a  sudden  urban  insurrec-  g^ 

tion,  should  have  produced  a  great  Causes  which 
impression  all  over  the  world,  was  made  England 
to  have  been  expected;  but  it  could  ponvmsTon!**^ 
hardly    have    been    anticipated    it 
would  have  been  attended  by  the  effects  which 
actually  followed  in  Great  Britain.     But  many 
causes  had  conspired,  at  that  period,  to  prepare 
the  public  mind  in  England  for  change ;  and, 
what  is  very  remarkable,  these  causes  had  arisen 
mainly  from  the  magnitude  of  the  successes  with 
which  the  war  had  been  attended.     The  great 
aristocratic  party,  whether  in  land  or  money,  had 
been  .so  triumphant  that  they  deemed  their  power 
beyond  the  reach  of  attack;  compromise,  con. 
cession,  or  even  consideration  for  their  opponents, 
was  out  of  the  question.     They  neither  consid- 
ered  their  interests  in  legislation,  nor  had  re- 
gard to  their  feelings  in  manner.     The  capital 
which  had  been  realized  during  the  war  had  been 
30  great,  the  influence  of  the  moneyed  interest  so 
powerful,  that  the  legislature  became  affected 
by  their  desires.     The  Monetary  Bill  of  1819, 
I  before  many  years  had  elapsed,  added  fifty  per 
;  cent  to  the  value  of  money,  and  weight  of  debts 
j  and  taxes,  and  took  as  much  from  the  remunera- 
tion of  industry.     Hence  a  total  change  in  the 
j  feelings,  influences,   and  political  relations  of 
j  society.     The  territorial  aristocracy  was  weak 
;  ened  as  much  as  the  commercial  was  aoTrrand"i 
ized ;   small  landed  proprietors  were  generally 
I  ruinedfrom  the  fall  of  prices;  the  magnates  stood 
j  forth  in  increased  lustre  from  the  enhanced  value 
j  of  their  revenues.    Industry  was  querulous,  from 
;  long-continued  sufi"ering;  wealth  ambitious,  from 
sudden  exaltation.     Political  power  was  coveted 
in  one  class,  from  the  excess  of  its  riches ;  in 
I  another,   from  the  depth  of  its  misery.     The 
emancipation  of  the  Roman  Catholics  severed 
the  last  bond,  that  of  a  common  religion,  which 
I  had  hitherto  held  together  the  different  classes, 
and  imprinted  on  the  minds  of  a  large  and  sincere 
class  a  thirst  for  vengeance,  which  overwhelmed 
every  consideration  of  reason.     The  result  of 
these  concurring  causes  was  that  the  institutioni 
j  of  England  were  essentially  altered  by  the  earth- 
i  quake  of  1830,  and  a  new  class  elevated  to  su- 
preme power  by  means,  bloodless  indeed,  but 
scarcely  less  violent  than  the  revoluticri  which 
had  overturned  Charles  X. 
I      The  revolution  of  1830  tTevatcd  the  cidfii» 


Chap.  I.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE, 


class  to  ihi  ilircptiiii  of  nlVaiis.  and  ilio  Reform 
7  Bill  hi  lOiiiiliiud  vested  tlicisanieclass 

Great  cflects  in  eiiect  with  supreme  power  in  the 
oftheRevolu-  British  empire.  Vast  consequences 
''''" , ,'"  ''""*  followed  this  all-important  change 
in  both  countries.  b  ov  the  nrst 
time  in  the  history  of  mankind,  the  experiment 
was  made  of  vestinfr  the  electoral  franchise,  not 
in  a  varied  and  limited  class  as  in  old  England,  or 
in  the  whole  citizens,  as  in  revolutionary  France 
or  America,  but  in  persons  possessed  only  of  a 
certain  money  qualification.  The  franchise  was 
not  materially  changed  in  France  ;  but  the  gen- 
eral arming  of  the  national  guard,  and  the  revo- 
lutionary origin  of  the  new  government,  eflectu- 
ally  secured  attention  to  the  wishes  of  the  burgher 
aristocracy.  In  England  they  were  at  once  vest- 
ed with  the  command  of  the  state,  for  the  House 
of  Commons  was  returned  by  a  million  of  elec- 
tors, who  voted  for  658  members,  of  whom  two- 
thirds  were  the  representatives  of  boroughs,  and 
two-thirds  of  their  constituents  shopkeepers,  or 
persons  whom  they  influenced.  Thence  conse- 
quences of  incalculable  importance,  in  both  coun- 
tries, and  cflects  which  have  left  indelible  traces 
in  the  future  history  of  mankind. 

The  first  eft'ect  of  this  identity  of  feeling  and 
8.  interest,  in  the  class  then  for  the  first 

Political  alii-  time  intrusted  with  the  practical  di- 
ance  between  j-ection  of  affairs  in  both  countries, 
France  and  .  i-.-      in-  u 

England  '^'^^  *  close  political  alliance   be- 

which  fol-  tween  their  governments,  and  an 
lowed  this  entire  change  in  the  foreign  policy 
change.  ^j-  q^.^^j.  grkain.    To  the  vehement 

hostility  and  ceaseless  rivalry  of  four  centuries 
succeeded  an  alliance  sincere  and  cordial  at  the 
time,  though,  like  other  intimacies  founded  on 
identity  of  passion,  not  of  interest,  it  might  be 
doubted  whether  it  would  survive  the  emotions 
which  gave  it  birth.  In  the  mean  time,  how- 
ever, the  effects  of  this  alliance  were  novel,  and 
.n  the  highest  degree  important.  When  the 
lords  of  the  earth  and  the  sea  united,  no  power 
in  Europe  ventured  to  confront  them  ;  the  peace 
of  Europe  was  preserved  by  their  union.  The 
Czar,  in  full  march  toward  Paris,  was  arrested 
on  the  Vistula;  he  found  ample  employment  for 
his  arms  in  resisting  the  efforts  of  the  Poles  to 
restore  their  much-loved  nationality.  Austria 
and  Prussia  were  too  much  occupied  with  the 
surveillance  of  the  discontented  in  their  own 
dominions  to  think  of  renewing  the  crusade  of 
1813:  nor  did  they  venture  to  do  so  when  the 
forces  of  England  were  United  to  those  of  France. 
The  consequence  was  that  the  march  of  revolu- 
tion was  unresisted  in  Western  Europe,  and  an 
entire  change  was  effected  in  the  institutions 
and  dynasties  on  the  throne  in  its  principal  con- 
tinental states.  The  Orleans  family  continued 
firmly,  and  to  all  appearance  permanently,  seated 
on  the  throne  of  France;  Belgium  was  revolu- 
tionized, torn  from  the  monarchy  of  the  Neth- 
erlands, and  the  Cobourg  family  seated  on  its 
throne ;  the  monarchies  of  Spain  and  Portugal 
were  overturned,  and  a  revolutionary  dj'nasty  of 
queens  placed  on  their  thrones,  in  direct  violation 
of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht ;  while  in  the  east  of 
Europe  the  last  remnants  of  Polish  nationality 
were  extinguished  on  the  banks  of  the  Vistula. 
Durable  interests  wero  overlooked,  ancient  al- 
liances broken,  long-cstab  ished  rivalries  forgcjf- 
icn  in  the  fleeting  passions  if  the  moment.    Con- 


federacies the  most  opposite  to  thr  lasting  policy 
of  the  very  nations  who  contracted  ihem  were 
not  only  formed,  but  acted  upon.  Europe  beheld 
with  astonishmenv  the  arms  of  Prussia  united 
with  those  of  Russia  to  destroy  the  barrier  of  the 
Continent  against  the  Muscovite  power  on  the 
Sarraatian  plains ;  the  Leopards  of  England  joined 
to  the  tricolor  stcftidard  to  wrest  Antwerp  from 
Holland,  and  secure  the  throne  of  the  Nether- 
lands to  a  son-in-law  of  France ;  and  the  scarlet 
uniforms  blended  with  the  ensigns  of  revolution 
to  beat  down  the  liberties  of  the  Basque  prov 
inces,  and  prepare  the  heiress  of  Spain  for  the 
arms  of  a  son  of  France,  on  the  very  theatre  of 
Wellington's  triumphs. 

Novel  and  extraordinary  as  were  the  results 
of  the  Revolution  of  1830  upon  the  political  rela- 
tions of  Europe,  its  efl^ects  upon  the  colonial  em- 
pire of  England,  and,  through  it,  upon  the  future 
destinies  of  the  human  species,  were  still  greater 
and  more  important.  To  the  end  of  the  world, 
the  consequences  of  the  change  in  the  policy  of 
England  will  be  felt  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe 
Its  first  efl"ect  was  to  bring  about  the 
emancipation  of  the  negroes  in  the  Effects'of  .no 
West  Indies.  Eight  hundred  thou-  change  upon 
sand  slaves  in  the  British  colonies,  the  colonial 
in  that  quarterof  the  globe,  received  g|"J"J'^  "''  ^" 
the  perilous  gift  of  unconditional 
freedom.  For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
mankind,  the  experiment  was  made,  of  extending 
the  institutions  of  Japhet  to  the  sons  of  Ham.  As 
a  natural  result  of  so  vast  and  sudden  a  change, 
and  of  the  conferring  of  the  institutions  of  the 
Anglo-Saxons  upon  unlettered  savages,  the  pro 
prietors  of  those  noble  colonies  were  ruined,  their 
affections  alienated,  and  the  authority  of  the 
mother  country  preserved  only  by  the  terror  of 
arms.  Canada  shared  in  the  moral  earthquake 
which  shook  the  globe  :  and  that  noble  ofishoot 
of  the  empire  was  alone  preserved  to  Great  Brit- 
ain by  the  courage  of  its  soldiers,  and  the  loyalty 
of  its  English  and  Highland  citizens.  Australia 
rapidly  advanced  in  wealth,  industry,  and  popu- 
lation during  these  eventful  years ;  every  com- 
mercial crisis  which  paralyzed  industry,  every 
social  struggle  which  excited  hope,  every  suc- 
cessful innovation  which  diminshed  security,  add- 
ed to  the  stream  of  hardy  and  enterprising  emi- 
grants who  crowded  to  its  shores.  New  Zealand 
was  added  to  the  already  colossal  empire  of  En- 
gland in  Oceania;  and  it  was  already  apparent 
that  the  foundations  were  laid  in  a  fifth  hemi- 
sphere of  another  nation  destined  to  rival,  perhaps 
eclipse,  Europe  itself  in  the  career  of  humau  im- 
provement. For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
mankind,  the  course  of  advancement  ceased  to 
be  from  East  to  West ;  but  it  was  not  destined 
to  be  arrested  by  the  Rocky  Mountains  ; — the 
mighty  day  of  four  thousand  years  was  drawing 
to  its  close  ;  but  before  its  light  was  extinguished 
in  the  Wpst,  civilization  had  returned  to  the  land 
of  its  birth  ;  and  ere  its  orb  had  set  in  the  waves 
of  the  Pacific,  the  sun  of  knowledge  was  illumin- 
ating the  isles  of  the  Eastern  Sea. 

Great  and  important  as  wore  these  results  of 
the  social  convulsions  of  France  and  .,, 

England  in  the  first  instance,  they  still  groattr 
sank   into  insignificance  compared  rcsultH  of  the 
to  those  which  followed  the  change  Free-trade 

.1  „  1         1-  ,    }?      policy  of  Fr» 

in  the  commercial  policy,  and  the  gia„d 

increased  stringency  of  the  monetary 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[(.-AP. 


Ii,,  '•      ,     r.niaiii        riu-  »•  Ill-It  of  111 i>so  nll- 

,»uro5.  f.-nn   wlmli  so  niiali  was 
r-  :  Ml  lilllo,  MiM-  Mitlcriiif:,  roc-civC(i, 

„  nt  to  an  ••xlraoiiliimry  tiiul  uiipurnl- 

1.  ; lie  onrirriM/ loiuleiu-y  of  ihc  British 

,.-.  j.i  1  l.o  oKricultiiral  po|nil:ition,  ispeciullv 
!n  Ir.-!nml.  wcro  viol.-ntiv  l«rn  up  from  tiio  laiul 
»,,  '     ■':  l.v  w.K-*ii.  iiiiroiiiii,' ;  ft  lainiiic  ol 

t  1  lipiH-nri-.l  iiniid  tlio  population  ot 

v;  .  .      !,  riiiMirv  ;  and  to  tliis  terrible,  but 

iranMcni,  M.uri-e  of  Millerinjr,  was  supoiaikled 
Ibc  U^tinu  discoura-ieniont  Hrisin<j  from  the  vir- 
tual cliwinK  of  iho  market  of  F-nnland  to  their 
pfi'^lucc.  bv  thi-  inunilalion  of  prnin  from  loreiffn 
vairv     When  the  barriers  raised  by  human  rc^'- 
ulations  were  thrown  down,  the  eternal  laws  ol 
nature  ap|H>ared  in  full  operation ;  the  old  and 
rioh  state  enn  always  undersell  the  young  and 
I>i«>r  one  in  manufaetures,  and  is  always  under- 
s<>M  bv  it  in  a<;rieultural  produce.     The  fate  ol 
old   Kume  apiinreiitlv  was   reserved  for   Great 
Biiiain;  the  harvests'of  Poland,  the  Ukraine,  and 
America,  beyran  to  prostrate  agriculture  in  the 
British  Isles  as  eflectually  as  those  of  Sicily, 
Libya,  and  P'.gvpl  had  done  that  of  the  old  Pat- 
limimy  of  iho  Lesions;  and  after  the  lapse  of 
ri<_'hiei-n  hundred  years,  the  same   effects  ap- 
peared.     The   great  cities  flourished,  but  the 
country  decayed  ;  the  exportation  of  human  be- 
ings, and  the  importation  of  human  food,  kept  up 
a  gainful  tralTic  in  the  seaport  towns  ;  but  it  was 
every  day  more  and  more  gliding  into  the  hands 
of  the  foreigners;  and  while  exports  and  imports 
were  constantly  increasing,  the  mainstay  of  na- 
tional strength,  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  was 
rapidly  declining.    The  effects  upon  the  strength, 
resources,  and  population  of  the  empire,  and  the 
growth  of  its  colonial  possessions  were  equally, 
important.      Europe,  before  the  middle  of  the 
century,  beheld  with  astonishment  Great  Britain, 
which,  at  the  end  of  the  war,  had  been  self-sup- 
porting, importing  ten   millions  of  quarters  of 
grain,  being  a  full  lifthof  the  national  subsistence, 
and  a  constant  stream  of  three  hundred  thousand 
emigrants  annually  leaving  its  shores.     Its  in- 
habitants, which  for  four  centuries  had  been  con- 
itantly  increasing,  declined  a  million  in  the  five 
years  from  184G  to  IS50  in  the  two  islands,  and 
two  i^illion  in  Ireland,  taken  separately;  three 
millions  of  quarters  of  wheat  ceased  to  be  raised 
in  the  British  Islands ; — but  the  foundation  of  a 
vast  empire  were  laid  in  the  Transatlantic  and 
Australian  wilds;    and   the   annual  addition  of 
three  hur.dred  thousand  souls  to  the  European 
jKipulation  of  the  New  World,  by  immigration 
alone,  bad  come  almost  to  double  the  already 
marvelous  rapidity  of  American  increase. 
While  this  vast  transferrenee  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Celtic  population  to  the 
embryo  states  of  America  and  Aus- 
tralia wa.s  going  forward,  the  United 
States  of  America  were  rapidly  in- 
creasing in  numbers  and  in  extent 
of  territory.     The  usual  and  fearful 


II. 
*■»»«  men- 
Hon  of  ttie 
fnitcd 
Klatra    of 
Anwrnca. 


ambition  of  republican  states  there  appeared  in 
more  than  its  usual  proportions.  During  ten 
years,  from  1%40  to  1%.30,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
United  States  increased  six  millions  :  they  had 
grown  from  eighteen  to  twenty-four  millions 


n,SOO,000  square  miles.  A  territory  nine  times 
the  size  of  old  France  was  added  to  the  devour- 
ing Republic  in  ten  years.  The  conquests  of 
Rome  in  ancient,  of  the  English  in  India  in 
modern  times,  afford  no  parallel  instance  of  rapid 
and  unbroken  increase.  Every  thing  indicates 
that  a  vast  migration  of  the  human  species  is 
going  forward,  and  the  family  of  Japhet  in  the 
cxiurse  of  being  transferred  from  its  native  to  it; 
destined  seats.  To  this  prodigious  movement 
it  is  hard  to  say  whether  the  disappointed  energy 
of  democratic  vigor  in  Europe,  or  the  insatiable 
spirit  of  Republican  ambition  in  America,  has 
most  contributed  ;  for  the  first  overcame  all  ihft 
attachments  of  home,  and  all  the  endearraenti 
of  kindred  in  a  large — and  that  the  most  ener 
getic — portion  of  the  people  in  the  Old  World; 
while  the  latter  has  prepared  for  their  reception 
ample  seats — in  which  a  kindred  tongue  and 
institutions  prevail — in  the  New. 

While  this  vast  and  unexampled  exodus  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race,  across  a  wider  jg 

ocean  than  the  Red  Sea,  and  to  a  vast  increase 
greater  promised  land  than  that  of  of  Russia  dur- 
Canaan,  was  going  forward,  a  cor-  ing.^he  same 

,'.  ^  I    •  .       period, 

responding,  and,  m  some  respects, 

still  more  marvelous  increase  of  the  Sclavonic 
race  in  the  Muscovite  dominions  took  place. 
The  immense  dominions  and  formidable  power 
of  the   Czar,  which  had  received    so   vast  an 
addition  from  the  successful  termination  of  the 
contest  with  Napoleon,  was  scarcely  less  aug- 
mented by  the  events  of  the  long  peace  which 
followed.     The  inhuman  cruelty  with  which  the 
Turks   prosecuted  the  war  with   the    Greeks 
awakened  the  sympathies  of  the  Christian  world  ■ 
governments  were  impelled  by  their  subjects 
into  a  crusade  against  the  Crescent;    and  the 
battle  of  Navarino,  which,  for  the  first  time  in 
history,  beheld  the  flags  of  England,  France, 
and   Russia  side   by  side,    at  once   ruined   the 
Ottoman  navy,  and  reft  the  most  important  prov- 
inces of  Greece  from  the  dominions  of  Turkey. 
The  inconceivable  infatuation  of  the  Turks,  and 
their  characteristic  ignorance  of  the  strength  of 
the  enemy  whom  they  provoked,  impelled  thera 
soon  after  into  a  war  with  Russia;  and  then  the 
immeasurable  superiority  whixjh  the  Cross  had 
now  acquired  over  the  Crescent  at  once  appeared. 
Varna,  the  scene  of  the  bloody  defeat  of  the 
French  chivalry  by  the  Janizaries  of  Bajazet, 
yielded  to  the  scientific  approaches  of  the  Rus- 
sians ;  the  bastions  of  Erivan  to  the  firm  assault 
of  Paskewitch  ;  the  barrier,  hitherto  insurmount- 
able, of  the  Balkan,  was  passed  by  Diebitch; 
Adrianople  fell ;    and  the  anxious  intervention 
of  the  other  European  powers  alone  prevented 
the  entire  subjugation  of  Turkey,  and  the  entry 
of  the  INIuscovite  battalions  through  the  breach 
made  by  the  cannon  of  Mahomet  in  the  walls 
of  Constantinople. 

Great  as  were  these  results  to  the  growth  of 
Russia  of  the  forced  and  long-con- 
tinued pacification  of  W^estern  Eu-  continued 


rope,   still    more   important   were  crease  of  Rus- 

those  which  followed  its   intestine  sia  from   tlia 

convulsions.     Every  throe    of  the  ^/7^^}J'T/ 
,   ..  ,         1      .    T^  of  1630  ana 

revolutionary  earthquake  in  France  is48. 

has  tended  to  her  ultimate  advant- 


But  the  increase  of  its  territory  was  still  more  j  age,  and  been  attended  by  a  great  accession 
extraordinary  :  it  had  been  extended,  during  the  I  of  territory  or  augmentation  oi  nifluecce.  The 
»anie  period,  from  somewhat  above  2,000,000  to  ,  Revolution  of  17S9,  in  its  ultimate  effeo  s  nroneh^ 


Chap.  I.] 


ir IS  TORY    OF    EUROPE. 


jhe  Cossaoks  to  Paris  ;  that  of  1830  extinguished 
the  last  remains  ol'  Polish  nationality,  and  e;-tab- 
lished  the  Muscovites  in  a  lasting  way  a.i  the 
banks  of  the  Vistula.  The  revolt  of  Ibi^him 
Pacha,  and  the  victory  of  Koniah,  which  brought 
the  Ottoman  empire  to  the  verge  of  destruction, 
advanced  the  Russian  battalions  to  the  shores 
of  Scutari — and  thus  averted  the  subjugation  of 
the  Porte  by  a  rebellious  vassal,  only  by  surren- 
dering the  keys  of  the  Dardanelles  to  the  Czar, 
and  converting  the  Black  Sea  into  a  Russian 
lake.  Greater  still  were  the  results  of  the 
French  Revolution  of  1848  to  the  moral  influ- 
ence, and.  through  it,  to  the  real  power  of  Rus- 
sia. Germany,  torn  by  revolutionary  passions, 
was  soon  brought  into  the  most  deplorable  state 
of  anarchy;  Austria,  distracted  at  once  by  a 
Bohemian,  Italian,  and  Hungarian  revolt,  was 
within  a  hair-breadth  of  destruction;  and  the 
presence  of  150,000  Russians  on  the  Hungarian 
plains  alone  determined  the  Magyar  contest  in 
favor  of  Austria.  Immense  was  the  addition 
which  this  decisive  move  made  to  the  influence 
of  Russia ;  no  chafge  of  the  Old  Guard  of  Na- 
poleon at  the  close  of  the  day  was  ever  more 
triumphant.  Russia  now  boasts  of  60,000,000 
of  men  within  her  dominions ;  her  territories 
embrace  an  eighth  of  the  habitable  globe;  and 
her  influence  is  paramount  from  the  wall  of 
China  to  the  banks  of  the  Rhine. 
Great  as  the  acquisitions  of  the  Muscovite 
14.  pov^'cr  have   been   during   the   last 

Simultaneous  thirty  years,  they  have  almost  been 
conquestsof  rivaled  by  those  of  the  British  in 
Ihe  English  in   ^    ,.         n-r      i   *.       u  r  •  i 

India,  and        India.      Ihe  latter  have  lairly  out- 

their  origin  in  stripped  every  thing  in  this  age  of 
necessity.  wonders;  a  parallel  will  in  vain  be 
sought  for  them  in  the  whole  annals  of  the  world. 
They  do  not  resemble  (he  conquests  of  the 
Romans  in  ancient,  or  of  the  Russians  in 
modern  times ;  they  were  not  the  result  of  the 
lust  of  conquest  steadily  and  perseveringly  ap- 
plied to  general  subjugation,  or  the  passions  of 
democracy  finding  their  natural  vent  in  foreign 
conquest.  As  little  were  they  the  offspring  of 
a  vehement  and  turbulent  spirit,  similar  to  that 
which  carried  the  French  eagles  to  Vienna  and 
the  Kremlin.  The  disposition  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons,  practical,  gain-seeking,  and  shunning 
wars  as  an  interruption  of  their  profits,  was  a 
perpetual  cheek  to  any  such  disposition — their 
immense  distance  from  the  scene  of  action  on 
the  plains  of  Hindostan,  an  effectual  bar  to  its 
indulgence.  India  was  not  governed  by  a  race 
of  warlike  sovereigns  eager  for  conquest,  covet- 
ous of  glory;  but  by  a  company  of  pacific  mer- 
chants, intent  only  on  the  augmentation  of  their 
profits  and  the  diminution  of  their  expense. 
Their  great  cause  of  complaint  against  the  Gov- 
ernors-General, to  whom  was  successively  in- 
trusted the  direction  of  their  vast  dominions,  has 
been  that  they  were  too  prone  to  del'ensive  pre- 
parations; that  they  did  not  sufliciently  study 
the  increase  of  these  profits,  or  the  saving  of  that 
expenditure.  War  was  constantly  forced  upon 
them  as  a  measure  of  necessity ;  repeated  coali- 
tjons  of  the  native  sovereigns  compelled  them 
lo  draw  the  sword  to  prevent  their  expulsion 
from  the  peninsula.  Conquest  was  the  con- 
dition of  existence. 

Yet  such  was  the  vigor  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race    and  the  energj-  with  which  the  succes- 


sive contests  were  maintained  by  the  diminutive 
force  at  the  disposal  of  the  Com-  jj 

pany,  that  marvelous  beyond  all  ex-  Their  great 
ample  were  the  victories  which  they  frequency  am' 
gained,  and  the  conquests  which  ^'''^"'* 
they  achieved.  The  long  period  of  Europeat 
peace  which  followed  the  battle  of  Waterloo, 
was  any  thing  but  one  of  repose  in  India.  It 
beheld  successively  the  final  war  with,  and  sub- 
jugation of,  the  Mahrattas  by  the  genius  of  Lord 
Hastings,  the  overthrow  of  the  Pindaree  horse- 
men, the  difficult  subjugatio.**  of  the  Ghoorka 
mountaineers;  the  storming  of  Bhurtpore,  the 
taming  of  "the  giant  strength  of  Ava;"  the 
conquest  of  Cabul,  and  fearful  horrors  of  the 
Coord  Cabul  retreat ;  the  subsequent  gallant 
recovery  of  its  capital ;  the  conquest  of  Soinde 
and  reduction  of  Gwalior ;  the  wars  with  the 
Sikhs,  the  desperate  passage  of  arms  at  Feroze- 
shah,  and  final  triumphs  of  Sobraon  and  Goojerat. 
Nor  was  it  in  the  peninsula  of  Hindostan  alone 
that  the  strength  of  the  British,  at  length  fairly 
aroused,  was  exerted;  the  vast  empire  of  China 
was  wrestled  with  at  the  very  moment  when  the 
strength  of  the  East  was  engaged  in  the 
Affghanistan  expedition ;  and  the  world,  which 
was  anxiously  expecting  the  fall  of  the  much- 
envied  British  empire  in  India,  beheld  with 
astonishment,  in  the  same  Delhi  Gazette,  the 
announcement  of  the  second  capture  of  Cabul 
in  Ihe  heart  of  Asia,  and  the  dictating  of  a  glo- 
rious peace  to  the  Chinese  under  the  walls  of 
Nankin. 

While  successes  so    great   and    bewildering 
were  attending  the  arms  of  eivili-  jg, 

zation  in  the  remote  parts  of  the  Revolution  oi 
earth,  a  great  and  most  disastrous  ^^'^^  '"  Pans, 
convulsion  was  preparing  in  its  heart.  Paris,  as 
in  every  age,  was  the  centre  of  impulsion  to  the 
whole  civilized  world.  Louis  Philippe  had  a 
very  difficult  game  to  play,  and  he  long  played  it 
with  success ;  but  no  human  ability  could,  with 
the  disposition  of  the  people,  permanently  main- 
tain the  government  of  the  country.  He  aimed 
at  being  the  Napoleon  of  peace ;  and  his  great 
predecessor  knew  better  than  any  one,  and  has 
said  oftener,  that  he  himself  would  have  failed 
in  the  attempt.  He  owed  his  elevation  to  revo- 
lution ;  and  he  had  the  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
task  to  perform,  without  foreign  war,  of  coerc- 
ing its  passions.  Hardly  was  he  seated  on  the 
throne,  when  he  felt  the  necessity  in  deeds,  if 
not  in  words,  of  disclaiming  his  origin.  His 
whole  reign  was  a  continued  painful  and  perilous 
conflict  with  the  power  which  had  created  him, 
and  at  length  he  sank  in  the  struggle.  He  had 
not  the  means  of  maintaining  the  conflict.  A 
successful  usurper,  he  could  not  appeal  to  tradi- 
tionary influences;  a  revolutionary  monarch,  he 
was  compelled  to  coerce  the  passions  of  revolu- 
tion;  a  military  chief,  he  was  obliged  to  restrain 
the  passions  of  the  soldiers.  They  demanded 
war,  and  he  was  constrained  to  preserve  peacf  ; 
they  sighed  for  plunder,  and  he  could  only  meet 
them  with  economy  ;  they  panted  for  glory,  and 
his  policy  retained  them  in  obscurity. 

Political  influence — in  other  words,  corruptioa 
— was  the  only  means  left  of  car- 
rying on  the  government,  and  that  „       ^'^'  ,  , 

■  CftusuM  of  ilic 

state  engine  was  worked  with  great  fan  of  Louis 

industry,  and  for  a  time  with  great  Pliilippo. 
success.    But  although  gratificution 


ITISTOKY    or    EUROPE. 


[Cu 


la  ibe  «€•  fi>li  |v»N>i«ii>s  must  nlwnys,  in  the  long    ports   of  a  iicoplo  incapable    ^f  exer 
run  Ik«  \\\f  main  lountliition  of  "oveinnn'iit,  men!  powers,  iinil  unuble  to  delcnd   ts  rifrht 


exercisinc  its 


•  ro  not  oiitiiolv.  and  lor  over,  novniud  by  their 
»nt!uciu-e.  "O'cst  rimajiinalioii."  said  iNapo- 
looii.  -ipie  domino  lo  monde.'  All  nations,  and 
moot  of  nil  the  French,  oeeasionaily  roipiirc  ali- 
ment to  the  i>as»ions  ;  and  no  dyn:isly  will  long 
maintain  its  sway  over  them,  which  docs  not 
fietjuently  gratify  their  i-uliiig  di.-iH).viiions.  Na- 
poleon was  so  popular  because  he  at  once  con- 
kwhed  their  interests  and  gratilied  their  passions  : 
Louis  rhilip()c  the  reverse,  because  he  attended 
only  to  their  interests.  Great  as  was  his  influ- 
rnce,  nnUiunded  his  patronage,  immense  his  re- 
venue, it  vet  fell  short  of  the  wants  of  his  needy 


Still  more  serious  and   forniidalde  were  the 
convulsions  in  Germany;  for  theie  ,„ 

were  men  inspired  with  the  Teu-  Extreme  vio 

tonic  love  of  freedom,  and  wielding  icn-ie  of  the 

the  arms  which  so  long  had  been  Revolution  ii 

,     ,,   ,  ,     "7. 7,  Germany, 
victorious  in  the  fields  ol  i^uropean 

fame.  So  violent  were  the  shocks  of  the  revo 
lutionary  earthquake  in  the  Fatherland,  lliat  the 
entire  disruption  of  society  and  ruin  ol'  the  na- 
tional independence  seemed  to  be  threatened  bj( 
its  elfects.  Government  was  overturned  after  i 
violent  contest  in  Berlin.  It  fell  almost  withouf 
a  struggle,  from  the  pusillanimity  of  its  mem 


pjHirters  ;  he  experienced  ere  long  the  truth  :  hers,  in  Vienna.      The  Prussians,  especially  ii 


of  "the  well-known  saying,  that  every  olTice 
given  away  made  one  ungrateful  and  three  dis- 
contented. The  immediate  cause  of  his  fall,  in 
Februan,-,  IS-IS,  was  the  pusillanimity  of  his 
lamily,  who  declined  to  head  his  troops,  and 
the  weakness  of  his  counselors,  who  counseled 
submission  in  presence  of  danger  ;  but  its  re- 
mote causes  were  of  much  older  date  and  wider 
extent.  Government,  to  be  lasting,  must  be 
lounded  either  on  traditionary  influences,  the 
gratiliealion  of  new  interests  and  passions,  or 
the  force  of  arms ;  and  that  one  which  has  not 
the  first  will  do  well  to  rest,  as  soon  as  possible, 
on  the  two  last. 

Disastrous    beyond    all    precedent,   or   what 

even  could  have  been  conceived, 
raiamiioM  were  the  efTeets  of  this  new  revo- 
cirecw  of  f lie  luiion  in  Paris  on  the  whole  Conti- 
Ri  volution  of  nent ;  and  a  very  long  period  must 
roTc  "*  elapse    before    they  are    obviated. 

The  spectacle  of  a  government  es- 
teemed one  of  the  strongest  in  Europe,  and  a 
dynasty  which  promised  to  be  of  lasting  dura- 
lion,  overturned  almost  without  resistance  by  an 
urban  tumult,  roused  the  revolutionary  party 
every  where  to  a  perfect  pitch  of  frenzy.  A 
universal  liberation  from  government,  aiid  re- 
straint of  any  kind,  was  expected,  and  for  a 
time  attained,  by  the  people  in  the  principal 
Continental  states,  when  a  republic  was  again 
proclaimed  in  France;  and  the  people,  strong 
in  their  newly-acquired  rights  of  universal  suf- 
frage, were  seen  electing  a  National  Assembly, 
'o  whom  the  destinies  of  the  country  were  to  be 
intrusted.  The  etfect  was  instantaneous  and 
universal ;  the  shock  of  the  moral  earthquake 


the  great  towns,  entered,  with  the  characteris- 
tic ardor  of  their  disposition,  into  the  career  ol 
revolution ;  universal  siiHVage  was  every  where 
proclaimed — national  guards  established.  The 
lesser  states  on  the  Rhine  all  followed  the  ex- 
ample of  Berlin  ;  and  an  assembly  of  delegates, 
from  every  part  of  the  Fatherland,  at  Frankfort, 
seemed  to  realize  lor  a  brief  period  the  dream 
of  German  unity  and  independence.  But  while 
the  enthusiasts  on  the  Rhine  were  speculating 
on  the  independence  of  their  country,  the  en- 
thusiasts in  Vienna  and  Hungary  were  taking 
the  most  effectual  steps  to  destroy  it.  A  fright- 
ful civil  war  ensued  in  all  the  Austrian  prov- 
inces, and  soon  acquired  such  strength  as  threat- 
ened to  tear  in  pieces  the  whole  of  its  vast  do- 
minions. No  sooner  was  the  central  authority  iii 
Vienna  overturned,  than  rebellion  broke  out  in 
all  the  provinces.  The  Sclavonians  revolted  in 
Bohemia,  the  Lombards  in  Italy,  the  Magyars 
in  Hungary;  the  close  vicinity  of  a  powerful 
Russian  force  alone  restrained  the  Poles  in  Gai- 
licia.  Worse,  even,  because  more  widely  felt 
than  the  passions  of  democracy,  the  animosi- 
ties of  R.vcE  burst  forth  with  fearful  violence  in 
Eastern  Europe.  The  standard  of  Gbrgei  in 
Hungary — whom  the  Austrians,  distracted  by 
civil  war  in  all  their  provinces,  were  unable  to 
subdue — soon  attracted  a  large  part  of  the  in- 
dignant Poles,  and  nearly  the  whole  of  the  war- 
like Magyar.^,  to  the  field  of  battle  on  the  banks 
of  the  Danube.  Not  a  hope  seemed  to  remain 
for  the  great  and  distracted  Austrian  empire. 
Chaos  had  returned  ;  society  seemed  resolved 
into  its  original  elements  ;  and  the  chief  bulwark 
of  Europe  against  Muscovite  domination   ap- 


was  felt  in  every  part  of  Europe.  Italy  was  i  peared  on  the  point  of  being  broken  up  into 
immediately  in  a  blaze;  Piedmont  joined  the  I  several  separate  states,  actuated  by  the  most 
revolutionary  crusade  ;  and  the  Austrian  forces,  I  violent  hatred  at  each  other,  and  alike  incapable, 
expelled  from  Milan,  were  glad  to  seek  an  asy-  singly  or  together,  of  niakins  head  against  the 
lum  Ijchind  the  Mincio.  Venice  threw  off  the  vast  and  centralized  power  of  Russia. 
German  yoke,  and  proclaimed  again  the  inde-  The  first  successful  stand  against  the  deluge 
j>endence  of  St.  Mark  ;   the   Pope   was  driven    of  Revolution  was  made  in  Great  20. 

from    Rome  ;    the    Bourbons    in    Naples   were    Britain ;  and  there  it  was  withstood,  Successfnl 
f^ved  from  destruction  only  by  the   fidelity  of   not  by  the  bayonets  of  the  soldiers,  ^}^^^  against 
ihcir  Swiss  Guards;— Sicily  was  severed  from  j  but  by  the  batons  of  the  citizens.  lilfnan^^'pirU 
their  dominion  ;  and  all  Italy,  from  the  extremity    The  lOlh  of  April  was  the  Waterloo  in  England 


ol  Calabria  to  the  foot  of  the  Alps,  was  arrav- 
ing  its  forces  against  constituted  authority,  and 
ill  opposition  to  the  sway  of  the  Trannontane  go- 
vernments. The  ardent  and  enthusiastic  were 
every  where  in  transports,  and  predicted  the 
resurrection  of  a  great  and  united  Roman  re- 
public from  the  courage  of  modern  patriotism ; 
the  learned  and  experienced  anticipated  nothing 
but  luin  to  the  cause  of  freedom  from  the  trans- 


of  Chartist  rebellion  in  England  ; —  ^^^  France, 
a  memorable  proof  that  the  institutions  of  a  free 
people,  suited  to  their  wants,  and  in  harmony 
vvith  their  dispositions,  can,  in  such  felicitous 
circumstances,  oppose  a  more  successful  barrier 
to  social  dangers  than  the  most  powerful  mili- 
tary  force  at  the  command  of  a  des}>otic  chief. 
Rebellion,  as  usual  when  England  is  in  dis- 
tress,  broke  out  in  irclana     i-u!    .'  '<!riuinateu 


Chap.  I.] 


HISTORY   OF    EUROPE. 


in  ridicule,  and  revealed  at  once  the  intrratitude 
and  impotence  of  the  Celtic  race  in  the  Emerald 
Isle.  I5ut  a  far  more  serious  awd  bloody  con- 
flict awaited  the  cause  of  order  in  the  streets  of 
x'aris;  and  society  there  narrowly  escaped  the 
restoration  of  the  Reign  of  Terror  and  the  gov- 
ernment of  Robespierre.  As  usual  in  civil  con- 
vulsions, the  leaders  of  the  first  successful  revolt 
soon  became  insupportable  to  their  infuriated 
follcwers :  a  second  10th  August  followed,  and 
that  much  more  quickly  than  on  the  first  occa- 
sion ; — but  it  was  met  by  very  ditierent  oppo- 
nents. Cavaignac  and  the  army  were  not  so 
easily  beat  down  as  Louis,  deserted  by  all  the 
world  but  his  faithful  Swiss  Guards.  The  con- 
test was  long  and  bloody,  and,  for  a  time,  it 
seemed  more  than  doubtful  to  which  side  victoiy 
would  incline ;  but  at  length  the  cause  of  order 
prevailed.  The  authority  of  the  Assembly,  how- 
ever, was  not  established  till  above  a  hundred 
barricades  had  been  carried  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet,  several  thousands  of  the  insurgents 
slain,  and  eleven  thousand  sentenced  to  trans- 
portation by  the  courts-martial  of  the  victorious 
soldiers. 

Less  violent  in  the  outset,  but  more  disastrous 
21  _  far  in  the  end,  were  the  means  by 

Restoration  which  Austria  was  brought  through 
olmilitary  the  throes  of  her  revolutionary  con- 
powerinAus-  ^uisjon.  It  was  the  army,  and  the 
army  alone,  which  in  the  last  extrem- 
ity saved  the  state;  but,  unhappily,  it  was  not 
the  national  army  alone  which  achieved  the 
deliverance.  So  violent  were  the  passions  by 
which  the  country  was  torn,  so  great  the  power 
of  the  rival  races  and  nations  which  contended 
for  its  mastery,  that  the  unaided  strength  of  the 
monarchy  was  unequal  to  the  task  of  subduing 
them.  In  Prague,  indeed,  the  firmness  of  Win- 
dischgratz  extinguished  the  revolt;  in  Italy  the 
consummate  talents  of  Radetsky  restored  victory 
to  the  Imperial  standards,  and  drove  the  Pied- 
montese  to  a  disgraceful  peace ;  and,  in  the 
heart  of  the  monarchy,  Vienna,  after  a  fierce 
struggle  was  regained  by  the  united  arms  of  the 
Bohemians  and  Croatians.  But  in  Hungary  the 
Magyars  were  not  so  easily  overcome.  Such 
was  the  valor  of  that  warlike  race,  and  such  the 
military  talents  of  their  chiefs,  that,  although 
not  numbering  more  than  a  third  of  the  popula- 
tion of  Hungary,  and  an  eighth  of  that  of  the 
whole  ■monarchy,  it  was  found  impracticable  to 
subdue  them  without  external  aid.  The  Rus- 
sians, as  a  matter  of  necessity,  were  called  in  to 
prevent  the  second  capture  of  Vienna;  a  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  Muscovites  ere  long  appeared 
on  the  Hungarian  plains  ; — numbers  triumphed 
over  valor,  and  Austria  was  saved  by  the  sacrifice 
of  its  independence.  Incalculable  have  been  the 
consequences  of  this  great  and  decisive  move- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  Czar.  Not  less  than 
the  capture  of  Paris,  it  has  fascinated  and  sub- 
dued the  minds  of  men.  It  has  rendered  him 
the  undisputed  master  of  the  east  of  Europe, 
and  led  to  a  secret  alliance,  offensive  and  defens- 
ive, which  at  the  convenient  season  will  open  to 
the  Russians  the  road  to  Constantinople. 

At  length  the  moment  of  reaction  arrived  in 
France  itself;  and  the  country,  whose  vehe- 
ment convulsions  had  overturned  the  institu- 
tions of  so  many  other  states,  was  itself  doomed 
to  undergo  the  stern  but  just  law  of  retribution. 


The  undisguised  designs  of  the  Soeialit.ts  against 
propertyof  every  kind,  the  frequent  22. 

revolts,  the  notorious  imbecility  and  Restoration c! 
trifling  of  the  National  Assembly,  ^Sn'^^" 
had  so  discredited  republican  insii-  France  by 
tutions,  that  the  nation  was  fully  Louis  Napo- 
prepared  for  a  change  of  any  kind  '^°"" 
from  democratic  to  monarchical  institutions. 
Louis  Napoleon  had  the  advantage  of  a  great 
name,  and  of  historical  associations,  which  raised 
him  by  a  large  majority  to  the  Presidency ;  and 
of  able  counselors,  who  steered  him  through  its 
difficulties; — but  the  decisive  success  of  the 
coup  d'etat  of  December  2,  was  mainly  owing 
to  the  universal  contempt  into  which  the  re- 
publican rulers  had  fallen,  and  the  general 
terror  which  the  designs  of  the  Socialists  had 
excited.  The  nation  would,  though  perhaps 
not  so  willingly,  have  ranged  itself  under  the 
banners  of  any  military  chief  who  promised 
to  shelter  them  from  the  evident  dangers  with 
which  society  was  menaced ;  and  the  vigor  and 
fidelity  of  the  army  insured  its  success.  The 
restoration  of  military  despotism  in  France  \x- 
1S51,  after  the  brief  and  fearful  reign  of  "  liberty, 
equalit}',  and  fraternity"  in  that  ever  changing 
country,  adds  another  to  the  numerous  proofs 
which  history  affords,  that  successful  revolution, 
by  whomsoever  efiected,  and  under  all  imaginii- 
ble  diversity  of  nation,  race,  and  circumstances, 
can  end  only  in  the  empire  of  the  sword. 

But  although  the  dangers  of  revolutionary 
convulsion  have  been  adjourned,  at  23. 

least,  if  not  entirely  removed,   by  Great  in- 
the    general    triumph    of  military  crease  of  ex- 
°  .1       r-i      .-        i  1     ■.     ternal  danger? 

power  on   the  Continent,   and    its  f^ajj,  t^e  ef- 

entire  re-establishment  in  France,  fects  of  the 
other  dangers,  of  an  equally  form-  ■'^Jiy,"''^''""  °' 
idable,  and  perhaps  still  more  press- 
ing kind,  have  arisen  from  its  very  success. 
Since  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  all  the  contests  in 
Europe  have  been  internal  only.  There  have 
been  many  desperate  and  bloody  struggles,  but 
they  have  not  been  those  of  nation  with  nation, 
but  of  class  with  class,  or  race  with  race.  No 
foreign  wars  have  desolated  Europe ;  and  the 
whole  efforts  of  government  in  every  country 
have  been  directed  to  moderating  the  warlike 
propensities  of  their  subjects,  and  preventing  the 
fierce  animosities  of  nationality  and  race  from  in- 
volving the  world  in  general  conflagration.  So 
decisively  was  this  the  characteristic  of  the 
period,  and  so  great  was  the  dillieulty  in  moderat- 
ing the  warlike  dispositions  of  their  subjects,  that 
it  seemed  that  the  sentiment  of  the  poet  should 
be  reversed,  and  it  might  with  truth  be  said — 

"  War  is  a  game,  wliich,  were  their  rulers  viise, 
TA«  people  should  not  play  at." 

But  this  has  been  materially  changed  by  the 
consequences  of  the  great  European  revolution 
of  1848;  and  it  may  now  be  doubted  whether 
the  greatest  dangers  which  threaten  society  are 
not  those  of  foreign  subjugation  and  the  loss  of 
national  independence.  By  the  natural  ell'ect.s 
of  the  general  convulsions  of  1S48,  the  armies 
of  the  Continental  states  have  been  prodigiously 
augmented ;  and  such  arc  the  dangers  of  their 
respective  positions,  from  the  turbulent  disposi- 
tion of  their  own  subjects,  that  they  can  not  be 
materially  reduced.  In  France  there  are  385,- 
000  men  in  arms;  in  Austria  n«  many;  in  Prus- 
sia, 200,000;  in  Russia,  000,000      F'lfleen  hun. 


HISTORY    OF    KUROPK, 


LUAT-  1. 


d«rd  ihi.usmnJ  rcpular  soUlion  arc  nnnycil  on 
■.Ir  rvMitiiuMit  rcaily  for  mutual  shuiirhfcr,  nnil 
.■,v  ill;;  only  A  ^i^;n^\l  Imm  llifir  ri'spcctive 
i.ii.M-ts  to  (liioi't  Ihoir  uniieil  hostility  n>:aiiist 
any  country  which  may  Imvc  provokcil  their  re- 
•icnimont.  '  Siioh  have  been  tho  results  of  the 
French  Revolution  ol  IMS,  nnil  the  riso  of 
••  liherty,  equaiitv,  ami  fraternity"  in  the  centre 
>f  Kun)|>enn  civiiiraiion. 
l)is«^trolls  lieyoml  all  prececlent  have  been  the 
eliccts  of  this  revolutionary  convul- 
II-.  ?i"..-.r  sion,  from  which  so  much  was  ex- 
v,-H  i.r  ihi«  jiecteil  by  the  ardent  anil  cnthusiast- 
i;.M>:uiion  on  ic  in  everv  counlry.  upon  the  cause 
' '"  •  '""•'  "^  of  freedom  throughout  tho  work!. 
Not  only  has  the  reign  of  repre- 
sentative institutions,  anil  the  sway  of  constitu- 
tional ideas  been  arrested  on  the  Continent,  but 
the  absolute  povernment  of  the  sword  has  been 
established  in  its  principal  monarchies.  Austria 
ha-s  openly  repudiated  all  the  liberal  institutions 
forced  upon  her  durinn  the  first  throes  of  the 
convulsion,  and  avowedly  based  the  government 
upon  the  army,  and  the  army  alone.  Prussia  is 
more  covertly,  but  not  less  assiduously,  following 
out  the  same  system; — and  in  France,  the  real 
Council  of  State,  servile  Senate,  and  mock  As- 
sembly of  Deputies  of  Napoleon,  have  been  re- 
established ;  the  National  Guard  generally  dis- 
solved; and  the  centralized  despotism  of  Lotiis 
Napoleon  promises  to  rival  in  efficiency  and 
general  support  the  centralized  despotism  of 
A  igustus  in  ancient  days.  Parties  have  become 
so  exasperated  at  each  other,  that  no  accommo- 
dation or  compromise  is  longer  possible  ;  injuries 
that  never  can  be  forgiven  have  been  mutually 
inflicted ;  the  despotism  of  the  Prfrtorians,  and 
a  Jacquerie  of  the  Red  Republicans,  are  the 
only  alternatives  left  to  continental  Europe;  and 
the  fair  form  of  real  freedom,  which  grows  and 
flourishes  in  peace,  but  melts  away  before  the 
first  breath  of  war,  has  disappeared  from  the 
earth.  Such  is  the  invariable  and  inevitable  re- 
sult of  unchaining  the  passions  of  the  people, 
and  of  a  successful  revolt  on  their  part  against 
the  government  of  knowledge  and  property. 
Still  more  pressing,  and  to  ourselves  formid- 
25  able,  are  the  dangers  which  now 

DanpcrH  of  threaten  this  country,  from  the  con- 
Great  Hriiain  sequences  of  that  revolt  again.st 
'"  ^"""'  "■  established  institutions,  from  which 
'.be  reign  of  universal  peace  was  anticipated 
.'our  years  ago.  Our  position  has  been  rendered 
insecure  by  the  very  effects  of  our  former  tri- 
umphs: we  are  threatened  with  perils,  not  so 
much  from  our  enemies  as  from  ourselves ;  it  is 
our  weakness  which  is  their  strength;  and  we 
owe  our  present  critical  position  infinitely  more 
to  our  own  blindness  than  to  their  foresight. 
Insensibility  to  future  and  contingent  dangers 
has  in  every  age  been  the  characteristic  of  the 
F-nglish  people,  and  is  the  real  cause  why  the 
long  wars,  in  which  we  have  been  engaged  for 
the  last  century  and  a  half,  have  been  deeply 
checkered  in  the  outset  with  disaster ;  and  to 
this  is  to  be  ascribed  three-fourths  of  the  debt 
which  now  oppresses  the  energies  and  cramps 
the  exertions  of  our  people.  But  several  causes, 
springing  from  the  very  magnitude  of  our  former 
triumphs,  have  rendered  these  dispositions  in  an 
especial  manner  powerful  during  the  last  thirty 
ve^re:  «ud  '•  is  ihc  copscquence  of  their  united 


influence  which  now  renders  the  condition  of 
this  country  so  precarious. 

Tho  Contraction  of  the  Curreticy  introduced 
in  1819,  and  rendered  still  more 
stringent  by  the  acts  of  1811  and  cauJs'MrUch 
18-15,  has  changed  the  value  of  have  rendered 
money  fifty  i)er  cent.;  coupled  with  the  condition 
Frec'Trnile  in  all  the  branches  of  ol.  Great  Pri- 
•  1  .  -.1  1  1  1  1  ••  T  .1  tiun  so  pre  «- 
mdustry.  It  has  doubled  It.     In  other  ^joug. 

words,  it  has  doubled  the  weight  of 
taxes,  debts,  and  encumbrances  of  every  de- 
scription,  and  at  the  same  time  halved  the  re- 
sources of  those  who  are  to  pay  them.  Fifty 
millions  a  year  raised  for  the  public  revenue, 
arc  as  great  a  burden  now  as  a  hundrecl  millions 
a  year  were  during  the  war ;  the  nation,  at  the 
close  of  thirty-five  years  of  unbroken  peace,  is 
in  reality  more  heavily  taxed  than  it  was  at  the 
end  of  twenty  years  of  uninterrupted  hostility. 
The  necessary  consequence  of  this  has  been, 
that  it  has  become  impossible  to  maintain  the 
national  armaments  on  a  scale  at  all  proportion- 
ate to  the  national  extension  and  necessities; 
and  it  has  been  exposed,  on  the  first  rupture,  to 
the  most  serious  dangers  from  the  attacks  of 
artless  and  contemptible  enemies.  Our  Indian 
empire,  numbering  a  hundred  millions  of  men 
among  its  subjects,  has  been  brought  to  the 
verge  of  ruin  by  the  assault  of  the  Sikhs,  who 
had  only  six  millions  to  feed  their  armies;  and 
the  military  strength  of  Great  Britain  has  been 
strained  to  the  uttermost  to  withstand  the  hostil- 
ity at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  of  the  CafTres,  who 
never  could  bring  six  thousand  men  into  the 
field.  In  proportion  to  the  extension  of  our 
colonial  empire,  and  the  necessity  of  increased 
forces  to  defend  it,  our  armaments  have  been 
reduced  both  by  sea  and  land.  Every  gleam  of 
colonial  peace  has  been  invariably  followed  by 
profuse  demands  at  home  for  a  reduction  of  the 
establishments  and  a  diminution  of  the  national 
expenses,  until  they  have  been  brought  down  to 
so  low  a  point  that  the  nation,  which,  during  the 
war,  had  a  million  of  men  in  arms,  two  hundred 
and  forty  ships  of  the  line  bearing  the  royal  flag, 
and  a  hundred  in  commission,  could  not  row 
muster  twenty  thousand  men  and  ten  ships  of 
the  line  to  guard  Great  Britain  from  invasion, 
London  from  capture,  and  the  British  empire 
from  destruction. 

Still  more  serious,  because  more  irremediable 
in  its  origin,  and  disastrous  in  its 
eflects,  has  been  the  change  which  Extraordina- 
has  come  over  the  public  mind  in  ry  change  in 
the  most  powerful  and   influential  t^ie     national 

part  of  the  nation.    This  has  mainly  ""'"1'"  **''• 

p  t  •      1        r*   respect, 

arisen  from  the  very  magnitude  of 

our  former  triumphs,  and  the  long-continued 
peace  to  which  it  has  given  rise.  The  nation 
had  gained  such  extraordinary  successes  during 
the  war,  and  vanquished  so  formidable  an  oppo- 
nent that  it  had  come  to  regard  itself,  not  with- 
out a  show  of  reason,  as  invincible;  hostilities  had 
been  so  long  intermitted  that  the  younger  and 
more  active,  and  therefore  influential,  part  of  the 
people,  had  generally  embraced  the  idea  that 
they  would  never  be  renewed.  Here,  as  else, 
■where,  the  wish  became  the  father  to  the  thought, 
the  immediate  interests  of  men  determined  their 
opinions  and  regulated  their  conduct.  The  pa- 
cific interests  of  the  empire  had  increased  sc 
■immensely  duiing   the   long   peace;    so   niany 


Caat.  l.J 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


9 


fortunes  and  establishments  had  become  depend- 
ent on  its  continuance ;  exports,  imports,  and 
manufactures,  had  been  so  enormously  augment- 
ed by  the  growth  of  our  colonial  empire,  and 
the  preservation  of  peace  with  the  rest  of  the 
world,  that  all  persons  interested  in  those  branch- 
es of  industry  turned  with  a  shudder  from  the 
very  thought  of  its  interruption.  To  this  class 
the  Reform  Bill,  by  giving  a  majority  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  had  yielded  the  government 
of  the  State.  To  the  astonishment  of  every 
ihmking  or  well-informed  man  in  the  world,  the 
doctrine  was  openly  promulgated,  to  admiring 
and  assenting  audiences  in  Manchester  and  Glas- 
gow, by  the  most  popular  orators  of  the  day, 
that  the  era  of  war  had  passed  away;  that  it 
was  to  be  classed  hereafter  with  the  age  of  the 
mammoth  and  mastodon ;  and  that,  in  contem- 
plation of  the  speedy  arrival  of  the  much-desired 
Millennium,  our  wisdom  would  be  to  disband 
our  troops,  sell  our  ships  of  the  line,  and  trust 
to  pacific  interests  in  future  to  adjust  or  avert 
the  differences  of  nations.  A  considerable  part 
of  the  members  for  the  boroughs — three-fifths 
of  the  House  of  Commons — openly  embraced  or 
in  secret  inclined  to  these  doctrines;  and  how 
clearly  soever  the  superior  information  of  our 
rulers  might  detect  their  fallacy,  the  influence 
of  their  adherents  was  paramount  in  the  Legis- 
lature, and  Government  was  compelled,  as  the 
price  of  existence,  in  part  at  least,  to  yield  to 
their  suggestions. 

The  danger  of  acting  upon  such  Utopian  ideas 

has  been  much  augmented,  in  the 
Dangers  ^^^®  °^  '^'^  country,    by  the  corn- 

springing  mercial  policy  at  the  same  time 
froiy  the  Free  pursued  by  the  dominant  class  who 
Trade  sys-      ^^^  ^^^^  ^^  entertain  them.     If  it 

be  true,  as  the  wisest  of  men  have 
affirmed  in  every  age,  and  as  universal  experi- 
ence has  proved,  that  the  true  source  of  riches, 
as  well  'as  independence,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  soil,  and  that  a  nation  which 
has  come  to  depend  fur  a  considerable  part  of 
its  subsistence  on  foreign  states  has  made  the 
first  step  to  subjugation,  the  real  patriot  will 
find  ample  subject  of  regret  and  alarm  in  the 
present  condition  of  Great  Britain  Not  only 
are  ten  millions  of  quarters  of  grain,  being  a  full 
fifth  of  the  national  consumption,  now  imported 
from  abroad,  but  nearly  half  of  this  immense 
importation  is  of  wheat,  the  staple  food  of  the 
people,  of  which  a  third  comes  from  foreign 
parts.  Not  only  is  the  price  of  this  great  quan- 
tity of  grain — certainly  not  less  than  filteen 
millions  sterling — lost  to  the  nation,  but«so  large 
a  portion  of  its  food  has  come  to  be  derived  from 
foreign  nations,  that  the  mere  threat  of  closing 
their  harbors  may  render  it  a  matter  of  necessity 
for  Great  Britain  to  submit  to  any  terms  which 
they  may  choose  to  exact.  Our  colonies,  once 
so  loyal,  and  so  great  a  support  to  the  mother 
country,  have  been  so  thoroughly  alienated  by 
the  commercial  policy  of  the  last  few  years, 
which  has  deprived  them  of  all  the  advantages 
which  they  enjoyed  I'rom  their  connection  with 
it,  that  they  have  become  a  burden  rather  than 
a  benefit.  One-half  of  our  diminutive  army  is 
absorbed  in  garrisoning  their  forts  to  guard 
against  revolt.  Lastly,  the  navy,  once  our  pride 
and  glory,  and  the  only  certain  safeguard  cither 
ftgajnsl  the  dangers  of  foreign  invasion  or  the 


olockade  of  our  harbois  and  ruin  of  our  com- 
mercc,  is  fast  melting  away;  f  )r  the  reciprocity 
system  established  in  1S23,  and  the  repeal  of  the 
Navigation  Laws  in  1849,  have  given  such  en- 
couragement to  foreign  shipping  in  preference 
to  our  own,  that  in  a  few  years,  if  the  same 
system  continue,  more  than  half  of  our  whole 
commerce  will  have  passed  into  the  hands  of 
foreign  states,  w"hich  at  any  day  may  become 
hostile  ones. 

To  complete  the  perils  of  Great  Britain,  arising 
out  of  the  very  magnitude  of  its  gg 

former  triumphs  and  extent  of  its  Dangers  aris- 
empire,  while  so  many  causes  were  ing  from  the 
conspiring   to  weaken  its  internal  change  in  our 
111-  IT    -^  r         -1      foreign  policy. 

Strength,  and  disqualiiy  it  lor  with- 
standing the  assault  of  a  formidable  enemy, 
others,  perhaps  more  pressing,  were  alienating 
foreign  nations,  breaking  up  old  alliances,  and 
tending  more  and  more  to  isolate  England  in  the 
midst  of  European  hostility.  The  triumph  of 
the  democratic  principle,  by  the  Revolution  of 
1S30  in  France,  was  the  cause  of  this ;  for  it  at 
once  induced  an  entire  change  of  government 
and  foreign  policy  in  England,  and  substituted 
new  revolutionary  for  the  old  conservative  alli- 
ances. Great  Britain  no  longer  appeared  as  the 
champion  of  order,  but  as  the  friend  of  rebellion  ; 
revolutionary  dynasties  were,  by  her  influence, 
joined  with  that  of  France,  established  in  Bel- 
gium, Spain,  and  Portugal ;  and  the  policy  of 
our  Cabinet  avowedly  was  to  establish  an  alli- 
ance of  constitutional  sovereigns  in  Western, 
which  might  counterbalance  the  coalition  of 
despots  in  Eastern  Europe.  This  system  has 
been  constantly  pursued,  and  for  long  with 
ability  and  success,  by  our  Government.  Strong 
in  the  support  of  France,  whether  under  a 
"throne  surrounded  by  republican  institutions," 
or  those  institutions  themselves,  England  became 
indiflerent  to  the  jealousy  of  the  other  Continental 
powers ;  and  in  the  attempt  to  extend  the  spread 
of  liberal  institutions,  or  the  sympathy  openly 
expressed  for  foreign  rebels,  irritated  beyond 
forgiveness  the  cabinets  of  St.  Petersburg,  Vien 
na,  and  Berlin.  While  the  French  alliance  con- 
tinued, these  powers  were  constrained  to  devour 
their  indignation  in  silence;  they  did  not  venture, 
with  the  embers  of  revolt  slumbering  in  their 
own  dominions,  to  brave  the  combined  hostility 
of  France  and  England.  But  all  alliances  form- 
ed on  identity  of  feeling,  not  interest,  are  ephem- 
eral in  their  duration.  A  single  day  destroy- 
ed the  whole  I'abric  on  which  we  rested  for 
our  security.  Revolutionary  violence  every  day 
worked  out  its  natural  and  unavoidable  result  in 
the  principal  Continental  states.  A  military 
despotism  was,  after  a  sanguinary  struggle, 
established  in  Austria  and  Prussia;  the  2d  De- 
cember arrived  in  France,  and  that  power  in  an 
instant  was  turned  over  to  the  ranks  of  our 
enemies.  Our  efforts  to  revolutioiMze  Europe 
have  ended  in  the  establishment  of  military  des- 
potisms in  all  its  principal  states,  supported  by 
fifteen  hundred  thousand  armed  men  ;  our  boast- 
ed alliance  with  France,  in  the  placing  of  it  in 
the  very  front  rank  of  what  may  any  day  become 
the  league  of  our  enemies. 

When  so  many  causes  for  serious  apfrehiMision 
exist,  from  the  ellect  of  the  changes  wnich  are 
now  going  on,  or  have  been  in  operation  for  the 
last  quarter  of  a  century  in  European  society)  it 


10 


HISTORY    OF    KUIIOPE. 


{Chap.  1. 


.»  coii«olut>n'  10  think  lliat  thrro  arc  sumo  in- 
jp  lliu'nci's  of  on  (i|i|Hisiio  li'iiiU-ney, 

Goi<tiiitiinior  mul  wliicli  ti'Mil  ubvimisly  "nd  im- 
(••Jiliirniaa«4  nu'tliiitoly  to  tlio  iiuT('iist>  uf  hiimiui 
Au»ir»lia.  ^,.,|,|,i,u.^'s.   or  the  oli-viilioii    ul    tlio 

jIPIutaI  luiiul.  In  the  very  front  nuik  ol  iliis  rute- 
porv  wo  must  plnoo  the  iliscovery  ol'  the  -jold 
mines olCaliliirnin nml  Australia,  wliiih  promise, 
in  thfir  ultimalc  elli'i-ts,  not  only  to  ohvialc  many 
((■  the  creati'sl  evils  under  wliich  society  has 
l>ni,'  laliorod,  hut  to  brinu  about  a  new  balance 
i>r|o«er  in  every  stale,  and  relieve  industry  from 
the  worst  i>art  of  the  load  which  has  hitherto 
oppressed  it.  This  subject  is  neither  so  jrener- 
ally  appreciated  or  understood  as  its  paramount 
imjv>rianee  deserves ;  but  it  is  every  day  forcing 
itself  more  and  more  on  the  attention  of  the 
thinkini.'  j-'art  of  mankind,  and,  through  them,  it 
will  ere  long  reach  the  vast  and  unthinking 
multitude. 

Whoever  has  studied  with  attention  the  struc- 
3].  ture  or  tendencies  of  society,  either 

Tcnilency  to  as  they  arc  portrayed  in  the  annals 
undue  u'l'"-  of  ancient  story,  or  exist  in  the  com- 
Tn'^u'ie^Vatcr  plif 'itf  J  relations  of  men  around  us, 
stages  of  so-  must  have  become  aware,  that  the 
cicty.  creatcst   evils  which   in   the  later 

stages  of  national  progress  come  to  aillict  man- 
kind, arose  from  the  undue  influence  and  para- 
mount importance  of  realized  riches.  That  the 
rich  in  tiie  later  stages  of  national  progress  are 
c  instantly  <retting  richer,  and  the  poor  poorer,  is 
a  common  observation,  which  has  been  repeated 
in  every  age,  from  the  days  of  Solon  to  those  of 
Sir  Robert  Peel ;  and  many  of  the  greatest 
changes  which  have  occurred  in  the  world — in 
particular,  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire — may 
be  distinctly  traced  to  the  long-continued  opera- 
tion of  this  f«rnieious  tendency.  The  greatest 
benefactors  of  their  species  have  always  been 
regarded  as  those  who  devised  and  carried  into 
execution  some  remedy  for  this  great  and  grow- 
ing evil ;  but  none  of  them  have  proved  lasting 
in  their  operation,  and  the  frequent  renewal  of 
fresh  enactments  sufliciently  proves  that  those 
which  had  preceded  them  had  proved  nugatory. 
It  is  no  wonder  that  it  was  so;  for  the  evils 
complained  of  arose  from  the  unavoidable  result 
of  a  stationary  currency,  co-existing  with  a  rapid 
increase  in  the  numbers  and  transactions  of 
mankind ;  and  these  were  only  aggravated  by 
every  addition  made  to  the  energies  and  pro- 
ductive powers  of  society. 

To  perceive  how  this  comes  about,  we  have 
32_  only  to  reflect,  that  money,  whether 

Way   in  in  the  form  of  gold,  silver,  or  paper, 

*'"b''  "ll*  '''  ^  commodity,  and  an  article  of 
about.""^  '  commerce;  and  that,  like  all  similar 
articles,  it  varies  in  value  and  price 
with  its  plenty  or  cheapness  in  the  market.  As 
certainl  r  and  inevitably  as  a  plentiful  harvest 
renders  grain  cheap,  and  an  abundant  vintage 
wine  low-priced,  does  an  increased  supply  of  the 
currency,  whether  in  specie  or  paper,  render 
money  cheap,  as  compared  with  the  price  of 
other  commodities.  But  as  money  is  itself  the 
stinilard  by  which  the  value  of  every  thing  else 
is  measured,  and  in  which  its  price  is  paid,  this 
change  in  its  price  can  not  be  seen  in  any  change 
in  itself,  because  it  is  the  standard :  it  appears 
in  the  price  of  every  thing  else  against  which  it 
is  bartered      If  a  fixed  measure  is  applied  to  the 


figure  of  a  growing  man,  the  change  that  takes 
place  will  appear,  not  in  the  dimensions  of  the 
measure,  but  iho  man.  Thus  an  increase  in  the 
currency,  when  the  numbers  and  transactions 
are  stationary,  or  nearly  so,  is  immediately  fol- 
lowed by  a  rise  in  the  money  price  of  all  other 
commodities;  and  a  contraction  of  il  is  as  quick- 
ly succeeded  by  a  fall  in  the  money  price  of  all 
articles  of  commerce,  and  the  money  remunera- 
tion of  every  species  of  industry.  The  first 
change  is  favorable  to  the  j)roducing  classes, 
whether  in  land  or  manufactures,  and  unfavora- 
blo  to  the  holders  of  realized  capital,  or  fixed 
annuities;  the  last  augments  the  real  wealth  of 
the  moneyed  and  wealthy  classes,  and  proportion- 
ally depresses  the  dealers  in  commodities,  and 
persons  engaged  in  industrial  occupations.  But 
if  an  increase  in  the  numbers  and  industry  of 
man  co-exists  with  a  diminution  in  the  circulat- 
ing medium  by  which  their  transactions  are 
carried  on,  the  most  serious  evils  await  society, 
and  the  whole  relations  of  its  dillerent  classes  to 
each  other  will  be  speedily  changed  ;  and  it  is 
in  that  state  of  things  that  the  saying  proves 
true,  that  the  rich  are  every  day  growing  richer, 
and  the  poor  poorer. 

The  two  greatest  events  which  have  occurred 
in  the  history  of  mankind  have  been 
directly  brought  about  by  a  succes-  influence  of 
sive  contraction  and  expansion  of  contraction 
the  circulating  medium  of  society,  and  expan- 
The  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  errency^on 
so  long  ascribed,  in  ignorance,  to  Rome,  and  on 
slavery,  heathenism,  and  moral  cor-  Europe  in  tlie 
ruption,  was  in  reality  brought  suitecntUcen 
about  by  a  decline  in  the  gold  and 
silver  mines  of  Spain  and  Greece,  from  which 
the  precious  metals  for  the  circulation  of  the 
world  were  drawn,  at  the  very  lime  when  the 
victories  of  the  legions,  and  the  wisdom  of  the 
Antonines,  had  given  peace  and  security,  and, 
with  it,  an  increase  in  numbers  and  riches  to  the 
Roman  Empire.  This  growing  disproportion, 
which  all  the  etlbrts  of  man  to  obviate  its  eiiects 
only  tended  to  aggravate,  coupled  with  the  sim- 
ultaneous importation  of  grain  from  E^ypt  and 
Libya  at  prices  below  what  it  could  be  raised 
at  in  the  Italian  fields,  produced  that  constant 
decay  of  agriculture  and  rural  population,  and 
increase  in  the  weight  of  debts  and  taxes,  to 
which  all  the  contemporary  annalists  ascribe  the 
ruin  of  the  Empire.  And  as  if  Providence  had 
intended  to  reveal  in  the  clearest  manner  the 
influence  of  this  mighty  agent  on  human  affairs, 
the  resurrection  of  mankind  from  the  ruin  which 
these  causes  had  produced  was  owing  to  the 
directly  opposite  set  of  agencies  being  put  in 
operation.  Columbus  led  the  way  in  the  career 
of  renovation;  when  he  spread  his  sails  across 
the  Atlantic,  he  bore  mankind  and  its  fortunes 
in  his  bark.  The  mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru 
were  opened  to  European  enterprise  :  the  real 
riches  of  those  regions  were  augmented  by  fab- 
ulous invention  ;  and  the  fancied  El  Dorado  of 
the  New  World  attracted  the  enterprising  and 
ambitious  from  every  country  to  its  shores. 
Vast  numbers  of  the  European,  as  well  as  the 
Indian  race,  perished  in  the  perilous  attempt, 
but  the  ends  of  Nature  were  accomplished. 
The  annual  supply  of  the  precious  metals  for 
the  use  of  the  globe  was  tripled ;  before  a  cen- 
tury had  expired,  the  prices  of  every  species  o/ 


Chap.  I.J 


JriSTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


II 


produce  was  quadrupled.  The  weight  of  debt 
ind  taxes  insensibly  wore  off  under  the  influence 
of  that  prodigious  increase  in  the  renovation  of 
industry ;  the  relations  of  society  were  changed  ; 
the  weight  of  feudalism  cast  off;  the  rights  of 
n.an  established.  Among  the  many  concurring 
causes  which  conspired  to  bring  about  this 
mighty  consummation,  the  most  important, 
though  hitherto  the  least  observed,  was  the  dis- 
covery of  the  mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru.* 
The  ruinous  effects  which  would  inevitably 
..  have  ensued  from  the  simultaneous 

Vast  effects  of  increase  in  the  transactions  and  ex- 
tlie  expansion  penditure  of  all  nations,  and  ab- 
of  the  cur-  straclion  of  the  precious  metals  for 
the  war!''"^  the  use  of  the  contending  armies 
during  the  Revolutionary  war,  were 
.  entirely  prevented  by  the  introduction  of  a  paper 
currency  in  1797,  not  convertible  into  gold,  and 
therefore  not  liable  to  be  withdrawn,  and  yet 
issued  in  such  moderate  quantities  as  satisfied 
the  wants  of  man  without  exceeding  them.  It 
can  not  with  truth  be  affirmed  that  this  admir- 
able system  was  owing  to  the  wisdom  and  fore- 
sight of  Mr.  Pitt,  or  any  other  man.  Like  many 
other  of  the  greatest  and  most  salutary  changes 
in  society,  it  arose  from  absolute  necessity ;  it 
was  the  last  resource  of  a  State  which,  after  its 
specie  had  been  drained  away  by  the  necessities 
of  Continental  warfare,  had  no  other  means  of 
carrying  on  the  contest.  Such  as  it  was,  how- 
ever, it  proved  the  most  important  and  decisive 
measure  ever  adopted  by  this  or  perhaps  any 
other  country.  Like  a  similar  step  taken  by 
the  Roman  government  during  the  necessities  of 
Ihe  second  Punic  war,  it  brought  England  vic- 
torious through  the  contest;  and  in  the  vast 
stimulus  given  to  every  branch  of  industry,  it 
laid  the  foundation  of  those  changes  in  the  rela- 
tions of  societj',  and  the  ruling  power  in  the 
State,  which,  in  their  ultimate  elTects,  are  des- 
tined not  only  to  determine  the  future  fate  of 
England,  but  of  the  whole  civilized  world. 
That  Great  Britain,  and  every  state  largely 
35_  concerned  in  industrial  enterprises, 

oreat  distress  has  suffered  grievous  and  long  con- 
over  the  world  tinned  distress  since  the  peace,  is 
[rtionVth";  unhappily  too  well  known  to  all 
currency  who  have  lived  through  that  period, 

since  tlie  and  will  be  abundantly  proved  in 

Peace.  ^^^   course   of  this  history.      It  is 

hard  to  say  whether  England,  France,  or 
America  has,  in  their  industrial  classes  suf- 
fered the  most.  In  this  country,  indeed,  this 
long  period  of  peace  has  been  nothing  but  a 
protracted  one  of  suffering,  interrupted  only  i>y 
fitful  and  transient  gleams  of  prosperity.  In 
France  the  condition  of  the  working  classes, 
and  the  ceaseless  exactions  made  from  them  by 
the  moneyed,  have  been  so  incessant,  that  they 
were  the  main  cause  of  the  Revoluiion  of  1S30, 
and  have  produced  that  tendency  to  Socialist  and 
Communist  doctrines  which  has  subsequently 
taken  such  deep  root,  and  produced  such  disas- 
trous consequences,  in  that  country.  In  Amer- 
ica such  has  been,  during  the  same  period,  the 
distress  jiroduced  by  the  alternate  expansion 
and  contraction  of  the  currency,  that  it  has  ex- 
ceeded   any   thing   recorded    in   history,   swept 


*  See  "Tlie  Fall  of  Rome,"  Alison's  Essays,  iii.  4'10, 
where  the  author  lias  endeavored  to  trace  out  in  detail,  and 
ftom  authentic  materials,  this  most  momentous  subject. 


four-fifths  of  the  realized  cajiital  ol  the  countrj-, 
away,  and  at  once  reduced  its  ii^iports  from 
this  country  from  twelve  to  three  millions  and 
a  half  annually.  The  thoughtful  in  all  countries 
had  their  attention  forcibly  arrested  by  this  long 
succession  of  disasters,  so  different  from  what 
had  been  anticipated  during  the  smiling  days 
of  universal  peace,  and  many  and  various  were 
the  theories  put  forward  to  account  for  such  dis- 
tressing phenomena.  The  real  explanation  of 
them  is  to  be  found  in  a  cause  of  paramount  iin- 
portance,  and  universal  operation,  though  at  the 
time  unobserved — and  that  was  the  simultan- 
eous contraction  of  the  monetary  circulation  of 
the  globe,  from  the  effects  of  the  South  Amer- 
ican revolution,  and  of  the  paper  circulation  of 
Great  Britain,  from  the  results  of  the  act  im- 
posing the  resumption  of  cash  payments  on  ihe 
Bank  of  England. 

The  first  of  these  causes,  in  the  course  of 
a   few  years,  reduced   the   annual  gg 

supply  of  the  precious  metals  fucm  Amount  of 
the  Mexican  and  South  American  that  contrac- 
mines,  which,  anterior  to  the  com-  ^''*"- 
menceiTient  of  the  troubles  in  that  quarter  of 
the  globe,  had  been,  on  an  average,  about 
.£10,000,000  sterling,  to  considerably  less  than 
half  that  amount ;  and  at  this  reduced  rate 
the  supply  continued  for  a  great  many  years.* 
The  second,  at  the  very  same  time,  reduced  the 
paper  circulation  of  the  British  empire,  which, 
including  Ireland  and  Scotland,  had  been,  during 
the  last  years  of  the  war,  above  £60,000,000 
annually,  to  liitlc  more  than  half  that  amount. 
The  effect  of  this  prodigious  contraction  in  the 
circulating  medium  of  the  world  in  general,  and 
of  this  country  in  particular,  was  much  enhanc- 
ed by  the  state  of  affairs,  and  the  circumstan- 
ces of  society  in  all  the  principal  countries  of 
the  earth,  at  the  time  when  it  took  place.  Uni- 
versal repose  prevailed  almost  unbroken  during 
the  whole  period;  and  the  energies  of  men  in 
all  nations,  violently  aroused  by  the  excitcmcjit 
and  passions  of  the  contest,  were  generally 
turned  into  the  channels  of  pacific  industry. 
As  a  necessary  consequence,  population  in- 
creased, and  the  transactions  of  men  were  im- 
mensely multiplied  ;  and  as  this  occurred  at  the 
very  time  when  the  circulation  by  which  ihcy 
were  to  be  carried  on  was  reduced  to  less  than  a 
half  of  its  former  amount,  the  necessary  result 
was  a  great  and  universal  reduction  of  prices  of 
every  branch  of  produce,  whether  agricultural 
or  manufactured,  which,  before  the  lapse  of 
thirty  years,  had  every  where  sunk  to  lilllo 
more  than  half  of  their  former  amount.) 


*  See  Humboldt's  Amivdle  Espagne,  iii.  398;  and 
Alison's  Europe,  chap.  Ixvii.  ^  48,  iiot'o. 


180.') 

1800 
18(17 
1808 
180'J 
1810 
1820 
1821 
1822 


£ 

7,104,436 

(;,.0I)2,M2 

s,:ir)0,ir)2 
fi,U)'.),(i:)8 

0,007,853 

3,8:i,s,:!:,o 

3,5,'-)7.2:i0 

2,887,487 
2.500.000 


1814 
1815 
IhlO 
1810 
1 820 
1821 
1820 
1830 
"Kit 


Bank  nnd  Ciink 
L-ra'  N.iti-., 
gbnd. 


£ 

47,.'»(l  1.080 

•)('i,272,050 
■l'J,l(l'.l,l',20 
4ll.'.12S,  1-JS 
34.115,:!05 
30,727,0:1(1 

2H,:ioi,):i7 

2S,501,t54 
2fi.O(\5.004 


Yrar 

I'ri.-,..  of 
w(u-.t  ,„.r 

r|U,ulfr. 

s.  d. 

1814 

85    0 

IMS 

70    0 

iNKi 

t2    0 

IMO 

78     0 

1820 

76     0 

1821 

71     0 

1  h20 

55    4 

i8:i(i 

01    10 

1831 

5H     3 

— Alison's  Europe,  chap  xcvi.,  Appendix. 


hi  STORY    OF    EUROTR 


[C;iA! 


Grcttl  Brimin,  as  the  richest  eoiintry  in  the 
J-  pit'be,  niul   llie  oiio   in   which   the 

lloiw!.  Is  hir>:est  tinunint  of  indiisliy  was  car- 

pnwjH.ts  or  rii-il  „n^  was  llie  one  ol  course  in 
I"il'.'ri'^,'.!l.„  ^vliich  this  rcJuclii.n  dl"  prices  was 
most  sorely  lelt ;  nml  it  canic  to  a(- 
iVct  the  well-hein-;  of  the  liirjiest  portion  of  the 
iH'opie.  It  was  not  merely  the  reiluclion  of 
prices  on  an  average  of  years  which  was  I'clt  as 
^o  j;ricvous  an  evil,  but  this  vacillation  from  year 
to  year,  with  the  llueluations  ol"  a  currency  since 
ISI'J  rcnilered  mainly  liepciiilent  on  the  retention 
ol"  tjolti.  The  parlia'meiilary  procecilings  during 
the  whole  period  are  lilled  with  petitions  com- 
plainini:  alternately  ol"  agricultural  and  manu- 
lacturing  distress,  which  were  regularly  referred 
to  committees,  and  as  regularly  followed  by  no 
alleviating  measures.  In  truth,  the  evil  had  got 
beyond  the  reach  of  human  remedy  ;  for  it  arose 
from  the  conlirmed  ascendency  in  the  legislature 
of  a  class  which  had  gained,  and  was  gaining, 
immensely  by  the  general  suffering  with  which 
it  was  surrounded.  It  was  hard  to  say  whether 
the  manufacturing  aristocracy  engaged  in  the 
export  trade  gained  most  by  the  general  reduc- 
tion in  the  price  of  commodities,  and,  as  a  nec- 
essary consequence,  in  the  wages  of  labor,  or 
the  moneyed  from  the  commercial  catastrophes 
which  brought  interest  up  to  a  usurious  rale,  and 
enabled  them  to  accumulate  colossal  fortunes  in 
a  few  years.  Every  thing  turned  to  the  profit 
of  capital  and  the  depression  of  industry  ;  and  so 
strongly  were  the  interests  magnified  by  these 
changes  intrenched  in  the  legislature,  that  the 
cause  of  humanity  seemed  hopeless.  Every  ef- 
fort of  industry,  every  triumph  of  art,  every  in- 
crease of  population,  tended  only  to  augment  the 
general  distress,  because  it  enhanced  the  dis- 
proportion between  the  decreasing  circulation 
and  increasing  numbers  and  transactions  of  man- 
kind ;  and  prophetic  wisdom,  resting  on  the  past, 
and  musing  on  the  future,  could  anticipate  no- 
thing but  a  decline  and  fall,  precisely  similar  to 
that  of  ancient  Rome,  for  modern  Europe. 

But  Providence  is  wiser  than  man  ;  and  often 
35  when  human  effort  is  inadequate  to 

Vast  effect  of  arrest  the  current  of  misfortune,  and 
•^'^ /discovery  nothing  but  disaster  can  be  antici- 
Qia  gold.  '"^'  P^l^tl  ''"■  'he  future  of  mankind,  a 
cause  is  suddenly  brought  into  op- 
eration which  entirely  alters  the  destinies  of 
the  species,  and  educes  future  and  unlimited 
pood  out  of  present  and  crushing  evil.  At  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  working  classes 
over  all  Europe  were  sunk  in  a  state  of  debase- 
ment, from  which  extrication  seemed  hopeless, 
from  the  strength  of  the  position  occupied  by  the 
feudal  aristocracy  by  which  they  were  oppressed. 
Providence  revealed  the  compass  to  mankind, 
the  Almighty  breathed  the  spirit  of  prophetic 
heroism  into  one  man — Columbus  spread  his  sails 
across  the  Atlantic,  the  mines  of  Mexico  and 
Peru  were  discovered,  and  the  destinies  of  the 
world  were  changed.  Less  oppressed  in  appear- 
ance, but  not  less  depressed  in  reality,  the  labor- 
ing poor  were  generally  struggling  with  diffi- 
culties in  every  part  of  the  civilized  world,  after 
the  termination  of  the  great  strife  of  the  French 
Revolution ;  the  moneyed  had  come  instead  of  the 
feudal  aristocracy;  and  so  strongly  was  the  com- 
mercial class,  which  had  grown  up  into  impor- 
\t  "ce  during  its  continuance   intrenched  in  the 


citadclsof  ]iowci  lliat  relief  or  cmancipalion  from 
evil  seemed  alikt.  out  of  the  (juestion.  Even  the 
terrible  monetary  crash  of  1S48  failed  in  draw- 
ing general  attention  to  the  subject,  or  making 
the  suffering  classes  aware  of  the  source  from 
which  their  dilliculties  proceeded.  Financial 
difficulties  induced  by  that  very  monetary  pres- 
sure drove  the  Americans  into  the  career  of  con- 
quest; repudiation  of  debts  was  succeeded  by 
aggression  on  territory;  Texas  was  overrun  by 
squatters,  California  conquered  by  armies,  the 
reserve  treasures  of  nature  opened  up,  and  the 
face  of  the  world  was  changed. 

To  appreciate  the  immense  and  blessed  influ- 
fluence  of  this  event  upon  the  hap-  ,„ 

piness  and  prospects  of  mankind,  -wiiat  if  Cali- 
we  have  only  to  suppose  that  it  had  fomia  hud  n  u 
not  taken  place,  and  consider  what  been  discov- 
would,  in  that  event,  have  been  the 
destinies  of  the  species?  America,  with  twenty- 
four  millions  of  inhabitants,  is  now  doubling  iis 
numbers  every  Iwenty-five  years  ;  Russia,  with 
sixty-six  millions,  every  fifty  years  ;  twenty-five 
millions  are  yearly  added  tothe  inhabitants  of 
Europe,  west  of  the  Vistula;  and  the  British  col- 
onies, in  Australia,  are  rising  at  a  rate  which 
promises  ere  long  to  outstrip  the  far-famed  rapid- 
ity of  Transatlantic  increase.  Great  and  unprece- 
dented as  is  this  simultaneous  growth  of  mankind 
in  so  many  different  parts  of  the  world,  it  is  yet 
outstripped  by  the  increase  of  their  industry  and 
transactions.  The  enhanced  activity  and  energj-, 
springing  from  the  development  of  the  demo- 
cratic passions  in  Western  Europe ;  the  multi- 
plied wants  and  luxuries  of  man,  arising  from  the 
long  continuance  of  peace,  and  growth  of  realized 
wealth ;  the  prodigious  change  effected  by  steam, 
at  sea  and  land,  in  their  means  of  communica- 
tion, have  all  conspired  to  multiply  their  trans- 
actions in  a  still  greater  ratio  than  their  num- 
bers. In  these  circumstances,  if  the  circulating 
medium  of  the  globe  had  remained  stationary,  or 
declining,  as  it  was  frcm  1815  to  1849  from  the 
effects  of  South  American  revolution  and  English 
legislation,  the  necessary  result  must  have  been 
that  it  would  have  become  altogether  inadequate 
to  the  wants  of  men ;  and  not  only  would  industry 
have  been  everywhere  cramped,  but  the  price  of 
produce  would  have  universally  and  constantly 
fallen.  Money  would  every  day  have  become 
more  valuable — all  other  articles  measured  in 
money,  less  so  ;  debts  and  taxes  would  have  been 
constantly  increasing  in  weight  and  oppression  : 
the  fate  which  crushed  Rome  in  ancient,  and  has 
all  but  crushed  Great  Britain  in  modern  times, 
would  have  been  thatof  the  whole  family  of  man- 
kind. The  extension  and  general  use  of  a  paper 
currency  might  have  alleviated,  but  it  could  not 
have  removed  these  evils;  for  no  such  currency, 
common  to  all  mankind,  has  ever  yet  been  found 
practicable ;  and  such  is  the  weight  of  capital, 
and  the  strength  of  the  influences  which,  in  an 
artificial  state  of  society,  it  comes  to  exercise  on 
the  measures  of  Government,  that  experience 
gives  no  countenance  to  the  belief  that  any  neces- 
sities of  mankind,  however,  urgent,  would  lead 
to  the  adoption  of  measures  by  which  its  realized 
value  might  be  lessened. 

All  these  evils  have  been  entirely  obviated,  and 
the  opposite  set  of  blessings  introduced,  by  the 
opening  of  the  great  reserve  treasures  of  nature 
in  Caliiornia  and  Australia.     As  clearly  as  the 


Cv>p.  I. 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


13 


basin  of  the  Mississippi  was  prepared  by  the 

40.  hand  of  nature  to  receive  the  surplus 
Vast  Wess-  population  of  the  Western  World, 
ings  which  its  ^vere  the  gold  mines  of  California 
fiitroduced^''^  provided  to  meet  the  wants  of  the 

Western,  those  of  Australia  of  the 
Eastern  Hemisphere.  We  can  now  contem- 
plate with  complacency  any  given  increase  in 
mankind ;  the  growth  of  their  numbers  will  not 
lead  to  the  aggravation  of  their  sufferings.  Three 
years  only  have  elapsed  since  Californian  gold  was 
discovered  by  Anglo-Saxon  enterprise,  and  the 
annual  supply  has  already  come  to  exceed  £25.- 
000,000  sterling.  Coupled  with  the  mines  of 
Australia  and  the  Ural  mountains,  it  will  soon 
exceed  thirty,  perhaps  reach  forty  millions !  Be- 
fore half  a  century  has  elapsed,  prices  of  every  ar- 
ticle of  commerce  will  be  tripled,  enterprise  pro- 
poriionally  encouraged,  industry  vivified,  debts 
and  taxes  lessened.  A  fate  the  precise  reverse 
of  that  which  destroyed  Rome,  and  so  sorely  dis- 
tressed England,  is  reserved  for  the  great  family 
of  mankind.  When  the  discovery  of  the  compass, 
of  the  art  of  printing,  and  of  the  new  world,  had 
given  an  extraordinary  impulse  to  human  activ- 
ity in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  silver  mines  of 
Mexico  and  Peru  were  opened  by  Providence, 
and  the  means  of  conducting  industry  in  con- 
sistence with  human  happiness  was  afforded  to 
mankind.  When,  by  the  consequences  of  the 
French  Revolution,  the  discovery  of  steam  con- 
veyance, the  improvement  of  machinery,  and  the 
vast  extension  of  European  emigration,  a  still 
greater  impulse  was  given  to  the  human  species 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  the  gold  mines  of  Cali- 
fornia and  Australia  were  brought  into  operation, 
and  the  increase  in  human  numbers  and  transac- 
tions was  even  exceeded  by  the  means  provided 
for  conducting  them  !  If  ever  the  benevolence 
of  the  Almighty  was  clearly  revealed  in  human 
affairs,  it  was  in  these  two  decisive  discoveries 
made  at  such  periods ;  and  he  who,  on  consider- 
ing them,  is  not  persuaded  of  the  superintendence 
of  an  ever-watchful  Providence,  would  not  be 
convinced  though  one  rose  from  the  dead. 

Coexistent  with  this  boundless  capability  of 

41.  increase  afTorded  to  the  circulating 
Immense  medium  of  the  globe,  are  the  vast 
effect  oi  the  additions  which  the  powers  of  art 
appliration of  ,  i  ^  ,i  r  • 
Kteani  to  have  made  to  the  resources  of  m- 
tn(!chani(v_  dustry  and  the  means  of  human 
labor.  communication.  It  is  hard  to  say 
whether  the  application  of  steam  has  acted 
most  powerfully,  by  the  almost  miraculous  mul- 
tiplication it  has  produced  of  the  powers  of 
mechanical  invention,  or  the  facilities  it  has 
afforded  to  the  communication  of  mankind  with 
each  other,  and  the  mutual  interchange  of  the 
produce  of  their  labor.  When  we  contemplate 
the  effect  of  the  steam-engine  on  machinery, 
and  the  conducting  of  nearly  all  the  branches  of 
manufacturing  industry,  as  it  has  been  exempli- 
fied in  Great  Britain  for  the  last  eighty  years, 
we  seem  to  have  been  entering  on  a  career  to 
which  imagination  itself  can  assign  no  limit. 
All  that  is  told  of  the  wondcr.s  of  ancient  art, 
all  that  is  imagined  of  the  fabled  powers  of  genii 
or  magicians,  has  been  exceeded  by  the  simple 
experience  of  the  capabilities  of  that  marvelous 
agent.  It  has  multiplied  above  a  hundred-fold 
the  powers  of  industry;  it  has  penetrated  every 
branch  of  art    and  carried   its  va-^t  capabilities 


into  the  most  hiddet^  rci.  tses  of  mechanical 
labor.  It  has  overturned  constitutions,  changed 
the  class  in  which  the  ruling  power  was  vested, 
saved  and  conquered  nations.  It  outstrips  the 
wonders  figured  by  the  fancy  of  Ariosto;  it 
almost  equals  the  marvels  of  Aladdin's  lamp; 
it  seems  to  realize  all  that  the  genius  of  iTlschy- 
lus  had  prophesied  foV  mankind,  when  Prome- 
theus stole  the  fire  from  heaven. 

Great  as  are  the  things  which  the  steam- 
engine  has  done  tor  mankind,  it  42. 
may  be  doubted  whether  what  it  And  import- 
has  left  undone  are  not  still  more  tein*''  hianpii- 
important  to  human  happiness  and  cable  to  agri 
the  moral  purity  of  the  species,  culture. 
Its  marvels  are  confined  to  manufacturing  in- 
dustry :  it  is  incapable  of  application  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  soil.  It  enables  one  man  to  do 
the  work  of  two  hundred  men,  in  providing  dress 
or  luxuries  for  mankind;  but  it  has  not  super- 
seded even  the  arm  of  infancy  or  old  age  in  fur- 
nishing them  with  the  means  of  subsistence. 
Behold  that  boy  who  fends  his  flocks  on  the  turf- 
clad  mountain's  brow  :  he  is  as  ignorant  of  art 
as  his  predecessors  were  in  the  valleys  of  Arca- 
dia ;  but  will  the  steam-engine  ever  encroach 
on  his  blessed  domain?  Listen  to  the  song  of 
the  milkmaid,  as  she  trips  along  yon  grassy 
mead  ;  is  that  gladsome  note  to  become  silent  in 
the  progress  of  civilization?  Observe  that  old 
man  who  is  delving  the  garden  behind  his  cot- 
tage ;  the  feebleness  of  age  marks  his  steps,  the 
weakness  of  time  has  all  but  paralyzed  his  arms; 
yet  art,  in  all  its  glory,  will  not  equal  his  laboi 
in  the  jiroduction  of  food  for  man.  Cast  your 
eyes  on  that  orchard,  which  is  loaded  with  the 
choicest  fruits  of  autumn — on  that  sunny  slope, 
which  seems  to  groan  under  the  riches  of  the 
vintage — on  that  garden,  which  realizes  all  that 
the  soul  of  Milton  has  figured  of  the  charms  of 
Paradise — and  say,  will  these  primeval  and  de- 
lightful scenes  ever,  in  the  march  of  improve- 
ment, be  lost  to  mankind?  The  powers  of 
steam,  the  inventions  of  mechanism,  the  division 
of  labor,  have  done  wonders  in  all  the  branches 
of  handicraft  ai.d  art;  but  they  have  left  un- 
touched the  marriage  of  industry  with  nature  in 
the  fields;  and  in  the  last  days  of  mankind,  as 
in  the  first,  it  is  in  the  garden  of  Eden  that  mar. 
is  to  find  his  earthly  paradise. 

The  proof  of  this  is  decisive;  it  is  to  bo  lour.u 
not  less  in  the  figures  of  the  statist  43 

than  in  the  dreams  of  the  poet.  Proof  of  this 
The  old  state  can  always  undersell  ''>■'""  statist i- 
ihe  young  one  in  manufactures,  but  !'T''„^""^"'" 

.    '  •  !•  1  1  111..         aUOnti. 

It  IS  as  uniformly  undersold  by  it  in 
subsistence.  England  can  produce  cotton  goods 
cheaper  than  any  other  nation,  from  a  material 
grown  on  the  banks  of  ihe  Mississippi,  and  it  is 
the  consciousness  of  that  abilily  which  makes 
her  now  advocate  the  doctrines  of  Free  Trade; 
but  she  is  unable  to  compete  with  the  harvests 
of  Poland,  the  Ukraine,  and  America,  just  as 
ancient  Italy  was  with  those  of  Libya  and 
Egypt.  At  this  moment  she  exports  sixty-fivo 
millions'  v/orth  of  manufactures ;  but  she  imports 
ten  millions  of  quarters  of  grain,  of  which  nearly 
the  half  are  of  wheat,  being  a  full  third  of  that 
staple  food  of  our  whole  people.  Grain  is  never 
raised  so  cheap  as  in  those  places  where  tli« 
soil  is  rich,  the  people  poor,  and  civili/.alicii. 
compitratively  speaking,   in  a  slate  of  iniancy 


i4 


HISTORY    (   F    EUROTE. 


[ClIAI.  1. 


The  reason  is,  that  in  the  old  state,  hc'iu^  ihe 
richer  of  the  two,  money  is  more  nbnn(hiiit,  the 
wuires  of  labor  hijjiher,  ami  the  consecjr.cnt  cost 
of  raisiii'i  liHxl  greater  than  in  the  poorer  state, 
where  wages  are  low  because  money  is  scarce. 
Machinery  obviates,  and  more  than  obviates, 
this  moneyed  inequality  in  the  production  ol'man- 
ulaciures,  but  it  has  no  iilliuence  in  chea|iciiin<i 
that  of  food.  This  is  a  fi.xcd,  eternal,  and  un- 
changeable lav^•  of  nature — the  same  in  the  last 
stages  of  society,  and  ages  of  the  world,  as  in 
the  first — against  which  the  genius,  the  inven- 
tions, and  the  industry  of  man  are  alike  unable 
to  strive.  As  such,  it  exercises  a  great  and 
lasting  influence  upon  the  fortunes  of  the  species. 
It  was  the  main  cause  of  the  overthrow  of  Rome 
in  ancient,  and  of  the  decline  of  Great  Britain  in 
modern  times :  it  imposes,  at  one  time,  an  im- 
passable bar  to  the  progress  of  a  particular  na- 
tion; and  prevents,  at  another,  the  undue  mul- 
tiplication of  mankind  in  a  particular  locality. 
It  is  the  great  means  provided  by  Providence 
for  arresting  the  corruption  of  aged  societies, 
and  securing,  when  the  appointed  time  arrives, 
the  general  dispersion  of  the  species. 

To  be  convinced  of  this,  and  of  the  vast  influ- 
44_  ence  of  this  law  of  nature  upon  the 

What  if  the  destinies  of  mankind,  we  have  only 
cjse  had  been  to  consider  what  would  have  been 
otherwise.  jj^^j^.  gj,uation  if  the  ease  had  been 
otherwise — if  subsistence,  like  manufactures  or 
minerals,  could  be  raised  by  huge  factories  in 
particular  places,  and  fire  had  been  capable  of 
working  the  same  prodigies  in  the  production  of 
food  for  man,  as  it  is  in  that  of  cotton  or  iron 
goods.  Would  the  world,  in  such  circumstances 
have  been  worth  living  in?  Could  any  human 
power  have  prevented  the  universal  corruption 
of  the  species;  could  the  progress,  even,  and 
increase  of  mankind,  have  been  secured,  when 
it  is  recollected  that  manufacturing  diitriets,  so 
far  from  increasing,  are  never  able  to  maintain 
their  own  numbers;  and  that,  but  for  a  constant 
immigration  from  rural  localities,  they  would 
constantly  decline  in  population?  If  the  hus- 
bandmen of  the  fields,  the  shepherds  of  the 
mountains,  had  become  daily,  in  the  progress  of 
society,  more  and  more  collected  in  huge  manu- 
factories, where  subsistence  was  rolled  out  of 
mills  like  cotton  goods  from  the  steam-power 
looms,  or  iron  from  the  furnaces,  what  would 
have  become  of  the  human  race  ?  If,  in  the  pro- 
gress of  society,  the  growth  of  wealth,  and  the 
extension  of  mechanical  invention,  one  man  be- 
came capable  in  these  immense /bod- whY/s  of  pro- 
ducing subsistence  for  two  hundred  men,  what 
could  stand  in  infant  states  against  such  compe- 
tition with  the  more  advanced  ones  ?  And  would 
not  the  inevitable  result  have  been,  that  the  human 
species,  insteeid  of  following  out  the  precept  of 
the  Almighty,  and  extending  over  the  earth  and 
subduing  it,  would  have  been  all  collected  together 
round  a  few  early-peopled  districts  where  man- 
ners were  corrupted,  happiness  blighted,  and  the 
multiplication  of  the  race  rendered  impossible? 

The  influence  which  this  law  of  nature  exer- 
cises  upon  the  fate  of  particular  na- 
Inflaence  of  tions  is  great  and  decisive.  It  has 
this  law  on  for  ever  rendered  impossible  that 
the  fate  of  par-  pressure  of  poptlation  upon  the 
tlons*"^  "^'  ''"flits  of  subsistence,  which,  in  the 
jeginnin^  of  the  present  century, 


was  Fo  much  the  object  of  dread  among  political 
economists.  When  a  country  becomes  rich  and 
densely  peopled,  a  considerable  part  of  its  inhab. 
itants  invariably  take  to  manufacturing  pursuits ; 
and  when  this  is  the  case,  not  or.Jy  is  the  in- 
crease of  that  section  of  the  community  from  its 
own  resources  immediately  arrested,  but  the  pa<*. 
sions  and  desires  which  arise  in  the  urban  popu- 
lation and  manufacturing  districts  lead  to  the 
stoppace  of  all  increase  in  the  agricultui-al.  The 
cry  for  cheap  bread  is  heard  ;  and  as  it  can  never 
be  raised  as  cheap  in  the  old  state  as  the  yoimg 
one,  the  consequence  is,  that  free  importation  is 
first  called  for,  and  at  last  admitted.  The  mo- 
ment this  takes  place,  to  any  great  extent,  the 
limits  of  national  progress  have  been  reached, 
population  declines,  emigration  increases,  and 
the  sinews  of  the  state  are  transferred  to  distant 
lands.  How  clearly  is  the  operation  of  this  law 
of  nature  exemplified  in  the  recent  history  of 
Great  Britain,  where  the  nation  has  been  con- 
vulsed with  the  fierce  demand  for  free  trade  in 
corn,  first  raised  in  the  manufacturing  towns ; 
and,  as  a  consequence  of  its  concession,  it  now 
finds  ten  millions  of  quarters  of  foreign  grain  an- 
nually imported,  three  hundred  thousand  culti- 
vators annually  exported,  and  the  chief  market 
for  its  manufactures  in  the  inhabitants  of  its  own 
fields  daily  declining. 

But  if  this  law  of  nature,  acting  as  it  does  upon 
the  selfish  dispositions  and  grasping  ^g. 

propensities  of  mankind,  has  thus  Great  effect 
affixed  an  everlasting  bar  to  the  "pon  the  for- 
progress  of  particular  nations,  it  is  ^"cfes!"^  "'^ 
attended  with  very  diflerent  results 
upon  the  general  fortunes  of  the  species.  If  the 
first  leads  to  melancholy,  the  last  inspires  the 
most  consolatory  reflections.  It  is  constantly  to 
be  recollected,  that  the  designs  of  Providence 
are  not  limited  to  the  growth  of  any  particular 
people,  but  extend  to  the  general  extension  and 
dispersion  of  the  species.  To  people  the  earth 
and  subdue  it  is  the  first  duty,  as  it  was  the  first 
command  to  mankind,  in  the  last  ages  of  the 
world  as  in  the  first.  When,  from  the  causes 
which  have  been  mentioned,  the  progress  of  a 
particular  state  is  arrested  by  the  indulgence  of 
the  selfish  passions  of  its  own  people,  the  sinews 
of  its  strength,  the  seeds  of  its  greatness,  are 
not  lost ;  they  are  only  transferred  to  distant 
realms,  where  a  wider  field  is  prepared  for  their 
reception,  and  the  means  of  safe  and  unbounded 
multiplication  are  afforded.  Sometimes  this  great 
migration  of  mankind  takes  place  from  the  lust 
of  foreign  conquest,  sometimes  from  the  impa- 
tience of  internal  passion.  In  one  age  it  appears 
in  the  fierce  tempest  of  Scythian  conquest;  in 
anothei",  in  the  ceaseless  inroad  of  pacific  im- 
migration ;  at  one  time  it  implants  the  Gothic 
swarm  in  the  destined  fields  of  European  enter- 
terprise ;  at  another,  spreads  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  over  the  boundless  regions  of  Transatlantic 
or  Australian  freedom. 

"Knowledge,"'  says  Lord  Bacon,  "is  Pnccr.''' 
He  has  not  said  it  is  either  wisdom  4- 

or  virtue.  In  this  respect  a  capital  Effect  of  gen- 
mistake  has  been  committed  both  eral  education 
by  the  speculative  and  active  part  ^or^aln*}^ 
of  mankind  of  late  years;  and,  what 
is  very  remarkable,  by  the  religious  teachers, 
whose  principles  should  have  led  them  most  f! 
distrust  the  elficaey  of  intellectual  cultivation  ii' 


CUAP.  I.] 

arresting  the  corruption  of  mankind.  They  for- 
g'ot  that  it  was  eating  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of 
knowledge  which  expelled  our  first  parents  from 
Paradise — that  the  precept  of  our  Saviour  was 
to  preach  the  gospel  to  all  nations,  not  to  educate 
all  nations.  Experience  has  now  abundantly 
verified  the  melancholy  truth  so  often  enforced 
in  Scripture,  so  constantly  forgotten  by  mankind, 
that  intellectual  cultivation  has  no  eliect  in  ar- 
resting the  sources  of  evil  in  the  human  heart ; 
that  it  alters  the  direction  of  crime,  but  does  not 
■'er  its  amount.     The  poet  has  said — 

"  Dedicisse  fideliter  artes, 
Emollit  mores,  nee  sinit  esse  feros." 

And  that  is  undoubtedly  true.  But  observe,  he 
has  not  said,  "nee  sinit  esse ^Jravos."  Education 
and  civilization,  generally  diffused,  have  a  pow- 
erful effect  in  softening  the  savage  passions  of 
the  human  breast,  and  checking  the  crimes  of 
violence  which  originate  in  their  indulgence ; 
but  they  tend  rather  to  increase  than  diminish 
those  of  fraud  and  gain,  because  they  add  strength 
to  the  desires,  by  multiplying  the  pleasures  which 
can  be  attained  only  by  the  acquisition  of  pro- 
perty. Then  is  indeed  experienced  the  truth 
of  the  saying  of  the  wise  man,  that  "  the  love  of 
money  is  the  root  of  all  evil." 

This  is  a  melancholy  truth :  so  melancholy, 
4g  indeed,  that  it  is  far  from  being  gen- 

Proof  of  this  erally  admitted  even  by  the  best  in- 
from  various  formed  persons ;  andit  is  so  mortify- 
countnes.  ^^„  ^^  ^^^  p^^jg  ^j-  human  intellect, 
that  it  is  probably  the  last  one  which  will  be  gen- 
erally admitted  by  mankind.  Nevertheless,  there 
is  none  which  is  supported  by  a  more  wide- 
spread and  unvarying  mass  of  proofs,  or  which, 
when  rightl}'  considered,  might  more  naturally 
be  anticipated  from  the  structure  of  the  human 
mind.  The  utmost  efforts  have,  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  been  made  in  various  countries  to 
extend  the  blessings  of  education  to  the  laboring 
classes;  but  not  only  has  no  diminution  in  con- 
sequence been  perceptible  in  the  amount  of 
crime  and  the  turbulence  of  mankind,  but  the 
effect  has  been  just  the  reverse;  they  have  both 
signally  and  alarmingly  increased.  Education 
has  been  made  a  matter  of  state  policy  in  Prus- 
sia, and  every  child  is,  by  the  compulsion  of  gov- 
ernment, sent  to  school ;  but  so  far  has  this  uni- 
versal spread  of  instruction  been  from  eradicat- 
ing the  seeds  of  evil,  that  serious  crime  is  four- 
tcen  times  as  prevalent,  in  proportion  to  the  popu- 
lation in  Prussia,  as  it  is  in  France,  where  about 
two-thirds  of  the  whole  inhabitants  can  neither 
read  nor  write.*  In  France  itself,  it  has  been 
ascertained,  from  the  returns  collected  in  the 
"  Statistique  Morale  dc  la  France,"  of  commit- 
ments for  crimes  tried  at  the  assizes,  and  the 
number  of  children  at  school,  that  the  amount 
of  crime  in  all  the  eighty-three  Departments  is, 
without  one  single  exception,  in  proportion  to 
the  amount  of  instruction  received  ;  and  accord- 
ingly, in  the  very  curious  and  interesting  tables 
constructed  by  M.  Guerry,  the  lightest  Depart- 
ments in  the  map  showing  the  amount  of  edu- 
cation,  are   the   darkest   in   that  showing   the 

*  In  France  and  Prussia  there  were  respectively  in  1826, 

l'rii-«ia.  Frnnro. 

Crimes  against  the  person  ....  I  In  .■?•}, 122  I  1  in  32,41 1 

Do.                 property  . .  1  in      i")!*"  1  in   U,.'!'J2 

On  the  whole 1  in      5b7  |  ]  in   7,265 

•Sb«  Allscn's  Essays,  i.  558. 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


13 


amount  of  crime.*  By  far  the  greater  propor- 
tion of  the  ladies  of  pleasure  in  Paris  come  from 
the  districts  to  the  north  of  the  Loire,  the  most 
highly  educated  in  France.  In  Scotlanu,  the 
educated  criminals  are  to  the  uneducated  as  -li 
to  1 ;  in  England,  as  2  to  1  nearly;  in  Ireland 
they  are  about  equal. t  In  America,  the  educated 
criminals  are  in  most  of  the  States  of  the  Union 
three  times  the  uneducated,  and  some  double 
only;  in  all,  greatly  superior  in  number. J  These 
facts,  to  all  persons  capable  of  yielding  assent  to 
evidence  in  opposition  to  prejudice,  completely 
settle  the  question  ;  but  the  conclusion  to  which 
they  lead  is  so  adverse  to  general  opinion,  that 
probably  more  than  one  generation  must  descend 
to  their  graves  before  they  are  generally  ad- 
mitted. 

And  yet,  although  the  pride  of  intellect  is  so 
reluctant  to  admit  this  all-important 
truth,  there  is  none  which  in  reali-  Reascms  of 
ty  is  so  entirely  conformable  to  the  this  peculiar- 
known  dispositions  of  the  human  ity  in  human 
mind,  or  which  is  so  frequently  and  "^'"'■''• 
loudly  announced  in  Scripture.  That  the  heart 
is  "deceitful  above  all  things,  and  desperately 
wicked,"  we  know  from  the  very  highest  author- 
ity ;  and  pi'obably  there  is  no  man  whose  ex- 
perience of  himself,  as  well  as  others,  will  not 
confirm  the  truth  of  the  saying.  But  education 
has  no  tendency  to  weaken  the  influence  of  these 
secret  tempters  which  every  one  finds  in  his  own 
bosom ;  on  the  contrary,  it  has  often  a  tendency  to 
increase  their  power,  by  inflaming  the  imagina- 
tion with  pictui^es  of  enjoyment,  which  is  not  to 
be  attained,  at  least  in  any  short-hand  method, 
but  by  crime  or  injustice.  Discontent  with  our 
present  lot  is  too  often  the  result  of  highly- 
wrought,  and  often  exaggerated  pictures  of  the 
lot  of  others ;  thence  the  experienced  and  in- 
creasing difiiculty  of  maintaining  government, 
restraining  turbulence,  and  preserving  property 
from  spoliation  in  the  states  and  cities  where  in- 
struction is  most  generally  diffused.  The  com- 
mon idea,  that  education,  by  rendering  the 
pleasures  of  intellect  accessible  to  the  multitude, 
will  provide  an  antidote  and  counterpoise  to  the 
seductions  of  sense,  though  plausible,  is  entirel}' 
fallacious.  The  powers  of  intellect — the  capa- 
city of  feeling  its  enjoyments — is  given  to  a 
small  fraction  only  of  the  human  race  :  the  vast 
majority  of  men  in  every  rank,  are,  and  ever  will 
be,  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water. 
Physical  excitement,  animal  pleasure,  the  thirst 
for  gain,  to  be  able  to  enjoy  them,  constitute  the 
active  principles  of  nine-tenths  of  mankind,  in 
all  ages  and  ranks  of  life.  Increase  their  ma- 
terial well  being,  multiply  their  means  of  ob- 
taining these  enjoyments,  render  them,  so  far  as 
possible,  easy  and  comfortable  in  their  circum- 
stances, and  you  make  a  mighty  step  in  adding 
to  the  sum  of  human  felicity,  because  you  open 
avenues  to  it  froin  which  none  are  excluded. 
Augment  to  any  conceivable  extent  their  means 
of  instruction  ;  establish  schools  in  every  street, 


*  See  "  Satistlque  Morale  do  la  France,"  par  M.  Guerry, 
Paris,  1834 — a  most  interesting  work,  the  re.sults  of  which 
arc  well  abridged  in  Bulwer's  '*  France,"  vol.  i.  p.  173-178. 

t   1841—  Kn^liiiid.      SL-oth,ii,l.      Irfhiiid. 

Uneducated 9,220    I       f)i)6    I    8,735 

Educated 18,111     |    2,834    |    7,l.'i2 

— Portek's  Progress  of  the  Kation,  and  Parliamrntarj 
Tables. 

i  See  Buckingham's  "Travels,"  vol.  i.  pp.47?,  515. 


?f 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[CUAP.  1 


UVmrirs  in  every  villnfr<",  ""il  you  il»  iiirmilo 
things,  imicctl,  lor  jIhj  lliiiikini^  lew,  but  liltlc 
for  llie  iinlliiiikini;  iniiiiy. 

Uul  ihis   virv   oiii'iiinsliuu'O  of  the  extreme 
y,  naiiowiK'ss  of  the  circle  to  which 

Oriiornl  pow-  lilcriirv  |ilensures  can  by  possibility 
rr  oi"  iliouKlit  bo  extciuicil.  ami  of  the  limited 
OV.T nmiikuiJ.  sphere  over  which  its  diicet  en- 
joyments spreaii,  only  renders  the  {greater  and 
the  move  enduring;  the  sway  of  intelligence  and 
inlellect  over  mankind,  and  the  permanent  di- 
rection of  human  destinies  by  the  power  of  thought. 
However  much  men,  in  troubled  times,  may 
Aspire  to  self-government — however  long  and 
fiercely  they  may  contend  for  it — there  is  nothing 
more  certain,  than  that  they  can  never  enjoy  it, 
not  even  for  an  hour.  They  are  disqualified  for 
it  bv  the  decided  inferiority  of  the  general  mind. 
The  first  and  most  urnrent  necessity  of  mankind 
is  to  be  iroverned.  JNlan  can  exist  for  days  to- 
gether without  food,  for  months  without  shelter; 
but  not  for  an  hour  without  a  government.  The 
first  act  of  successful  insurrection,  as  of  victo- 
rious mutiny,  invariably  is  to  appoint  3  new  set 
of  rulers,  who  shall  discharge  the  duties,  and 
who  never  fail  to  render  more  stringent  the 
))owers  of  the  old  ones.  Mankind  does  not  by 
revolution  escape  from  government;  it  only 
changes  its  governors.  Monarchy  was  as  really 
established  in  France  under  Robespierre,  Napo- 
leon, Louis  Philippe,  and  Louis  Napoleon,  as 
ever  it  was  under  Louis  XIV. :  the  only  differ- 
ence was  in  the  person  or  party  who  wielded 
the  sovr, reign  powers.  The  English  soon  dis- 
covered whe!iier  the  executive  was  less  strin- 
gent or  cosily  under  the  Long  Parliament, 
Cromwell,  or  William  IIP,  than  it  had  been  under 
the  princes  of  the  Stuart  line.  Rousseau  has 
affirmed,  that  the  origin  of  government  is  to  be 
looked  for  in  the  social  contract ;  other  political 
dreamers  have  sought  it  in  the  ruthless  power  of 
primeval  conquests ;  but  its  real  source  is  to  be 
found  in  a  cause  of  more  general  and  lasting 
operation  than  either.  It  consists  in  the  expe- 
rienced inability  of  mankind  to  govern  themselves. 

It  is  this  circumstance  which  has  so  immense- 
ly extended  the  influence  of  mind, 
Great  con-  ^"'^  augmented,  in  so  fearl'ul  a  de- 
sequent  influ-  pree,  the  responsibilit}'  of  those 
ence  of  mind  who  direct  its  powers.  The  ihink- 
fairs"™'*"  ^^'  ^""  '^^^  govern  the  unthinking 
many ;  and  they  are  themselves  di- 
rected by  the  still  smaller  number  to  whom 
Providence  has  unlocked  the  fountains  of  origin- 
al thought.  If  we  would  discover  the  real 
rulers  of  mankind  in  civilized  states,  and  in  this 
age,  we  must  look  for  them,  not  in  the  cabinets 
of  princes,  but  in  the  closet  of  the  sage.  There 
is  only  this  difference  between  them,  that  the 
sway  of  the  latter  does  not  arise  till  long  after 
he  has  been  mouldering  in  his  grave.  It  does 
not  commence  till  the  third  or  fourth  generation. 
That  time  is  required  for  thought  to  descend  from 
the  pinnacles  where  it  is  first  evolved,  to  the 
inferior  regions,  where  it  must  spread  before  it 
U  carried  into  effect.  But  though  slew,  the  ef- 
fect is  not  the  less  certain.  Who  brought  about 
the  French  Revoljtion,  and  all  the  countless 
changes  and  convulsions  to  which  it  has  given 
rise?  It  was  neither  Calonne  nor  Brienne, 
Neckar  nor  Mirabeau ;  they  only  moved  with 
the  stream  when  put  in  motion  :  it  was  Voltaire 


and  Rousseau  that  unlocked  the  original  fount- 
ains ;  it  is  genius  alone  that  can  unlock  the 
cavern  of  ihc  winils.  Who  was  the  real  author  of 
free  trade,  and  of  a  change  of  polic)',  the  clliscts 
of  which  are  incalculable  upon  the  British  em- 
jiirc?  It  was  neither  Sir  Robert  Peel  nor  Mr. 
Huskisson  ;  it  was  not  Cobden  nor  Bright  :  it  is 
Adam  Smith  and  (iuesnay  who  stand  forth  as 
the  autluirs  of  this  mighty  innovation.  All  that 
the  sub^cijuent  statesmen  did  was  to  elaborate 
and  cany  into  execution  what  they  had  an- 
nounced and  recommended.  Even  the  reaction 
against  innovation,  and  the  frequent  return,  after 
an  experience  of  the  storms  of  revolution,  to  the 
stillness  of  despotism,  or  the  sternness  of  mili- 
tary power,  is  owing  to  the  powers  of  thought. 
It  is  they  which  enlbrce  the  lessons  of  experi. 
ence,  because  they  point  out  to  what  cause  prioi 
suffering  had  been  owing.  What  a  vail  dropped 
from  bel'ore  the  British  eyes,  when  the  Icon  Basi- 
like  appeared  !  And  even  the  arms  of  the  Allies 
were  less  efllcacious  than  the  genius  of  Chateau- 
briand in  procuring  the  restoration  of  the  Bour- 
bons. 

It  is  generally  supposed  that  the  powers  of 
thought,  if  allowed  free  expression, 
are  the  best  guarantee  against  the  „  ^^ 
encroachments  of  despotism ;  and  which  the 
that  the  loss  of  freedom  is  never  to  press  may  be 
be  apprehended  as  long  as  the  perverted  to 
liberty  of  the  press  is  preserved.  '^^^^^ 
But  though  that  is  olten,  it  js  by  no 
means  always  true ;  on  the  contrary,  the  sefish 
measures  of  class  government,  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  free  privileges  by  military  jiower,  are 
never  so  effectually  secured  as  by  the  support  of 
a  corrupted  or  hireling  press.  Beyond  all  ques- 
tion, the  rude  despotism  of  Cromwell  in  England, 
the  nicely-constructed  chains  of  imperial  power 
in  the  hands  of  Napoleon  in  France,  never  could 
have  existed,  but  for  the  cordial  and  interested 
support  of  an  impassioned  press  in  both  coun- 
tries. The  utter  ruin  of  the  West  India  colonies 
— the  deep  depression  of  agricultural  industry 
in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  in  consequence  of 
the  free-trade  system — the  general  and  long- 
continued  distress  of  the  whole  class  of  producers 
in  both  countries,  from  the  monetary  laws — 
never  could  have  been  effected,  if  these  meas- 
ures had  not  been  advocated  by  able  and  inde- 
fatigable journals  in  the  interest  of  the  moneyed 
ela.ss  and  the  consumers.  Those  who  lay  the 
flattering  unction  to  their  souls  that  genius  is 
the  eternal  enemy  of  oppression,  and  that  libeity 
is  safe  if  its  expression  is  secured,  would  do  well 
to  look  at  the  condition  of  Rome,  when  every  suc- 
cessive emperor  was  lauded  in  the  eloquent 
strains  of  servile  panegyrists;  of  England,  when 
the  mighty  genius  of  Milton  was  devoted  to  de- 
fending the  measures  of  the  regicide  and  Long 
Parliament ;  or  of  France,  when  the  sonorous 
periods  of  Fontanes  celebrated,  in  graceful  flat- 
tery, the  despotism  of  Napoleon. 

The  communication  of  thought  over  the  whole 
world,   and    the  consequent   inter-  53. 

change  of  ideas  and    feelings    be-  Great  eflrct 
tween  nations,  has  become  infinite-  °oyer*y*of 
ly  more  rapid  since  the  powers  of  steam  and 
steam  were  applied  to  the  means  electric  conv 
of   conveyance    by   sea   and    land,  municaiion. 
That  marvelous  discovery,   which  has  quadru- 
pled  the  powers  of  industrv  and  halved  the  dis 


>KP.    I.j 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


n 


tance  of  empires,  has  been  greatly  enhanced  by 
the  still  more  wonderful  powers  of  the  electric 
telegraph,  which  will  soon,  to  all  appearance, 
render  all  the  civilized  world  one  great  com- 
munity, over  which  the  communication  of  intel- 
ligence and  thought  will  be  as  rapid  as  over  the 
i/treets  of  a  single  capital.  With  what  import- 
ant eflects  these  great  discoveries  will  be  here- 
after attended,  may  be  judged  of  by  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  electric  shock,  communicated 
fiom  Paris,  spread  over  Europe  in  IS-IS.  Great 
consequences  must  inevitably  result  from  this 
prodigiously  enhanced  rapidity  of  communica- 
tion ;  but  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  the  con- 
sequences will  be  for  good  or  for  evil.  Vigor 
of  thought,  spread  of  ideas,  interchange  of 
knowledge,  have  been  immensely  enhanced ; 
but  is  it  quite  certain  that  these  powers  will 
be  exclusivel}'  applied  to  good  ends  ?  Are  the 
powers  of  evii  not  capable  of  taking  advantage 
of  the  means  of  enhanced  rapidity  of  communi- 
cation thus  put  into  their  hands  ?  Is  not  the 
spread  of  evil,  and  falsehood,  and  exaggeration, 
in  the  first  instance  at  least,  more  rapid  and 
certain  than  that  of  reason  and  truth,  just  in 
proportion  as  works  of  imagination  are  more 
eagerly  sought  after  than  those  which  depict 
reality  ?  And  is  not  the  unexampled  rapidity 
with  which  Europe  took  fire  in  1848,  a  decisive 
proof  that  the  increased  rapidity  in  the  com- 
munication of  thought  among  nations  tends  to 
convert  society  into  a  huge  powder-magazine, 
liable  to  blow  up  on  the  first  spark  falling  into 
it? 

That  there  is  much  truth  in  these  apprehen- 
54.  sions,    it  is  in  vain    to   deny;   but. 

Increased  happily  for  mankind,  the  remedy  is 
correspond-  as  swift  as  the  disease.  "Experi- 
tlie  principles  ence,"  says  Dr.  Johnson,  '-is  the 
which  count-  great  test  of  truth,  and  is  pcrpetu- 
uract  evil.  a^jiy  contradicting  the  theories  of 
men."  Suffering,  we  may  add,  is  the  great, 
and  perhaps  the  only  effectuai  monitor  of  na- 
tions. In  vain  do  men  seek  to  elude  its  admoni- 
tions,  to  forget  its  lessons;  it  comes  with  unerr- 
ing certainty  when  the  paths  of  evil  have  been 
trod;  and  not  now,  as  of  old,  on  the  third  and 
fourth  generation,  but  upon  the  very  generation 
which  has  committed  the  forfeit.  So  sv/ift  is 
the  communication  of  thought,  that  changes 
])roduce  their  inevitable  results  with  unheard- 
of  rapidity;  and  the  cycle  of  excitement,  folly, 
crime,  and  punishment  is  run  out  in  a  few  years. 
Decisive  proof  of  this  has  been  afforded  within 
the  memory  of  many  of  the  present  generation  ; 
if  the  records  of  the  past  are  referred  to,  the 
illustrations  of  it  are  innumerable.  Eighty 
years  elapsed,  in  ancient  Rome,  from  the  time 
when  democratic  ambition  was  first  excited  by 
the  proposals  of  Tiberius  Gracchus,  till  the 
period  when  the  wounds  of  the  Republic  were 
stanched,  and  its  peace  restored,  by  the  despot- 
ism of  Augustus  Ca3sar ;  eleven  years  passed 
away,  in  modern  times,  before  the  passions  of 
France,  in  1789,  were  stilled  by  tie  sword  of 
Napoleon ;  ten  years  marked  the  jnterval  be- 
tween the  commencement  of  the  troubles  in  lOn- 
gland,  and  the  contirmcd  military  government 
of  Cromwell.  But  in  France,  in  recent  times, 
before  four  years  had  elapsed,  the  dreams  ot 
"  Liberie,  Egalitc,  Fraternite"  were  superseded 
bv  the  general  deinaml  lor  a  string  govern- 
B 


ment,  and  the  establishment  of  the  rude  but 
effective  military  despotism  of  Louis  Napoleon  ; 
and  befoi'e  the  cry  for  Italian  nationality,  Ger« 
man  unity,  and  Hungarian  independence  had 
ceased  to  resound  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine, 
the  Po,  and  the  Danube,  the  ominous  sounds 
were  hushed  by  the  force  of  arras  on  the  Hun- 
garian plains. 

The  reason  of  this  superior  rapidity,  both  in 
the  transmission  of  danger  and  the 
extrication  of  its  remedies,  in  mod-  -yy^y  j„' 
ern  times,  is  very  apparent.     The  which  this 
laws   of   nature,    in    all    ages  and  w_as  brought 
under   all    circumstances,    are   ad- 
verse to  crime,  iniquity,  and  injustice ;  they  are 
calculated  to  foster  only  justice,  industry,  chai- 
ity.     But  there  is  now  no  special  interposition  of 
Divine  power,  to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  Divine 
administration  ;  the  agents  in  this  mighty  system 
of  wisdom,  folly,  crime,  retribution,  and  punish 
ment,  are  men  themselves.     The  extension  of 
the  power  of  reading,  the  enhanced  rapidity  in 
the  communication  of  thought,  bring  the  lessons 
of  experience  more  swiftly  home  to  mankind  ; 
they  cause  both  the  seeds  of  evil,  and  the  prin- 
ciples of  good,  to  bring  earlier  forth  their  appro- 
priate fruits.     Such  is  the  rapidity  with  which 
ideas  are  now  communicated,  that  it  resembles 
rather  an  electric  shock  than  any  of  the  ordinary 
means  by  which  thought  was  formerly  diffused  ; 
and  as  thought   is  directed  by  experience  and 
sufiering,  not  less  than   by  passion  and   desire, 
the  eradication  or  limitation  of  evil  has  become 
as  rapid  as  its  extension. 

The  desire  of  all  civilized  nations,  during  the 

last  half-century,  has  been  for  re- 

•       •  56 

presentative  institutions;  every  at-  General' lon"- 
tempted  convulsion  has  had  this  oh-  ing  after 
ject — every  successful  revolution  representa- 
has  immediately  been  followed  by  [|of,s""""" 
its  accomplishment.  The  exam- 
ples of  England  and  America,  where  they 
have  been  found  to  have  been  attended  by  rapid 
increase  of  wealth  and  population,  a  vast  devel- 
opment of  intellectual  power,  and  a  proportional 
extension  of  political  influence,  have  been  deem- 
ed decisive;  and  other  nations  considered  them- 
selves secure  of  the  same  advantages,  if  they 
obtained  the  same  form  of  government.  At 
ditferent  periods — in  1820,  1830,  1834,  and  1848 
— their  efforts  proved  successful,  their  desires 
were  accomplished.  Piedmont,  Naples,  Spain, 
Portugal,  Belgium,  France.  Austria,  Prussia, 
have  successively  obtained  this  mueh-eovetcd 
blessing ;  and  the  sequel  of  this  history  will 
show  whether  it  has  iinmedkitcly,  or  genei ally 
been  followed  by  the  advantages  which  A'ere 
anticipated.  Certain  it  is,  that  at  this  moment 
(February,  1852)  representative  institutions  are, 
with  a  few  trifling  exceptions,  virtually  extin- 
guished on  the  Continent,  and  the  despotic  pow 
er  of  sovereigns  re-estublished  and  supported  by 
1,500,000  armed  men.  And  in  South  America, 
where  royalty  has  been  every  where  abolished, 
and  republics  established  in  its  stead,  the  con- 
sequences have  been  so  dreadful  that  popula- 
tion has  generally  declined  a  third,  in  .some 
places  a  half,  during  the  last  thirty  years,  and 
a  series  of  revolutions  have  succeeded  each 
other,  so  rapid  and  destructive  that  history,  in 
despair,  has  ceased  to  attempt  to  record  their 
thread. 


i8 


HISTORY   OF    EUROPE, 


[Chap.  I. 


ft?. 

which  Itif  ir 
p-iirral  f;nl- 
un-  lias  rvcit- 
rtl  nmuiig 

UH<II. 


These  ilisnstrons  resulls,  so  ilifllTent  fmni 
wliiit  weie  nntiiMpiitoii  iViPin  the 
spifud  1)1'  inslitiitioiis  iiiuk-r  which 
Kii<;h»iul  ami  America  hiive  risen 
to  such  an  iincxnnipled  pitch  of 
prospciit}'  anil  jrloiv,  have  <lill"iis- 
eil  a  very  general  doubt  amonjT 
thoii^jhtfiil  men.  whether  tho  whole  represent- 
Hiive  system  is  not  a  ilohision,  anil  whether  its 
penerui  esiahlishmenl  would  not  be  one  of  the 
•;rentcst  curses  which  eould  be  inflicted  on  man- 
kind. They  have  been  wei<jhed  in  the  bal- 
iinee,  it  is  said,  and  found  a-wantin<j.  Men  do 
not  every  where  concur  in  abolishing  institu- 
tions which  are  really  beneficial  in  their  tend- 
ency, or  in  recurring  to  those  which  are  perni- 
cious. The  example  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  re- 
iluced  to  political  nullity  by  the  action  of  repre- 
seniaiive  institutions;  of  Piedmont,  driven  into 
iiujiist  and  ruinous  agcression  by  the  same 
cause;  of  the  splendid  regions  of  South  Amer- 
ica, rendered  desolate  by  their  efleots,  are  sufli- 
fieni  to  demonstrate  to  what  they  lead  in  states 
not  fitted  for  their  reception,  and  the  wisdom 
of  (he  efibrt  so  generally  made  in  continental 
Kuropa  by  military  power  to  counteract  their 
lemlency.  It  is  in  vain  to  say  that  this  reaction 
lins  been  owing  to  the  interposition  of  an  armed 
Uirre.  which  has  stifled  the  expression  of  the 
piiuiic  voice,  and  arrested  the  march  of  human 
iiiipruvedient.  Armed  men  are  but  the  ex- 
ecutors o[  the  national  will ;  in  all  ages,  but 
more  especially  in  civilized  and  enlightened, 
they  do  not  control,  but  express  it.  The  stifling 
of  the  revolution  of  1848,  in  France,  was  ae- 
ci  mplished  in  the  first  instance  by  the  soldiers, 
jiiid  by  as  rude  an  exercise  of  power  as  the 
dispersion  of  the  Council  of  Five  Hundred  by 
the  bayonets  of  Napoleon; — but  the  deed  was 
approved  by  seven  millions  and  a  half  of  French- 
men ;  and  the  forces  of  the  Czar  never  could 
have  re-established  despotic  power  in  Austria, 
if  the  brief  experience  of  revolutionary  anarchy 
had  not  made  it  generally  felt  that  it  was  pre- 
ferable to  the  storms  of  faction. 

In  truth,  the  present  efTects  of  representative 
5S  governments  in  the  two  countries 

Effect  of  rep-  where  they  have  been  longest  estab- 
resentativein-  Hshed.  and  been  most  successful. 
Umain!"  '"  ™^y  ^'^'^  suggest  a  serious  doubt 
whether,  in  their  pure  and  unmix- 
ed form,  they  do  not  induce  more  evil  than 
they  remove.  VV^e  must  not  confound  with 
such  governments  the  rule  of  a  patrician  senate 
watched  by  a  plebeian  democracy,  as  in  ancient 
Rome ;  or  of  an  aristocracy  of  land  and  com- 
mercial wealth  controlled  by  an  energetic  com- 
monalty, such  as  obtained  under  tho  old  consti- 
tution of  Great  Britain,  when  all  classes  were 
adequately  represented,  and  the  House  of  Com- 
mons was  equally  the  guardian  of  Colonial 
industry  and  British  manufactures,  of  English 
land  and  native  shipping,  of  territorial  influence 
and  urban  ambition.  Probably  no  candid  in- 
quirer into  human  affairs  will  ever  hesitate  in 
the  opinion  that,  during  the  period,  probably 
brief,  when  such  a  system  of  government  en- 
dures, i*.  affords  the  best  gr.arantee  for  social 
felicity  and  national  progress  that  human  wisdom 
has  ever  devised.  liut  though  that  is  the  repre- 
Mntative  system,  as  it  grew  up  in  most  of  the 
states  of  modern  Euroje,  and  as  it  has  produced 


the  wonders  of  British  greatness,  it  is  not  the 
representative  system  as  it  is  now  understoiul  by 
the  jHipular  party  all  over  the  world.  That 
system  consists  in  the  rcpresentalioii  of  mere 
numbers;  in  the  vesting  supreme  power  in  the 
delegates  of  a  simjile  majority  of  the  whole  popu- 
lation. The  near  approach  made  to  such  a  sys- 
tem by  the  Reform  Bill  of  Great  Britain,  gives 
in  its  practical  result,  no  countenance  to  the  idea 
that  such  a  system  of  government  allords  ine 
best  guarantee  either  for  national  security  or 
social  progress ;  on  the  contrary,  it  leads  to  the 
conclusion  that  its  probable  result  is  the  selfish- 
ness and  injustice  of  class  government.  Some 
one  interest  gets  the  majority,  and  it  instantly 
makes  use  of  its  power  to  gain  a  profit  to  itself 
at  the  expense  of  every  other  class.  Corpora- 
tions, it  IS  well  known,  have  no  consciences,  lor 
which  proverbial  fact  an  English  Lord  Chan- 
cellor has  assigned  a  very  sufficient  reason;* 
and  the  experience  of  the  last  twenty  years  of 
English  legislation,  affords  too  clear  evidence 
that  an  interest  vested  with  political  power  is 
not  likely  to  be  behind  its  neighbors  in  selfish 
aggrandizement.  Certain  it  is,  that  the  ruin 
of  industry  and  destruction  of  property  efFected 
in  Great  Britain,  since  the  manufacturing  schoo 
obtained  the  ascendency  in  Parliament,  much 
exceeds  any  thing  recorded  in  the  history  of 
pacific  legislation,  or  that  eould  have  been  ef- 
fected by  the  most  violent  exertions  of  despotic 
power;  and  the  melancholy  fact  stands  proved 
by  the  records  of  the  Census,  that  the  popula- 
tion of  the  empire,  which  had  advanced  without 
intermission  during  five  centuries,  for  the  first 
time  declined  during  the  first  five  years  of  iref^- 
trade  legislation.! 

America,  where  republican  institutions  and 
universal  sufTrage  have  from  the  59, 

foundation  of  the  state  been  estab-  Its  effects  ir. 
lished,  affords  an  equally  decisive  America, 
proof  of  the  tendency  of  such  institutions  tc; 
produce  class  government  and  unjust  external 
measures.  The  principal  States  of  the  Union 
have,  by  common  consent,  repudiated  their  State 
debts  as  soon  as  the  storms  of  adversity  blew  ; 
and  t'icy  have,  in  some  instances,  resumed  the 
payment  of  their  interest  only  when  the  sale  of 
lands  they  had  wrested  from  the  Indians  afforded 
them  the  means  of  doing  so,  without  recurring 
to  the  dreaded  horrors  of  direct  taxation.  The 
measures  of  Congress  have  been  so  generally 
directed  by  self-interest  that  they  have,  in  more 
than  one  instance,  brought  the  confederacy  to 
the  verge  of  dissolution ;  and  the  threatened 
separation  of  South  Carolina  was  only  prevented 
from  breaking  it  up  by  the  quiet  concession  of 
the  central  legislature.  Subsequently,  the  self- 
ish  career   of  unbridled   democracy  has  been 

*  In  a  case  pleaded  before  Lord  Thurlow,  on  the  Wool- 
sack,  one  of  the  counsel,  who  was  stating  the  case  against 
an  incorporation,  said  that  his  client's  opponents  had  no 
conscience.  "  Conscience  I"  said  Thurlow,  "  did  you 
ever  expect  a  corporation  to  have  a  conscience,  when  it 
has  no  soul  to  be  damned,  and  no  body  to  be  kicked." 
t  Population  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 

in  184] 26,831,105 

Increase  to  1846,  one-half  of  ten  preced- 
ing years 1,210,338 

Total  population  in  1846 28,041,443 

Actual  population  by  census  of  1851 27,435,J IS 


Decrease  in  five  years  . 
—  Cen.fus,  ISSI 


Chap.  I.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


still  more  clearly  evinerd.  Without  the  vestige 
of  a  title  they  have  seized  on  Texas,  and  annex- 
ed it  to  their  vast  dominions  ;  by  eoncealing  their 
title,  which  negatived  their  claims,  they  have 
obtained  from  Great  Britain  the  half  of  Maine; 
they  have  done  their  utmost  to  revolutionize 
Canada;  they  have  only  been  prevented  by  a 
melancholy  tragedy  from  revolutionizing  Cuba; 
and  when  the  ]\Iexicans  took  up  arms  to  avenge 
the  spoliation  of  their  territory,  they  invaded 
their  dominions,  and  wrested  from  them  the  half 
of  all  that  remained  to  them,  including  the  gold- 
luden  mountains  of  California.  During  the  last 
ten  years  they  have,  though  attacked  by  no  one, 
made  themselves  masters,  by  fraud  or  violence, 
of  1,300,000  additional  square  miles  of  territory, 
being  nine  times  the  area  of  France ;  already 
the  rnultis  utile  bellum  has  become  so  popular 
among  them,  that  the  very  children  in  all  parts 
of  the  Union  play  at  soldiers ;  democratic  pas- 
1  xremen-  sions  have  found  their  usual  and 
heere's  Notes  natural  vent  in  foreign  aggression ; 
on  America,     and  America  has  added  another  to 

'       ■  the  many  proofs  which  history  af- 

fords, that  republican,  so  far  from  being  the  most 
pacific,  are  the  most  warlike  and  dangerous  of 
all  states.^ 

The  last  and  memorable  revolution  in  Europe 

60.  — that  which  broke  out  in   1848 — 

Rise  of  divis-  has  evolved  a  new  element  in  social 

ions  and  pas-  troubles,  hitherto  but  little  attended 

sions  of  race.  »      i     ,      u  •   u         _  ■  i 

to,  but  which  promises,  ere  long,  to 

equal  the  most  violent  social  passions  in  disturb- 
ing the  peace  and  agitating  the  minds  of  men. 
This  is  the  attachments  and  longings  of  race, 
which,  even  more  than  those  of  democracy, 
arouse  the  strongest  feelings  of  our  nature,  and 
create  divisions  which  the  lapse  even  of  the 
longest  time  is  unable  to  heal.  Experience  has 
now  abundantly  proved  in  every  age,  and  in  every 
part  of  the  world,  that  nature  has  imprinted  an 
original  and  distinctive  character  upon  the  dif- 
ferent families  of  mankind,  alike  in  their  minds 
as  their  persons,  which  remains  the  same  from 
first  to  last,  and  which  change  of  climate,  situa- 
tion, occupations,  and  political  institutions,  is 
alike  unable  to  modify  in  anj' considerable  degree. 
The  Arab  is  the  same  now,  and  wherever  he 
wanders,  as  when  it  weis  first  said  of  the  children 
of  Ishmael,  that  "  his  hand  is  against  every  man, 
and  every  man's  hand  against  him;"  the  Jew, 
albeit  dispersed  through  every  land,  is  alike  un- 
changed in  feature  and  disposition  ;  the  Gaul 
has  not  varied  since  his  distinctive  features  were 
drawn  with  graphic  power  by  the  hand  of  the 
dictator;  the  Anglo-Saxon  has  carried  into  the 
wilds  of  America  the  enduring  energy  and  pa- 
tient perseverance  which  in  Europe  have  pro- 
duced the  wonders  of  British  greatness  :  the  Hun 
is  fiery,  proud,  and  impetuous,  as  in  the  days 
when  the  squadrons  of  Attila  swept  over  the 
earth;  and  the  Celt,  gay,  ardent,  and  careless, 
incapable  of  self-direction  or  social  improve- 
ment, is  the  same  in  Ireland,  the  Hebrides,  Brit- 
tany, and  America,  as  when  the  dark-haired 
hordes  of  his  ancestors  first  approached  the  At- 
lantic Ocean. 

Immense  is  the  effect  which  this  distinctive 
and  indelible  distinction  of  race  has  produced, 
and  is  producing,  upon  the  destinies  of  mankind. 
More,  perhaps,  than  any  other  cause,  it  has 
tftnde<J  to  bring  discredit  upon  the  principles  of 


the  French  Revolution ;  because  it  has  practical!) 
demonstrated  their  inapplicability  to 

nations  descended  from  a  different  „     .^'" 

,     .  ,  .         ...  Great  error 

stock  Irom  those  in  which  corres-  jn  suppos- 
ponding  principles  first  originated,  ing  national 
The  uniform  doctrine  of  philoso-  character 
phers,  and,  after  them,  of  states-  instuutlons. 
men  and  politicians,  in  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  was,  that  institutions  were 
every  thing,  and  the  character  of  nations  nothing  ; 
that  men  were  entirely  formed  by  the  government 
under  which  they  lived  ;  and  that,  if  you  extended 
to  all  the  same  institutions  and  civil  privileges,  you 
would  produce  in  all  the  same  character,  and 
secure  the  same  social  progress.  It  was  on  this 
principle  that  the  French  republicans  acted  in  sur- 
rounding the  great  parent  commonwealth  with 
the  Batavian,  Cisalpine,  Helvetian,  and  Parthe- 
nopeian  republics;  it  is  on  this  principle  that 
Great  Britain  has  since  acted  in  supporting  rev- 
olutionary thrones  in  Spain,  Portugal,  Belgium, 
and  Piedmont,  and  encouraging,  by  all  the  means 
in  her  power,  the  establishment  of  the  South 
American  republics.  It  is  hard  to  say  which  of 
the  two  attempts  has  proved  the  greatest  failure, 
or  has  led  to  the  greatest  confusion,  disorder,  and 
suffering  among  mankind.  Their  result  has  con- 
clusively demonstrated  that  it  is  not  institutions 
which  form  men,  but  men  which  form  institu- 
tions;  and  that  no  calamities  are  so  long  con- 
tinued and  irremediable  as  those  flowing  from 
the  establishment  in  one  country  of  the  form  of 
government  suited  to  another,  or  the  awakening 
passions  in  a  part  of  the  people  inconsistent  with 
the  interests  or  wishes  of  the  remainder. 

Out  of  the  mingled  passions  of  democracy 
and  race  has  arisen,  especially  in 
Eastern  Europe,  a  strife  more  wide-  -wars  of  ra 
spread  and  terrible  than  has  yet  des-  ces  are  the 
olated  the  face  of  nature  in  modern  great  passion 

times.  The  former  is  found  chiefly  in  of  Eastern 

.    .    „  ,       .  ,  .  .  •'  .      Europe, 

towns;  It  IS  ielt  with  most  intensity  in 

urban  multitudes,  among  whom  numbers,  closely 
aggregated  together,  have  awakened  a  feeling  of 
strength,  and  increasing  wealth  has  engendered 
the  desire  for  independence.  But  the  last  burns 
most  fiercely  in  the  rural  population  :  it  acts 
with  most  force  in  the  solitude  and  seclusion  of 
country  life.  It  is  there  that  hereditary  charac- 
teristics are  most  strongly  marked,  that  ancient 
traditions  are  religiously  preserved,  and  that  the 
past  stands  forth  in  the  brightest  colors,  from 
being  undisturbed  by  any  countervailing  influ- 
ences of  the  present.  The  war  of  races  is  often 
commenced  by  the  impulse  communicated  by  ur. 
ban  revolt;  because  it  is  that  which  first  disturbs 
the  peace  of  society,  violently  excites  the  jiublic 
mind,  and  awakens  the  idea  of  provincial  inde- 
pendence, by  weakening  the  power  of  the  central 
government.  But  the  contest  which  begins  with 
the  ambition  of  towns  does  not  expire  with  their 
short-lived  fervor;  the  pa.ssions  of  the  tent  are 
more  durable  than  those  of  the  forum.  When 
the  shepherds  of  the  hills,  the  cultivators  of  the 
plains,  assemble  in  arms,  it  may  in  general  lie 
concluded  that  a  serious  struggle,  a  prolonged 
contest,  is  at  hand.  The  fervor  of  the  French 
Revolution  excited  the  revolt  of  1793  in  Warsaw; 
but  the  storming  of  Prague  has  not  extinguished 
the  hopes  of  Polish  nationality  ;  it  burns  with  un- 
diminished force  in  the  breasts  of  the  peasantry; 
it   has  burst   forth  unweakened  in   subsequent 


H15T0KY   OF   EUROPF. 


ao 

wars.  «inl  soiioii.sl/  wcakoiicil  even  the  colossal 
stri'iiplii  of  tlio  Miiscovito  1-nipirc.  The  nni- 
mositv  of  tho  Celt  apainst  the  Saxon  is  uiuiiinin- 
ishoilbv  live  centuries  of  forced  ainal<iamntion ; 
aiui  when  imlepeniience  luul  become  visibly  hope- 
less, the  bulk  of  the  race  tlcii  across  the  Atlantic, 
■nil  Muinht  in  the  wilds  of  the  Far  West  that  in- 
dependence of  which  they  despaired  amidst  Eu- 
ropean civilization.  The'  revolution  in  Paris,  in 
1S4S.  spread  the  seeds  of  revolt  to  the  Austrian 
capital  ;  but  the  wars  cjf  races  did  not  expire 
with  the  capture  of  Vienna:  the  Mafjyar  con- 
tinued in  arms  against  the  Scluve,  the  German 
Bfjainst  the  Italian;  and  the  dominion  of  the  house 
of  Hapsburg  would  have  been  torn  in  pieces  by 
the  passions  of  its  own  subjects,  if  it  had  not  been 
rescued  from  ruin  by  the  arms  of  the  united  Scla- 
▼onic  race. 
These  facts,  which  have  been  so  clearly  brought 
forth  by  the  events  of  late  years,  have 
Doubt^as  to  awakened  a  very  general  doubt 
the  wisdom  among  reflecting  men,  in  every  part 
ofrcpri'senta-  of  Europe,  whether  representative 
live  lustitu-  institutions  are  the  form  of  govern- 
:ious.  ,  ,     ,       1       ■ 

ment  best  calculated  to  insure  gen- 
eral felicity,  or  whether,  at  any  rate,  they  can 
-xist  for  any  length  of  time  among  any  peo- 
ple, but  one  of  a  homogeneous  race  and  tem- 
perate practical  character.  Certain  it  is,  that, 
though  generally  established  in  Europe  by  its 
northern  conquerors,  amidst  the  ruins  of  the  Ro- 
man Empire,  they  every  where  fell  into  decay 
except  where  they  were  sustained  by  the  min- 
gled energy  and  slowness  of  the  Norman  and 
Anglo-Saxon  race;  and  that,  when  re-establish- 
ed in  our  times  by  the  influence  of  English  An- 
glomania, or  the  united  force  of  French  and  En- 
glish arms,  they  have  either  speedily  perished, 
or  produced  such  disastrous  results  that,  by  com- 
mon consent,  they  were  very  soon  abolished. 
Certain  it  is,  that  they  are  evidently  and  univers- 
ally inapplicable  to  any  nation  in  which,  like  the 
Austrian,  several  distinct  and  hostile  races  are 
mingled  together  in  not  very  unequal  propor- 
tions; and  probably  the  most  enthusiastic  sup- 
porter of  representative  institutions  would  hesi- 
tate before  he  would  affirm  they  could  have 
nourished  in  the  British  empire,  if  the  Celtic 
race  in  both  islands  had  existed  in  nearly  equal 
numbers.  If  the  present  annual  migration  of 
above  two  hundred  thousand  from  Ireland  should 
continue  a  few  years  longer,  and  there  is  any 
truth  in  the  assertions  now  generally  made,  that 
there  are  two  millions  of  native-born  Irish  in 
the  United  States,  and  four  millions  of  Irish  de- 
scent, theCeltic  race  may  acquire  such  a  pre- 
ponderance there  as  may  ultimately  render  the 
maintenance  of  representative  institutions  impos- 
sible in  some  parts  of  the  Union. 

That  the  constitutional  form  of  government  is 
now  on  its  trial,  both  in  the  Old  and 
Real  charac-  ^^w  World,  is  a  common  observa- 
ter,  good  and  tion  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  ; 
BYil,  of  repre-  and  it  will  be  not  the  least  important 
BiUutionV"'  P^"  °f  tli's  History  to  trace  its  work- 
ing in  the  different  countries  where 
it  has  been  established.  Such  a  survey  will  prob- 
ably damp  many  ardent  aspirations  and  hopes 
on  the  one  side,  and  demonstrate  the  fallacy  of 
many  gloomy  predictions  on  the  other.  That 
many  evils  have  been  found  to  flow  from  the 
representative   system  when   it   is   really,  and 


[(.  LIAF      I 


not  in  form  nitrcly,  established;  that  sclfishnesi 
often  directs  its  measures,  and  corruption  stains 
its  members,  is  no  real  reproach  to  that  form  of 
government — it  is  only  a  proof  that  its  powers 
are  wielded  by  the  sons  of  Adam.  No  one  need 
bo  told  that  tho  same  vices  and  weaknesses  at- 
tach to  other  institutions  :  the  page  of  history 
unhappily  teems  with  too  many  proofs  that  sov< 
ereigns  often  rule  only  for  the  gratification  of 
their  passions  and  pleasure ;  and  aristocracies, 
to  farm  out  the  industry  of  the  people  for  their 
own  profit  or  advantage.  The  real  question 
is,  whether  greater  scope  is  not  given  for  the 
indulgence  of  these  selfish  propensities  under  the 
representative  form  of  government  than  an)' 
other;  whether  it  does  not  end  in  the  establish- 
ment of  a  class  government,  more  unscrupulous 
in  its  measures,  and  oppressive  in  its  etlects, 
than  the  rule  of  a  single  sovereign  could  possibly 
be ;  and  whether  the  hope  of  checking  iniquity 
in  the  administration,  by  admitting  numbers  to 
participate  in  it,  is  not,  in  fact,  expecting  to  ex- 
tinguish sin  by  multiplying  the  number  of  sin- 
ners. Perhaps  future  ages  may  arrive  at  the 
conclusion  that  it  is  the  representation  o( i7iterests^ 
not  numbers,  which  is  the  true  principle  ;  that  the 
former,  if  duly  balanced,  is  always  safe,  the  lat. 
ter  always  perilous ;  and  that  it  is  the  extreme 
difficulty  of  preserving  the  equilibrium  for  any 
length  of  time  which  justifies  the  observation  of 
the  Roman  annalist,  that  it  is  slow  to  come, 
swift  to  perish.* 

But  whatever  ideas  may  be  entertained  on  this 
speculative  point,  upon  which  ex-  (55 

perienee  has  not  yet  warranted  the  Great  effectof 
forming  of  a  decided  opinion,  one  ttiesocialpas- 
thing  is  perlectly  clear,  that  the  con-  ^^pg  ;„  -y^. 
tending  passions  of  the  Old  World,  pelting  ita  in- 
the  mingled  hopes  and  fears,  wants  habitants  to 
and  desires,  expectations  and  disap-  \v(,j.i^^ 
pointments,  of  ancient  civilization, 
all  tend  powefully  to  promote  the  settlement  and 
peopling  of  the  New.  Already  the  emigrants 
who  landed  at  New  York  alone,  from  Europe, 
have  come  to  approach  300,000,  of  whom  163,- 
000  are  from  Ireland,  and  09,000  from  Germany 
— the  two  countries  perhaps  most  violently  agi- 
tated by  political  and  social  passions  of  any  in 
the  Eastern  Hemisphere.  The  total  emigrants 
from  Europe  to  America  now  exceed  500,000 
annually. t  In  ten  years,  if  the  present  rate  con- 
tinues, they  will  amount  to  5,000,000,  and,  with 
their  descendants,  more  than  double  the  already 
far-famed  marvels  of  Transatlantic  increase.  It 
is  hard  to  say,  in  this  wonderful  transposition  of 
the  human  race,  whether  the  spread  of  knowl- 
edge or  the  passions  of  democracy  exercise  the 
most  powerful  sway  over  the  minds  of  men,  or 
are  the  most  powerful  and  visible  agents  in  carry- 
ing into  effect  the  objects  of  Divine  adminis- 
tration ;  for  the  last  is  perpetually  leading  to 
the  indulgence  of  visionary  and  chimerical  ex- 
pectations of  social  felicity,  from  political  change 


*  "  Tarde  veniens  ;  cito  peritura." — Tacitus. 

t  Landed  at  New  York  in  1851 — 

Irish 163,256 

English  and  Welsh 30,742 

Scotch 7302 

Germans 69,683 

Other  nations 18,478 

Total  289,661 

— Emigration  Commissionas'  Report,  1851 — New  York 


..I.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROl  E. 


21 


and  the  extension  of  popular  power ;  while  the 
I'ormer  is  as  generally  diffusing  better  founded 
expectations  as  to  the  real  felicity  and  well-being 
to  be  attained  by  a  settlement  in  the  distant  col- 
onies of  the  world.  The  perpetual  disappoint- 
ment of  the  first,  and  the  as  uniform  realization 
of  the  last,  are  the  great  means  by  which  the 
immovable  character  of  civilized  man  is  over- 
come ;  and  the  human  race  is  as  powerfully  im- 
pelled into  distant  countries  in  the  old  age  of 
civilization,  by  political  passions,  as  it  is  in  its 
infancy  by  the  roving  disposition  of  pastoral,  or 
the  lust  of  conquest  in  warlike  tribes.  No  hu- 
man foresight  can  foretell  whether  the  passions 
which  now  so  violently  agitate  Europe  will  ter- 
minate in  the  general  establishment,  _/br  a  time, 
of  republican  institutions,  or  their  entire  extinc- 
tion by  the  rude  arm  of  military  power.  But 
this  much  may  with  confidence  be  predicted, 
that  in  either  case  a  vast  propelling  of  the  Eu- 
ropean race  into  the  wilds  of  America,  or  Aus- 
tralia, will  infallibly  take  place ; — in  the  first,  by 
the  disappointment  experienced  by  the  partisans 
of  political  change ;  in  the  last,  by  the  extinction 
of  their  hopes. 

In  this  point  of  view,  the  influence  is  great  of 
j-g  the  discovery  of  the  gold  mines  in 

Andof  tiiedis-  California  and  Australia,  not  merely 
covery  of  the  upon  the  general  industry  and  well- 
gold  mines  of  being  of  the  whole  earth,  but  upon 
California         .,      °  . .        .•  •      i    u      .1 

andAustralia.  "^®  attraction  exercised  by  those 
richly-endowed  regions  upon  its  in- 
iiabitants.  When  gold  is  found  scattered  broad- 
cast over  whole  countries,  when  valle3's  are  dis- 
covered in  which  the  whole  alluvial  deposit  is 
impregnated  with  gold  particles,  and  mountains 
where  it  is  found  in  great  quantities  enclosed  in 
veins  of  quartz,  or  embedded  in  fields  of  clay,  it  is 
impossible  to  over-estimate  the  influence  which 
this  exercises  upon  the  desires  and  ambition  of 
men.  The  i^ea  of  independence,  it  may  be  for- 
tune, brought  within  the  reach  of  mere  manual 
labor,  and  falling  to  the  lot,  not  so  much  of  the 
most  diligent  as  the  most  fortunate,  is  irresisti- 
ble. The  golden  magnet  draws  votaries  from  all 
quarters :  multitudes  hasten  to  take  their  chance 
in  the  rich  lottery  where  every  one  trusts  that 
he  himself  will  draw  a  prize  and  his  neighbors 
the  blank.  Many  doubtless  perish,  or  are  disap- 
pointed in  the  exciting  chase ;  but  some  succeed, 
and  their  success,  like  the  honors  of  war,  or  the 
fortunes  of  commerce,  are  suflicient  permanently 
to  attract  mankind  into  the  dazzling  and  perilous 
career.  When  twenty  or  thirty  millions  sterling 
are  annually  raised  by  human  hands,  and  those  the 
bands  o^ freemen,  who  arc  themselves  enriched  by 
their  toil,  there  is  enough  to  rouse  every  where  the 
spirit  of  the  adventurous,  to  tempi  the  cupidity 
of  the  covetous.  Californian  gold  has  only  been 
worked  to  any  extent  for  two  years,  and  already 
that  State  boasts  107,000  inhabitants ;  and  a  reg- 
ular passage  for  fvuropean  emigrants  has  been 
opened,  both  over  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama.  Among  the  means  em- 
ployed by  Providence  to  insure,  at  the  appointed 
season,  the  dispersion  of  mankind,  one  of  the 
most  powerful  is  the  mineral  treasures,  which, 
long  hid  in  distant  i  egions  in  the  womb  of  nature, 
are  at  lengtn  brought  forth  when  the  minds  of 
men  are  prepared  lor  their  attraction,  when  the 
utmost  facilities  are  alforded  for  the  migration 
flf  the  species,  end  when  ibe  influences  of  homo 


are  alike  overcome  by  the  disappoint  re  ents  of  th* 
Old  World  and  ihe  hopes  of  the  New. 

To  appreciate  justly  the  unbounded  influence 
of  these  concurring  moving  powe.S,  67. 

political  passions  in  the  Old  World,  Wliat  if  the 
and  gold  regions  in  the  New,  we  '^^^^  ^='.'*  ^'^^^ 
have  only  to  suppose  that  it  had  been  *"  erwisc  . 
otherwise  arranged,  and  consider  whether  man- 
kind would  ever  have  left  their  native  seats.  It 
might  have  been  that  the  progress  of  civilization 
and  the  spread  of  knowledge  were  not  to  be  the 
destined  agents  in  moving  mankind  :  that  the  at- 
tractions of  wealih  and  the  comforts  of  home 
were  to  become  daily  more  powerful  with  the 
growth  of  nations,  and  that  their  roving  propen- 
sities were  to  be  confined  to  the  earliest  ages, 
when  the  first  settlements  of  mankind  were  form- 
ed. It  might  have  been  that  the  gold  treasures 
of  California  and  Australia  were  to  be  found  in 
the  mountains  of  Switzerland  or  Bohemia,  in  the 
centre  of  Europe,  and  amid  the  multitudes  of 
aged  civilization.  In  such  an  event,  could  the 
European  race,  and  with  it  the  blessings  of  free- 
dom, of  knowledge,  and  of  Christianity,  ever  have 
been  ditTused  among  mankind  ?  Would  not  the 
inhabitants  of  Europe,  under  such  circumstances, 
have  clung  forever  to  their  homes,  and  the  bones 
of  their  fathers,  and  left  the  distant  parts  of  the 
earth  alike  unknown,  unheeded,  and  unculti- 
vated ?  We  are  not  driven  to  speculation  to 
figure  to  ourselves  the  consequences  of  such  a 
state  of  things.  China  and  Hindostan,  with  their 
civilization  of  four  thousand  years,  exist  to  in- 
form us  what  they  would  have  been.  They  have 
had  for  thousands  of  years  the  knowledge,  the 
education,  andthe  mechanical  artsof  Europe,  and 
teemed  with  a  population  of  500,000,000  souls; 
but  they  had  none  of  its  political  passions.  Soci- 
ety, from  the  earliest  ages  to  the  present  time,  has 
existed  always  under  a  pure  and  unmitigated 
despotism,  and  what  has  been  the  result  ?  That 
mankind  in  those  aged  communities  have  an  in- 
vincible repugnance  to  migration,  and  uncon- 
querable attachment  to  their  native  seats,  and 
have  never  spread  beyond  them.  Every  thing 
announces  that  Japhet  will  one  day  dwell  in  the 
tents  of  Shem,  but  unquestionably  Shem  will 
never  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Japhet.  To  the  Eu- 
ropean race,  endowed  with  intellect,  and  gifted 
with  energy  beyond  the  other  families  of  man- 
kind, has  been  predestined  the  duty  of  peopling 
the  earth  and  subduing  it;  it  is  in  the  midst  of 
the  passions  which  lead  to  its  accomplishment 
that  we  are  now  placed.  In  the  last  ages  of  t.  * 
world,  as  in  the  first,  the  words  of  primeval  propn- 
ecy  shall  prove  true  :  '•  God  shall  enlarge  Japhet 
and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem  ;  and  Ca- 
naan shall  be  his  servant." 

But  it  is  not  to  these  agents  alone  that  the 
great  designs  of  Providence  for  the 
dispersion  of  the  species  have  been  i„crcii'sing 
intrusted.      The   original    moving  inilucnce  of 
powers  are  still  in  full  and  undis-  Russian  roii 
turbed  operation.     The  roving  pas-  'i"'''*'- 
sions  of  pastoral  life,  the  lust  of  barbarian  con 
quest,  are  as  active  in  impelling  mankind  from 
the  wilds  of  Scythia,  as  ever  they  were  in  the 
days  of  Alaric  or  Attila:  the  Tartar  horse  have 
lost   nothing  of  their  formidable  character,   by 
being  linked  to  the  Russian  horsc-arlillery.     Si  ill 
the  wines  and  women  of  the  south  attract  the 
brood  of  winter  to  the  regions  of  the  sun ;  still 


« 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


iK.  HAP 


1 


ihe  presMMC  of  lii\)t)nriun  valor  upon  the  scenes 
ol  civili.-.od  opulence  is  felt  with  undiiiiinished 
force.  It  will  be  so  lo  the  end  of  the  world  ;  for 
.n  the  north,  and  there  niono,  are  found  the 
privations  which  insure  Imrdihood,  the  poverty 
which  iaipcls  to  conquest,  the  dilliculiies  which 
rouse  to  exertion,  ]rrc^istil»lc  to  men  so  actu- 
ated is  the  attraction  which  the  climate  of  the 
south,  the  riches  of  civilix.ation,  exercise  on  the 

!K)verly  and  energy  of  the  native  wilds.  Slowly 
mt  steadily,  for  two  centuries,  the  Muscovite 
jKJwer  has  increased,  devouring  every  thing  which 
it  approaches;  ever  advancing,  never  receding. 
Sixty-six  millions  of  men,  doubling  every  half 
century,  now  obey  the  mandates  of  the  Czar, 
whose  will  is  law,  and  who  leads  a  people  whose 
passion  is  conquest.  Europe  may  well  tremble 
at  the  growth  of  a  power  possessed  of  such  re- 
sources, actuated  by  such  desires,  led  by  such 
ability;  but  Europe  alone  does  not  comprise  the 
whole  family  of  mankind.  The  great  designs 
of  Providence  are  working  out  their  accomplish- 
ment by  the  passions  of  the  free  agents  to  which 
their  execution  has  been  intrusted.  Turkey 
will  yield,  Persia  be  overrun  by  the  Muscovite 
battalions;  the  original  birthplace  of  our  reli- 
gion will  be  rescued  by  their  devotion ;  and  as 
certainly  as  the  Transatlantic  hemisphere,  and 
the  islands  of  the  Indian  Sea,  will  be  peopled  by 
the  self-acting  passions  of  Western  democracy, 
will  the  plains  of  Asia  be  won  to  the  Cross  by 
the  resistless  arms  of  Eastern  despotism. 

It  would  appear  that,  at  stated  periods  in  the 
history  of  nations,  the  passion  for 
«i^o.«',«  migration  seizes  upon  the  minds  of 
propensitie*  men;  and  these  periods  are  at  the 
of  men  in  the  opposite  ends  of  their  progress — 
^laiio  ""^ '^'^'^  at  its  commencement  and  its  ter- 
mination. We  read  of  the  first  in 
the  wandering  habits  of  the  Helvetii,  of  whom 
Caesar  has  left  so  graphic  a  picture ;  in  the  ir- 
ruption of  the  Cimbri  and  Tcutones,  whom  it 
required  all  the  vigor  of  Rome  and  all  the  tal- 
ents of  Marius  to  repel ;  in  the  successive  settle- 
ments of  the  Celts,  the  Franks,  the  Saxons,  and 
the  Normans,  in  the  decaying  provinces  of  the 
Empire  ;  in  the  perpetual  inroads  of  the  pastoral 
nations  of  Central  Asia,  into  the  adjoining  plains 
of  Muscovy,  Persia,  Hindostan,  and  China.  We 
see  proof  of  it  at  this  lime  in  the  ceaseless 
movement  of  the  European  population  of  Amer- 
ica toward  the  Pacific,  and  the  ardor  with  which 
the  semi-barbarous  pioneers  of  civilization  plunge 
into  the  forests  of  the  Far  West.  It  is  by  the 
force  of  these  passions  that  the  first  settlements 
of  mankind  were  efifected,  and  that  the  human 
race  has  been  impelled  by  a  blind  instinct,  of 
which  it  can  neither  see  the  objects  nor  with- 
stand the  effects,  into  the  most  distant  parts  of 
the  Old  World.  It  was  thus,  too,  that  the  whole 
continent  of  America  was  originall}'  peopled  by 
its  savage  inhabitants  ;  and  the  tales  of  tradition, 
as  well  as  the  more  certain  evidence  of  language, 
point  alike  to  the  period  when  the  hunters  of 
Karatschatka,  cast  by  accident,  or  impelled  by 
restlessness,  on  the  western  slope  of  .the  Rocky 
Mountains,  spread  over  the  adjoining  forests, 
and  their  descendants  gradually  penetrated  the 
boundless  wilds  of  North  and  South  America. 

But  an  insurmountable  difficulty  checks  all 
these  early  migrations  of  mankind  :  the  ocean 
I  esirains  their  incursions.     The  Tartar  horse,  as 


Gibbon  tells,  incapable  of  beii  ^  reajted  by  th« 
whole  forces  of  civilization,  found 
an  impassable  barrier  in  the  narrow  r:-,n-„IoJ)„j. 
channel  of  the    Hellespont.      The  jpg  moving 
maritime  incursions  of  the  Saxons  propensities 
and    Danes   were    confined   to  the  >n  the  niaturi. 
•    1  1      •  ,        1-    n  ■.    •  1  ty  of  civiliza- 

neighboring   coasts  ol    Britain  and  (jpf,_ 

Gaul ,  no  distant  settlements  were 
formed  by  the  sea-kings  of  the  norlh.  The  At- 
lantic can  be  bridged  only  by  the  powers  of 
civilization;  but  these  powers  are  equal  to  the 
undertaking,  and  they  are  called  into  action  at 
the  time  when  the  necessities  and  passions  of 
aged  societies  require  their  operation.  Multi- 
tudes nursed  by  the  industry  and  opulence  of 
former  times,  but  now  crowded  together,  require 
a  vent,  and  eagerly  look  for  new  fields  of  settle- 
ment :  the  powers  of  steam  furnish  them  with 
the  means  of  migration;  the  passions  of  demo- 
cracy render  the  transportation  an  object  of  de- 
sire. As  strongly  and  irresistibly  as  the  nomad 
tribes  are  impelled  into  the  regions  of  opulence, 
and  the  daring  hunter  into  the  wilds  of  nature, 
is  the  civilized  European  urged  to  commit  him- 
self and  his  family  to  the  waves,  the  ardent  re- 
publican to  seek  the  realization  of  his  dreams 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Insensibly, 
under  the  influence  of  those  desires,  the  frontiers 
of  civilization  are  extended,  the  sea*s  of  man- 
kind changed;  and  a  new  society  is  formed  in 
regions  unknown  to  their  fathers,  in  w^hich  the 
different  members  of  the  European  family  find 
a  cradle  for  future  general  ions  of  their  descend- 
ants. 

"  For  here  the  exile  met  from  eyery  clime, 
And  spoke  in  friendship  every  distant  tongne 
Men  from  the  blood  of  warring  Europe  sprung 
Were  but  divided  by  the  running  brook  ; 
And  happy  where  no  Rhenish  trumpet  sung, 
On  plains  no  sieging  mine's  volcano  shook,  [hook. 

The  blue-eyed  German  changed  his  sword  to  pruning- 

And  England  sent  her  men,  of  men  the  chief, 

Who  taught  those  sires  of  Empire  yet  to  be, 

To  plant  the  tree  of  life — to  plant  fair  Freedom's  tree!"* 

Not  only  is  the  democratic  passion  in  this  way 
the  great  moving  power  which  ex- 
pels, as  by  the  force  of  central  heat,  Necessity  of 
civilized  man  into  the  distant  parts  republican  in- 
of  the  earth,  but  it  is  the  most  ef-  stitutions  to 
fective  nurse  of  energy,  progress,  t°e^"'nts^*" 
and  civilization,  when  he  arrives 
there.  The  pastoral  tribes,  whose  passion  is 
conquest,  require  a  military  chief  to  direct  their 
movements ;  but  the  agricultural  colonists,  whose 
warfare  is  with  Nature,  invariably  pant  for  dem- 
ocratic institutions.  Left  alone  in  the  woods, 
they  early  feel  the  necessity  of  relying  on  their 
own  resources ;  self-government  becomes  their 
passion,  because  sell-direction  has  been  their 
habit.  All  colonies  which  have  flourished  in  the 
world,  and  left  durable  traces  of  their  existence 
to  future  times,  have  been  nurtured  under  the 
shelterof  republican  institutions  :  those  of  Greece 
and  Rome,  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean — 
those  of  Holland  and  England,   on  the   wider 

]  margin  of  the  ocean,  attest  this  important  fact. 
The  colonies  of  Great  Britain  at  this  lime,  though 
nominally  ruled  by  Queen  Victoria,  are  for  the 

j  most  part,  practically  speaking,  self-directed; 
and  where  the  authority  of  the  central  govern. 

i  _^ , 

1  *  Gertrude  of  Wyoming. 


1] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


nient  has  made  itself  felt,  it  has  cfeiierally  been  '  existence,  each  has  been  provided  with  a  fittinf» 


only  to  do  mischief,  and  weaken  the  bonds  which 
unite  its  numerous  olTspring  to  the  parent  state. 
Wherever  democratic  institutions  do  not  prevail, 
colonial  settlements,  after  a  time,  have  declined, 
and  at  length  expired;  and  it  seems  to  be  im- 
possible to  enijraft  republican  self-direction  upon 
original  subjection  to  monarchical  institutions. 
It  must  be  bred  in  the  bone,  and  nurtured  with 
the  strength.  The  Portuguese  settlements  in 
the  East  are  almost  extinct,  and  exhibit  no  traces 
of  the  vigor  with  which  Vasco  da  Gama  braved 
the  perils  of  the  stormy  Cape ;  the  attempt  to 
introduce  republican  institutions,  after  three  cen- 
turies of  servitude,  into  the  Spanish  colonies  of 
South  America,  has  led  only  to  anarchy  and 
suffering :  and  the  decisive  fact,  that  the  repub- 
lican states  of  North  America,  though  settled  a 
century  later,  have  now  more  than  double  the 
European  population  of  the  monarchical  in  the 
South,  points  to  the  wide  difference  in  the  future 
destinies  of  mankind  of  these  opposite  forms  of 
government.  Certain  it  is  that,  great  as  the 
British  military  empire  in  India  now  is,  it  will 
leave  no  settlements  of  Europeans  behind  it 
among  the  sable  multitudes  of  Hindostan;  and 
possibly  future  times  may  yet  verily  the  saying 
of  Burke,  that,  if  the  Englishman  left  the  East, 
he  would  leave  no  more  durable  traces  of  his 
existence  than  the  jackal  and  the  tiger. 

Observe,  in  this  view,  how  the  character  of 
72.  the  races  to  whom  the  development 

Adaptation  of  of  this  mighty  progress  has  been 
tlie  Sclavonic  intrusted,  and  of  the  institutions 
and  Anglo-  11,1  1  /•       1 

Saxon charac-  which  they  have  created  lor  them- 
ler  10  iiie  parts  selves,  is  adapted  to  the  parts  sever- 
fn^their^^'5r?  '^"^  destined  for  them  in  it.  It 
gress.^"^  '"^°"  "light  have  been  otherwise.  The 
character  of  the  two  great  families 
of  the  race  of  Japhet  might  have  been  reversed, 
or  the  place  assigned  them  on  the  theatre  of 
existence  different  from  what  it  is.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon,  impelled  by  a  secret  impulse  to  effort, 
to  commerce,  to  freedom,  and  to  colonization, 
might  have  found  himself  in  the  plains  of  Mus- 
covy or  Siberia  ;  the  Sclavonian,  with  his  sub- 
missive habits,  roving  propensities,  and  lust  of 
conquest,  might  have  been  located  in  Germany 
and  the  British  isles.  What  would  have  been 
the  result?  Could  the  European  family  have 
spread  the  European  influence  as  it  has  done? 
Could  the  race  of  Japhet  have  performed  his 
destined  mission,  to  replenish  the  earth  and  sub- 
due it?  No:  by  this  simple  transposition  of 
race,  the  whole  destinies  of  mankind  would  have 
been  changed  ;  the  accomplishment  of  prophecy 
rendered  impossible;  the  spread  of  Christianity 
arrested.  The  Anglo-Saxon,  with  his  maritime 
inclinations,  his  aspirations  after  freedom,  his 
industrious  habits,  would  have  been  swept  away 
in  Scythia  by  the  squadrons  of  the  Crescent ;  the 
Sclavonian,  with  his  roving  propensities,  his 
thirst  for  conquest,  his  aversion  to  the  ocean, 
would  have  been  forever  arrested  by  the  waves 
of  the  Atlantic.  Crushed  in  all  attempts  at 
colonization  or  settlement  beyond  his  native 
seats,  the  Anglo-Saxon  would  have  pined  in  im- 
potent obscurity  in  the  plains  of  Muscovy;  re- 
strained by  the  impassable  barrier  of  the  ocean, 
the  Russian  would  have  been  forgotten  in  the 
fore.:ls  of  Britain.  Placed  as  they  have  been 
reipectively,  by  Providence,  on  the  theatre  of 


stage  for  the  exercise  of  his  peculiar  powers^ 
and  found  around  him  the  elements  in  nature 
adapted  for  their  development.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  found  in  the  I'orests  of  England  the  oak 
which  was  to  give  to  his  descendants  the  empire 
of  the  waves  ;  the  coal  which  was  to  move  the 
powers  of  steam ;  the  iron  which,  in  a  future 
generation,  was  to  renew  the  age  of  gold.  The 
Sclavonian  found  in  Central  Asia  the  redoubt- 
able horsemen  who  were  to  add  strength  and 
speed  to  his  battalions;  the  naked  plains,  where 
they  could  act  with  resistless  force;  the  en- 
ameled turf,  which  every  where  provided  them 
with  the  means  of  subsistence  and  migration. 
The  free  aspirations  of  the  first  impelled  him 
into  the  career  of  pacific  colonization  ;  the  ocean 
was  his  bridge  of  communication  :  the  despotic 
inclinations  of  the  last  prepared  him  to  follow 
the  standards  of  conquest;  the  steppe  stretched 
out  before  him,  to  facilitate  the  migration  of  his 
conquering  squadrons. 

When  Providence  gave  the  blessings  of  Chris- 
tianity to  mankind,  their  diffusion  at  73, 
the  appointed  season  was  intrusted  Destiny  of  tha 
to  the  acts  of  free  agents;  but  a  par-  raceofJaphei 
ticular  race  was  selected  by  whose  ciirfslianUy." 
voluntary   co-operation    its   design 
might  be  carried  into  effect.     Beyond  all  ques- 
tion, the  race  of  Japhet  was  the  one  to  which 
this  mighty  mission  was  intrusted.     The  energy 
and   vigor,  the    intelligence  and   perseverance, 
which    have  so  long  rendered    it   pre-eminent 
among  men,  bespeak  its  fitness  for  the  under- 
taking ;  and  it  may  bo   doubted  whether  any 
other  family  of  mankind  will,  for  a  very  long 
period,  be  fitted  for  the  reception  of  the  faith 
which    it   bears    on    its    banners.     Experience 
gives  little  countenance  to  the  belief  that  the 
race  of  Shem  and  Ham  can  be  made  to  any  con- 
siderable extent,  at  least  at  present,  to  embrace 
the  tenets  of  a  spiritual  faith.     Christianity,  as 
it  exists  in  some  provinces  of  Asia,  is  not  the 
Christianity  of  Europe ;  it  is  paganism  in  an- 
other form  ;  it  is  the  substitution  of  the  worship 
of  the  Virgin  and  images  for  that  of  Jupiter  and 
the  heathen  deities.     If  Christianity  had  been 
adapted  to  man  in  his  rude  and  primeval  state, 
it  would  have  been  revealed  at  an  earlier  period  ; 
it  would  have  appeared  in  the  age  of  Moses,  not 
in  that  of  Ca3sar.     Great  have  been  the  elibrls 
made,  both  by  the  Protestant  and  Roman  Catho- 
lic churches,  especially  of  late  years,  to  diffuse 
the  tenets  of  their  respective  faiths  in  heather 
lands ;   but,  with  the  exception  of  some  of  the 
Catholic  missions  in  South  America,  without  the 
success  that  was,  in  the  outset  at  least,  antici- 
pated.    Sectarian  zeal  has  united  with  Christian 
philanthropy    in    forwarding    the    great    under- 
taking ;  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society 
has  rivaled  in  activity  the  Propaganda  of  Rome; 
and  the  expenditure  of  £100,000  annually  on  the 
enlightening  of  foreign  lands  has  afforded  a  mag- 
nificent j)roof  of  devout  zeal,  and  British  liberal- 
ity.    ]5ut  no  great  or  decisive  cfiects  have  as 
yet  followed  these  eilorts — no  new  nations  have 
been  converted  to  Christianity  ;  the  conversion 
of  a  few  tribes,  of  which  much  has  been  said, 
a|ipcars  to  be  little  more  than  nominal:  and  the 
durable  spread   of  the   gospel   has   been  every 
where  co-extensive  only  with  that  of  the  Eu- 
ropean race.     But  that  race  has  increased,  and 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


fCn^p. 


is  incronsinp,  with  imoxnni|ilt>d  rnpii!iiy;  i's 
universal  ijrowth,  and  wide  oxtcnsioii,  liesppuk 
the  evuliilioiis  ol"  a  niijjhty  ilostiiiy  ;  uiiil  it  has 
now  liooomo  apparent,  ihnl  tho  Aiifjlo-Saxon 
colonist  bears  with  his  sails  tlio  blessings  of 
rhristianity  tu  mankind. 

The  inlluenco  of  Christianity  is  obviously  in- 
-^  croasinir  in  all  tho  nations  of  Eu- 

Inrrrnsingln-  rope,  ami  to  nothing  has  this  in- 
tliHMireofrfli-  crease  been  so  much  owing  as  to 
fion  in  Eu-  iiip  iireligious  spirit  which  occa- 
'"'*'  sioned  the  French  Revolution.    Vol- 

taire was  the  author  of  the  second  great  crusade, 
he  was  the  Peter  the  Hermit  of  the  eighteenth 
century;  without  intending  it,  he,  in  the  end, 
roused  all  nations  in  behalf  of  religion.  He  con- 
ferred one  blessing  of  inestimable  importance  on 
mankind — he  brought  skepticism  to  the  test  of 
experience.  He  forever  revealed  its  tendencies. 
and  demonstrated  its  elfccts  to  the  world.  The 
Reign  of  Terror  is  the  everlasting  commentary 
on  his  doctrines ;  Robespierre  is  at  once  the  dis- 
ciple and  the  beacon  of  those  of  Rousseau.  No- 
where has  this  reaction  been  more  apparent  than 
in  France,  the  very  country  where  infidelity  was 
hrst  triumphant.  The  increasing  spirit  of  devo- 
tion in  its  rural  districts  has  long  been  a  matter 
of  observation  to  all  persons  acquainted  with 
French  society ;  and  the  proof  of  this  is  now 
decisive — universal  suffrage  has  brought  it  to 
light.  Louis  Napoleon  has  seized  supreme  pow- 
er; but  he  seized  it  by  the  aid  of  the  clergy. 
His  first  step  was  a  solemn  service  in  Notre 
Dame,  the  theatre  of  the  orgies  of  the  Goddess 
of  Reason ;  and  the  votes  of  seven  millions  of 
Frenchmen  demonstrated  that  the  vast  majority 
of  the  people  coinoidcd  with  his  sentiments.  In 
England,  the  influence  of  religious  opinion  has  in- 
creased to  such  a  degree  as  to  become  in  some 
measure  alarming ;  it  begets,  in  the  thoughtful 
mind,  the  dread  of  a  reaction.  Christianity,  in 
Russia,  is  the  mainspring  both  of  government 
and  national  action  :  the  Cross  is  inscribed  on 
his  banners ;  it  is  as  the  representative  of  the 
Almighty  that  the  Czar  is  omnipotent.  In  no 
country  in  the  world  is  religious  zeal  warmer, 
religious  impressions  more  general,  than  in 
America,  though  unfortunately  they  have  not 
had  the  eflfeet  of  restraining  their  public  actions. 
These  appearances  are  decisive  as  to  the  future 
progress  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  its  diffusion 
by  the  spread  of  the  European  race.  When 
France  and  England,  America  and  Russia,  dif- 
fering in  almost  everything  else,  combine  in  this 
one  impression,  it  needs  no  prophet  to  announce 
the  future  destinies  of  mankind. 

Such  are  the  vievss  which  occur  to  the  re- 
tecting  mind,  from   the  cmtemplation  of  the 


eventful  period  in  the  histohjr  of  Europe  which 

it  is   proposed  to  embrace  in  this  _, 

work.     Less  dramatic  and  moving  DiflVrcnrescJ 

than  the  animated  era  which  term-  the  era  of  thi« 

inated  with  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  it  history  and 

thit  of  tlift 

IS,  perhaps,  still  more  important:  ,^g( 
it  contains  less  of  individual  agency, 
and  more  of  general  progress.  There  are  som« 
incidents  in  it  second  to  none  that  ever  occurred, 
in  tragic  interest :  the  Affghanistan  disaster,  the 
passage  of  arms  in  the  Punjaub,  the  revolutions 
of  1848  in  Europe,  will  forever  stand  forth- as 
some  of  the  most  heart-stirring  events  in  the 
annals  of  mankind.  But  these  are  the  excep- 
tions, not  the  rule.  The  general  character  of 
the  period  is  one  of  repose,  so  far  as  relates  to 
the  transactions  of  nations ;  but  of  the  most  fear 
ful  activity,  so  far  as  the  thoughts  and  social  in- 
terests of  the  people  are  concerned.  The  heroes 
of  it  are  not  the  commanders  of  armies,  but  the 
leaders  of  thought ;  the  theatre  of  its  combats  is 
not  the  tented  field,  but  the  peaceful  forum.  It 
is  there  that  the  decisive  blows  were  struck, 
there  that  the  lasting  victories  have  been  gained. 
The  volumes  of  this  History,  therefore,  will 
differ  much  from  those  of  the  one  which  has  pre- 
ceded it;  they  will  be  less  dramatic,  but  more 
reflecting ;  they  will  deal  less  with  the  actions 
of  men,  and  more  with  the  progress  of  things. 
In  the  former  period,  individual  greatness  de- 
termined the  march  of  events,  and  general  his- 
tory insensibly  turned  into  particular  biography, 
in  the  present,  general  causes  overruled  individ- 
ual agency,  and  the  lives  even  of  the  greatest 
men  are  seen  to  have  been  mastered  by  the 
progress  of  events.  It  is  a  common  complaint 
in  these  times,  that  the  age  of  great  men  has 
departed ;  that  the  giants  of  intellect  are  no 
longer  to  be  seen :  that  no  one  impresses  his 
signet  on  the  age,  but  every  one  receives  the 
impression  from  it.  But  the  truth  is,  that  it  is 
the  strength  of  the  general  current  which  has 
swept  away  particular  men;  the  stream,  put  in 
motion  by  greatness  in  a  former  age,  has  been 
so  powerful  that  it  has  become  impossible  for 
individual  strength  in  this  to  withstand  it;  it  is 
not  that  the  age  of  great  men  has  departed,  but 
that  of  genera!  causes  has  succeeded.  But  the 
ascendant  of  intellect  is  not  thereby  diminished  : 
its  triumphs  are  only  postponed  to  another  age ; 
its  sway  begins  when  the  body  to  which  it  was 
united  is  mouldering  in  the  grave.  The  prophet 
is  even  more  revered  in  future  times  than  the 
lawgiver;  when  time  has  placed  its  signet  on 
opinions,  they  carry  conviction  to  every  breast ; 
and  he  who  has  had  the  courage  to  defend  the 
cause  of  truth  against  the  prejudices  of  one  d^fc, 
is  sure  of  gaining  the  suffrages  of  the  ne<.i. 


1815.^ 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE 


95 


CHAPTER  n. 


HISTORY    OF    ENGLAND    FROM    THE    PEACE    OF    PARIS,    IN    1815,    TO    THE    END    OF    THE    YEAR    1813. 


So  great  had  been  the  success,  so  glorious 
the  triumphs  of  England,  in  the  lat- 
Commanding  ^^r  years  of  the  war,  that  the  least 
position  of  °  sanguine  were  led  to  entertain  the 
Great  Britain  most  unbounded  hopes  of  the  future 
fh  "'v  '^^"^^"'^  prosperity  of  the  empire.  Prosper- 
ity unheard  of,  and  universal,  had, 
with  a  few  transient  periods  of  distress,  when 
the  contest  was  at  the  worst,  pervaded  every  de- 
partment of  the  state.  The  colonial  possessions 
of  Great  Britain  encircled  the  earth  ;  the  loss  of 
the  North  American  colonies  had  been  more 
than  compensated  by  the  acquisition  of  a  splen- 
did empire  in  India,  where  sixty  millions  of  men 
were  already  subject  to  our  rule,  and  forty  mill- 
ions more  were  in  a  state  of  alliance  ;  the  whole 
West  India  islands  had  fallen  into  our  hands,  and 
were  in  the  very  highest  state  of  prosperity ; 
Java  had  been  added  to  our  Eastern  posses- 
sions, and  had  been  only  relinquished  from  the 
impulse  of  a  perhaps  imprudent  generosity  ;  and 
the  foundation  had  been  laid,  in  Australia,  of 
those  flourishing  colonies  which  are,  perhaps, 
destined  one  day  to  rival  Europe  itself  in  num- 
bers, riches,  and  splendor.  How  dilTerent  was 
this  prospect  from  that  which,  a  few  years  be- 
fore, the  world  had  exhibited  !  There  had  been 
a  time  when,  in  the  words  of  exalted  eloquence, 
"  the  Continent  lay  flat  belbre  our  rival ;  when 
the  Spaniard,  the  Austrian,  the  Prussian,  had 
retired ;  when  the  iron  quality  of  Russia  had 
dissolved  ;  when  the  domination  of  France  had 
come  to  the  water's  edge ;  and  when,  behold, 
from  a  misty  speck  in  the  west  the  avenging 
genius  of  these  our  countries  issues  forth,  grasp- 
ing ten  thousand  thunderbolts,  breaks  the  spell 
of  France,  stops  in  his  own  person  the  flying 
fortunes  of  the  world,  sweeps  the  sea,  rights  the 
globe,  and  retires  in  a  flame  of  glory."*  Nor 
had  the  domestic  prosperity  of  this  memorable 
period  been  inferior  to  its  external  renown. 
Agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures  at 
home  had  gone  on  increasing,  during  the  whole 
struggle,  in  an  unparalleled  ratio;  the  landed 
proprietors  were  in  affluence,  and  for  the  most 
part  enjoyed  incomes  triple  of  what  they  had 
possessed  at  its  commencement ;  wealth  to  an 
unheard-of  extent  had  been  created  among  the 
I'armers ;  the  soil,  daily  increasing  in  fertility 
and  breadth  of  cultivated  land,  had  become  ade- 
quate to  the  maintenance  of  a  rapidly-increas- 
ing population  ;  and  Great  Britain,  as  the  elfect 
of  her  long  exclusion  from  the  Continent,  had 
obtained  the  inestimable  blessing  of  being  self- 
supporting  as  regards  the  national  subsistence. 
The  exports,  imports,  and  tonnage  had  more 
than  doubled  since  the  war  began  ;  and  although 
severe  distress,  especially  during  the  years  1810 
and  1811,  had  pervaded  the  manid'acturing  dis- 
tricts, yet  their  condition,  upon  the  whole,  had 
been  one  of  general  and  extraordinary  pros- 
perity. 

*  Grattan. 


Facts  proved  by  the  parliamentary  records 
sufficiently  demonstrated  that  this 
description  was  not  the  high-flown  statistical 
picture  of  imagination,  but  the  nicts  proving 
sober  representation  of  truth.  The  the  general 
revenue  raised  by  taxation  within  f^eTtaVe^  °^ 
the  year  had  risen  from  £19,000,- 
000,  in  1792,  to  £72,000,000,  in  1813  ;  the  total 
expenditure  from  taxes  and  loans  had  reached, 
in  1814  and  1815,  the  enormous  amount  of 
£117,000,000  each  year.  In  the  latter  years  of 
the  war,  Great  Britain  had  above  1,000,000,  of 
men  in  arms  in  Europe  and  Asia;  and  besides 
paying  the  whole  of  these  immense  armaments, 
she  was  able  to  lend  £11,000,000  yearly  to  the 
Continental  powers ;  yet  were  these  copious 
bleedings  so  far  from  having  exhausted  the  cap- 
ital or  resources  of  the  country,  that  the  loan  of 
1814,  although  of  the  enormous  amount  of  £35- 
000,000,  was  obtained  at  the  rate  of  £4  lis.  Id. 
per  cent,  being  a  lower  rate  of  interest  than  had 
been  paid  at  the  commencement  of  the  war. 
The  exports,  which  in  1792  were  £27,000,000, 
had  swelled  in  1815  to  nearly  £58,000,000,  offil 
cial  value  ;  the  imports  had  advanced  during  the 
same  period  from  £19,000,000  to  £32,000,000. 
The  shipping  had  advanced  from  1,000,000  to 
2,500,000  tons.  The  population  of  England 
had  risen  from  9,400,000  in  1792,  to  13,400,000 
in  1815  ;  that  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  from 
14,000,000  in  the  former  period,  to  18,000,000 
in  the  latter.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this  rapid 
increase,  and  the  absorption  of  nearly  500,000 
pairs  of  robust  arras  in  the  army,  militia,  and 
navy,  the  imports  of  grain  had  gone  on  con- 
tinually diminishing,  and  had  sunk  in  1815  to 
less  than  500,000  quarters.  And  so  far  was 
this  prodigious  expenditure  and  rapid  increase 
of  numbers  from  having  exhausted  the  resources 
of  the  state,  that  above  .£0,000,000  annually 
was  raised  by  the  voluntary  ellbrts  of  the  inhab- 
itants to  mitigate  the  distresses  and  assuage  the 
sud'erings  of  the  poor  ;  and  a  noble  sinking  fund 
was  in  existence,  and  had  been 
kept  sacred  during  all  the  vicissi-  ij^^!'*','^!'''}.'' '" 
tudesof  the  struggle,  which  already  £',''ropo  ° 
hail  reached  £10,0000,000  a  year,  App.  c.'xcvl 
and  would  certainty,  if  left  to  ilsclf,  wliuru  Uie 
have  extinguished  'the  whole  public  Jf^'J,^*'  ""' '" 
debt  by  the  year  1815.' 

When  such   had   been  the  prosperity   and  sr. 

great  the  progress  of  the   empire, 

durinj;   the  continuance  of  a   lone  3-    , 

1111  ■      .1  7-   Warm  and 

and  jjloody  war,    m   the  course  ol    „^.,|(,rlll  anti- 

which  it  had  repeatedly  been  re-  eipations  of 
duccd  to  the  very  greatest  straits,  K'n<'ral  prow- 
and  compelled  to"  tight  for  its  very  '[.'l^^. '"' ^'''' 
cxistentjc  against  the  forces  of  com- 
bined Europe,  there  seemed  to  bo  no  possible 
limits  which  could  bo  assigned  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  state  when  the  contest  was  over,  and  tho 
blessings  of  peace  had  returned  to  gladden  our 
own  and  every  other  land.     If  the  industry  of 


M 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.  11 


our  |H'i>iilr  luul  lu'Oii  sn  sn^iiuiicd,  llii'ir  pidijfrcss 
M>  ^rcat,  iliuiiii;  a  war  in  wliirli  we  wcio  lor  n 
loiiii  jK-riixl  .-lull  out  riniii  till"  Conlineni,  ami  for 
a  lime  from  Amcrii-a  uImi,  wlial  niii:lit  be  cx- 
jH^clcd  when  universnl  pence  prevailed,  and  the 
Lirbors  of  nil  nations,  ioni;  fainisliinjr  for  tlie 
luxuries  of  British  prinliicc  and  mariiiractnrcs, 
were  every  where  thrown  open  for  their  recep- 
tion? Views  of  this  sort  were  so  obviously 
supported  by  the  appearances  of  the  social 
world,  that  they  were  embraeed  not  only  by  the 
ardent  and  enlhusiastic,  but  the  prudent  and  the 
sagacious,  in  every  part  of  the  country.  The 
landholders  borrowed,  the  capitalist  lent  money, 
on  the  faith  of  their  justice.  The  merchant 
embarked  his  fortune  in  the  sure  confidence  that 
the  present  flattering  appearances  would  not 
prove  fallacious ;  and  the  eloquent  preacher 
expressed  no  more  than  the  general  feeling 
when  he  said — "The  mighty  are  fallen,  and 
the  weapons  of  war  have  perished.  The  cry  of 
freedom  bursts  from  the  unfettered  earth,  and 
the  standards  of  victtry  wave  in  all  the  winds  of 
heaven.  Again  in  every  corner  of  our  own  land 
the  voice  of  joy  and  gladness  is  heard.  The 
cheerful  sounds  of  labor  rise  again  in  our  streets, 
and  the  dark  ocean  again  begins  to  whiten  with 
our  sails.  Over  this  busy  scene  of  human  joy 
the  genial  influences  of  heaven  have  descended. 
The  unclouded  sun  of  summer  has  ripened  for 
us  ail  the  riches  of  harvest.  The  God  of  nature 
hath  crowned  the  year  with  his 
goodness,  and  all  things  living  are 
filled  with  plenteousness.  Even 
the  infant  shares  in  the  general  joy; 
and  the  aged,  when  he  recollects 
the  sufferings  of  former  years,  is 
led  to  say,  with  the  good  old  Simeon 
in  the  Gospel,  '  Lord,  now  let  thy  servant  de- 
part in  peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salva- 
tion.' "  ' 

Such  were  the  expectations  and  feelings  of  the 
4.  people  at  the  termination  of  the  war. 

Univer-sal dis-  Never  were  hopes  more  cruelly  dis- 
of  ^hese™^"'  appointed,  never  anticipations  more 
liopes,  and  desperately  crossed.  No  sooner  was 
general  dis-  the  peace  concluded  than  distress. 
tress.  wide-spread  and  universal,  was  ex- 

perienced in  everj'  part  of  the  country,  and  in 
every  branch  of  industry.  It  was  felt  as  much 
by  the  manufacturers  as  the  agriculturists ;  by 
the  merchants  as  the  landlords :  and,  ere  long, 
the  general  suffering  rose  to  such  a  pitch  that, 
while  the  table  of  the  House  of  Commons  groan- 
ed under  petitions  from  the  farmers,  complain- 
ing of  agricultural  distress,  the  Gazette  teem- 
ed with  notices  of  the  bankruptcy  of  traders ; 
and  disturbances  became  so  common  and  alarm- 
ing in  the  manufacturing  districts,  that  special 
commissions  bad  to  be  sent  down,  in  this  and 
the  following  year,  to  Ely,  Derby,  and  the  prin- 
cipal seats  of  the  outrages,  by  whom  the  law 
was  administered  with  unsparing  but  necessary 
rigor.  The  farmers,  as  usual  with  that  class. 
bore  their  distresses  with  patience  and  resigna- 
tion ;  but  the  manufacturers,  alw.iys  more  ex- 
citable and  tumultuous,  were  not  so  easily  ap- 
pea.sed.  In  the  southern  part  of  Staffordshire 
the  distress  was  felt  as  peculiarly  severe,  and 
the  working  people  in  the  populous  village  of 
Bilston  were  reduced  to  such  a  degree  that 
they  all  fell  upon  the  parish,  the  funds  of  wb'ch 


'  Sermon  on 
(he  Thanks- 
giving, Jan. 
13,  1614,  by 
the  Rev. 
Archibald 
Alison — Ser- 
nions,  i.  450. 


were  inadequate  to  preserve   them  from  abso- 
lute starvation.    The  iron  trade  in  particular  was 
eve;7    where    sullering    under   great    distress: 
large  bodies  of  workmen,  dismissed  from  their 
forges,  paraded  the  country,  demanding  charity 
in  a  menacing  manner  ;  and  at  Merthyr-Tydvil, 
in  South  Wales,  the  disorders  were  not  appeas- 
ed without    military   interference.      To   excite 
public  commiseration,  great  numbers  of  these 
dismissed  workmen  fell  upon   the 
expedient  of  drawing  loaded  wag-  jgie^p  g^f'^ 
ons  of  coals  to  distant  towns ;  and   Memoirs  of 
a  division  of  these  wandering  pcti-  Lord  Sid- 
tioners  approached  the  metropolis.  J^y^'isi'"' 
and  were  only  turned  aside  by  the        '      " 
resistance  of  a  powerful  body  of  police."  ' 

It  was  with  the  merchants  engaged  in  the  ex- 
port trade  that  the  di.stress,  which 
soon  became  universal,  first  began;  i)(.„in„ing   o' 
and  in  them  it  appeared  even  be-  the^distress 
fore    hostilities   had    ceased.     Pos-  among  the  ex- 

sessed  with  the  idea  that  the  inhab-  P^""'  "^"' 

„     ,       „       .  ,         chants, 

itants  ot  the  Continent  were  lan- 
guishing for  British  colonial  produce,  from  which 
they  had  so  long  been  excluded,  and  inflamed  by 
the  prospect  of  the  sudden  opening  of  their  ports 
to  our  shipping,  the  English  merchants  thought, 
and  acted  upon  the  opinion,  that  no  limits  could 
be  assigned  to  the  profitable  trade  which  might 
be  carried  on  with  them,  especially  in  that  ar- 
ticle of  merchandise.  So  largely  was  this  no- 
tion acted  upon,  that  the  exports  of  foreign  and 
colonial  produce  from  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
which  in  1812  had  been  £9,533,000,  rose  in 
1S14  to  £19,365,000.  The  necessary  effect  of 
so  prodigious  an  increase  of  the  supply  thrown 
into  countries  impoverished  to  the  very  last  de- 
gree by  the  war,  and  scarcely  able  to  pay  for 
any  thing,  was  that  the  consignments  were,  for 
the  most  part,  sold  for  little  more  than  half  the 
original  cost,  and  ruin,  wide-spread  and  uni- 
versal, overtook  all  the  persons  engaged  in  the 
traffic.  The  eastern  ports  of  the  kingdom,  in 
particular  London,  Hull,  and  Leith,  suffered 
dreadfully  by  the  extensive  and  disastrous  ship- 
ments to  the  north  of  Europe.  England  then 
began  to  learn  a  lesson  which  has  been  suffi- 
ciently often  taught  since  that  time — namely, 
how  fallacious  a  lest  the  mere  amount  of  exports 
is  of  the  flourishing  condition  of  the  country  in 
general,  or  even  of  the  branches  of  trade  in 
which  the  greatest  increase  appears  in  particu- 
lar. That  increase  often  arises  from  a  failure 
of  the  home  market,  which  renders  it  necessary 
to  send  the  goods  abroad,  or  from  absurd  and 
ruinous  speculation,  which  terminates  in  nothing 
but  disaster.  The  year  1514,  during  which 
foreign  and  colonial  produce  to  the  extent  ol 
£19,500,000  was  exported,  was  far  more  disas- 
trous  to  the  persons  engaged  in  that  trade  than 
the  three  succeeding  years,'*  in  ,  Annual  Reg. 
which  the  exports  ol  that  descrip-  ]614,  219; 
tion  sank  to  little  more  than  a  half  1815, 144 
of  that  amount. 

This  distress,  however,  was  not  long  of  spread- 
ing to   the  agriculturists,  and  among  them  it 


*  Exports  of  foreign  and  colonial  produce : 

1814  £19,365,981 

1815   15,748,554 

1816   13,480,781 

1617   10,292,684 

-Auso.n's  Europe,  Appendix,  chan.  xcvi 


.815.] 

assumed 


HISTORY    OF    EDROPE. 


21 


more    formidable,   because    seltleJ 
g  and    irremediable  form.     Notwith- 

Us  spread  to  standing  the  protection  to  British 
the  agricul-  agriculture  whicli  had  been  afforded 
turists.  jjy  jj^g  PQ|.jj  jjj^y  passed  in  1S14,  of 

which  an  account  has  already  been  given/  it  had 
1  History  of  already  become  apparent  that  the 
Europe, c.xcii.  opening  the  harbors  of  America 
'*•*"•  and  Northern  Europe  for  supplies 

of  grain,  coupled  with  the  cessation  of  the  lavish 
expenditure  of  the  war,  would  seriously  affect  the 
prices  of  every  species  of  agricultural  produce. 
Already,  they  had  fallen  to  little  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  what  they  had  been  during  the  five  last 
years  of  the  war.*  Although  the  prices  which 
they  still  fetched  may  seem  high  to  us,  who 
have  been  accustomed  to  the  much  greater  re- 
duction which  has  since  taken  place,  yet  the  fall 
from  120s.  in  1813,  to  76s.  in  1S15,  and  57s.  in 
the  spring  of  1816,  for  the  quarter  of  wheat,  was 
sufficiently  alarming,  and  struck  a  prodigious 
panic  into  the  minds  of  alj  persons  engaged  in 
agricultural  pursuits.  The  rise  in  the  price  of 
rural  produce  had  been  so  steady  and  long-con- 
tinued, and  the  affluence  in  consequence  arising 
to  all  persons  connected  with  land,  or  depending 
either  on  the  sale  of  its  produce  or  the  purchases 
flowing  from  its  prosperity,  so  great,  that  all 
classes  had  come  to  regard  it  as  permanent, 
and  they  had  all  acted  accordingly.  The  land- 
owners had  borrowed  money  or  entered  into 
marriage-contracts  on  the  faith  of  its  continu- 
ance :  present  expenditure,  provisions  to  chil- 
dren, had  been  regulated  by  that  standard.  The 
tenantry,  in  those  parts  of  the  country  where 
leases  were  common,  had  entered  into  lasting 
contracts,  in  the  belief  that  the  high  prices 
would  continue ;  and  they  could  now  anticipate 
nothing  but  ruin  if  they  were  held  to  their  en- 
gagements. A  general  despondency,  in  conse- 
quence, seized  upon  the  rural  classes;  numbers 
of  farms  were  thrown  up  in  despair ;  and  the 
universal  suffering  among  that  important  class 
not  only  spread  a  general  gloom  over  society, 
but  seriously  affected  the  amount  of  manufac- 
'  Ann.  Heir,  tured  articles  taken  off  by  the  home 
1815, 144, 145;  market,  by  far  the  most  important 
1810,92,93.  ygf)(.  j-Qf  that  species  of  industry.* 
Before  the  close  of  the  year  1816,  these  causes 
7,  of  distress  assumed  a  diiferent,  but 

Severe  scare-  a  still  more  alarming  form.  The 
ityofl816.  summer  of  that  year  was  uncom- 
monly wet  and  stormy,  insomuch,  that  not  only 
was  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  grain  every 
where  rendered  deficient,  but  in  the  higher  and 
later  parts  of  the  country  the  harvest  never 
ripened  at  all.  So  stormy,  melancholy  a  seasor 
had  not  been  experienced  since  1790;  the  con- 
sequence of  course  was.  that  the  price  of  grain 
rapidly  rose,  and  the  average  for  the  year  was 
82«.  a  quarter.  But  it  was  much  higher  than 
this  average  in  the  latter  months;  indeed,  in 
some  places  in  the  north  of  England,  wheat  in 
October  was  at  a  guinea  a  bushel. t  The  ef- 
*  Average  price  of  wheat  per  Winchester  bushel : 


1809 
1810 
1811 
1812 


ShiMinso 
105 
112 
108 
118 


1813 

1814 
1815 
1810 


Sliillings. 
120 
85 
76 
82 


feet  of  this,  of  course,  was  to  admit  foreign  im- 
portations duty  free — the  prices  having  sur- 
mounted that  of  SCs.,  fixed  by  the  sliding  scale 
as  the  turning  point  at  which  free  foreign  im- 
portation was  to  commence.  This  happy  cir- 
cumstance had  the  efiect  of  checking  the  rise  in 
the  price  of  provisions,  which,  but  for  that  cir- 
cumstance, would  doubtless  have  reached  the 
level  of  a  famine.  The  importation  of  wheat 
in  that  year  amounted  to  22.5,000  quarters  ;  but 
in  the  next,  when  the  eflect  of  the  scarcity  of 
1816  was  felt,  it  rose  to  1,620,000  quarters,  and 
in  1818  to  1,593,000.1  But  from  this  circum- 
stance sprang  up  a  new  cause  of  i  porter's 
distress  to  the  farmers,  which  was  Prog,  of  Nat 
felt  with  the  utmost  severity  in  ^^~'  ^'^  ^'^i'- 
this  and  the  two  succeeding  years.  The  im- 
portation kept  down  prices,  but  it  did  not  re- 
store crops;  it  deprived  the  farmer  of  a  remu- 
nerating price  for  what  remained  cf  his  produce, 
without  making  up  to  him  what  had  been  lost 
And  the  nation,  on  comparing  its  present  con- 
dition with  what  it  had  been   during   the   last 

years  of  the  war,  began  to  feel  the  „  ,       ■„ 

1       /■     A  1  o     ■  1  •  1         "  Ann.  Keg. 

triuh  of    Adam  bmith  s   remark —  1816,144; 

"High  prices  and  plenty  are  pros-  Sidmouth's 
perity  ;    low  prices  and   want  are  l*''*^'  "'•   ^^^< 
misery .2  * 

When   such   general   distress    pervaded    the 
whole  classes  depending  upon  land  „ 

— then,  as  now,  by  far  the  largest  Distress 
and  most  important  part  of  the  com-  among  tlie 
munity  t — it  was  not  to  be  supposed   manuiactur 
that    the    in.iuu,aeturing    interests  causes  to 
were  not  also  to  be  laboring  under  which  it  waa 
difficulties.      The   distress   among  owing. 
them,  accordingly,  was  universal — and  equally 
among  those  who  toiled  for  the  foreign,  as  with 
those  who  supplied  the  home  market.     In  some 
branches   of  industry  which  went  directly    to 
the  supplying  of  arms  and  stores  of  war    the 
depression,  on  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  was 
immediate   and   excessive.      England    had   for 
several  years    past  been  the   great  armory  of 
the  world,  and  could  not  but  suffer  severely  in 
several  branches  of  its  industry  on  the  return 
of  peace.     It  is  to  this  cause,  chiefly,  that  the 
rapid  reduction  in  the  price  of  copper  and  iron 
was  to  be  ascribed — the   former  of  which  had 
fallen  from  £180  to  £80,  the  latter 
from  £20  to  £8  per  ton.'     But  the  Liibjiii""^^ 
depression  was  not  confined  to  those 
branches  of  industry  which  were  directly  em- 
ployed on  warlike  stores ;  it  was  universal,  and 
felt  as  severely  in  those  which  were   devoted 
to  the  supplying  of  pacific  wants,  as  in  those 


-Allson's  Euuope,  Appendix,  chap.  xcvi. 

t  On  8lh  October,  the  Earl  of  Darlington  wrote  to 
l»ord  Sidinouth,  llien  Home  Secretary  ; — "  The  distress 
in  Yorkshire  if  unpreredented ;  there  Ih  a  total  stagna- 


tion of  the  little  trade  we  over  had  ;  wheat  is  already 
more  than  a  guinea  a  bushel,  and  no  old  corn  in  store  ; 
the  potato  crop  has  failed  ;  the  harvest  is  only  begiiuiing; 
the  corn  being  in  many  parts  still  green,  and  I  fear  a 
total  defalcation  of  all  grain  this  season,  fVom  the  deluge 
of  rain  which  has  fallen  for  several  weelis,  and  is  still 
falling." — Earl  of  Darmnoton  to  Lord  Sidmouth,  8tli 
Oct.  1816.     Life  nf  Sidrnuulh,  iii.  150. 

*  "If  we  think  we  are  to  go  on  smoothly  without  the 
effectual  means  of  repressing  mischief,  and  large  mean.* 
too,  we  shall  be  most  grievously  mistaken.  I  look  lO  the 
winter  with  fear  and  trembling.  In  this  island  our  wheat 
is  good  for  nothing  ;  barley  and  oats  reasonably  good. 
As  a  farmer  I  am  ruined  here  and  in  Durham.  So  much 
for  peace  and  plenty." — Lord  Chancellor  Eldon  to  Lord 
Sidmouth,  8ih  Oct.  1810.     Subnoulh's  Life,  iii.  151. 

t  The  classes  directly  or  indirectly  dopcnident  on  land 
are  now  (1852),  in  round  numbers,  18,000,000;  on  man- 
ulacturos  and  towns,  10,0C"J,000.— SrACKMA.N'a  Tabid, 
1852. 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


[Chap,  ll 


wlm-h  were  immeiliiitoly  connected  wilh  hos-  soon  demonstnitcd  the  fallacy  of  all  hopes  of  a 
111. lies.  All  were  suli'erinji:,  and  apparently  j  relief  to  the  public  sulfering  from  these  appli- 
wiih  equal  severity.  llistress  was  as  great  ances.  Retrenchment  was,  by  the  voice  of  the 
among  the  colton-spinners  of  Manchester  or  ;  country  and  the  anguish  of  general  suffering, 
(.ilnsgow,  the  silk-weavers  of  Spilalliclds,  or  the    forced  upon  the  Government;    the  income  and 

malt  taxes,  amounting  to  £17,000,000  a  year, 
were   abolished ;    the   public  expenditure  was 


glove-maiuifactur«rs  of  Nottingham,  as  anionr 
the  hardware-men  of  Uiriningham,  or  the  iron- 
niouldors  of  Merihyr-Tydvil.     The  home  mar- 


reduced    from    £102,000,000    to    £82,000,000 


•iei  was  soiii  founil  to  be  reduced  to  a  half  of ;  nearly  300,000  men  were  disbanded  in  the  army 

and  navy ;  and  still  the  distress  went  on  con 
stantly  increasing,  and  was  greater  than  ever 
in  the  close  of  the  very  year  1816,  in  the  course 
of  which  these  immense  reductions  had  been 
carried  intoefTect.  It  is  evident,. therefore,  that 
some  more  general  and  lasting  cause  was  in  op- 
eration than  those  to  which  the  adherents  of 
either  party  at  that  period  ascribed  it ;  and 
without  denying  altogether  the  influence  of 
some  of  these  subordinate  ones,  it  may  now 
safely  be  affirmed  that  the  main  cause  was  the 
following : 

The  annual  supply  of  the  precious  metals  for 
the  use  of  the  globe,  derived  from  jo. 

the    South   American    mines,    had  Diminished 
been,  for  some  years  prior  to  1808,  supply  of  the 
about  ten  millions  sterling:  and  of  ^ffai*^% 


'.ts    former    amount ;     and    the    manufacturers, 

finding    their    usual    vents    for    their    produce 

("ailing  them  from  domestic  wants,  sent  them  in 

Jespair  abroad ;  but  with  so  little  success  that 

,  ...      ,   _      the  entire  exports  of  British   pro- 
'  Alison  s  Eu-     ,  ,         '      ,.     ,  I  •   L   • 

duce   and    nianulactures,  which  m 

1S15    had    risen    to    £42,875,000, 

sank    in    the    succeeding    year    to 

£35,717,000.' 

Depression  so  severe  and  wide-spread  could 


rope,  c.  xcvi. 
App.     Sill- 
mouth's  Life, 
ill.  151,  153. 


0. 


not  be  explained  by  the  mere  trans, 
ition  from  a  state  of  war  to  one  of 
peace,  to  which  the  partisans  of 
Government  at  that  period,  and  for 
long  after,  constantly  ascribed  it. 
Every  impartial  and  thinking  per- 
son saw  that,  although  that  might  explain  the 
depression  in  some  particular  branches  of  in- 
dustry which  had  been  connected  with  hostilities. 


This  general 
Bii/Tering  was 
not  owiiis  to 
the  transition 
from  war  to 
peace. 


'o  ).""""'  metals  from 
this,  about  a  half  w^as  coined  in  South  Amer- 
South  America,  and  the  remainder  ^'^^■ 


it  could  not  account  for  the  universal  depression    for  the  most  part  found  its  way  to  Europe  in  the 


in  all  branches  of  industry,  alike  agricultural  and 
manufacturing,  for  the  home  trade  and  the  ex- 
port sale.  Still  less  could  it  explain  the  fact 
that  the  depression  was  universal  in  all  markets, 
and  even  greatest  in  those  connected  with  paci- 
fic employments,  w'hich  might  have  been  ex- 
nected  to  have  taken  an  extraordinary  start  on 
the  termination  of  war  expenditure.  As  little 
could  the  reduction  be  accounted  for  by  the  re- 
duction of  taxation,  and  diminution  of  the  ex- 
penditure of  governments  in  general,  and  that  of 
Great  Britain  in  particular  ;  lor  that  only  altered 
the  direction  of  expenditure,  without  lessening 
its  amount ;  if  it  put  less  into  the  hands  of  Gov- 
ernment to  spend  for  the  people,  it  left  more  in 
the  hands  of  the  people  to  spend  for  themselves. 
The  Whigs  and  Radicals  had  a  very  clear  solu- 
tion of  the  question  :  the  difficulties  all  arose 
-Vom  excessive  taxation,  and  the  measures  of  a 
corrupt  oligarchy  ;  and  the  remedy  for  them  was 
to  be  found  in  parliamentary  reform,  and  an  un- 
sparing retrenchment  in  all  branches  of  the  pub- 
lic expenditure.  A  vehement  outcry,  according- 
ly, was  raised  for  these  objects,  which  was  sup- 
ported with  equal  eloquence  and  ability  both  in 
p.nd  out  of  Parliament.*     But  experience  very 

*  "  From  a  struggle  which  appalled,  I  believe,  the 
fMjIdest  among  us,  we  have  by  the  talents  and  firmness 
of  our  general,  and  the  intrepid  and  patient  courage  of 
our  troops,  been  blessed  with  glorious  victory.  By  the 
act  of  Ministers  we  have,  from  a  state  of  triumph  and 
exultation,  from  hopes  of  security,  justified  by  success, 
been  left  to  contemplate  the  real  result  of  all  these  things. 
Let  us  look  around  us  and  sec  the  state  of  our  country ; 
let  us  go  forth  among  our  fields  and  manufactories,  and 
let  us  see  what  are  the  tokens  and  indications  of  peace. 
Can  we  trace  them  among  a  peasantry  without  work, 
and  consequently  without  bread?— among  farmers  unable 
to  pay  their  rents,  and  a  fortiori  unable  to  contribute  to 
that  parochial  relief  on  which  the  peasantry  is  rendered 
dependent  ? — among  landowners  unable  to  collect  their 
rents,  and  yet  obliged  to  maintain  their  rank  and  station 
as  gentlemen  in  society  7  Let  us  listen  to  the  cry  of  the 
country— it  is  poverty,  from  the  proudest  castle  to  the 
meanest  cottage,  poverty  rings  in  our  ears  ;  it  lies  in  our 
path  whichever  way  we  turn.    It  is  not  the  congratula- 


form  of  bullion.*  The  rapid  rise  i  Humboldt's 
in  the  price  of  commodities  all  over  Nouv.  Esp. 
Europe,  during  the  latter  years  of  "'■  ^^®- 
the  war,  was  in  part  owing  to  the  increased 
supply  of  the  precious  metals,  obtained  in  conse- 
quence of  the  great  rise  in  their  value  from  the 
necessities  of  the  belligerent  powers.  Gold,  in 
consequence  of  this,  had  in  1813  and  1814  risen 
to  £5.  8s.  an  ounce,  from  £4,  which  it  had  been 
in  the  beginning  of  the  century.  But  the  long 
and  desolating  wars  in  which  the  whole  Spanish 
provinces  of  South  America  had  been  involved 
since  1809,  in  consequence  of  their  calamitous 
revolution,  soon  put  an  end  to  this  auspicious 
state  of  things.  The  capitalists  who  worked  the 
mines  were  ruined  during  these  disastrous  con- 
vulsions; the  mines  them.selves  ceased  to  be 
worked,  the  machinery  in  them  went  to  destruc- 
tion, and  they  were  in  many  places  filled  with 
water.  So  complete  did  the  ruin  become,  that 
the  population  of  the  city  of  Potosi,  in  Peru,  from 
whence  the  celebrated  silver  mines  of  the  same 
name  were  worked,  which  in  1805  contained 
150,000  inhabitants,  had  sunk  in  j  „..,  , 
1825  to  8000.*  The  only  supplies  Mem.  ii.  319- 
of  the  precious  metals  which  were  Alison's  Eu 
obtained  during  these  disastrous  '"P?)  ''^  Ixvii. 
years,  were  from  the  melting  down 
of  their  gold  and  silver  plate  by  the  wealthy  pro- 
prietors of  former  days,  who  had  been  reduced 
to  ruin,  and  from  turning  over  the  heaps  of 
rubbish  which  had  been  turned  out  of  the  mines 
in  the  days  of  the  r  prosperity.  But  so  diminutive 
and  precarious  were  the  supplies  thus  obtained 

tory  that  can  drown  this  lamentable  cry  ;  it  is  not  in  the 
power  of  the  noble  lord,  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  this 
House  or  of  Parliament,  to  stifle  the  cry  of  want,  nor  to 
brave  the  stroke  of  universal  bankruptcy.  There  is  but 
one  means  left  to  satisfy  the  country,  to  avert  these  evils, 
or  to  redeem  the  pledged  faith  of  Parliament— Retrench- 
ment, rigorous  and  severe  retrenchment,  in  every  branch 
and  in  every  article  of  the  public  expenditure." — Lord 
Nuoent's  Speech  on  Lord  G.  Cavendish's  motion  for 


.  reduction  of  expenditure,  April  25,  1816,  Pari.  ZJei.  xxxii- 
tions  of  the  noble  lord  opposite,  it  is  not  the  song  of  vie-  ;  1222 


18 IC] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


29 


that  they  rapidly  ilocliueil  from  year  to  year; 
and  in  the  year  1S16,  the  whole  amount  raised  and 
coined  in  South  America  was  only  £2,500,000, 
,  _  just  a  quarter  of  what  the  amount 
ro7ef  c"u%ui!'  raised  in  all  parts  of  the  globe 
t)^  84,  87  ;  had  been  ten  years  bcl'ore,  and  only 
Uunibolili's       a  third   of  what   had   been   raised 

3%"40^^'''"''  ^'"1   '^°'"e'i  '"    ^o"'^^  America  in 

'     '■  1S05.1* 

This  great  diminution  in  the  supply  of  the 
11.  precious  metals  for  the  use  of  the 

Simultaneous  globe  was  necessarily  attended  by 
aiiU  rapid  con-  .^  (reneral  fall  of  prices  over  the 
traction  ol  the       ,» ,  ,  ,  ,  ' 

paper  curren-  whole  world,  and  was  one  great 
cy  ol'  Great  cause  of  the  poverty  and  sullisring 
liritain.  which  every  where  prevailed.     But 

its  effect  was  most  seriously  aggravated,  in  the 
particular  case  of  Great  Britain,  by  the  simulta- 
neous and  still  more  serious  contraction  in  its 
paper  circulation,  and  the  credit  afforded  to  its 
merchants,  by  the  declared  intentions  of  Govern- 
ment in  regard  to  the  resumption  of  cash  pay- 
ments by  the  Bank  of  England.  By  the  existing 
law  under  which  that  establishment  acted,  it 
was  provided  that  the  restriction  on  cash  pay- 
ments should  continue  "for  six  months  after  the 
conclusion  of  a  general  peace,  and 
c  *t\^^°  ""  ^on^-cr."  2     As  the  time  had  now 

arrived  when  it  was  necessary  to 
come  to  some  resolution  on  the  subject,  because 
the  six  months  was  on  the  point  of  expiring, 
Ministers  proposed  that  the  restriction  should  be 
continued  till  the  5th  July,  1818,  and  the  Oppo- 
sition strenuously  contended  for  its  being  con- 
tinued only  to  5th  July,  1817.  The  former  reso- 
lution was  adopted ;  but  the  discussion  of  the 
subject,  and  the  difficulty  Government  had  in 
-•arrying  the  prolonged  period,  spread  such  a 
panic  among  bankers,  that  the  commercial  paper 
under  discount  at  the  Bank  of  England,  which  in 
ISIO  had  been,  on  an  average.  i:20,070,000, 
sank  in  1816  to  £11,410,400,  and  in  1817  to 
£3,060,600;  and  the  country  bankers'  notes  in 
circulation,  which  in  1814  had  amounted  to 
£22,700,000,  had  sunk  in  1816  to  £15,096,000. 
Nothing  in  so  prodigious  a  contraelion  at  once 
of  the  precious  metals  for  the  use  of  the  globe, 
und  of  the  paper  accommodation  and  circulation 
ol  Great  Britain  in  particular,  saved  the  country 
from  absolute  ruin,  but  the  continuation  of  the 
restriction  on  cash  payments  by  the  Bank  of  En- 
gland, which  enabled  it  to  continue  its  circula- 
tion of  £27,000,000  of  notes  undiminished,  and 
the  rapid  return  of  the  precious  metals  from  the 
Continent,  which,  in  defiance  of  all  the  predic- 
tions of  the  Bullion  Committee,  Uowed  back  in 
such  quantities  to  the  centre  of  commerce,  on 
the  termination  of  the  demand  for  them  on  the 
■i  V  \  T)  b  t)oiitinent  for  the  operations  of  war, 
xxxiv.  573  that  the  Earl  of  Liverpool  said,  in 
&7y;  Alisou'H  his  place  in  Parliament,^  that  it  liad 
Jtiurope,  exceeded  his  most  sanguine  expect- 

xcvi.    pp.      ations  ;  and  the  price  of  gold  in  the 


*  Gold  and  silver  coin 

annually  raised  and  coined  iu 

South  America : 

1803...  £5,032,227 

1810...  £5,807,072 

1804...    5,058,211 

1811...    5,718,584 

1805...    7,104,436 

5812...     3,0iy,.352 

1806...    6,502,142 

1813...     3,78-1,700 

1807...    5,356,152 

1814...     3,687,249 

1808...    6,109,038 

1          1815. . .     3,104,565 

180'J...    6,997,853 

1816. . .     2,528,00* 

—  *i.json's  Europe,  Appendix,  cliaji.  xcvi. 


English  market  fell  from  £5,  S.  _  which  u  had 
been  in  1814,  to  £3,  19s.  in  1810.'* 

The  general  distress  and  despondirg  feelings 
of  the  country,  arising  from  the 
fearful  contrast  between  the  sad  in-portant 
realities  that  had  ensued  on  the  re-  discussions 
turn  of  peace  and  the  sanguine  ex-  onthePropei 
pectations  of  felicity  which  had  so  otherTo^cs. 
generally  been  Ibrmed,  naturally 
led,  as  might  have  been  expected,  to  important 
discussions  in  Parliament,  and  material  modifiea. 
tions  on  our  military  and  naval  establishment, 
and  the  whole  system  of  British  finance.  These 
discussions  and  measuris  are  the  more  import- 
ant, that  they  form  the  basis,  as  it  were,  of  the 
whole  subsequent  monetary  and  financial  policy 
of  the  empire,  and  all  the  incalculable  conse- 
quences which  have  flowed  from  it.  The  year 
1816,  the  first  year  of  peace,  marks  the  transi- 
tion from  the  old  to  the  new  system  in  these 
respects,  and  therefore  its  legislative  measures 
arc  in  an  especial  manner  worthy  of  attention. 
Four  subjects,  each  of  paramount  importance. 
were  brought  under  discussion — the  continuance 
of  the  Bank  Restriction  Act,  the  continuance  of 
the  Property  Tax,  Agricultural  Distress,  and  the 
Army  and  Navy  Establishment.  The  priority, 
in  point  of  time,  belongs  to  the  debate  on  the 
property  tax;  but  it  is  difficult  to  fix  upon  any 
particular  occasion  on  which  the  discussion  on  it 
was  brought  to  a  point,  as  it  was  renewed 
almost  every  night,  during  two  months,  on  the 
presentation  of  successive  petitions  from  all 
parts  of  the  country  on  the  subject.  But,  with- 
out asserting  that  they  were  contained  in  any 
one  debate,  the  principal  arguments  on  the  sub- 
ject will  be  found  to  be  contained  in  the  follow- 
ing summary : 

On  the  one  hand,  it  was  contended  against  tho 
continuance  of  the  tax,  by  Mr.  Pon- 
sonby,  Mr.  Baring,  and  Mr.  Brough-  Argument 
am — "The  petitions  against  this  lax  against  the 
are  innumerable,  and  all  couched  Property  Tax 
in  the  strongest  possible  language.  J^y^Uie Oppose 
They  state  facts  which  are  undeni- 
able, they  advance  arguments  which  are  unan- 
swerable.    They  do  not  come  from  any  one  class 
or  section  in  tho  community ;  they  come  from 
all  sections  and  all  classes,  and  complain  of  an 
oppression  from  the  operation  of  this  tax,  which 
is  universal  and  intolerable.     Tho  farmers  com- 
plain that  they  arc  assessed,  on  an  arbitrary  rule, 
on  property  which  does  not  exist.     To  pay  it, 
they  are  consuming  their  capital;  they  can  nei- 
ther stock  their  farms,  nor  maintain  their  fami- 
lies,   but   by   encroaching    on    their    substance. 
How  could  it  be  otherwise,  when  the  price  of 
j  wheat  had  fallen  from  llOs.  a  ipiarter  to  85s.  in 
j  the  last  two  years,  and  every  other  species  of 
agricultural   ]n-oduce   in  the  same   proportion? 
I  'ilio  merchants  and   bankers   are  equally  loud 
[  and  emphatic   in  their  denunciation  of  this  in- 
icjuitous  tax;  the  petition  from  tho  merchant.s 

*  "  Many  of  tho  speculations  publishril  in  I  hi^  Rr|iort  of 
the  Bullion  Committee  had  been  completely  liilwiiicd  by 
events.  The  restoration  of  peace  in  1811,  and  ImhI  year, 
had  had  the  cllbct,  by  stopping  tho  foreign  cxiiondituro,  of 
bringing  b.icit  the  specie  eveu  more  rapidly  than  ever  he 
had  contemjilatod.  Hut  alter  so  long  a  Ibrcign  expendi- 
ture as  that  since  1808,  it  was  not  a  favorable  exchange 
of  a  few  months  which  would  bring  things  back  to  Iheii 
former  level.  This  would  re(puro  a  I'onHidcrablu  lime." 
— Earl  of  LlviiuroOL's  Speech,  May  17,  1816,  I' irl.  Deft 
xxxiv.  574. 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[Chap    II 


%ad  bankers  of  tS*  oiiv  of  Lorvlon  is  perhaps  the 

■KMtr.  int  thai  over 

vas  1  that  or  any 

ocb«r  >  .-  I- ••••V  vexatious 

aad  a! .  ^.-i^  because  it  implies  an 

iaqw»>'  vatc  ailairs,  at  alt  tirnes 

Inanlous  l>ut  doubly  s<>  ia  a  period  of  <reneral 
gloam  and  <Mnin»oted  credit  such  as  the  present. 
TW  la    '  -.  over  the  whole  length 

aad  br  are  et;ua)4v  unanimous 

oa  ihc  c...   ^ '.  IS  no  wonder  it  is  so  — 

for  from  their  incomes  being  universally  known, 
and  the  tax  paid,  in  the  first  instance,  by  their 
len.Ants.  escape  or  evasion  are  alike  impossible ; 
while  from  the  weight  of  their  debts,  and  the 
rapid  decline  of  their  rents,  the  tax,  if  longer 
rootioued.  will  in  all  cases  essentially  diminish, 
in  some  eniirely  sweep  away,  the  residue  which 
may  remain  to  maintain  their  families,  pay  the 
jointures  and  interest  of  mortgages  with  which 
they  are  burdened,  and  enable  them  to  maintain 
their  position  in  society. 
'-  It  is  in  vain  to  say  that  Parliament  was  bound. 

H^  in  keeping    faith  with  the   public 

k  w«s  spcci-  creditor,  to  continue  this  tax  longer, 
ficaiiy  a  wmr  It  never  was  impledged  in  security 
■**"  of  loans ;  it  was  the  indirect  taxes 

alone  which  were  so  impledged.  The  property 
tax  had  been,  from  first  to  last,  a  tear  tax.  and  a 
war  tax  alone ;  it  was  so  expressly  denominated, 
both  by  Mr.  Pitt,  ot:  his  first  introduction  of  it 
in  1799,  and  by  Lord  Henry  Petty,  on  its  being 
raised  lo  ten  per  cent,  in  1S06 ;  and  the  statute 
imposing  it  bears  evidence  of  the  same  under- 
standing, for  it  is  laid  on  till  the  6th  of  April 
next,  after  the  conclusion  of  '-a  general  peace, 
and  no  l,>H^tr."*  If  any  thing  could  add  to  the 
force  of  these  last  words,  it  would  be  the  cun- 
ning device  adopted  of  amitting  them  in  the 
hurried  renewal  of  the  statute,  on  the  return  of 
Napoleon  from  Elba  last  year.  It  is  true,  that 
the  faith  of  Parliament  stands  pledged  to  the 
eoontry  on  this  subject;  but  it  stands  pledged  to 
the  removal  of  the  tax,  not  its  continuance.^  The 
countr)-  is  now  agitated  from  one  end  to  the 
other ;  and  it  is  universally  felt  that  any  renewal 
of  the  tax.  even  at  the  reduced  rate  of  five  per 
cent.,  and  for  a  single  year,  is  a  direct  breach  of 
the  public  faith  with  the  nation,  which  is  little 
deserved,  after  the  patience  with  which  the  tax 
was  borne  daring  the  years  when  it  really  was 
jna  voidable. 
■•  Equally  vain  is  it  to  assert,  that  the  contina- 

jy  ance  of  the  property  tax  is  necessa- 

KMMccssary  ry  as  a  general  measure  of  finance, 
—  *  general  and  to  uphold  the  credit  of  the 
^J^"*^  ^  country.  The  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer  says,  if  it  is  not  contin- 
ued, there  will  this  year  be  a  deficit  of  ten  mill- 
ions, which  will  render  it  necessary  for  him  to 
go  into  the  money  market  and  borrow  to  that 
amount,  which  would  depress  the  Funds,  and 
raise  the  interest  of  money.  But  supposing  this 
to  be  the  case :  supposing  that  it  is  impossible, 
by  economy,  and  reducing  our  establishments, 
to  avoid  a  considerable  loan,  what  is  the  incon- 
Tenience  thence  arising  to  that  which  may  be 


*''Be  it  enacted,  tkat  tbU  Act  akaU  fiiiiaiii  ■ml 
take  (Act  fron  QktUhof  Aprd  ISOt,  and  that  the  aaid 
Act.  and  the  datiea  tberect,  slan  eoati— e  ia  ttm&anag 
ihe  preMsc  wv,  avi  antU  tbe  6th  of  Aiwil  aext,  after  the 
deflaitrre  ncnstBre  of  a  treaty  or  peace,  mrf  ■•  faiver.-— 
i  MT.  P^aperfy  Tcz  Dttate. 


I  anticipateii  from  the  continuance,  even  for  a 
single  year,  of  this  most  odious  and  grinding 
lax?  Nothing  whatever.  Ministers  have  told 
us  of  the  prosperous  state  of  the  finances  of 
the  countr)-,  and  adverted  to  the  fact,  which  is 

!  undoubtedly  very  remarkable,  that  the  Sinking 
Fund,  though  trenched  upon  since  1S13,  is  still 

I  twelve  millions.     What  would  it  take  from  the 

I  efficiency  of  this  fund,  to  take  the  interest  of 
the  whole  loan  which  may  be  required,  which 
at  the  very  utmost  will  not  exceed  £600,000 
a  year  from  that  fund?  Is  not  such  a  measure 
better  than  continuing  a  burden  on  tne  country 
which  it  is  wholly  unable  to  bear,  and  wnich 
threatens,  if  longer  continued,  to  drain  away 
the  resources  of  the  people,  and  cripple  Gov- 
ernment most  seriously  in  future  years,  by  pre- 
venting the  ordinary  taxes  from  continuing 
productive  ?  What  would  a  loan  of  nine  or  ten 
millions  be,  which  would  perhaps  be  melted  in 
one  week  into  the  general  transactions  of  the 
country?  Nothing  whatever.  And  was  the 
House,  for  so  inconsiderable  an  advantage  as 
avoiding  placing  the  interest  of  such  a  loan  on 

the  Sinking  Fund,  to  turn  a  deaf  ear  ,  _.  .  _.  . 

■  ^  1,1-  '  Part.  Deb. 

to  the  prayers,  and  shut  their  eyes  lo  xixui.  1210. 
the  distresses  of  tbe  country,  and  ruin  1236 ;  and 
their  character  in  the  opinion  of  their  ^^  *^"  ^^• 
constituents?'"'  ~ 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  contended  by  Lord 
Liverpool,  Lord  Castlereagh,  and  .. 

the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer —  AisumeDt  oo 
"  The  principle  on  which  the  prop-  the  other  side 
erty  tax  was  originally  proposed  by  ^y  •**  Minis- 
Mr.  Pitt,  and  sulSequently  extended  ^' 
by  Lord  Lansdowne,  was  not  merely  to  avoid 
the  inconvenience  of  a  large  loan.  The  princi- 
ple was,  that  it  is  important  to  provide  a  large 
supply  within  the  year,  in  preference  to  the  in- 
definite extension  of  permanent  taxation  by  the 
indefinite  accumulation  of  debt,  as  had  been  the 
case,  and  thereby  to  provide  for  the  vigorous 
prosecution  of  the  war,  and  for  the  future  relief 
of  the  nation  in  peace.  These  objects  had  both 
been  gained ;  and  by  the  unswerving  prosecu- 
tion of  this  system,  and  the  patience  with  which 
it  had  been  borne  by  the  nation,  we  had  now 
nine  millions  less  of  permanent  taxes  to  pay 
than  we  should  have  had  if  the  opposite  system 
bad  been  continued.  The  burdens  laid  on  during 
the  war  had  been,  upon  the  whole,  collected 
with  so  much  wisdom  and  success,  that  now  the 
Consolidated  Fund  had  a  greater  surplus  than  in 
the  year  1791,  or  than  was  even  hoped  for  by  the 
Finance  Committee  of  that  year.  We  had  now 
a  surplus  of  £2,500,000,  with  a  Sinking  Fund 
of  £11,000,000 — in  other  words,  £13,500,000 
aimually  applicable  to  the  reduction  of  debt. 
Could  such  a  favorable  state  of  things  have 
arisen,  had  noi  the  vigorous  measure  of  a  large 
property  tax  been  adopted;  and  now  that  its 
fruits  were  beginning  to  be  reaped,  is  it  to  be 
abandoned  ? 

'•  To  show  that  there  is  no  breach  of  faith 
with  the  nation  in  proposing  the  con-  j- 

tinuance  of  the  property  tax  for  two  No  breach  of 
vears  longer,  it  is  onlv  necessary  to  f*»tl»  in  its 
recollect,  that  when' the  property  "»«»»«">« 
tax  was  raised  to  ten  per  cent  by  the  Whig  Ad- 
ministration in  1807,  and  when  a  permanent 
system  of  war  expenditure,  estimated  at  £3-2.. 
000.000.  was  adopted,  it  was  conlemplatetl  thai 


1616.J 


HISTORY    OF    E  UROI'K. 


:ne  loans  which  would  he  necessary  should  be 
secured  by  mortgaf,'e  of  all  the  war  taxes,  in- 
cluding the  properly  tax.  It  was  no  doubt 
said  by  the  noble  Marquis  (Lansdowne),  then 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  that  if  the  war 
continued  only  seven  years,  it  would  not  be 
necessary  to  mortgage  the*  property  tax:  and  it 
was  also  true,  that  instead  of  the  war  expendi- 
ture being  on  an  average  £32,000,000,  it  had 
been  £52,000,000  since  that  time,  and  the  con- 
test had  lasted  more  than  seven  years;  but  that 
only  showed  the  more  clearly,  that  the  mortgage 
of  all  the  war  taxes  was  contemplated  by  those 
who  extended  the  property  tax,  and  thpt  the  out- 
cry now  raised  as  to  a  breach  of  faill.  with  the 
public,  in  proposing  its  continuance,  is  entirely 
without  foundation,  seeing  the  very  event  has 
occurred  which  was  always  looked  to  as  render- 
mg  its  prolongation  necessary. 

"Nothing    but   an   imperious  sense  of  duty 
jy  could  have  induced  his  Majesty's 

The  petitions  Ministers  to  propose  the  continu- 
for  its  repeal  ance,  even  for  a  short  period,  of  a 
not  unanim-  burden  in  opposition  to  the  general 
reluctance  which  it  was  foreseen 
would  be  felt  to  submit  to  heavy  taxation  after 
the  conclusion  of  the  war,  more  especially  when 
very  severe  distress  was  at  the  same  time  ex- 
perienced from  extraneous  and  temporary  causes. 
But  Government  would  be  shrinking  from  its 
first  duty,  if  it  did  not  persevere  in  the  course 
they  had  adopted.  The  utmost  deference  was 
due  to  the  public  voice  on  the  subject;  but. 
numerous  as  the  petitions  agamst  the  tax  had 
been,  they  are  not  so  expressive  of  general 
opinion  as  might  at  first  sight  appear.  They 
are  in  all  400,  of  which  one-third  come  from  the 
two  counties  of  Devon  and  Cornwall.  !Man- 
chester,  Liverpool,  Glasgow,  and  all  the  great 
commercial  towns,  are  divided  on  the  subject. 
When  this  is  considered,  and  the  great  popular- 
ity of  any  reduction  of  taxation  is  kept  in  view, 
it  is  not  going  too  far  to  assert,  that  the  strength 
of  the  demand  for  the  remission  of  the  tax  has 
been  much  overrated,  and  that  all  that  can  be 
said  is,  that  the  nation  is  strongly  agitated,  and 
much  divided  on  the  subject. 

"  But  supposing  the  popular  demand  on  the 
]9  subject  to  lie  as  strong  as  is  repre- 

Nccessity  for  sented  on  the  other  side,  there  are 
its  eontinu-  considerations  connected  with  the 
*"'^'  financial   situation  of  the  country 

which  render  it  the  painful  but  necessary  duty 
of  Government  to  withstand  it.  In  round  num- 
bers, the  expenses  for  the  present  year  may  be 
calculated  at  £30,000,000,  exclusive  of  the  per- 
manent expenditure  arising  from  the  interest  of 
the  debt.  There  was  good  reason,  however,  to 
hope  that  this  large  sum  would  be  reduced  next 
year  by  a  third,  or  to  about  £20,000,000.  All 
the  retrenchments  proposed  by  the  gentlemen 
opposite,  even  if  carried  with  unflinching  rigor 
into  full  effect,  would  not  reduce  this  sum  by 
more  than  £2,000,000  annually.  This,  then, 
being  our  necessary  expenses,  what  arc  our 
resources  to  meet  them?  Much  ha.s  been  said 
about  borrowing  on  the  credit  of  the  Sinking 
Fund,  or  even  applying  a  large  part  of  that 
fund  at  once  to  the  current  expenses  of  the  year. 
But  as  that  fund  does  not  now  much  exceed 
£11,000,000  a  year,  after  what  has  been  taken 
frooa  is  during  the  last  three  years,  if  it  is  to  be 


applied   in   whole   or  in   part  to  meet  the  cur- 
rent exigencies  of  the   year,   the   country  wil! 
soon  be  in  the  situation  ol  having  a  debt  ol  above 
£700,000,000,   without   any  fund   whatever    to 
I  look  to  for  its   redemption.      It  is   upon   that 
:  ground  that  Government  feel  them.selves  imper- 
j  atively  called  upon  by  the  duty  they  owe  to  the 
I  country  to  resist  the  abolition  of  this  tax.     If  it 
is  withdrawn.  Government,  as  a  matter  of  neces- 
sity, must  go  into  the  market  and  borrow  this 
{  yeartwelve,  next  year  six  or  seven,  millions:  what 
effect  will  this  have  upon  the  price  of  the  Funds, 
i  and,  through  it,  on  the  rate  of  interest  in  the 
I  country?     And  if  capital  is  kept  locked  up,  or 
advances  rendered  costly  by  this  cause,  how  are 
country    gentlemen,    how   are    merchants    and 
traders,  to  obtain  the  accommodation  necessary 
to  carry  on    their   undertakings,   or   overcome 
the  difficulties  with  which  they  are  surround- 
ed ?     Would  the  British  people,  with  the  good 
sense  and   spirit  which   animated  them,    now 
shrink   from   the   exertion   which    was    neces- 
sary for  their  own  preservation  ? —  i  p^^j  p^^ 
would  they,  in  fact,  be  so  infttuated  xxxiii.  1217, 
as  to  turn  their  backs  upon  them-  1222;  xx.\it. 
selves  ?'''  447,450. 

Notwithstanding  the  manliness  of  this  appeal, 
which  came  with  so  much  weight  20. 

from  the  Ministers  who  had  brought  Abolition  of 
the  contest  to  a  triumphant  issue,  'hei^x- 
and  the  cogent  nature  of  those  arguments,  such 
was  the  weight  of  the  public  voice  that  it  prov- 
ed irresistible.     Upon  a  division,  the  ,,     .    ,t, 
„      ^,  .'        ,    ,•  •         r    ,       March  18 

motion  lor  the  entire  abolition  of  the 

tax  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  37 — the  numbers 
being  201  and  238.  The  division  was  received 
with  rapturous  cheering  in  the  House,  which  con- 
tinued lor  several  minutes  ;  and  the  joyous  sound 
being  heard  in  Palace  Yard,  the  huzzas  soon 
spread  through  the  dense  crowd  there  assembled, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  over  all  London.  Never, 
since  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  had  such  general 
joy  been  felt  through  the  nation  as  was  on  this 
occasion  :  nothing  like  it  occurred  again  till  ihe 
second  capture  of  Cabul  and  the  conclusion  of 
the  Chinese  war  were  announced  in  a  single 
Delhi  gazette.  We  must  not  estimate  the  uni- 
versal transports  felt  on  this  occasion  by  what 
would  be  felt  if  the  modified  income-tax  of  seven- 
pence  in  the  pound,  introduced  in  1812  by  Sir  R. 
Peel,  was  now  abolished — for  his  was  a  light 
burden  in  comparison,  and  it  extended  to  persons 
enjoying  an  income  of  £1.50  and  upward  alone; 
whereas  the  former  was  a  tax  of  two  shillings 
in  the  pound,  and  extended  to  al!  incomes  of 
£00  and  upward.  As  the  heavier  tax,  when  it 
wa.s  taken  off,  was  producing  at  ten  per  cent. 
£15,000,000  a  year,  the  assessable  income  of 
Great  Britain  must  have  been,  at  that  period, 
£150,000,000  a  year.  And  when  we  tike  into 
consideration  the  innumerable  evasions  generally 
practiced,  especially  among  the  manufacturing 
and  trading  classes,  where  such  were  so  easy 
and  difficult  of  detection,  it  is  within  bounds  to 
conclude,  that  the  aggregate  incomes  of  persons 
in  Great  Britain  above  £00  must  at  that  period 
have  been  at  least  .£200,000,000  ;  an  astonishing 
fact,  when  it  is  recollected  that  the  whole  in. 
habitants  of  the  island  did  not,  at  that  period, 
exceed  thirteen  millions  ;  and  that  the  nation  had 
just  concluded  a  war  of  twenty  years'  duration, 
in  the  cmirse  of  which  £000,000,000  had  b.  cti 


Ill  ST  DRY    OF    r,  UROl'f 


ndiloil  to  ilio  public  tlobt.  aiul  ilie  sums  nnnually 
»  r.irl.  IVb.  mised  liv  tuxiitioii  piofjiossivdy  in- 
ii\.v  <il;  Ami.  civnsed'riom  a;,'O,O0l>,000  to  X72,- 
I'.il  tMisJt).     000,000. • 

111  consiiloriiif;  tliis  sulijoct,  wliicli  has  been 
81.  of  such  numioiit  in  the  subsequent 

Rodcriions  >n  tinanciul  unJ  soei:il  condition  ol  tlic 
tm»  sui'jtHi..  Britis.!,  ompiro,  it  will  probably  be 
found,  ns  is  <jcnerallv  the  eiise  in  sueli  (pieslions, 
that  there  was  some  truth,  and  not  a  liiiie  error, 
iu  the  opinions  advaneed  on  both  sides.  Lord 
Castlereaph  was  unquestionably  in  the  right 
when  he  so  strenuously  contended  for  preserv- 
ing inviolate  the  Sinkinjr  Fund,  and  not,  by  the 
remission  of  taxation,  leaving  the  nation  in  the 
situation  of  having  a:700,000,0i)()  of  debt,  with- 
out any  provision  for  its  redeiu]ition.  The  manly 
stand  which  he  made  against  aloud  public  clamor 
on  this  ground,  is  one  of  the  most  honorable,  as, 
uidiappily,  it  is  one  of  the  last,  recorded  in  Brit- 
ish history.  But  he  seems  as  clearly  to  have  err- 
ed in  the  ground  which  he  selected  for  making 
this  stand.  He  should  never  have  chosen  it  on 
the  question  of  upholding  a  heavy  and  unpopular 
direct  tax.  The  great  and  wise  principle  of  En- 
glish finance,  so  constantly  acted  upon  by  Mr. 
Pitt,  was  to  provide  for  the  interest  of  debt  and 
the  Sinking  Fund  for  its  redemption  by  indirect 
taxes,  and  to  reserve  direct  taxes  as  an  extraor- 
dinary war  resource,  to  continue  only  to  its  ter- 
mination. The  emphatic  declaration  in  the  Pro- 
jterty  Tax  Act,  that  it  was  to  "  continue  till  the 
(3th  April  next,  after  the  conclusion  of  a  definit- 
ive treaty  of  peace,  and  no  longer,''  proves  that 
this  was  in  an  especial  manner  the  case  with 
that  burden.  In  striving  to  uphold  it  after  peace 
was  concluded,  Government  was  not  less  violat- 
ing the  pledge  given  to  the  nation,  on  its  impo- 
sition, than  departing  from  the  true  principles  of 
finance  on  the  subject.  If  loans  for  a  year  or 
two  after  the  conclusion  of  the  war  were  neces- 
sary to  wind  up  its  expenses,  they  should,  with, 
out  hesitation,  have  been  contracted  in  prefer- 
ence to  continuing  an  oppressive  direct  war  tax. 
The  real  error,  and  it  was  a  most  fatal  one,  was 
the  unnecessary  and  often  uncalled-for  remission 
of  indirect  taxation  in  after  years,  by  successive 
administrations  bidding  against  each  other  in  the 
race  for  popularity,  which  at  first  crippled  and 
at  length  extinguished  the  Sinking  Fund ;  but 
that  mournful  topic  belongs  to  a  subsequent  part 
of  this  History. 

There  is  another  observation  on  this  subject, 
22.  suggested  by  the  tenor  of  these  de- 

Vitdl  consid-  bates,  which  will  frequently  recur 
nw  questuTn,  1°  the  mind  in  the  discussion  of  great 
which  were'  and  momentous  questions  in  sub- 
overlooked  at  sequent  years.  This  is,  that  the 
ihis  time.  jjjj,gj  material  parts  of  the  argument, 
and  the  most  vital  consequences  likely  to  flow 
from  the  measures  under  discussion,  were  not 
alluded  to  on  either  side  in  the  course  of  the  de- 
bate in  Parliament.  They  were  either  unseen, 
or,  if  seen,  were  carefully  concealed  by  both 
parties.  Thus  the  most  material  points  in  any 
discussion  upon  the  property  tax,  and  those  upon 
which  public  attention  has  buen  chiefly  fixed 
when  it  was  brought  forward  in  after  times,  un- 
doubtedly are — the  injustice  of  taxing  income 
derived  from  precarious  or  perishable  sources,  at 
the  same  rate  as  that  derived  from  land,  or  fixed 
and  imjcrishable  investment    the  extreme  se- 


[CUAP.  11. 

verity  of  direct  .nxalion,  wl  en  it  is  at  all  con 
sideruble,  compared  wiih  indirect,  when  it  is 
most  productive  ;  and  the  injustice  of  levying  a 
heavy  direct  tux  ujion  a  small  class  of  society — 
viz.,  that  possessing  an  income  above  a  certain 
level — from  which  all  the  rest  of  the  people  are 
exempt.  Yet  these  topics  are  never  once  alluded 
to,  in  the  course  of  the  almost  daily  discussions 
wliich  took  ])lucc  (Ml  the  subject,  in  presenting 
iJCtiiion.^  ill  this  year,  during  two  months  !  They 
arc  the  tojiics,  however,  upon  which  most  stress 
shoulil  always  be  laid,  when  this  subject  is  again 
brought  forward  in  future  times,  for  they  lie  at 
its  very  foundation.  They  touch  the  all-impor- 
tant subject  of  the  ability  of  the  people  to  bear 
the  burden — a  topic  far  more  momentous  to  them 
than  interesting  to  their  rulers.  Yet,  in  reality, 
it  is  a  topic  which  eventually  must  touch  their 
rulers  as  much  as  themselves ;  for  no  taxes  can 
long  be  levied  by  Government  which  trench  deep 
upon  the  resources,  and  seriously  abridge  the 
comforts,  of  the  people.  Of  these,  however,  di- 
rect taxes  are,  beyond  all  question,  the  most 
oppressive,  and  felt  as  most  severe,  for  they  al- 
ways fall  upon  a  limited  class,  generally  not 
more  than  a  thirtieth  part  of  the  community,  in 
whose  hands,  however,  they  arrest  the  funds 
which  maintain  the  whole ;  and,  not  being  mixed 
up  with  the  price  of  articles  of  consumption,  theii 
whole  weight  is  made  palpable  to  the  people 
Indirect  taxes  are  so  blended  with  the  cost  of 
articles  that  their  existence  is  not  perceived ;  and 
they  are  spread  over  so  wide  a  surface,  that  their 
burden  is  not  felt.  No  nation  was  ever  seriously 
injured  by  taxes  on  luxuries  consumed,  because 
the  very  fact  of  their  being  consumed  proved 
that  they  could  be  afforded,  and  had  been  paid  for, 
but  many  have  been  utterly  destroyed  by  direct 
taxation,  because  it  seizes  upon  income,  or  eats 
in  on  capital  before  it  is  expended;  and  ruins 
the  poor,  when  they  imagine  they  do  not  pay  the 
tax,  by  checking  the  growth  of  capital,  and  drain- 
ing away  the  funds  which  should  purchase  the 
produce  of  their  industry. 

It  was  generally  supposed  at  the  time  that 
Ministers  would  have  resigned,  upon  33^ 

Parliament  having  negatived  a  pro-  Remission  o! 
posal  forming  so  important  a  part  of  ^^^  war  Malt 
their  financial  system  ;  but,  instead  '^'^■'''  ^I^'-''^- 
of  doing  so,  they  equally  surprised  the  House  of 
Commons  and  the  country,  by  voluntarily  pro- 
posing, two  days  afterward,  the  entire  remission 
of  the  war  duty  on  malt — a  tax  producing  at  that 
time  £2,700,000  a  year.  The  reason  assigned 
by  them  for  this  unlooked-for  boon  was,  that  as 
the  abolition  of  the  income  tax  would  render  it  in- 
dispensable for  them  to  go  into  the  money  mar- 
ket to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  year,  it  was  of 
little  moment  whether  they  borrowed  a  few  mill- 
ions more  or  less ;  and,  therefore,  that  it  was 
deemed  advisable  to  give  a  material  relief  to  the 
agricultural  interest,  which  was  laboring  under 
a  severer  depression  than  any  other  class.  There 
can  be  no  question  that  there  was  much  truth  in 
this  observation,  although  there  were  not  want- 
ing shrewd  observers,  who  remarked  that  the 
boon  would  never  have  been  heard  of,  if  Minis- 
ters had  not  received  a  shake,  and  that  this  show- 
ed that  the  best  way  to  inspire  Government  with 
philanthropic  feelings  was  to  make  them  afraid. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  the  remission  of  the  tax  was 
hailed  with  delight  by  the  leaders  of  the  agrifiul 


tural  interest  in  Parliament ;  and  being  levied  on 
a  beverage  which  the  people  in  great  part  pre- 
pared lor  themselves,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
it  was  felt  as  a  relief  by  the  people  generally, 
contrary  to  what  too  often  obtains  with  the  re- 
'  Pari  Deb  mission  of  indirect  taxes,  which  onl}' 
ixxiii.  458;  swell  the  profits  of  the  dealers  in  the 
Ann.  Regist.  articles,  without  lessening  their  cost 
1816,26.  to  the  consumers.' 

As  the  abolition  of  the  property  tax,  and  the 
24_  remission  of  the  war  duly  on  raalt, 

Reduced  esti  occasioned  a  loss  to  the  Exchequer 
mates  formed  of  fully  £17,000,000  a  year,  it  be- 
rnent"^*™'  came  necessary  for  Ministers  to  re- 
vise entirely  their  estimates  for  the 
year,  and  reduce  the  expenditure  in  oportion 
to  the  large  defalcation  in  their  resources.  This 
was  accordingly  done,  and  with  a  success  be- 
yond the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  the 
country :  £3,000,000  was  borrowed  from  the 
Bank ;  and  this,  with  the  issue  of  Exchequer 
bills  to  the  amount  of  as  much  more,  supplied 
the  deficiencies  of  the  Exchequer.     The  reduc- 


HISTORY   OF    EUROPE. 


33 


tion  of  the  estimates  gave  rise  to  warm  delates 
in  both  houses  of  Parliament,  which  are  import- 
ant as  evincing  the  ideas  then  afloat  in  the  coun- 
try, and  forming  the  basis  on  which  the  whole 
pacific  expenditure  of  the  nation  since  that  time 
has  been  bunded.  The  reduction  edected  wa? 
very  great,  for  the  expenditure,  irrespective  of 
the  debt,  was  reduced  from  £0-^,000,000  to 
£•25,000,000,  and  the  loan  for  England  and  Ire- 
land  together  was  only  £8,900,000.  But  the 
debates  are  peculiarly  valuable,  as  evincing  the 
temper  of  the. nation  on  this  all-im-  i  Ann.  Reg 
portant  subiect.'  *  1^16,  70. 

On  the  part  of  the  Opposition,  it  was  contended 
by  Mr.  Ponsonby,  Mr.  Tiernay,  and  „j 

Lord  Cavendish — "War  is  only  Ar<niment  foi 
borne  because  it  is  hoped  it  may  a  reduction  oi 
lead  to  peace  ;  and  warlike  expendi-  e?;penditure 

1  •»  .1  by  tlie  Opposi 

ture,  because  it  may  pave  the  way  ,|q„_ 

for  pacific  reductions.     But,  accord- 
ing to  the  system  now  pursued,  ye  are  to  have 
the  evils  and  burdens  of  war  witnout  the  bless- 
ings and  reductions  of  peace.     When  we  eon- 


*  The  following  Table,  exhibiting  the  national  expenditure  for  1815  and  1816,  as  estimated,  will  show  thp  hxrs' 
redactions  effected  in  all  branches  of  the  public  expenditure  in  the  latter  year: 


1815. 


Supply. 


Army £13,876,757 

E-xtraordinaries 23,983,961 

Barracks 99,000 

Navy 18,644,200 

Ordnance 4,431,643 

Miscellaneous 3,000,000 


£62,135,039 

Loans  to  foreign  powers 11,035,247 

Permanent  Burdens. 
Interest  of  debt   Funded,   and   Sinking 

Fund £41,015,527 

Do.  of  Unfunded 3,014,003 


Supply. 
1810. 

Army £9,665,666 

Deduct  troops  in  France 1,234,596 

£8.431,0:4 

Extraordinaries 1,500,000 

Commissariat 480,000 

Deduct  in  France 75,000 


405,000 
178,000 
.50,000 


Barracks 

Stores  

Navy 9,434,440 

Ordnance 1,882,188 

Deduct  in  France 186,003 

1,696,183 

Miscellaneous 2,500,000 

Indian  debt  945,491 


£117,199,816  £25,140,186 

Permanent.  Burdens. 
Interest   of  Funded   debt   and    Sinking 

Fund 43,410,059 

Interest  of  E.xcheiiuer  Bills 2,196,177 

Foreign  loans £1,731,139 

Ireland 2,581,143 

4,312,287 

£75,056.';0S 

The  expenditure  for  1616,  however,  in  reality  reached  £80,185,828,  as  various  articles  of  outlay  exceeded  the  eell- 
mate.— See  Ann.  Reg.  1816,  70,  71  ;  and  1817,^256,  257. 

To  meet  this  expenditure,  which  even  in  the  last  of  the  two  years  was  immense,  the  following  were  the  receipts  tut 
the  two  years : 

Ways  and  Means. 


1815. 
Ordinary  Retienue,  nctt. 

Customs £9,070,554 

Excise  M,5y.),()28 

Stamps 6,139,585 

Land  and  assessed 7,604,01.0 

I'ost-olllce 1,755,898 

Lesser  resources 189,352 

Ordinary  and  hereditary  revenue £45,197,368 

Extraordinary. 

Customs £2,280,fi34 

Excise 6,7,'i7,028 

Property-tax 14,978,248 

Lottery 304,051 

Paid  liy  Ireland 3,981,783 

Irish  expenditure 6,107,986 

Loans 39,421 ,950 

Lesser  heads 117,241 


1816. 
Ordinary  Revenue,  ne'.t. 

Customs £8,169,780 

Excise 19,013,630 

Stamps 6,184,288 

Lund  and  assessed 7,257,906 

PoBt-offli-e 1,059,854 

Lesser  resources 67,280 


Permanent  ordinary £12,370,130 

Hereditary  revenue 105,270 

Extraordinary. 

Customs £1,007,810 

Excise 4,581,637 

Property-tax  last»yenr 12,039,120 

Lottery 234,680 

Interest  of  loans  for  Ireland 4,558,558 

Ireland's  share  of  expenses 1,184,009 

Unclaimed  dividends 333,.')06 

Lesser  heads 134,000 


Total £119,370,629    Total  without  loans £60,579,420 

Loi'.n,  including  Ireland S.Oac.SOS 

Total £75,511>«> 

.''Finance  Statement,"  Ann  Reg  1610,  420  ;  and  1817,  210. 
Vol.  I.-C 


34 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[CUAP.   II. 


sider  the  enormous  nmoiint  of  our  nfttional  debt, 
aiul  tlie  oomplcto  triumph  of  our  aruis  which 
wns  purchased  by  it,  nothiufj  can  bo  more  evi- 
diMit  than  that  at  no  former  period  were  large 
reduetions  in  our  peace  e^tabll^hment  both  more 
loudly  called  for,  or  more  safe  and  practicable, 
than  at  the  present  moment.  What  is  the  value 
of  our  boasted  victories,  if,  after  they  have  been 
;;ained,  we  are  oblifjcd  to  remain  armed  at  all 
|H>ints.  as  before  the  contest  in  which  they  were 
achieved  commenced?  Some  reductions,  it  is 
true,  have  been  made,  but  on  a  scale  by  no 
means  proportioned  to  the  necessities  of  the 
case;  and  if  our  financial  situation  is  considered, 
it  will  at  once  appear  that,  unless  the  expendi- 
ture is  reduced  on  a  very  dilTerent  scale  from 
what  has  hitherto  been  attempted,  the  empire 
will  be  involved  in  inextricable  ditTiculties. 

"  The  total  sums  required  to  be  provided  for 
the  service  of  the  year  amount,  ac- 
Continued.  cordMg  to  I  he  statement  of  the  Chan- 
ccIIot  of  the  Exchequer,  to  £31,- 
0S3,000,  of  which  the  establishments  of  the 
country  formed  upward  of  £28,000,000.  In  ad- 
dition to  this,  by  the  Treat}'  of  Union,  two-sevcn- 
leenths  of  the  joint  expenditure  of  the  empire 
was  to  be  charged  to  the  account  of  Ireland ; 
and  such  was  now  the  financial  situation  of  that 
country,  that  its  finances  were  not  equal  even  to 
the  payment  of  the  interest  of  its  debt — so  that, 
instead  of  ils  contributing  any  thin<T  at  all  to  the 
joint  expenses  of  the  United  Kingdom,  Great 
Britain  would  have  to  advance  £997,000  to 
make  up  its  deficiencies.  Thus  the  whole  sum 
we  have  to  provide  for  the  service  of  the  year 
is  about  thirty-two  millions  and  a  half.  To 
meet  this  sum,  the  surplus  in  the  hands  of  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  according  to  his 
own  account,  is  £12,700,000,  leaving  a  defi- 
ciency in  the  first  year  of  peace  of  no  less  than 
£19,981,000  !  It  would  be  some  consolation  if 
we  could  flatter  ourselves  that  this  immense  de- 
ficit was  owing  to  winding  up  the  expense  of  the 
war,  and  that  any  considerable  reduction  of  it 
could  be  hoped  for  if  our  present  establishment 
continued  in  future  years.  But  this  was  very 
far  from  being  the  case.  When  the  items  of  the 
expenditure  are  looked  into,  it  appears  that  they 
are  all  permanent,  arising  from  the  current  ex- 
penses of  the  year  ;  and  so  far  from  there  being 
any  prospect  of  a  reduction  in  future,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  next  year  the  charges  of  the  nation 
must  be  increased  £1,000,000,  and  that  for 
ever,  to  meet  the  interest  of  the  sum  to  be  bor- 
rowed  in  this  verj'  year,  to  meet  its  excess  of 
expenditure  above  income.  If  that  is  our  con- 
dition in  time  of  peace,  and  with  all  the  security 
derived  from  the  greatest  triumphs,  can  any 
thing  be  so  deplorable  as  our  financial  situa- 
tion? 

"If  the  establishment  maintained  in  the  dif- 
2y  ferent  parts  of  the  empire  at  this  time 

Continued.  ^^  compared  with  what  it  was  in 
1792,  the  difierence  is  prodigious,  and 
wholly  unaccounted  for  by  any  increased  neces- 
sities of  our  situation.  On  the  contrary,  if  there 
is  any  difierence,  it  .'■hould  be  found  in  the  di- 
minuhed  force  now  required,  from  the  enhanced 
security  which  our  commanding  situation  and 
unparalleled  victories  have  now  procured  for  us. 
Nevertheless,  Government  propose  just  the  re- 
Terse ;  the  establishment  they  have  submitted 


to  the  Honsc  is  more  than  double  of  what  it  was 
in  1792.     The  two  }cars  stand  thus  : 


1792. 

Men. 

Great  nritaiu 15,919. 

Old  Colonies 16,848. 

Ireland 16,000. 

New  Colonies . 


1816. 

Men. 
,  32,000 

.27,000 
.28,000 
.25,000 


48,767  112,000 

Exclusive  of  troops  in  France  and  India 

"If  to  these  forces  be  added  tne  troops  in 
France  and  India,  which  are  maintained  by 
their  respective  countries,  and  comprise  at  least 
50,000  men.  it  follows  that  we  have  now  above 
160,000  men  in  arms  in  a  period  of  profound 
peace,  and  immediately  after  the  conclusion  of 
a  war  which  is  boasted  of  as  having  given  us 
unexampled  security.  All  that  we  have  gained, 
if  the  statement  of  Ministers  be  correct,  by  a 
war  which  has  quadrupled  our  public  debt, 
is,  that  we  have  incurred  a  neces-  iparl.Deb. 
sity  of  tripling  our  military  establish-  xx.xii.  1194, 
ment.^i  1202. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  contended  by  Lord 
Liverpool,    Lord   Palmerston,   and  gg. 

Lord  Castlereagh — "  JNluch  of  the  Argument  on 
embarrassments  and  difficulties  of  the  other  side, 
the  country  during  war  have  always  ^^'  ^^""ster.s 
arisen  from  our  establishment  in  peace  having 
been  brought  to  so  low  an  ebb  that,  on  the  first 
breaking  out  of  hostilities,  we  were  either  abso- 
lutely powerless,  or,  if  we  attempted  any  thing, 
were  constantly,  for  some  years,  involved  in 
disaster.  This  was  particularly  the  case  during 
the  first  years  of  the  American  and  the  late  war 
— on  the  last  of  which  occasions  Mr.  Pitt,  by 
whom  the  reductions  were  made,  expressed 
bitter  regret  that  he  had  been  instrumental  in 
reducing  the  establishment,  during  the  previous 
peace,  to  so  low  an  ebb  that  the  fairest  oppor- 
tunity of  bringing  the  war  to  an  early  and  suc- 
cessful termination  was  lost.  It  was  to  the 
liberty  we  enjoyed  that  the  industry  and  exertion 
which  happily  distinguished  England  from  many 
of  the  Continental  powers  were  to  be  ascribed ; 
and  to  these  advantages,  which  a  free  people 
only  could  possess,  we  owed  all  our  superiority, 
which  would  not  be  in  the  smallest  degree  af- 
fected by  the  magnitude  or  diminution  of  our 
peace  establishment. 

"  It  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  compare  our 
peace  establishment  in  1816  with 
what  it  was  in  1792,  and  to  ask,  how,  contliiueii. 
when  we  have  been  successful  in  the 
war,  an  additional  and  much  larger  inilitary 
force  is  requisite.  Is  it  not  well  known — has 
it  not  passed  into  a  maxim  in  history — that 
success  only  mulli]j!ics  the  demand  for  increased 
means  of  defense,  by  widening  the  circle  from 
which  hostility  may  be  apprehended  ?  Our 
empire  in  the  colonies  has  been  more  than 
doubled  during  the  war ;  and  are  we  to  be  told 
that,  after  having  been  won  with  so  much  diffi- 
culty, they  are  not  worth  preserving,  but  must 
be  abandoned,  for  want  of  a  protective  force,  to 
the  first  enemy  who  chooses  to  grasp  them  ? 
Look  around  upon  the  colonies,  and  say  whether 
there  is  any  one  of  them  for  which  a  supply  of 
soldiers  has  been  voted  larger  than  is  absolutely 
necessary.  The  fact  is  notoriously  the  reverse; 
they  are  all  so  under-garrisoned  that  the  men 
stationed  there  will  be  over-worked,  and  fall 


1816.J 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


35 


victims  to  fatigue  and  the  diseases  of  tropical 
climates.  Tiie  new  colonies  obtained  during 
I  he  war  were  proposed  to  be  garrisoned  by 
22,000  men,  of  whom  not  more  than  15.000 
could  be  reckoned  on  as  effective ;  whereas  the 
afTorrewate  m'  effective  soldiers  who  marched 
out  of  them,  when  they  were  taken,  was  upward 
of  30,000.  In  some  of  the  old  colonies — as 
Jamaica  and  Canada — it  was  proposed  to  station 
a  force  considerably  larger  than  had  been  there 
before  the  war;  but  that  was*because  America 
had  become  a  considerable  military  and  naval 
power,  in  consequence  of  the  events  of  its  later 
years. 

'•  In  regard  to  the  home  stations,  the  number 

allotted  for  Great  Britain  is  25,000, 
Continued    being  about  7000  more  than  the  quota 

of  1792.  But  is  that  an  excessive 
addition,  when  the  increase  which  during  the 
war  has  taken  place  in  our  population  and  re- 
sources is  considered?  The  first  has  increased 
a  fourth ;  the  last,  if  measured  by  our  exports, 
imports,  and  shipping,  have  more  than  doubled. 
The  augmentation  of  the  army  at  home  was  by 
no  means  in  the  same  proportion.  In  proportion 
as  our  colonial  force  is  augmented,  the  troops 
at  home,  by  whom  they  are  to  be  fed  or  relieved, 
must  be  increased  also.  Then  if,  in  addition  to 
all  this,  the  vast  additions  made  to  the  armies 
of  the  Continental  powers  during  the  war,  and 
the  magnitude  of  their  peace  establishments,  be 
taken  into  consideration,  it  must  become  at  once 
apparent  that  not  merely  our  respectability,  but 
our  very  existence  as  an  independent  nation, 
was  involved  in  resisting  the  reduction  now  pro- 
{)osed.  The  question  at  issue  is  not  whether,  by 
reductions  in  our  establishment,  we  can  get  quit 
of  the  income-tax  or  loans  in  its  stead,  for  by  no 
possible  reduction  can  that  object  be  eff"ected. 
It  is,  whether  we  shall  compel  the  Crown  to 
abandon  all  our  colonial  possessions,  fertile 
seurces  of  our  commercial  wealth,  and  whether 
we  should  descend  from  that  elevated  station 
which  it  had  cost  us  so  much  labor,  blood,  and 
treasure  to  attain. 

"It  is  unfair  to  charge  the  whole  expense 

3j  of  the  army    being  £9,800,000   pro- 

Concluded,  posed  this  year,  to  the  account  of  our 

present  establishments:  £2,000,000 
of  it  is  absorbed  in  pensions  to  those  gallant 
men,  now  .'or  the  most  part  retired,  who  have 
borne  us  through  the  perils  of  the  contest;  £1,- 
000,000  is  applied  to  the  forces  embodied  at 
present,  which  will  be  disbanded  in  the  course 
of  the  year — particularly  the  regular  militia  and 
foreign  corps,  which  are  to  be  entirely  reduced. 
Let  it  be  recollected,  too,  that  since  the  year 
1792  the  pay  of  the  soldiers  had  been  doubled — 
it  had  been  raised  from  sixpence  to  a  shilling  a 
day,  which  added  at  least  a  third  to  the  total  ex- 
pense of  our  military  establishment.  If  these 
things  are  taken  into  consideration,  it  will  be 
found  that  the  proposed  military  establishment, 
so  far  from  being  excessive,  is  in  reality  ex- 
tremely moderate,  and  could  not  be  reduced  in 
.he  prese:r,t  circumstances  o(  Europe,  the  empire, 
-  Pari  Deb  ^"^'  ^'^®  world,  without  serious  de- 
xxxiii.843,872;  triment  to  our  national  character, 
nndxxxiv.  and  the  most  serious  danger  to  our 
19.04, 1210.        national  independence."^ 

Notwithstanding  the  force  of  these  arguments, 
and  the  obvious  inexpedience  of  tot  rapidly  re- 


ducing the  national  establishments,  from  the  per. 
nicious  effect  which  throwing  a  vast  oq 

number  of  idle  hands  at  once  upon  Establish- 
the  labor  market  would  have,  such  ments  ulti- 
was  the  strength  of  the  public  cry  mately  voted 
for  economy,  and  such  the  necessities  of  Govern- 
ment after  the  great  resource  of  the  property 
tax  was  withdrawn,  that  very  great  reductions 
became  necessary  in  the  army,  against  which 
the  chief  complaints  were  directed.  The  es- 
tablishment was  ultimately  fixed  at  111,756  men, 
deducting  the  foreign  corps  disbanded  in  the 
course  of  the  year,  and  the  troops  in  France  and 
in  the  East  India  Company's  territories.  Includ- 
ing them,  the  number  was  196,027.*  The 
regular  militia,  80,000  strong,  and  about  50,000 
of  the  regular  army  were  disbanded  in  the  course 
of  the  year.  For  the  navy  33,000  men  were 
voted — a  great  and  immediate  reduction  from 
100,000,  who  had  been  voted  in  the  preceding 
year.  Great  part  of  these  copious  reductions 
did  not  take  effect  till  the  succeeding  j'ear,  and 
so  had  little  effect  in  lessening  the  expenditure 
of  this  ;  but  the  disbanding  of  so  large  a  number 
as  200,000  men  from  the  two  services,  including 
the  regular  militia,  however  unavoidable,  had  a 
most  prejudical  effect  upon  the  labor  market, 
and  tended  much  to  augment  the  suffering 
so  generally  felt  by  the  working  classes,  from  the 
diminution  of  employment,  and  the  i  ^.^^^  j^^^^ 
distressed  condition  both  of  theagri-  "xxii. 842, 847 
cultural  and  manufacturing  i)opula-  ^nn.  Reg. 
tion.i  816,9,10. 

Agricultural  distress,  as  might  well  have  been 
expected,   from   the   difficulties   so  33 

generally  experienced  by  that  im-  Debate's  on 
portant  class  of  the  com.munity  who  agricultural 
were  engaged  in  the  cultivation  of  ^listress. 
the  soil,  holds  a  very  prominent  place  among  thj 
subjects  of  parliamentary  discussion  in  this  year. 
The  debates  of  course  terminated  in  nothing  ef- 
fective being  done  for  the  relief  of  the  landed 
interest ;  for  the  causes  of  this  distress  were 
either  altogether  beyond  the  reach  of  remedy 
on  the  part  of  Government,  or  they  arose  from 
measures  connected  with  the  currency,  which 
the  legislature  was  inclined  to  render  more 
stringent  rather  than  the  reverse.  But  they  are 
not,  on  that  account,  the  less  valuable  in  a  histori- 
cal point  of  view,  as  tending  to  indicate  the  com- 
mencement of  the  operation  of  those  causes  of  a 
general  nature  which,  ere  long,  had  so  import- 
ant an  influence  on  British  prosperity,  and  came 
to  exercise  so  decisive  an  effect  on  the  legisla- 
tion and  destinies  of  the  empire. 

On  the  part  of  the  Opposition,  it  was  contend- 
ed by  Mr.   Brougham,  Mr.   Tierney,  and  Mr. 


Army  estimate  for  1810 


Cost. 


Land  forces,  including 
corps  intended  to  be  £, 

reduced 111,756 4,702,611 

Uegitnentsin  France. .  34,0.'il 1,234,596 

Ilcf;iineiits  in  India. . .  28,491 900,604 

Foreign  corps 21,401 370,669 

Recruiting  Staff. 348 20,835 


Deduct  in 
Franco   .    ...34,031 
Do  in  India.. 28,401 


196,027 


62,522 

Remains 133,505. 

—Pari.  Deb  .\xxii.  842. 


'tth  lesper  ch.irffos, 

£1,234,590 

906,004 


11,123,571 


2,141,190 
i'8,9H2,3ti9 


n 


HISTORY   OF    EUROPE. 


[CUAP.  II. 


Western — '  It  is  suiicilliunis  to  sny  n"y  thinp 
jj  on  the  ftinount  niul  universality  of 

ArmimpMi  of  the  distress  wliioli  exists  in  the 
ihtOpiuvsiiuin  country  at  this  time.  That,  unbap- 
011  tlio  KuVot.  -^^.^  is  mutter  of  notoriety,  anil  is 
universally  ndmiiteil.  If  any  donht  oonUl  exist 
npon  the  subject  it  would  be  removed  by  the  peti- 
tion presented  this  very  nijjlit  I'rom  Cambridge- 
shire, in  whieh  it  is  stated  that  every  single  indi- 
vidual in  a  parish  in  that  eounty,  with  one  excep- 
tion, has  become  bankrupt  or  a  pauper,  and  that 
tiuU  o.ie.  in  consequence,  has  lalicn  from  a  state 
of  atnuenee  to  ruin,  I'rum  the  rates  all  Tailing 
upon  him.  The  real  point  for  consideration  is,  lo 
what  is  this  universal  and  overwhelming  distress 
owing  ?  In  1792,  the  average  price  of  wheat  was 
47s.  a  quarter,  now  (April  9)  it  is  57s. — almost 
twenty  per  cent  higher;  yet  no  complaint  of 
luin  from  low  prices  was  heard  before  the  war. 
t)n  the  contrary,  such  a  state  of  things  was 
with  reason  hailed  as  the  greatest  possible  bless- 
ing, as  the  first  fruits  of  peace  and  plenty.  We 
must  seek  for  other  causes,  therefore,  for  the 
jiresent  distress,  than  in  the  mere  fact  of  low 
prices;  and  those  causes  seem  to  be  chiefly  the 
following : 

'•The  years  1796  and  1799,  it  is  well  known, 
were  years  of  very  bad  harvests,  and 
Contuiued  ^''^J''  ^^  course,  raised  the  price  of  agri- 
cultural produce,  and  gave  a  tempo- 
rary stimulus  to  cultivation.  This  was  increased 
by  the  profuse  expenditure  of  the  war,  which,  not 
confined  to  income,  lavished  in  single  years  the 
accumulated  hoards  of  previous  generations. 
But  the  great  circumstance  which  tended  to  raise 
prices  in  a  lasting  way,  was  the  suspension  of 
cash  payments  by  the  Bank  of  England.  This 
gave  such  a  stimulus  to  that  establishment,  and 
also  to  all  the  country  banks,  that  prices  not  only 
rose,  but  were  retained  at  a  high  level.  The 
consequence  was,  that  the  banks  were  encour- 
aged to  advance  money  to  cultivators  from  the 
certainty  of  their  obtaining  a  remunerating  price 
for  their  produce,  and  thence  a  prodigious  im- 
pulse was  given  to  agriculture  in  all  its  branches. 
Nor  is  the  effect  of  the  vast  increase  of  our  co- 
lonial possessions  to  be  overlooked,  which  has 
operated  not  merely  by  increasing  our  exports 
and  imports,  but,  in  a  far  more  important  de- 
gree, by  promoting  enterprise  in  the  cultivation 
of  our  own  soil.  This  appears  from  the  great 
amount  of  riches  which  was  remitted  from  these 
colonial  possessions  to  purchase  or  improve  land 
in  Great  Britain  ;  and  the  source  from  which 
that  wealth  has  come  may  be  distinctly  traced 
in  the  names  of  estates  and  farms,  especially  in 
Scotland,  which  are  in  many  places  taken  from 
that  of  places — as  Berbice,  Surinam,  or  the  like 
— in  the  East  or  'West  Indies.  Lastly,  among 
the  causes  which  gave  so  great  an  impulse  to 
agriculture  during  the  war,  we  must  assign  a 
very  prominent  place  to  Napoleon's  Continental 
blockade,  which  not  only  gave  our  cultivators, 
during  the  last  seven  years  of  its  continuance, 
an  almost  entire  monopoly  of  the  home  market 
for  agricultural  produce,  but,  by  throwing  the 
whole  foreign  commerce  of  the  woild  into  our 
hands,  powerfully  promoted  the  prosperity  of  our 
seaport  and  manufacturing  towns,  and  through 
them  reacted  upon  that  of  the  most  distant  parts 
of  the  country. 

"In  consequence  of  this  combination  of  cir- 


cumstances, most  of  w  hich  were  of  a  casual  oi 
temporary  nature,  there  has  occur- 
red in  this  country  what  may  with-  Continued 
out  impropriety  be  called  an  ovcr-tiad- 
in^  ill  aiiriculliirc,  and  conse(]uent  redundance 
of  agricultural  produce.  Jnelosure  bills  to  the 
amount  of  twelve  hundred  have  been  pacsed 
during  the  last  ten  years,  and  the  number  of 
acres  thereby  brought  into  cultivation  has  been 
estimated  at  two  millions  Certain  it  is  that, 
between  the  neirly  inclosed  land  and  the  im- 
provement of  that  which  was  formerly  under 
cultivation,  at  least  the  produce  of  two  millions 
of  acres,  which  may  be  taken  at  six  millions  of 
quarters  of  grain,  has  been  added  to  the  national 
supply.  But  the  population  of  the  island  has 
only  increased  two  millions  during  the  war,  and 
taking  a  quarter  of  grain  for  the  average  con- 
sumption of  each  individual,  it  follows  that  two 
millions  of  quarters  only  have  been  added  to  the 
demand,  and  six  millions  to  the  supply.  This 
sufficiently  explains  the  glut  of  agricultural  pro- 
duce, and  consequent  fall  of  prices,  and  the  dis- 
tress which  now  universally  prevails  among  the 
cultivators  and  landed  proprietors. 

'■  Supposing,  as  is  perhaps  the  ease,  that  these 
calcufations  of  political  arithmetic  are 
not  altogether  to  be  trusted,  we  may  continued 
rely  on  a  much  safer  testimony,  the 
evidence  of  our  own  senses,  to  be  convinced  of 
the  extraordinary  advance  which  our  agricul- 
ture has  made  of  late  years.  The  improvements 
in  most  parts  of  the  country  have  been  so  great 
that  the  most  careless  observer  must  have  been 
struck  by  them.  Not  only  have  wastes  for  miles 
and  miles  disappeared,  giving  place  to  houses, 
fences,  and  crops ;  not  only  have  even  the  most 
inconsiderable  commons,  the  very  village  greens, 
and  little  stripes  of  sward  by  the  wayside,  been 
subjected  to  division  and  exclusive  ownership, 
but  the  land  which  formerly  grew  something  haa 
been  fatigued  with  labor  and  loaded  with  capital 
until  it  yielded  much  more.  The  work  both  of 
men  and  cattle  has  been  economized,  new  skill 
has  been  applied,  and  a  more  dexterous  combin- 
ation of  ditierent  kinds  of  husbandry  practiced, 
until,  without  at  all  comprehending  the  waste 
lands  wholly  added  to  the  productive  t^erritory 
of  the  nation,  it  may  be  safely  said,  not,  perhaps, 
that  two  blades  of  grass  now  grow  where  only  one 
grew  before,  but  certainly  that  five  now  grow 
where  only  four  used  to  be ;  and  that  this  king- 
dom, which  foreigners  were  wont  to  taunt  as  a 
mere  manufacturing  and  trading  country,  inhab- 
ited by  a  shopkeeping  nation,  is  in  reality,  for  its 
size,  by  far  the  greatest  agricultural  state  in  the 
world. 

"It  is  since  ISIO  that  these  causes  have  in 
an  especial  manner  come  into  oper- 
ation, as  appears  in  the  price  of  wheat  continued 
which,  on  an  average,  has  been  above 
100s.  the  quarter  since  that  time — a  striking 
contrast  to  the  woeful  depression  whieh  has 
taken  place  since  the  peace.  What  is  very  re- 
markable, this  depression  is  the  very  reverse  of 
what  took  place  on  former  pacifications ;  for  on 
the  peace  of  Paris,  in  1763,  wheat  rose  from 
3Gs.  to  41s.  a  quarter,  and  to  42s.  Cd.  on  an 
average  of  five  years  ending  1767;  and  on  the 
peace  of  Versailles,  in  17S4,  it  rose  5s.  a  quarter. 
In  the  present  contest,  however,  the  battle  of 
Leipsio,  which  induced  the  hope  of  a  speedy 


I8i6. 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


peace,  at  once  lowered  the  price  from  120s.  to  '  the  intention  of  the  43cl  Elizabeth,  from  a  Jefec' 


86s.,  and  before  November  1813,  wheat  was  at 
6Ss.  No  man  who  attends  to  these  figures  and 
dates,  can  doubt  that  the  fall  of  prices  was  con 


in  the  Act,  laid  entirely  upon  the  land.  Manu- 
faciturers  and  merchants  are  rated  only  as  pwners 
of  larjie  houses.     In  this  way  it  often  hafipens 


nected  with  the  prospect  of  an  approaching  ter-  that  a  man  who  has  an  income  of  £10,000  a  year 
mination  of  the  war.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to  see  from  trade,  is  rated  no  hioher  than  one  who 
how  it  is  that  this  effect  took  place.  A  sudden  derives  £500  a  year  from  land.  The  gross  in- 
diminution  of  expenditure,  to  the  extent  of  justice  of  this  is  rendered  more  glaring  from  the 
£50.000,000  annually  by  the  Government  of  this  i'act — the  manufacturer  creates  the  poor,  and 
country  alone,  could  not  take  place  without  im-  leaves  the  farmer  to  maintain  them.  The  farmer 
mediately  affecting  the  market  both  for  manu-  :  employs  a  few  hands  only,  the  manufacturer  a 
factured  and  rude  produce  ;  and  a  derangement  j  whole  colony;  the  former  causes  no  material 
in  the  former  is  sure,  sooner  or  later  to  be  fol-  augmentation  in  the  number  of  paupers,  the  lat- 
lowed  by  distress  in  the  latter.  The  commercial  I  ter  multiplies  them  wholesale  ;  the  first  creates 
and  manufacturing  difficulties  of  ISll  and  1812,  !  the  poor,  leaving  it  to  the  last  to  maintain  them, 
which  are  yet  fresh  in  all  our  recollections,  con-  I  In  addition  to  this  injustice,  which  is  glaring 
tributed  powerfully  to  increase  the  dangers  of  enough,  the  custom  has  spread  widely,  and  be- 
our  mercantile  situation ;  for  after  the  cramped  I  come  almost  universal,  of  'making  up,'  as  it  is 
and  almost  blockaded  situation  in  which  we  had  called,  wages  to  a  certain  level  out  of  the  poor- 
been  kept  for  several  years,  a  sudden  rush  into  rates ;  a  system  which  has  just  the  etfect  of  com- 
speculations  and  adventures  took  place  on  the  t  pelling  the  land  to  bear,  not  only  its  own  bur- 
reopening  of  the  European  harbors,  which  was  [  (lens,  but  part  of  the  wages  of  all  employed  by 
so  violent  that  it  seized  all  classes  of  the  com- '  the  rest  of  the  community.  The  magnitude  of 
munity,  and  induced  unheard-of  losses.  English  this  burden  may  be  estimated  from  the  fact,  that 
goods  were  soon  selling  cheaper  at  Buenos  A3-res  the  total  sum  levied  for  the  use  of  the  poor,  which 
and  in  the  north  of  Europe,  than  either  in  Lon-  before  the  American  war  was  under  £2,000.000, 
don  or  Manchester.  All  this  reacted,  and  that  now  exceeds  £8,000,000.  When,  in  addition  tc 
quickly,  too.  on  agriculture ;  for  the  commercial  this  huge  burden,  it  is  considered  how  large  a 
interests  of  the  country  can  never  suffer  without  proportionof  the  taxation  of  £66. 000, 000  annually 
its  being  felt,  and  that  right  speedily,  by  the  cul- 1  is  paid  by  the  land,  the  price  of  the  produce  of 
tivators  of  the  soil,  who  mainly  live  on  their  ex-  which  has  sunk  within  eighteen  months  to  half 
penditure.  ,  its  former  amount,  it  will  cease  to  be  surprising 

"Excessive  taxation  is  the  last,  and  perhaps    that  the  agricultural  interest  should  i  p    i   T^  v. 
the  most  powerful  cause  to  which  the    be  suflering,  and  evident  that  no  sub-  x.xxiii.  1086, 
Continued    Present  depressed  condition  of  the  ag-    stantial  relief  can  be  expected,  as  1110;    Brous 
riculturists  is   to  be   ascribed.     Dur-    long  as  these  burdens  continue  to  ham's Speech- 
■ng  the  last  twenty-five  years,  our  revenue  has  in-    oppress  it."  *  *  es,  i.       ,      . 

creased  from  £1-5,000,000  to  £66,000,000— our  I  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  maintained  by 
expenditure  in  one  year  exceeded  £125,000,000;  J  Lord  Liverpool,  Lord  Castlereagh,  ^j 

in  this  year  of  peace  it  is  to  be  £72,000,000,  and  and  Mr.  Vansittart — '•  It  is  so  far  Argument  on 
no  hopes  are  held  out  of  its  being  permanent- !  consolatory  to  find  that  the  Bank  the  other  side 
ly  below  £65,000,000.  These  figures  sound  im-  [  Restriction  Act  of  1797,  which  has  ^J ^^^'^  '^''"'*" 
mense,  and  convey  an  idea  of  apparently  interm-  '  been  so  often  held  out  as  the  cause 
inable  resources;  but  if  we  descend  into  detail,  i  of  all  our  calamities,  is  now  admitted,  not  only 
and  examine  how,  in  so  short  a  time,  so  prodig-  |  to  have  had  no  such  effect,  but  to  have  produced 
ious  an  increase  of  revenue  has  been  effected,  the  j  in  some  part  at  least,  great  prosperity.     In  fact 


illusion  will  bedispelled,  and  it  will  at  once  appear 
that  it  is  owing  to  excessive  and  grinding  tax- 
ation. Not  only  has  the  direct  taxation  risen  to 
a  most  enormous  amount — certainly  not  less, 
while  the  income-tax  lasted,  than  15  per  cent. 


it  has  been  the  main-spring  of  our  strength  ;  and 
no  reasonable  man  can  now  deny  that,  had  it 
not  been  for  that  measure,  this  country  must 
long  since  have  sunk  in  the  conflict,  and  we 
have  become  a  province  of  France.     It  is  now 


on  the  income  of  all  persons  liable  to  that  tax —   seen,  and  admitted  on  the  other  side,  by  whom 

but  the  most  ordinary  and  indispcnsalile  neces- :  the  .system    had   so  long  and  vehemently   been 

saries  of  life  have  come  to  be  taxed  with  a  sever- !  condemned,  that  it  was  not  only  by  this  wise 

ity  which  almost  amounts  to  a  prohibition.    The  j  measure  of  Mr.  Pitt's  that  the  country  has  been 

duty  on  salt,  which  in  1792  was  lOd.  a  bushel.  1  saved,  but  that  under  this  artificial  circulating 

had  been  raised,  previous  to  ISOG,  to  15s.,  its  |  medinfti   the    prosperity   of  the    country,   even 

present  amount.     The  tax  on  leather  has  been    during  war,    had   increased   to  an  unparalleled 

doubled  within  the  last  four  years.     The  duty    degree. 

on  malt  has  been  raised  from  10s.  7(1.  a  (piarler!       "The  existing  distress  is  to  be  ascribed  en- 

lo  31s.  8d.,  of  which   Uis.  is  war  duty;  that  on'  tircly  to  the  simple  fact,  that  during 

beer  from  5s.  7d.  (in  1S02)  to  9s.  7d.;  that  on    the  last  two  years,  and  particularly  „    .        . 
....         „  ,         ,      „  1      c.  .  1  „„  '    1      •  II  1    '  ■',   t-ontniucu. 

spirits  from  7d.  to  Is.  9d.    sugar  is  taxed  30s.  per  i  durmg  the  last  year,   the  great  and 

cwt.,  instead  of  15s.,  the  rate  in  1792.  |  necessary  articles  of  human  consumption  have 

"Add  to  all  this,  also,  the  excessive  inequality    decn   depreciated   at  least  a  half.     Every  one 

and  injustice  of  our  mode  of  levying  knows  what  ellcct  so  great  a  change  must  pro- 
Concliidcd.  ^"^'    ''^^i^'^S    ''"■   '''^   poor-rate.      The    duce  on  any  interest  in  the  community.      What. 

whole  burden  of  maintaining  the  poor    then,  must  it  bo  ujion  the  farming  property  of 

is  laid  upon  the  land;  and  this  reduces  the  price'  the  empire — that  great  interest  which  creates, 

of  labor  below  its  natural  level,  at  the  sole  ex-  

pense  of  the  cultivator.     The  money  raised  for   ..  *  '^^•'  ".'"TJ^  "  """"?  «'*?'«;»''"  °''""' '''''«  "^^  instnic- 
Tu^       r   r     f  .u  •      •      r       .  ••■  tive  speech  of  Mr.,  now  Lord  lirougham,  on  this  i'nnortaol 

Ihe  rebel  ct  the  poor  is,  in  direct  opposition  to   eubject. 


S8 


nisrouY  OF  EUiiorE. 


[Chap,  li 


43. 
Continued. 


noUMihstai.ilin"  nil  ilic   increase  of  our  munu- ]  iiuUistrial  operations  of  all  soils.      The   Bank 
ractiins,  III  loiist  hiiio-li'Mlhsortho  enliie  wealth  ,  Restriction  Act  will  expire  in  two  years;'  and 
of  the  cmi>ire  ?     Then  how  has  (hi»  ;,Mcat  dcpre-  j  before  that  time  comes,  the  return   i  Pari.  Debat. 
cintion  hccn  hroujjht  about?     It  bcijan,  as  has  i  of  the  precious  metals  to  the  eoun-  xxxiii.  1119, 
been  correctly  staled,  in  lhl3;  anil  the  cause  to    try  will   have   rendered    it  a   safe  ''^7. 
which  it  was  then  owinjj  was  very  obvious.     It    measure  to  resume  cash  payments.     But,  above 
was  the  prosiu'ct  of  the  opening  of  the  Baltic    all,  let   it   never,  under  any  circumstances,  be 
harbors,  and  the  Icttiuij  in  of  the  <;reat  harvests    proposed  to  trench  upon  the  Sinking  Fund,  the 
of  IVland  on  our  markets,  coupled  with  the  line    sheet-anchor   of  the   country,   and  any   serious 
season  of  that  year,   which  produced   the   fall,    diminution  of  which   will   render   its    financial 
The    farmers  of  this   country,    who,    from    the    allairs  altogether  desperate." 
etfects  of  war  had  long  enjoyed  a  monopoly  in        No  legislative  measure  did,  or  could,  result 
the  home  market,  were  suddenly  exposed  to  the  i  from   this  debate,  how   interesting  45 

competition  of  great  grain-growing  countries,    or  important  soever,  for  it  related  Measures  of 
where  corn  could  be  raised  at  a  third  of  the  cost  j  to  a  subject  altogether  beyond  the  Government 
at  which  alone  it  can  here  be  reared.     It  was  1  reach  of  human   remedy.     But   it  {"iJ^rcstricUon 
to  mitisjate    this  danger,   one  of  the  most  ap- |  was  otherwise  with  another  subject  ofcashpay- 
r>allin<'  which  could  befall  any  nation,  that  the  j  closely  connected  with  the  former,  uienis  and  a 
corn  law  of  1S14  was  passed,  without  which  the    on  which  the  measures  of  Govern-  B^nk'™'"  '''^ 
depression,  "-reat  as  it  has  been,  would  have    ment  had  a  great  and  decisive  effect 
been  far  greater.*     It  is  consolatory  to  find  that ,  on  the  future  condition  and  ultimate  destinies 
that  measure,  which,  at  the  time  it  was  intro-    of  the  country.     The  proposal  of  Government, 
duced.  was  the  subject  of  such  unmeasured  eon-  \  on  this  point  was,  that  the  Bank  should  lend  the 
demnation  by  the  gentlemen  opposite,  is  now  1  Treasury  £0,000,000,  and,  in  return,  receive  a 
admitted    to   have   not  only    been    a  necessary  !  prolongation  of  the  suspension  of  cash  payments 
measure  in  our  own  defense,  but  the  only  eil'ec-    for  two  years  subsequent  to  4th  July,  181G.     In 
tual  antidote  to  the  still  greater  difficulties  in  1  this  way,   it   was   thought,   the  double   object 
which  we  are  now  involved.  would  be  gained,  of  providing  a  supply  adequate 

'•Corn,  which  in  1812  was  selling  at  120s.  or  1  for  the  necessities  of  the  state,  the  resources  of 
130s.  the  quarter,  has  now  fallen  to  j  which  had  been  so  much  impaired  by  the  repeal 
56s.  Nothing  more  was  requisite  ;  of  the  property  tax,  and  giving  time  for  the 
to  explain  the  agricultural  distress  ,  Bank  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements  for 
which  everywhere  prevailed.  It  induced  that '  the  resumption  of  cash  payments.  This  proposal 
most  fearful  of  all  contests  which  can  agitate  a  1  gave  rise  to  animated  and  important  debates  in 
community,  the  contest  of  class  with  class  in  the  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  which  are  of  the 
struggle  to  shake  the  burden  off  upon  each  other,  highest  importance,  as  indicating  the  views 
But  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  this  alarm-  entertained  at  that  period  on  this  all-importanl 
ing   contest  will    continue    long.     Shut   out   as    subject  on  which  subsequent  expe-  d  b  t 

this  country  is,  in  a  great  measure,  from  foreign    rience  has  thrown  such  a  flood  of  xxxiii.  719. " 
supply,  there  is  no  reasonable  room  for  doubt    light. ^ 

that  the  price  of  wheat  will  gradually  rise  to  an  \      On  the  part  of  the  Opposition  it  was  contended 
average  of  80s.  and,  with  it,  the  profits  of  agri-    by  Mr.  Horner,  Mr.  Ponsonby,  and  46. 

cultural   industry  again   reach   a  remunerative  |  Mr.  Tierney — "  If  any  thing  is  to  Argument  of 
level.     Great   pressure   is   unhappily  now   felt,  \  be  regarded  as  fixed  in  the  legisla-  ^^'^  Opposi- 
and  some  land  has  probably  been  brought  into    tion,  or  to  which  the  Government  tnTcofuinu- 
tillage  which  had  better  have  been  left  in  pastur-    of  the  country  is  pledged,  it  is  that  anee  of  the 
rtge.     There  was  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the    the   restriction   on   cash   payments  Bank  Restrio 
paper  circulation  was  excessive,  or  would  pro-    is  to  continue  till  the  conclusion  of    '°"    ^  ' 
duce  any  very  dangerous  convulsion ;  still  less    a  general  peace,  and  no  longer.     The  proposal 
that  the  great   mass  of  agriculture   was   in  a    now  made  to  continue  this  restriction  for  two 
tottering  state.     It  is  .secured  against  the  only  |  years   longer   has   already   had   this    pernicious 
enemy  who  can  beat  it  down — foreign  ;  it  is  also  1  efleet,  that  it  has  thrown  a  doubt  upon  the  sin- 
secure  from  domestic  competition,  arising  from    cerity  of  all  the  former  professions  of  Ministers 
other  modes  of  employing  capital;  this  being  so,  ,  on  this   subject.     The   I5ank  directors  had  de- 
it  must  in  the  end  attain  remunerative  prices.      j  clared,  time  out  of  mind,  that  they  were  most 
'•  Coincident  with  the  fall  in  the  price  of  corn  '  anxious  to  resume  the  system  of  cash  payments ; 
has   been  a    great  reduction  ^n    the    but  it  now  appears  that  they  eagerly  grasp  at 
Concluded,  amount  of  the    circulating   medium,  1  the  first  opportunity  of  postponing  that  happy 
and  with  it  unhappily  has  departed  !  consummation.     They  have  no  objection  to  con- 
ihe  confidence  which  had  existed  before.     Be-    tinue  the  system  of  over  issue  from  which  they 
yond  all  question,  this  is  the  principal  cause  of    have  so   long  derived   such  exorbitant  profits. 
the  distress  which  now  generally  prevails.     But    The  conduct  of  the  Bank  directors  evinces  such 
this  diminution  of  the  circulating  medium  is  not    an  example  of  rapacity  on  the  part  of  a  corpo- 
founded  on  causes  of  a  permanent  nature.     The  i  rate  body,  and  of  acquiescence  on  the  part  of 
return-  of  peace  must   eventually   lead    to   the  j  Government,  as  stood  unrivaled  in  the  financial 
return   of  old   maxims — to  the  return  of  those    history  of  any  country  of  Europe.     It  is  evident 
common  principles  on  which  the  circulation  of  ]  that  Government  have  no  settled   ideas  at  all 
every  country  ought  to  be  regulated.     All  must    upon  the  subject,  but  that  they  have  a  confused 
see  that  the  time  is  fast  approaching  when  the    notion  that  the  longer  the  present  system  con- 
country  will  again  possess  a  large  circulating    tinues  the  better  ;  and  that  by  mixing  up  present 
medium,  and,  with  it,  the  means  of  carrying  on    measures  of  finance   with    its   prolongation,    it 
*  See  History  0/ Europe,  chap.  xcii. ««  22,  29.  may  be  continued  for  an  indefinite  period, 


1816.J 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


39 


"  Even  when  first  introduced,  ^d  when  the 
fatal  principle  of  making  the  restric- 

Conti'tiued  ^'°"  '*^''  ^^  '°"»  ^^  ^^^  ^'^'"  <^o"^'""ed 
was  adopted,  it  was  universally  under- 
stood, and  most  solemnly  declared,  that  it  was 
to  cease  within  six  months  after  the  conclusion 
of  a  general  peace.  Last  year  when  the  pros- 
pect of  a  durable  peace  was  not  nearly  so  fa- 
vorable as  at  present,  the  prolongation  was 
only  made  to  the  5th  July  in  the  present  year. 
Now,  however,  it  was  to  be  prolonged  for  two 
years  longer,  for  no  reason  that  can  possibly 
be  assigned  but  that  it  has  become  mixed  up 
with  a  loan  from  the  Bank,  and  is  thought  to 
be  connected  with  the  general  agricultural  dis- 
tress. Bat  if  the  Bank  restriction  is  to  be  con- 
tinued to  uphold  the  profits  of  the  farmers,  why 
is  it  to  be  limited  to  two  years?  Why  not 
render  it  perpetual  ?  If  the  prospect  of  resum- 
ing cash  payments  is  the  cause  of  the  agricul- 
tural distress,  will  it  not  recur,  perhaps,  with 
additional  force  whenever  cash  payments  are  re- 
sumed ?  If  this  view  be  well  founded,  we  are  only 
postponing  the  dreaded  evil,  not  averting  it. 
"  Are  there  no  evils  arising  from  the  s)'s- 
tem  now  going  on  of  indefinitely  post- 
Continued.  PO"'"g  'he  resumption  of  cash  pay- 
ments !  During  the  war  we  borrow- 
ed money  when  it  was  of  small  value,  and  we 
are  now  obliged  to  pay  it  off  when  it  is  of 
high  value ;  and  this  evil  is  every  day  increas- 
ing with  the  postponement  of  cash  payments. 
This  is  by  far  the  greatest  danger  which  now 
threatens  the  country;  for  the  debt  was  for  the 
most  part  contracted  in  one  currency,  and  the 
taxes,  which  come  in  from  year  to  year,  are 
paid  in  another.  A  greater  and  more  sudden 
contraction  of  the  currency  has  never  taken 
place  in  any  country  than  in  this  since  the 
peace,  with  the  e.\ception,  perhaps,  of  France, 
after  the  failure  of  the  Mississippi  scheme. 
This  sudden  contraction  has  been  the  cause  of 
all  our  distresses  ;  it  is,  and  will  long  continue 
to  be,  the  cause  of  all  our  diiriculties.  It  arose 
from  the  previous  fall  in  the  price  of  agricultu- 
ral produce.  This  had  occasioned  a  destruction 
of  the  country  bank  paper  to  an  extent  which 
would  not  have  been  thought  possible  without 
more  ruin  than  had  ensued.  The  Bank  of  En- 
gland had  also  reduced  its  issues.  The  average 
amount  of  its  currency  during  the  last  year  had 
not  exceeded  £3.5,000,000,  while,  two  years  ago, 
it  had  been  i;29;000,000,  and  at  one  time  M'as  as 
high  as  £31, 000,000.  But  we  must  consider  the 
vast  reduction  of  country  bank  paper  as  the  main 
cause  of  the  vast  fall  of  prices  which  had  ensued. 
"  A  fluctuating  currency  is  the  greatest  curse 
which  can  by  possibility  befall  an  opu- 
Continued.  '''"'■  ^"^  commercial  community.  At 
ail  times,  and  to  all  classes,  it  is  preg- 
nant with  disaster;  at  one  time  unduly  elevat- 
ing the  creditor  at  the  expense  of  the  debtor  : 
at  another  as  unjustly  benefiting  the  debtor  at 
the  expense  of  the  creditor.  This  is  a  state 
of  things  so  fraught  with  ruin,  first  to  one  class 
and  then  to  another,  that  it  neve^can  too  much 
occupy  the  attention  of  a  wise  and  paternal 
Government.  As  long  as  we  have  no  standard, 
no  fixed  value  of  money,  but  it  is  allowed  to 
rise  and  fall  like  quicksilver  in  the  barometer, 
no  man  could  conduct  his  property  with  any  se- 
curity, or  depend  upon  any  certain    profit.     M' 


prices  were  fixed  and  steady,  it  is  uTiniateria 
what  is  to  be  assumed  as  the  standard.  Last 
year,  though  it  was  for  the  most  part  one  of 
peace,  gold  was  never  below  £4,  8s.  the  ounce  ; 
this  year,  as  so  great  a  contraction  of  the  coun- 
try  bankers'  notes  has  taken  place,  it  has  fallen 
to  nearly  the  INIint  price  of  £3,  17s.  lOd.  the 
ounce.  This,  however,  all  took  place  in  con- 
sequence  of  the  impending  resumption  of  cash 
payments,  which,  by  the  existing  law,  was  to 
begin  on  July  5,  1816.  If,  however,  a  further 
suspension  of  cash  payments  takes  place,  the 
banks  will  begin  issuing  in  all  directions  as 
before  ;  prices  will  again  rise,  and  we  shall,  a 
second  time,  enter  upon  that  fatal  mutation  of 
prices  from  the  effects  of  which  we  are  just  es- 
caping. This  is  openly  announced  in  certain 
publications.  It  is  said  if  the  restriction  on  cash 
payments  is  continued,  and  the  issue  expands 
again,  prices  may  be  run  up  to  lOOs.  a  quarter 
oi"  wheat.  Are  the  gentlemen  opposite  prepar- 
ed to  support  this  measure  on  such  grounds  ? 
If  not,  now  is  the  time  to  stop  short, 
and  avoid  entering  on  a  cycle  flatter-  ^^^^l'  £39 
ing  in  the  outset,  but  fraught  with  147.  "  ' 
ultimate  ruin."  1 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  contended  by  Lord 
Liverpool,   and  the  Chancellor  of  sq, 

the  Exchequer — "The  Bullion  Answer  of  the 
Committee  themselves  were  ef  Ministry, 
opinion  that  cash  payments  should  not  be  re- 
sumed for  two  years  after  the  return  of  peace, 
so  strongly  were  even  they  impressed  with  the 
dangers  to  property  and  existing  engagements 
which  would  result  from  the  sudden  contraction 
of  paper  credit.  The  difference  between  the 
two  parties  is  not  so  great  as  would  at  first  sight 
appear ;  it  is  a  difference  in  point  of  time  only, 
not  of  principle.  There  is  no  man  on  this  side 
of  the  House  who  contends  for  the  eternity  of  the 
restriction  ;  none  on  the  other  who  pleads  for  its 
instant  termination.  Is  not  two  years  a  fair 
compromise  between  them  ?  Preparations  on 
the  jiart  of  the  Bank  w^ere  indispensable  before 
facing  so  great  a  change  ;  one  of  the  most  neces- 
sary would  be  the  permitting  the  Bank  to  issue 
£2  and  £1  notes  alter  the  restriction  ceased,  as 
they  had  so  loiig  formed  the  staple  of  the  circula- 
tion of  the  country.  No  reason  had  been  assigned 
why  two  years  was  an  unadvisable  period  ;  and 
although  it  did  seem  rather  long,  yet  it  was  better 
to  delay  than  precipitate  important  changes. 

'•It  is  a  mistake  to  say  prices  have  been 
forced  by  the  copious  issue  of  the  cur- 
rcncy ;  on  the  contrary,  the  increased  conUiiued. 
issue  was  the  effect  of  the  previous 
high  prices.  The  rise  of  prices  preceded  the 
increase  of  the  currency  ;  and  it  has  now  been 
proved,  that  the  fall  has  not  proceeded  from 
its  contraction,  for  it  is  admitted  on  ihc  other 
side  that  it  [jrcceded  that  conlraciion.  It  is 
no  doubt  true  that,  when  the  prices  of  all  arti- 
cles of  consumption  began  from  the  great  im- 
portation to  fall,  the  country  banks,  seized  with 
panic,  drew  in  their  advances,  and  thereby  aug- 
mented the  genei-al  distress;  but  what  did  this 
prove  ?  Nothing,  but  that  jiapcr  currency  could 
not  be  extended  beyond  what  the  circulation  rc- 
(juircd.  The  variations  in  the  price  of  gold 
showed  they  were  unconnected  with  the  price 
of  grain.  In  the  beginning  ol'  ISKi,  wheat  was 
at  r^Os.  7d.,  in  the  end  of  the  same  year  it  vvaa 


10 


H  1  S  T O  K  Y    OF    E  U  R  O  V E 


ICUAP   II 


S"2s.  4il.;  wliilc  the  price  of  •.'old  in  the  bcgin- 
niiifj  of  lluit  yi'tir  was  i;.'),  Os.  CkI.  iiu  dunco,  and 
lu  the  end  £'>,  10s.  This  showed  dislinetly  that 
the  priee  of  <;old  arose  from  the  demand  lor  it- 
sell",  arising  Irom  causes  abroad,  and  was  wholly 
irrespective  ol"  the  amount  of  paper  issued  at 
home.  To  the  e'.ernal  credit  ol  this  country,  it 
will  be  recorded  in  history,  that  the  Bank  re- 
otriction,  though  perhaps  originally  forced  upon 
the  country  hy  necessity,  and  having  forced  up 
the  price  of  gold,  had  proved  the  salvation  of 
Europe,  by  enabling  us  to  carry  on  a  system 
which  could  not  otherwise  have  been  supported. 
"The  opinions  of  those  who  would  uphold 

prices  by  a  continued  and  lavish  issue 
^    '.'"■.    of  iiapor,  are  as  much  condemned  on 

this  side  ot  the  House  as  the  other. 
Nothing  is  farther  from  the  intentions  of  Gov- 
ernment than  to  make  the  restrictions  on  cash 
payments  permanent.  It  is  merely  a  question 
of  time  when  they  are  to  cease.  The  Bullion 
Committee  had  recommended  two  years  from 
the  conclusion  of  peace — all  he  asked  for  was 
two  years  and  seven  months.  It  was  not  till 
December  last  that  the  ratifications  of  the  defin- 
itive treaty  were  interchanged.  Several  of  the 
most  eminent  members  of  the  Bullion  Commit- 
tee had  concurred  in  this  opinion.  The  restor- 
ation of  the  old  state  of  the  c\irreney  must  obvi- 
ously be  done  gradually,  and  with  ample  time 
for  preparation;  for  it  was  to  be  recollected  the 
Bank  of  England  would  be  called  upon  to  fur- 
nish cash  for  demands,  not  only  on  the  Bank  of 
England,  but  those  of  Ireland  and  Scotland." 
Upon  a  division,  JMr.  Horners  motion,  which 
was  for  a  select  committee  to  inquire  into  the 
resumption  of  cash  payments,  was 
'  Pari.  Deb.      negatived  by  a  majority  of  146  to 


xxjuv.139,166. 


;3.i 


These  debates  on  agricultural  distress  and  the 
53.  currency  are  almost  as  memorable 

Reflections  on  for  what  was  left  unsaid,  as  what 
this  subject  ^^.^g  gj^j  j  j,^  ^j^g  eourse  of  their  dis- 
cussion. Both  parties  were  to  a  certain  degree 
right,  and  to  a  certain  wrong,  in  the  opinions 
they  advanced.  Lord  Liverpool  was  unques- 
tionably right  when  he  affirmed  that  the  nation, 
and  through  it  Europe,  had  been  saved  by  the 
suspension  of  cash  payments  during  the  war; 
fer  but  for  it  the  armaments  neve*  could  have 
been  produced  which  brought  it  to  a  successful 
issue;  and  that  the  rise  in  the  price  of  gold,  which 
look  place  in  its  latter  years,  was  owing  to  the 
increased  demand  for  that  article  of  commerce 
to  meet  the  exigencies  of  war  on  the  Continent, 
where  hostilities  on  a  great  scale  were  going  on. 
On  the  other  hand,  i^Ir.  Horner,  who  had  thought 
and  written  more  profoundly  on  the  subject  of 
the  currency  than  any  other  person  then  in  ex- 
istence,* was  equally  right  when  he  observed, 
that  the  extensive  issue  of  paper  during  the  war 
was  the  cause  of  the  rapid  and  extraordinary  en- 
hancement of  prices  which  then  took  place  in 
every  article,  whether  of  rude  or  manufactured 
produce,  w  bile  it  lasted  ;  that  the  still  more  rapid 
and  disastrous  fall  of  prices  which  had  taken 
place  since  the  peace,  was  the  result  of  the  great 
contraction  of  the  currency,  especially  of  country 

*  Several  of  that  most  able  and  lamented  gentleman's 
papers  on  tlie  subject  in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  as  well 
as  his  spi^ches  on  it  ir.  Parliairient,  are  models  of  clear 
»ii  J  fiirc'y  e  reasoning. 


bankers,  which  had  ensued  from  the  prospect  of 
immediately  resuming  cash  payments  in  terms 
of  the  cxh-ting  law  on  the  termination  of  hostil. 
ities  ;  and  that  by  far  the  greatest  evil  which  im- 
pended over  the  country  was  the  necessity  of  pay- 
ing olf  in  a  contracted,  and  therefore  dear,  cur- 
rency during  peace,  the  debts,  public  and  private, 
which  had  been  contracted  during  the  lavish  issue 
of  a  plentiful,  and  therefore  cheap,  currency  dur- 
ing the  war. 

The  extraordinary  thing  is,  that  when  so  many 
of  the  true  and  undeniable  views  on  54. 

the  subject  were  entertained  by  the  Extraordina 
ablest  and  best-informed  men  in  the  r>'  insensibi 

.1         1    •  1     •         lity  to  right 

country,  the  obvious  conclusions  coiiiclusions 
which  llowed  from  them  were,  by  which  then 
common  consent,  rejected  on  both  prevailed, 
sides.  Mr.  Horner  saw  clearly  that  we  had  been 
so  prosperous,  and  done  such  mighty  thingsduring 
the  war,  because  we  had  possessed  a  currency 
adequate  to  our  necessities,  and  had  languished 
and  suffered  since  the  peace,  because  it  had  been 
suddenly  and  violently  contracted  from  the  pros- 
pect of  immediately  resuming  cash  payments. 
He  saw  also  that  intei'minable  disasters  impended 
over  the  country  in  the  attempt  to  pay  off  war 
debts,  public  or  private,  in  a  peace  currency. 
But  neither  he  nor  his  opponents  on  the  Treasury 
Bench  perceived,  what  is  now  evident  to  every 
reasonable  person  who,  apart  from  interested 
motives,  reflects  on  the  subject,  that  all  those 
difficulties  and  dangers  might  have  been  averted, 
without  either  risk  or  dettiment,  by  the  simple 
expedient  of  taking  the  paper  currency,  like  the 
metallic,  at  once  into  the  hands  of  Government, 
and  issuing,  not  an  unlimited  amount  of  notes, 
like  the  French  assignats.  not  convertible  into 
the  precious  metals,  but  such  a  limited  amount 
as  might  be  adequate  to  the  permanent  and  aver- 
age wants  of  the  community.  He  saw  clearly 
that  oscillations  in  the  value  of  money,  and  con- 
sequently in  the  price  of  every  article  of  com- 
merce, were  among  the  most  grievous  evils  which 
can  afflict  society,  and  rendered  property  and  un- 
dertakings of  esery  kind  to  the  last  degree  in- 
secure ;  and  he  thought  that  he  would  guard 
effectually  against  them,  by  fixing  the  entire  cur- 
rency on  a  gold  basis — forgetting,  what  he  him- 
self at  the  same  time  saw,  that  gold  itself  is  an 
article  of  commerce,  and,  like  every  other  such 
article,  is  subject  to  perpetual  variations  of  price ; 
and  that,  from  its  being  so  portable  and  valuable, 
and  every  where  in  request,  it  is  subject  to  more 
sudden  and  violent  changes  of  value  than  any 
other  article  in  existence. 

He  saw  clearly  that  the  great  contraction  of 
the  currency  was  owing  to  the  pros-  5(;_ 

pect  of  the  resumption  of  cash  pay-  General  errors 
ments  :  but  he  could  see  no  remedy  o"  '^p  subject 
r       .,    '        •,     ,1  ■   ■         I     .   ■      which  then 

lor  the  evils  thence  arising  but  in  prevailed. 

the  immediate  adoption  of  such  pay- 
ments. Hesawthe  impossibility  of  paying  off  war 
debts  in  a  peace  currency ;  but  it  never  occurred 
to  him  that  the  whole  difficulty  might  be  avoided 
by  extending  the  war  currency,  under  adequate 
safeguards  ag^nst  abuse,  into  peace.  He  was 
as  much  alive  as  any  man  to  the  perils  of  a  sud- 
den contraction  of  the  currency;  but  it  never  oc- 
curred to  him  how  fearfully  these  dangers  must 
be  aggravated  by  the  contraction  of  paper  going 
on  at  the  very  time  when  a  still  greater  contrac-  . 
lion  of  the  annual  produce  of  the  treasure  mines  for 


TS16.1 


HISTORf    OF    EUROPE. 


4^ 


the  use  of  the  globe  was  going  on,  from  the  dis- 
asters consequent  on  the  South  American  revolu- 
tion. The  truth  is,  that,  as  generally  occurs  in  hu- 
man affairs,  men's  attention  was  fixed  exclusively 
on  the  Inst  evils  which  had  been  experienced; 
and  as  these  had  been  the  ruinous  rise  of  prices, 
and  destruction  of  realized  property  which  had 
resulted  from  the  frightful  abuse  of  the  system 
of  assi^nats  in  France,  the  eyes  of  a  whole  gene- 
ration were  shut  to  the  still  more  serious  and  last- 
ing evils  Resulting  from  the  undue  contraction  of 
the  currency,  and  the  fixing  it  entirely  on  a  me- 
tallic basis,  of  which  Great  Britain  was  ere  long 
to  furnish  so  memorable  an  example. 

A  measure,  of  great  importance  to  both  coun- 
tries, passed  both  Houses  in  this  ses- 
ConsoHdation  ^'°"  of  Parliament,  for  the  consolida- 
oftheEnglisli  tionof  the  English  and  Irish  Exche- 
and  Irish  E.x-  quers.  It  appeared  from  the  state- 
May^'o'^isie  "'^"'^  °f  '^^  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer, that  the  unredeemed  debt 
of  Ireland  was  £105,000,000 ;  the  Sinking  Fund, 
£2.087,000 ;  and  the  whole  charge  of  the  debt,  in- 
terest, annuities,  and  Sinking  Fund,  £5,900,000. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  entire  permanent  revenue 
was  only  £2,081,000  a  year,  having  risen  to  that 
amount  from  £847,000  in  1797.  The  entire 
gross  revenue  of  the  island  was  £7,000,000 ;  but 
the  clear  produce,  after  deducting  the  expense 
of  collection,  was  £.5,752,000;  and  as  it  was  stip- 
ulated in  the  union  that  two-seventeenths  of  the 
expenditure  of  the  United  Kingdom  should  be 
defrayed  by  Ireland,  the  result  was  that  the  clear 
revenue  of  Ireland  was  unable  to  defray  the  in- 
terest of  its  own  debt,  without  contributing  any 
thing  at  all  to  the  joint  expenses  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  which  for  several  years  past  had  been 
entirely  provided  for  by  Great  Britain.  In  these 
circumstances,  a  consolidation  of  the  two  Ex- 

1  -n    1  n  V.       chequers  had  become  a  matter  of 

i  an.  JL/eoat.      i      i    .  •.  i    -^ 

xxxiv.5t8  615.  absolute  necessity,  and  it  was  ac- 
cordingly unanimously  agreed  to."^ 
This  was  undoubtedly  a  very  great  improve- 
57.  ment ;  for,  as  matters  stood  before, 

Heflections on  the  confusion  arising  from  the  sep- 
'.his  subject.  j^,.jj^g  charges  for  Ireland  had  been 
such  as  to  occasion  very  great  difficulty  in  ar- 
riving at  a  clear  idea  of  the  revenue  and  finan- 
cial condition  of  the  United  Kingdom.  Unhap- 
pily, however,  the  state  of  Ireland  ha.s  ever 
iince  been  such  that  it  has  been  found  imprac- 
licable  to  carry  into  execution  the  declared  in- 
tentions of  Government,  in  bringing  forward 
the  consolidation,  of  subjecting  both  countries 
to  a  similar  measure  of  taxation.  Ireland  has 
from  first  to  last  been  most  generously  treated 
by  England  in  the  article  of  assessment.  It 
never  paid  the  income-tax  or  assessed  taxes, 
nor,  till  within  these  few  years,  any  poor-rates. 
With  the  exception  of  a  trifiing  hearth-tax,  no 
man  in  Ireland  has  ever  paid  any  direct  tax  to 
Government.  Yet  such  has  ever  been  the  im- 
providence and  want  of  industry  of  its  inhabitants, 
that  allliough  possessing  triple  the  population, 
and  more  than  triple  the  arable  acres  ol' Scotland, 
Ireland  has  never  paid  its  own  expenses  ;  while  ; 
Scotland  has  yielded,  for  half  a  century,  above 
five  millions  a  year  of  clear  surplus  to  the  Im- 
perial Treasury ;  and  in  the  great  famine  of 
1840,  while  Ireland  received  .£8,000,000  from 
the  British  Exchequer,  Scotland,  gr(^at  part  of 
which  had  sulfcred  just  as  much,  got  nothing 


In  a  very  early  period   of  the  sejsijn.    Mr. 
Brougham,  moved   for   a  copy    of  „ 

the  treaty  concluded  at  Paris  on  Motion  re 
the  2Gth  September,  1815,  entitled  spectinsthe 
"The  Holy  Alliance,"  of  which  an  Holy  Allianoe 
account  will  hereafter  be  given.  i{^^J'  ™"^' 
This  treaty  he  stigmatized  as  no- 
thing but  a  convention  for  the  enslavi.ig  ol 
mankind,  under  the  mask  of  piety  and  religion. 
Lord  Castlereagh,  without  denying  the  exist- 
ence of  such  a  treaty,  which  he  stated  had  been 
communicated  to  the  Prince-Regent,  and  of  the 
principles  of  which  he  entirely  approved,  added 
that  it  had  not  received  his  royal  highness's 
signature,  "  as  the  forms  of  the  British  Con- 
stitution prevented  him  from  acceding  to  it." 
This  being  the  case,  the  rules  of  Parliament 
forbade  the  production  of  any  treaty  to  which 
this  country  was  not  a  party.  The  House,  upon 
a  division,  supported  the  latter  view,  the  num- 
bers being  104  to  30.  There  can  be  ho  ques- 
tion of  the  wisdom  of  this  determination  on  the 
part  of  the  British  Government;  for  however 
sincere  and  philanthropic  were  the  feelings 
which  undoubtedly  prompted  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander to  bring  about  that  celebrated  Alliance, 
they  were  such  as  could  be  acted  on  only  by 
absolute  governments,  omnipotent  for  good  or 
for  evil,  and  never  could  be  rendered  palatable, 
to  a  popular  government  such  as  great  Britain, 
divided  by  the  passions,  political  and  religious, 
of  a  whole  people,  and  ruled  by  a  legislature 
chiefly  intent  upon  the  present  ne- 
cessities and  practical  wants  of  its  ^^"'3^^363' 
subjects.'  ' 

A  warm  debate  also  ensued  on  another  topic 
of  foreign  policy,  a  bill  for  the  de-  ^g 

tention  of  Napoleon  in  St.  Helena.  Bill  for  the  de- 
This  bill  was  strongly  opposed  by  tention  of  Na- 
Lord  Holland  and  Lord  Lauder-  l'"^'^""- 
dale,  who  stigmatized  the  detention  as  illegal, 
unjust,  and  ungenerous;  while  it  was  defended 
by  Earl  Bathurst  and  Lord  Castlereagh  as  a 
measure  for  the  general  security  of  the  world, 
agreed  to  by  the  whole  allied  powers,  and  ren- 
dered unavoidable  by  his  breach  of  all  his  en- 
gagements, and  open  declaration  of  war  against 
the  Allies,  by  returning  from  Elba  and  dethron- 
ing Louis  XVIII.  The  debates  on  this  subject, 
which  terminated  in  the  bill  being  passed  in 
both  Houses  without  a  division,  are  of  little  his- 
torical value;  for  if  the  detaining  Napoleon  in 
captivity  was  illegal,  it  could  not  be  validated 
by  any  British  Act  of  Parliament — if  legal,  it 
required  no  such  authorrty  for  its  support.  But 
it  must  always  bo  a  matter  of  regret  to  every 
generous  mind  in  Britain  that  the  conduct  of  so 
great  a  man,  in  breaking  his  engagements,  had 
been  such  as  to  render  his  detention  a  matter  of 
absolute  necessity;  and  of  gratificalion  to  every 
British  subject,  that  necessary  as  that  detention 
was,  it  excited  so  strong  a  feeling  of  commise- 
ration and  regret  in  the  breast  of  1  p^^l.  Dcbai. 
a  large  portion  of  the  English  peo-  xxxiii.  JOH. 
ple.i  ■  loiu. 

Another   topic   was    soon    brought    forward 
of  still  more  general  interest,  and 
which  [lassed  both  Houses  of  Par-  j^/jarrrf'n  of 
liamenl  without  a  dissentient  voice,  the  I'rinccts 
as  it  excited  a  universal  feeling  ol'  cimrlotte    o( 

joy   throughout    the    country.     On  w'"''',"^', . 
'.1        1  1.1      ■>«        1      T        1    I  •  -^  1     Mar<;li  14 

the    Mth   March,  Lord  Livcrpoo , 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.  11, 


in  ilie  Hi'iisp  of  Lords,  aiitl  Lord  Cnstlereagh 
in  the  House  of  t'ommous,  iospoi;tivcly  pic- 
seiiteil  i\  niossnge  Crom  the  rriiico-Ueifciit  to 
the  ellei-t  ihnt  he  had  consented  to  a  man  iayc  ol 
his  daii-jhter.  the  I'lineess  Charlolto  Augusta, 
to  I'rinee  Leopohl  ol  Saxe-Coboinu;.  The  an- 
noiineem«nt  of  this  auspicious  union  was  re- 
ceived with  the  utmost  satisfaction  by  both 
Houses  if  Parliament,  and  universal  joy  by  the 

\i.,.h  i«  country;  and  on  iho  next  day  the 
March  15.      ,,         ■'',.,,  .•       1    ,1 

House   of   Commons  hxcd    the    pro- 

vision  of  her  royal  highness  at  j:GO,000  a  year, 
of  which  jf  10,000  was  to  be  for  her  own  privy 
purse,  and  jt^O.OOO  for  the  support  of  their  es- 
tablisiuncnt.  The  like  sum  was  settled  as  a  pro- 
vision for  the  Prince  of  Cobourg,  in  the  event 
of  his  surviving  his  august  spouse.  These  pro- 
visions were  independent  of  £00,000  for  the 
oultit  of  the  royal  pair,  and  were  all  agreed  to 
without  a  dissenting  voice.  The  marriage, 
from  which  so  much  was  hoped,  took  place  on 
the  2d  May  following,  and  ere  long  the  situation 
of  her  royal  highness  gave  hopes  of  an  heir  to 
the  monarchy.  The  Prince  and  Princess  fixed 
their  residence  at  Claremcnt,  near  London,  now 
an  object  of  melancholy  interest  to  every  Brit- 
ish heart,  where  their  simple,  unostentatious 
life,  their  fervent  and  mutual  attachment,  their 
kindness  and  alfability  of  manner,  won  the  af- 
fections of  all  who  approached  them,  as  the 
1  Pari.  Debat.  "oble  example  of  domestic  virtue 
.x.xxiii.  37b,  and  purity  which  they  exhibited  in 
362;  Ann.  their  conduct  commanded  the  re- 
Reg.  1816, 96.    ^jjp^.^  ^,.  ,,jg  ^,j^^,^  nation. I 

The  heart  of  the  nation  still  beat  violently 
gj  at  the  recollection  of  the  glorious 

Voles  for  pub-  events  of  the  war;  and  the  chill  of 
lie  moiiu-  inditi'erence  and  economy  had  not 
ments.  ^.^^  paralyzed  the  expression  of  it 

by  public  grants.  At  an  early  period  of  the 
session  a  monument  at  the  public  expense  was 
unanimously  voted  for  the  battle  of  Waterloo, 
to  which,  soon  after,  one  was  also  agreed  to  for 
the  battle  of  Trafalgar.  The.se  graceful  trib- 
utes of  a  nation's  gratitude  to  the  gallant  men 
by  which  it  had  been  brought  through  the  perils 
of  the  war,  gave  universal  satisfaction,  and 
great  expectations  were  formed  of  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  monuments  which  would  thus  be 
added  to  the  growing  splendor  of  the  metrop- 
olis ;  for  it  was  understood  that  £250,000  would 
be  expended  on  each  monument.  Unfortunately, 
however,  although  the  monuments  were  unani- 
mously voted,  their  cost  did  not  enter  the  esti- 
mates for  the  year,  and  thus  nothing  was  done 
toward  their  commencement  at  that  time.  In 
subsequent  times,  the  national  ardor  cooled,  or 
the  national  necessities  had  increased ;  and  the 
result  has  been,  that  two  sterile  votes  of  the 
House  of  Commons  remain  as  the  only  national 
monument  for  the  greatest  and  mo.st  glorious 
'  Pari.  Debat.  triumphs  which  ever  immortalized 
xxxi.  1049  i  the  history  of  a  nation  in  modern 
xxih.  311,        times.i 

To  the  memory  of  individual  heroes  who  had 

g2.  died   in  the  contest,  however,  the 

Monument.sto  public  gratitude  was  evinced  in  a 

^'n^h^"^'""  more  satisfactory  way.   Monuments 

and  otners.       ^.^^.^  ^^^^^  ^^  j..^  Thomas  Picton, 

Sir  Edward  Pakenham,  and  Generals  Hay,  Gore, 
Skerrett,  Gibbs,  and  Gillespie,  and  the  requisite 
funds  set  apart  for  their  completion.    They  were 


with  great  propriety  placed  in  St.  Pau.ls,  ni 
Westminster  Abbey  was  so  full  that  space  could 
scarcely  be  found  for  any  additional  structures, 
and  began  that  noble  circle  of  sepulchral  sculp- 
ture which  now  adorns  tha',  sublime  cathedral, 
and  which,  having  been  commenced  at  a  periotl 
when  taste  was  comparatively  pure,  and  the 
finest  monuments  of  antiquity  were  accessible 
to  artists,  is  in  a  great  measure  free  from  that 
painful  exhibition  of  conceit  and  bad  taste  by 
which,  with  a  few  exceptions,  those  of  West- 
minster Abbey  are  characterized.  A  great  im- 
pulse was  given  to  sculpture  in  this  year,  and 
the  only  secure  foundation  laid  for  national 
eminence  in  that  art,  by  the  grant  from  Parlia- 
ment of  £3.5,000  for  the  purchase  from  Lord 
Elgin  of  the  Friezes,  which  he  had  by  the  per- 
mission of  the  Turkish  Government  brought 
from  the  Parthenon  of  Athens.  Certainly,  how- 
ever nuich  the  traveler  who  sees  the  chasms 
which  their  removal  has  made  on  the  still  ex- 
quisite remains  of  that  inimitable  edifice  may 
regret  the  spoliation,  no  Englishman  can  fail  to 
feel  gratification  at  beholding  them  arranged 
with  so  much  taste  and  efl"eet  as  they  now  are, 
in  the  noble  halls  of  the  British  Museum ;  and 
not  only  forming  the  last  stage  in  the  historic 
gallery,  beginning  with  the  Nineveh  sculptures, 
which  are  there  preserved,  but  laying  the  only 
sure  foundation,  in  the  study  of  an-  iparl.  Deb. 
cient  perfection,  of  the  desire  to  emu-  xxxiv.  1027, 
late  it,  in  the  only  nation  perhaps  now  1039;  xxxi. 
in  existence  capable  of  approaching  xxxii^822 
it.i 

^Magnificent  grants,  bespeaking  the  nation's 
gratitude,  were  bestowed  by  Parlia-  53 

ment  on  the  officers  and  men  en-  Grams  to  the 
gaged  in  the  war.  A  vote  of  thanks  officers  and 
was  proposed  and  carried  with  en-  l^llXeT^f 
thusiastic  cheers,  in  the  Houses  of 
Lords  and  Commons,  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington, 
Prince  Blucher,  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  the 
officers  and  men  engaged  in  the  Waterloo  cam- 
paign. An  additional  gi-ant  of  £200,000  was 
bestowed  on  the  Duke  of  Wellington — making, 
with  former  grants,  £500,000  which  he  had 
received  from  the  justice  or  gratitude  of  his 
country.  On  this  occasion,  Mr.  Whitbread.  who 
had  alwa3'S  been  a  vigilant  opponent  of  Govern- 
ment, and  had  more  than  once  condemned  in 
no  measured  terms  the  military  conduct  of  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  made  an  amende  honorable 
to  both,  which  can  not  be  read  without  emotion 
by  any  generous  mind,  and  which  is  not  less 
honorable  to  the  party  making  than  to  those  who 
received  it.*     Finally,  the  sacrifices  of  the  war 

*  "  He  had  always  bnen  one  who  watched  with  an  eye 
of  extreme  jealousy  the  proceedings  of  Ministers  ;  but 
their  conduct  in  tlie  prosecution  of  the  war,  waiving  for 
the  moment  all  consideration  of  its  necessity  or  policy, 
was  such  as  extorted  his  applause  ;  and  he  had  no  hesi- 
tation in  saying,  that  every  department  of  Government 
must  have  exerted  itself  to  the  utmost,  to  give  that  com- 
plete efficiency  to  every  part  of  the  army  which  enabled 
the  genius  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  aided  by  such 
means,  to  accomplish  the  wonderful  victory  he  had 
achieved.  It  was  gratifying  to  the  House  to  hear  the 
traits  of  heroism  which  have  been  mentioned  of  that  noble 
Duke,  especially  that  of  his  throwing  himself  into  one 
of  the  British  squares  when  charged  by  the  enemy.  To 
see  a  commander  of  his  eminence,  distinguished  above 
all  the  commanders  of  the  earth,  throw  iiimself  into  a 
hollow  square  of  infantry,  as  a  secure  refuge  till  the  raga 
and  torrent  of  the  attack  was  passed,  and  that  not  once 
only,  but  twice  or  thrice  during  the  course  of  the  battle 
proved  that  his  confidence  was  placed  not  on  one  par 


64. 
New  coinage. 


1816.] 

were  wound  up  oy  a  grant  of  £800,000  to  the 
troops  engaged  in  the  Peninsula  from  1807  to 
1814,  for  the  stores  and  munitions  of  war  cap- 
tured by  them  during  its  campaigns.  And  al- 
though this  grant  rather  fell  short  of,  than  ex- 
ceeded, the  value  of  the  captures  made  by  the 
army,  yet  it  must  always  be  considered  an  hon- 
orable trait  of  the  English  Parliament  that  they 
agreed  to  «o  considerable  a  payment  to  their 
gallant  defenders  after  the  contest  and  the  dan- 
ger were  alike  over,  and  the  nation  was  laboring 
under  the  accumulated  evils  of  gen- 
xxxi'^978^999!  ^"^^^  distress  and  a  fearfully  dimin- 
ished revenue.^ 
A  measure  of  less  thrilling  interest,  but  great 
practical  importance,  was  passed  in 
this  session  of  Parliament,  the  bene- 
fit of  which  the  nation  has  ever  since 
experienced.  This  was  the  formation  of  a  new 
silver  coinage.  The  old  coins  which  had  been 
for  above  half  a  century,  some  a  whole  century, 
in  circulation,  had  become  extremely  worn  out 
and  debased,  and  a  new  issue,  especially  of 
shillings,  was  loudly  called  for — the  more  so  as, 
from  the  contemplated  return  to  cash  payments, 
it  was  evident  that  the  entire  currency  of  the 
country  would  ere  long  be  rested  on  a  metallic 
basis.  An  act  passed  accordingly,  authorizing 
a  new  silver  coinage,  and  the  calling  in  and  re- 
moulding of  the  old  one.  This  great  improve- 
ment was  carried  into  execution  with  entire 
success — the  new  coins  were  elegant  in  design, 
and  substantial  in  material ;  and  to  such  an 
a  Pari.  Debat.  extent  did  the  issue  take  place, 
x.\xiv.  1018,  that  in  the  Ibllowing  year  no  less 
1027;  Alis-  than  £6,711,000  was  thrown  off 
c°T%i  AnT'  at  the  Mint  and  sent  forth  to  the 
public.2 
Long  as  the  preceding  abstract  of  the  parlia- 
mentary proceedings  in  the  year 
Reflections  ^^i-^  has  been,  it  will  not  by  the 
on  tlie  preced-  reflecting  mind  be  deemed  inordi- 
ing  Parlia-  nate.  During  peace,  it  is  the  na- 
ratWe"^  "'''""  tional  thought  and  social  interests 
which  are  the  real  objects  of  historic 
portraiture;  its  battles  and  sieges  are  to  be  found 
in  the  debates  of  the  legislature.  'J'here  is  no 
period  of  repose,  in  this  view,  which  is  so  in- 
teresting and  important  both  in  England  and 
France,  as  this  year ;  for  not  only  was  the  tran- 
sition then  made  from  war  to  peace,  but  the 
great  questions  then  emerged  which  have  dis- 
tracted the  later  period,  and  still  divide  the 
opinions  of  the  world.  The  great  fall  of  prices 
then  began,  which  has  ever  since,  with  a  few 
intervals,  been  felt  as  so  serious  an  impediment 
to  British  industry.  The  sudden  contraction  of 
the  currency,  from  the  prospect  of  a  speedy  re- 
sumption of  cash  payments,  then  involved  one- 
half  of  the  I'armcrs  and  traders  of  the  United 
Kingdom  in  bankruptcy.  The  evils  of  an.  ex- 
cessive importation  of  the  principal  articles  of 


HISTORY   OF    EUROPE. 


41 


ticular  corps,  but  in  the  whole  British  army.  In  that 
mutual  confidence  lay  ttio  Htroneth  and  power  of  the 
British  army.  The  Duko  of  Wi'ilinKton  knew  ho  was 
safe  when  ho  thus  tru.sleil  liimMoM  to  the  fidelity  and  valor 
of  his  men,  and  they  knew  and  Iblt  lliat  the  sacred  charge 
thus  confided  to  them  could  never  l)e  wrested  from  their 
ha^vls.  If  such  a  trait  were  recorded  in  history  as  having 
occurred  ten  centuries  ago,  with  what  emotions  of  ad- 
miration and  generous  enthusiasm  would  it  be  read  I" — 
Mr.  \Vh  iDBi^D's  Speech,  June  23,  1H15,  Pari.  Deb. 
xxxi   991   «92. 


consumption  reacted  by  for:.ing  on  a  ruincj.s 
export  of  our  manufactures,  in  search  of  a  mar- 
ket which  general  cheapness  had  so  much  in- 
jured at  home.  The  Exchequer  shared  in  th^ 
universal  embarrassment,  and  the  demand  for  a 
general  remission  of  taxation  was  so  loud  and 
general,  that  Government  were  reluctantly  com- 
pelled to  abandon  at  once  above  a  fourth  of  the 
revenue,  and  thereby,  for  the  time  at  least,  com- 
pletely to  nullify  the  action  of  the  Sinking  Fund. 
The  difficulties  of  peace  rose  up  in  appalling 
magnitude  in  the  very  first  year  of  its  endurance ; 
and  it  is  not  the  least  important  part  of  history 
to  unfold  their  origin,  trace  their  effects,  and 
portray  the  contemporary  ideas  which  they 
awakened  in  the  general  mind. 

When  so  many  causes  contributed  to  produce, 
in  an   unexampled  degree,    gene-  „„ 

ral  distress  and  suffering  through  Efforts  of  ths 
the  country,  it  was  not  to  be  ex-  factious  to 
pected  that  the  efforts  of  faction  st^'|"^up  ^edi- 
were  to  be  awanting  to  inflame  the 
general  discontent,  and  direct  it  to  the  demand 
for  a  great  and  theoretical  change  in  the  gov- 
ernment. This  accordingly  was  in  a  very  re- 
markable manner  the  case  in  Great  Britain  at 
this  period;  and  perhaps  at  no  time  in  its  long 
annals  was  discontent  more  general,  or  were 
the  efforts  of  faction  more  systematically  directed 
to  inflame  it  into  sedition,  or  involve  it  in  overt 
acts  of  high  treason,  than  in  this  and  the  three 
succeeding  years.  Persons  unknown  before, 
unheard  of  since,  suddenly  shot  up  into  portent- 
ous celebrity  with  the  manufacturing  classes, 
by  magnifying  their  sufferings,  inflaming  their 
passions,  and  ascribing  all  the  public  distresses 
to  the  measures,  the  corruption,  and  the  oppres- 
sion of  their  superiors.  According  to  these  men, 
the  reckless  prodigality  of  Government,  sup- 
ported by  a  corrupt  majority  in  Parliament,  and 
sustained  by  fictitious  paper  credit,  was  the 
source  of  all  our  distresses ;  it  was  this  which 
made  provisions  high,  wages  low,  imports  ruin- 
ous, and  want  of  employment  universal.  The 
only  remedies  for  these  evils  were  a  great  re- 
duction of  expenditure,  reform  in  Parliament, 
and  a  return  to  a  metallic  currency.  The  Com- 
mon Council  of  London,  that  faithful  mirror  of  the 
feelings  oi  the  populace  of  the  metropolis  at  this 
juncture,  presented  a  petition  to  the  Prince  Re- 
gent, which  as  a  picture  of  the  capacity  of  that 
body  for  the  duties  of  legislation  in  peace,  de- 
serves a  f)lace  beside  the  celebrated  specimen  of 
their  fitness  for  the  duties  of  war,  adbrded  by 
their  diatribe  against  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
after  the  battle  of  Talavera.*  It  is  remarkaiile 
that  the  measures  which  they  rccohmicndcd  as 
likely  to  alleviate  the  public  distress 
— viz.,  a  sudden  reduction  of  ex-  1  A?."' ?''^'^'- 
pcnditurc,  and  return  to  a  tnct»llic  iiuyhcs'  Ilis- 
currency — are  the  very  ones  which  tory  of  Eng- 
experience  has  now  proved  were  '''"''>  '"■  •"'* 
best  calculated  to  increase  them. 't      **'       "*^<i'.: 


*  Vide  Histnrj/  of  Europe,  chap.  Ixii.  ^67. 

+  "Wo  fi)rt)ear'to  enter  into  dt^ails  of  the  afilicliTig 
scenes  of  privations  and  sufferings  that  every  when  exist; 
the  distress  and  inisery  which  for  so  many  yei  ^s  has 
been  progressively  accumulating,  has  at  length  ccoma 
iMNiiiiportahle.  It  is  no  longer  partially  felt,  nor  imited 
10  one  i)ortion  of  the  empire;  the  commercial,  manufac- 
turing, and  fgricultural  interests  are  ciiually  sinking 
under  its  irrcs  stiblo  jiressure ;  and  it  has  become  impos- 
sible to  find  employment  for  a  largo  mass  of  the  popu'a- 


<« 


HISTORY    OF   EUUOrE. 


[Chap.  11 


When  iilons  so  cxtinvajjant,  and  lanijuage  so 
(57  iiiti'm|R'rnlo.  \vt<io  adoploil  by  tho 

SlwrtrUt  riois,  lir-t  iiiooriinnitiiMi  of  tlic  kinL^dimi, 
Uiv.  -J.  ^^.jii,  ,i,j,  1  j„.j1  Mayor  of  Loiulon  at 

tluMi-  lioail,  ill  nddiossini;  the  S'ovcieipn,  it  may 
n>addy  ho  conooivi-d  that  inferior  functionaries 
and  demuiioijiies  were  sU-Ji  more  inlenipcralo  and 
violent  ill  tiieir  measures.  An  cxaniplo  of  this 
soon  oeeiined  in  the  metropolis.  On  .December 
•J,  a  mob,  collected  by  hand-bills  plentifully  dis- 
persed over  the  whole  mnnufacturiiiiT  districts 
of  London,  and  roused  by  the  speeches  delivered 
at  a  seditious  mectinuf  held  in  the  same  place  a 
forlniiL'ht  before,  assembled  at  Spaficlds  to  hear 
the  answer  to  a  petition  they  liad  voted  at  the 
rormer  meetinij  to  tho  Prinee-Recjcnt.  They 
waited  some  time  for  ilr.  Henry  Hunt,  the  lead- 
inii  orator,  who  was  expected  to  address  them; 
and  as  he  did  not  make  his  appearance,  they 
proceeded  with  tri-color  flaijs  and  banners,  and 
enteriiijT  the  city,  headed  by  a  man  of  the  name 
of  Watson,  they  attacked  a  gunsmith's  shop, 
whom  they  shot  when  defending  the  entrance ; 
and  having  rided  the  shop,  and  loaded  the  guns 
thcv  got.  they  marched  on  in  military  array  to  the 
Royal  Exchange,  where  they  were  met  by  the 
Lord  iNIayor,  Alderman  Shaw,  and  a  strong  body 
of  police ;  but  notwithstanding  their  resistance, 
the  rioters  forced  their  way  into  the  building, 
when  three  of  the  ringleaders  were  seized  and 
made  prisoners.  The  mob  upon  this  fired  over 
I  he  rails,  which  had  been  closed  upon  the  mag- 
istrates, and  moved  off  to  the  Minories,  where 
they  broke  into  two  other  gunsmiths'  shops,  and 
remained  for  a  considerable  time  in  possession 
of  that  part  of  the  town.  Strong  bodies  of  police 
and  military,  however,  now  rapidly  arrived  and 
surrounded  the  insurgent  district;  and  the  mob, 
finding  themselves  overmatched,  by  degrees  dis- 
persed. Two  of  the  persons  seized  v\-ere  con- 
demned and  executed  ;  but  the  greatest  criminal, 
Watson's  son,  escaped  to  America.  This  tu- 
mult, as  is  generally  the  case  with  such  disor- 
ders, when  promptly  and  firmly  met  by  those  in 
authority,  was  in  the  end  attended  with  benefi- 
cial eli'ecls,  by  awakening  the  vigilance  of  the 
Government,  by  whom  such  meetings  were  after- 
ward carefully  watched,  and  showing  the  people 
'  Ann.  Renst.  '^^''^'^  ^^'^'^^  danger  they  are  attend- 
It>l6,  lyOjIoii  cd,  what  were  the  real  objects  of 
Chronicle,  their  leaders,  and  how  thin  is  the 
iic^o^"-'  ^''      partition  which  separates  seditious 

316,  31/.  '  ,  ,  p  '  1-111 

assemblages  from  general  pillage.' 

One   glorious  exploit,  ser-ond   to  none  which 

has  graced  the  annals  of  the  British  Navy,  illus- 


tion,  much  less  to  bear  up  against  our  present  enormous 
burdens. 

"  Our  (rricvanccs  are  the  natural  effect  of  rasli  and 
ruinous  wars,  unjustly  commenced  and  pertinaciously  ad- 
hered to,  when  no  rational  object  was  to  be  attained ;  of 
immense  subsidies  to  foreign  powers  to  defend  their  own 
lerritories,  or  to  commit  aftircssions  on  those  of  their 
nciehbors  ;  of  a  delusive  pajier  currency  ;  of  an  unconsti- 
tutional and  unprecedented  military  establishment  in 
(mie  of  peace  ;  of  the  unexampled  and  increasing  mag- 
nitude of  the  civil  list ;  of  the  enormous  sums  paid  for 
unmerited  pensions  and  sinecures  ;  and  of  a  long  course 
if  the  most  lavish  and  improvident  expenditure  of  the 
public  money  throughout  every  department  of  Govern- 
ment— all  arising  from  the  corrupt  and  inadequate  repre- 
sentation of  the  people  in  Parliament,  whereby  all  con- 
stitutional control  over  the  servants  of  the  Crown  has 
been  lost,  and  Parliaments  have  become  subservient  to 
he  will  of  Ministers." — Address  of  the  Lori  Mayor  and 
Council  of  London,  Dec.  9,  1616.  Ann.  Reg  1616,  417. 
State  Papers. 


tralcd  this  year.     It  had  long  been  a  matter  of 
re])roaeli  to  the   Christian  powers  o^. 

that  the  piratii'al  states  of  15arbary  Exjiedition  ic 
were  still  permitted,  with  impunity,  Algi>-'rs. 
to  carry  on  their  inhuman  warfare  against  ll"i6 
states  of  Europe,  and  that  their  pri.sons  exliib- 
ited  captives  of  every  nation,  who  were  detained 
in  hopeless  slavery,  and  exposed  to  the  most 
shocking  barbarities.  In  one  instance,  fifty  out 
of  three  hundred  prisoners  died  of  harsh  usage, 
at  Algiers,  on  the  very  day  of  their  arrival. 
Neither  age  nor  sex  was  spared ;  and  one  Nca- 
politan  lady  of  rank  was  rescued  by  the  British, 
in  the  thirteenth  year  of  her  captivity,  having 
been  carried  off  with  her  eight  children,  six  of 
whom  had  died  in  slavery!  Notwithstanding 
these  enormities,  such  had  been  the  jealousies 
of  the  European  power.*,  and  their  animosity 
against  each  other,  that  these  audacious  pirates 
had  in  an  unaccountable  manner  been  allowed 
to  carry  on  their  hostilities  against  the  jMediter- 
ranean  states  with  impunity,  and  it  was  sus- 
pected that  the  British  connived  at  these  depre- 
dations, as  their  flag,  being  the  only  one  which 
wa&  respected,  gained  an  advantage  \i.^.^  j^g„ 
in  navigating  that  inland  sea.'  The  1816,97;" 
piracies  were  renewed  on  a  more  ex-  Hughes,  vi. 
tended  scale  with  the  revival  of  com-  ^^'• 
meree  after  the  peace,  and  the  only  cheek  which 
the  corsairs  received  was  from  the  Americans, 
who,  in  the  year  1S15,  in  a  very  spirited  man- 
ner, vindicated  the  honor  of  their  flag,  which 
had  been  insulted  by  these  ferocious  attacks. 

At  length,  however,  the  general  system  of 
piracy  which   the  Dey  of  Algiers  69. 

had  adopted,  brnnrrht  him  into  eon-  Outrages 
tact  with  the  subjects  or  allies  of  whichiedtoit. 
Great  Britain;  in  particular  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Ionian  Islimds,  and  of  Naples  and  Sardinia. 
Lord  Exmouth,*  accordingly,  who  commanded 

*  Edward  Pellew,  afterward  Lord  Exmouth,  was  born 
at  Dover  on  Ayf\\  18,  1757.  Ilis  father  was  commander 
of  the  Post-ofiice  Packet  on  the  Dover  station  ;  his  mother 
a  daughter  of  Edward  Saughton,  Esq.,  of  Herefordshire, 
a  woman  of  extraordinary  spirit  and  determination  of 
character.  Early  difficulties  drew  forth  young  Edward's 
energies.  His  father,  who  w:is  a  most  exemplary  man, 
died  in  1765,  leaving  s:?.  chir.i-  i  ;  and  a  subsequent  im- 
prudent marriage  of  their  motu<.r  having  deprived  them 
of  the  support  of'  their  surviving  parent,  they  were  thrown 
on  the  world  with  scarce  any  resources.  Edward  en- 
tered the  navy  in  1771,  in  the  Juno,  Captain  Stott,  in 
which  he  was  sent  to  the  Falkland  Islands.  Soon  after 
he  sailed  in  the  Blonde,  Captain  Pownall,  an  officer  of 
the  kindest  and  most  elevated  character.  There  he  soon 
showed  both  his  daring  and  humane  disposition.  On  one 
occasion,  in  1775,  when  the  vessel  was  taking  General 
Burgoyne  out  to  America,  tlie  g"neral  was  horrified  at 
seeing  a  midshipman  on  the  yard-arm  standing  on  his 
head  ;  but  Captain  Pownall  quieted  him  by  saying,  it  was 
one  of  the  usual  frolics  of  young  Pellew,  and  that  he  need 
not  be  unea.sy,  for  if  he  fell,  he  would  only  go  under  the 
ship's  bottom,  and  come  up  on  the  other  side.  What  was 
then  spoken  in  jest  by  the  captain  was  actually  realized 
by  young  Pellew ;  for  on  an  occasion  soon  after,  a  man 
having  fallen  overboard  when  the  ship  was  going  fast 
through  the  water,  he  actually  sprang  from  the  foreyard 
of  the  Blonde  and  saved  the  man.  Captain  Pownall  re- 
proached him  for  his  r.ashness,  but  never  spoke  of  it  aga:n 
without  tears  in  his  eyes.  After  the  American  war  broke 
out,  a  party  from  the  Blonde,  of  whom  young  Pellew  was 
one,  was  sent  across  to  Lake  Champlain,  where  he  was 
employed  in  the  Carleton,  and  distinguished  himself  so 
much  by  his  gallantry  in  performing  a  service  of  extreme 
danger,  which  no  other  man  would  execute,  that  it  drew 
forth  a  letter  of  strong  commendation  from  his  com- 
mander, Sir  Charles  Douglas,  and  a  holograph  letter,  ap- 
pointing him  lieutenant,  from  Lord  Howe,  the  First  Lord 
of  the  Admiralty.  He  was  afterward  attached  with  a 
party  of  seamen  to  General  Bourgoyne's  expedition,  which 
terminated  in  such  disaster  at  Saratoga ;  but  even  heri 


]816.J 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


4A 


fhe  British  squadron  in  the  Mediterranean,  re- 
..  ceived  orders  to  proceed  to  Tunis,  Tri- 
poli, and  Algiers,  and  insist  upon  tlie  in- 
habitants of  these  states  being  included  in  the 
same  pacification  as  Great  Britain,  and,  if  possi- 
ble, obtain  a  general  abolition  of  Christian  slav- 
er}'. To  these  demands  the  beys  of  Tunis  and 
Tripoli  at  once  agreed  :  but  the  Dey  of  Algiers 
refused  to  consent  to  the  last,  on  the  ground 
that,  being  a  subject  of  the  Ottoman  Porte,  he 
could  not  do  so  without  tlie  consent  of  that  gov- 
ernment. He  agreed,  however,  to  dispatch  a 
messenger  to  Constantinople  in  a  frigate,  to  ob- 
tain instructions  on  the  subject,  and  actually  did 
so.  Satisfied  with  these  concessions,  which  at- 
tained all  that  he  could  reasonably  expect,  Lord 
Exmouth  returned  with  his  squadron  to  Great 
Britain.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  an  outrage 
took  place,  which  broke  ofl'  the  negotiation,  and 
rendered  immediate  hostilities  unavoidable.  At 
Bona,  on  the  coast  of  Algiers,  on  the  festival  oT 
,.  ^  2„  the  Ascension,  on  23d  May,  as  the  crews 
of  a  number  of  Italian,  Corsican,  and 
Neapolitan  vessels  were  preparing,  under  the 
shelter  of  the  British  flag,  to  hear  mass  and  join 
in  the  solemnities,  they  were,  on  the  signal  of  a 
gun  fired  from  the  castle,  suddenly  assailed  by  a 
body  of  two  thousand  Turks  and  Moors,  who 
cut  the  greater  part  of  them  to  pieces,  tore  to 
pieces  the  English  flag,  broke  into  and  pillaged 
the  English  consul's  house,  and  thrust  him  into 
prison.  Upon  receiving  intelligence  of  this  out- 
rage, the  English  Government,  in  a  worthy 
spirit,  not  only  resolved  on  demanding  entire 
satisfaction,  but  on  seizing  the  opportunity  of 
destroying  the  nest  of  pirates  who  had  so  long 
inflicted  their  barbarities  on  the  whole  states  of 


lie  contrived  to  distinguish  himself,  for  he  recovered  a 
vessel,  containing  provisions,  with  such  skill  and  gal- 
lantry, that  General  Bourgoyne  thanked  him  in  a  letter 
written  with  his  own  hand.  When  the  cap'tulation  was 
proposed,  Pellew,  who  was  the  you;i'iest  officer  in  the 
council  of  war,  earnestly  entreated  to  be  allowed  to  fight 
his  way  back  with  his  handful  of  sailors,  alleging  he  had 
never  heard  of  seamen  capitulating ;  and  it  was  with 
great  difficulty  that  Bourgoyne  succeeded  in  dissuading 
him  from  making  the  attempt,  by  representing  it  would 
lead  to  a  general  ruin  and  violation  of  the  capitulation. 
He  returned  to  England  in  1777.  and  was  immediately 
promoted.  lie  had  already  acquired  such  extraordinary 
skill  in  rowing  and  swimming,  that  he  often  ran  the 
greatest  risk  by  the  dangers  incurred, /rom  his  confidence 
in  his  own  powers,  and  the  fearless  courting  of  danger 
which  he  constantly  exhibited.  In  1780,  when  on  board 
the  Apollo,  still  with  Captain  Pownall,  he  fell  in  with 
the  Stanislaus,  of  heavier  calibre,  and  Captain  Pownall 
was  badly  wounded  early  in  the  action.  ■'  Pellew,"  he 
said,  "  I  know  you  won't  throw  the  ship  away,"  ami  died 
in  his  arms.  He  continued  the  action  an  hour  longer,  and 
drove  the  enemy  dismasted  ashore,  but  was  disappointed 
of  his  prize,  by  her  claiming  protection  from  a  neutral 
harbor.  His  gallant  conduct  on  this  occasion  led  to  his 
being  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Hazard  sloop  in 
July,  17bO,  and  afterward  to  the  Pelican,  in  which  he  per- 
formed many  important  services.  When  the  war  of  the 
French  Revolution  broke  out,  he  was  appointed  to  the 
Nymph  frigate,  in  which,  alter  a  desperate  action,  in 
which  the  commanders  and  crews  of  both  vessels  dis- 
played the  utmost  skill  and  courage,  he  captured  tho 
Krencli  frigate  Ch^opatra,  for  which  he  was  knighted, 
lie  was  next  appointed  to  tho  Arcthusa  frigate,  in  which, 
on  23d  August,  1794,  ho  took  La  Pornono,  French  fl-igatc. 
After  this  he  nearly  lost  his  life  in  attempting  to  save  two 
of  his  crew  who  had  been  washed  overboard  ;  and  signal- 
ized himself  in  the  most  distinguished  way  at  ttie  wreck 
of  the  Dutton,  near  Plymouth,  when  he  boarded  the  ves- 
sel Hs  it  was  lying  a  wreck  on  the  coast,  took  the  com- 
mand, and,  by  his  energy  and  skill  in  running  a  hawser 
to  the  shore,  succeeded  in  saving  the  whole  crew,  who 
would  otherwise  infallibly  have  i)eri.she<l.  For  this  ex- 
traordinary act  of  heroism  he  was  created  (rtiaronet.  He 
was  ne.xt  appointed  to  the  Indefatigable  frigate,  and  by 


Christendom.     Lord  Exmouth  was  informed  any 
force  he  might  deem  requisite  would  ^j^J^J^  Resist 
be  placed  at   his  disposal,  and  the  1816,97,99; 
equipmentof  the  necessary  squadron  Hughes,  ^'x 
proceeded  with  the  utmost  activity.'  31-,  318. 

The  city  of  Algiers,  which  had  so  long  been 
an  object  of  tenor  and  curiosilyto  70. 

the  Christian  powei's,  and  has  been  Description 
the  theatre  of  so  many  memorable  of  Algiers, 
actions  by  the  principal  states  cf  Europe,  is, 
like  Genoa,  built  on  the  declivity  of  a  sttcp  hill, 
with  its  lower  part  washed  by  the  ocean.  It  i.s 
in  a  triangular  form,  the  sea  being  the  base,  and 
the  apex  high  up  on  the  hill;  and  as  it  is  entire- 
ly inclosed  within  walls,  and  the  builoings  are 
of  a  white  color,  rising  one  above  another,  its 
appearance  from  a  distance,  when  first  descried 
by  the  mariner,  is  that  of  a  huge  sheet  stretch- 
ed out  upon  the  dusky  slope.  Its  fortifications 
are  very  strong,  being  surrounded  by  walls  of 
immense  thicknes.s,  which,  like  those  of  Genoa, 
run  to  the  summit  of  the  hill  behind  the  town  ; 
and  toward  the  sea,  especially,  the  defenses 
are  of  the  most  formidable  description.  A  broad 
straight  pier,  300  yards  long,  projects  into  the 
sea  from  a  point  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from 
the  seaport  of  the  town.  From  the  end  of  this 
pier  a  mole  is  carried,  which  bends  round  in  a 
southwestern  dii-ection  toward  the  town,  form- 
ing in  its  course  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  circle. 
Opposite  the  mole-head  is  another  smaller  pier, 
and  between  the  two  is  the  entrance  of  the 
harbor,  which  is  about  120  yards  wide.  The 
mole  is  constructed  on  a  ledge  of  rock,  which 
stretches  out  about  200  yards  toward  the  north- 
east, beyond  the  angle  at  which  it  unites  to  the 
pier.     All  the  points  commanding  the  entrance 


his  great  skill  and  admirable  seamanship  not  only  rendered 
most  important  service  ofT  the  west  coast  of  France,  but 
by  his  admirable  seamanship  saved  his  own  vessel  when 
all  but  wrecked,  in  company  of  the  Amazon  which  per- 
ished. The  mutiny,  which  proved  so  formidable  in  1797, 
broke  out  twice  on  board  his  vessel,  and  was  only  quelled 
by  his  undaunted  conduct  in  twice  arresting  the  ring- 
leaders with  his  own  hand,  and  ordering  his  officers  to 
cht  down  the  first  man  who  resisted.  When,  on  another 
mutiny,  three  of  the  ringleaders,  on  board  the  Prince  at 
Port  Mahon,  were  brought  uj)  for  execution,  Sir  Edward, 
addressing  the  men  who  had  followed  him  from  the  Inde- 
fatigable, said — *'  Indefatigables,  stand  aside  ;  not  one  of 
you  shall  touch  the  rojie:  but  you  who  have  encouraged 
your  shipmates  to  the  crime  by  which  they  have  forfeited 
their  lives,  it  shall  be  your  punishment  to  hang  them." 
The  men  of  the  Prince  felt  it  as  such  ;  they  wept  aloud, 
but  obeyed.  These  were  terrible  days  ;  more  terrible  than 
any  conllict  with  the  enemy  to  the  British  navy  ;  and  it 
was  Sir  Edward  Pelh^w's  firmness,  in  a  great  degree, 
which  brought  it  throiigli  the  crisis.  During  the  Peace  of 
Amiins  he  oljtiiincd  a  scat  in  Parliament  for  the  borough 
of  Barnstaple,  and  he  made  a  short  but  powerful  speech 
in  defense  of  the  Admiralty,  in  a  debate  which  ensued 
when  the  war  broke  out  again.  He  was  then  appointed 
to  the  Tonnant  of  hO  guns,  and  soon  obtained  the  com- 
mand of  the  sijMailron  Moikailing  Fcrrol ;  after  which  he 
was  made  cornnianilii-in-chicf  on  the  Indian  station, 
where  he  renKiimil  till  IWkS,  ami  rendered  the  most  essen- 
tial servii^e,  both  by  the  ilcslruclion  of  several  of  the 
enemy's  shijis  of  war,  and  the  protection  alTordcd  to 
British  trade.  In  Iwll  he  proceeded  as  commander-in- 
chief  to  the  Mediterranean,  which  position  he  held  to  the 
close  of  the  war,  anxiously  watching  for  a  general  battle 
with  the  Toulon  flcc^,  which  the  caution  of  the  enemy 
caused  them  to  avoid.  He  died  on  23d  .lanuary,  1832 
with  the  calm  serenity  of  a  t'hristian.  "  Every  hour  ol 
his  lilc,"  said  an  officer  who  was  much  with  him  at  that 
time,  "  is  a  sermon  ;  I  have  seen  him  great  in  battle,  but 
never  so  great  as  on  his  deathbed."  See  Ostler's  JJ/e 
of  Lord  Kxmiiulh,  p.  1-301,  a  most  interesting  work  ;  aiid 
which,  with  the  Lift:  of  (Jiillinf^wnod,  by  G.  L.  Collino- 
wooi),  should  be  studied  by  all  who  would  learn  the  spirit, 
at  once  courageous  and  humane,  simple  and  noble,  piou* 
and  patriotic,  which  then  animated  the  British  navy. 


46 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE 


fCiiAi  n 


to  till'  li:ul>i)r  were  eovoioil  with  llio  stronjrest 
r«.>rtirn-utii)iis.  At  tlio  |)ioi-lii-;ul  slucul  the  lijjht- 
hoiiM'  hiittci V,  «i  larire  eireuhir  foit,  iiumntcd  by 
fifty  lioavy  jruns,  in  tliii'o  tiers,  exactly  like 
those  of  ii'tliiee-decker.  At  tlie  outer  ettrctn- 
ity  of  the  roek  was  another  battery  of  thirty 
neavy  guns  aixi  seven  mortars,  arranged  in  two 
tiers.  The  molo  itself  was  also  lined  with 
cannon  in  two  tiers,  like  the  sides  of  a  linc- 
of-battlo  s-hip;  but  the  eastern  end,  near  the 
lighthouse,  hail  an  inner  fortification  w  ith  a  third 
tier  of  guns,  making  sixty-six  in  the  mole  alone. 
On  these  batteries,  at  the  entrance  of  the  har- 
bor, were  mounted  '220  guns,  almost  all  thirty- 
two  or  twenty-four  pounders.  On  the  sea-wall 
of  the  town  were  nine  batteries,  the  strongest 
of  which  was  the  tishmarket  battery,  in  three 
tiers.  Altogether  there  were  nearly  000  guns 
I  Ostler's  Life  defending  the  sea  approaches  of 
of  Lord  Ex-  Algiers  ;  and  as  the  ramparts  were 
mouih,  307,  admirably  constructed  of  hard 
Resist  "l8l6  Stone,  and  in  the  very  best  order,  a 
lOl";  Hughes,  more  formidable  object  of  attack 
vi  310.  could  hardly  be  imagined.' 

Nelson,  in  a  conversation  w^th  Captain  Bris- 
_.  bane,  on  a  former  occasion  had  said 

Lord  Ex-  that  Algiers  could  not  be  success- 
mouth's  pre-  fully  attacked  by  less  than  twenty- 
parations  for  fl^g  ships  of  the  line.  Great,  there- 
*"  ^  '^  '  fore,  was  the  surprise  of  the  Admi- 
ralty when  Lord  Exmouth  proposed  to  attack  it 
with  five  sail  of  the  line,  five  frigates,  and  as 
many  bomb-vessels ;  and  many  of  the  most  ex- 
perienced officers  at  the  Board  considered  the 
works  so  strong,  that  the  place  was  altogether 
unassailable.  The  opinion  of  that  gallant  and 
experienced  officer,  however,  was  founded  on 
actual  observation,  ■which  Nelson's  was  not,  and 
it  proved  entirely  correct.  The  truth  is,  that 
not  one-half  of  the  ships  which  Nelson  spoke  of 
oould  have  found  room  abreast  of  the  Algerine 
batteries;  and  being  of  necessity  crowded  one 
behind  another,  they  would  only  have  augment- 
ed the  confusion,  and  presented  an  additional' 
mark  to  the  enemy's  fire.  He  explained  his 
plans  accordingly  to  the  Admiralty,  showing  the 
position  which  each  ship  was  to  occupy,  and  the 
works  it  was  intended  to  rake ;  and  they  very 
wisely  allowed  him  to  act  on  his  own  judgment, 
though  they  entertained  serious  apprehensions 
is  to  the  result ;  and  there  were  not  wanting 
those  who  predicted  that  the  undertaking  could 
terminate  in  nothing  but  disaster.  His  own 
confidence,  however,  never  wavered.  "  All 
will  go  well,"  he  said  ;  "  at  least  so  far  as  de- 
pends on  me.  If  they  open  their  fire  when  the 
ships  are  coming  up,  and  cripple  them  in  the 
'  Ostler's  Life  masts,  the  difficulty  and  loss  will 
of  Exuiouth,  be  greater  ;  but  if  they  allow  us  to 
31".  take   our   stations,^  I  am    sure    of 

them,  for  I  know  nothing  can  resist  a  line-of- 
battle  ship's  fire." 

Scarcely   was    Exmouth    appointed    to    this 

72.  perilous   service,    when  officers   in 

The  manning  crowds,  tenfold  greater  than  could 

and  fitting  out  jjg  accepted,  came  forward  to  offer 

oftheUeet.        ...         '   .    '         „      ■   r»    .■ 

their  services.     He   lelt  the  entire 

selection  to  the  Admiralty,  and  refused  all  his 
own  relations,  though  many  were  anxious  to  ac- 
company him.  An  entirely  new  squadron  was 
fitted  out,  none  of  the  ships  which  had  just  re- 
turned from  the  Mediterrar>ean  being  sert  back. 


It  was  thought  best  that  a  fleet  which  was  go. 
ing  to  fight  a  severe  bailie  should  be  manned 
entirely  by  volunteers.  No  difficulty,  however, 
was  experienced  in  getting  sailors  for  the 
squadron  ;  as  soon  as  it  was  known  it  was  go- 
ing on  a  service  of  danger,  the  volunteers  came 
forward  in  crowds.  The  ship's  company  of  the 
Leander,  then  on  the  point  of  sailing  for  the 
North  American  station,  where  it  was  to  be  the 
flag-ship,  volunteered  to  a  man.  Among  them 
were  a  great  number  of  smugglers,  who  had 
been  taken  on  the  west  coast  and  sentenced  to 
five  years'  service  in  the  navy  :  they  implored 
to  be  allowed  to  share  in  the  perils  of  the  expe- 
dition, and  Lord  Exmouth  acceded  to  their  re- 
quest, and  took  them  into  his  own  ship  the 
(iueen  Charlotte.  His  confidence  was  not  mis- 
placed :  they  behaved  with  such  gallantry  in  the 
action  which  ensued,  that  Lord  Exmouth  ap- 
plied to  the  Admiralty  after  his  return,  and  ob- 
tained their  discharge.  Rear-Admiral  Milne, 
a  noble  veteran,  who  had  just  got  the  command 
on  the  North  American  station,  obtained  per- 
mission to  go  out  with  the  Leander ;  and  as  Sir 
Charles  Penrose  did  not  join  at  Gibraltar,  he 
hoisted  his  flag  on  board  the  Impregnable,  as 
second  in  command.  Before  Lord  Exmouth 
sailed,  he  made  every  arrangement,  as  if  for  im- 
mediate death.  Among  the  rest  he  wrote  a 
long  letter  to  his  eldest  son,  detail- 
ing the  duties  which  would  devolve  'Of  tier's  Life 

^       ,  ■  T)  •.•  1  11  of  Exmouth, 

upon   him  as   a  British    nobleman,  310  3x2, 

which  v.'as  found  among  his  papers 
after  his  death.'  He  felt  that  he  was  setting 
out  on  what  might  truly  be  deemed  a  holy  war : 
his  feelings  were  those  of  Godfrey  of  Bouillon, 
or  Raymond  of  Toulouse,  when  they  mounted 
the  breach  of  Jerusalem. 

Lord  Exmouth  hoisted  his  flag  on  board  the 
Queen  Charlotte  of  100  guns.     His  ,^3 

fleet  consisted  of  five  line-of-battle  Departure  01 
ships,  of  which  two  were  three-  the  fleet,  and 
deckers,  three  large  frigates,  and  ■^o>'='S^  ^°  ^- 
two  smaller  ones ;  four  bomb-vessels, 
and  five  gun-brigs.  His  plan  of  attack,  whicli  was 
fully  explained  to  all  the  officers  in  the  fleet,  was, 
that  four  of  the  line-of-battle  ships  were  to  breast 
the  fortifications  on  the  mole  ;  a  fifth  cover  them 
from  the  batteries  of  the  town  on  the  one  side, 
while  the  heavy  frigates  did  the  same  on  the 
other;  and  the  bomb-vessels,  aided  by  the  ships' 
launches,  fitted  up  as  rocket  and  mortar  boats, 
were  to  keep  up  an  incessant  fire  on  the  ships  in 
the  harbor,  arsenal,  and  town.  The  fleet  left  Ports- 
mouth on  25th  July,  and  on  the  28th  was  off 
Falmouth,  where  Lord  Exmouth  parted  with  his 
brother,  at  the  very  place  where,  three-and- 
twenty  years  before,  he  had  sailed  to  fight  the 
first  battle  of  the  war.  From  that  place  the 
Minden  of  74  guns  was  sent  on  to  Gibraltar,  to 
provide  supplies,  and  thither  the  whole  fleet  ar- 
rived on  the  9th  August,  the  evening  after  the 
Minden.  On  the  voyage,  the  crews  of  all  the 
ships  were  sedulously  trained  to  their  guns  and 
ball  practice  ;  and  on  Tuesdays  and  Fridays,  the 
whole  were  cleared  for  action,  and  each  fired  six 
broadsides.  On  board  the  Queen  Charlotte,  the 
captains  of  guns  were  constantly  trained  by  firing 
a  twelve-pounder  at  a  small  target  hung  from  the 
fore-topmast  studding-sail  boom  ;  and  to  such 
expertness  did  they  soon  arrive,  that  after  a  few 
days'   practice  the  target   was   never  raissec^ 


1816. 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


thouffh  il  was  only  three  feet  square,  and  ten  or 
twelve  bottles  were  hit  every  day.  By  these 
means,  and  by  the  effect  of  the  raental  excite- 
ment arising  from  the  noble  enterprise  on  which 
the}'  were  jfroceeding,  the  crews  of  all  the  ves- 
sels were  highly  elated,  and  kept  in  the  best 
possible  spirits.  Not  a  doubt  of  their  success 
was  entertained  by  any  one  on  board  any  of  the 
vessels ;  and  such  was  the  eflect  of  this  mental 
excitement  on  the  health  of  the  men,  that  scarce 
a  name  was  on  the  sick  list ;  and  when  the  Queen 
Charlotte  was  paid  off  on  her  return,  only  one 

man  had  died,  excepting  those  slain 
i^Ostler,  316,    j^^  action,  out  of  a  thousand  who  had 

joined  her  throe  months  before.' 
At  Gibraltar  the  fleet  was  joined  by  Vice-Ad- 
^4  miral  the  Baron  Von  Capellan,  with 

Preparations  a  Dutch  squadron  of  five  frigates  apd 
of  the  Alger-  a  corvette,  who,  on  learning  the  no- 
''^®®"  ble  object  of  thi  expedition,  solicit- 

ed and  obtained  leave  to  join  it.  On  the  13th, 
every  vessel  was  furnished  with  a  plan  of  the 
fortifications  and  the  place  assigned  to  each  in 
the  attack.  To  the  Dutch  ships  was  allotted  the 
attack  of  the  fort  and  batteries  toward  the  south 
of  the  town,  a  duty  formerly  allotted  to  the  Min- 
den  and  Hebrus,  which  were  now  brought  up 
among  their  comrades  on  the  front  of  the  mole.  On 
the  same  evening  the  Prometheus  arrived  from 
Algiers,  bringirt^  the  wife,  daughter,  and  infant 
child  of  Mr.  MacDonnell,  the  English  consul,  the 
consul  himself  and  fourteen  of  the  crew  of  the 
Prometheus  being  detained  in  prison.  The  two 
former  had  escaped  disguised  as  midshipmen ; 
the  last  was  detected  by  its  crying  as  it  passed 
the  gate,  and  arrested ;  but  the  Dey  sent  it  on 
board  next  morning — "  a  solitary  instance  of 
humanity,"  said  Lord  Exmouth,  "which  ought 
to  be  recorded."  The  Prometheus  brought  the 
most  formidable  accounts  of  the  preparations 
made  at  Algiers  to  resist  the  attack.  Forty 
thousand  troops  had  been  collected  in  the  town, 
all  the  Janizaries  called  in  from  the  distant  gar- 
risons, and  the  fortifications  and  batteries  put  in 
the  best  possible  state  of  defense.  The  whole 
naval  force  of  the  regency,  consisting  of  four 
frigates,  five  large  corvettes,  and  thirty-seven 
gun-boats,  were  assembled  in  the  harbor,  manned 
by  their  most  experienced  and  daring  sailors. ' 

„  ^  ■  „.o  This  intelligence,  instead  of  daunt- 
"  Ostler,  318,    •  .    i    ,    i       i    .         •       .     .u 

3jy  ing,  contributed  only  to  animate  the 

sailors  on  board  the  British  licet,  by 
showing  the  importance  of  the  service  on  which 
they  were  bound,  and  the  magnitude  of  the  blow 
against  the  enemies  of  Christendom  they  were 
about  to  strike. 

On  the  morning  of  the  27th  August,  at  day- 
-5  break,   the    licet   was    olF  Algiers; 

Arrival  of  the  Lord  Kxmouth  immediately  dis- 
fleet  off  Al-  patched  a  Hag  of  truce  to  the  Dey, 
giers.  Aug.  27.  ^^.■^^^  ^^^^  termsdictated  by  the  Prince 
Regent,  which  were  the  entire  abolition  of  Chris- 
tian slavery  and  liberation  of  all  captives,  and  full 
compensation  to  the  British  consul,  and  the  sailors 
of  the  Prometheus,  who  had  been  imprisoned. 
An  answer  was  promised  by  the  port-captain  in 
two  hours,  and  meanwhile  the  Heet  stood  into  the 
bay  and  anchored  within  a  mile  of  the  town.  At 
two  P.M.  the  boat  was  seen  returning  with  the 
signal  that  no  answer  had  been  given.  Lord 
Exmouth  immediately  made  the  signf.1,  "  Are 
you  ready?"    And  the  affirmative  beuig  return- 


ed from  every  vessel,  the  signal  to  advance  was 
given,  and  every  ship  bore  up  for  its  appointed 
station.  The  Queen  Charlotte  headed  the  line, 
and  made  straight  for  the  mole-head.  It  was  Lord 
Exmouih's  intention  not  to  have  opened  his  fire 
urdess  that  of  the  enemy  became  very  galling, 
and  the  guns  on  the  upper  and  lower  deck,  ac- 
cordingly, were  not  primed  till  the  ship  had  an- 
chored. But  the  Algerines,  confident  in  their 
defenses,  and  hoping  to  carry  the  principal  ves- 
sels by  boarding,  after  they  had  taken  their  sta- 
tions, allowed  the  Queen  Charlotte  to  bear  in 
without  molestation,  until  she  anchored  by  the 
stern,  just  half  a  cable's  length  from  the  mole- 
head,  and  was  lashed  by  a  hawser  to  the  main- 
mast of  an  Algerine  brig  that  lay  at  the  harbor's 
mouth.  Meanwhile  the  other  vessels,  in  silence 
and  perfect  readiness,  moved  slowly  forward  un- 
der a  light  sea-breeze  to  their  appointed  sta 
tions.  Not  a  word  was  spoken  in  the  ,  ,  ,  „ 
vast  array  ;  every  eye  was  nxed  on  jnouth's  in 
the  enemy's  batteries,  which  were  structions, 
crowded  with  troops,  with  the  gun-  Ostler's  Me- 
ners  standing  with  lighted  matches  i"?,"'^;,,'^^^" P" 
beside  their  pieces.' 


319,  320 


"  There  was  silence  deep  as  death 
As  they  drifted  on  their  path, 
And  the  boldest  held  his  breath 
For  a  time." 

The  mole-head  at  this  time  presented  a  denst 
mass  of  troops,  whose  turbans  and  ~g 

shakos  were  distinctly  seen  crowd-  Commence- 
ing  on  the  top  of  the  parapets,  feiit  of  the 
Standing  on  the  poop,  Lord  Ex-  ^  '  ^' 
mouth  waved  with  his  hand  to  them  repeatedly 
to  get  down,  as  the  firing  was  about  to  com- 
mence. When  the  ship  was  fairly  placed,  and 
her  cables  stoppered,  the  crew  gave  three  hearty 
cheers,  which  were  answered  from  the  whole 
fleet.  The  Algerines  answered  by  three  guns 
from  the  eastern  battery,  one  of  which  struck 
the  Superb.  At  the  first  flash  Lord  Exmouth 
gave  the  word  "Stand  by;"  at  the  second,"  Fire;" 
and  the  report  of  the  third  gun  was  drowned  in 
the  roar  of  the  Queen  Charlotte's  broadside.  So 
terrible  was  the  eflect  of  this  discharge,  that 
above  five  hundred  men  were  struck  down  on 
the  mole  by  its  eflects.  Li  a  few  minutes,  and  be- 
fore the  action  had  become  general,  the  fortifica- 
tions on  the  mole-head  were  ruined  and  its  guns 
dismounted  ;  upon  this  the  Queen  Charlotte 
sprang  her  broadside  to  the  northward,  and 
brought  her  guns  to  bear  upon  the  batteries 
round  the  gate  which  leads  to  the  mole  and  the 
upper  tier  of  the  lighthouse  battery.  With  such 
accuracy  were  the  shot  directed,  that  the  light- 
house tower  was  soon  in  ruins,  every  successive 
discharge  bringing  down  some  of  the  guns;  and 
when   the   last  fell,  a  Moorish   chief  was  seen 

sprinn'in'r  up  on  the  fragments  of  ,  ,      ,  _, 
1  .         1      -.1   •         .      .  '  Lonl  Ex- 

tlie  parapet,  and  witii  impotent  rage  rnoutli's  Dlsp. 

shaking  his  scimitar  at  the  giant  of  Ostler,  32i), 

the  deep  which  in  so  brief  a  space   T?lv^'',*L',fi  ""' 

had   worked   such  fearful    devasta-   jjj"^''         ' 

tion.' 

Meanwhile  the  Algerines  were   not  idle:  a 

tremendous  and  well-sustained  fire  „_ 

was  kept  up  from  every  battery  and  ('„ntiininncc 

gun  on  the  ships  as  they  approached  oi'  the  aciioii, 

and  cast  anchor  ;  every  bastion  and  and  piMii.niia 

battlement  streamed  with   flames,   ^l^\'"     '' 

and  the  roar  of  above  a  thousand  can. 


49 


Hlbl  UUr   OF   EUROPE. 


IClIAP.  II 


noil  on  tlic  two  s'ulos,  wiiliin  a  space  not  more  than 
half  A  mile  in  lneiiilth,  cxceoJed  any  thlnij,  since 
tlid  battle  of  Coponhasjon,  l.oaiil  in  naval  war. 
Tho  Li-aiuler  clo'soly  followed  the  llajj^-^hip,  and 
nnclinred  astern  of  her;  next  eanie  tiie  Superb, 
which  took  her  station  two  hundred  and  lifty  yards 
Rstcrn  of  the  Lcandcr;  the  Mindcn  anchored 
about  her  own  len<;th  from  tlic  Superb.  Astern 
of  the  iMiiuIen  lay  the  Albion,  the  former  pass- 
i.ig  h(  r  stream  cable  out  of  the  larboard  <;iin- 
room  port  to  the  Albion's  bow,  and  lashing  the 
two  ships  together.  The  Impregnable  came  in 
last,  and  was  anchored  astern  of  tlie  Albion  in  a 
situation  very  much  exposed  to  the  enemy's  bat- 


action  of  an  hour's  duration  had  produced  nc 
signs  of  submission.  Lord  Exmouth  determined 
to  attcm])t  the  destruction  of  the  Algcriiie  ships. 
The  nearest  frigate  was  accordingly  boarded  by 
Lieutenant  llichards  in  the  Queen  Charlotte's 
barge,  accompanied  by  Major  Gossctt,  of  the 
marine  artillery;  and  in  a  few  rainutes  she  was 
in  a  perfect  blaze.  When  the  frigate  burst  into 
a  flame,  he  telegraphed  to  the  fleet  tlic  animat- 
ing signal,  "Infallible;"  and  as  the  barge  re- 
turned alongside,  she  was  received  with  three 
cheers.  The  burning  ship  broke  from  her  moor- 
ings, and  drifted  along  the  broadsides  of  tho 
Queen   Charlotte  and    Leander,   and   grounded 


leries.     The  three  large  frigates  and  the  Dutch  [  ahead  of  the  latter,  under  the  town  wall,  so  that 

the   conflagration   did   not   spread.      Upon   this 
the    gunboats   and   barges  opened    a  fire   with 
bombs  and  carcasses  on  the  largest  frigate  in 
the  centre  of  the  harbour,  and  she  was  soon  in 
flames,  from  which  the  fire  spread  i  Lord  Ex- 
to  the   other  ships  around,   which  moutir.s  Disp. 
were  all  consumed  with  the  exccp-  ^""-  ^*JIS- 
tion  of  a  sloop  and  brig.   The  arsenal  A|>p.'to    ' 
al.so  took  fire,  and,  with  all  its  stores,  Chron.;  Osi 
was  totally  consumed. '  "«>■.  324,  326. 

After  sunset  a  message  was  received   from 
Admiral  Milne,  in  the  Impregnable,  79 

which  had  sufl'ered  extremely  from  The  fleet 
her  position,  exposed  to  the  batteries  moves  out  of 
and  had  lost  210  men  killed  and  ^1^"  I'ay. 
wounded,  and  requesting  that  a  frigate  might 
be  sent  to  take  off  from  her  some  of  the  fire 
under  which  she  was  suffering.  The  Glasgow 
immediately  weighed  anchor  for  that  purpose, 
and  gallantly  stood  forward  into  the  thickest  of 
the  tire;  but  it  was  found  impossible  to  reach 
the  desired  position,  owing  to  the  want  of  wind. 
An  ordnance  vessel  was  accordingly  run  ashore 
under  the  lighthouse  battery,  and  blown  up^ 
which  in  some  degree  slackened  the  enemy's 
fire  in  that  quarter.  Toward  night  the  fire  of 
the  Algerincs  slackened  in  all  quarters,  and  at 
last  entirely  died  away,  except  from  the  Em- 
peror's Fort,*  on  the  high  ground,  which,  being 
above  the  range  of  the  guns,  continued  firing 
with  destructive  effect  to  the  very  close  of  the 
action.  On  the  side  of  the  British,  also,  the  fire 
slackened  considerably;  for  the  chief  objects  of 
the  expedition  having  been  gained,  it  became 
necessary  to  husband  their  powder  and  shot, 
the  consumption  of  which  had  been  beyond  all 
parallel. t  A  little  before  ten  the  Queen  Char- 
lotte's bow-cable  was  cut,  and  her  head  hauled 
round  to  seaward.  Warps  were  run  out  to  get 
out,  but  they  were  in  part  cut  by  shot  from  the 
Emperor's  Fort,  and  the  batteries  south  of  the 
town,  which  had  been  only  partially  engaged 
About  half-past  ten  the  land  breeze,  on  which  Lord 
Exmouth  had  calculated,  sprang  up,  =  Lord  Ex- 
and  by  the  aid  of  the  boats  towing,  mouth'.s  Disp 
she,  with  the  remainder  of  the  fleet,  jVig  933''o34 
was  got  out  of  fire.*  Soon  after  the  App.'u) 
breeze  freshened,  and  a  tremendous  Chron. ;  O.st- 

storm  of  thunder  and  iishtning  came  l';'"'''^"^;!'  ~3j' ; 
..,   , I.      T^     _  1  -^1   i_   ,      Von  (,apel- 


squadron  went  into  action  with  a  gallantry  which 
never  was  surpassed,  and  took  their  stations 
amid  a  tremendous  fire,  with  the  utmost  accu- 
racy. The  Leander  was  placed  athwart  the 
Queen  Charlotte's  bows,  her  starboard  broadside 
bearing  upon  the  Algerine  gun-boats  with  the 
after-guns,  and  on  the  fishmarket  battery  with  the 
others.  The  Severn  lay  ahead  of  the  Leander 
with  all  her  starboard  broadside  also  bearing  on 
the  fishmarket  battery.  Beyond  her  the  Glas- 
gow  was  stationed,  and  brought  her  larboard 
guns  to  bear  on  the  batteries  of  the  town.  The 
Dutch  took  their  position  with  great  steadiness 
in  front  of  the  works  to  the  south  of  the  town. 
The  two  smaller  frigates,  the  Hebrus  and  Grani- 
eus,  v.ere  left  to  come  into  the  line  wherever  they 
could  find  an  opening.  The  former  pressed  for- 
ward to  get  next  the  flag-ship,  but  being  be- 
calmed, she  was  obliged  to  anchor  on  the  Queen 
Charlotte's  larboard  quarter.  Captain  Wise,  of 
the  Granicus,  steered  straight  for  where  Lord 
Exmouth's  flag  was  seen  towering  above  the 
smoke,  and  with  a  skill  equal  to  his  intrepidity, 
'  Lord  E.v-  succeeded  in  placing  his  vessel  in 
mouth's  Disp.  the  open  space  between  the  Queen 
^J5r"o^o^'.      Charlotte    and    the    Superb;    thus 

IblC,  232;  Ap.        ,  .  .   .  T     *  1  T-.  1 

to  Chron. ;  taking  a  position,  as  Lord  £.xmouth 
Ostler,  322,  justly  said,  which  a  three-decker 
^"^3-  might  have  been  proud  to  occupy.' 

Eastward  of  the  lighthouse,  at   the  distance 
~g  of  two  thousand  yards,  were  placed 

Destruction  the  bomb-vessels,  the  shells  from 
ofUieencmy's  which  were  thrown  with  admirable 
ships  and  flo-  precision  by  the  marine  artillery  ; 
while  the  flotilla  of  gun,  rocket,  and 
mortar  boats. distributed  in  the  openings  of  the  line, 
kept  up  an  incessant  and  destiuctive  fire  on  the 
ships  in  the  harbor.  Soon  after  the  battle  be- 
came general,  the  Algerine  flotilla,  under  cover 
of  the  smoke,  advanced,  with  true  Mussulman 
intrepidity,  to  board  the  Queen  Charlotte  and 
Leander.  and  they  were  very  near  before  they 
were  descried ;  but  when  they  were  so,  the 
fatal  precision  which  the  British  gunners  had 
acquired  appeared  conspicuous.  The  Leander 
brought  her  broadside  to  bear  upon  them,  and, 
ty  a  few  discharges,  thirty-three  out  of  thirty- 
seven  of  the  gun-boats  were  sent  to  the  bottom. 
The  thick  smoke  round  the  Queen  Charlotte  pre- 
vented the  atlmiral  from  seeing  the  vessels  as 
they  came  in  and  took  up  their  position  ;  but  he 
soon  received  joyful  proof  of  their  presence,  and 
(he  accuracy  of  their  fire,  by  the  yawning 
breaches  and  crumbling  ruins  which  appeared, 
when  the  smoke  for  a  few  seconds  cleared 
away,  in  the  walls  opposite  the  positions  as- 
signed to  them.     At  lour  o'clock,  as  a  close 


on,  with  torrents  of  rain,  which  last- 


lan'sAcooiinc, 


ed  three  hours,  but  could  not  extin-  Ann.  Reg.  2-12, 
guish    the    flames    of  the   burning  213. 


*  So  called  from  having  been  built  by  tlie  Emperor 
Charles  V.  when  he  besieged  the  town  in  1557. 

+  They  had  fired  118  tons  of  powder,  50,000  balls, 
weighing  above  500  tons  of  iron,  and  9C0  thirleen  aiiiJ 
ten  inch  shells  thrown  by  the  bomb- vessels  and  lann.'lies 


IflG.J 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


4^ 


killed  and 
woiuxled. 


ships,  arsenal  and  t.ouses,  which  cast  an  avvlnl 
'JQht  over  the  scene  of  luin.  Before  it  had  sub- 
sided. Lord  Exmoiuh  assembled  in  his  cabin  all 
the  wounded  who  could  be  moved,  that  ihey 
might  unite  with  him  and  his  oflicers  in  thanks 
to  the  Almighty  Disposer  of  events  for  their 
v'ictorj'  and  preservation. 

Such  was  the  battle  of  Algiers,  one  of  the 
CQ  most  glorious  even  in  the  resplen- 

r«sults  of  tbe  dent  annals  of  the  British  navj'.  It 
battle,  and  was,  withal,  one  of  the  most  bloody 
— the  best  proof  of  the  desperate 
nature  of  the  service,  and  the  heroic 
courage  requisite  to  render  it  successful.  In 
the  British  squadron,  12S  were  killed  and  690 
wounded — in  all,  81S  :  a  greater  proportion  to 
the  number  engaged  than  in  any  action  during 
the  preceding  war;  for  in  Copenhagen  itself, 
the  bloodiest  of  that  contest  at  sea,  there  were 
only  1200  killed  and  wounded  out  of  eleven  line- 
of-battle  ships  engaged  ;*  but  here  there  were 
SIS  in  five  ships.  The  loss  fell  chiefly  on  three 
ships:  in  the  Impregnable,  which  bore  Admiral 
jNIiine's  flag,  there  were  50  killed;  and  in  the 
Leandcr  and  Granicus,  which  also  took  up  line- 
of-battle  positions,  the  loss  was  very  severe.  In 
the  other  line-of-battle  ships  the  entire  loss  was 
only  26  killed  and  62  wounded.  The  Dutch 
squadron  had  13  killed  and  52  wounded.  Lord 
Exmouth  had  several  most  narrow  escapes  :  he 
was  struck  in  three  places ;  a  cannon  ball  car- 
ried away  the  skirts  of  his  coat,  and  a  shot 
broke  the  spectacles  in  his  pocket.  On  the  side 
of  the  Algerines  it  was  computed  by  Lord  Ex- 
mouth  that  7000  had  perished ;  a  fearful  loss, 
but  which  is  not  improbable  when  the  crowded 
state  of  the  batteries  and  the  extraordinary  pre- 
cision of  the  English  fire  are  taken  info  consid- 
eration. The  British  loss  would  have  been 
much  greater  but  for  the  commanding  position 
taken  at  the  very  commencement  of  the  action, 
and  maintained  throughout  by  the  Queen  Char- 
lotte, wh.ich  swept  by  her  broadsides  the  whole 
batteries  on  the  mole,  the  most  formidable  in  the 
enemy's  defenses.  Admiral  Capellan  estimated 
that  500  men  were  thus  saved  to  the  allied 
squadron,  who  otherwise  would  have  been  de- 
stroyed. During  the  action  the  Queen  Char- 
lotte was  often  in  the  most  imminent  danger  of 
being  burned,  from  the  blazing  Algerine  vessels 
which  floated  close  past  her.  which  came  so 
near  that  Lord  Exmouth  was  almost  scorched 
as  he  stood  on  the  poop,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
liaul  in  the  ensign  to  prevent  ils  being  con- 
sumed. But  when  Admiral  von  Capellan  ant! 
I  Admiral  the  other  captains,  seeing  his  im- 
Capellan'H        mincnt  danger,  olfered  him  llic  as- 

n ''*'';'.^^"!!;«  sistance  of  the  boats  of  the  fleet  to 

Ueg.  lblG,242,  ,       ,     .  •              .      .               r     i      u,i     . 

243 ;  Ann.  to  '"^'^''    ""^^    °"'i    ''C    replied,    "that 

Clirnn.;  (Jsi-  having   calculated   every   tiling,    it 

Icr,  3:)0,  332 ;  behoved   tli<;m   by  no  means  to  be 

rnouihtoM*  alarmed   for  his  safely,  but  only  to 

l'('ll<-w,  Sept.  continue  their  fire  with  redoubled 

«,  ibKJ ;  Ost-  zeal  for  the  execution  of  his  orders, 

er,  330,  337.  ^^j  according  to  his  cxample."'t 


*  Ai,ison'.s  Europe,  chap.  liii.  i)  60. 

t  Admiral  Capellan,  who  nobly  Hcronded  Lord  Kx- 
/noulh  on  this  occasion,  bore  the  followinn  honorable 
ICHtimony  to  Lord  Exmoutli's  conduct  diirinK  tlu;  battle: 
— "  The  Dutch  squadron,  as  well  as  the  lirilish  force,  ap- 
peared to  be  inspired  with  the  devotedness  of  our  mag- 
nanimous chief  in  the  cause  of  mankin<l :  and  the  coolness 
and  precision  with  which  the  terrible  fire  of  the  b;;;terie9 
Vol.  l.—D 


Next  morning  Algiers  \  resented  the  most  mel- 
ancholy  aspect.      The    mole,    the  gj 
lighthouse  battery,  and  all  the  for-  The  Algerines 
tifications  near  them,  were  totally  submit,  and 
ruined;  cannon,  carriages,  and  dead  cfujg,}'^ '^°" 
bodies,  lay  one  above  anothei*,  inter- 
mingled With  huge  stones  and  masses  of  masonry, 
in  one  undistinguished  mass  to  the  water  edge. 
In  the  walls  of  the  town,  huge  gaps  appeared  op- 
posite the  broadsides  of  the  vessels  ;  and  behind 
them,  long  lanes,  cut  in  the  houses  as  far  as  the 
horizontal  shot  could  reach  up  the  tovv-n,  told  how 
fata!  the  fiie  had  been,  and  with  what  precision 
the  shot  had  been  directed.     At  daylight  a  flag 
of  truce  was  sent  in  with  the  same  demands  as  the 
afternoon  before,  the  bomb-vessels  at  the  same 
time  resuming  their  positions,  so  as  to  renew  the 
attack.     This,  however,  was  rendered  unneces 
sai'y.     The  Dey  at  once  submitted,  and  the  con- 
clusion of  peace  was  announced  by  a  salute  of 
twenty-one  guns.     The  terms  were  the  abolition 
of  Christian  slavery  forever ;  the  instant  delivery 
of  the  slaves  of  all  Christian  nations  ;  the  resti- 
tution of  all  money  received  for  slaves  since  the 
commencement  of  the  )-ear;   reparation  to  the 
British  consul  for  the  injuries  he  had  received ; 
and  a  public  apology  for  the  conduct  of  the  Dey. 
These  terms  were  all  complied  with,  and  on  the 
following  day  twelve  hundred  slaves  were  em- 
barked at  Algiers,  and  restored  to  their  country 
and  friends.     The  total  number  liberated  there, 
and  at  Tunis  and  Tripoli,  was  3003.     The  author 
was  at  Genoa  when  the  Sardinian  slaves,  02  in 
number,  which  had  been  delivered,  were  brought 
there  in  one  of  the  English  sloops  which  had  shared 
in  the  action.     The  cheers  of  the  i  j^^^jj  ^^_ 
people  as  they  entered  the  harbor,  mo'Uh's 
and  the  thunderoftheartillery  which  Uisp-.  Ann. 
saluted  the  victors,  still  resound  in  Sfi''o?)Q'.^!i „„ 
his  ears.     It  was  one  ol  those  mo-  to  Chron.; 
ments  which  make  a  man  proud  of  Ostler,  333, 
his  country  and  of  the  human  race.'  ^•'^• 

Lord  Exmouth  was  deservedly  made  a  Vis- 
count for  this  glorious  victory  ;  and 
promotion  on  the  usual  scale  was  honors  be- 
bestowed  on  the  other  oflTicers  en-  stowed  on 
gaged.    Admiral  oMilne  was  knight-  Lord  Ex- 
ed;  and  the  achievement  was  no-  jjl,™'"  ^'"^ '"^ 
ticed  in  the  most  flattering  terms  in 
Parliament,  by  whom  thanks  were  cordially  voted. 
"No  one,"  said  Lord  Cochrane,  who  spoke  on 
this  occasion,  "was  better  ac(|uaintcd  than  him- 
self with  the  power  possessed  by  batteries  over 
a  fleet;  and  he  would  say,  that  the  conduct  of 
Lord   Exmouth  and  the  fleet  deserved  all   the 
praise  which  that  House  could  bestow.      The 
attack  was  nobly  achieved,  in  a  way  that  a  Brit- 
ish fleet  always  performed  such  services;  and 
the  vote  had  his  most  cordial  concurrence,  for  he 
never  knew  or  had  heard  of  any  thing  more  gal- 
lant than  the  manner  in  which  Lord  Exmouth  luul 

was  rcijlied  to,  close  umlcr  tin'  massy  walls  r""  Algiers, 
will  as  liule  admit  ol'  (ii'scnplioii  as  the  heroism  ami 
self-devotion  of  each  indivirlually,  and  Lord  Exmonlh  in 
particular,  in  the  action  of  this  memorable  day.  Till  nine 
o'clock  he  remajneil  with  Ihi!  C^ueen  Charlotte  in  the  same 
position,  in  the  hottest  of  ll;<,  lire,  encouraging  every  one 
not  to  gWe  up  the  work  begun  till  the  whole  was  com- 
pleted :  and  thus  displayed  such  perseverance  that  aC 
were  animated  with  the  same  spirit:  and  the  fire  of  the 
shi^is,  ag.iinst  a  brave  and  desperate  enemy  appeared 
to  redouble."  —  Admiral  ('ai'KI.lan's  Di.ijmtrh,  Angus 
30,  IblO,  Annual  Register  IblO,  iVi— App in-lix  to  Vhrun 
idc. 


60 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPt:. 


laid  his  ships  nlongsiilc  the  Aljicrinc  batteries."' 

^  ^     Tlicso  are  nolilo  words,  siu-h  as  the 
•  Pari.  Deb.   ■  ■  i  i '    i 

xxxy.  l^l.  '"  J*^*^  f >">■  <?"n  "PI'')'  ^^  ''"^  uravc  ;  ren- 
dered doiilily  strikiiijT.  and  not  less  hon- 
oralde  to  the  i.;iver  tluui  tiie  receiver,  when  it  is 
reeolieeled  under  what  unmerited  oldoijiiy  Lord 
Coehranc  labored  at  that  time,  and  the  shameful 
iMijiatiludc  with  whieh  he  had  been  treated  by 
his  country.  There  were  not  wanting,  however, 
many  who  thougiit  that,  on  such  an  occasion, 
honors  anil  rewards  might  have  been  bestowed 
with  a  more  liberal  hand,  and  that  Government 
Would  have  acted  more  gracefully  if  they  had 
seized  this  opportunity  to  bestow,  perhaps,  an 
unusual  amount  of  the  royal  favor  on  a  service 
which,  during  the  last  year  of  the  war,  had  re- 
ceived so  litiie  of  it,  simply  because  the  magni- 
tude of  its  former  victories  had  swept  every  enemy 
Irora  the  ocean.  But  the  admiration  and  grati- 
tude of  the  world  was  the  real  reward  of  the  vic- 
tors. Never,  perhaps,  since  the  fall  of  Jerusalem 
resounded  through  Christendom,  had  such  a  unan- 
imous feeling  prevaded  ever)'  civilized  state. 
Dill'erences  of  race,  of  nations,  of  institutions. 
were  forgotten  in  the  common  triumph  of  faith. 
The  Roman  Catholic  grasped  the  hand  of  the 
Protestant,  the  Lutheran  of  the  Greek.  Through 
two  hundred  millions  of  human  beings,  one  si- 
multaneous burst  of  joy  broke  forth;  the  unity  of 
feeling,  which  is  the  charm  of  love  between  two 
'Ktler  343  '^''hiul  hearts,  was  for  once  felt  by 
an  entire  fifth  of  the  human  race* 

"  Was  ist  Liebe,  ich  dir  sage ' 
Zwei  Seelen,  ein  Gedanke, 
Zwei  llerzen  einer  Schlag."* 

The  battle  of  Algiers  was  memorable  in  another 
^2  point  of  view,  still  more  important 

Reflections  on  to  the  general  interests  of  humanity, 
this  battle,  It  was  the  first  of  the  great  and  de- 
andthecom-  d^i^Q  triumphs  of  the  Christians 
mencementof  .i,       m    i  i  r\.\ 

tlie  ascendant  over  the  JMohammedans.  Other 
ol  Cliristian-  victories  had  been  gained  in  former 
iiy  over  Mo-  days,  but  they  weix  in  defense  only, 
hammedan-  \  ,■.       .    i    ■      .u 

jgjjj  or  were  obliterated   in   the  conse- 

quences of  subsequent  disaster.  The 
battle  of  Tours,  in  the  days  of  Charles  JNIartel, 
the  deliverance  of  Vienna  by  John  Sobieski.  the 
victor}'  of  Lepanto  by  Don  John  of  Austria,  only 
averted  subjugation  from  Christendom  ;  the  glo- 
ries of  Asealon,  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem,  the 
heroism  of  Richard  CcEur-de-Lion,  were  forgot- 
ten in  the  disaster  of  Tiberias,  the  fate  of  Ptole- 
mais,  the  expulsion  of  the  Christians  from  the 
Holy  Land.  Even  the  more  recent  successes  of 
the  Russians  over  the  Turks  had  been  deeply 
checkered  with  disaster;  the  storming  of  Ocza- 
kow  was  balanced  by  the  disaster  of  the  Pruth; 
the  Balkan  had  never  been  crossed  by  the  follow- 
ers of  the  Cross,  and  the  redoubtable  antagonists 
still  exchanged  desperate  thrusts,  with  alternate 
success,  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube.     But  with 

*  CiiLLPAi^BB,  Der  Sohn  der  Waldrdss. 


[Chat.  11 

the  battle  of  Algiers  commenced  the  decisive 
and  eternal  triumph  of  the  Christian  faith;  the 
Cross  never  hcrcaller  waned  before  the  Crescent. 
Other  triumphs  not  less  decisive  rapidly  suc- 
ceeded, and  tlic  Ottoman  Empire  was  only  saved 
from  dissolution  by  the  jealousies  of  the  victors'. 
Navarino  wrenched  Greece  from  its  grasp ;  Acre 
saw  the  sceptre  of  Syria  pass  from  its  hands; 
Koniah  brought  it  to  the  verge  of  ruin  ;  Algiers 
delivered  its  sway  over  Africa  to  France;  the 
passage  of  the  Balkan  rendered  it  tributary  to 
Russia.  Nor  was  the  waning  of  the  Crescent 
less  perceptible  in  Asia.  The  bastions  of  Erivan 
gave  the  Muscovites  the  ccmmand  of  Georgia  j 
the  Cross  was  placed  on  the  summit  of  Ararat, 
the  resting-place  of  the  Ark;  the  British  stand- 
ards were  seen  on  the  ramparts  of  Ghuznee,  the 
cradle  of  the  JNIohammedan  dominion  of  India. 

These  memorable  occurrences,  in  a  certain  de- 
gree, lift  up  the  vail  whieh  conceals 


84. 
Progressive 


the  designs  of  Providence  from  mor- 
tal eyes.  Whence  proceeded  this  ascendant  of 
sudden  and  decisive  superiority  on  Christianity 
the  part  of  one  of  those  antagonists  Z^^^^T' 
who  lor  five  centuries  had  struggled 
with  each  other  with  alternate  success  and  equal 
resources  ?  Evidently  from  the  energy  which  a 
spiritual  faith  and  unfettered  thought  had  com- 
municated to  the  Christian  powers,  and  the  vast 
development  of  military  skill  which  had  taken 
place  in  the  principal  European  states  from  the 
wars  of  the  French  Revolution.  And  whence 
arose  those  memorable  wars,  disastrous  to  hu- 
manity at  the  time,  but  fi-om  which,  as  from  the 
dragon's  teeth,  have  sprung  the  armed  men  who 
are  subduing  the  globe  ?  From  the  efforts  of 
Voltaire  and  the  Encyclopedists  to  deride  and 
destroy  Christianity.  Such  is  the  system  of  Pi- 
vine  administration  :  it  is  hard  to  say  w  hethcr 
it  is  most  supported  by  the  elTorts  of  its  enemies, 
or  the  sacrifices  of  its  friends.  That  which  all 
the  devotion  of  the  Crusaders  could  not  efTect, 
has  been  brought  about  at  the  appointed  season 
by  the  agency  of  the  infidels;  the  preaching  of 
Voltaire  has  done  that  which  that  of  Peter  the 
Hermit  had  left  undone.  Humanity  may  cease, 
therefore,  to  deplore  the  ceaseless  wars  between 
civilized  nations,  when  it  perceives  the  superi- 
ority whieh  they  give  to  the  arms  of  civilization 
over  those  of  barbarism  ;  it  will  discern  in  them 
the  severe  training  by  which  the  race  of  Japhet 
is  prepared  for  its  predicted  mission  to  dwell  in 
the  tents  of  Shem,  to  overspread  the  earth  and 
subdue  it.  Christianity,  indeed,  is  destined  to 
spread  mainly  by  its  winning  the  hearts  of  men; 
but  in  a  world  of  selfishness  and  violence,  it  is 
not  thus  alone  that  mankind  are  to  be  converted 
even  to  their  own  blessing;  the  first  entrance 
must  be  sometimes  won  by  conquest;  and  he 
who  bears  even  the  olive  branch  and  Cross  iu 
one  hand,  ma}-  often  despair  of  success  if  he  ii 
not  prepared,  when  necessary,  to  grasp  t.'ie  naked 
sword  in  another. 


1815. 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


61 


CHAPTER  HI. 


B  STORV    OF    FKANCE    FROM    THE    SECOND    RESTORATION    OF    LOt'IS    XVllI., 

SEPTEMBER   7,    181U. 


TO  THE  ord::nantes  of 


If  England,  which  haJ  been  victorious  in  the 

1.  strife,  and  closed  a  conflict  of  twen- 
Extraordina ■  ty  years  with  glory  unprecedented 
ry  difficultits  in  jtg  annals,  still  found  itself  jjriev- 
of  the  Gov-  ,  .  ■  '  1  1  1  1  ?  .1 
ernment  of  ously  Straitened  and  reduced  to  the 
France  after  greatest  difficulties  on  the  return  of 
the  batile  of     peace,  what  must  the  condition  of 

ater  oo.  France  have  been,  and  what  the 
difficulties  of  its  Government,  when,  after  having 
had  the  national  passions  excited  to  the  very 
highest  degree,  by  the  long  triumph  of  the  Re- 
public and  the  Empire,  it  was  suddenly  stript  of 
all  the  fruits  of  victory,  shorn  of  its  conquests, 
humbled  in  its  pride,  with  its  armies  deteated, 
its  emperor  a  captive,  its  capital  taken  ?  To 
any  nation  such  a  series  of  reverses  must  have 
been  a  subject  of  deep  humiliation  and  regret; 
but  to  the  French  it  was  doubly  so  from  the 
warlike  character  of  the  people,  their  eager 
desire  for  military  glory,  and  the  unparalleled 
series  of  successes  which,  in  the  early  wars  of 
ihe  Revolution,  had  fanned  this  desire  into  a  per- 
fect passion.  Seven  hundred  thousand  armed 
men,  in  the  summer  of  1S15,  invaded  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Great  Nation,  from  the  Rhine,  the 
Alps,  and  the  Pyrenees;  and  spreading  them- 
selves, after  the  contest  ceased,  over  its  whole 
extent,  systematically  began  the  work  of  retri- 
bution on  France  for  the  innumerable  evils  and 
humiliations  they  had  experienced  from  it  in  the 
days  of  its  triumphs.  England  alone,  which  had 
experienced  no  such  evils  and  humiliation,  at- 
tempted no  such  retaliation;  the  stale  which 
had  successfully  withstood  Napoleon  in  the  pleni- 
tude of  his  power,  now  alone  strove  to  appease 
the  wrath  of  the  conquerors,  and  restrain  the 
uplifted  arm  of  vengeance. 

To  have  founded  a  government  and  restored  a 

2.  dynasty  with  any  prospect  of  suc- 
DilSculties  cess  amidst  such  a  whirlwind  of 
ajising  from  Jisastcr,  would  have  been  a  matter 
able  dispasi-  °'  '•^'^  utmost  difliculty  under  any 
lion  of  the  circumstances,  and  with  any  people. 
French  pco-  But  in  the  case  of  the  French,  the 
''  "'  dilficulty  was  infinitely  enhanced  by 
the  mobility  of  disposition,  and  extremes  of  pas- 
sion by  which  they,  beyond  any  other  people  re- 
corded in  history,  have  "jver  been  characterized. 
Nations  have  their  distinctive  character  as  well 
as  individuals,  and  what  is  first  impressed  on 
ihcm  by  the  signet-ring  of  nature  as  the  pecul- 
iarity of  the  race,  is  rarely  if  ever  chan^i/d  in 
any  subsequent  period  of  their  history.  JSo  one 
can  have  been  acquainted  with  the  men,  and 
still  more  the  women,  of  that  highly  intellectual 
and  agreeable  people,  without  being  convinced 
that  proneness  to  change,  and  readiness  to  pass 
from  one  extreme  to  another,  is  their  groat 
characteristic;  and  what  individuals  do  in  days, 
the  nation  as  a  whole  does  in  years  or  centuries. 
"Emportee  commc  unc  fcmme"has  in  every  ago 
been  their  distinctive  temperament.  An  elo- 
quent French  writer,  who  knew  them  well,  and 


had  himself  experienced  their  mutability,  has 
given  the  following  graphic  picture  of  the  dis- 
position of  his  countrymen: — "The  people," 
says  Lamartine,  "are  like  individual  men;  they 
have  their  passions,  their  reactions,  their  exalta- 
tion, their  depression,  their  repentance,  their 
hesitation,  their  uncertainty.  What  we  com- 
monly call  public  opinion  in  free  governments,  is 
nothing  but  the  moving  needle  on  the  comoass, 
which  marks  the  variations  in  the  atmospheio  of 
human  affairs.  That  instability  is  more  sudden 
and  prodigious  in  France  than  in  any  other 
country  in  the  world,  if  we  except  the  ancieu 
Athenian  races.  It  has  become  a  by-word  in 
Europe.  The  French  historian  is  boiuid  to  con- 
fess this  vice  in  his  country,  of  which  he  records 
the  vicissitudes,  and  signalizes  the  virtues.  That 
very  mobility  is  allied  to  a  noble  quality  of  the 
great  French  race.  Imagination ;  it  forms  part 
of  their  destin}'.  In  war  it  is  termed  ardor ;  in 
the  arts,  genius;  in  reverses,  despondency;  in 
that  despondence,  inconstancy;  in  patriotism, 
enthusiasm.  They  are  the  people  in  modern 
times  who  have  the  most  fire  in  their  souls.  It 
is  the  gales  of  that  mobility  which  feed  the  flame. 
It  is  impossible  to  explain,  but  by  this  peculiarity 
in  the  character  of  the  French  race,  the  acces- 
sions of  delirium  which  at  times  gain  possession 
of  the  whole  nation,  and  induce  them  unanimously 
to  support,  at  only  a  few  months'  i  Lamartine, 
distance  from  each  other,  princi-  Ilistoire  de  fa 
pies,  men,  and  forms  of  government  ■'^'^™"«^^i''"' 
the  most  opposed  to  each  other."  i  ^'   "  ' 

Never  did  this  extraordinary  peculiarity  of  the 
French  nation  appear  in  more  strik-  3. 

innf  colors,  or  induce  more  important  Important  ef- 
efiects,  than  in  1815,  after  the  return  fects  this  pro- 

i-T  viriir    r  /'u       .  i  .i       duced  in  1815, 

ol  Louis  A  Vlll.  from  Ghent,  and  the  .,„j  cau.ses  of 
re-establishment  of  the  monarchy  the  violencij 
of  the  Bourbons  in  Paris.  The  pas-  of  opinion 
sion  for  freedom,  and  the  forms  and  privileges 
of  a  constitutional  monarchy,  which  had  burst 
forth  so  strongly  at  the  opening  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  been  after  suppressed  by  the  blood  of 
the  Convention  and  the  glories  of  the  Empire, 
had  broken  out  afresh,  and  spread  immensely 
during  the  year  of  peace  which  followed  the 
first  restoration  in  1811.  Whatever  had  been 
the  faults  of  the  Bourbons  during  that  period — 
and  doubtless  they  were  many — they  had  been 
against  thcinsclves  and  the  cause  of  monarchical 
government  alone;  they  had  all  redounded  to 
the  advancement  antl  spread  of  liberal  opinions. 
An  opposition  to  the  court,  that  invariable  maik 
of  a  constitutional  monarchy,  had  sprung  up; 
and  all  the  error.s  of  the  executive  had  oidy 
weakened  its  own  respect  and  augmented  tlio 
influence  of  the  opposition.  The  days  of  sabic 
dominion  were  at  an  end;  the  access  to  power 
was  to  bo  sought  by  other  means  than  the 
jingling  of  spurs  in  the  ante-chambers  of  the 
palace.  A  jiowerful  opposition  had  sprung  up 
in  the  Chamiicrs,  and  been  supported  by  a  lai-4;o 


y2 


11 16  TORY   OF   EURO!  E. 


[CUAP.  Jll 


poition  of  the  jniblic  press,  in  tlie  free  discussion 
of  which  the  newly  enjiuieipiUoil  French  people 
took  the  grcutest  ileli-jht.  The  iiiiililniare  of  the 
Revolution,  the  dreams  of  the  Empire,  were 
jtast,  and  in  their  steatl  the  mornini,'  of  freedom 
appeared  to  have  dawnetl  aiiain,  iiilded  with 
'  Lam.  Ust.  "i"  t'lc  colors  which,  twcnly-livo 
do  la  Rest.  V.  years  before,  had  lured  the  world 
332,  334.  [,y  l\^^.■^^.  biiUJancy. ' 

These  hopes  and  expectations  had  been  alike 

dashed  by  the  second  return  of  Na- 

rnbomided       poleon,  and  the  sudden  catastrophe 

bumiliatioii       by  which  it  was  terminated.     The 

aiidsuUcrings  juio   of  constitutional   frovernment 

tUis  iiuir  "'  "^^■'^s  ^^  ""  ^"'^  i  '^'°  ami)ition  which 
had  turned  into  the  channels  of  peace 
was  at  once  blasted.  The  delusive  colors  with 
which  the  generosity  or  policy  of  the  allied  chiefs 
had  disguised  the  first  conquest  of  France  had  dis- 
appeared ;  the  vail  had  been  suddenly  withdrawn, 
and  subjugation,  with  all  its  bitterness,  had  fallen 
upon  the  people.  There  was  no  longer  any  sem- 
blance of  moderation  in  the  language  or  conduct 
of  the  conquerors ;  the  stern  law  of  retaliation — 
an  eye  for  an  e}"e,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth — had  be- 
come the  principle  ;  the  ma.xim  Va  victis  was  not 
only  in  every  mouth,  but  directed  the  movements 
of  every  hand.  Requisitions,  enforced  by  all  the 
rigor  of  military  execution,  were  every  where 
made,  and  brought  the  anguish  and  weiglit  of  con- 
quest home  to  every  bosom.  Already  71)0,000 
armed  men,  and  above  100,000  horses,  were  quar- 
tered in  this  manner  on  France  ;  before  autumn, 
their  number  amounted  to  nearly  1,040,000.  The 
villages  in  the  country,  the  small  towns  in  the 
provinces,  were  all  occupied  by  corps  ol  Prus- 
irians,  English,  Austrians,  or  Russians  ;  and  every 
one  had  a  story  to  recount  of  an  indignity  they  had 
experienced,  or  a  loss  they  had  sulfered.  The 
general  wrath,  which  had  been  restrained  for  a 
moment  by  the  fascination  of  Napoleon's  return, 
the  terrors  of  the  army,  the  vigor  of  the  im- 
perial police,  and  the  hopes  of  a  return  of  the 
days  of  glory,  now  broke  out  on  all  sides  in  loud 
complaints  and  lamentations ;  and  it  was  no  eon- 
isolation  to  the  sullering  peasants  to  be  told  by 
Che  old  soldiers  that  all  this  was  only  the  fate  of 
,  Qanefi^e  ^""^^^  ^"'^  ^^'^^  ^'^®  blow  which  de- 
llist.  delaRe-  scended  on  their  shoulders  from  the 
stauration,  iii.  Prussian  troops  was  no  more  than 
V,.'  ih^"^' '''  they  had  themselves  inliicted  on  the 

iJi,  63o.  T,  ■  .  11-2 

Prussians  ten  years  belore.-' 
Pride  is  the  last  weakness  which  can  be  con- 
5.  quered  in  the  human  heart.    When 

Which  occa-  either  individuals  or  nations  have 
sions  a  uni-  undercone  a  creat  calamity,  the  first 
versal  reac-  ,  .  ",  .Pi  r  ■  .  \-  i 
lion  against  thing  they  think  ol  is  to  tind  some 
^apoleoll  and  individual  or  party  on  whom  it  can 
iKsadlierents.  \jq  jaiJ ;  they  will  turn  any  way 
rather  than  ascribe  it  to  its  real  cause — their 
own  fc"'-».s  or  sins.  Great  as  may  be  the  weight 
of  extermi'.  evils,  it  is  as  nothing  to  the  sting  of 
the  secret,  ni.nta"'  reproach  of  having  induced 
'hem.  A  scapegoat  is  ..^variably  soug'^*  for  to 
bear  the  burden  of  .he  sins  of  I!  e  nation,  and 
take  away  the  last  and  uittereU  drop  in  the  cup 
of  misery,  the  consciousness  ol  having  deserve  I 
it.  This  scapegoat  was  found  by  the  Fr'^nch  ut 
this  disastrous  epoch  in  Napoleon  and  L.j  party, 
ii-eat  a"  had  beei  the  enthusiasm  in  17S9  in 
favor  of  the  Republ.c,  unbounded  the  exultation 
ui  180G  at  the  glories  of  th-j  Empire,  they  were 


equaled  now  by  the  unanimous  burst  of  indig- 
nation at  the  same  coiujueror  and  his  followers. 
All  classes  joined  in  it;  all  heads  were  swept 
away  by  the  torrent.  Royalists,  liberals,  propri- 
etors, merchants,  agriculturists,  artisans,  clergy 
Vendeans,  Republicans,  Catholics,  Protestants, 
seaport  towns,  the  provinces,  the  capital — all 
joined  in  one  universal  clnn-us  against  the  fallcc 
emperor.  The  mothers  recounted  their  two  i-i 
three  sons  who  had  been  sacrili(;cd  in  Spain  oi 
Russia  to  the  ambition  of  the  coiKjueror  j  the  fa- 
thers, their  fortunes  or  means  of  subsistence  that 
had  been  wrested  from  them  by  the  Continental 
blockade  or  the  war  contributions.  All  had  a 
loss  to  lament  a  wrong  to  avenge.' 
They  forgot  that  they  themselves  r.^"\l^'F^'' 

111  I  ••  111  ^iip.    ill.    V,    t   f 

had  been  the  nrst  to  swell  the  song  Lacrctclle, 
of  triumph  \.'hen  these  bloody  sue-  Hist. delaRe 
cesses  were  gained.  General  opin-  ain^saa'"*'  '' 
ion  threw  itself,  without  measure,  ' 
without  reflection,  into  indignation  against  one 
man  and  his  military  followers,  and  that  uni- 
versal transport  seized  men's  minds  which,  be  it 
right  or  be  it  wrong,  the  forerunner  of  blessings 
or  the  herald  of  disaster,  is  generally  found  to  be 
for  the  time  irresistible. 

As  this  transport  of  indignation  was  all  direct- 
ed against  the  enemies  of  the  Bour-  e, 
bons,  it  might  naturally  be  supposed  DifficulUea 

that  it  would  have  favored  the  re-  ')y^\^f^^  "jf^^ 

,,..,.,,,.  .    feelings  Hire w 

turn,  and  lacilitated  the  government  ju  tue  way  o! 

of  Louis  XVill. ;  yet  it  was  just  the  the  new  Gov- 
reverse,  and,  in  truth,  nothing  aug-  ernment. 
mented  the  dilliculties  of  his  position,  in  the  first 
years  of  the  second  restoration,  so  much  as  the 
inconsiderate  ardor  of  his  party.  Vengeance  was 
the  universal  cry.  The  passions  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, the  thirst  for  blood,  again  appeared,  but 
directed  against  a  dilferent  object.  It  was  no 
lontrer  against  the  royalists  or  aristocrats,  but 
against  the  imperialists  and  revolutionists,  that 
the  persecution  was  directed.  Misfortune  had 
made  them  change  sides.  The  people  now  loud- 
ly demanded  the  heads  of  those  who  had  formerly 
been  the  objects  of  their  idolatry.  It  was  no  easy 
mutter  for  the  Government,  returning  after  so 
sad  a  calamity  as  the  disaster  of  Waterloo,  to 
moderate  the  vehemence  of  a  nation  torn  by  such 
violent  passions,  and  demanding,  with  great  sem- 
blance of  justice,  the  sacrifice  of  such  a  multi- 
tude of  delinquents.  The  rank,  talent,  and  con- 
sideration, even  the  sex,  of  many  who  were 
loudest  in  the  outcry,  added  to  the  diihculty  of 
restraining  it;  for  experience  then  again  illus- 
trated the  truth,  proved  by  so  many  passages  in 
history,  that  when  the  passions  are  violently  ex- 
cited, it  is  in  the  softer  sex  that  they  appear 
with  the  most  violence.  Virgil  never  showed 
his  knowledge  of  the  human  heart  more  than 
when  he  wrote  the  line — 

"  Gnarus,  furens  quid  femina  possit." 

"Wmeri,"  says  Lamartine,  "of  the  highest 
rf,Dk  were  implacable  in  their  demands  for  blood. 
It  would  seem  that  generosity  is  the  companion 
of  fo-::'e-,  ^cd  that  the  weaker  the  sex  is  the  more 
's  it  p.ciless.  History  is  bound  to  say  so  in  order 
.J  stigmatize  it.  Neither  high  birth,  nor  great 
fortune,  nor  literary  education  preserved  in  that 
crisis,  more  than  it  had  done  in  many  others, 
ladies  of  the  aristocracy  of  Paris  and  of  the  court 
from  the  thirst  for  vengeance,  and  the  sauguiU' 


1815.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


53 


C  . 

Lac.  i.  348.       okuionary  Tribunal. 

Louis  XVIII.,  as  is  always  the  case  with  sov- 
ereigns   in    similar    circumstances, 

Difficulties  of  '^^''15  ^^^  fi''^*-  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^°  pressure, 
Louis  XVIII.  and  he  did  so  even  before  he  arrived 
in  the  choice  jn  Paris  from  Ghent.  The  neces- 
"f  his  Minis- 
ters. 


sit}'  of  choosing  his  ministers  as  soon 
as  the  battle  of  Waterloo  had  re- 
opened to  him  the  path  to  the  throne,  at  once 
brought  it  home  to  the  monarch.    Chateaubriand 
had  held  the  portfolio  of  the  Interior  during  the 
exile  of  the  court  at  Ghent,  and  by  his  great 
abilities,  evinced  in  man}'  articles  in  the  Courier 
de  Gand,  had  powerfully  contributed  to  aid  the 
Royalist  cause  when  it  seemed  desperate,  and 
was  all  but  deserted  by  the  world.     But  experi- 
ence has  abundantly  proved  that  the  independ- 
ence of  real  genius  is  in  general  but  ill  calculated 
for  the  address  and  suppleness  necessary  for  suc- 
cess in  courts ;  and  that  Lord  North  was  right 
when  he  said,  on  being  urged  to  bring  Dr.  John- 
son into  Parliament,  where  his  great  abilities,  it 
was  thought,  might  aid  the  Ministry — "  Sir,  he 
is  an  elephant ;  but  he  is  as  likely  to  trample 
down  his  friends  as  his  enemies !"    31.  de  Blacas 
was  the  Prime  ^Minister  of  the  fugitive  monarch  ; 
but  though  Louis  was  very  partial  to  him,  his 
known  unpopularity  in  France,   owing   to   the 
violence  of  his  royalist  opinions,  rendered  it  im- 
possible for  him  to  continue  to  hold  that  olTice 
when  the  court  returned  toward  Paris.     Pozzo 
di  Borgo,  the  moment  the  news  of  the  battle  of 
Waterloo  arrived,  wrote  to  Louis  to  set  out  im- 
mediately, and  travel  quickly,  or  he  might  find 
his  place  taken  before  he  arrived.    T:  that  time- 
ly information  Chateaubriand  does  not  hesitate 
to  say   the  king  owed   his  restoration  to   the 
throne.*     As  IM.  de  Blacas  was  of 
necessity  dismissed,    the   office   of 
Prime    jMinister   was  vacant,    and 
Louis,  who  instantly  set  out  from 
Ghent  on  receiving  Pozzo  di  Bor- 
go's  letter,  at  first  thought  of  offering  it  to  JM.  de 
Chateaubriand,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  say  to 
him,  "  I  am  going  to  separate  from  M.  de  Blacas ; 
» 111'  1     •"  44   '•'^'^  place  is  vacant,  M.  de  Chateau- 
briand."^ 
But  the  monarch  soon  found  that,  in  a  con- 
stitutional monarchy,  the  sovereign 
Talleyrand       ^^^  "*^''  ''^  reality  the  choice  even 
and  Fouch6     of  his  own  ministers.     Ere  he  had 
arc  appointed  reached  the  French  frontier,  M.  de 
to  tlie  Minis-  Talleyrand  had  arrived  ;  and  though 
in  the  lirst  instance  coldly  received 
by  Louis,  his  great  influence,  and  the  impm-tant 
part  he  had  played  in  the  first  restoration,  in  a 
manner  forced  him  upon  that  monarch  as  the 
successor  of  M.  do  Blacas.     A   more  serious 
diinculty  arose  soon  after,  from  the  proposal  to 
take  Fouche  into  the  Cabinet,  to  which  the  king, 
as  well  he  might,  evinced  the  utmost  repugnance. 
Ho  was  strongly   supported,  however,    by  the 
Count  d'Artois  and  the   whole  extreme  royal- 
ists, whom  he  had  succeeded  in  jicrsuading  that 
without  his  co-operation   the  Restoration   was 
impossible.     Talleyrand  also  supported  him,  as 
did  Marshal  Macdonald  and  Hyde  de  Ncuville; 
and  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who  came  up  and 
had  an  interview  with  Louii   it  Mons,  strongly 


ment  of  Cha- 
teaubriand. 


ary  joys  which  had  actuated  women  of  the  most  |  urged  him  to  submit  to  the  cruel  necessity  A 
>  Lam.  V  429  •  abject  condition  under  the  Reign  of  |  formal  cabinet  council  was  held  at  Gonesse  on 
Cap.  iiL  4  ;      Terror,  and  at  the  gates  of  the  Rev-  j  the  25th  June  on  the  subject,  and  Chateaubriand, 

with  the  utmost  vehemence,  maintained  the  op- 
posite side.  "The  elevation,"  said  he,  "of  such 
a  man  must  produce  one  of  two  results  :  tlie 
abolition  of  the  charter,  or  the  fall  of  the  minis- 
try at  the  commencement  of  the  session.  Let  us 
figure  to  ourselves  such  a  minister  on  the  21sl 
January.*  interrupted  every  moment  by  a  dep- 
uty from  Lyons  with  the  words,  '  You  are  the 
man  !'  Men  of  that  stamp  can  never  be  osten- 
sibly beat  with  the  mutes  of  the  seraglio  of  Ea- 
jazet,  or  the  mutes  of  the  seraglio  of  Napoleon. 
What  would  come  of  the  ministers  if  a  deputy 
from  the  tribune,  with  a  Monitcur  of  the  9lh 
August  in  his  hand,  should  demand  the  expul- 
sion of  Fouche  from  the  ministry,  as,  in  his  own 
words,  'a  robber  and  a  terrorist,  whose  atro- 
cious and  criminal  conduct  reflect-  ,  ,t -„   j 

,    ,.  ,  ,  ,    .  -  Mem.  de 

ed  dishonor  and  opprobrium  on  any  Chateaub.  vii. 
assembly  ofwhich  he  may  be  a  mem-  57,58;  Lac.  i. 
ber?'  "1  328,  329. 

Strong  as  these  considerations  were,  the  neces- 
sity of  the  case  was  still  stronger, 
and  all  the  practical  men  about  the  Formation  of 
king  impressed  upon  him  so  urgent-  the  Ministry, 
ly  the  impossibility  of  guiding  the  a»'l  retire- 
vessel  of  the  state  through  the  break- 
ers with  which  it  was  surrounded, 
without  the  aid  of  so  experienced  a  pilot,  that 
he  was  obliged  most  reluctantly,  at  the  eleventh 
hour,  to  give  in.  M.  Talleyrand  was  named 
President  of  the  Council  and  Minister  of  Foreign 
Afl'airs;  Fouche,  Minister  of  Police,  with  the 
superintendence  of  public  opinion  ;  Baron  Louis 
resumed  the  seals  of  ilinister  of  Finance  ;  M. 
Pasquin  became  Garde  dcs  Sccaux ;  Gouvion  St. 
Cyr,  Minister-at-War  ;  M.  Jaucourt,  of  the  ]\Ia- 
rine  ;  the  Due  de  Richelieu,  the  Household  of 
the  King.  M.  Pozzo  di  Borgo  was  offered  the 
Ministry  of  the  Interior,  but  declined  it.  Cha- 
teaubriand retired,  being  resolved  to  take  no 
part  in  a  ministry  of  which  Fouche  was  a  mem- 
ber. The  party  of  the  Count  d'Artois  were  in 
transports,  not  less  at  the  retirement  of  the  stur- 
dy royalist,  than  at  the  admission  of  the  dexter- 
ous regicide.  "Without  Fouche,"  they  exclaim, 
ed,  "  there  can  be  no  safety  tor  France.  He  alone 
has  saved  France ;  he  alone  can  complete  the 
work  he  has  begun."  Every  consideration  of 
principle,  honor,  loyalty,  consistency,  was  for- 
gotten in  the  universal  joy  at  regaining  their 
offices  and  emoluments  by  the  aid  of  the  arch- 
traitor.  Many  went  so  far  as  to  assert  that,  if 
their  heads  were  still  on  their  shoiddcrs,  they 
owed  it  to  Fouche.  Louis  XVIII.  and  Chateau- 
briand, though  constrjiincd  to  yield  to  the  torrent, 
were  not  less  decidedly  of  an  op]iosilo  opinion; 
and  before  separating  at  St.  Denis,  on  their  ad- 
vance to  Paris,  they  had  the  following  remarka- 
ble oonversation  :  "Eh  bien!"  said  Louis XVI II., 
w'Um  they  were  left  alone.  "  Eh  bien,  sire," 
replied  (Chateaubriand;  "you  have  taken  the 
Duke  of  Olranto."  "  It  was  unavoidable,"  re- 
plied the  i7M3narch  ;  "from  my  brother  to  the 
bailli  dc  coiifon,  who  at  least  is  not  suspected, 
all  said  I  com  1  not  do  otherwise.  What  think 
you  of  it?"  "Sire,"  replied  Chatcaidu-iand, 
"the  thing  is  done;  I  request  permission  of  your 


»  Chateaubri- 
and, Mem. 
d'Outre 
Toiiibe,  vii. 
39,  40. 


The  day  on  which  Lou  .b  XVI  was  executed 


IlISTOKV    OF    KUUOrE. 


lCh..p    11," 


Mnjcsty  to  bo  silent."  "No,  no,  speak  out;  you 
know  how  1  liavo  resisted  ever  siiieo  wo  left 
'Jlient.'  "  Sire,  I  only  obey  your  onlers  ;  pur- 
iion  my  fiilclity  ;  I  think  it  is"ull  over  with  the 
monnri'hy."  The  kinjr  romaiiieil  sonic  time  si- 
lent, nnif  Chateaubriand  beijan  to  foar  ho  would 
,  L.,^.  i  32t;  have  cause  to"  repent  his  boldness, 
3-2ii";  Chii-  '  when  at  length  he  answered,  "To 
icaut>.  Mem.  say  the  truth,  j\I.  do  Chatcaubri- 
vn.  09,  70.       j^ijj^  J  ,^„^  oi'your  opinion.'" 

Beroro  Icavini;  Cunibiay,  the  King,  on  the  QSth 
June,  issued  a  proclamation  to  the 
liio  KiiiK'.s  French  people,  which  deserves  a 
pro.-laimition  jilace  in  history,  IVom  the  magna- 
I'rom  t'!>">-^,  nimity  which  it  breathes,  and  the 
bray.  Juno  Ob.  ^^^j^.^^  ^j-  nioderation,  in  the  most 
dilFicnlt  circumstances,  by  which  it  was  distin- 
guished. "  The  gates  of  my  kingdom,"  said 
he,  "  are  opened  before  me  ;  I  hasten  to  collect 
my  wandering  subjects,  to  place  myself  a  second 
time  between  the  allied  armies  and  the  French, 
in  the  hope  that  the  regard  which  I  hope  they 
feel  for  me  may  turn  to  the  advantage  of  my 
subjects.  That  is  the  only  part  which  I  wish 
to  take  in  the  war ;  I  have  not  permitted  any 
Prince  of  mj'  family  to  enter  any  foreign  corps, 
and  I  have  restrained  the  courage  of  my  serv- 
ants, who  were  desirous  of  ranging  themselves 
in  arms  around  my  person.  Returned  to  the 
soil  of  my  country,  I  rejoice  to  speak  to  my  peo- 
ple in  the  voice  of  contidence.  When  I  first  ap- 
peared among  them.  I  found  the  minds  of  men 
carried  away  and  agitated  by  passions,  dilTicul- 
ties,  and  obstacles.  Faults  were  scarcely  to  be 
avoided  in  such  circumstances  :  perhaps  they 
were  committed.  There  are  times  when  even 
the  greatest  purity  of  intention  will  not  suffice  ; 
when  sometimes  it  even  misleads.  Experience 
is  then  the  only  safe  guide;  it  shall  not  be  thrown 
away ;  I  wish  all  that  can  save  France.  My 
subjects  have  learned  by  bitter  proofs  that  the 
principle  of  legitimacy  in  sovereigns  is  one  of 
the  fundamental  bases  of  the  social  order;  the 
only  one  which  can  establish  in  the  midst  of  a 
great  people  a  wise  and  well-regulated  liberty. 
That  doctrine  has  been  promulgated  as  that  of 
entire  Europe.  I  had  consecrated  it  beforehand 
in  my  charter ;  and  I  have  in  view  to  add  to 
it  such  guarantees  as  may  secure  its  benefits. 
Much  has  been  said,  of  late,  of  the  restoration 
of  titles  and  feudal  rights  :  that  fable,  invented 
by  the  common  enemy,  has  no  need  of  being  re- 
futed. It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  King  of 
France  is  to  demean  himself  to  reply  to  calum- 
nies and  lies.  If  the  holders  of  national  domains 
have  conceived  disquietudes,  the  charter  should 
reassure  them.  Have  I  not  myself  proposed  to 
the  Chambers,  and  caused  to  be  executed,  sales 
of  those  properties  ?  That  proof  of  my  sincerity 
is  decisive  ;  I  do  not  intend  to  banish  from  my 
presence  any  but  the  men  whose  renown  is  a 
subject  of  grief  to  France,  and  terror  to  Europe. 
In  the  conspiracy  which  they  have  set  on  foot.  I 
perceive  many  misled,  some  guilty;  I  promise, 
I  who,  as  Europe  knows,  have  never  promised 
in  vain,  to  pardon  all  the  Frenchmen  who  have 
been  misled,  all  that  has  passed  from  the  day 
when  1  quitted  Lille  in  the  midst  of  so  many 
tears,  until  that  when  I  re-entered  Cambray  in 
the  middle  of  so  many  acclamations.  But  the 
blood  of  my  children  has  flowed  from  a  treach- 
ery without  example  in  the  annals  of  the  w-'-ld. 


That  treachery  has  brought  tl.j  i^ranger  into 
the  heart  of  France  ;  every  day  reveals  to  me  a 
new  disaster.  I  owe  it  then  to  the  dignity  of  my 
throne,  the  interest  of  my  people,  the  repose  of 
'^urojic,  to  except  from  the  pardon  the  instiga- 
tors and  aulluirs  of  that  horiible  calamity.  Thcv 
shall  be  marked  out  for  tho  vengeance  of  the 
law  by  the  two  Chambers  whom  1  propose  to 
assemble  without  delay.  Frenchmen,  such  are 
the  sentiments  which  he  whom  time  can  not 
change,  nor  misfortune  exhaust,  nor  injustice 
depress,  brings  back  into  the  midst  of  you.  Tho 
King,  whose  ancestors  have  reigned  over  yon 
lor  eight  centuries,  returns  to  devote  the  re- 
mainder of  his  days  to  your  defense  i  Lac.  i.  315, 
and  consolation.'"  *  317. 

The  King  arrived  at  St.  Denis  on  the  Cth 
June,   but   he   remained  two  days  jj. 

there,  awaiting  tho  occupation  of  His  entry  inte 
the  capital  by  the  English  and  ^""8.  June 8. 
Prussian  troops.  They  made  their  public  and 
triumphant  entry  on  the  7th  July,  and  on  the 
day  following  it  was  determined  that  the  King 
should  make  his  entrance.  JM.Deeazcs,  dread- 
ing the  Faubourg  St.  Denis,  through  which  the 
cortege  required  to  pass,  and  which  was  in  a 
violent  state  of  fermentation,  advised  Louis  to 
postpone  the  entry  till  the  night;  but  the  King 
replied  in  a  worthy  spirit,  in  allusion  to  the 
nocturnal  entry  of  Napoleon  on  the  20th  !March, 
"  No,  I  will  traverse  Paris  at  mid-day,  and  in 
the  middle  of  my  people  ;  when  they  see  their 
King  in  France,  conspirators  disappear."  Still 
the  ministers  insisted,  and,  as  the  King  pro- 
posed to  enter  in  an  open  carriage,  they  repre- 
sented that  a  shot  or  a  stone,  thrown  from  ore 
of  the  roofs  in  the  Rue  St.  Denis,  might  prove 
fatal  to  France.  "There  is  a  misfortune," 
said  he,  "  which  I  shall  never  know — that  of 
fearing  my  people."  In  effect,  the  King  made 
his  entry  at  noon  on  the  8th.  Though  the  ut- 
most elforts  were  made  by  the  police  to  put  the 
people  on  a  wrong  scent,  the  crowd  was  im- 
mense on  the  passage;  from  the  Porte  St.  Denis, 
where  the  procession  entered  the  capital,  to  the 
Tuileries,  where  the  King  alighted,  the  streets 
seemed  paved  with  human  heads.  Ever  pas- 
sionately fond  of  theatrical  display,  the  Paris- 
ians on  this  occasion  had  a  still  more  pressing 
motive  for  crowding  to  see  the  entry ;  they 
sought  a  momentary  distraction  to  their  thoughts 
— they  hoped  to  see  in  the  pacific  monarch  the 
dove  with  the  olive  branch,  which  returned 
with  the  glad  tidings  that  the  deluge  was  retir- 
ing. The  National  Guard  in  full  uniform  every 
where  lined  the  streets,  and  evinced  for  the 
most  part,  with  perfect  sincerity,  the  utmost 
enthusiasm  on  the  occasion.  The  applause  was 
universal ;  white  flags  were  generally  hung  out 
from  the  windows  or  suspended  from  the  roofs, 
and  the  cheers  of  ihe  multitude  resembled  rat.ier 
the  exultation  felt  at  the  sight  of  a  triumphant 
conqueror,  than  the  feelings  awakened  by  the  re- 
turn of  a  fugitive  monarch  in  the  rear  of  foreign 
bayonets.  The  partisans  of  Napoleon,  few  in 
number,  humiliated  in  feeling,  and  execrated  by 
their  countrymen,  had  retired  with  the  army 
behind  the  Loire,  or  sheltered  themselves  in 
obscure  corners  of  the  metropolis.  The  feel- 
ings of  all  present  were  uiia.iimous ;  tears 
flowed  down  many  cheeks ;  the  extremity  o( 
disaster  had  reconciled  many  enemies — causc(i 


mb.\ 


HISTORY    OF    EUTxOPE. 


Ul 


and  dilTicul- 
ties  of  Louis. 


many  fends  to  be  forgot;  en  ;  cries  of  "Vive 
Henri  IV.  f — "Vive  Louis  XVIII. !''  were 
heard  on  all  sides  ;  and  in  the  midst  of  unpar- 
>  Lac.  i.  326  alleled  difliculties  and  public  disas- 
327  ;  Lam.  v.  ters,  the  monarch  experienced  a  few 
'.^"'1^' '  '^''^V-  minutes  of  heart-felt  joy  as  he  re- 
"'■    '   ■  entered  the  palace  of  his  lathers.' 

But  the  pleasing  illusion  was  of  short  dura- 
jq  tion  ;  and  Louis  soon  experienced 

Violence  of  'liG  bitter  truth,  that  the  worst  pos- 
the  Royalists,  sible  foundation  for  a  dynasty  is 
"^  '  conquest  by  foreign  arms.  It  is 
impossible  to  imagine  the  violence 
of  the  victorious  Royalists,  or  the  urgency  with 
which  they  besieged  the  sovereign  for  venge- 
ance, speedy,  general,  and  unrelenting,  against 
the  authors  of  all  their  calamities.  An  entire 
purification  of  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  of  the 
magistracy,  of  the  army,  and  of  the  ministry; 
the  restoration  to  the  provinces  of  the  power  of 
the  clergy,  and  of  the  noblesse,  were  the  con- 
ditions held  out  as  indispensable  by  such  of  the 
Royalists  as  were  most  moderate,  and  least  in- 
clined to  sanguinary  measures.  Argument  was 
out  of  the  question  :  there  was  no  discussion  or 
division  of  opinion  in  the  saloons  of  the  Fau- 
bourg St.  Germain;  universal  transport  gave 
vent  to  the  universal  fury.  But  in  the  midst  of 
these  dangerous  excesses,  the  king  had  a  ver}' 
difKcult  part  to  play  ;  for  there  were  perils, 
and  no  light  ones,  on  the  other  side  ;  and  the 
ministry  contained  men  who  were  themselves 
the  chief  objects  of  popular  reprobation,  and 
yet  whose  aid  could  not  be  dispensed  wilh  in 
the  critical  state  of  public  affairs.  Talleyrand 
and  Fouche,  on  their  part,  as  strongly  inculcated 
the  extreme  danger  of  any  violent  reactionary 
movement,  and  represented  the  strength  of  the 
party  in  France  which  was  attached  to  the 
principles  of  the  Revolution,  enriched  by  its 
spoils,  and  resolute  not  to  be  stripped  of  any  of 
its  acquisitions.  To  add  to  the  general  dif- 
ficulties, the  allied  cabinets  loudly  demanded 
some  guarantee  for  the  peace  of  Europe,  by  the 
punishment  of  the  most  guilty  among  those  who 
had  dislurbed  it ;  while  the  French,  on  all  sides, 
as  loudly  complained  of  the  dreadful  exactions 
of  the  allied  troops,  and  insisted  that  the  I'lvst  care 
Cap.iii.  4,7;  of  the  sovereign  should  be  to  en- 
332,  deavor  to  procure  some  mitigation 
of  the  suiferings  of  his  subjects." 
But  there  was  a  question  of  still  greater 
13  nicety,  and  attended  with  more  last- 

Ditlicuity  in  jng  consequences,  which  remained 
behind,  and  that  was  the  convoca- 
tion of  the  legislature,  witiiout  the 
aid  of  which  it  was  evidently  im- 
possible that  any  of  these  objects 
could  be  attained,  or  even  the  government  be 
carried  on  for  any  length  of  time.  Two  plans 
here  suggested  themselves ;  but  each  was  at- 
tended with  very  great  (lillicullies.  The  one 
was  to  convoke  the  dcpulics  of  ISM,  who  were 
the  existing  legislature  at  the  period  of  tlx;  re- 
turn of  Napoleon  from  Elba  ;  i)assing  over  the 
Hundred  Days  entirely,  as  a  usurpation  of  no 
legal  elfect,  and  entitled  to  no  consideration. 
The  second  was,  to  have  a  new  election.  It 
was  impossible  to  go  on  with  the  Chamber  re- 
cently elected  under  Napoleon,  as  it  was  of  so 
extremely  democratic  a  character  that  even  his 
rtrm  hand   had  p 'ovcd  unable  to  guide  it.     To 


Lac 
333 


rcciard  to  tlie 
convocation 
of  the  Cliain- 
liers,  and  de- 
bates on  it. 


an  Englishman,  aecuitomed  as  the  peojile  of  this 
country  have  been  to  the  vicissitudes  of  a  con- 
stitutional monarchy,  there  could  be  no  doubt 
what  course  in  these  circumstances  should  have 
been  pursued.  This  was  to  convoke  simjiiy 
both  Chambers  as  they  stood  at  the  dept.rture 
of  the  king  for  Ghent,  as  was  done  in  this  cotui 
try  on  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.  in  IGGl. 
But  the  French  cabinet  decided  otherwise,  on 
the  ground  that  the  first  requisite  of  a  repre- 
sentative legislature  is  to  be  in  harmony  with 
the  feelings  of  the  people  ;  that  the  events 
which  had  passed  since  the  preceding  Man-h 
were  equivalent  to  an  ordinary  century;  ar.d 
that  no  unity  of  feeling  could  be  expected  be 
tween  the  representatives  of  the 
first  and  the  people  of  the  second  ^^ '■*?•'"• ''> 
restoration.' 

But   another  question  was  wound    up  with 
the  first,  and  upon  its  decision  the  54 

future  fate  of  France  in  a  great  Tlie  King  is- 
measure  hinged.  By  what  laws  sues  an  ordi- 
were  the  elections  to  be  regulated  ?  Ufg"!";  moj';! 
By  those  of  the  Empire,  or  of  pre-  ofelections,ol 
ceding  times  during  the  Revolu-  his  own  au- 
tion?  The  ActeAdditionnel,  pass-  "lority. 
ed  by  Napoleon  during  the  Hundred  Days,  was 
felt  to  have  contained  some  important  modifica- 
tions of  the  charter  in  this  respect;  and  it  had 
been  determined  at  Ghent  to  adopt  some  oi 
them,  if  a  second  restoration  should  take  place. 
In  particular,  the  reduction  in  the  age  requisite 
for  a  seat  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  an  in- 
crease in  their  number,  and  the  power  of  pro- 
posing laws  or  resolutions,  seemed  desirable, 
and  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  age.  In 
the  absence  of  any  existing  legislature,  there 
was  no  authority  from  which  these  changes 
could  emanate  but  that  of  the  king  in  council; 
and  the  14th  article  of  the  charter,  which  re- 
served power  to  the  king  of  introducing  such 
modifications  in  the  charter  as  the  interests  o( 
the  state  required,  seemed  to  give  sutlicipiit 
authority  for  such  a  proceeding.  In  conliirmiiy 
with  these  views,  an  ordinance  was  is- 
sued, which  stated  in  the  preamble :  "It  "^ 
was  his  Majesty's  intention  to  have  proposed  to 
the  two  Chambers  a  law  for  the  regulation  of 
election  of  deputies  for  the  departments.  His 
wish  was  to  have  modified,  in  conformity  with 
the  lessons  of  experience  and  the  well-under- 
stood wishes  of  the  nation,  many  articles  of  the 
charter,  especially  those  touching  the  conditions 
of  eligibility,  the  number  of  deputies,  the  initia- 
tive in  laws,  and  the  mode  of  deliberation.  The 
misfortunes  of  the  times  having  interrupted  the 
sitting  of  the  Chambers,  the  king  still  felt  that 
at  present  the  number  of  deputies  in  the  depart- 
ments was  much  too  small  to  render  the  nation 
suOiciently  represented.  It  .seemed  in  an  es- 
pecial manner  to  be  necessary  that  the  national 
representation  should  be  numerous ;  that  its 
powers  should  be  periodically  renewed ;  that 
they  should  emanate  directly  from  the  electoral 
colleges;  in  fine,  that  the  elections  shoidd  bo 
the  expressicm  of  public  opinion  at  the  moment. 
As  no  act  of  the  legislature  can  authorize  these 
changes,  any  more  than  the  modifications  in- 
tended to  be  introduced  into  the  charter,  tho 
king  thought  it  was  just  that  the  nation  should, 
in  the  mean  time,  enjoy  the  advantages  it  would 
derive  from  a  legislature  at  once  more  numei 


3« 


HISTORY   OF    EUROPE 


[CUAP.   ill. 


ons  niul  less  restricted  in  tlic  coiuliiimis  of 
eligibility.  \Visliin<jr,  at  tho  same  lime,  that  any 
nioililicatioii  of  the  chartor  shoiiUl  not  ho  eon- 
siiiereil  as  delinilivo  until  it  had  received  tho 
eonstituiinnal  sanetion.  the  proposed  orclinanec 
will  be  the  tirst  object  in  the  dcUberations  of  the 
Chambers.  Thus  the  lc<rislalurc  will  jointly 
enact  on  tho  law  of  election,  and  the  changes 
lo  bo  made  in  tho  charter  in  that  particular; 
and  the  king  only  takes  the  initiative  in  them 
so  far  as  they  are  indispensable  and  urgent,  and 
1  Moniteur.  under  the  obligation  to  loUovv  as 
July  12,  \b\5;  closely  as  possible  the  charter  and 
Cap.iii.l3, 11.  j|,p  (bims  already  in  usage."  ^ 
In  pursuance  of  these  motives,  the  Chamber 
j5_  of  Deputies,  elected  in  1814,  was 

Royal  orilin-  dissolved,  and  a  new  one  summon- 
nnco,  cluitig-  (jj  Qp  ;in  entirely  new  basis,  which 
and  rulerof''  i-<?sted  only  on  tne  royal  ordinance, 
election.  July  The  electoral  colleges  were  divided 
12.  anew  into  Colleges  of  Departments, 

and  Colleges  of  Arrondissements.  The  latter 
presented  the  candidates,  ainong  whom  the  col- 
leges of  departments  chose  the  half  of  tho  depu- 
ties. The  electors  were  permitted  to  vote  at 
twenty-one,  instead  of  twenty-five,  the  time 
fi.xed  by  the  charter.  The  deputies  were  de- 
eiared  eligible  at  twenty-five,  instead  of  thirty, 
the  former  age.  The  number  of  deputies  was 
increased  from  262  to  395 ;  and  all  members  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor  were  admitted,  on  that 
qualification  alone,  to  the  suffrage.  The  pay- 
ment of  direct  taxes  to  the  amount  of  300  francs 
(£12)  was  the  general  basis  of  the  qualification 
for  voting.  It  is  particularly  worthy  of  observa- 
tion, that  this  great  change  in  the  constitution 
of  the  country,  introducing  an  entire  new  class 
of  voters,  drawn  from  tho  army,  and  adding  no 
less  than  133  new  members  to  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  was  introduced  by  the  sole  authority 
of  the  king,  without  the  concurrence  of  any 
other  branch  of  the  legislature,  and  by  a  royal 
ordinance  alone.  But  being  for  the  most  part 
a  concession  in  favor  of  the  democratic  party, 
the  thing  passed  without  objection,  and  they 
1  Ordinance  silently  acquiesced  in  an  exercise  of 
July  12, 1815;  the  royal  power  which,  in  this  in- 
Moniteur,  stance  at  least,  was  in  their  favor. 
f^'n  li^'/r^W  The  chamber  was  convoked  for  the 

«yap.  111.  1  J,  10.  1      ri  1  J 

24th  heptember. ' 
By  this  ordinance  an  immense  deal  of  power 
jg  was  thrown  into  the  hands  of  the 

Disunion  be-  prefects  of  departments,  who  were, 
tween  the  especially  in  the  south,  almost  en- 
King  and  the  ^-  u.  ;„  ^^^^  j^ands  of  the  Royalist 
Duke  d'An-  •'  .  i     r  .i  ^ 

gouleme  and  committees,  composed  ot  the  most 
Count  d'Ar-     ardent    and    vehement    Royalists. 

Prefcc  ^°  '^^  ^^^  ^"^^  d'Angouleme  had,  in  the 
first  tumult,  and  amid  the  first  ne- 
cessities of  the  restoration,  received  from  the 
King  the  most  unlimited  power  for  tho  organiza- 
tion of  the  royal  authority  in  the  southern  prov- 
inces, which  he  had  traversed  in  their  full  ex- 
tent, and  where  he  had  rendered  the  most  im- 
portant services.  He  was  intrusted  in  them  all 
with  the  nomination  of  new  prefects  in  lieu  of 
those  placed  by  Napoleon,  subject  to  the  appro- 
bation, however,  of  the  king  in  council.  As  he 
was  entirely  ignorant  of  the  proper  persons  to 
be  neminated,  he  necessarily  followed  the  advice 
of  the  Royalist  committees  ;  and  they  proposed 
persons  so  violent  that  great  part  o":  his  nomina- 


tions were  not  confirmed  by  the  King.  As  sooa 
as  the  Duke  d'Angouleme  was  informed  of  this, 
ho  hastened  to  Paris  to  lay  his  complaints  before 
the  King  ;  but  he  was  without  difficulty  brought 
to  sec  that,  in  so  important  an  afi'air,  and  one  on 
which  tho  ensuing  elections  would  in  a  great 
measure  depend,  it  was  indispensable  that  the 
prefects  should  be  in  entire  harmony  with  the 
cabinet.  It  was  not  so  easy  a  matter,  however, 
to  deal  with  the  Count  d'Arlois,  and  the  Royalist 
Committees  in  the  north,  which  were  under  his 
direction;  and  such  was  the  resistance  experi- 
enced in  many  places  by  the  royal  prefects,  that 
Talleyrand  went  so  far  as  to  propose  in  the  cab- 
inet that  that  Prince  should  be  exiled  from  the 
kingdom.  This  strong  measure  was  not  gone 
into,  but  every  effort  was  made  to  strengthen 
the  interior  administration.  M.  de  Barante 
was  appointed  Secretary  to  the  Minister  of  the 
Interior,  and  M.  GtnzoT  Minister  of  Justice ; 
and  a  circular  equally  eloquent  and  judicious, 
soon  after  issued  by  the  Government  to  the  pre- 
fects, which  had  the  happiest  influence,  revealed 
the  pen  of  the  former  of  these  accomplished 
writers.^*  But  it  augured  ill  for  i  ordinance 
the  harmony  of  administration,  and  July  18, 1615 .; 
tho  future  fate  of  the  monarchy,  !}''"?"'{f'^''' 
when  schisms  so  serious  took  place  j,"  21  23.  ^^ 
so  early  in  the  royal  family.  At 
length  matters  came  to  such  a  pass  that,  after 
a  few  days'  deliberation,  an  ordinance  was  is- 
sued, withdrawing  the  powers  of  the  extraordi- 
nary commissioners,  and  restoring  the  whole 
power  in  the  kingdom  to  the  prefects  appointed 
by  the  King.t 

Ere  there  was  time  for  the  royal  authority  to 
obtain  the  benefit  of  these  judicious  ordinances, 
in  calming,  to  a  certain  degree,  the  passions 


*  "  Faites  sentir  aux  habitans  de  voire  departement, 
combien  le  coeur  du  Roi  souflre  surtout  de  ne  pouvoir 
empecher  les  desastres  que  la  guerre  entraine  a  sa  suite, 
mais  que  les  desastres  seraient  plus  grands  encore,  que 
notre  avenir  serait  pour  ainsi  dire  sans  esperances,  si  un 
gouvernement  honorable  et  toujours  esclave  de  sa  foi,  re 
donnait  a  I'Europe  une  garantie,  que  rien  ne  pourrait 
suppleer  ni  remplacer.  Nos  malheurs  sont  grands  au- 
jourd'hui,  mais  il  y  a  quatre  mois  que  tous  les  bons  Fran- 
fais  en  gemissaieiit  d'avance,  et  les  voyaient  venjr  a  la 
suite  du  destructeur  de  notre  patrie.  En  exposant  nos 
maux  je  viens  de  tracer  vos  devoirs,  c"est  en  ne  vous 
ecartant  jamais  de  la  ligne  constitutionelle  que  suit  le 
gouvernemcnt  du  roi,  en  vous  occupant  sans  relache  de 
tous  les  details  de  vos  fonctions,  en  portant  vos  soins  sur 
la  conduite  et  I'expedition  des  affaires,  en  rendant,  a  tous 
une  justice  exacte  et  bien  faisante  que  vous  pourriez 
apaiser  quelques  esprits  encore  exageres  ct  inquiets. 
L'appui  et  les  avantages  individuels  que  chaque  citoyen 
recevra  d"un  regime  de  liberte,  et  d'une  administration 
reguliere,  sont  le  meilleur  et  meme  le  seul  moyen  de  con- 
ciliation entre  tous  les  partis." — Circulcdre  aux  Pre/ets, 
(lit  Mimstre  de  I'Interieur,  17th  July,  1815 ;  Moniteur, 
18th  July. 

t  "Les  circonstances  extraordinaires  dans  lesquelles 
s'etait  trouvee  la  France  depuis  trois  mois,  et  Timpossi- 
bilite  de  la  faire  gouverner  par  les  magistrats  royalement 
institues,  avaient  oblige  de  deleguer,  soit  par  sa  Majeste 
elle  miime,  soit  par  ses  ministres,  des  pouvoirs  extraor- 
dinaires a  quelques  sujets  devoues  qui  tous  avaient  servi 
avec  zele  et  courage,  et  qui  presque  toujours  avaient  agi 
avec  succfcs  pour  faire  reconnaitre  I'autorite  legitime. 
Aujourd'hui  que  lo  Roi  avait  repris  les  renes  de  son 
gouvernement,  que  le  ministere  etait  organise  et  en  cor 
respondance  avec  les  administrateurs  nommes  par  sa 
Majeste  ;  les  fonctions  des  commissaires  extraordinaires 
devenaient  superflus  et  meme  nuisibles  a  la  marche  des 
affaires  en  detruisant  I'unite  d'action  qui  est  le  premier 
besoin  de  toute  administration  reguliere.  Le  Roi  vor.lait 
done  que  les  fonctions  des  commissaires  extraordinaires 
cessassent  sur  le  champ." — Ordonnance  de  18""  July, 
1615;  Moniteur,  iQ""'  July;  and  Capefigue's  Kist.  dt 
la  Reslauration  i  23,  24. 


IS15.J 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


57 


which  dibtracted  the  countiy,  a  new  subject  of 
difficulty  of  the  most  urgent  nature 
The  freedom  Presented  itself,  and  that  was  in 
nfthe  press  is  regard  to  the  press.  Talleyrand 
restored  in  all  and  Fouche  strongly  urged  on  the 
uals.'' July  To.  cabinet  the  necessity  of  some  great 
relaxations  in  this  respect,  as  bring- 
Iiig  the  administration  more  in  harmony  with 
pablic  opinion,  which  passionately  longed  for 
tine  eonsclation  to  be  derived  amid  all  their 
distresses  I'rom  the  liberty  of  complaining.  The 
liberty  of  the  press  had,  by  means  of  the  censor- 
ship, been  totally  extinguished  under  Napoleon; 
and  though  restored  at  the  first  restoration  in 
1814,  it  was  soon  found  to  be  so  dangerous  an 
arm  tiiat  it  was  deemed  indispensable  to  impose 
some  check  upon  it.  Accordingly,  the  law  of 
October  21,  1814,  subjected  all  pamphlets  or 
journals  of  less  than  twenty  leaves  to  the  cen- 
sorship. Now,  however,  when  public  opinion 
was  declaring  itself  so  strongly  in  favor  of  the 
restoration  and  against  the  Napoleonists,  it  was 
thought  that  the  journals  alone  were  to  be  con- 
sidered as  dangerous,  and  that  works  of  thought 
and  reflection  in  the  form  of  pamphlets,  however 
brief,  would  favor  the  government  rather  than 
the  reverse.  Louis  did  not  share  that  opinion, 
and  kept  the  ordinance  several  days  beside  him 
before  it  received  his  sanction;  but  at  length, 
1  Ordinance  ^"^  ^^^  pressing  solicitation  of  his 
fuly  15, 1815;  ministers,  he  aflixed  his  signature 
*Ioniteur,  to  the  ordinance,  removing  the 
U  25  26  ^^'  censorship  from  every  publication 
except  the  journals.^ 
A  still  more  hazardous  subject,  because  one 
j8.  more  immediately  affecting  the  pas- 

Reasons  sions,  required  next  to  be  consid- 

which render-  gj-^j  ^hi^h  was  the  selection  of  the 
edtlie  punish-    ,   ,'  ,        ,  ^      , 

ment    of   the  delinquents  who  were  to  be  eapi- 

leading  Napo-  tally  proceeded  against  or  banished 
leonists  noc-  (q^-  their  accession  to  the  rebellion 
essary.  ^j-   jg^r;_      Fouche    was    intrusted 

with  the  preparation  of  the  lists — ostensibly  as 
the  Minister  of  Police — really  as  the  person  in 
France  best  acquainted  with  the  threads  of  the 
conspiracy,  and  most  qualified,  by  his  familiarity 
with  traitors,  to  trace  them  out  and  mark  them 
out  for  public  justice  on  this  occasion.  Many 
circumstances  rendered  it  indispensable  to  select 
and  proceed  against  the  delinquents,  and  that 
without  delay.  The  universal  opinion  at  the 
Court,  and  among  the  Royalists,  was,  that  it  was 
a  deep-laid  conspiracy  which  had  brought  back 
Napoleon;  that  the  army,  under  the  guidance 
of  its  leading  ofiiccrs,  was  the  principal  agent 
in  it;  and  that,  if  the  chief  conspirators  were 
only  convicted  and  punished,  the  delusion  would 
be  almost  entirely  eradicated  in  the  country. 
The  great  majority  of  the  nation,  grievously 
wounded  in  their  feelings  by  the  presence,  and 
injured  in  their  purses  by  the  exactions  of  the 
Allies,  loudly  called  for  the  punishment  of  the 
authors  of  these  disasters ;  while  the  represent- 
atives of  the  allied  sovereigns  at  Paris,  in  a  voice 
less  loud,  but  still  more  elfeetive,  insisted  that 
a  great  example  was  necessary,  and  that  the 
leaders  of  a  revolution  which  had  involved  Eu- 
rope again  in  the  (lames  of  war,  compelled  a  mill- 
ion of  armed  men  to  enter  France,  and  cost  the 
allied  powers  at  least  £  1 00,000,000  sterling,  must 
be  brought  to  condign  justice.  Clemency  and 
generosity  had  been  tried  at  the  first  restoration, 


and  failed  ;  firmness  and  decision  were  the  quali- 
ties which  had  now  become  indispensable  Louis 
was  not  ignorant  with  what  perils  any  measures  of 
severity  against  the  marshals  or  generals  of  the 
army  would  be  attended;  but  the  cir-  j^  •■■  og 
cumstances  left  him  no  alternative,  27;  Lac. i. 330, 
and  orders  were  given  to  Fouche  to  Lam.  v.  226 
prepare  the  lists  of  proscriptions.^     ~~'- 

The  veteran  traitor  drew  up  two  lists,  em- 
bracing a  great  proportion  of  the  jg 
survivors  of  those  who  had  been  Lists  of  per 
linked  with  himself  in  his  innumer-  sons  to  be  ac,. 
able  treacheries  and  treasons  during  cused  prepar- 
,  •  1  ,  ,  ,  =>  ed  by  Fouclie, 
his  long  Career ;  and  he  put  the  ^lwA  sanction- 
crowning  act  to  the  whole  by  eoun-  ed  by  a  royal 
tersigniiig  the  ordinance  which  ordinance. Ju- 
marked  them  out  for  punishment.  ^  ' 
As  originally  prepared  by  him,  the  lists  were 
much  larger  than  was  finally  agreed  to.  The 
number  of  those  ordered  to  leave  Paris  within 
twenty-four  hours,  which  at  first  contained  sixty 
names,  including  two  ladies,*  was  reduced,  by 
the  humanity  of  Louis,  or  the  intercession  of  his 
ministers,  to  thirty-eight;  and  nineteen  were  or- 
dered to  be  arrested  and  delivered  to  the  proper 
military  tribunals  for  immediate  trial.  The  num- 
ber, considering  the  magnitude  of  the  conspiracy, 
and  the  terrible  results  which  had  flowed  from 
it,  was  not  great ;  but  it  had  a  melancholy  in- 
terest from  the  celebrity  of  many  of  the  names, 
immortal  in  history,  which  were  contained  in  it, 
and  the  great  and  glorious  deeds  in  French  an., 
nals  with  which  they  had  been  connected.  The 
names  were — '-Marshal  Ney,  Labedoyere,  the 
two  brothers  Lallemand,  Drouet,  D'Erlon,  Le- 
febvre  Desnouettes,  Ameile,  Brayer,  Gilly,  Mou- 
ton,  Diivernet,  Grouchy,  Clausel,  Dcville,  Ber- 
trand,  Drouot,  Cambronne,  Lavalette,  Rovigo." 
To  all  who  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
the  revolutionary  wars,  many  of  these  names  arc 

as  household  words.*     The  second  „  ^  ,. 

r  t  .    •    •        .1  r  ^1  ^  Ordinance, 

list  containing  the  names  oi  those  juiy  o.j  jgis- 

who  were  to  bo  banished  forty  Monitcur.Juiy 
leagues,  was  more  numerous,  and  2";  '--''!'■  "f- 
contained  names  not  less  illustrious;  sHy^-j;^!^^'^' ' 
but  it  has  not  the  absorbing  interest 
of  the  former,  from  none  of  the  persons  contained 
in  it  having  met  with  the  same  tragic  fate.t 

Before  any  person  could  be  brought  to  trial 
under  this  ordinance,  two  other  or- 
dinances appeared,  regarding  the  ordinances 
Chamberof  the  Peers.  By  the  first  regarding  tie 
of  these,  issued  on  the  same  day  as  Chamber  of 
the  fatal  lists  prepared  by  Fouche,  J^^j:^^ 
It  was  declared  that  all  those  ol  the  reditary.  July 
former  Chamber  of  Peers  sitting  21,  and  Aug. 
under  the  monarchy,  who  had  ac-  '">  "'"^  -"^"S' 
ecpted  seats  in  the  one  convoked  by 


*  Mcsdames  Ilamelen  and  Dc  Sonza. 

t  "  Les  individus  dont  le.s  noms  stiivent— Lavois,  Mnr('>- 
chal  Soult,  Alex.  E.xcelni.'ins,  liassaiio,  Marbot,  Foli.x 
Leiielletier,  Houlay  de  la  Mcurthe,  M()liiil,Tous.saint,  Gen 
Lairianinc,  l.ohati,  Hard,  Pierre  liurrere,  Arnault,  Pome- 
reiil,  UeKMaull  de  SI.  Aiigely,  Arriplii  de  Padoua,  Dessau 
(Ills),  (Jarraw,  Real,  Douvier,  Derm.slard,  Merlin  de  Douai. 
IhirlKich,  Uirat,  IJcferniont,  Uory  St.  Vincent,  Felix 
Desi>ortes,  Gamier  do  Saintes,  Mellinet,  Ilullin,  VAuys, 
(;ourtin,  Forbin,  Jancon  (Ills  aine),  Lctortjue,  Dideville 
— sortiront  dans  troi.s  jours  do  la  villc  do  Paris,  ct  so 
rctirront  dans  I'intcrieur  de  la  France,  dans  le  lieu  que 
notrc  Mini.strc  de  la  Police-G6n^rale  leur  d^signera,  et  on 
ils  resteront  sous  sa  surveillance,  en  attendant  <iue  k.s 
Chambres  statuent  sur  ceux  d'enlre  eux  qui  devroiit  ou 
sortir  du  royaumc  ou  etrn  livres  a  la  poursuite  des  irj 
hunau\:'--Vrdonna>ice,  21th  July,  1815  ;  Monitcur,  25 


»8 


1!  IS  TOU  Y    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.  Ill 


Kapoloon  ilurinp  the  Hiimlrcil  Pays,  shmild  be 
bel  I  to  have,  ipso  /tuto,  vaculoil  iliiir  t^i-nls  in 
•.lie  fninu'r  iissemliiy,  ami  lie  now  orasocl  fiom 
tl:e  list  of  its  monibors.  ]5y  anollier  oriiiiianec, 
(latoil  17tli  August,  no  less  than  oiiilily-twomcni- 
Iteis  woio  addod  to  tlio  pci'ia<,'e.  This  large 
addition  was  anxiously  oonsidficd  lK>th  by  the 
king  ar.l  his  cabinet;  and  many  names,  afier 
being  .rtscited,  were  erased,  and  again  inserted. 
'J'he  list,  as  linally  arranged,  contained  many 
illustrious  names,  then  lor  the  lirst  time  elevated, 
or  restored  to  that  dignity,  and  exhibited  a  curi- 
ous proof  of  the  various  and  contending  interests 
which  had  been  at  work  in  its  formation.  The 
king  invested  with  the  peerage  INI.  do  Blacas, 
the  Count  de  la  Chatres,  the  Dukes  d'Enars, 
d'Avaray,  and  dAumont,  the  Count  d'Artois, 
Viscount  Chateaubriand,  Count  Wathieu  dc 
Jlontmorcncv,  Jules  de  Polignac,  and  the  !Mar- 
quis  de  Riviere,  the  Duke  d'Angoulemc,  General 
^lonnier,  Admiral  Gantheaume,  the  Duke  de 
Berri,  the  Count  de  la  Guiehe,  and  the  Count 
■  Ordinance,  *^^  '^  Ferronnays,  U.  de  Talley- 
Aug.  17, 1615;  rand,  the  Abbe  de  iMontesquieu, 
Moniteur,         the  Marquis  d'Ormond,  the  Duke 

Aug.  18;  Cap.  j-Alberg,  and  several  others.^  To 
111  'l  1   4 

'  "         these  were  afterward  added  the  sons 

of  the  Duke  of  Montebello,  of  ^larshal  Berthier, 
and  JNlarshal  Bessieres. 

A  still  more  momentous  change  took  place  by 
2]  an  ordinance  which  appeared  a  few 

The  peerage  days  after,  on  August  19,  making 
is  declared  he-  the  seat  in  the  Peers  hercditarv, 
CT^stTa!'  ^""  '^^■liich  was  the  subject  of  long  and 
anxious  discussions  during  four  days 
in  the  cabinet.  Louis  argued  strongly  that,  in 
agreeing  lo  ibis  change,  he  was  stripping  the 
crown  of  one  of  its  most  important  prerogatives, 
and  of  nearly  all  its  influence  in  the  Chamber 
of  Peers.  "  With  the  cessation  of  ambition," 
said  he,  "my  influence  over  the  peerage  is  at 
an  end.  When  it  becomes  a  family  inheritance, 
I  have  no  power  over  it :  I  can  no  longer  put  a 
ring  on  the  finger  of  one  of  my  own  household." 
Talleyrand  insisted  vehemently  for  the  heredi- 
tary succession:  "We  must  have,"  said  he, 
"stability:  ivc  must  build  for  a  long  foiturc.'' 
At  length  it  was  carried  for  the  hereditary  right ; 
and  the  preamble  of  the  ordinance  bore — "  The 
king  being  desirous  to  give  to  his  peoole  a  new 
pledge  of  his  anxiety  to  establisti  in  the  most 
stable  manner  the  institutions  on  which  the  gov- 
ernment reposes,  and  being  convinced  that  no- 
thing insures  more  the  repose  of  states  than  that 
inheritance  of  feeling  which  is  created  in  fami- 
lies, by  being  called  to  the  exercise  of  important 
functions,  which  creates  an  uninterrupted  suc- 
cession of  persons  in  high  stations,  whose  fidelity 
to  their  prince  and  devotion  to  their  country  are 
guaranteed  by  the  principles  and  examples  they 
have  received  from  their  fathers."  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  these  observations  are  well 
founded,  but  unfortunately  something  more  is 
required  to  render  a  hereditary  House  of  Peers 
either  useful  or  influential — cither  a  rampart  to 
the  crown,  or  a  barrier  against  its  encroach- 
ments— and  that  is,  a  corresponding  succession 
of  fortune  to  support  the  dignity,  which  can  only 
be  secured  by  territorial  aristocracy,  and  the 
right  of  primogeniture.  Both  were  swept  away 
in  the  very  commencement  of  the  Revolution, 
an!  with  them  the  possibility  of  reconstructing 


society  in  France  on  ine  basis  of  European  free, 
dom,  in  whicli  a  powerfid  hereditary  aristocracy 
is  nn  essential  clement.  \Viihout  it  there  re- 
mains to  society  only  the  chuice  of 
Oriental  despotism,  or  American  L'^'*''a 'l'  ^^' 
equnlity;  the  tyranny  ol  jiachas  and  ance,  Auwust 
agas,  or  prefects  in  the  Old  World,  1'-',  I'blS;  llo- 
or  the  im[)erious  commands  of  a  2],"'"'^'  '^"° 
numerical  majoi  ity  in  the  New.* 

In  the  midst  of  these  important  discussions,  the 
allied  sovereigns  returned  to  Paris.  go 

The  importance  of  the  negotiations  Arrivarof  the 
of  which  it  had  become  the  theatre  Allied  Sover- 

rendered  their  presence  indispens-  ^'^"'o'''  ^'■,"^'^ 
II         T>   •  .1    •        ,  IT    July  8  and  11 

able,  isut  their  entry  was  very  dif- 
ferent from  what  it  had  been  the  year  before  : 
the  melodramatic  display  of  generosity  was  at 
an  end,  the  reality  of  vengeance  was  to  com- 
mence. They  came  without  external  pomp  or 
parade,  and  after  their  arrival  were  entirely  oc- 
cupied with  the  important  negotiations  which 
were  going  forward.  If  they  appeared  at  all,  it 
was  attended  by  a  single  footman,  and  driving 
in  a  traveling  caleche  with  a  pair  of  horses. 
They  had  no  need  of  the  pomp  of  royalty  in  the 
metropolis;  their  attendants  were  sulhciently 
numerous  through  the  country.  They  extended 
from  the  British  Channel  to  the  Pyrenees.  Never 
had  such  an  inundation  of  armed  men  poured 
over  a  single  country.  Eight  hundred  thousand 
warriors  in  the  highest  state  of  discipline  and 
equipment  had  already  entered,  and  the  stream 
still  continued  to  flow  on  without  any  visible 
abatement.  The  eastern  provinces  could  no 
longer  contain  the  armed  multitude  ;  already 
they  extended  over  the  central  parts  of  the 
country,  and  were  even  approaching  those  which 
were  washed  by  the  Atlantic  waves.  A  certain 
district  behind  the  Loire,  occupied  by  the  troops 
which  had  retired  from  Paris,'  and  a  can.  iii.  44 
the  wreck  of  the  army  which  had  45;  Laiix  v. 
fought  at  Waterloo,  alone  .'•emained  ^^'^'  l^''- 
in  the  hands  of  the  French,  surrounded  by  the 
innumerable  multitude  of  their  enemies;  but 
even  this  last  relic  of  nationality  was  ere  long 
swept  awa)'. 

The  army  which  had  retired  under  the  com 
mandof  3Jarshal  Davoust  behind  the  -22, 

Loire  was  still  45,000  strong,  with  Army  of  the 
120  guns ;  and  as  it  was  for  the  Lo'^e. 
most  part  composed  of  the  corps  of  Marshal 
Grouchy,  which  had,  comparatively  speaking, 
suffered  little  during  the  brie/'  campaign  iu  the 
Netherlands,  it  presented  a  very  imposing  ap- 
pearance. The  peasants  in  the  departments  in 
which  it  was  cantoned,  seeing  those  dense  bat- 
talions, splendid  regiments  of  cavalry,  and  long 
trains  of  artillery  and  caissons,  still  in  the  finest 
possible  order,  could  not  be  persuaded  that  the 
army  had  suffered  any  serious  reverse,  and  loudly 
demanded  to  be  incorporated  in  its  ranks,  and 
led  against  the  enemy.  The  soldiers,  and  nearly 
all  the  colonels  and  inferior  officers,  shared  the 
same  sentiments:  Insomuch  that  it  was  with  no 
small  difficulty  that  they  were  restrained  within 
the  bounds  of  discipline,  and  prevented  from 
breaking  into  open  revolt.  The  chiefs  of  la  Ven- 
dee had  entered  into  correspondence  with  them, 
and  offered  to  array  the  whole  strength  of  the 
western  provinces  round  the  sacred  standard  of 
national  independence.  But  noble  as  these  sen- 
timents were,  and  honorable  to  the  men  who  in 


iSlS.l 


HISTORY    OF    EUROl'E. 


50 


this  extremity  forgot  tlicir  former  feuds  in  the 
common  desire  to  save  their  country,  they  were 
far  from  being  shared  by  the  superior  olficers, 
and  generals  of  the  army,  ]\Iarshal  Davoust, 
General  Haxo,  General  Gerard,  and  Kellerman, 
'I'lio  we-e  at  its  head.  Without  undervaluing 
(heir  own  resources,  they  were  more  aware  of 
the  strength  of  the  enemy  opposed  to  them.  It 
was  in  vain  to  expect  that  45,000  or  50,000  men 
could  maintain  a  contest  with  400,000  or  500,- 
1  Lam.  T.  182  000,  who  could  be  brought  to  bear 
183  ;  Cap.  iii.  upon  them.'  Davoust  accordingly 
49>  50-  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  soldiers 

on  the  14th  of  July,  in  which  he  called  on  the 
troops  to  unite  themselves  to  the  king  ;  and,  how- 
ever unpalatable  to  them  the  stern  realities  of 
their  situation,  it  carried  conviction  to  every 
breast.* 

So  general  was  the  feeling  of  the  absolute  ne- 
24.  cessity  of  these  sentiments,  that  on 

Its  submis-  the  day  following  Davoust  was  en- 
Bion.  July  15.  abled  to  present  to  the  king  the  un- 
qualified  submission  of  the  troops.  '•  Sire!"  said 
he,  "the  army,  full  of  confidence  in  your  gener- 
osity, and  determined  to  prevent,  by  uniting  itself 
to  you,  civil  war,  and  to  bring  back,  by  their  ex- 
ample, such  as  may  be  estranged  from  you,  flat- 
ters itself  that  you  will  receive  its  submission 
with  kindness,  and  that,  throwing  a  vail  over 
the  past,  you  will  not  close  your  heart  to  any  of 
your  children."  On  the  day  following,  Davoust 
ventured  on  the  still  more  decisive  and  perilous 
step  of  causing  them  to  hoist  the  white  flag. 
"  Soldiers  !"  said  he,  "  it  remains  for  you  to  com- 
plete the  act  of  submission  you  have  just  made, 
by  a  painful  but  necessary  sacrifice.  Hoist  the 
white  flag !  I  know  that  I  demand  of  you  a 
great  sacrifice;  during  twenty-five  years  we 
have  gloried  in  the  colors  which  we  bear. 
But,  great  as  it  is,  the  good  of  our  country 
demands  that  sacrifice.  I  am  incapable,  sol- 
I  Moniteur,  dicrs,  of  giving  you  an  order  which 
July  17,  lbl5;  is  contrary  to  your  honor;  preserve 
ham.  V.  163,     foj-  your  country  a  brave   and  nu- 

184.  ■'  ;;i 

merous  arm}'.  ^ 
But  although  the  army  of  the  Loire  had  thus 
25  hoisted  the  white  flag,  and  submit- 

Disbanding  of  ted   to  the  royal  authority,   it   still 
the  army  of  the  formed  a  formidable  body,  and  its 
^''^®'  dissolution  was  justly  deemed  by  the 

allied  sovereigns  an  indispensable  condition  of  a 
general  peace.  The  Emperor  Alexander  in  par- 
ticular, was  in  an  especial  manner  urgent  upon 
that  point,  and  through  his  minister,  Ncssclrode, 
demanded,  in  peremptory  terms,  its  immediate 
disbanding.  Several  secret  notes  had  been  pre- 
sented to  that  sovereign,  which  p.iinted  in  strong 
but  not  exaggerated  colors  the  danger  of  allow- 

*  "Lea  commissairc.s  donncnt  rassuraricc  qu'unc  reac- 
tion nc  8era  pas  i  craindre,  que  Ics  passions  weront  dom- 
ineer, les  hommes  respectfis,  les  jirinciijes  Hauv(5s  ;  qu'il 
n'y  aura  point  de  destitutions  urbitraires  dans  I'ami6e, 
que  son  honncur  sera  a  eouvcrt.  On  en  a  pour  gage  la 
nomination  du  ManJclKi!  St.  (Jyrau  ministere  de  la  guerre, 
celle  de  Fouchii  au  iniiiislcre  de  la  police.  C'es  conditions 
sont  acceptables.  L'iiilt  ret  national  doit  reunir  (ranclie- 
ment  I'armde  au  roi.  Cot  int6rc:t  exige  quelques  sacri- 
fices ;  faisons  les  avec  uiie  Anergic  modeste.  I/armee, 
I'armee  unie  devicndra  au  besoin  le  centre  de  rallie- 
ment  des  Franpais  ct  des  Royalistcs  eux-nieiiies  I  Unis- 
tions-iious,  serrons-nou.s,  nc  nous  separoiis  jamais.  1 
*()yons  Franijais  1  Ce  Cut  toujours,  voun  le  save/,,  le  sen- 
iir'ient  qui  doniina  rnon  arv  U  ne  me  qiiiltera  <|u'avcR 
lion  dernier  soup. r." — Pro'.inmation  ilii  Mnrcrhut  DuvousI, 
•4  July,  1615  ;  Sloniteur,  15  July,  lbl5. 


ing  apowerfid  body  of  turbulent  men,  trained  by 
twenty  years  of  war  and  license,  to  remain  as  :t 
nucleus  for  the  disaffected  in  the  heart  of  the 
country.*  No  sooner  was  the  formal  demand 
for  the  dissolution  of  the  army  of  the  Loire  pre- 
sented by  the  allied  sovereigns  to  the  French 
Government,  than  they  took  the  most  effective 
means  to  enforce  compliance  with  the  requisi- 
tion. 225,000  men  rapidly  defiled  toward  the 
Loire,  and  took  up  positions  around  it  in  every 
direction,  which  rendered  resistance  or  escape 
alike  impossible.  The  king  made  no  opposition 
to  the  demand,  too  happy  to  have  the  powerful 
armies  of  the  Allies  to  enforce  a  measure,  indis- 
pensable alike  for  the  stability  of  his  throne  and 
the  peace  of  his  kingdom.  No  new  ordinance 
was  promulgated  ;  the  ordinance  of  23d  March, 
1S15,  which  proclaimed  the  disbanding  of  the 
army  on  Napoleon's  return,  was  only  oHicially 
published,    and    ordered    to  be   acted  upon    by 

the  authorities.     Thus  France  was  ,  ,,     .^ 

,   ,,  ^-r      .■  1-         •  '  Moniteur, 

spared  the  mortification  ot   seeing  jaiy24, 1615; 

her  army  disbanded  by  an  ordinance  Cap.  iii.  45, 

emanatinii  directlv  from  the  Allied  47  ;  Lam.  v. 

.1  ■"         1      ■  19'^   103 

head-quarters.'  *-,.-• 

Marshal   Gouvion  St.  Cyr,  as  war  minister 
was  intrusted  with  the  regulations 
for  the  reorganization  of  the  army.  Rcor^aniza- 
The  great  object  in  vicvi',  in  that  tionoi'tlie 
measure,  was  to  extirpate  the  esprit  irmy  into  de 
de  corps  which  attached  so  strongly  f,!^™''''' 
to  particular   regiments   from    the 
memory  of  glorious  deeds,  and  substitute  in  its 
room  the  attachments  and  associations  connected 
with  the  provinces.     For  this  purpose  the  whole 
army  was  not  only  disbanded,  but  entirely  broken 
up,  the  officers  and   men  detached   from  each 
other,  and  rearranged  in  new  battalions  formed 
after   a    totally  diil'erent    manner.     Eighty-six 
departmental  legions,  of  three  battalions  each, 
vi'cre  formed,  and  fifty-two  of  cavalry  and  artil- 
lery.    Every  soldier,  conscript  or  recruit,  was 
enrolled  in  the  legion  of  the  department  where 
ho  had  been  born  ;  and  the  old  soldiers  of  the 
Empire  were  so  scattered  through  the  diflbrent 
legions  that  not  only  was  their  spirit  broken,  but 
their  numbers  rapidly  declined,  and  their  ascend- 
ency was  at  an  end.     This  plan,  the  execution 
of  which  was  intrusted  to  the  experienced  hand 
of  ]\Iarshal   JMacdonald,  was  admirably  calcu- 
latctl  to  cxtinguisli  the  military  esprit  tie  corjia 
in    the   army,    which    had    proved   so    latal    to 
Franco  and  to  Europe  ;  but  it  was  likely  to  in- 
duce hazards  of  a  dillerent  kind  if  serious  inter- 
nal troubles  arose  again,  and  the  ardent  Royalist 
legions  of  la  Vendee  and  Provence  i  ^^^   y^■^   ^g 
came    to   bo   arraycil    against    the  51 ;  Lam.  v. 
sturdy  republicans  of  Eurgundy  or  '■'•';  Lac.  i. 
Alsacc.i ^^^'  ^•^•^- 

*  "  Vingt  ann^es  de  guerre  et  do  licence  ont  fonn6  c5 
France  une  population  mililaire  qui  so  refuse  d  touto  or- 
dre  ct  a  loule  souiiiisslon.  L'armco  voulait  la  chance  dea 
hazards,  les  dotations,  ellcs  avanccmcnts  dans  les  grades. 
Ello  ne  les  voyait  que  dans  le  rappel  de  son  chef,  ct  olio 
y  6tait  decidee  avec  rage.  L'armee  Franf  aisc  rappolle  a 
la  fois  les  souvenirs  do.s  Mamcluks  en  Egypte,  de  la  Ganlo 
I'rutorienne  a  Home,  des  Arabes  fanatiques  sous  Ma- 
homet. I'oui  servir  a  l'epo<iue  do  la  paix,  cette  armeo 
doit  ctre  docoinposi'e,  moralisoe,  si  on  no  parvient  pas 
a  en  dutruire  les  trois  ijuarts.  II  faut  done  ratta(|uer  sans 
perdro  de  temps.  II  n'y  a  pas  a  liesiter  ;  il  faut  que  cclte 
arniec  soit  attacquee  detruito,  les  jiriMonniers  conduila 
en  llussie  doivcnt  y  rester  nK»or.  1(  iigti  mps  pour  s'amcn- 
rier  commo  les  dcporte.s  a  Botany  Bay."— Cai'EFKU  e,  i. 
43,  4fj 


HISTORY   OF    EUROPE. 


[Cha7.  m 


Another  niortificanon,  not  so  n:icat  in  reality, 
07  Iml  more  {;ailing,  because  more  vis-  { 

Prrikmi:  up  iblo  to  the  senses,  awaited  tlio  Pa- 
>"■  ""^^  Muso-  risians  in  the  breaUin^  up  of  the  j 
"'"  preat  museum,  anil  tlie  restoration  < 

of  f'nose  clonous  works  o(  art  wwh  had  been , 
carried  otV  by  the  French  from  all  the  countries  j 
which  they  had  conquered.  This  important 
event,  which  has  been  already  noticed  as  closing  ] 
'  Hist.  01  Eu-  tl'<?  i^reat  drama  of  the  French  Rev- 
rouo,  f.  \cv.  oliition,'  requires  to  be  ajiain  mcn- 
?v  18, 23.  tioncd  in  this  place,  as  commencing 

the  new  drama  which  was  to  succeed  it;  for 
such  is  the  ceaseless  succession  of  human  events, 
and  the  connection  between  the  chains  which ' 
unite  them,  that  what  appears  to  terminate  with 
poetic  justice  one  epoch,  is  found  to  have  been 
only  the  commencement  of  a  new  one.  Among 
the'manv  difficulties  which  beset  the  government 
of  the  Bourbons  during  the  first  years  of  the 
Restoration,  not  the  least  arose  from  the  ulcer- 
ated feelings  which  this  great  act  of  retributive 
justice  awakened  in  the  breasts  of  the  French 
people.  They  were  incapable  of  appreciating 
the  dignified  self-restraint  v.hich  led  the  Allies, 
v.hen  "they  had  the  power,  to  abstain  from  fol- 
lowing their  bad  example,  and  to  confine  the 
abstraction  to  the  restitution  of  the  works  of  art 
which  they  had  reft  from  the  European  states. 
They  saw  only  in  the  breaking  up  of  the  museum 
a  convincing  proof  of  the  reality  of  their  subju- 
iration,  and  themselves  experienced  the  anguish 
which  they  had  so  often  inflicted  on  others.  No 
one  could  deny  the  justice  of  their  doom — 
"  Ncque  enim  lex  aequior  uUa, 
Quam  necis  artifices  arte  perire  sua." 

But  no  one  need  be  told  that,  however  much  the 
justice  of  this  rule  may  satisfy  the  feelings  of 
others,  it  is  any  thing  but  a  consolation  to  the 
sufferers  under  it ;  and  that,  of  all  the  aggrava- 
tions of  the  pains  of  punishment,  there  is,  per- 
1  L^g  J  3351  haps,  none  so  great  as  the  secret 
339 ;  Lam.  v.  consciousness  of  having  ourselves 
1S5, 186.  induced  it.^ 

The  state  of  the  finances  of  the  kingdom  was 
2g  so  desperate  that  nothing  could  well 

t>espera'te  exceed  it ;  and  if  some  breathing 
6tate  of  the  time  had  not  been  given  by  the  Al- 
fiiiances.  jj^^  j^^  ^jj^jp  requisitions,  utter  ruin 

must  have  overtaken  the  French  nation.  Baron 
Louis,  the  new  finance  minister,  had  entered 
upon  the  duties  of  his  office  on  the  evening  of 
the  10th  of  July.  He  found  the  coffers  empty, 
credit  ruined,  the  revenue  forestalled  by  the  re- 
quisitions in  the  provinces,  or  dried  up  by  the 
impossibility  of  collecting  any  taxes.  In  the 
general  despair,  every  one  looked  only  to  his 
own  security ;  and  the  most  obvious  and  effica- 
cious way  of  doing  that  appeared  to  be  for  every 
f^rson  to  hold  fast  by  his  own  property,  and 
cease  altogether  the  payment  of  any  demand  by 
another.  Revenue  there  was  none  ;  for  the  bay- 
onets of  the  Allies,  who  had  overspread  three- 
fourths  of  the  territory  of  France,  forced  payment 
of  their  scourging  retjuisitions  without  leaving  a 
sous  to  meet  any  other  demand.  Several  meas- 
ures to  raise  a  supply  for  the  immediate  neces- 
sities of  the  state  were  adopted,  as  the  sale  of 
woods,  and  certain  properties  belonging  to  mu- 
nicipalities, which  the  Crown  had  a  right  to 
dispose  of.  But  this  was  a  trifling  and  tempor- 
ary relief  only;  the  material  thing  wn    to  get 


some  modification  in  the  grinding  requisition^ 
of  the  Allies,  which  rendered  all  collection  of 
the  revenue  for  the  internal  necessities  of  the 
kingilom  hopeless.  The  capitalists,  who  had 
great  confulcnce  in  the  good  fai.il  of  the  Gov- 
ernment  and  credit  of  the  country,  made  this  an 
absolute  condition  of  any  advances  on  their  part 
to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  state;  and  at  length, 
on  the  urgent  representations  of  Baron  Louis, 
an  arrangement  was  concluded  which  in  some 
degree  alleviated  the  distress  of  the  treasury.  It 
was  agreed  that,  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of 
100,060,000  francs  (£-1,000,000  sterling),  instant- 
ly paid  down,  the  requisitions  should  cease  for 
two  months.  This  sum  was  raised  by  forced 
loans  laid  on  the  chief  towns,  in  payment  of 
which  the  Government  agreed  to  take  bills  pay- 
able at  distant  dales,  which  the  treasury  dis- 
counted on  reasonable  terms.  The  measure  was 
violent,  but  the  public  necessities  left  no  altern- 
ative ;  *  and  to  the  credit  of  the  French  capital- 
ists it  must  be  added  that  they  came  liberally 
forward,  and  aided  the  municipalities  powerfully 
in  providing  for  the  sums  assessed  upon  them. 
So  successful  were  their  efTorts,  that  the  crisis 
was  surmounted  better  than  could  have  been  ex- 
pected. The  deficit  for  the  year  was  onlv  r)5,- 
000,000  francs  (£2,200,000),  the  in-  1  cap.  Hi.  51, 
come  being  876.318.232  francs,  52;Stat.dela 
(£3.5.000,000),  and  the  expenditl  France,  Art. 
ure  931.441,404  francs,  or  £37,-  f^""^.  PP- 
200,000.1 

Notwithstanding  this  convention,   which  af- 
forded great  relief  when  it  was  once  29. 
fully  acted  upon,  and  the  regular  Settlements 
payments  begun,  the  exactions  of  o^  <lie .  Allied 
I    J         _           t?      3             _             ^             troops  in 
the  Allies  continued  without  inter-  France  and 
mission  ;    and    on    all    sides   fresh  their  e.\ac- 
bodies  of  armed  men  were  continu-  tions. 
ally  pouring  into  the  devoted  country.     Thero 
seemed  no  end  to  the  crusade :  large  as  Franca 
is,  it  seemed  almost  incapable  of  containing  the 
prodigious  multitude  which  poured  into  its  tei- 
ritory.    The  Allies  divided  its  provinces  between 
them,  and  the  districts  they  severally  occupied 
were  deemed  ominous  of  an  approaching  parti- 
tion of  their  country.     The  English,  Hanover- 
ians, and  Belgians,  80,000  strong,  were  quartered 
in  the  provinces  between  Paris  and  the  Flemish 
frontier.     The  Prussians  were  encamped  in  a 
mass  round  Paris,  and  stretched  from  thence  to 


*  The  following  table  exhibits  the  income  and  expend- 
iture of  France  for  tlie  last  years  of  the  war,  and  first  of 
the  Restoration : 

RECEIPTS. 
Francs. 

1812 1,070,000,000  or  £42,800,000 

18)3 1,150,000,000   "  46,000,000 

1814 637,432,000"  25,500,000 

1815 876,318,232"  35,000,000 

1816 1,036,804,534  "  41,400,000 

EXPENDITURE. 
Francs. 

1812        1,076,014,000  or  £43,nn0.000 

1N13 1,171,418,000  "   .ir,-   li,. 

1614 709,394,626  "   i'  . 

1S15 931,441,404  "  :r. .:.     .      > 

1816 1,055,854,028   "      i2,zju,^<j{) 

—Staiistique  de  la  France— Finance,  p.  12. 

During  the  reign  of  Napoleon,  nearly  half  the  expend 
iture  of  France  was  levied  on  foreign  states,  and  did  iim 
appear  in  the  finance  accounts  at  all.  From  1814  down 
ward  it  was  reduced  to  its  own  resources.  The  great  ex- 
penditure of  1816  was  owing  to  the  war-contributions  r* 
the  Allies. 


L8lb.\ 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


a: 


the  Loire  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean  :  their  inso- 
lence and  overbeaiing  manner,  as  well  as  exac- 
tions, the  requital  of  six  years  of  French  bondage, 
excited  universal  indignation.  The  Austrians, 
Bavarians,  and  Wirtemburgers,  were  scattered 
over  Burgundy,  the  Nivernois,  the  neighborhood 
of  Lyons,°and  Dauphine.  The  Piedmontese  and 
Austrians  from  Italy  occupied  Provence  and 
Languedoc  ;  the  numerous  corps  of  the  Russians 
overspread  the  plains  of  Lorraine  and  Cham- 
pagne ;  the  Saxon  and  Baden  troops,  Alsace ; 
the  Hungarians  were  spread  out  along  the  shores 
of  the  iMediterranean.  "  Pour  comble  de  mal- 
heur,"  as  the  French  historians  say,  40,000  Span- 
iards crossed  the  Pyrenees,  and  inundated  Rous- 
sillon  and  the  roots  of  the  Pyrenees,  not  to  engage 
in  tlie  conflict,  for  it  was  entirely  over,  but  to 
share  in  the  expected  booty.  The  Duke  d'An- 
goulcme,  by  hastening  to  the  spot,  and  by  great 
personal  exertions,  succeeded  in  persuading  this 
uncalled-for  and  unruly  body  of  invaders  to  re- 
tire. Never  before — not  even  in  the  days  of 
universal  mourning,  when  the  northern  nations 
overthrew  the  Roman  Empire,  and,  advancing 
like  a  resistless  torrent,  drove  the  whole  native 
population  before  them — had  such  an  inundation 
of  armed  men  overwhelmed  a  country ;  and  never 
had  a  people  been  so  thoroughly  subjugated,  for 
already  800,000  foreign  soldiers  occupied  their 
1  Cap  iii  157^  territory,  and  their  native  army  was 
168;  Lam.  v!  disbanded.  The  moderation  of  the 
189, 190;  Lac.  conquerors  was  their  last  remain- 

This  dreadful  accumulation  of  evils  produced 

30.  its   usual  result   in  ulcerating  the 

Reaction  in     minds  of  men.     In  the  south,  cspe- 

t^he  south.        cially  the  effect  appeared  with  ex- 

""®     ■  traordinary  vehemence,  for  not  only 

were  the  inhabitants  of  its  provinces  all  of  a 
warm  and  ardent  temperament,  but  the  party 
feuds  of  centuries'  duration  between  the  Roman 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  and  subsequently  be- 
tween the  Royalists  and  Republicans,  had  in- 
spired them  with  the  most  violent  hatred  against 
each  other.  Disorders  there  were  already  seen 
to  be  inevitable  during  the  month  of  June,  when 
the  Imperial  armies  were  collected  on  the  fron- 
tier, and  few  armed  men  remained  in  the  prov- 
inces to  suppress  the  general  elTervescencc, 
when,  on  the  2')lh  of  that  month,  the  news  of 
the  battle  of  Waterloo  arrived,  and  the  tele- 
graph brought  to  General  Verdier,  the  com- 
mander of  the  district,  at  the  same  time  the  in- 
telligence of  the  abdication  of  Napoleon.  The 
news  arrived  at  INIarseiilcs  on  Sunday  at  noon- 
day, when  the  people  were  just  leaving  church, 
and  instantly  spread  like  wildfire  through  the 
city  and  the  adjoining  districts.  Being  all  ar- 
dent Royalists,  the  intelligence  excited  them  to 
the  very  highest  degree.  The  transports  were 
universal — the  enthusiasm  unbounded.  Gen- 
eral Verdier  had  a  regiment  of  infantry,  a  bat- 
tery of  artillery,  and  several  squadrons  of  horse, 
at  his  command,  and  with  military  instinct  they 
arranged  themselves  round  their  crmimandcr  on 
the  commencement  of  the  crisis ;  and  the  firm 
countenance  of  the  troops,  who  shouted  inces- 
santly "  Vive  I'Empcrcur,"  for  a  time  restrained 
the  ardor  of  the  people,  among  wjiom  llie  cry 
of  '•  Vive  ie  Roi  "  was  on  tlio  point  of  break- 
ing out.     But  the  Royalists   got  jiossession   of 

the  church  steeples,  and  sounded  the  tocsin  j 


and  its  well-known  clang,  wi'.h  the  flyu)g  ru- 
mors already  in  circulation,  soon  brought  a  pro- 
digious concourse  of  peasants  I'rom  the  country 
into  the  streets.  This  accession  of  strength 
rendered  the  transports  of  the  Royalists  uncon- 
trollable. Cries  of  "  Vive  le  Roi  "  burst  from 
all  sides.  The  troops  were  soon  enveloped  by 
an  insurgent  and  menacing  multitude :  and 
Verdier,  despairing  of  the  possibility  of  main- 
tainin.g  himself  in  his  posts,  though  there  were 
two  forts  commanding  the  city,  and  dreading 
the  responsibility  of  commtncing  a  civil  war, 
while  as  yet  uncertain  what  authority  was  tc 
obtam  the  ascendency  at  Paris,  iLam.  v.  401 
evacuated  the  town  in  the  course  40fi ;  cap.  iii. 
of  the  evening,  and  retreated  with  I'^i  ^"3  ;  Lae. 
all  his  forces  to  Toulon.*  '•  ^^''  ^^^■ 

This  retreat  was  the  signal  for  the  commence- 
ment of  the  massacre ;  and  never 
did  the  violent  passions  and  savage  Massacre  at 
disposition  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Marseilles, 
south  of  France  appear  in  more  Ju^e  25  and 
frightful  colors.  Theellervescence  '''■ 
was  so  great,  the  people  so  violent,  that  th^ 
troops  had  considerable  difficulty  in  making 
their  way  through  the  multitudes  which  throng- 
ed around  them  on  every  side  ;  but  after  they 
were  gone,  all  order  ceased,  and  the  reaction 
burst  forth  with  ungovernable  fury.  It  began 
with  the  murder  of  a  few  JNIamelukes,  with 
their  wives,  who  had  followefl  the  army  of  Na- 
poleon back  from  Egypt.  They  were  cut  down 
without  merry,  many  on  the  harbor's  edge, 
where  they  lii.l  ii>.'d  in  hopes  of  finding  barks  to 
escape  from  their  murderers.  The  whole,  with 
their  wives  and  chiliiren,  were  slaughtered,  and 
thrown  into  the  water.  A  few  who  had  swam 
out  to  sea  were  dispatched  by  musket  shots 
after  they  had  gained  a  considerable  distance. 
Having  once  tasted  of  blood,  the  multitude  wa.s 
as  fierce  a*  r,  addening  wolves  in  pursuit  of 
their  prey.  Ltiring  the  whole  night,  and  the 
day  following,  they  sought  out  tlie  old  officers 
and  soldiers  of  the  Imperial  army,  and  bay- 
oneted them  without  mercy.  Among  the  vic- 
tims was  M.  Angles  Capefigue,  a  man  of  emin- 
ence and  respectability,  the  friend  of  IMassena, 
and  many  of  the  leading  men  of  the  Empire ; 
his  body  was  pierced  in  a  hundred  places  with 
pikes.  Powerless,  and  passed  by  their  follow- 
ers, in  the  strife,  the  Royalist  Committee  re- 
mained passive  spectators  of  the  massacre.  At 
length,  after  two  days  of  tumult  and  bloodshed, 
and  the  loss  of  above  a  hunilrcd  lives,  a  sort  of 
urban  guard  was  assembled,  and  messengers 
dispatched  to  some  English  vessels  in  the  bay, 
and  by  the  aid  of  succor  sent  by  them  an  end 
was  ])ut  to  the  massacre.  Marseilles  proved 
on  this  occasion  the  satanie  wis-  i  Cap.  iii.  174. 
doni  with  which  the  chiefs  of  the  170 ;  Lam.  v. 
Gironde  had  sent  for  and  awaited  f''^';!"'^ ;  1-ac. 
the  arrival  of  the  Fi'dcrcs  de  I\Iar-  jiisiory  of' 
seilles,  to  head  the  insurrection  on  Kuropo,  c.  vii. 
the  ISth  August,  17IJ-,'.'  <> 'JU- 

]\Iarshal    Bnuie   w<is   at    this   time   intrusted 
with  tiie  general  command  in  the  „„ 

south  of   France;  and    he   was   at  Departure  of 
Toulon  when  Verdier  arrived  with  Marslial 
the  Hoops  from  Marseilles,  folhiw-   Jirunc  Ibr  Pa 

I  ,■       1      ■    .    II  I-  .1       ri8.  Julv  31. 

CO  soon  alter  by  intel.  gcncc  ol  the 

frightful  atrocities  committed  in  that  cily.     Un. 

certain  at  first  wliicii  party  was  to  gain  the  as- 


F2 


HISTORY  or  F. [troit:. 


\Chm:  in 


coiuiiMioy  at  Ptiri  ,  he  li'ni]i(ii  i.-cd  lor  a  few 
H'l'oks,  but  in  tlio  iMul  dfJiilv,  timliiiij  the  aiilluir- 
itv  ol"  the  kin<4  linnly  e!it;ihli.->licil  in  the  ca])ilal, 
ami  «jonorally  recojinizod  tliroii'^hout  France, 
he  hiiisleil  the  white  llajj,  anil  sent  in  his  adhe- 
sion. The  Royalists  liad  no  fault  to  reproach 
him  with  hut  his  ready  reeotrnition  of  Napoleon, 
and  tardv  return  to  the  colors  of  the  monarchy. 
To  exi)lain  his  conduct  in  these  particulars,  the 
marshal  set  out  on  the  31st  for  Paris  by  land. 
His  friends,  who  dreaded  the  catastrophe  which 
followed,  in  vain  besought  him  to  change  his 
route,  and  embark  at  Toulon  for  Havre  de 
Grace.  The  old  soldier  revolted  at  such  a  pro- 
posal as  an  imputation  on  his  courage,  and,  only 
the  more  resolute  to  brave  the  dangers  from  the 
'  I.am.  V.-107  ;  representations  of  their  reality,  per- 
I'ap.  i.  177;  severed  in  his  intention  of  proceed- 
Lac.  i.  351.       jno;  by  land.^ 

On  the  2d  August   he    arrived   at  Avignon, 
33  whither  the  rumor  of  his  approach 

He  i.s  murder-  had  preceded  him.  He  stopped  in 
eil  at  Avis;-  ihg  morning  at  a  hotel  near  the 
noil.  Aug.  -.  £i,Qr,e  jq  change  horses  ;  his  count- 
enance was  recognized,  and  a  crowd  immedi- 
ateh'  assembled,  in  which  the  ferocious  pas- 
sions and  vehement  spirit  of  the  south  were  soon 
conspicuous.  A  rumor,  as  false  as  it  was  cer- 
tain to  be  believed,  spread  rapidly  through  the 
crowd,  that  he  had  been  actively  concerned  in 
the  massacres  of  September,  1792,  in  Paris,  and 
had  actually  carried  the  head  of  the  Princess  of 
Lamballe,  affixed  to  a  pike,  to  the  windows  of 
the  king.  His  friends  in  vain  represented  that 
he  was  not  in  Paris  at  all,  but  on  the  frontier 
with  the  army,  on  the  occasion.  That  state- 
ment, though  true,  did  not  produce  the  slightest 
impression.  It  was  added,  that  he  was  not  go- 
ing to  Paris,  but  to  the  army  of  the  Loire,  to  aid 
in  leading  the  troops  and  renewing  the  war. 
Twice  he  set  out  from  the  hotel  under  the 
escort  of  the  prefect,  M.  de  St.  Chamont,  the 
mayor  of  Avignon,  and  a  handful  of  intrepid 
citizens,  who,  though  Royalists,  had  hastened 
with  generous  devotion  to  save  the  life  of  their 
opponent  at  the  hazard  of  their  own  ;  and  tv\  ice 
he  was  forced  to  return,  from  the  experienced 
impossibility  of  forcing  a  passage.  At  length 
the  people  became  so  furious  that  all  resistance 
was  in  vain  ;  they  violently  assaulted  the  prin- 
cipal gale  of  the  hotel,  and  while  the  prefect 
and  mayor,  with  a  handful  of  troops,  bravely 
made  good  that  post,  a  few  dastardly  assassins 
got  in  by  a  back  window,  and,  breaking  into 
the  room  where  the  marshal  was,  laid  him  dead 
at  their  feet  by  two  shots  from  carbines.  Fero- 
cious shouts,  as  from  the  demons  of  hell,  imme- 
diately followed  the  bloody  deed  ;  the  body  was 
dragged  by  the  heels  through  the  streets,  and 
cast  into  the  Rhone.  That  rapid  stream  quick- 
ly floated  it  down  to  the  sea,  by  the  waves  of 
which  the  body  was  cast  ashore  in  a  deserted 
haven  between  Aries  and  Tarascon,  where  it 
was  descried  amid  the  sea-weed  by  the  vul- 
tures, which  in  those  warm  climates  never  fail 
to  discover  their  prey.  Their  concourse  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  a  poor  fisherman,  who 
approached  the  spot  and  discovered  the  corpse. 
He  retired  at  the  moment  for  fear  of  danger  to 
himself,  for,  being  an  old  soldier,  he  recognized 
the  feature!  of  him  who  had  once  b  jcn  his  gen- 
eral ;  bt;t  rnurned  at  night,  and  v  ith  his  own 


hands  gave  it  a  decent  srpnilure  in  the  sands  of 

the  shore — as  if  to  jirove  (hat  the 

most  renowned    tragedies   of  anti-  ' ^'^"';  ^- ""*• 

(piity  were  to  find  a  )>arallel  in  those  j7g'i7y^L',c 

which  arose  out  of  the  French  Rev-  j.  301,  332 

olution.'* 

Such  was  the  impotence,  not  merely  of  the  con 
siitutcd  authorities,  but  of  the  Roy-  34 

alist  committees,  who  were  sup-  Further  mns- 
posed  to  direct  the  public  movement,  nacres  in  the 
that  the  oflicial  gazette  announced  j^""'-  ''^"^• 
that  Marshal  Brunc.  menaced  by  the 
populace  of  Avignon,  had  committed  suicide. 
It  was  not  for  a  considerable  time  after  that  the 
real  facts  became  known — so  powerful  is  popu- 
lar passion,  not  merely  in  instigating  to  the  most 
atrocious  deeds,  but  in  c'Aiccaling  their  enormity, 
or  misrepresenting  the:  r  character.  The  horrid 
example  was  not  lon^  in  being  followed  in  the 
adjoining  provinces.  Bands  of  assassins,  issuing 
from  Avignon,  Nmici,  and  Toulouse,  devastated 
the  houses  of  the  f.uspected  persons  wherever 
they  could  be  founc".,  and  perpetrated  cruelties  on 
the  unhappy  inmates,  which  recalled  the  memory 
of  the  worst  atrocities  of  the  Revolution.  After 
sacking  the  chateau  of  Yaquervillc,  the  wretched 
inhabitants  were  burnt  alive  in  its  flames.  At 
Toulouse,  General  Ramel,  commander  of  the 
department,  was  murdered  in  his  own  hotel  in 
open  day.  A  band  of  assassins  burst  into  the 
room  where  he  was  sitting.  "What  do  you 
wish?"  said  he.  "To  kill  j'ou,  and  in  you,  an 
enemy  of  the  king,"  was  the  reply  of  one,  point- 
ing his  musket  at  his  breast.  A  sentinel  sprang 
forward  and  turned  aside  the  muzzle  Ramel 
drew  his  sword  and  advanced,  determined  to  sell 
his  life  dearly  ;  but  while  he  did  so,  a  fresh  shot 
pierced  him  through  the  breast,  and  he  fell  mor- 
tally wounded  beside  the  faithful  sentinel,  who 
had  been  already  slain  by  his  side.  The  dying 
general  was  carried  up  to  his  room  and  stretched 
on  his  bed  ;  but  soon  the  assassins  burst  in,  and 
although  the  surgeon  on  his  knees  besought  them 
to  spare  the  last  minutes  of  a  dying  man,  they 
hacked  him  with  sabres,  and  plunged  pikes  in  his 
body,  till  he  was  literally  cut  to  pieces.  When 
this  was  done,  the  frightful  multitude  defiled 
regularly  in,  and  went  round  the  1  Lam.  v.  447 
bed  singing  songs  of  triumph,  and  448 ;  Cap.  iii. 
dipping  their  pikes  in  the  blood  of  his  ?^1'  l^-  \  Lac. 

1  '  1  •        1  1.  353,  464. 

mangled  remams.'  ' 

These  atrocities  were  but  a  specimen  of  what 
went  on  during  the  whole  of  August  35 

in  the  south  of  France.     At  Nimes,  Atrocities  at 
the  brave  General  Lagardt  was  se-  Nimes  and  the 
verely  wounded,  while  endeavoring  ^oumry.'^'"^ 
at  the  head  of  his  troops  to  suppress 
a  sedition  in  the  public  square,  which  had  arisen 
from  no  other  cause  but  his  having  had  the  cour- 
age to  arrest  Trestaillon,  the  chief  of  the  assas 
sins.     This  open  contempt  of  the  law  produced 
a  great  impression  on  the  king,  who  ordered  an 
unlimited  number  of  troops  to  be  quartered  on 
the  town  till  the  guilty  parties  were  given  up. 
But  this   act   of  firmness    produced    no   result. 
Justice,  as  usual  in  such  cases,   was  impotent 
in  the  midst  of  crime  ;  the  tyrant  n^aiority  was 
alike  guilty  and  secure  of  impunity.     Unable  to 


*  The  classical  reader  need  not  be  reminded  of  the 
I  frcedrr.an  and  old   soldier  of  Pompey    eelehratiiip  the 
funeral  ob.sequies  on  the  shores  of  Egypt    after  llie  lat- 
tie  of  Pharsalia. 


1S15.J 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


63 


make  head  airaiiist  sut-li  a  universal  dclxirlc  of 
violence,  the  prefect  of  tlie  department,  Al.  Dar- 
baud  de  Jouqiie,  a  moderate  but  firm  man,  se- 
lected for  that  perilous  oilice  for  his  known  ability 
to  discharge  its  duties,  entreated  the  Duke  d'An- 
couleme  to  come  to  Nimes,  in  the  hope  that  the 
presence  of  a  deservedly  beloved  prince  of  the 
blood  would  tend  to  calm  the  effervescence  of  his 
impassioned  adherents.  He  arrived  accordingly, 
and  for  a  time  succeeded  in  overawing  the  vio- 
lence of  the  Roj'alists.  When  pressed  by  nu- 
merous influential  bodies,  especially  among  the 
Roman  Catholic  clergy,  to  order  the  liberation 
of  Trestaillon,  he  replied,  "No!  1  will  never 
screen  assassins  and  incendiaries  from  the  law." 
Trestaillon  accordingly  was  brought  to  trial ;  but 
here  the  inherent  weakness  of  jury  trial  amid  the 
eflervescence  of  the  passions  became  apparent. 
Both  he  and  Bovines,  the  assassin  of  Lagardt. 
were,  in  the  face  of  the  clearest  evidence,  acquit- 

,.  ,,,    ted  unanimously  by  the  jury,  and  im- 

1  Lam. V. 413,  ,•   .   ,  ■    i-    *  •  i  .u  u 

416-  Lac.  i.      mediatelycarried  mtnumphtnrough 
352,353:  Cap.  the  streets  of  the  town  which  they 
iii.  181,  182.      j,j^(j  disgraced  by  their  crimes.^ 
The    impunity   with   which    these    atrocious 

crimes  were  committed  led  to  a  fear- 
Persecution  of  ful  multiplication  of  similar  deeds 
ilie  Protest-  of  blood.  The  passions  of  the  mo- 
ants  by  tlie  rnent  became  engrafted  on  those  of 
oUcT"         '  centuries'  duration,  and  the  power 

of  murdering  without  risk  revived 
the  frightful  thirst  for  blood  which  in  those  re- 
gions had  led  to  the  crusade  against  the  Albigeois, 
and  all  the  savage  deeds  which  have  forever  dis- 
graced the  Roman  Catholic  religion.  The  two 
most  violent  and  dangerous  passions  which  can 
inflame  the  human  breast — political  Zealand  re- 
ligious fanaticism — were  aroused  with  the  ut- 
most violence  at  the  same  time,  and  for  once 
pulled  in  the  same  direction.  The  Royalists  held 
that  they  were  entitled  by  their  temporal  wrongs 
10  wreak  their  vengeance  without  restraint  on 
^he  Napoleonists  ;  the  Roman  Catholics  deemed 
themselves  secure  of  salvation,  when  they  burned 
the  temples  or  plunged  their  pikes  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Protestants.  The  Crusade  of  the  thirteenth 
was  blended  with  the  reaction  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  In  vain  the  allied  sovereigns  interested 
themselves  in  the  unhappy  Protestants  of  the 
south  ;  in  vain  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  with  gen- 
erous humanity,  made  the  utmost  efl'orts  for  their 
protection.  The  king  issued  a  noble  proclama- 
tion, denouncing  these  atrocities,  and  calling  on 
the  magistrates  to  bring  the  guilty  parties  to 
justice.*     The  prefects  followed  his  example, 


*  "  Nous  avons  appris  avcc  douleur,  que  dans  les  d6- 
partements  du  Midi,  plusieurs  de  nos  sujets  se  soiit  r6- 
cemmcnt  portds  aux  plus  coupables  excoH  ;  que  sous  pr6- 
texte  de  se  faire  les  initiistrcs  do  la  veiideaiice  publiiiue, 
des  Frangais,  satisfaisaiit  leurs  liaincs  ct  leurs  vengeances 
privies,  avaicnt  vers6  le  sang  des  Frani^ais,  nicrno  dcpuis 
que  notre  autorito  6tait  univorsellement  relalilie  et  recon- 
nue  dans  notre  royaume.  (Jcrtes,  d'iiil'amos  trahisons,  do 
grands  crimes,  out  ct6  commis,  et  ont  plong6  la  France 
dans  une  atjiine  de  maux  :  inais  la  |iunitioii  de  ces  crimes 
doit  etre  nationale,  solcnne'ile,  et  reguliere  ;  les  coupablos 
doivent  tombcr  sous  le  glaive  de  la  loi,  ct  non  sous  le  poids 
de  vengeances  particuliorcs.  Ccscrait  bouleversorronlre 
social  que  de  se  faire  a  la  fois  juge  et  ex6cutcur  pour  les 
olTenccs  qu'on  a  recucs  ou  munie  jmur  les  attentats  com- 
mis contre  notre  personne.  Nous  esporons  que  celle 
odie\ise  enterprise  do  prcvenir  Taction  des  lois  a  deja 
cease;  elle  serait  un  attentat  contre  nous  et  contre  la 
France,  et  quelquo  vive  douleur  (|uc  nous  passions  en 
resscnlir,  rien  ne  sorvit  6pargne  poor  pnnirdc  tels  ;rimr:s. 
("CKt  pouniuoi  nous  avons  recoiinnunili;  par  des  ordres 


and  called  on  all  good  citizens  to  aid  them  in  the 
discovery  and  prosecution  of  the  assassins,  who 
were  a  disgrace  to  society.  It  was  all  in  vain; 
the  guilty  majority  was  omnipotent.  The  free 
institutions  which  France  had  won  proved  the 
safeguard  of  the  criminals.  The  guilty  were 
screened  from  arrest;  if  taken,  witnesses  were 
suborned,  removed,  intimidated ;  juries  proved 
"  the  judicial  committee  of  the  majority,''*  and 
acquitted  in  the  face  of  the  clearest  evidence ;  and, 
to  the  disgrace  of  free  institutions  be  it  said,  the 
whole  of  this  long  catalogue  of  frightful  crime  in 
the  south  of  France  passed  over  without  one  single 
criminal  being  brought  to  justice,  while  more  than 
one  judicial  murder,  on  the  other  side,  proved  that 
the  passions  of  the  moment  could  direct  the  ver- 
dicts of  juries  as  well  as  the  pikes  of  assassins.' 
Tranquillity  was  not  restored  till,  by  i  Lam.  v.  419, 
orders  from  headquarters  at  Paris,  422 ;  Cap.  iii 
the  allied  troops  were  spread  over  ^^'  ^'^"'olo^ ' 
the  disturbed  districts,  and  the  Im-  '"^' '' 
perialistsand  Protestants  found  that  shelter  under 
the  bayonets  of  their  enemies,  which  they  could 
no  longer  look  for  in  the  justice  of  their  country- 
men. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  vehement  eflerves^ 
cenee  of  the  passions  that  the  dec-  3- 

tions  took  place  over  France,  and  Temper  of 
never  vi'as  evinced  in  a  more  strik-  Prance  dur- 
ing manner  the  extreme  danger  of   l"i;,i''^ 

!•  1  II'  iiont>. 

appealmg  to   the  people  durmg  a 

period  of  violent  public  excitement  than  on  that 
occasion.  Already  the  King  and  Council  of 
State,  who  were  resolutely  bent  on  moderate 
measures,  had  become  apprehensive  of  the  vio- 
lence of  the  current  which  vv'as  setting  in  in  their 
own  favor,  and  strove  by  every  means  in  their 
power  to  moderate  it.  Secret  instructions  were 
sent  down  to  the  prefects  and  presidents  of  col- 
leges, to  favor  as  much  as  was  in  their  power, 
or  consistent  with  their  duty,  the  return  of  mem- 
bers who  might  not  by  their  violence  occasion 
embarrassment  to  the  Government.  Fouche  set 
all  his  agents  and  intrigues,  and  they  were  not  a 
few,  in  motion,  to  support  the  Republican  candi- 
dates, and  form  a  respectable  minority,  at  least, 
in  favor  of  liberalism.  But  it  was  all  in  vain; 
and  the  elections  of  1815  alforded  the  iirst  indi- 
cation of  what  subse(iucnt  events  have  so  com- 
pletely proved,  that  though  France  in  general  is 
entirely  submissive  to  Paris,  and  follows  with 
docility  the  mandates  of  the  cajiital,  yet  its  real 
opinion  is  often  very  diflbreiit;  and  when  an  op- 
portunity docs  occur,  in  which  it  can  ,  (-.,  ,  j^  jg^ 
make  its  voice  be  heard,  it  docs  so  iHli;  Lam.  v' 
in  a  way  which  can  not  ho  mis-  •'•'•''•  335 ;  Lac 
taken.'  '•  ^^'l.  35- 

Public  opinion  in  the  provinces  threw  itself, 
without  reflection  and  without  re-  ^g 

serve,  into  the  very  extremes  of  Their  ultra- 
Royalist  prejudice.  Prudence,  wis-  Koyalistchar 
dom,  foresight,  moderation,  justice,  '"^''^''• 
were  alike  disregarded;  one  only  voice  was 
listened  to,  and  it  was  that  of  passion ;  one  only 
thirst  was  felt — it  was  that  of  vengeance.  A 
flood,  broad  and  irresistible  as  the  tides  of  the 
ocean,  overspread  Franco  from  the  baifljs  of  the 


precis  k  nos  ministres  at  inos  mngistrats  do  faire  siricte- 
mint  respcclcr  les  lois,  ct  de  no  mettrc  iii  indilgencc  ni 
faililcssi^  ibuis  la  poursuite  de  ceux  qui  les  ont  'iolees  "— 
Mimilriir,  .Inly  2(1,  1815  ;  CArEFlouE,  i.  54 
*  Dj  Toinucvillc  in  regard  to  America 


S4 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


[Chaj.  ill. 


Rhine  to  the  ^horcs  of  iho  Alliintic.  All  at- ' 
tem|tts  lo  stem  it  were  ia  vain,  or  rather,  liy 
irriiaiin;:,  tliey  tended  only  to  iiillaine  ils  violence. 
Ev»>!i  the  j>rescnee  ol"  the  allied  troops,  and  their  ^ 
oecu|>ation  of  the  eities  and  departments  where  i 
the  elections  were  {joing  on,  was  no  restraint 
>jpon  the  general  fervor  :  on  the  contrary,  they 
tended  only  to  increase  it ;  for  who  had  hroui^ht 
that  burden  upon  themselves — that  disf,'raco  upon 
their  country  '  Moriilicd  by  defeat,  humiliated 
liy  conquest,  oppressed  by  contributions,  irritated 
by  insult,  the  French  people  had  no  mode  of 
pivina  vent  to  their  universal  feclinsrs  of  indigna- 
tion, but  by  returning  to  the  legislature  mem- 
bers animated  by  the  same  sentiments;  and  so 
strong  were  their  feelings,  so  universal  their  in- 
dignation, that  they  sent  to  Paris  a  Chamber  of 
»  Lam.  V.  335,  Representatives  more  counter-revo- 
336;  Cap.  iii.  lutionary  than  the  allied  sovereigns 
1S6, 1&7.  — more  Royalist  than  the  King.^ 

The  known  tendency  of  these  elections,  and  the 
39  increasing  vehemence  with  which 

Dismissal  of  extreme  Royalist  opinions  were  pro- 
Fouch6  from  mulgated  in  the  now  unfettered 
me  ministry.  ^^„~^^  ^f  jj^^  Parisian  press,  ren- 
dered the  position  of  the  two  leaders  of  the  revo- 
lutionary party  in  the  ministry  e  vei'y  day  more  pre- 
carious. Fouche,  in  particular,  against  whom, 
from  the  bloody  reminiscences  connected  with 
him,  and  his  imparalleled  tergiversations,  the 
public  indignation  was  in  an  especial  manner 
directed,  began  to  perceive  that  he  would  not  be 
able  much  longer  to  maintain  his  ground.  The 
party  of  the  Count  d'Artois  daily  insinuated  to 
the  King,  that  public  opinion  was  now  declaring 
itself  so  strongly  that  all  attempts  to  withstand 
it  were  in  vain,  and  that  both  Talleyrand  and 
Fouche  must  be  dismissed.  The  latter,  con- 
scious of  the  sinister  eyes  with  which  he  was 
regarded,  came  now  very  rarely  to  the  Tuileries  ; 
when  he  did  so,  a  murmur  always  ran  through 
the  courtiers.  "There  is  the  regicide."  The 
very  persons  who,  a  few  months  before,  had 
joined  in  the  chorus  that  he  was  the  saviour  of 
France,  and  the  only  man  who  could  extricate 
it  from  its  difficulties,  because  he  was  likely  to 
favor  their  ambition,  were  now  the  first  to  ex- 
claim against  him,  because  he  threatened  to  op- 
pose it.  In  despair  of  being  able  to  influence  the 
affections  of  men,  he  appealed  to  their  fears,  and 
wrote  with  his  usual  ability  several  reports  on 
the  state  of  public  opinion  and  of  the  country, 
ostensibly  intended  for  the  eye  of  the  King,  but 
which,  from  the  extensive  circulation  surrepti- 
tiously given  to  them,  were  obviously  intended 
to  intimidate  the  Court.  In  them  he  portrayed 
in  strong,  even  exaggerated  colors,  the  dangers 
of  the  country,  and  the  strength  of  the  party, 
especially  among  the  great  body  of  the  rural 
proprrietors,  who  were  still  attached  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Revolution.*     Notwithstanding  the 


*  '•  Les  villes  sont  opposees  aux  carnpagnes,  dans 
I'ouest  meme,  oii  Ton  vous  flatte  de  trouver  des  soldats. 
Les  acquereurs  de  dnmaines  nationaux  y  resisteront  a 
quiconque  entreprendrait  de  les  deposseder.  Le  Royalisme 
du  midi  s'exhale  en  attentats.  Des  bandes  armees  par- 
courent  les  campagnes  et  penetrent  dans  les  villes.  Les 
pillages,  les  assassinats  se  multiplient.  Dans  Test,  I'hor- 
reiij  de  Tinvasion  et  les  fautes  des  precedents  ministres 
<m  aliene  les  populations.  Dans  la  majorile  des  departe- 
mcnts  on  trouverait  seulement  une  poignee  de  Royalistes 
a  opposer  a  la  masse  du  peuple.  Le  repos  sera  difficile  a 
I'annee ;  une  ambition  demcsuree  I'a  rondue  aventureu.se. 

"  11  y  a  deux  grandes  factions  dans  I'etat.  L'une  de- 
SBnd  les  principiis ;  I'autre  marf^he  a  la  rontrc-revolution. 


sinister  appearance-  again>~t  hit",  he  was  nottiins 
daunted,  lie  married  a  young  lady  of  good 
family,  Madame  de  Castellane,  whom  he  had 
met  at  Aix  at  the  close  of  the  Empire;  and 
relying  on  his  talents,  his  good  fortune,  the 
favor  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  the  politi- 
cal necessity  which  had  compelled  the  King  to 
get  over  his  repugnance,  he  still  hoped  to  ovei 
come  the  didiculties  with  which  he  i  (^^p  jjj  jj^ 
was  surrounded.  He  now  openly  115;  Lam.  v! 
professed  his  adherence  to  the  prin-  336, 3-Jl :  Lac. 
ciples  of  monarchy.*  "  When  one  '"  ^^^'  ^^'' 
is  young,"  said  he,  "revolutions  please;  they 
excite — they  agitate,  and  we  love  to  mingle  in 
them  ;  but  at  my  age  they  have  lost  their  charm  : 
we  sigh  for  repose,  order,  and  security ;  we  no 
longer  wish  to  gain,  but  to  enjoy." 

Talleyrand    now    saw    that  Fouche    was    no 
longer  necessary  to  the  maintenance  40 

of  his  power — that,  on  the  contrary.  Fall  of  Fou- 
the  prejudice  against  him  was  so  die,  and  his 
violent  that  it  seriously  impeded  the  "^'^'^ 
Government.  He  consented,  therefore,  not  un- 
willingly, to  the  instances  of  the  Count  d'Artois 
and  his  party,  who  urged  his  dismissal.  To  give 
a  color  to  his  downfall,  he  was  in  the  first  in- 
stance appointed  minister  at  the  court  of  Saxony. 
With  his  fall  fi'om  power,  Fouche"s  influence 
was  at  once  at  an  end ;  and  with  such  violence 
did  the  public  indignation  burst  forth  against 
him,  that  he  was  obliged,  in  crossing  France  on 
his  way  to  the  Rhine,  to  travel  in  disguise  under 
a  false  name,  and  with  a  false  passport.  Within 
a  few  months  after  his  arrival  at  Dresden,  he 
was  recalled  from  that  oflice,  forbidden  to  re- 
turn to  France,  and  exiled  to  Austria,  where  he 
spent  the  last  days  of  his  life  in  obscurity  at 
Lintz,  alike  detested  and  despised  by  all  parties 
in  the  world.  His  vote  lor  the  death  of  Louis 
XVI.,  and  his  atrocities  at  Lyons,  had  forever 
shocked  the  Royalists — his  signature  of  the  re- 
cent lists  of  proscription  alienated  the  Republic- 
ans. His  only  consolation  was  in  the  kindness 
and  tenderness  of  his  young  wife,  who,  with  a 
true  woman's  fidelity,  clung  only  the  mors 
closely  to  him  from  the  desertion  of  all  the  rest  of 
the  world.  Tormented  to  the  last  by  the  thirst 
for  power,  he  never  ceased  to  solicit  INI.  Decazes, 
then  minister  to  Louis  XVIII.,  and  Prince  jNIet- 
ternich,  for  leave  to  reside  at  Paris  or  Vienna; 
but  they  both  withstood  his  importunities.  Cast 
away  on  the  shore,  he  could  not,  like  the  sea- 
bird,  live  at  rest  on  the  strand,  but  ever  thi'ew  a 
lingering  look  on  the  ocean  on  whose  waves  he  had 
been  tossed;  and  his  last  thoughts  1  Lam.  v.  345. 
were  in  anticipation  of  the  storms  347;  Cap.  iii. 
which  were  to  succeed  hiin.'*  ^^'• 


D'un  cote  le  clerge,  les  nobles,  les  anciens  possesseurs 
des  biens  nationaux  aujourd'hui  vendus,  les  rnembres  des 
anciens  parlements,  des  hornmes  obstines,  qui  ne  vculcnt 
pas  croire  qjie  leurs  idees  anciennes  soient  en  dcfaut,  et 
qui  ne  peuvent  pardonner  a  une  Revolution  qu'ils  ont 
maudite  ;  d'autres  qui  fatigues  du  mouvement,  cherchent 
le  repos  dans  I'ancien  regime ;  quelques  ecrivains  pas- 
sionnes  tlatteurs  des  opinions  triomphantes  Dj  cote 
oppose,  la  presque  totalile  de  la  France,  les  constitution- 
nels,  les  republicains,  Tarrnee,  et  le  peuple,  toutes  les 
classes  des  mecontents,  une  multitude  de  Francais  meme 
attaches  au  Roi,  mais  qui  sont  convaincus  qu'une  tenta- 
tive, et  qui  meme  une  tendance  a  I'ancien  regime,  serait 
le  signal  d'une  explosion  semblable  a  celle  de  1789." — 
Memoire  de  Fouche,  Lamarti.ne,  v.  339,  340. 

*  "J'ai  signe  I'ordinancede  la  Proscription;  elleetalt, 
et  elle  fut  consideree  alors  comme  le  seul  moyen  de  sauver 
le  parti,  qui  m'en  accuse  aujourd'hui.  Elle  I'enlevait  i 
la  fureur  des  Royalistes,  et  le  mettait  a  I'abri  dans  I'exil 


Talleyrand  and  his  ministry  did  not  long  sur- 
«j  vive  the  disgrace  of  the  regicide 

Fallofialley-  Minister  of  Police,  whom  they  had 
rand  and  liis  introduced  into  power.  Manycaus- 
iTiinistry.  ^^  contributed  to  their  downfall,  and 

they  were  so  powerful  that,  sooner  or  later,  they 
must  have  led  to  that  result.  The  demands  of 
the  allied  powers  in  the  negotiations  for  a  gen- 
eral peace — of  which  an  account  will  immedi- 
ately be  given — had  become  so  exorbitant,  that 
they  recoiled  from  the  thought  of  subscribing 
them,  or  even  making  them  known  to  the  public. 
The  Emperor  Alexander,  who  had  so  powerfully 
supported  Talleyrand  on  occasion  of  the  first 
restoration  in  1814,  was  now  cold  and  reserved 
toward  him  ;  he  had  not  forgotten  his  opposition 
to  the  demands  of  Russia  at  the  Congress  of 
Vienna.  The  King  of  France,  although  fully 
sensible  of  the  great  ability  and  consummate  ad- 
dress of  the  minister  who  had  contrived  to  keep 
afloat  through  all  the  storms  of  the  Revolution, 
was  in  secret  jealous  of  his  ascendency;  he  felt 
the  repugnance  of  high  birth  at  the  guardianship 
of  intellect  and  experience.  Though  so  experi- 
enced a  courtier,  i\l.  de  Talleyrand  could  not 
avoid,  on  some  occasions,  letting  fall  expressions 
indicating  his  sense  of  his  own  influence  with 
foreign  powers,  and  services  under  the  Empire. 
But  most  of  ail,  the  elections  had  now  been  de- 
cided in  favor  of  the  extreme  Royalists,  by  a 
majority  which  it  was  hopeless  to  withstand. 
By  the  20th  September  they  were  all  concluded  : 
and  the  result  was  such  a  preponderance  on  that 
side  as  left  no  doubt  that  the  ministry  could  not 
maintain  their  ground.  Unable  to  contend  with 
a  hostile  majority  in  the  Chambers,  J\I.  Talley- 
rand did  not  yet  despair.  He  desired  to  engage 
*he  King  in  a  contest  with  the  legislature,  and 
l.iioughl  he  had  influence  suflicient  to  efl'ect  that 
object.  Buthe  was  much  mistaken.  When  Tal- 
leyrand, at  the  conclusion  of  his  speech  in  the 
cabinet  council,  tendered  his  resignation  and  that 
of  his  colleagues,  if  the  proposed  measures  were 
not  adopted,  the  King  calmly  re- 

'  P*'";,''^-  ^?.l'  plied — •'  You  resign,  then  :  very 
3d4;  Cap.  ui.    '      ,,      T        n  •    *  .1  •    • 

128,131 ;  Lac.  well ;  I  will  apponit  another  mmis- 

i.  356,  357.       try,"  and  bowed  them  out  of  the 
apartment. 1 
Along  with  M.  Talleyrand,  there  retired  from 
42  the  ministry  M.  Louis,  iM.  Pasquin, 

Ministry  of  Ja'uconrt,  and  Gouvion  St.  Cyr. 
the  Duke  de  The  ministry  required  to  bo  entirely 
Richcheu.  j,p^  modeled ;  and  the  king,  who 
had  long  foreseen  the  necessity  of  this  step,  and 
was  not  sorry  of  an  opportunity  of  breaking  with 
his  revolutionary  mentors,  immediately  author- 
ized M.  Uccazes,  who  had  insinuated  himself 
into  his  entire  confidence,  to  olfer  the  place  of 
President  of  the  Council,  corresponding  to  our 
Premier,  to  the  Duke   de   Richemeu.     Inde- 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


OS 


}«  ne  desire  pas  que  les  partis  soicnt  ^crasfis  en  France  ; 
maiB  je  forme  dcs  voeux  ardcnls  pour  qu'ils  soicnt  con- 
fenus  Qu'oii  rcduise  les  revolulionnaircs  a  un  role  d'op- 
nosition  rai.soniiablc ;  qu'on  no  «c';pare  pa.s  le  Roi  de  la 
Nation,  en  Ic  consideraiit  comme  son  advcrsaire.  On  c»t 
trc.p  en  eardo  contro  les  Royalistes  cxacerirt:  on  no  I'est 
pas  conli-e  I'autre  parti.  RKli.sez  I'histoire  dc  la  I'ologne ; 
vous  etes  menaces  du  munie  sort,  si  vous  ne  vous  rcndez, 
pas  maitres  ilcs  passions.  .le  lis  une  histoire  de  la  cam- 
pagne  dc  1815,  par  le  General  Gonryand.  .Je  ne  suis  pas 
felonne  du  laneace  de  h(i;i  maitre  a  mon  tgard :  il  est 
commode  a  Napoleon  d'excuser  toutes  ses  sutlisc-i  en 
•outenani  qu'il  a  ct6  trahi.  Non,  il  n'y  a  ou  do  tr.iitfs 
lue  ses  tidttcurs."— LA.M\r.  riN^  v.  315.  317 
Vot..  I.— E 


pendent  of  the  high  descent  and  personal  merits 
of  that  very  estimable  man,  there  were  pecu- 
liar reasons  of  the  most  pressing  nature  which 
pointed  him  out  as  the  proper  minister  of  France 
at  that  period.  An  intimate  personal  friend  of 
the  Emueror  Alexander,  and  having  acquired 
his  entire  confidence  in  the  covu^se  of  the  im- 
portant government  with  which  he  had  been 
intrusted  at  Odessa,  there  was  every  reason  tc 
hope  that  his  influence  with  the  Czar  would  in 
some  degree  tend  to  moderate  the  severity  of 
the  terms  which,  as  the  conditions  of  peace,  the 
allied  powers  were  now  insisting  for.  M.  de- 
Richelieu  felt  the  painful  position  in  which  he 
would  be  placed  by  accepting  office,  the  first 
step  in  which  would  be  the  signature  of  a  treaty 
in  the  highest  degree  humiliating  to  France : 
but  he  vi'as  clear-sighted  enough  to  perceive  the 
necessity  of  the  ease,  and  too  patriotic  to  refuse 
to  serve  his  country  even  in  the  worst  crisis  of 
its  fate.  He  accepted  office  accordingly,  and 
with  him  the  ministry  underwent  an  entire 
change.  M.  Decaze.?  vi-as  appointed  Minister 
of  Police,  an  office  which,  in  those  critical  times, 
was  of  the  very  highest  importance ;  the  seals 
were  intrusted  to  IM.  Barbe-3Iarbois ;  the  Duke 
de  Feltre  (Clark)  was  appointed  Minister  at 
War;  M.  Vaublanc,  JNIinister  of  the  Interior; 
while  the  Duke  de  Richelieu  dis-  i^  jjj  j^^ 
charged  the  duties  at  once  of  Pres-  136;  Lac.  i. 
ident  of  the  Council  and  Minister  358;Moniteur, 
of  Foreign  Aff-airs.'  ^^^"-  ^'  l^^^- 

Ariiand,  Duke  de  Richelieu,  grand-nephew 
by  his  sister  of  the  cardinal  of  the  43 

same  name,  was  grandson  of  the  Life  of  the 
Marshal  de  Richelieu,  so  celebrated  Duke  de  Rich- 
in  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.  as  the  '^'"^"' 
Alcibiades  of  France.  When  called  to  the  min- 
istry in  1815,  he  was  forty-nine  years  of  age. 
Consumed  from  his  earliest  years,  like  so  many 
other  great  men,  by  an  ardent  thirst  for  glory, 
he  had  joined  the  Russian  army  in  1785,  and 
shared  in  the  dangers  of  the  assault  of  Isma<»l 
under  Suwarofl'.  When  the  French  Revolution 
rent  the  nobles  and  the  people  of  France  asunder, 
he  hastened  from  the  Crimea  to  join^the  army 
of  the  emigrant  noblesse  under  the  Prince  of 
Condc;  and  remained  with  it  till  the  corps  was 
finally  dissolved  in  1794.  He  then  returned  to 
Russia,  where  he  was  at  first  kindly  received  by, 
but  soon  after  shared  in  the  caprices  of,  the 
Emperor  Paul.  On  the  accession  of  Alexander, 
t!.ie  conformity  of  their  dispositions,  with  the 
known  abilities  and  illustrious  descent  of  Riche- 
lieu, endeared  him  to  that  benevolent  monarch, 
and  he  selected  him  to  carry  into  execution  the 
philanthropic  views  which  he  had  formed  for 
the  improvement  of  the  soulhcrn  provinces  of 
his  vast  dominions.  During  ten  years  of  a  wise 
and  active  administration,  he  more  than  realized 
the  hope  of  his  illustrious  master.  The  progress 
of  the  province  intrusted  to  his  care  was  unpar- 
alleled, its  prosperity  unbroken,  during  his  ad- 
ministration.  To  his  sagacious  foresight  and 
prophetic  wisdom  Russia  owes  the  seaport  of 
Oi)Ess.\.  the  great  export  town  of  its  soulhcrn 
provinces,  and  which  opened  to  their  bouiidlcs.'j 
agricultural  plains  the  commerce  of  the  world. 
'I'hc  French  invasion  of  1812  recalled  him  from 
his  pacific  labors  to  the  defense  of  the  country 
and  he  shared  the  intimacy  and  coiin(;ils  of  Alex 
ander  di\ring  the  eventful    -car.^  which  succeed- 


66 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


[Cha?   fll. 


oil,  liU  the  laki.ijr  of  Paiis  in  ISM.     Allcrniitely 

, ,,  ,.  .  ut  I'uris,  at  Viomia,  or  at  (.iliont. 
'  Hioe.    I  niv.  ,  ,    1   I  ■     '  1 

an.Uii'liclioii  '"•'  ri'pi'csenlt'il  Ins  soveiTign,  anu 
Sup.;  Laiii.v.  served  as  a  link  between  tlio  eourt 
Silt, .WO;  Cap.  ol"  Russia  anil  the  newlv  established 
"••  '^"  '•^-      throne  of  Louis  XVIIL' 

His  character  qualitied  him  in  a  peculiar  man- 
ner lor  this  delicate  task,  and  now 

which  he  was  called — that  ol  stand- 
inij,  like  the  Jewish  lawgiver,  between  the  peo- 
ple  and  ihe  plague.  He  was  the  model  of  the 
ancient  Trench  nobility,  lor  he  united  in  his  per- 
son all  their  virtues,  and  he  was  free  iVoni  their 
weaknesses.  He  was  considered,  alike  in  the 
army  and  the  diplomatic  circles  at  homo  and 
abroatl,  as  the  most  pure  and  estimable  charac- 
ter which  had  arisen  during  the  storms  of  the 
Revolution.  His  fortunate  distance  from  France 
during  so  long  a  period,  at  once  preserved  him 
from  its  dangers,  and  caused  him  to  be  exempt 
from  its  delusions;  he  had  studied  mankind  in 
the  best  of  all  schools,  that  of  real  practical  im- 
provement, and  neither  in  that  of  theoretical 
speculations  nor  of  military  ambition.  His  phys- 
iognomy bespoke  his  character.  His  talents 
were  not  of  the  first  order,  but  his  moral  quali- 
ties were  of  the  purest  kind.  A  lofty  forehead 
bespoke  the  ascendant  of  intellect;  an  aquiline 
nose  and  high  features,  the  distinctive  mark  of 
family;  but  the  limpid  eye  and  mild  expression 
revealed  the  still  more  valuable  qualities  of  the 
heart.  It  would  seem  as  if  a  sad  and  serious 
revolution  had  passed  over  the  hereditary  lustre 
of  his  race,  and  impressed  upon  it  the  thought- 
ful and  melancholy  character  of  later  times. 
He  was  adored  by  his  sisters,  the  Countess  of 
Jumilhac,  and  the  Marquise  de  Montcalm,  the 
latter  of  whom  was  one  of  the  most  charming 
women  in  France  ;  but  it  required  all  their  influ- 
ence, joined  to  the  entreaties  of  the  king  and  the 
representations  of  the  Emperor  Alexander,  to 
•  Lam.  V.  359  overcome  his  natural  modesty,  or 
302;  Cap.  iii.  induce  him  to  take  the  helm  in  this 
^^^-  crisis  of  the  fortunes  of  his  country.' 

M.  Dec.\zes,  who  at  the  same  period  com- 
45.  menced  his  brilliant  career  under 

Biofrraphy  ol'  the  Restoration,  had  not  the  same 
M.  Decazes.  ^  advantage  of  family  as  the  Due  de 
Richelieu  ;  but  this  deficiency  was  compensated 
by  his  natural  abilities,  and  still  more  by  the 
address  and  fact  which  in  so  peculiar  a  manner 
fitted  him  to  be  the  minister  of  a  pacific  sover- 
eign. He  rose  to  greatness  neither  in  the  cabin- 
el  nor  the  field  ;  the  bureau  of  the  minister  of 
police  was  the  theatre  of  his  first  distinction.* 


*  "  lie  was  the  son  of  a  magistrate  of  Libourne,  in  the 
department  of  the  Gironde,  the  district  of  all  others  in 
!■  ranee  which  has  given  birth  to  the  greatest  number  of 
eminent  political  men,  and  made  the  greatest  figure  since 
the  Revolution  in  the  civil  government  of  the  country. 
Jle  was  ai  this  time  in  his  thirty-fifth  year.  He  had  come 
10  Paris  in  the  last  days  of  the  Empire,  to  prosecute  his 
.egal  studies,  when  his  elegant  manners  and  talent  in 
conversation  attracted  the  regard  of  the  daughter  of  M. 
Muraire,  the  President  of  the  Court  of  Cassation,  who 
bestowed  upon  him  her  hand.  This  led  to  his  obtaining 
employment  under  the  Imperial  Government,  but  he  did 
not  sliiire  in  ils  fall,  and,  both  during  the  first  Restoration 
and  Hundred  Days,  made  himself  conspicuous  by  his 
steady  adherence  to  Royalist  principles,  insomuch  that  he 
was  banished  to  a  distance  of  forty  leagues  from  Paris  by 
Napoleon.  This  was  the  making  of  his  fortune :  upon  the 
return  of  Louis  he  was  Immediately  selected  b)'  Fouche 
•iid  TaJlevrand  to  fill  the  situation  of  Prefect  of  the  Police, 


Ho.  had  already  becoi.ie  remarkable  for  the  zeal 
and  activity  with  which  he  had  discharged  the 
duties  of  prefect  of  ])olicc  at  Paris,  when  the 
skill  with  which  he  withdrew  its  funds  from  the 
rapacious  hands  of  the  Prussians  had  excited 
general  attention.  Rut  vrhat  chiefly  attracted 
the  confidence  of  Louis  was  his  natural  repug- 
nance to  and  distrust  of  Fouche,  and  yet  the  ex- 
perieneed  necessity  of  having  some  one  in  the 
police  on  whom  he  could  rely,  and  who  might 
supply  information  directly  on  the  state  of  public 
o])inion,  and  any  designs  which  might  be  in 
agitation.  In  short,  he  desired  a  spy  on  Fouche. 
who  had  spies  on  every  one  else  ;  and  the  address 
and  intelligence  of  M.  Decazes  answered  this 
object  so  completely,  that  he  had  already  come 
to  be  in  intimate  daily  communication  with  the 
sovereign,  before  the  chanse  of  ministry  opened 
to  him  the  situation  of  minister  of  jiolice.  His 
great  talent  consisted  in  his  knowledge  of  man- 
kind, and  his  ready  insight  into  the  prevailing 
dispositions  or  weaknesses  of  the  principal  per. 
sonages  with  whciii  he  was  brought  in  contact. 
Thus  he  early  divined  that  the  ruling  passion  of 
Louis  was  a  love  of  popularity,  his  prevailing 
inclination  a  love  of  ease,  and  his  favorite  amuse- 
ment hearing  and  retailing  little  anecdotes  and 
scandalous  reports,  which  the  agents  of  police 
could  of  course  furnish  to  him  in  sufficient 
abundance.  By  these  means,  joined  lo  his  fidel- 
ity to  the  interests  of  his  sovereign,  as  well  as 
the  indefatigable  zeal  with  which  he  attended  to 
the  duties  of  his  station,  he  not  merely  won  the 
confidence  of  his  sovereign,  but  the  esteem  of 
the  nation,  and  the  support  of  a  steady  majorit}' 
in  the  Chambers,  which  enabled  him  i  cap.  iii.  140 
to  conduct  the  administration  during  143  ;  Biog. 

several  years,  amidst  very  great  dif-  ^^"^-  Suppl. 
£      u-  -.i  .  .    •'  =  ,    (Decazes.) 

fieulties,  with  surprising  success.' 

The  new  ministry  had  need  of  all  their  skill 
and  influence  with  foreign  powers  ^g 

to    weather    the    difficulties    with  Difficulties  of 
which  they  were   surrounded,   for  the  negotia- 
never  did   embarrassments    to  ap-  f'o."s  with  the 
,  ,  '      allied  powers 

pearance  more  insurmountable  over- 
whelm any  government.  But  here  the  benevo- 
lent views  of  the  Emperor  Alexander,  and  the 
personal  influence  of  the  Duke  de  Richelieu  with 
that  monarch,  aided  by  the  moderation  of  En- 
gland and  the  justice  and  firmness  of  the  Duke 
of  Wellington,  came  to  the  timely  aid  of  the 
French  administration.  The  principal  difficulty 
was  with  the  lesser  powers :  the  great  states, 
farther  removed  from  the  scene  of  danger,  and 
having  more  extensive  resources  to  rely  on, 
were  more  easily  dealt  with.  But  in  appear- 
ance,  at  least,  the  Allies  were  entirely  united; 
all  their  deliberations  were  taken  and  answers 
given  in  common  ;  and  the  last  answer  of  31.  df 
Talleyrand,  before  he  went  out  of  office,  har 
only  called  forth  an  ultimatum  of  the  most  des 
perate  severity.  Not  only  were  enormous  pe- 
cuniary sacrifices  required  of  France,  but  large 
portions  of  its  territory  on  the  frontier  were  re 
claimed  for  Flanders,  Prussia,  and  the  lesse^ 
German  states.  The  Duke  de  Richelieu,  ii 
accepting  the  head  of  the  administration,  hac 
not  disguised  from  the  Emperor  Alexander  that 
he  did   so   in   reliance   on   his   moderation   and 


in  which  capacity  his  zeal,  acti\'ity,  and  devotion  soo» 
attracted  the  regard  of  Louis  XV ill." — Lamartine,  v 
214,216;  axid  Biographie  Vniti'sdle — Suppl   (Decades.) 


:si5.] 


HISTORY    0 


friendship;  nml,  in  a  secret  interview,  the  Czar 
had  assured  him  that  he  should  not  do  so  in  vain. 
"I  have  no  other  interest,"  said  the  monarch, 
"in  this  negotiation,  but  to  secure  the  repose  of 
the  world,  and  the  stability  of  the  system  which 
we  are  establishing  in  France."  With  that  very 
view,  however,  he  was  easily  brought  to  see  the 
necessity  of  moderating  the  demands  of  the  allied 
powers,  and  not  exacting  conditions  which  would 
prove  an  arret  dc  mnrt  to  the  dynasty,  the  sta- 
bility of  which  appeared  the  only  guarantee  for 
the  peace  of  Europe.  But  so  keen  were  the 
feelings  of  the  allied  sovereigns  that  it  required 
all  his  influence,  joined  to  the  energetic  co-opera- 
tion of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  to  obtain  any 
considerable  modification  of  the  demands;  and 
as  it  was,  the  Duke  de  Richelieu  said,  at  the 
time  he  signed  the  treaty,  and  only  on  the  earn- 
est entreaties  with  tears  of  the  kini:,  that  he  did 
so  -'more  dead  than  alive.'"*  The  Emperor 
Alexander  gave  him  at  the  time  a  map  cotftain- 
ing  the  provinces  marked  which  had  been  re- 
claimed by  the  allied  powers,  and  which  he  had 
prevailed  on  them  to  waive  their  claims  to. 
'■Keep  it,"  said  the  Czar;  "I  have  preserved 
that  one  copy  for  you  alone.  It  will  bear  testi- 
mony in  future  times  to  your  services  and  my 
.  lendship  for  France,  and  it  will  be  the  noblest 
lap.  iii.2I9,  ^''1^  of  nobility  in  your  family." 
:'■'>;  Lam.  v.  It  is  Still  in  possession  of  his  suc- 
ifOoui  L«ac.  ce.ssors.^ 
It  is  remarkable  that  Austria  was  the  great 

power  with  vi'hich  there  was  most 
Exnriiltantde-  'I'fficulty  in  coming  to  an  accommo- 
mands  of Aus-  dation.  She  openly  demanded  the 
tria  and  tile  cession  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  the 
lesser  povv-      first  inheritance  of  her  family  ;  and 

in  order  to  induce  Prussia  to  concur 
in  the  spoliation,  she  offered  to  support  the  de- 
mand for  that  power  of  any  fortresses  on  the 
frontier  from  Cond6  and  Philipville,  in  the  Low 
Countries,  to  Joux  and  Fort  Ecliise  on  the 
borders  of  Switzerland.  Finding  Prussia  too 
much  under  the  influence  of  Russia  and  England 
in  acquiesce  in  these  demands,  the  cabinet  of 
Vienna  addressed  itself  to  the  lesser  German 
powers,  and  conjointly  with  them  prepared  a 
plan  by  which  France  was  to  be  shorn  of  great 
part  of  its  frontier  provinces,  and  nearly  all  its 
strong  places  on  the  Rhine.  They  even  v."ent 
so  far  as  to  demand  the  demolition  of  the  fortifi- 
cations of  Huningen  and  Strasbourg.  When  this 
project  was  submitted  to  the  Emperor  Alexan- 
der, he  communicated  it  to  the  Duke  de  Riche- 
nea  who  exclaimed,  "They  are  determined  on 
another  war  of  twenty-five  years'  duration ;  well, 
they  shall  have  it !  In  a  few  days  the  army  of 
the  Loire  could  be  recalled  to  its  standards  and 
doubled;  la  Vendee  will  join  its  ranks,  and 
monarchical  France  will  show  itself  not  less 
formidable  than  Republican."  Louis  XV'III. 
declared  that  there  was  no  chance  of  wir  so 
terrible  or  disastrous,  which  he  would  not  prefer 
to  a  treaty  so  ignominious.     But  these  were  vain 

*  "Tout  est  consomm6  !  J'ai  npi)0H6  plus  niort  quo 
Tif  mon  nom  a  ce  fatal  traiti;.  .I'avais  jur6  de  nc  pas  le 
faire,  et  jc  I'avais  dit  au  Iloi.  Ce  inallieurcux  Prince  m'a 
conjur6,  en  fondant  cii  lanncs,  do  ne  pas  I'abandonner, 
Je  n'ai  plus  h6sit6  I  J'ai  la  confiance  de  croiro  (juo  per- 
Honnc  n'aurait  ol)tenu  autant '.  La  France,  cxpirar't  sous 
le  poids  de  calamitcs  qui  raccable,rcclamait  imp6ricuse- 
ment  une  proniple  delivrance." — ,1/.  le  Due  (le7iicnY.hiKv 
a  Madame  la  Marquise  dc  Montcalm,  sans  date  -Lamar- 
TtNE,  V.  365. 


F    EUROPE.  67 

menaces;  eight  hundred  thousand  armed  mec 
were  in  possession  of  the  French  capital,  fo« 
tresses,  and  territory ;  its  army  was  disbanded 
and  it  had  no  resource  but  in  the  moderation  oi 
policy  of  the  conquerors.  At  length,  by  the 
united  eflTorts  of  the  Emperor  Alexander,  Lord 
Castlereagh,  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  the 
demands  of  Austria  and  the  lesser  German  pow- 
ers were  abated,  and  a  treaty  was  concluded, 
which,  although  much  less  disastrous  than  might 
in  the  circumstances  have  been  expected,  was 
the  most  humiliating  which  had  been  imposed 
on  France  since  the  treaty  of  Bre-  i  Lac.  i.  360, 
tigny  closed  the  long  catalogue  of   361 ;  Lam.   i^ 

disasters  consequent  on  the  battle  ^.';'*'' ^!',"  i,i-I'*l'" 

f  .     •  .  ,  ^  111.  220, 223, 

01  Agincourt.i 

By  this  treaty  the  limits  of  France  were  fixed 
as  they  had  been  in  1790,  with  the  43. 

following  exceptions  :  the  fortresses  Treaty  of  Pa- 
of  Landau,  Sarre-Louis,  Philipville,  !:'«>  ^'o^-  ^0, 
and  Marienbourg,  with  the  territory 
annexed  to  each,  were  ceded  to  the  Allies;  Ver- 
soix,  with  a  small  district  around  it,  was  ceded 
to  the  canton  of  Geneva ;  the  fortifications  of 
Huningen  were  to  be  demolished  ;  but  the  little 
territory  of  Venaisin,  the  first  conquest  of  the 
Revolution,  was  preserved  to  France.  Such  was 
the  moderation  of  the  Allies,  that  after  so  entire 
an  overthrow  she  lost  only  twenty  square  leaijues 
of  territory,  while,  by  the  retention  of  the  Ve- 
naisin, she  gained  forty  square  leagues.  But  the 
payments  in  money  exacted  from  her  were  enor- 
mous, and  felt  as  the  more  galling  because  they 
were  a  badge  of  conquest.  A  contribution  of 
700, 000, 000^ francs  (£28,000,000)  was  provided 
to  the  allied  powers,  as  an  indemnity  for  the 
expense  of  their  last  armaments,  to  be  paid  reg- 
ularly day  by  day.  In  addition  to  this,  France 
agreed  to  pay  73-5,000,000  francs  (i;29,500,000) 
as  an  indemnity  to  the  allied  powers  for  the 
contributions  which  the  French  troops  had,  at 
I  different  times  during  the  war,  exacted  from 
i  them;  besides  100.000,000  francs  (X1,000,000) 
;  to  the  lesser  powers  who  subsequently  joined 
I  the  Alliance— in  all,  1,535,000,000  francs,  or 
£01,500,000  ; — probably  the  greatest  money 
payment  ever  exacted  from  any  one  nation 
j  since  the  beginning  of  the  world.*  In  addition 
to  this,  it  was  stipulated,  as  a  measure  alike  of 
security  to  Europe  and  protection  to  the  ncwly- 

I  *  The  proportions  in  which  this  sum  was  claimed  by 
the  Allies,  and  agreed  to  be  paid  by  France,  were  as  fol- 
lows : 

Frnnc.  £. 

Austria 189.000,000  or  7,360,000 

I'russia 106,000,000"  4,210,000 

Netherlands 88,000,000   "  3,520,000 

Sardinia 73,000,000"  2,920,000 

Hamburg 71,000,000"  2,840,000 

,      Tuscany 4,.'500,000   "  180,000 

:      Parma    2,000,000   "  80,000 

Bremen 3,000,000  "  120,000 

Lubock 4,000,000"  160,000 

Haden  1 ,500,000   "  60,000 

Hanover  25,000,0(10"  1,000,000 

Hesse  Cassel 1 ,500,000   "  60,000 

Hesse  Darmstadt,  &c,..  20,000,000"  800,001) 

I      Mecklenborg-Schwcrin . .  1,000,000"  40,000 

'      Denmark 17,000,000"  680,000, 

Rome    20,000,000   "  1,1 60,0110 

I      Davaria    72,000,000   "  2,120,000 

Frankfort  3,000,000   "  120,000 

Switzerland 5,000,000   "  200,OOC 

I      Saxony  15,000,000   "  fiOO,OOC 

I      Prussian  Saxony 5,000,000   "  200,09? 

735,500,000   "   ■n*,SOO,0^ 
--C'ArEFiouE     .  227 


cs 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.  Ill 


^stalilishoil  ilynasty  in  Franco,  that  an  aiiny  of 
iTiO.OOO  men,  bolon<,'in!f  to  llie  Allies,  was  to 
lie  put  in  possession  of  the  |)rineipal  frontier  for- 
tresses of  France — viz.,  Caiiihray,  Valenciennes, 
liouehain.  Conde,  Quesnoy,  Maiibctipe,  Laniire- 
cies,  Avcnnes,  Rocroy,  CJivet,  Sedan,  Montmedy, 
Thionville,  Longwy,  Bitehe,  and  Fort  Louis — 
for  not  less  tlian  three,  nor  more  than  five  years. 
This  army  was  to  he  entirely  maintained,  paid, 
,  J.  and  clothed  at  the  expense  of  the 

tyirTMartoMs]  French  nation.  The  continjrcnt  of 
Rei-iu'ii  lies  '  Great  Britain  was  30,000  men;  and 
TraiiC's.  ii.  \\-^q  goal  was  put  to  its  national 
soluH-lK'.xr''  S'o'T.  "nJ  t'l*^  personal  fame  of  its 
501,  Si's;  fjrcal  General,  by  the  allied  sover- 
Hard.  xii.  540,  eigns  unanimously  conferring  the 
sio'q'>9''   '"    C"fi"'""<'   o'    'he   whole    upon  the 

'   *'  Duko  of  Wellington.' 

On  the  same  day  on  which  this  treaty  was 
49.  signed,    another   treaty    was    con- 

Convention  of  eluded  between  Russia,  Prussia, 
aoih  Nov  be-  Austria,  and  England,  which  after- 
Iwcen  the  al-  ,   ,  '  r         '     .   ,    . 

lied  powers,  ward  became  ci  essential  import- 
ibr  exclusion  ance  in  the  direction  of  European 
oi"  Napoleon  afiiiirs.  France  was  no  party  to  this 
and  his  family  .       ,        •.  i     i    i    ri      ,i     . 

from  the  treaty;  it  was  concluded,  like  that 

throne  of  of  Chaumont  in  1813,  as  a  measure 
France.  of  security    for  the    allied   powers 

among  each  other.  By  it  the  four  allied  powers 
renewed,  in  all.  its  provisions,  the  treaties  of 
Chaumont  and  Vienna,  and  in  an  especial  man- 
ner those  which  "  exclude  forever  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  and  his  famihj  from  the  throne  of 
France."  *  It  was  declared  that  the  occupa- 
tion, during  a  limited  number  of  years,  of  the 
military  positions  in  France,  was  intended  to 
carry  into  effect  these  stipulations  ;  and,  in  con- 
sequence, they  mutually  engaged,  in  case  the 
army  of  occupation  should  be  menaced  by  an 
attack  on  the  part  of  France,  or  if  a  general 
war  should  arise,  to  furnish  without  delay,  in 
addition  to  the  forces  left  in  France,  each  their 
full  contingent  of  00,000  men.  Should  these 
prove  insufficient,  they  engaged  to  bring  each 
their  whole  forces  into  action,  so  as  to  bring 
the  contest  to  an  immediate  and  favorable  issue, 
and  in  that  event  to  make  such  pacific  arrange- 
ments as  might  effectually  guarantee  Europe 
from  a  return  of  similar  calamities.  This  treaty 
•was  communicated  to  the  Duke  de  Richelieu, 
with  a  letter  from  the  four  allied  powers,  in 
which  they  expressed  their  entire  confidence  in 
the  wisdom  and  prudence  of  the  king's  govern- 
ment, and  his  determination,  without  distinction 
of  party,  or  lending  an  ear  to  passionate  coun- 
cils, to  maintain  peace  and  the  rule  of  justice  in 
his  dominions,  t      Finallj',  it  was  determined  to 

*  "Lcs  hautes  puissances  renouvellent  et  confirment 
particnlierement  Vexclusion  a  perpetuile  de  Napoleon 
Buonaparte,  et  de  sa  familh,  du  pouvoir  supreme  en 
Trance,  qu'elles  s'engagent  a  maintenir  en  pleine  vigueur, 
et,  s"il  etait  necessaire,  avec  toutes  leurs  forces." — Act  2, 
Convention,  20th  November,  1815  ;  Schoell,  xi.  063,  and 
Martens'  Sup. 

t  "Les  Cabinets  Allies  trouvent  la  premiere  garantie 
de  cet  espoir  dans  les  principes  eclaires,  les  sentimens 
magnanimes,  et  les  vertus  personnelles  de  sa  Majeste 
tres  chrctienne.  Sa  Majeste  a  reconnu  avec  eux,  que 
dans  un  elat  ddchir^  pendant  un  quart  de  siecle,  par  des 
convulsions  revolutionnaires,  ce  n'est  pas  a  la  force  seule 
a  ramener  le  calme  dans  lcs  esprits,  la  confiance  dans  les 
ames,  et  I'equilibre  dans  les  differentes  parties  du  corps 
social ;  que  la  sagesse  doit  se  joindre  a  la  vigueur,  la 
moderation  a  la  fermet6,  pour  operer  des  chanpemens 
heureux.  Loin  de  craindre  que  sa  Majeste  ne  pretat  ja- 
mais roredle  a  des  conscils  imprudens  ou  passionnis, 


renew  at  stated  periods  these  congresses  of  so\ 
ereitrns,  to  arranL'o  without  blood-  •,  c„i,„„» 

1         r     1  .V    ■  .^..  II  SchOOlI  :     XI 

siieil  the  allairs  oi  Europe;  and  the  503,565;  Mar 
first  of  these  was  lixed  for  the  au-  tens'  Su)).  n. 
tumnoflSlS.'  Cap.i23'J,4() 

On  the  same  day  on  which  these  importan 
treaties  were  signed,  another  one,  ^ 

which  ac(iuirod  still  greater  ccle-  -pj^g  jjq]„  ^j. 
brity  at  the  time,  but  was  not  des-  liaiice,  and 
lined  to  jiroducc  such  duralile  con-  ^"lUNe.s  whicfc 
sequences  in  the  end,  was  conclud-  go  jgJs  '  °* 
cd.  This  was  the  celebrated  treaty 
of  "  TuK  Holy  Alliance."  Its  author  was 
the  Emperor  Alexander.  This  sovereign,  whosi, 
strength  of  mind  and  knowledge  of  mankin^ 
were  not  equal  to  the  magnanimity  of  his  dis- 
position ami  the  benevolence  of  his  heart,  hai' 
been  in  some  degree  carried  away  by  the  all 
important  part  he  had  been  called  on  to  pla 
at  the  first  taking  of  Paris  and  the  Congress  oi 
Vienna,  and  the  unbounded  admiration,  alike 
among  his  friends  and  his  enemies,  with  which 
his  noble  and  generous  conduct  on  these  occa- 
sions had  been  received.  He  had  come  to  con- 
ceive, in  consequence,  that  the  period  had  ar- 
rived when  these  prineijilcs  might  permanently 
regulate  the  aflairs  of  the  world  —  when  the 
seeds  of  evil  might  be  eradicated  from  the  human 
heart;  and  when  the  peaceful  reign  of  the  Gos 
pel,  announced  from  the  throne,  might  forever 
supersede  the  rude  empire  of  the  sword.  In  the 
belief  of  the  advent  of  this  moral  millennium, 
and  of  the  lead  which  it  was  his  mission  to  take 
in  inducing  it,  he  was  strongly  supported  by  the 
influence  and  counsels  of  iMadame  Krudener,  a 
lady  of  great  talents,  eloquence,  and  an  enthu- 
siastic turn  of  mind,  who  had  followed  him  from 
St.  Petersburg  to  Paris,  and  was  equally  per- 
suaded with  himself  that  the  time  was  approach- 
ing when  wars  were  to  cease,  and  the  reign  of 
peace,  virtue,  and  the  Gospel,  was  to  commence 
on  the  earth,  Alexander,  during  September  and 
October  of  this  year,  spent  whole  days  at  Paris 
in  a  mystical  communication  of  sentiments  with 
this  remarkable  lady.  Their  united  idea  was  the 
establishment  of  a  common  international  law, 
founded  on  Christianity,  over  all  Europe,  which 
was  at  once  to  extinguish  the  religious  divisions 
which  had  so  long  distracted,  and  the  warlike 
contests  which  had  desolated  it.  Sovereigns 
were  to  be  regulated  by  the  principles  of  viitiie 
and  religion,  the  people  to  surrender  themselves 
in  peace  and  happiness  to  the  universal  regen- 

tendant  a  nourrir  lcs  mecontentemens,  k  r«nouveier  les 
alarmes,  a  ramener  lcs  haines  et  les  divisions,  les  Cabi- 
nets Allies  sont  completement  rassures,  par  les  disposi- 
tions aussi  sages  que  genereuses,  que  le  Roi  a  annoncee."! 
dans  toutes  les  epoques  de  son  regne,  et  notarnment  a 
celle  de  son  retour  aprcs  le  dernier  attentat  criminel.  lis 
savent  que  sa  Majeste  opposera  a  tous  les  ennemis  du 
bien  public,  et  de  la  tranquillite  de  son  royaume,  sous 
quelque  forme  qu'ils  puissent  se  presenter,  son  altache- 
ment  axix  lois  constitutionelles  prornulguees  sous  ses  pro- 
pres  auspices,  sa  volonte  bien  pronoucee  d'etre  le  pere 
de  tous  ses  sujets,  sans  distinction  de  classe  ni  de  relig- 
ion ;  d'effacer  jusqu'au  souvenir  des  maux  qu'ils  ont 
soufferts,  et  de  ne  conserver  des  temps  passes  que  le 
bien  que  la  Providence  a  fait  sortir  du  sein  nieme  des 
catamites  publiques.  Ce  n'est  qu'  ainsi  que  les  vcbux 
formes  par  les  Cabinets  Allies,  pour  la  conservation  d 
I'autorit^  constitutionnelle  de  sa  Majeste,  pour  le  bonheur 
de  son  pays,  et  le  maintien  de  la  paix  du  monde,  seront 
couronnes  d'un  succes  complet,  et  que  la  France,  retab- 
lie  snr  ses  anciennes  bases,  reprendra  la  place  eminente 
a  laquelle  elle  est  appelee  dans  le  systeme  Europeen."— 
Lettres  ties  Quatre  Puissances  a  M.  le  Due  de  Richtiiiti. 
20  Nov.  IS15- -Schoell,  xi.  565  506 


d 


1&).5.J 


HISTOrxY    OF    EUROPE. 


es 


eraiiou  of  maiikinJ.     This  treaty,  from  being  '  and  class  them  with  tlie  pl)iiantlir(i|/ic  eflusioni 
concluded    between   the   absolute    monarehs   ol' ;  of  Freemason  meetings,  or  the  jjcii-  i  s„g  .i,e 
Riissia,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  was  long-  the  ob-    erous  transports ol'a crowded  theatre  treaty  in 


jeet  of  dread  and  jealousy  to  the  liberal  and  rev- 
olutionary party  throughout  Europe.  But  now 
that  its  provisions  have  become  known,  it  is  re- 
garded in  a  very  ditferent  light,  and  looked  upon 


which  melt  away  next  morning  be-  Sciioell,  xi. 

fore  the  interests,   the  selfishness,  ?^^'^^'*.i'^l.''£" 
,     ,  ', .    .  ,  ,  ,         '   tens,  xui.  6U/. 

and  the  passions  oi  the  world.' 

This  treaty,  out  of  compliment  to  its  known 


as  one  of  the  etTusions  of  inexperienced  cnthu- j  author,  the  Emperor  Alexander,  was  50 


siasm  and  benevolence,  to  be  classed  with  the 
dreams  as  to  the  indefinite  prolongation  of  hu- 
man life  of  Condorcet,  or  the  visions  of  the 
1  (^  iii.216  Peace  Congress  which  amused  Eu- 
217;  Lam.  v!  rope  amid  universal  preparations 
369, 370  ;_Lac.  for  war  in  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
1.  36G,  3G7.        teenth  century. 1 

By  this  celebrated  alliance,  the  three  monarehs 

gj  subscribing — viz.,  the  Emperors  of  1  straints  imposed  upon  him  as  a  constitutional 

Terms  of  the    Russia  and  Austria,  and  the  King  of  monarch  prevented  him  from  becoming  a  party 

IlolyAllumce.  Prussia — bound  themselves, "in  con- I  to  any  convention  which  was  not  countersigned 
Nov.  20,  1815  1  I  -■  rt 


ere  long  acceded  to  by  nearly  all  Treaties  re- 
the    Continental    sovereigns.      But  garding  tlie 
as  it  was  signed  by  the  sovereigns  RussiLriull-'' 
alone,  without  the  sanction  or  inter-  sidy,  and  Na- 
ventionoftheir  ministers,  the  Prince-  poleonBuona- 
Regent,  by  the  advice  of  Lord  Cas-  P'*''"^- 
tlereagh,  judiciously  declared,  that  while  he  ad- 
hered to  the  principles  of  that  Alliance,  the  re- 


formity  with  the  principles  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  which  order  all  men  to  regard 
each  other  as  brothers,  and,  considering  them- 
selves as  compatriots,  to  lend  each  other  every 
aid,  assistance  and  succor,  on  every  occasion ; 
and,  regarding  themselves  toward  their  subjects 
and  armies  as  fathers,  to  direct  them  on  every 
occasion  in  the  same  spirit  of  fraternity  with 
which  they  are  animated  to  protect  religion, 
peace,  and  justice.  In  consequence,  the  sole 
principle  in  vigor,  either  between  the  said  gov- 
ernments or  among  their  subjects,  shall  be  the 
determination  to  render  each  other  reciprocal 
aid,  and  to  testify,  by  continued  good  deeds,  the 
unalterable  mutual  affection  by  which  they  are 
animated  ;  to  consider  themselves  only  as  mem- 
bers of  a  great  Christian  nation,  and  not  regard- 
ing themselves  but  as  delegates  appointed  by 
Providence  to  govern  three  branches  of  the  same 
family — viz.,  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Russia;  con- 
fessing also  that  the  Christian  nation  of  which 
they  and  their  people  form  a  part  has  in  reality 
no  other  sovereign  to  whom  of  right  belongs  all 
power,  because  He  alone  possesses  all  the  trea- 
sures of  love,  knowledge,  and  infinite  wisdom — 
that  is  to  say,  God  Almighty,  our  Divine  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Word  of  the  Most  High,  the 
Word  of  Life — they  recommend  in  the  most 
c;irnest  manner  to  their  people,  as  the  onlj'  way 
(>r  securing  that  peace  which  flows  from  a  good 
co„science,  and  which  alcne  is  durable,  to  fortify 
ihomselves  every  day   more  and   more   in   the 

frinciples  and  exercise  of  the  duties  which  the 
)ivine  Saviour  has  taught  to  men.  All  the 
powers  which  may  feel  inclined  to  avow  the 
sacred  principles  which  have  dictated  the  pres- 
ent treaty,  and  who  may  perceive  how  import- 
ant it  is  for  the  happines.s  of  nations  too  long 
agitated    that    these    truths  should    henceforth 


by  a  responsible  minister.  Several  minor  treat- 
ies, but  still  of  considerable  importance  in  future 
times,  were  also  concluded  in  the  usual  way  be- 
tween the  allied  powers  in  this  great  diplomatic 
year.  1.  The  first  of  these  regarded  the  seven 
lonianlslands,  which  had  been  taken  ..       ,    ,c.,^ 

ri.     r^        ^  r,   ■.    ■      1  r\oy.  5,   lbl5. 

possession  oi  by  Great  Bntam  during 
the  campaign  of  1813,  with  the  exception  of 
Corfu,  ceded  to  them  by  the  treaty  of  1S14,  but 
the  destiny  of  which  had  not  hitherto  been  made 
the  subject  of  a  formal  treaty  between  the  allied 
powers.  It  was  now  provided  that  the  Islands 
should  form  a  separate  state,  to  be  entitled  the 
"United  States  of  the  Ionian  Islands,"  to  be 
placed  under  the  immediate  protection  of  Great 
Britain,  by  whom  its  fortresses  were  to  be  gar- 
risoned and  governors  appointed — all  the  other 
powers  renouncing  any  pretensions  in  that  re- 
spect. 2.  In  consideration  of  the  f.  ,  .  j^,,- 
vast  efforts  made  by  Russia  during  "  ' 
the  preceding  campaign,  which,  it  was  declared, 
had  moved  100,000  men  into  the  interior  of 
France  beyond  what  she  was  bound  to  have  done 
by  the  existing  treaties,  of  whom  40,000  were 
placed  under  the  immeclirite  command  of  Iho 
Duke  of  Wellington,  besides  a  reserve  force  of 
l.'JOjOOO,  which  had  passed  her  frontier,  and 
advanced  as  far  as  Franconi.T,  Great  Britain 
agreed  to  pay  to  that  power  an  additional  sub- 
sidy of  10,400,000  francs,  (X  llG.GtiO.)  3.  A  con- 
vention  was  concluded  bci'wcen  the  four  allied 
powers  on  the  2d  August,  181.5,  for  the    .  , 

disposal  ol  the  person  of  Napoleon.  By 
it  he  was  declared  a  prisoner  of  the  four  allied 
powers  which  had  signed  the  treaty  of  2.5ll: 
March  preceding,  at  Vienna.  The  custody  of 
his  person  was  in  an  especial  manner  intrusted 
to  the  British  Government;  but  the  three  other 
powers  were  to  name  commissioners,  who  should 


exercise  on  human  destinies  all  the  influence  reside  at  the  place  which  the  British  Govern 
which  should  pertain  to  them,  shall  be  received  mcnt  should  assign  as  his  ])lace  of  residence, 
with  as  much  eagerness  as  affection  into  the  ,  without  sharing  the  responsibility  of  his  delenl 
present  alliance.  (Signed)  Francis,  Frederick-'  tion.  The  King  of  Franco  was  to  bo  invited  t.i 
Wiliam,  Alexander."  There  is  no  good  Chris-  send  a  commissioner,  and  the  Prince-Rcgciit  of 
tian,  and  even  no  good  man  with  a  good  heart,  [  Great  Britain  pledged  himself  faith-  i  scliodl  xi. 
who  must  not  feel  that  the  princijtlcs  recognized  fully  to  perform  the  engagements  550,  Ooa/Mnr 
in  this  treaty  are  those  which  should  act  jate  the  :  undertaken  by  him  in  this  treaty.'  '"•'«>  "'•  ^27 
conduct  both  of  sovereigns  and  their  subjects:  Such  were  the  treaties  of  181.';,  for  ever  mcni. 
and  that  the  real  millennium  is  to  be  looked  for  \  orablo    as  terminating,  for  a  time  53, 

when  they  shall  do  so,  and  not  till  then.  But  the  at  least,  the  revolutionary  govern-  neflcctionHon 
experienced  observer  of  mankind  in  all  ranks  ments  in  the  civilized  world,  and  these  treaties 
and  ages  will  regret  to  think  how  little  bkely  closing  in  a  durable  manner  the  ascend*  ncy  of 
'hev  are   to   bo   carried       xclically  into  ell'ect,    Imperial  Franco  in  Europe.     It  is  hard   to  aa\ 


/o 


rilSTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


.Cut 


III 


whetlior  llit  inajjnitmle  of  the  triumphs  which 
h;ul  piocciloil  it,  or  the  nKulcriitioii  displiiyeil  hy 
tho  victors  in  the  moinciit  orcoiuiucst,  were  the 
most  aiimirublc.  France,  imleeil,  was  subjected 
to  immense  pecuniary  payments,  but  that  was 
only  in  requital  of  those  which  she  had,  in  the 
hoiir  of  her  triumph,  imposed  on  others  ; — and 
they  did  not  reach  halt"  their  amount,  for  £01,- 
000,000  sterling  only  was  imposed  on  France, 
with  its  oO,OOOJ)00  oMuhabitants;  whereas  Na- 
poleon, after  the  battle  of  Jena,  had  imposed 
£■24,000,000,  in  contributions  and  military  ex- 
actions, on  Prussia  alone,  which  had  only  0,000,- 
WlistofEu  000  of  souls  in  its  dominions.'  But 
rope.  e.  40,  <)  as  rcf^ards  durable  losses,  she  not 
'i^■  only  had  no  ground  of  complaint, 

but  the  highest  reason  to  be  satisfied  and  grate- 
ful. After  the  most  entire  conquest  and  subju- 
gation recorded  in  history,  when  her  Emperor 
was  a  prisoner,  her  capital  taken,  her  army  dis- 
banded, and  1,100,000  men  were  in  possession 
of  her  fortresses  and  territory,  she  lost  only 
twenty  square  leagues  of  territory,  just  half  the 
area  of  the  Venaisin,  the  first  conquest  of  the 
Revolution,  which  she  was  permitted  to  retain ! 
What  did  Napoleon  do  to  Prussia  after  the  battle 
of  Jena  ? — Deprived  her  of  half  of  her  dominions,' 
2  Hist,  of  Eu-  What  to  Austria,  after  the  battle 
rope,  c.  xlvi,  ^  of  Wagram? — Cut  off  a  sixth  of 
'"•  the  whole  Austrian  States  from  the 

house  of  Hapsburg,^  If  the  allied  powers  had 
'Hist. ofEu-  acted  to  France  as  France  did  to 
rope,  c.  U.  them  in  the  hour  of  her  triumph, 
♦  41^-  they  would  have  reft  from  her  Lor- 

raine, Alsace,  Picardy,  Franche-Comte,  French 
Flanders,  and  Roussillon,  and  reduced  the  mon- 
archy to  what  it  was  in  the  days  of  Louis  XL 
And  England,  in  an  especial  manner,  displayed 
the  magnanimity  in  prosperity  which  is  the 
true  test  of  greatness  of  soul.  She  made  no 
attempt  to  retaliate  upon  France  in  the  moment 
of  its  sorrow  the  successful  partition  of  her 
dominions  by  the  accession  of  Louis  XVL  to  the 
American  War,  but  when  her  ancient  rival  was 
prostrate  at  her  feet,  threw  the  whole  of  her 
weight  in  diplomacy  to  moderate  the  demands 
of  the  victors ;  and,  when  the  treaty  was  con- 
cluded, took  neither  one  ship  nor  one  village  to 
herself,  and  bestowed  the  whole  of  the  war  in- 
demnity which  fell  to  her  share  upon  the  king- 
dom of  the  Netherlands,  to  reconstruct  the  bar- 
«nist.  ofEu-  ^^^^'  ■^'h'ch  had  been  cast  down  by 
rope,  c.  ix.  9  the  philanthropic  delusions  of  Joseph 
52-  IL  before  the  Revolution.* 

It  was  'a  the  midst  of  the  negotiations  which 
were  to  lead  to  these  results  that 
Vwlenf'temp-  ^^^  Chambers  met  in  France,  and 
er  and  dispo-  the  strong  feelings  of  the  nation 
sition  of  ttie  found  a  vent  in  the  resolutions  and 
Chamber  of  measures  of  its  representatives.  It 
might  have  been  anticipated,  what 
experience  soon  proved  to  be  the  case,  that  the 
greatest  difficulties  of  the  Government  in  this 
crisis  would  be,  not  with  the  strangers,  but  with 
its  own  subjects,  and  that  the  violence  of  the 
legislature  would  call  for  measures  which  the 
wisdom  and  foresight  of  the  executive  would  be 
fain  to  moderate.  This  is  invariably  the  ease. 
Great  reactions  in  public  opinion  never  take 
place  from  the  force  of  argument,  howsoever 
convinciniT,  or  the  evidence  of  facts  alTecting 
•iihers,    h  w   conclusive    soever.      Against    all 


sudi  the  groat  majority  of  mc  are  always  suf. 
liuienlly  fortified,  il'  their  ])assions  are  inflamed, 
or  their  interests,  or  supposed  interests,  are  al 
stake.  But  this  very  circumstance  renders  the 
reaction  the  more  violent,  and  the  more  to  be 
dreaded,  when  these  passions  or  interests  are 
turned  the  other  way,  and  men  are  taught  by 
suU'ering,  and,  above  all,  by  pecuniary  losses,  to 
themselves,  the  consequences  of  the  course 
which  they  have  so  long  pursued,  and  to  the 
dangers  of  which  they  remained  obstinately 
blind  till  those  consequences  were  fully  devel- 
oped. That  effect  had  now  taken  place  in 
France;  events  had  succeeded  each  other  wilh 
more  than  railway  speed  ;  the  last  three  years 
had  done  the  work  of  lliree  centuries.  Tho 
forces  which  poured  into  France  had  gone  on  in- 
creasing till  they  had  now  reached  the  stupen- 
dous amount  of  eleven  hundred  ami  forty  tlioit- 
sand  men.  The  armed  multitude  was  all  led  and 
maintained  by  the  French  people  ;  and  exactions 
of  an  enormous  and  unheard-of  amount  were 
made  upon  the  government,  for  the  expenses 
which  the  putting  such  a  crusade  in  motion  had 
occasioned  to  the  foreign  governments.  The 
truths  which  reason  and  justice  would  have 
striven  in  vain  to  impress  upon  the  majority  in 
France,  were  now  brought  home  to  every  breast 
by  the  irresistible  force  of  mortification  and  suf- 
fering ;  and,  in  despair  of  effecting  any  thing 
against  the  Allies,  who  were  the  immediate 
cause  of  their  disasters,  the  only  1  Cai). iii.  167 
vent  which  the  public  indignation  189 ;  Lam.  v! 
could  find  was  against  the  party  in  373, 374;  Lac 
France  which  had  induced  them.'     '' 

Great  as  the  dangers  were  which,  under  any 
circumstances,  must  have  beset  a  ,, 

legislature  elected  amid  the  fer-  composition 
vor  of  such  feelings,  they  were  and  parties  in 
much  aggravated  in  France  by  the  ^'^  Cham- 
peculiar  situation  of  the  provinces, 
from  which  a  majority  of  the  representatives  had 
been  drawn.  The  gieat  addition  of  133  mem- 
bers made  to  the  Chamber  of  Representatives 
by  the  royal  ordinance  of  July,  which  raised 
their  number  to  3S9,  and  the  admission  by  the 
same  ordinance  of  all  the  members  of  the  Le- 
gion of  Honor  to  the  right  of  voting,  joined  to 
the  general  excitement  and  vehemently  roused 
passions  of  the  moment,  had  immensely  increas- 
ed the  Royalist  majority  in  the  Chamber.  So 
entire  had  been  the  defeat  of  the  Imperial  and 
Republican  parties  in  the  elections,  that  the  re- 
gular opposition — that  is,  the  persons  attached 
to  the  Republican  or  Imperial  Government — • 
could  never  muster  above  forty  or  fifty  votes. 
The  majority  was  composed  of  persons  about 
the  court — emigrants,  journalists,  or  pamphlet- 
eers on  the  side  of  the  ancien  regime^  nobles 
from  the  provinces,  or  red-hot  Royalists  from  the 
departments — men  wholly  unacquainted  with 
business,  in  great  part  imperfectly  educated, 
but  all  smarting  under  the  intolerable  sense  ol 
present  wrongs,  and  conceiving  themselves  in- 
trusted with  one  only  duty — that  of  avenging  on 
their  authors  the  sins  and  sufferings  of  France. 
One  universal  feeling  of  indignation  pervaded 
this  bod^',  and  in  the  vehement  passions  with 
which  it' was  animated  the  women  of  the  high- 
est lank  connected  with  the  members  stood 
pre-eminent,  and  strongly  exci'led  all  the  men 
with  whom  they  were  cunnecied,  or  whom  ihey 


.S15.] 


IlISTORx"    OF   EUROPE. 


could  influence.  The  human  heart  is  the  same 
ut  all  times,  and  in  a'.l  pi-ades  of  society  ;  and 
the  same  pi-inci[ilc  which  causes  two-thiids  of 
the  crowd  at  every  public  execution  to  be  com- 
posed ol'  the  humt  ler  part  of  the  softer  sex,  now 
-  Cap.  iii.  167,  '"endered  many  of  the  hif^hest  fore- 
189;Lani.  V. '  most  in  the  demand  for  scaffolds 
373, 375 ;  Lac.  -^-hjch  were  to  cover  France  with 
i-  409,  410.        mourning.^ 

Several  men  of  unquestioned  talent  were  to 
Kg  be  found  in  the  ranks  of  this  formi- 

Thc  extreme  dable  majorit}',  and  some  acquired 
Koyalists  and  the  lead  of  the  several  sections  of 
their  leaders.  ^^,j^j^,,^  j^  ^^,^^  composed.  The  sec- 
tion of  extreme  Royalists,  of  whom  the  Count 
d'Artois,  the  heir-apparent  to  the  throne,  was 
the  acknowledjTed  head,  and  which  was  known 
in  France  by  the  name  of  the  "  Pavilion  Mar- 
san,"  from  the  quarter  in  the  Tuileries  where 
the  apartments  of  that  prince  were  situated, 
was  mainly  under  the  direction  of  M.  de  Vit- 
rolles,  a  man  of  talent,  activity,  and  the  most 
agreeable  manners,  who  had  acquired  an  unlim- 
ited command  over  his  royal  master,  and  was 
looked  forward  to  as  his  future  prime-minister. 
Chateaubriand  also,  in  the  Chamber  of  Peers, 
at  that  period  belonged  to  the  same  party,  and 
lent  it  the  influence  of  his  great  talents  and  lite- 
rary fame;  while  31.  de  Bourrienne,  with  less 
genius,  but  superior  talents  for  business,  and  all 
the  zeal  of  a  new  convert  from  the  Imperial 
regime,  was  a  valuable  all}',  especially  in  mat- 
ters of  detail,  and  those  connected  with  the 
public  administration.  Several  of  the  old  no- 
blesse also,  particularly  M.  Armand  de  Polig- 
nac,  destined  to  a  fatal  celebrity  in  future 
times,  M.  le  Vieomte  Bruges,  and  Alexander 
de  Boisgelin,  were  also  numbered  among  their 
most  warm  adherents,  and,  without  the  aid  of 
great  talents,  possessed  considerable  influence  in 
1  Cap.  iii.  189  *'i''  Chamber,  from  their  high  rank, 
191  ;  Lam.  v.  and  their  known  connection  with 
207,211.  tije  heir-apparent  to  the  throne.* 

Above  half  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  was 
57_  composed  of  persons  who  might  be 

The  provin-  considered  as  representing  with 
cial  deputies.  fjJclity  the  provinces,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  which  formed  a  large  majority  of  the  peo- 
ple of  France.  It  was  to  this  class  that  the  133 
new  deputies,  admitted  by  the  royal  ordinance 
of2'llhJuly,  IM-j,  chiefly  belonged  ;  and  it  was 
that  ordinance  which  gave  them  a  majority  in 
the  Chamber,  and  rendered  it  so  difficult  of 
management  by  the  court.  Their  ideas  were 
peculiar,  antitiuated,  and  for  the  most  part  at 
variance  with  the  settled  ideas  which  the  Rev- 
olution had  impressed  on  the  metrfipolis  and 
great  towns.  Common  hatred  of  the  Xapoleon- 
ists  and  sufrering  under  the  exactions  and  humil- 
iations of  the  Allies,  had  for  a  time  united  them 
in  common  measures  ;  but  it  was  easy  to  fore- 
see that  this  alliance  could  not  long  survive  the 
catastrophe  which  had  given  it  birth.  They 
were  at  once  impregnated  with  Royalist  and 
Republican  ideas — with  the  former,  in  so  far  as 
any  measures  for  the  support  of  the  monarchy 
or  the  Church  were  concerned;  with  the  latter, 
in  so  far  as  a  career  might  be  opened  for  the  in- 
lelligence  and  ambition  of  the  piovinces,  in  the 
offices  at  the  disposal  of  the  central  government. 
Jealousy  of  Paris  and  provincial  ambition  were 
the  leading  princij-'es  by  which  they  were  act- 


uated;  ihey  hoped  out  of  the  departments  to 
raise  up  a  counterpoise  to  the  long-established 
reign  of  the  metropolis.  The  chiefs  of  this 
party  were  men  of  remarkable  abilities,  far  su- 
perior to  those  of  the  Pavilion  Marsan  for  the 
conduct  of  affairs,  and  accordingly  ere  long 
they  acquired  the  direction  of  the  country.  M. 
de  Bonald,  I\I.  de  Villele,  de  Corbiere,  and  Gros- 
bois,  were  the  most  remarkable  of  them,  and 
soon  acquired  the  lead  in  a  large  section  of  the 
Assembly.  The  first  was  a  man  of  decided 
talent,  inflexible  integrity,  and  ready  conversa- 
tion,  with  the  mildest  manners,  but  the  sternest 
and  most  uncompromising  Royalist  principles. 
M.  de  Villele,  as  yet  unknown,  and  a  deputy 
from  the  south  of  France,  soon  gave  proof  in 
the  committees  of  the  Chamber  of  those  great 
business  talents,  and  prodigious  command  of  de- 
tails, which,  like  similar  powers  in  Sir  R.  Peel, 
ultimately  gave  him  the  lead  in  the  Assembly, 
and  made  him  head  of  the  Administration.  M. 
de  Corbiere,  formerly  remarkable  by  the  in- 
dolence of  his  disposition,  was  roused  by  am- 
bition to  different  habits,  and  by  his  talent  ir. 
drawing  reports  and  capacity  in  business,  soon 
became  distinguished;  while  M.  de  Grosbois 
was  universally  respected  from  his  energy,  his 
eloquence,  and  the  power  which  he  i  Cap  iii.  191, 
evinced  not  less  in  business  than  19-2 ;  Lam.  v. 
debate.i  212, 214. 

As  is  invariably  the  ease  after  the  decisive 
triumph  of  one  party  in  a  great  po-  58_ 

litical  crisis,  the  minority,  to  all  Tlie  Opposi- 
practical  purposes,  was  entirely  un-  'i*^",  ^"^^  its 
represented.  The  liberal  opposition  '^'^  '^^' 
in  the  Chamber  could  not  at  the  utmost  number 
above  sixty  persons  in  its  ranks — not  a  sixth  of 
the  whole,  which  comprised  395  members ;  and 
it  was  rare  on  a  division  involving  any  vital 
question  that  they  mustered  more  than  forty-five. 
But  the  influence  of  a  minorit}',  and  its  chances 
of  ultimate  success,  are  not  always  to  be  meas- 
ured by  its  numbers  at  the  outset  of  a  parlia- 
mentary contest;  the  history  of  England,  espe- 
cially in  later  times,  aflbrds  numerous  instances 
of  courageous  and  united  minorities,  first  com- 
manding respect  by  their  talents  and  consistency, 
and  ere  long  acquiring  power  by  the  disunion 
of  their  opponents,  or  tlio  general  admiration 
which  their  qualities  have  awakened.  The  rea- 
son is  that  the  minority  arc  forced  to  evince 
courage  and  appeal  to  principle;  and  it  is  by 
these  qualities  that,  in  the  long  run,  when  the 
passions  are  excited,  mankind  are  governed. 
The  chiefs  of  this  small  party  were  M.  Royer 
Collard,  de  Serres,  Parcjuicr,  and  Bratpiey — men 
of  lofty  feelings,  ardent  minds,  and  persuasive 
clo(|uence,  who  never  ascendeil  the  tribune  with- 
out commanding  attention,  and  seldom  left  it 
without  having  in  some  generous  breast  awak- 
ened sympathy,  in  some  powerful  intidlcct  pro 
duced  conviction.  ]\I.  Royer  Collard,  and  de 
Serres  in  particular,  were  gifted  with  such  great 
powers  of  oratory,  that  though  they  could  never 
win  over  any  thing  like  a  majority  to  their  side, 
they  seldom  failed  to  awaken  the  unanimous  ad- 
miration of  the  Chamber;  and  from,  admiration 
it  is  but  a  step  to  influence,  not  less  in  |)Mbli(! 
assemblies  than  in  allairs  of  the  heart.  Siuh  wa.s 
the  power  in  debate  of  these  very  eminent  men, 
that  they  insensit)ly  won  over  .several  of  the  chief 
members  on  the  other  side  to  their  opinions  on 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.  Ill 


ninny  poii.ts ;  nmonpr  whom  may  I'O  named  M. 
llyilc  Jo  Neiiville,  one  of  the  ablest  ami  noblest 
n(  ilie  Royalists,  whose  subsequent  eareer  lias 
sullieienily  proved  the  elevation  of  his  mind  and 

1  Cap.  iii.  193,  P"'''V  "'  1>'S  principles,'  and  who 
106;  Lac.  i.'  has  dcmonstrateil,  like  C'hatcaubri- 
«n,4ia  and,  that  the  warmest  devotion  to 
the  throne,  in  jjeneious  breasts,  is  consistent 
with,  and  in  truth  proceeds  from,  the  same  prin- 
ciples as  the  most  sincere  attachment  to  public 
liberty. 

The  Chamber  of  Peers  deserves  much  less 
rn  consideration,  for  unhappily  the  f^en- 

tompos'ition  eial  want  of  great  and  independent 
01"  lUe  Cliam-  proprietors  in  its  ranks,  the  servil- 
her  oi  Peers,  jjy  ^,.,j  frequent  tergiversations  by 
which  it  had  invariably  been  distinguished  in 
later  times,  and  the  recent  creation  of  ninety-two 
new  peers  by  the  king,  had  nearly  deprived  it 
of  all  consideration  in  the  country.  The  major- 
ity was  decided  on  the  Royalist  side;  indeed, 
the  recent  numerous  creations  were  made  with 
no  other  view  but  to  effect  that  object.  But  it 
was  less  compact  and  decided  than  the  majority 
in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies ;  for,  being  com- 
posed for  the  most  part  of  men  experienced  in 
)uil)lie  life,  it  was  more  inclined  to  moderation 
— of  those  inured  to  revolutions,  disposed  to  tem- 
porize. The  leaders  of  the  Royalist  majority 
were  the  Count  Jules  de  Polignae,  the  Dukes  de 
Fitzjames.  de  Serent,  d'Uzes,  and  de  Grammont, 
and  the  Viscount  de  Chateaubriand.  The  great 
literary  fame  and  splendid  eloquence  of  the  last 
would  have  rendered  him  beyond  all  question  the 
most  powerful  man  in  the  Assembl}',  had  his  rea- 
son been  as  powerful  as  his  imagination,  his  con- 
sistency as  his  oratory.  But  unfortunately  these 
qualities  were  by  no  means  equally  strong  in  his 
ardent  mind  ;  and  he  adds  another  to  the  numer- 
ous examples  which  go  to  prove  that  in  public 
life  the  judgment  is  a  more  important  faculty 
than  even  genius,  and  that  it  is  not  so  much  the 
pre-eminence  of  any  one  mental  quality,  as  their 
happy  combination,  which  is  the  secret  of  suc- 
cess. Ever  energetic  and  eloquent,  he  was  not 
always  consistent :  on  reviewing  his  political 
life,  it  is  hard  to  say  what  his  opinions  really 
were ;  and  no  better  refutation  can  sometimes 

2  Cap.  iii.  198  ^'^  sought  for  his  arguments  at  one 
199;  Lac.  i. '  period  than  his  speeches  at  an- 
4o«,4ii.  other." 

The  session  was  opened  by  the  king  in  person, 

gQ  with  great  pomp,  on  the  7th  Octo- 

Opening'oftlie  ber.     The  restoration  of  the  Bour- 

Chamber,  and  bons.   the  unparalleled  misfortunes 

kina'"o° t  *7.^  which  had  befallen  the  country,  the 

"'  '    still  greater  evils  which  it  was  fear- 

ed were  impending  over  it,  all  tended  to  invest 
the  ceremony  with  a  melancholy  and  absorbing 
interest.  The  sovereign  appeared,  surrounded 
by  his  brothers,  his  nobles,  the  marshals  of  the 
empire,  and  all  the  pomp  of  the  monarchy;  and 
the  speech  which  he  delivered  is  memorable,  not 
only  as  an  important  state  paper  in  an  unparal- 
leled crisis,  but  as  known  to  have  been  his  unaid- 
ed composition.*    He  spoke  as  follows  :  "When, 


*  "  J'ai  eu  ce  discours  tout  entier  ecrit  de  la  main  du 
Roi,  sur  una  petite  feuille  de  papier  a  lettre,  avec  cette 
Dcriture  si  nette,  qu'il  ernployait  a  la  correspondance.  11 
»e  reservait  la  redaction  claire  et  elegante  de  ses  discours  ; 
il  y  rnettail  un  soin  iiifini ;  c'etait  pour  lui  une  alTaire  lit- 
teraire  a  laquelle  il  attachait  de  rimportatie  ■,  nieme  sous 
In  rapiion  du  style."— CAPEfiGUE,  ni.  203 


last  year,  I  for  the  first  time  convoked  the  Cham- 
bers, I  congraluhitod  myself  upon  having,  by  an 
honorable  treaty,  restored  peace  to  France.  It 
was  beginning  to  taste  the  fruits  of  it,  a!!  the 
sources  of  public  prosperity  were  reopening, 
when  a  criniinal  enterprise,  seconded  by  the  most 
inconceivable  defection,  arrested  their  course. 
The  evils  which  that  ephemeral  usurpation  have 
caused  to  my  country  alllict  me  profoundly;  but 
I  must  declare,  that  if  it  had  been  possible  they 
could  have  reached  me  alone,  I  should  have  re- 
turned thanks  to  Providence.  The  marks  of  at- 
tachment which  my  people  have  given  me,  in  tho 
most  critical  moments,  have  been  a  solace  to  my 
personal  distresses;  but  those  of  my  subjects,  of 
my  children,  press  upon  my  heart.  It  is  in  order 
to  put  a  period  to  that  state  of  suspense,  more 
trying  than  war  itself,  that  I  have  felt  it  my  duty 
to  conclude  with  the  powers  who,  after  having 
overturned  the  usurper,  occupy  at  present  a  great 
part  of  our  territory,  a  convention  which  will 
regulate  our  present  and  future  relations  with 
them.  It  will  be  communicated  to  you  without 
any  reservation,  when  it  has  received  the  last 
formalities.  You  will  feel,  the  whole  of  France 
will  feel,  the  profound  grief  which  I  must  have 
ft  It  on  the  occasion ;  but  the  salvation  of  my 
kingdom  rendered  that  great  determination  nec- 
essary :  and  when  I  took  it,  I  felt  the  whole  duties 
which  it  imposed  upon  me.  I  have  directed  that 
this  year  there  should  be  transferred  from  my 
privy  purse  to  the  ceneral  exchequer  a  consid- 
erable part  of  my  revenue  ;  my  family,  the  mo- 
ment they  heard  of  my  resolution,  have  done  tho 
same.  1  have  ordered  similar  reductions  on  the 
salaries  of  all  my  servants,  without  exception; 
I  shall  ever  be  ready  to  share  in  the  sacrifices 
which  mournful  circumstances  have  imposed 
upon  my  people.  The  public  accounts  will  be 
laid  before  you;  you  will  at  once  see  the  neces-' 
sity  of  the  economy  which  I  have  prescribed  to  my 
ministers  in  all  branches  of  the  administration. 
Happy  if  these  measures  shall  meet  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  state  ;  but,  in  any  event,  I  reckon 
on  the  devotion  of  the  nation,  and  the  zeal  of  the 
Chambers.  But  other,  sweeter,  and  not  less  im- 
portant cares  await  your  attention.  It  is  to  give 
weiirht  to  your  deliberations,  and  to  obtain  myself 
the  advantage  of  greater  light,  that  1  have  created 
new  peers  and  augmented  the  number  of  the  dep- 
uties. I  hope  I  have  succeeded  in  my  choice; 
and  the  zeal  of  the  deputies,  in  such  a  difficult 
conjuncture,  is  a  proof  alike  that  they  are  ani- 
mated by  a  sincere  afleetion  for  my  person  and 
an  ardent  love  for  our  country.  It  is  therefore 
with  asweet  joy  and  entire  confidence  that  I  be- 
hold you  assembled  around  me,  certain  that  you 
will  never  lose  sight  of  the  fundamental  basis 
of  the  felicity  of  the  state,  a  cordial  and  loyal 
union  of  the  Chambers  with  the  King,  and  re- 
spect for  the  constitutional  charter.  That  char 
ter — on  which  I  have  meditated  with  care  be- 
fore giving  it — to  which  reflection  every  day 
attaches  me  more — which  I  have  sworn  to  main- 
tain, and  to  which  you  all,  beginning  with  ray 
family,  are  about  to  swear  obedience — is,  with- 
out doubt,  like  all  human  institutions,  susceptible 
of  improvement ;  but  I  am  sure  none  of  you  will 
ever  forget  that  side  by  side  with  the  advantage 
of  amelioration  is  the  danger  of  innovation.  To 
I  cause  religion  to  flourish,  'o  purify  the  public 
j  morals,  to  found  liberty  on  a  uespect  for  ihc  laws, 


ISlft.J 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE, 


to  fjive  stability  to  credit,  reorganize  the  arm}', 
Ileal  the  wounds  which  have  too  much  wound- 

ed  our  country,  to  secure  internal 
Oct  "la'Tsis  •  tranquillity,  and  cause  France  to  be 
Lam.  V.  Z~g]  respected  without :  these  are  the 
378 ;  Cap.  iii.  en^jg  to  which  all  our  efiorts  should 
^'''^"'-  tend."' 

These  were  noble  and  dignified  expressions, 

worthy  of  a  king  of  France  meeting 
vrnTin^i'.n  the  representatives  of  his  people  in 
which  the  a  period  ot  unequalled  gloom  and 
speech  was  difficulty.  Inexpressibly  striking 
receiveu  by  ^j      scene  which  the  Chamber 

he  Chamber.  i     ,      •  i     ■        i    i- 

presented   during    their    delivery. 

There  was  none  of  the  enthusiasm  usually  ex- 
hibited on  these  occasions  ;  none  of  the  trans- 
ports which  in  general  attend  the  restoration 
of  a  monarch  of  an  ancient  race  to  the  throne 
of  his  fathers.  The  Chamber  was  profoundly 
loyal,  but  the  public  misfortunes  crushed  every 
heart.  It  was  known  that  a  treaty  of  peace  was 
in  progress,  that  grievous  exactions  would  be 
made  by  the  Allies,  and  that  probably  a  consid- 
erable portion  of  the  territory  on  the  frontier 
would  require  to  be  abandoned.  Sadness,  con- 
sternation, despair,  were  on  every  countenance 
as  the  words  so  prophetic  of  evil  were  pro- 
nounced by  the  king.  The  obscurity  of  the  ex- 
pressions rendered  them  more  terrible ;  no  one 
knew  what  the  impending  calamity  would  be, 
or  on  whom  it  would  fall.  The  deputies  of  the 
departments  which  it  was  feared  would  be  ceded 
on  the  frontier,  shed  tears  at  the  thoughts  of 
their  approaching  severance  from  their  country. 
It  was  felt  by  all  that  a  family  long  united  was 
about  to  be  broken  up ;  the  well- 
\k)^^C^  ^"^'  known  halls  would  be  deserted — 
203 '  204.  *  the  gladsome  hearth  become  deso- 
late.* 
The  king,  before  even  the  session  began,  had 
g2  a  convincing    proof  of  the   thorns 

Difficulties  at  with  which  his  path  was  to  be  be- 
taking the  set.  The  oath  of  fidelity  to  the 
Oath  of  Fidel-  j^jj^^  ^^^^  ^^^  Constitution  required 
to  be  taken  by  the  whole  of  the  leg- 
islature, beginning  with  the  peers  of  the  blood- 
royal.  But  here  a  didieulty  at  once  arose. 
The  Count  d'Artois  at  first  refused  to  take  the 
oath,  and  it  was  only  after  a  long  and  diflicult 
negotiation  that  his  scruples  were  overcome. 
The  Prince  of  Conde  made  similar  dilfieulties, 
and  feigned  sickness  to  avoid  taking  it.  M. 
Jules  de  Polignac  and  M.  de  la  Bourdonnayc 
refused  to  take  it  altogether,  though  they  were 
among  the  newly-created  peers.  The  deputy 
of  Montauban,  when  called  on,  insisted  on  mak- 
ing some  reservations.  These  incidents  were 
not  material,  but  they  indicated  the  strength  of 
the  prevailing  feeling,  and  in  what  quarter  it 
was  that  the  princi[>al  dilliculties  of  the  session 
would  arise.  When  the  vote  came  to  be  taken 
for  the  president  of  the  Chamber,  the  strength 
of  the  several  parties  was  at  once  demonstrated. 
M.  Laine,  the  president  during  the  former  year, 
and  whose  intrepid  conduct  on  more  than  one 
eventful  crisis  had  won  for  him  the  esteem  of 
all  parties,  was  indeed  called  to  the  chair  by  a 
large  majority ;  he  had  ^'28  votes  out  of  340. 
But.  the  strength  of  the  opposition  was  tried  and 
appeared  on  the  vote  for  the  second  candidates, 
or  supplians.  The  Prince  de  la  Tremoiiillr, 
who  represented  the  opinions,  and  was  support- 


ed  by  the  whole  strength  ol   the  Count  d'  At- 
tois'   party,   had   229   votes;   \vhile   i  Moniteur 
M.  de  la  Rigaudie,  who  united  the  Oct.  15  and 
suftVages  of  the  united  Liberals  and  ?7>  '^'^  •,*;:*? 
moderate  Royalists,  had   only  1C9  Lam  v.  3&4.' 
votes. 1 

The  answer  of  the  Chambers,  though  upon 
the  whole,  as  the  speeches  of  the  ^g 

mover  and  seconder  of  the  Address  An^werofthe 
are  in  England,  an  echo  of  the  «"hambcr  of 
speech  from  the  Throne,  yet  gave  Deputies 
proof  of  the  profound  feelings  of  indignation 
with  which  the  representatives  were  animated 
'•The  evils  of  the  country,"  said  M.  de  Laine, 
"are  great,  but  they  are  not  irreparable.  If 
the  nation,  albeit  inaccessible  to  the  seduction 
of  the  usurper,  must  nevertheless  bear  the  bur- 
den of  a  defection  in  which  it  has  taken  no  share, 
it  will  submit.  But  in  the  midst  of  our  wishes 
for  universal  concord,  and  even  to  cement  it,  it 
is  our  duty  to  solicit  your  justice  against  those 
who  have  imperilled  alike  the  throne  and  the 
nation.  Your  clemency.  Sire,  has  been  without 
bounds ;  we  do  not  come  to  ask  yon  to  retract 
it ;  the  promises  of  kings,  we  know  well,  should 
be  held  sacred.  But  we  do  supplicate  you,  in 
the  name  of  the  people,  who  have  been  over- 
whelmed by  the  weight  of  their  misfortunes,  to 
cause  justice  to  march  when  clemency  is  arrest- 
ed; and  let  those  who,  now  encouraged  by  the 
impunity  they  have  enjoyed,  are  not  afraid  to 
make  a  parade  of  their  rebellion,  be  delivered  ovei 
to  the  just  severity  oy  the  tribunals.  The  Cham- 
ber will  zealously  concur  in  the  passing  of  such 
laws  as  may  be  necessary  to  eflect  that  object. 
We  will  not  speak  of  the  necessity  of  intrusting 
to  none  but  pure  hands  the  ditlerent  branches 
of  your  authority.  The  ministers  who  surround 
you  present  sufficient  guarantees  in  that  respect. 
Their  vigilance  in  its  prosecution  will  be  the  more 
easily  exercised  that  the  events  s  Moniteur 
which  have  occurred,  have  suffi-  Oct.  17,  1815; 
ciently  revealed  every  sentiment,  ^'ap.  iii.  207, 
and  laid  bare  every  thought."  ^  ^08. 

The  first  measures  proposed  in  the  Chamber 
were   nothing    but   an    attempt    to  g^ 

carry  into  execution  these  ulcer-  Law  against 
ated  feelings.  They  were  chielly  seditious 
three  :  a  law  against  seditions  cries ;  *^''^'^^-  *-*"•  ^"• 
one  suspending  individual  liberty,  and  investing 
Government  with  extraordinary  power  of  arrest ; 
and  one  establishing  courts-marliul  for  the  sum- 
mary trial  of  political  oU'endcrs.  The  first  was 
introduced  by  M.  Barbc-Marbois.  the  Keeper 
of  the  Seals,  who  thus  expressed  the  grounds 
on  which  Government  proceeded  in  bringing 
forward  the  measure:  "If  great  atrocities  have 
been  committed  ;  if,  to  avoid  his  own  destruction, 
the  loyal  citizen  has  been  comiielled  to  rcmair. 
a  passive  spectator  of  the  deeds  of  seditious 
mobs;  if  crime  has  enjoyed  for  some  time  fatal 
triumphs,  these  calamities  arc  prolonged  even 
when  their  success  has  been  intcrrui)tc(l.  Then 
it  is  that  the  insurgents  endeavor,  by  the  forco 
of  audacity,  to  recover  their  lost  ground;  the 
seditious  mutually  encourage  each  other,  and 
exert  the  nselves  to  bo  seen  in  every  place,  and 
at  every  hour,  as  if  advancing  to  an  assured 
victory.  If  they  succeed  in  inspiring  fear,  they 
associate  in  their  ranks  all  whom  tiic  army  lias 
expelled  with  indignation,  and  all  the  criminals 
whom   their  obscurity  has  screened  from   lh» 


HISTORY    OF    ErPvOPE. 


IChaf.  Ill 


vencenncc  of  the  lav  i.  ShouliI  tlio  l\iroe  of  the 
lioviTiiinoiit  arrest  tlieir  ilesif,'ns,  ihey  never 
tiiiiik  of  renounein<T  them,  Imt  take  rel'iijie  in 
lilieliuis  discourses,  calumnious  |nibliealion.s. 
Impunity  eneourutres  tlieni.  Many  of  them 
sliow  themselves  without  ciisixuise:  and  allhouph 
their  imliscretion  reveals  their  weakness,  it  i« 
not  the  less  certain  that  their  procce(Jin<rs  tlis 
turh  the  social  inler,  and  the  public  interest  re- 
quires that  the'/-  turhident  desijins  and  detesta- 
ble cnteriirises  should  be  cirectually  repressed. 
There  are  some  men  whose  sole  morality  is  the 
fear  of  juniishment.  It  is  acfainst  culprits  of  that 
stamp  that  our  laws  are  in  many  respects  pow- 
erless. To  the  necessity  of  a  jiositive  law  for 
such  cases  is  joined  that  of  a  rapid  procedure, 
and  of  a  punishment  inflicted  immediately  after 
the  ollense."  In  pursuance  of  these  reasons, 
the  proposed  law,  after  defining  what  should  be 
deemed  seditious  cries,  punished  them  with  im- 
prisonment not  below  three  months,  nor  exceed- 
inj  five  years.  Severe  as  these  penalties  may 
appear  for  mere  seditious  icojy/s,  irrespective  of 
overt  acts  of  treason,  they  fell  so  far  short  of  the 
I  Moniteur,  vindictive  feelings  of  the  Assembly 
Oct.  17,  1815;  that  the  proposal  was  very  coldly 
Cap.  iii.  278;  received:  and  though  it  passed  into 
Lam.  V.  389,  ,  •  '■  .-^         i 

390  '     a  law.  It  by  no  means  gave  vent  to 

the  public  indignation. i 
The  next   law  proposed   (that  on  individual 
55  liberty)  was  much  more  favorably 

Law  suspend-  received,  and  may  be  considered  as 
ing  indmdual  faithfully  exprcs"sing  the  opinions 
liberty.Oct.l8.  ^^^  feelings  of  the  majority  of  the 
Assembly.  M.  Decazes  brought  forward  the 
proposition;  and  it  was  loudly  applauded  as  "full 
of  hatred  at  the  Revolution."  "The  law  pro- 
posed," said  he,  "  had  no  other  object  but  to  reach 
the  great  ci-iminals — to  prevent  the  attempts  of 
those  men  who  are  strangers  to  remorse,  whom 
pardon  can  not  conciliate,  whom  clemency  of- 
fends, whom  nothing  can  reassure,  because  their 
consciences  will  never  permit  it.  These  are 
men  whom  justice  can  not  overtake,  because  its 
forms,  salutary  but  slow,  render  it  impotent  to 
prevent,  often  even  to  repress  ;  and  because  that 
species  of  delinquencies  are  executed  by  unseen 
springs,  hidden  even  from  their  author.  By  the 
law  now  proposed,  the  weak  will  be  reassured. 
They  will  range  themselves  with  confidence 
under  the  shield  of  a  strong  Government,  which 
has  ffiven  proof  of  its  resolution  to  defend  others 
and  itself.  The  people  wish,  above  all  things,  to 
be  saved.  The  impotence  to  wiiich  the  factions 
have  been  reduced  since  the  fall  of  the  usurper, 
so  far  from  moderating,  has  only  increased  their 
audacity.  Like  the  evil  spirit  which  inspires 
them,  they  ruminate  on  crime  to  shun  oblivion." 
On  this  preamble  the  law  proposed  enacted  that 
every  individual,  without  exception,  who  had  been 
arrested  on  any  charge  of  being  concerned  in  at- 
tempts against  "the  authority  of  the  king,  the 
persons  of  the  royal  family,  or  the  safety  of  the 
state,  might  be  detained  in  custody  until  the  ex- 
piry of  the  law,  the  termination  of  which  was  to 
be  the  end  of  the  next  session  of  Parliament, 
if  not  then  renewed."  The  execution  of  this 
J  Moniteur,  '^^^  ^'^^  committed  to  all  the  pub- 
Oct.  19,  I8l'3 ;  lie  functionaries  to  whom  the  con- 
Cap  iii.  279,  siit  ition  intrusted  the  cognizance 
^g'g-^g'"- "^^  of  thc  crimcs  to  which  it  re- 
' "    '         fers.' 


Disguised  under  an  appearance  of  severity 
which  might  render  it  aceeplable  to  ^ 

the  feelings  of  the  majority  of  the  Disfu.ssionor 
Chambers,  a  humane  feeling  had  iiintlioCham 
really  dictated  the  proposal  of  the  ^'^^^'  ^'■'-  ^'• 
;  law  to  the  Government.  It  was  brought  forward 
at  the  time  when  popular  murders  had  stained 
all  thc  south  of  France  with  blood,  and  when 
there  seemed  no  wa}'  of  saving  the  victims  but 
by  subjecting  them  to  a  temporary  confinement. 
It  was  desired,  too,  to  legalize,  in  some  degree, 
the  numerous  arrests  which  had  taken  place  over 
the  country  during  the  last  few  months,  and  to 
secure  the  detention  of  a  number  of  persons  dur- 
ing a  critical  period,  whose  seditious  intentions 
were  beyond  a  doubt,  but  against  whom  it  might 
be  difiicult  to  adduce  complete  legal  proof.  It 
met;  however,  with  a  much  greater  resistance  than 
the  law  against  seditious  cries,  because  it  threat- 
ened to  ati'ect  a  much  superior  class  of  persons. 
But  if  the  resistance  was  deteimined,  the  sup- 
port was  still  more  impassioned,  and  at  length  it 
was  carried  by  a  majority  of  294  to  uG,  amid 

cries  and  shouts  resembling  rather  ,  r-,,.  v,  act 
,  ,       .  1-111  i>ap.  ui.-^co 

the  enthusiasm  ol  the  theatre  than  28-1;  Moni- 
the  sober  deliberations  of  a  legisla-  "^ur.  Oct.  23, 
tive  assembly.!  1*515. 

The  discussion  of  the  law  on  seditious  cries 
revealed  in  a  still  more  painful  man- 
ner the  impassioned  feelings  of  the  Vehementdis 
Assembly.       It  was   moved  as  an  cussiononthe 
amendment  in  committee,  that  the  law  against 
penally  of  raising  seditious  cries,  or  cri'^g'""''^ 
hoisting  any  other  flag  but  the  white 
one,  should  be  not  imprisonment,  but  transporta 
tion,  accompanied  by  confiscation  of  any  public 
pension.   Even  this  addition  to  the  punishment  did 
not  seem  to  the  majority  to  be  adequate  to  the 
offense.      ]\I.  Josse   de   Beauvois  exclaimed- 
"  After  what  we  have  seen,  is  this  the  time  for 
vain  indulgences  ?    Since  the  return  of  the  king, 
we  have  been  caressing  crime  rather  than  pun- 
ishing it :   I  propose  forced  labor  for  life,  in  addi- 
tion to  transportation."     "Death!  death!"  ex- 
claimed   ]M.   Humbert  de   Lesmaiscons  ;    "  we 
must  strike  at  the  great  culprits.     The  punish- 
ment of  death  seems  to  me  the   only  penalty 
for  those  who  hoist  any  other  flag  but  the  white 
one  ;  and  it  should  extend  not  only  to  the  actors, 
but  the  instigators  of  that  oflense."     "  The  pains 
of  parricide,"  added  ^I.  Boin,  "if  the  act  has  been 
begun  to  be  carried  into  execution  !"      These 
vehement  apostrophes  in  a  manner  secured  the 
adoption  of  the  amendments  in  the  committee :  the 
Government  were  too  happ)-  to  avoid  2  Moniteur 
the  extreme  penalty  by  adopting  the  Oct.  25,  1615; 
milder    punishment   of   transporta-  Lam-  v.  394, 
tion,  which  was  accordingly  agreed  284  '286^  '" 
to.!*  '      ■ 

The  law  for  the  establishment  of  Prevotal 
Courts  for  the  punishment  of  politi-  .„ 

cal  offenses,  which  might  dispose  l^w  estab- 
of  cases  summarily,  without  the  in-  lishingcourts 
tervention  of  a  jur}-.  came  on  on  the  martial  for  po 
17ih  Xoveniber.  It  was  deemed  es-  e's;''''lsovj7' 
sential  by  the  Government,  as  it 
ever  will  be  by  right-thinking  ministers  in  sim 
ilar  circumstances,  to  take  the  cognizance  of  po- 
litical ofl'enses  entirely  out  of  the  hands  of  juries  ; 
for  so  completely  was  the  country  divided,  and 
so  vehement  were  the  passions  excited  on  both 
sides,  that  in  some  departments  the  guilty  were 


bit  I 


HISTORY    OF    EURO!  E. 


3ertAiii  tc  escape,  in  others  the  innocr^nt  ran  the 
greatest  risk  ol' being  convicted.  IM.  de  Feltre 
brought  forward  the  proposed  measure,  and  the 
motives  prompting  to  it  were  thus  stated  by  him  : 
"  Those  are  unhappy  epochs  when  society,  as- 
sailed with  violence,  is  obliged  to  treat  as  ene- 
mies those  who,  placed  in  its  own  bosom,  have 
declared  against  it  a  sort  of  open  law.  It  is  to  that 
imperious  law  of  necessity  that  we  owe  the  in- 
troduction of  Prevotal  Courts,  created  by  the  ge- 
nius of  the  greatest  magistrates.  Its  object  is 
to  restore  in  the  kingdom  that  tranquillity  which 
similar  establishments  have  produced  in  former 
times;  to  intimidate  the  wicked,  and  isolate  them, 
in  a  manner,  from  the  weak  crowd  whom  they 
make  their  instruments."  The  law  proposed, 
which  was  supported  in  the  Chamber  of  Depu- 
ties by  the  eloquence  of  j\I.  Royer  Coljard  and 
the  scientific  fame  of  JNI.  Cuvier,  enacted  that 
"every  department  was  to  have  a  provost-mar- 
shal and  Prevotal  Court,  composed  of  the  provost 
and  four  assessors,  chosen  among  the  members  of 
the  Tribunals  of  the  First  Instance.  It  vv'as  to 
be  competent  to  try  all  political  crimes,  seditious 
assemblages,  crie.^.  or  attempts  against  the  king 
or  the  royal  fan^ily.  It  was  empowered  to  ap- 
ply all  the  criminal  and  correctional  pains.  The 
provost  was  the  public  prosecutor.  The  pro- 
cedure was  to  be  as  brief  as  possible ;  the  ac- 
cused, in  twenty-four  hours  after  apprehension, 
was  to  be  brought  before  the  Prevotal  Court, 
which  was  to  determine  on  the  case,  and  pro- 
1  Moniteur  nounceseutence  without  separating. 
Nov.  18, 1815;  The  sentence  was  to  be  instantly 
Cap.  iii.  286,  carried  into  execution,  and  not  to  be 
39? '^s""  '     subject  to  the  review  of  the  Court 

of  Cassation,  or  any  superior  court.' 
Broad  as  were  the  powers  conferred  by  these 

acts  on  the  magistracy  and  the  Gov- 
Proposal  for  ernment,  they  fell  short  of  what  the 
rendering tlie  majority  deemed  indispensable  for 
inferiorjudges  ti,e  necessities  of  the  case.  They 
d^Jrin7a'year.  f^-'^'^ed  that  the  judges  in  the  inferior 

tribunals,  holding  their  situations  for 
life,  should  not  be  sulliciently  pliant  to  the  wishes 
of  the  Government,  or  of  the  majority  in  the 
Chambers.  M.  Hyde  de  Neuville,  accordingly, 
proposed  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  inferior 
tribunals  should  be  suppressed,  and  that  the 
whole  judges  in  those  which  were  retained  should 
hold  their  situations  during  pleasure,  only  for  the 
period  of  a  year.  'J'hus  the  reaction  had  become 
80  violent  that  the  Royalist  Chamber  was  adopt- 
ing the  measures  of  the  regicide  (Convention,  and 
evincing  that  predilection  lor  appointments  dur- 
ing pleasure,  which  in  every  age  and  country  has 
been  the  characteristic  of  tyranny,  whether  civil  or 
ecclesiastical,  alike  in  monarchs,  aristocracies, 
democracies,  or  congregations.  It  was  with  con- 
siderable difHculty  that  Government  succeeded  in 
throwing  out  these  extreme  propositions,  which 
went  to  destroy  the  very  foundations  of  I'reedom 
in  the  land  ;  and  it  is  a  striking  proof  of  the  dan- 
ger of  intrusting  pr  wer  iluring  periods  of  excite- 
ment to  popular  assemblies,  that  such  a  man  as 
M.  Hyde  de  Neuville  could  be  led  to  bring  for- 

„    ..  ward    such   a   measure; — and    the 

Moniteur,  ,  it,-  .'•  r    , 

Nov.  18, 1815;  Assembly  ol  representatives  of  the 

Cap.  iii.  2^8,  people,  but  for  the  interposition  of 

29() ;  Lum.  v.  (1,0    crown,    would    have    adopted 

313  j,.j  j 

Thus  these  bills,  as  we  should  call  them   in  ; 


England,  having  all  passed  the  LoAcr  House, 
the  discussion  of  them  began  in  the  -q 

Chamber  of  Peers.  That  conferring  Discussion  on 
the  power  of  unlimited  arrest  was  "le  acts  in  tlio 
the  first  which  came  on.  Then  M.  ^'^'-''■^• 
Lanjuinais,  who  had  been  created  a  peer  by  the 
king,  evinced  the  same  intrepidity  in  combating 
the  encroachments  on  public  freedom  by  the  Rcy 
alists,  which  he  had  formally  done  in  resisJing 
the  savage  measures  of  the  majority  in  the  Con- 
vention. "  The  law  froposed,"  said  he,  "  is  un.. 
jusf,  because  it  goes  to  elevate  suspicion  into 
proof,  and  render  it  a  sulTicient  ground  for  arrest 
and  detention;  because  it  takes  away  from  the 
accused  the  most  important  and  sacred  of  all 
rights,  that  of  being  tried  by  the  constitutional 
and  immovable  judges  !  What  must  be  the  ef- 
fects of  such  a  law?  What  but  the  law  against 
'  suspected  persons,'  with  all  its  terrors,  and  bet- 
ter combined  even  than  that  tyrannical  enact- 
ment to  enslave  the  imagination,  extirpate  the 
conscience  ?  You  have  spoken  of  Rome  and 
England ;  but  what  have  they  in  common  with 
this  proposal  ? — the  suspension  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Act,  and  the  Cavcant  Co}isuks,  with  such 
a  law  as  the  present?  I  demand,  at  least,  that 
it  should  be  referred  to  a  committee,  to  soften 
its  more  objectionable  clauses.  Doubtless  the 
circumstances  are  imperious ;  perhaps  some  such 
law  may  be  indispensable ;  but  a  thousand  circum- 
stances of  detail,  which  require  to  be  limited  and 
defined,  are  unexplained  by  it.  It  is  even  uncer- 
tain by  what  liiNctionaries  it  is  to  be  executed; 
and  what  a  iiu-i  of  doubts  and  dilficulties  will 
that  single  circunisiance  create  !  Eveiy  locality, 
every  department,  will  execute  it  ,  Monitp^r, 
in  a  different  manner;  and  possibly  Dec.  12,  ISl's- 
its  execution  may  be  mildest  in  the  Cap.  iii.  21)0, 
very  places  where  rigor  is  most  ?g?'  ^^'"- '^• 
called  for."' ' 

"  The  proposed  law,"  answered  M.  de  Fon- 
tanes,  "  can  alone  give  edcct  to  the  -. 

feeling  of  the  Chamber,  as  express-  Answer  of  M. 
ed  in  the  addi-ess  to  the  King.  That  de  Fontancs 
address  recommended  to  the  King  ?,"l'  ^'-  '^^ 
to  exorcise  hisjustice  ;  it  seemed  to 
dread  the  excess  of  his  clemency.  Some  say 
they  will  vote  against  it  from  feelings  of  human- 
ity :  I  will  vote  for  it  from  the  same  sentiment. 
We  must  inspire  terror  if  we  would  avoid  doing 
evil.  Factions  agitate  and  declaim  against  op- 
pression only  under  a  weak  government ;  if  it  is 
strong,  they  arc  peaceable  and  silent.  You  can 
I  know  well,  in  the  naiue  of  liberty,  move  every 
thing  that  is  most  profound  in  the  human  heart 
— its  finest  feelings,  its  noblest  sentiments  ;  but 
whatever  may  be  said,  it  is  not  liberty,  but  order, 
which  is  the  first  necessity  of  society — the  first 
end  of  its  establishment.  It  is  in  the  name  of 
order  that  I  vote  for  the  simple  and  iinmoilified 
ad()|)lion  of  the  law.  The  law  iiropo.-cd  is  a 
measure  of  indulgence.  All  that  Govennnent 
required  to  do  was  to  take  from  a  certain  num. 
ber  of  individuals  the  power  of  injuring  tlicm- 
selvcs  or  others,  without  giving  them  the  liberty 
which  could  lead  only  to  their  being  seated  on 
the  accused  bench,  to  enable  all  the  3  ,,  ., 
rest  to  enjoy  their  freedom  in  ])caco  Nov.  12,  1815 
and  tranquillity."  The  law  was  Cap.  iii.  au3- 
passed  bv  a  majority  of  rj.' ,  the  num-  ^;[:'j  ',,„'.''""■  ^ 
bcrs  beii)g  1G7  to  112."  J.u, .(.».. 

'J'lic  discussion  of  the  law  on  the  raising  of 


II I  ST  OK  Y    or    KUROPE. 


[Chap.   Ill 


seilitii>:j  irics  excited  a  warm  ilisouvsion  in  llic 
-»  Assembly,    ii>m;iik:ilile    chiefly   for 

/irfrunicnt  tlie  violence  of  the  sentiments  which 
■KJi^nst  tlio  it  elicited.  '•  Wluit,"  said  the  Mar- 
liiw 'on  Bcdi-  quisdeFiondevillc. '•aretheullenses 
liuus  cries.      ^      .  ■  •   ■      ■      i         •      i-        .     i  o 

ar^amst  which  the  law  is  directed  .■" 

Are  they  not  the  most  serious  which  can  menace 
society?  They  comprehend  menaces  aaainst 
ihe  life  or  person  ot"  the  kin<T  and  royal  family, 
provocations  afjainst  the  Government,  incite- 
ment to  take  np  arms  to  resist  the  Royal  author- 
ity. Is  the  punishment  of  transportation  an  ad- 
equate mode  of  repressing  such  otfenses  ?  For 
what  crimes  is  the  punishment  of  death  to  be 
reserved,  if  Government  fears  to  strike  the  mis- 
erable wretches  who  are  trying  to  overturn  the 
throne,  the  government,  society  itself?  If  trans- 
ported, where  are  they  to  be  taken  to?  Have  we 
islands  in  distant  seas,  like  the  English,  whither 
to  send  such  monsters  to  league  with  their  kind  ? 
They  may,  says  the  law,  be  banished  from  the 
I'airopean  continent — that  is  to  say,  they  may 
settle  themselves  within  a  few  leagues  of  its 
shjres,  and  there  enjoy  the  tranquillity  which 
they  have  wrested  from  us.  Do  you  really  sup- 
pose that  by  such  means  you  can  repress  the 
conspiracies,  of  the  existence  of  which  we  have 
received  such  frightful  proof?  It  is  in  vain  to 
say  3-ou  must  apply  a  ditlerent  measure  of  pun- 
ishi\ient  to  provocations  to  crime  and  their  actual 
commission.  True ;  but  the  penal  code  has  it- 
self shown  how  this  is  to  be  done,  by  dcnounc- 
1  Moniteur  ing  the  simple  penalty  against  an  ex- 
Kov.  9,  1815;  pression  of  intention,  and  the  pen- 
^^P-  "'•  297,  ally  aggravated  by  the  pains  of  par- 
ricide against  the  completed  act."  ' 
'•The  proposed  law,"  said  Chateaubriand,  "  in 
73.  the  5th  article,  denounces  a  penalty 

SpeechofCha-  against  any  one  who  utters  an  ex- 
teaubriand  on  pression  which  might  excite  alarm 
in  the  holders  of  national  domains. 
The  enactment  is  barbarous,  for  it  menaces  with 
the  same  penalty  an  excusable  regret  and  a  sacri- 
legious machination.  It  will  reach  the  poor  emi- 
grant despoiled  of  his  inheritance,  whom  a  jealous 
acquirer  of  his  property  may  surprise  exhaling 
some  regrets,  shedding  some  tears  over  the  tomb 
of  his  fathers.  Dragged  before  the  tribunal  by 
calumny,  he  will  be  judged  by  passion ;  he 
will  there  lose  his  honor,  the  only  possession 
■which  the  Revolution  has  left  him  ;  and  all  that 
to  calm  apprehensions  which  should  have  been 
for  ever  set  at  rest,  if  any  thing  could  do  so,  by 
the  solemn  promises  in  the  charter.  Wherefore 
is  all  this  done  ? — to  stifle  those  murmurs,  the 
inevitable  consequence  of  a  great  injustice — to 
impose  a  silence  which,  to  be  effectual,  should 
ordain  at  the  same  time  the  demolition  of  the 
stones  which  mark  the  boundaries  of  the  herit- 
ages of  which  you  are  so  anxious  to  reassure  the 
possessors."  These  extreme  opinions  did  not  in- 
fluence the  majority ;  and  the  law,  as  it  was 
,  ,,    .  sent  up  from  the  Chamber  of  Depu- 

Kov.  Oand'lO,  *'*^^:  ^^  well  as  that  establishing  the 
1815 ;  Cap.  Prevotal  Courts,  was  adopted  in  the 
l'  ^"V  1(1?'  I'^^rs  without  alteration  by  large 
395.  '    i"8Jo''ities — the   latter  with  scarce 

any  discussion.' 
It  is  necessary  to  consider  and  reflect  on  these 
debates,  if  we  would  judije  with  impartiality  the 
conduct  of  the  French  Government  in  the  great 
tragedy  in  which  the  Hundred  Days  terminate 


— the  deaths  of  Marshal  Ney  and  Colonel   La- 
bedoyere.     It  is  impossible  to  ap-  „, 

proach  this  subject  without  painful  Reflections  on 
emotions  :  to  an  Englishman  espe-  the  dcailis  o: 
eiallv,  who  recollects  that  the  form-  J^^.y  '*"'*  L^' 
er  was  a  great  and  glorious  cnemj', 
and  that  His  mournful  fate  is  in  some  sort  wound 
up  with  our  triumphs,  and  could  not  have  happen- 
ed but  for  the  conquest  of  Waterloo,  it  will  alwa3's 
be  the  subject  of  the  most  poignant  regret.  How 
much  more  gladly  would  every  generous  heart 
in  Britain  have  joined  in  celebrating  the  heroism 
of  the  bravest  of  the  brave,  and  doing  honor  to 
his  gray  hairs,  than  in  weaving  the  ehaplet 
which  is  to  express  regret  upon  his  tomb !  The 
very  circumstance  of  his  having  been  our  ene- 
my, of  his  having  combated  Wellington  in  Por- 
tugal, headed  the  charge  of  the  Old  Guard  at 
Waterloo,  only  augments  the  sorrow  with  which 
his  fate  must  ever  be  regarded.  Those  who  are 
most  attached  to  principles  will  ever  be  most  in 
dulgent  to  individuals;  and  it  is  the  glory  of  mod- 
ern civilization  to  behold  in  an  enemy  only  a  friend, 
when  he  has  ceased  to  combat  in  the  hostile 
ranks.  Yet  this  very  feeling  of  equanimity  should 
lead  us  to  do  justice  to  the  Government  upon 
whom  those  melancholy  acts  were  imposed  as  a 
speeiei  of  state  necessity;  we  must  consider  its 
situation,  measure  the  difficulties  with  which  it 
was  surrounded,  and  the  weight  of  the  influence, 
external  and  internal,  which  was  brought  to  bear 
upon  its  deliberations.  If  any  decided  opinion 
results  from  these  considerations,  it  will  prol - 
ably  be  against  the  system  of  public  law  under 
which  those  melancholy  executions  took  place ; 
and  even  the  blood  of  Marshal  Ney  will  not 
have  been  shed  in  vain  if  it  leads,  in  all  civilized 
nations,  to  the  abolition  of  the  punishment  of 
death  in  all  purely  political  ofi"enses. 

External  influences  of  no  ordinary  kind  were 
exerted  to  impel  the  Government 
into  measures  of  severity  on  this  External  in- 
occasion.  The  opinion  of  the  Allies  fluences  ex- 
and  their  sovereigns,  not  even  ex-  erted  against 
ccpting  the  mild  and  benevolent  ^en^"'"'"""" 
Alexander,  was  unanimous,  that 
there  could  be  no  peace  in  Europe  till  the  mili- 
tary spirit  was  checked  in  France;  and  that,  in 
Wellington's  words,  '•  a  great  moral  lesson"  waj 
more  requisite  for  the  French  army  than  the 
French  people.  It  was  the  insatiable  ambition 
of  the  army  which  he  commanded,  more  even 
than  his  own  disposition,  which  had  impelled 
Napoleon  into  the  career  of  conquest;  it  was 
their  rapacious  and  covetous  desires  which  had 
rendered  their  ascendency  so  insupportabl}-  odi- 
ous to  every  people  they  had  come  among.  The 
Hundred  Days  had  sufficiently  demonstrated  that 
no  reliance  could  be  placed  on  the  fidelity  of 
their  chiefs ;  that  their  submission  was  merely 
forced,  their  loyalty  feigned ;  and  that  the  leo- 
pard would  change  his  spots,  the  Ethiopian  his 
skin,  before  they  would  be  influenced  by  any 
other  passion  but  the  lust  of  conquest.  It  was 
for  that  reason  that  it  was  deemed  indispensable 
to  insist  on  the  dissolution  of  the  army  of  the 
Loire,  the  exile  of  the  principa.  military  leaders, 
and  the  change  of  the  national  colors  ol'  France  : 
steps,  and  not  unimportant  ones,  in  the  formation 
of  a  new  na'ional  spirit.  But,  in  addition  tti  this, 
it  was  necessary  to  aflect  the  imagination  by 
great  examjiles;  to  strike,  and  to  strike  boldly. 


18lS.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


n 


Rnd  prove  by  decisive  acts  that  if  this  had  not 

hitherto  been  done,  it  was  owing  to  humanit}', 

not  fear.     "We  must  strike,"  said  M.  Gentz, 

"the   chiefs  of  the  conspiracy,  or 

3jg  P""''       '  we  have  no  security  for  the  peace 

of  Europe  for  a  year."  ^ 

Still  more  exasperated  was  the  Royalist  party 

>.-  at  the  Court,  and  in  the  Chambers, 

Considera-       which  called   out  aloud  for   great 

tions  which     examples.    It  was  no  wonder  it  was 

weighed  with         fo,.  ^^      i^ad  humiliation  to  dc- 

tae  Court.  , '         i      •'  t  .<    . 

plore,   losses  to  revenge.      It   the 

feeling   of  the    necessity    of   punishment   was 
strong    in  the   conquerors — in   those   to   whom 
treachery  had  only  opened  the  avenue  to  con- 
quest— what  might  it  be  expected  to  be   in  the 
conquered — in  those  to  whom  it  had  opened  only 
the  gates  of  perdition  ? — among  whom  it  had 
brought  the  disgrace  of  defeat,  the  tarnishing  of 
glory,  the  overthrow  of  a  dynasty,  the   loss  of 
i'rontier  towns,  the  oppression   of  a  million  of 
armed  men,  the  imposition  of  humiliating  and 
insupportable  exactions?     Generosity  had  been 
tried,  magnanimity  had  had   iis  day,  and  what 
had  been  the  result?     Nothing  but  a  repetition 
on  a  still  greater  scale  of  treachery  and  treason. 
Not  a  head   had  fallen,  not  an  estate  had  been 
confiscated,  not  a  human  being  banished  on  the 
first  restoration,  and  the  only  consequence  had 
been  the  formation  of  a  vast  conspiracy  to  over- 
turn the  Government  and  destroy  their  benefac- 
tors.    Humanity  was,  as  usual  in  such  cases, 
ascribed   to   fear;    moderation   considered  as  a 
proof  of  imbecility.     The  time  had  now  come 
when  it  was  necessary  to  undeceive  the  conspir- 
ators by  great  examples,  and,  after  the  manner 
of  Napoleon,  vindicate  the  authority  of  Govern- 
s  Cap.  iii.  306 ;  ment  by  the  condign  punishment 
423,  of  those  who  had  alike  insulted  it, 
and  all  but  ruined  their  country.* 
Strong  as  these  considerations  in  themselves 
were,  and  powerfully  as  they  spoke 
to  the    feelings   of  a   Government 
■which   had   been   overturned   by  a 
conspiracy,  and  only  reinstated  by 
conquest,  they  did  not  sway  the  hu- 
mane breast  of  the  king,  or  move 
the  enlightened  minds  oi'  his  minis- 
ters.    Louis  XVIII..  M.  Talleyrand,  M.  Fouche, 
the  Duke  dc  Richelieu,  and  M.  Decazcs,  were 
alike  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  a  great  act 
of  amnesty,  and  of  avoiding  the  most  fatal  of  all 
naugiu'ations   for  the  commencement  of  their 
government — the  inauguration  ol'  blood.     They 


Lam. 
424. 


77. 
Measures  of 
the  Govern- 
ment to  give 
the  accused 
persons  the 
means  of  es- 
cape. 


anested  the  proscribed  persons  as  they  wera 
making  their  escape — in  others  rendered  nuga- 
tory by  the  devotion  of  the  persons  endangered 
themselves,  who  in  a  heroic  spirit  preferred  re- 
maining at  home,  and  undergoing  ij^^j^  ^  403 
all  the  risks  of  trial,  to  taking  guilt  Cap.  iii.  sTfil 
to  themselves  by  making  use  of  the  317 ;   Lac.  1. 

1-  1  422.  '123 

means  ot  escape.^  '   ^' 

The  first  of  the  persons  who  was  arrested 
from  the  latter  cause,  and  forced  -g 

upon  the  Government  for  trial,  was  Treacliery  of 
Colonel  Labedoyere.  This  ar-  Col.Labedoy 
dent  and  gallant  young  man,  whose  ^''^' 
defection  at  Grenoble  first  opened  to  Napoleon 
the  gates  of  France,*  and  whose  2Hist  of  Eu- 
subsequent  fate  has  made  his  name  rope,  c.  iii 
imperishable  in  history,  was  eon-  ^  ^'*- 
nectcd  with  several  of  the  first  i'amilies  of  the 
Court,  but  had  been  involved  in  the  meshes  of 
the  Napoleonist  conspiracy  by  the  influence  of 
Queen  Hortense,  whose  saloons  in  Paris,  under 
the  name  of  the  Duchess  de  St.  Leu.  were  the 
chief  rendezvous  of  the  Imperial  party.  Even 
so  early  as  8th  February,  1815,  he  had  assured 
yi.  Fleury  de  Chaboulon,  then  on  his  route  tc 
Elba,  that  the  Emperor  might  reckon  on  him. 
Being  in  command  of  the  7th  regiment  at  Gre- 
noble, the  first  fortified  town  between  Cannes 
and  Paris,  his  defection  was  of  the  highest  im- 
portance to  Napoleon ;  and  it  was  mainly  from 
knowing  that  he  mi"ht  be  relied  3r„„  ;■■  ,,q 

11  -m  111  L'Sp.   lil.   OiOf 

on,  that  the  Emperor   had   chosen  319;  Lam.v 

the  mountain  road  which  lay  through  423;   Lac.  ii 

that  town. 3  4' ^■ 

After  the  capitulation  of  Paris,  Fouchc  sent 

for  Labedoyere,  and  said  to  him,  "I 

advise  you  to  leave  France  :  here  are  -iTi^  i       . 
•'  .„  '  His  arrest 

your  passports :  11  you  want  monej', 

here  are  25,000  francs  (£1000)  in  gold;  but  set 

off."     Pie  left  Paris  in  pursuance  of  this  advice, 

but   repented  before  he   had  passed  Clermont, 

where  he  stopped.    The  Paris  police  were  aware 

of  his  residence,  and  Fouche  repeatedly  warncil 

him  of  the  necessity  of  remaining  concealed; 

but,  instead  of  doing  that,  he  returned  to  Paris, 

resisting  all  the  cllorts  of  General  Excelmans 

and    Count   Flahault,  who  did  their  utmost  to 

prevent  him,  and  returned  to  Paris,  and  repaired 

to  the  house  of  a  lady  to  whom  ho  was  attached 

Ilis  emotion  at  learning  of  the  arrest  of  Lavaletle, 

who    had  been  seized  shortly  before,  as  well  a.' 

his  fine  and  martial  figure,  revealed  him  to  ar. 

agent  of  the  policH!  who  was  in  the  carriage, 

who  tracked  him  to  the  place  where 


Jid  every  thing  in  their  power  to  furnish  the  ac-    he  had  hoj)ed  to  remain  concealed,*  321'.  Lam.  v! 


cuscd  persons  with  the  means  of  escape,  de- 
signedly in  order  to  avoid  the  embarrassment  of 
their  trial.  ^Vhen  the  lists,  prepared  and  signed 
by  Fouchc  on  the  24th  July,  aj)peared,  the  ex- 
ecution of  the  warrants  of  arrest  was  delayed 
for  several  weeks,  purposely  to  give  the  aeeused 
persons  an  oppfirtunily  of  escape.  Passports 
were  furnished  to  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  pro- 
scribed persons  ;  and  not  only  were  they  earnest- 
ly entreated  to  withdraw,  i)ut  large  sums  of 
money  were  placed  at  the  disjjosal  of  the  minis- 
ter of  police  to  enable  them  to  do  so.  No  less 
than  459,000  francs  (.£18, .300)  were  expended 
by  the  minister  of  police  in  this  humane  attempt. 
But  the  benevolent  and  wise  intentions  of  the 
Government  were  in  some  instances  frustrated 
bv  the  zec',1   of  the   ])io\  incial    aulluirilii's.   who 


screened  by  the  vigilance,  and  43(),'4:i3 ;  Lac 
guarded  by  the  fidelity  of  love.  "• ''  **• 
The  agent  communicated  the  circumstance  to 
the  prefect;  and  as  the  Government  could  not 
overlook  the  return  of  so  great  a  criminal  to 
Paris,  after  he  had  been  furnished  with  the 
ineans  of  escape,  he  was  arrested  in  the  ninht 
and  conveyed  to  prison. 

He  was  brought  to  trial  before  a  council  of 
war  on  the   1  Ith  August.     There  gQ 

could  be  no  dilliculty  in  proving  his  His  triii)  and 
guilt ;  it  was  notorious  to  all  the  condemna 
world,  and  admitted  in  the  most  '"*"• 
express  manner  by  himself,  in  his  declaral.'on 
when  brought  before  the  j)olicc  magistrate,  ij 
was  established  in  the  chsarest  manner  that  lie 
se,  out  from  Grcnnlile,  at  the  head  of  ilie  7ili 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap,  ill 


rofjiincnt  of  infantry,  to  mcH  N'njioloon,  nolwitli- 
standin^  all  the  instancos  of  liis  commander. 
General  Dcvilliors,  who  eiideavorcil  to  dissuade 
him;  that  tliis  was  a  premeditated  act;  that  lie 
had  intimated  his  intention  to  his  olllcers,  har- 
anmied  the  soldiers,  and  prepared  the  tricolor 
cockades,  which  were  concealed  in  a  drum,  and 
distributed  when  the  period  for  action  had  ar- 
rived ;  that  he  had  alike  disobeyed  the  orders 
ijid  resisted  the  supplications  of  his  general, 
"~ho  remained  faithliil  to  his  allef;iance ;  and 
fiat  wlicn  he  met  the  Emperor,  instead  of  at- 
tackin<T,  he  embraced  him,  and  brought  him 
back  ill  triumph  to  the  foot  of  the  ramparts  of 
Grenoble.  The  public  prosecutor  called  on  the 
judges,  as  these  I'acts  were  clearly  established, 
to  pronounce  the  sentence  of  the  law  on  so  great 
a  criminal,  whose  defection  had  drawn  after  it 
that  of  the  whole  army.  Labedoyere  did  not 
controvert  the  facts  proved;  he  only  sought  to 
vindicate  his  memory  by  explaining  his  motives. 
'•  If  my  life  only  was  at  stake,  I  would  not  de- 
tain you  a  moment:  it  is  my  profession  to  be 
ready  to  die.  But  a  wife,  the  model  of  every 
virtue,  a  son  as  yet  in  the  cradle,  will  one  day 
demand  of  me  an  account  of  my  actions.  The 
name  1  leave  them  is  their  inheritance  ;  I  am 
bound  to  leave  it  to  them,  unfortunate  but  not 
disgraced.  I  may  have  deceived  myself  as  to 
the  real  interests  of  France  ;  misled  by  the  re- 
collections of  camps,  or  the  illusions  of  honor,  I 
may  have  mistaken  my  own  chimeras  for  the 
voice  of  my  country.  But  the  greatness  of  the 
sacrifices  which  I  made,  in  breaking  all  the 
strongest  bonds  of  rank  and  family,  prove  at 
least  that  no  unworthy  or  personal  motive  has 
influenced  my  actions.  I  deny  nothing ;  I  plead 
only  guiltless  to  having  conspired.  When  I  re- 
ceived the  command  of  my  regiment,  I  had  not 
a  thought  that  the  Emperor  could  ever  return 
to  France.  Sad  presentiments,  nevertheless, 
overtook  me  at  the  moment  when  I  set  out  for 
Chambery  ;  they  arose  from  the  weight  of  pub- 
lic opinion  pressing  on  me.  I  confess  with  grief 
my  error;  I  confess  it  with  anguish,  when  I  cast 
raj-  eyes  on  my  country.  My  fault  consisted  in 
having  misunderstood  the  intentions  of  the  king, 
and  his  return  has  opened  my  eyes.  I  shall  not 
be  permitted  to  enjoy  the  spectacle  of  the  con- 
stitution completed,  and  France  still  a  great  na- 
tion united  around  its  king.  But  I  have  shed 
ray  blood  for  my  country :  and  I  wish  to  per- 
suade myself  that  my  death,  preceded  by  the  ab- 
juration of  my  errors,  may  be  useful  to  France; 
1  ^jofitgnr  that  my  name  will  not  be  held  in 
Aug.  20  1815;  detestation,  and  that  when  my  son 
Lam.  V.  435,  may  be  of  an  age  to  serve  his  coun- 
^„{''  *^*P  "*•  try,  he  will  not  be  ashamed  of  his 
father  s  name.  '■ 
As  a  matter  of  necessity,  he  was  condemned 

to  death,  though  the  judges  them- 
Ilis    death     selves  shed  tears  when  sentence  was 

pronounced.  His  relations  offered 
100,000  francs  (£4000)  to  the  keeper  of  the 
prison  if  he  would  favor  his  escape.  As  a 
last  resource,  his  young  wife  threw  herself  at 
the  feet  of  the  King,  whom  she  reached  as  he 
was  descending  the  great  stair  of  the  Tuileries 
to  enter  his  carriage.  "Grace,  grace!"  ex- 
claimed the  unhappy  woman,  her  voice  broken 
Dy  6obs.  "  Madam,"  replied  the  monarch  with 
deep  emotion,  '•  I   know  your  sentiments,  and 


those  of  your  family,  for  my  nousc:  I  deeply  re- 
gret  being  obliged  to  refuse  such  faithlul  serv- 
ants. If  your  husband  had  o(Ten<led  me  alone, 
his  pardon  would  have  been  already  given  ;  but 
I  owe  satisfaction  to  France,  on  which  he  ha? 
induced  the  scourge  of  rebellion  and  war.  IMy 
duty  as  a  king  ties  my  hands.  I  can  only  pray 
for  the  soul  of  him  whom  justice  has  condemned, 
and  assure  you  of  my  protection  to  yourself  and 
your  child."  At  these  words  the  suppliant  fell 
in  a  swoon  at  his  feet.  Labedoyere's  mother, 
clad  in  the  deepest  mourning,  awaited  the  mon- 
arch on  his  return,  but  the  strictest  orders  had 
been  given  to  prevent  her  reaching  tlie  royal 
presence,  and  her  cries  alone  reached  his  ears. 
Meanwhile  Labedoyere,  recalled  by  solitude  and 
misfortune  from  the  illusions  which  had  misled 
him,  had  regained  the  sentiments  of  his  youth. 
He  received  with  gratitude  the  consolations  of 
religion,  and  prepared  in  a  worthy  spirit  to  un- 
dergo his  fate.  When  brought  out  for  execu- 
tion,  his  eyes  met  those  of  I\I.  Cesar  de  Ner- 
vaux,  a  faithful  friend  and  companion  in  arms, 
who  had  come  to  support  him  in  his  last  mo- 
ments. They  pressed  each  other's  hands  in  si- 
lence. When  the  soldiers  who  were  to  perform 
the  painful  duty  took  their  stations  opposite  tho 
wall  before  which  he  was  placed,  he  advanced 
a  few  steps,  and  took  his  station  in  the  middle 
of  the  intervening  space;  then  suddenly  turning 
round,  as  if  he  had  forgot  something,  he  whis- 
pered for  a  few  seconds  to  the  priest  who  ac- 
companied him.  Then  calmly  resuming  his 
place,  he  refused  to  have  his  eyes  bandaged, 
and  looking  straight  at  the  leveled  muskets, 
exclaimed  in  a  loud  voice,  ''  Fire,  my  friends  !" 
He  fell  pierced  by  nine  balls;  and  when  the 
smoke  of  the  discharge  had  passed  away,  the 
priest  approached  and  steeped  his  handker- 
chief in  the  blood  which  flowed  i  Lam.  v.  442, 
from  his  breast,  which  he  took  44";  Cap.  iii. 
with  him  as  a  relic  to  the  wife  of  323,  .■i24;  Lac 
the  fallen  officer.i  ""  ^'  ^■ 

The  next  person  selected  for  trial  was  Mar 
sHAi,  Ney,  who  had  at  the  head  of  gg 

his  corps  betrayed  the  royal  cause  Trial  of  Mar- 
as  effectually  as  Labedoyere  had  shalNey.  His 
done  at  the  head  of  his  regiment,  ['^^^l^''^ 
His  flagrant  defection,  and  the  de- 
cisive consequences  with  which  it  was  attended, 
were  too  deeply  impressed  on  the  mind  of  the 
Royalists  to  give  the  Government  any  option  in 
dealinir  with  so  great  a  criminal.  He  had  said 
in  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  before  the  departure 
of  Napoleon  for  Rochefort,  that  he  had  every 
thing  to  fear  from  the  resentment  of  the  Royal- 
ists, and  that  he  was  about  to  set  out  for  the 
United  States.  It  was  undoubtedly  true  that 
he  had  used  the  famous  expression  to  the  king, 
before  he  set  out  from  Paris  to  take  the  com- 
mand at  Melun.  "  I  will  bring  Bonaparte  back 
in  an  iron  cage."  The  remarkable  expression 
had  been  overheard  by  the  Prince  de  Poix  and 
the  Duke  de  Duras  as  well  as  his  Majesty,  who 
was  surprised  at  them  coming  from  a  marsha . 
who  had  risen  so  high  in  the  Imperial  service 
He  himself  admitted  in  his  judicial  declaratioi 
that  he  had  used  the  words  "  Cage  de  Fer."  * 


*  "  Je  dis  au  Roi  que  la  demarche  de  Bonaparte  6tait 
si  insensee  qu'il  meritait,  s'il  etait  pris,  d'etre  conduit  a 
Paris  dans  unecage  de  fer.  On  a  pr6tendu  que  j'avais 
dit  que  je  le  conduirais  moi-meme,  si  je  le  prenais,  dan* 


iS15.j 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


79 


He  admitted  that,  in  a  trans|)ort  of  Royalist  en- 
thusiasm, he  had  .said,  •'  If  I  see  the  least  hesi- 
tation in  the  troops,  I  will  seize  the  first  grena- 
dier's musket,  make  use  of  it,  and  give  an  ex- 
ample to  others."  He  admitted  having  signed 
the  fatal  proclamation  of  the  14th  March,  in 
which  the  cause  of  Napoleon  was  openly  es- 
poused, and  which  was  immediately  followed  by 
the  defection  of  the  whole  army.  He  said  in  his 
declaration  that  it  was  written  by  Napoleon,  and 
sent  to  him  by  means  of  his  brother  Joseph,  who 
1  Moniteur,  ^^''^s  at  Prangin.  Yet  so  strong  had 
Nov.  11, 1615,  been  his  protestations  of  fidelity, 
^-VP'^.^^I" "''  'hat  down  to  the  very  last  moment 

.^jy,  340;  Lac.     ,  i    r         i       u     i  r 

ii.  5,  6-  Pro-  '"®  ro-yal  lamily  had  more  confi- 
its  de'  Ney.  dence  in  him  than  in  any  man  in 
21'-  France.'  * 

Ney  was  in  Paris,  though  not  employed  with 
g,  the    army,    when    the    capitulation 

Ilis  departure  with  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and 
from  Paris,  Marshal  Blucher  was  signed — acir- 
and  arrest  at  cumstance  which  led  to  a  painful 
difficulty,  so  far  as  this  country  was 
concerned,  in  the  trial  which  ensued.  He  re- 
ceived passports  under  a  feigned  name  from 
Fouche,  which  were  indorsed  by  the  Austrian 
and  Swiss  embassies  at  Paris,  and  by  Count 
Bubna.  the  Austrian  commander  at  Lyons.  He 
was  just  leaving  France  in  pursuance  of  Taile}'- 
rand's  advice,  and  had  reached  Nantua,  within  a 
few  leagues  of  the  Swiss  frontier,  when  he  was 
seized,  like  Labedoyere,  with  a  fatal  desire  to 
return  to  his  own  country.  He  was  haunted  by 
the  idea  of  a  sentence  of  death  jmr  contimiacc, 
which  would  weigh  upon  his  memory  and  the  in- 
terests of  his  relations.  He  returned  accordingly, 
and  took  up  his  residence  at  the  chateau  of  Bos- 
sonis,  which  belonged  to  his  family.  There  he 
made  no  attempt  at  concealment,  and  was  dis- 
covered by  a  magnificent  sabre,  with  his  name 
engraven  on  the  hilt,  which  had  been  given  him 
by  the  Emperor  in  the  days  of  his  glory.  He 
was  in  consequence  seized,  without  any  instruc- 
tions from  head-quarters,  by  M.  Locard,  the 
prefect  of  the  department,  a  zealous  Royalist, 
and  sent  to  Paris,  where  his  arrival  occasioned 
'  Cap.  iii.  340  "°  small  regret  and  consternation 
342;  Lac.  ii.  among  the  members  of  the  Govern- 
4.5-  ment.' 

But,  once  taken,  it  was  out  of  the  power  of 
g4  Government  not  to    bring   him    to 

Ilistrial  be-  trial;  for,  if  so  great  a  traitor  es- 
fore  the  Cham-  caped,  how  could  any  inferior  crim- 
ber  of  Peers.  i„^i  be  brought  to  justice  ?  Great 
diffioulty,  however,  was  experienced  in  finding 
a  court  to  undertake  the  responsibility  of  his 
trial.  He  was,  in  the  first  instance,  sent  to  be 
tried  by  a  military  commission,  presided  over  by 


line  cage  de  for.  Je  nc  me  rappcllc  pas  bien  ce  quo  j'ai 
(Ut.  Je  sals  que  j'ai  jirononce  ces  mots,  '  Cage  do  fer.' 
Je  dis  aussi  quo  JJoiKiparte  me  paraissait  bien  coupable 
d'avoirrompu  son  tian.  J'ai  (5cric,  '  Si  je  vols  do  I'hcsita- 
tlon  dans  la  troupe,  je  prcndrai  moi-mome  In  fusil  du 
premier  grenadier,  pour  m'en  servir,  et  donii'ir  I'exernple 
aux  autres.'  J'ai  entrainc  ;  j'ai  cu  tort,  il  n'y  a  pas  le 
moindryedoutc." — Proces  du  Marechal  Ney — Miinitcur,  No. 
515,  nth  Nov.  1815. 

*  "Tout  depend  des  prrmiiTS  coups  dc  fusil,  car  cnfin 
U  n'y  en  a  pas  encore  de  tires.  J'attends  tout  de  Nry, 
puisque  c'est  lo  scul  qui  comhattra  eel  hornine.  Ne  pcr- 
dez  pas  de  temps  :i  cc;  vilaiti  Paris  ;  mon  beau  frere  est 
•asez  pour  le  contenir ;  mais  vous,  pourquoi  n'ctcs  vniix 
pas  cmec  Omliait  ou  Ni-yV — Madame  la  Duche.se  d'An- 
OOULEMC  a  Af.lc  Comic  d'Artoi.",  IJordeaux  2'J  Mars, 
1615. — Capekiol'e,  iv.  42) — Appendix 


INIarshal  Moncey;  but  that  veteran  recoiled  from 
the  idea  of  trying  an  old  companion  in  arms,  and 
declined  the  trial  on  the  plea  of  having  no  juris- 
diction over  a  peer  of  the  reahn.  This  refusal, 
which  was  considered  by  the  Royalists  a  de^ii- 
sive  proof  of  a  general  conspiracy  in  the  army, 
gave  profound  mortification  to  the  court,  and 
was  punished  by  three  months'  imprisonment,  in- 
flicted on  the  recusant  marshal.  Ney  was  next 
sent  to  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  which,  how  un- 
willing soever  to  undertake  the  painful  duty, 
could  find  no  pretext  to  evade  it.  The  Dukcde 
Richelieu,  in  introducing  the  accusation  on  behall 
of  the  Government,  observed — "  It  is  not  only  in 
the  name  of  the  king  that  we  discharge  this 
duty — it  is  in  the  name  of  France,  long  indig- 
nant, and  now  stupefied :  it  is  even  in  the  name 
of  Europe  that  we  at  once  conjure  and  require 
you  to  undertake  the  trial  of  Maishal  Ney.  We 
accuse  him  before  you  of  high  treason  and  crimes 
against  the  state.  The  Chamber  of  Peers  owes 
'to  the  world  a  conspicuous  reparation ;  and  it 
should  be  prompt,  if  it  is  to  be  effectual.  The 
king's  ministers  are  obliged  to  say  that  the  de- 
cision of  the  council  of  war  has  become  a  triumph 
to  the  factions.  We  conjure  you  then,  and  in  the 
name  of  the  king  require  you,  in  terms  of  the 
ordinance  of  his  majesty,  to  proceed 

to  the  trial  of  jNIarshal  Ney."    The  lnl°Ti'Tu 
.    ,  ,     ,  1-111        i>ov.  11,  lbl5. 

trial  proceeded  accordingly,  the  de-  sup.,and 
fense  of  the  marshal  being  intrusted  Nov. 25,1815; 

to  the  able  hands  of  MM.  Berryer  ^}\P-,"'-  ^^\ 
,  T^      ■     ,  •'361;  Lac.  u.  5. 

and  Uupin.' 

These   able  counselors  could   not   deny  the 
facts  proved  against  him,  the  most  c- 

important  of  which  were  admitted  His  defense 
by  himself  in  his  judical  declaration,  and  condcm- 
They  confined  themselves,  there-  "^t'O"- 
fore,  to  the  plea  that  ho  was  no  longer  a  free 
agent  when  he  signed  the  proclamation  of  the 
14th  of  March,  sent  to  him  by  Napoleon;*  that 
he  was  carried  away  by  the  torrent,  and  that  the 
cause  of  Napoleon  had  been  by  the  soldiers  so 
warmly  embraced  before  it  was  issued,  that  <o 
have  taken  any  other  course-  had  become  im- 
practicable. But  to  this  it  was  justly  replied, 
that  difficuity  will  never  justify  crime;  that  if 
he  could  not  control  his  troops,  he  might  at  least 
have  withdrawn  from  the  command,  and  not  em- 
ployed the  power  confided  to  him  by  the  king  for 
the  destruction  of  .his  authority.  And  the  de- 
fense of  being  carried  awii}',  such  as  it  was,  vi'us 


*  "  Ofliciers,  sous-ofliciers,  ct  soldats — La  cause  dcs 
Bourbons  est  a  jamais  perdue  1  Le  dynastic  liifritiincque 
la  nation  Franc;aise  a  adoptee  va  remonter  sur  le  Tronc  ; 
c'est  a  rEinper(Hir  Napoleon  noire  Souveraiii  (lu'il  appar- 
ticnt  seul  de  rufrner  sur  ce  beau  pays  1  Quo  la  noblesse 
des  Hourbons  prenne  le  parti  de  I'oxpatrier  encore,  ou 
qu'elle  consente  a  vivre  au  milieu  dc  nous,  qu'iniporto  ! 
La  cause  sacree  de  la  liberie  ct  dc  notro  indcpoiidance  no 
souflTrira  plus  de  lour  funesle  inlluoncc.  lis  out  voiilu 
avilir  noire  gloire  militairo,  mais  ils  so  sont  tronipOs; 
celle  gloire  est  le  fruil  do  trop  nobles  travaux  i)Our  quo 
nouspuissionscn  pcrdro  lamomoire.  .Soldats,  les  icnips 
nc  sont  plus  ou  on  gouvernait  les  peuplos  en  Olouflant 
lous  leurs  droits:  la  liberie  Iriomplie  enfin  el  Napoleon 
noire  augusle  Empereur,  va  I'adermir  a  jamais !  Que 
dtisorniais  celle  cause  si  belle  soil  la  notre  et  cclle  de  lous 
les  I''ran(-ais  I  Que  lous  los  braves  que  j'ai  I'lioiuieur  da 
commander  so  penotreni  do  cettc  grande  vcrile.  Sol- 
dats, jo  vous  ai  si  souvent  menes  a  la  vicloiro,  mainte- 
nant  jo  vcnx  vous  conduire  a  cello  phalange  immortollo 
que  rEnqxTour  Napoleon  conduit  a  Paris,  et  qui  y  sera 
sous  i)eu  de  jours,  el  la,  notro  csp<jranceet  notre  bonheui 
soront  a  jamais  cgalisos.  Vivo  I'Empereur  I — Lo7is-l<> 
Sauliiier,  le  13  Mam.  1815. — Lr  Maiiecmal  df,  1,'Emi'IUK, 
?1HNCE  DE  i.A  MosKOUA." — Mimitcw,  22d  No\ .  Ibl5 


60 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


entirely  overturncil  liy  liie  cviilonec  of  Generals 
Leoinirbe  and  Bourniont,  wlio  were  with  him  at 
the  lime  of  his  dcfeetion — who  eoncurreil  in  slnt- 
inj:,  the  one  in  oral  testimony,  the  other  in  a  dc- 
posiiion  emitcd  beloro  death,  that  Key  hatl  him- 
seir  said,  in  their  presence,  that  it  was  all  over; 
that  every  thiiisi  had  hccn  agircd  upon  for  three 
tiwntlis,  and  they  would  have  known  it,  if  tlicy 
ht. J  been  at  I'.ii  is ;  that  no  violence  was  to  be 
^c^e  to  the  kinj:^,  l)ut  tiiat  he  was  to  be  dethroned, 
pLt  on  board  a>  vessel,  and  conducted  into  Eng- 
land.'* It  appeared,  from  M-hat  fell 
JuoumoM;  '"'"^""  General  Bourmont,  that  Ncy's 
Proccs  lie  '  words  led  to  the  belief  that,  like 
Ney,  bT  ;  and  many  other  of  the  most  terrible  ca- 
Moniieur,  taslrophes  recorded  in  history,  from 
Dec.  6,  lel5.       ,         .'  ,,  „,  ,  -^  ,     ,  • 

the  siege  ot    Iroy  downward,   his 

conduct  on   this  occasion  had  been  mainly  in- 
stigated by  female  jealousy  and  mortifications. 
It  now  remained  only  to  the  counsel  for  the 
gg  accused  to  appeal  to  the  capitula- 

Appeal  to  the  tion  of  Paris :  and  here,  it  must  be 
cai)|tulaiion  admitted,  they  had  a  much  stronger 
oilans.  case  to  rest  upon.     By  the  twelfth 

article  of  the  capitulation  of  that  city,  concluded 
at  St.  Cloud,  it  had  been  stipulated  that  no  per- 
son then  in  Paris  should  be  disquieted  in  his  per- 
son or  estate  on  account  of  his  conduct  during 
the  Hundred  Days;  and  by  another  article,  that 
if  any  doubt  arose  concerning  the  interpretation 
to  be  put  on  any  part  of  the  convention,  it  should 
be  construed  in  favor  of  the  party  capitulating.! 
Three  witnesses  of  the  highest  respectability, 
wh'i  tor>k  part  in  the  capitulation,  IMarshal  Da- 
vou>i.  Geiici;tl  Guillimont,  and  31.  Bignon,  con- 
currc.l  ii.  ucpuning  that  this  article  was  intend- 

*  "  Cost  une  chose  absolument  finie,"  dit  le  Marechal. 
Je  ne  I'avais  pas  compris.  Le  General  Lecourbe  entra  ; 
"je  lui  disais  que  tout  est  fini,"  dit-il  au  General  Le- 
courbe ;  celul-ci  parut  etnnne.  "  Oui,"  ajouta  le  Mare- 
shal,  "  c'est  une  affaire  arrangee.  il  y  a  trois  mois  que 
nous  sommcs  tons  d'accord ;  si  vous  aviez  ete  a  Paris  vous 
I'auriez  su  comme  moi.  Les  troupes  sent  divisees  par 
deux  bataillons  et  trois  escadrons,  les  troupes  d'Alsace 
de  ineme,  les  troupes  de  la  Lorraine  de  menie  ;  le  Roi  doit 
avoir  quitte  Paris,  ou  il  sera  enleve,  mais  on  ne  lui  fera 
pas  de  mal ;  mallieur  a  qui  ferait  du  rnal  au  Roi ;  on  n-.ivait 
rintention  que  de  le  detroner,  de  Tembarquer  surunvais- 
seau  et  de  le  faire  conduire  en  Angleterre.  Nous  n'avoiis 
i;lus  maintenant  qu"a  rejoindre  PEmpereur."  Je  dis  au 
Marechal  qu'il  etait  tres  extraordinaire  qu'il  proposal 
d'aller  rejoindre  celui  eontre  lequel  il  devait  combattre.  II 
me  repondit  qu'il  m'engageait  a  le  faire,  "  mais  vous  etes 
libre."  Le  General  Lecourbe  lui  repondit — "Je  suis  i<;i 
pour  serrir  le  Roi,  et  non  pour  servir  Bonaparte.  Jamais 
U  ne  m'a  fait  que  du  mal,  et  le  Roi  ne  m'a  fail  quedu  bien. 
Je  veux  servir  le  Roi,  j'ai  de  I'honneur."  "  Et  moi  aussi," 
repondit  le  Marechal,  '■  parceque  je  ne  veux  pas  etre  hu- 
milie.  Je  ne  veux  pas  que  ma  femme  retourne  chez  moi 
les  larmes  aux  ycux  des  humiliations  qu'elle  a  re?ues  dans 
la  journee.  Le  Roi  ne  veut  pas  de  nous,  c'esi  evident ;  ce 
n'est  qu'avec  Bonaparte  que  nous  pouvons  avoir  de  la  con- 
sideration ;  ce  n'est  qu'avec  un  homme  de  I'armee  que 
pouira  en  obtenir  I'armee."  Une  demi-heure  apres.  il  pril 
un  papier  sur  la  table— "Voila  ce  que  je  veux  lire  aux 
troupes."  Et  il  lut  la  Proclamation.  .  .  .  Le  Mare- 
chal ttait  si  bien  determine  d'avance  a  prendre  son  parti 
qu'Uie  demiheure  apres  il  port  ail  la  decoration  de  la  Legion 
(fllonncur  avec  I'Aigle,  et  a  son  grand  cordon  la  decora- 
tion a  fEfTit'ie  de  Bonaparte — Deposition  du  General  Bour- 
niont—  Moiuteur,  6  Dec.  1815. 

t  "  Seronl  respectees  les  persones  et  les  proprictes 
particulieres ;  les  habitans,  et,  en  general,  tous  les  in- 
dividus  qui  se  trouvent  dans  la  capitate,  continueront  a 
jouir  de  leurs  droits  et  liberies,  sans  pouvoir  etre  ni  en- 
qni^t^s  ni  recherches,  meme  relativement  aux  fonctians 
quils  occupent  ou  auraient  occupees,  a  leur  conduite  el  a 
leur  opinion  politique.  S'il  survienl  quelques  difficultes 
sur  I'execution  de  quelques-uns  des  articles  de  la  conven- 
tion, Pinterpretalion  en  sera  faite  en  faveur  de  I'armee 
Franijaisi",  <^  de  lavillede  Paris." — Arts  12  i!t  15,  Capitu- 
lation de  TiTis—Moniteur,  July  9,  JS15  ;  Cap  iii.  3f6,  307. 


[Chap.  Ill 

ed  to  cover  tho  m  Jita.y  as  well  as  the  ordi- 
nary inhabitants  of  Paris;  and  that  had  this  not 
been  agreed  to,  thoy  would  have  broken  olf  the 
negotiation.  "  I  had,"  said  Marshal  Davoust. 
'•^5,000  cavalry,  400  or  500  guns;  and  if  the 
French  are  leady  to  fly,  they  are  not  less  ready 
to  rally  under  tho  walls  of  Paris."  JNIarshal 
Ney  exclaimed  iijion  this — '•'  The  article  was  sc 
entirely  jirotcctivc,  that  I  relied  on  it:  but  ft  r 
it,  can  it  be  believed  I  would  not  have  died 
sword  in  hand  ?  It  was  in  defiance  of  that  ca 
pitulalion  that  I  was  arrested,  and  on  its  faith 
that  I  re-entered  France."  The  Peers,  by  a 
majority,  held  that  tbey  could  listen  to  no  defense 
founded  on  the  military  convention  of  July  3,  con- 
cluded between  foreign  generals  and  a  provision- 
al government  not  emanating  from  the  king,  and 
to  which  he  was  so  entire  a  stranger,  that  two- 
and-twenty  days  after  he  signed  an  ordinance, 
directing  a  certain  number  of  individuals  to  be 
brought  to  trial,  which  was  signed  by  the  very 
minister  who  had  been  president  of  the  provision, 
al  government.  As  a  last  resource,  M.  Berryer 
objected  that  Ney  was  no  longer  a  Frenchman, 
or  subject  to  the  laws  of  that  country  ;  for,  by 
the  treaty  of  20th  November  last,  the  place  of 
his  birth  had  been  detached  from  France.  But 
the  marshal  stopped  that  defense  in  a  noble 
manner — "I  am  a  Frenchman,"  exclaimed  he, 
'•  and  will  die  as  such.  Hitherto  my  defense  has 
appeared  free  :  it  is  no  longer  so.  I  thank  my 
generous  defenders,  but  I  would  rather  not  be 
defended  than  have  the  shadow  only  of  a  de- 
fense. I  am  accused  in  opposition  to  the  faith 
of  treaties,  and  I  am  precluded  from  ,  jji(,j,jjg„f 
appealing  to  them.  I  imitate  Mo-  uec.  7,  1S15-, 
reau — I  appeal  from  Europe  to  pos-  Cap.  iii.  3t>l. 
terity."!  ^^^'■ 

When  the  appeal  to  the  capitulations  was  re- 
fused, the  counsel  for  Ney  had  no  g_ 
longer  any  defense.  He  was  ac-  jje  is  found 
cordingly  found  guilty — 1st,  By  a  guilty,  and 
majority  of  107  to  47,  of  having,  ^^"1^/"^'"*  '° 
in  the  night  of  the  13th  and  14lh 
]\rarch,  received  the  emissaries  of  the  usurper ; 
2d,  Unanimously,  of  having,  on  the  14th  March, 
read  a  proclamation  in  the  chief  square  of  Lons- 
le-Saulnier,  tending  to  excite  his  troops  to  re- 
bellion, and  immediately  given  orders  to  them 
to  unite  their  forces  with  those  of  the  usurper, 
and  of  having  himself  eflfected  that  junction  ; 
3d,  By  a  majority  of  157  to  1,  of  having  com- 
mitted high  treason.  It  remained  to  determine 
on  the  punishment  to  be  inflicted,  the  determin- 
ation of  which  the  French  law,  in  the  case  of 
that  high  tribunal,  gives  to  the  judges — viz., 
whether  it  would  be  that  prescribed  by  the 
penal  code  or  the  military  law  :  142  voted  for 
death,  according  to  the  martial  law,  13  for 
transportation,  5  declined  voting.  The  sen- 
tence was  pronounced  in  absence  of  the  ac- 
cused, the  privilege  of  doing  so  having  been 
given  tn  the  Peers  by  the  royal  ordinance  direct- 
mg  the  trial.  In  the  majority  who  voted  for 
death  were  found  the  names  of  j  jvioniieur 
Marmont,  Serrurier,  the  Duke  of  Dec.  7,  is\i 
Valmy,  Latour,  Maubourg,  and  Cap.  iii.  389. 
many  others  of  Ney's  old  compan-  jj'  ,'„  ^^'^-  "• 
ions  in  arms.^                                           ' 

The  marshal  himself  supped  calmly  th.al 
night,  and.  after  smoking  a  cigar,  slept  for  some 
hours.     He  was  wakened  by  M.  Caucli-y,  who 


:  815.1 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


&1 


came  to  announce  to  him  tiie   decision  of  the 
gg  House  of  Peers.     "  Marshal,"  said 

riis  death  de-  he,  '"I  have  a  melancholy  duty  to 
termined  oii  perform."  "  Do  your  duty,  M. 
by  the  king.  Q^uchy,  we  all  have  ours  in  this 
world."  Then,  as  the  preamble  began,  he  said 
— "To  the  point,  to  the  point."  When  the 
numerous  titles  of  the  accused — Prince  of 
the  ]Moskwa,  Duke  of  Elchingen — began,  he 
interrupted  him  agam :  "  Say  simply  IMichel 
Ney,  soon  a  little  dust;  that  is  all."  Never  did 
execution  succeed  a  sentence  more  rapidly. 
The  king's  ministers  were  in  a  state  of  ex- 
treme anxiety ;  the  state  of  the  metropolis  was 
reported  to  them  every  quarter  of  an  hour.  In 
the  evening  a  conference  of  the  royal  family 
was  held,  at  which  it  was  resolved  by  all  that 
a  great  example  was  necessary  ;  the  Duchess 
d'Angouleme  was  particularly  vehement  in  in- 
culcating this  opinion.  At  midnight  the  minis- 
ters had  a  meeting,  at  \\  hich  it  was  determined, 
after  anxious  deliberation,  to  petition  the  king 
in  favor  of  a  commutation  of  the  sentence  to 
one  of  banishment  to  America  The  Duke  of 
Richelieu  was,  with  some  difficulty,  brought  to 
acquiesce  in  this  resolution;  but,  having  done 
so,  he  exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  to  carry  it 
into  efiect.  and  besought  the  king  to  exercise 
his  clemency  by  acceding  to  the  wishes  of  the 
f  abinet ;  but  he  found  the  monarch  immovable. 
He  had  not  courage  enough  to  be  magnani- 
mous; the  heroic  only  have  such.  It  is  those 
who  could  themselves  confront  death  that  can 
forgive  it  to  others.  It  was  doubtless  a  matter 
of  extreme  difficulty  for  the  king  to  resist  the 
unanimous  voice  of  the  European  powers,  who 
concurred  in  demanding  the  punishment  of  a 
great  delinquent,  and  the  impassioned  feelings 
uf  the  great  majority  of  both  the  Chambers, 
who  concurred  in  that  requisition.  But  there  is 
a  voice  in  the  human  heart  superior  to  that  of 
public  opinion,  and  that  voice  is  the  voice  of 
God.  Condemned  by  the  great  majority  of 
men  at  the  moment,  the  forgiveness  of  Ney, 
by  one  whom  he  had  so  deeply  injured,  would 
I  r  ••■  dM  ^'^^'^  been  the  noblest  inaugura- 
403?^  '"  '  ^'"^^  ^^  ^^'^  monarchy  for  all  future 
times.* 

At  three  in  the  morning  of  the  8th,  the  palace 
89  of   the    Luxembourg,    where    Ney 

His  execution,  was  confined,  was  taken  possession 
Doc.  8.  of  by  M.  de  la  Rochecouart  with 

two  hundred  soldiers,  chiefly  gendarmes  and 
veterans.  At  nine  in  the  morning,  llic  marshal, 
having  drank  a  little  claret,  entered  a  carriage, 
accompanied  by  the  Cure  of  St.  Sulpiec  :  two 
gendarmes  occupied  the  front  scat  of  the  car- 
riage. The  vehicle  drew  up  in  the  gardens 
to  the  left  of  the  entrance,  about  fifty  yards 
from  tlie  gate.  Ney  got  out  with  a  rapid  step, 
and  placing  himself  eight  paces  from  the  wall, 
said,  addressing  the  officer  in  command,  ''  Is  it 
here,  sir?"  "Yes,  M.  le  Mareehai,"  was  the 
reply.  He  refused  to  have  his  eyes  bandaged. 
"For  five-and-tvvcnty  years,"  said  he,  "I  have 
been  accustomed  to  face  the  balls  of  the  ene- 
aiur.,^;....,,  my."  Then  taking  off  his  hnt  wilh 
Dec.  9,  1815;  his  Icit  natul,  and  |ilar'ing  his  ngiit 
Cap.  iii.  4U3,  ujion  hiy  iicart,  he  said  in  a  loud 
ta^il^*'^    "     voice,  froniing  the  soldiers.     "My 

'     '  comra'les,  fire  on  mo."'     The  offi- 

cer   in   comm;iti'l    gave     he  signal,  and  he    fell 
V^T     1_K 


without  any  struggle  :  death  was  instantaneons, 
three  balls  had  penetrated  the  head,  and  four 
the  breast.  The  place  of  execution  may  still 
be  seen  in  the  gardens  of  the  Luxembourg  ^  and 
no  spot  in  Europe  will  ever  excite  more  mel- 
ancholy feelings  in  the  breast  of  the  spectator. 

The   death  of  Ney  was  one   of  the   greatest 
'  faults  that  the  Bourbons  ever  com-  go. 

i  mitted.  His  guilt  was  self-evident;  Reflections  on 
never  did  criminal  more  richly  de-  *^^  event, 
serve  the  penalties  of  treason.  Like  Mftrlbo 
rough,  he  had  not  only  betrayed  his  sovereign, 
but  he  had  done  so  when  in  high  command,  and 
when,  like  him,  he  had  recently  before  been 
prodigal  of  protestations  of  fidelity  to  the  eauso 
he  undertook.  His  treachery  had  brought  on 
his  country  unheard-of  calamities — defeat  in 
battle,  conquest  by  Europe,  the  dethrtnemeiit 
and  captivity  of  its  sovereign,  occupation  of  ils 
capital  and  provinces  by  1,100,000  armed  men. 
contributions  to  an  unparalleled  amount  from 
its  suffering  people.  Double  treachery  had 
marked  his  career ;  he  had  first  abandoned  in 
adversity  his  fellow-soldier,  benefactor,  and  em- 
peror, to  take  service  with  his  enemy,  and,  hav- 
ing done  so,  he  next  betrayed  his  trust  to  that 
enemy,  and  converted  the  power  given  him  into 
the  means  of  destroying  his  sovereign.  If  ever 
a  man  deserved  death,  according  to  the  laws  of 
all  civilized  countries — if  ever  there  was  one  to 
whom  continued  life  would  have  been  an  oppro- 
brium— it  was  Ney.  But  all  that  will  not  jus- 
tify the  breach  of  a  capitulation.  He  was  in 
Paris  at  the  time  it  was  concluded — he  remain- 
ed in  it  on  its  faith — he  fell  directly  under  its 
word  as  well  as  its  spirit.  To  say  that  it  was  a 
rnilitary  convention,  which  could  not  tie  up  the 
hands  of  the  King  of  France,  who  was  no  party 
to  it,  is  a  sophism  alike  contrary  to  the  prin- 
ciples  of  law  and  the  feelings  of  honor.  If 
Louis  XVIII.  was  not  a  party  to  it,  he  became 
such  by  entering  Paris,  and  resuming  his  throne, 
the  very  day  after  it  was  concluded,  without  fir- 
ing a  shot.  True,  the  magnitude  of  the  treach- 
ery called  for  a  great  example;  true,  ]''urope  in 
arms  demanded  bis  head  as  an  expiation  ; — but 
what  then  ?  The  very  time  when  justice  is 
shown  in  harmony  with  present  magnanimity 
and  ultimate  expedience,  is  when  a  great  crime 
has  been  comniitted,  a  great  criminal  is  at 
stake,  and  a  great  sacrifice  must  be  made  to 
secure  that  harmony.  Banished  from  France, 
with  his  double  treason  affixed  to  his  name,  Ney 
would  for  ever  have  been  an  object  of  scorn  and 
detestation  to  every  honorable  mind.  Slain,  in 
defiance  of  the  cajiitulation,  in  the  gardens  of 
the  Luxembourg,  and  meeting  death  in  a  heroic 
spirit,  he  became  an  object  of  eternal  pathetic 
interest ;  and  the  decoration  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor,  which  his  sentence  directed  to  lie  torn 
from  his  neck,  was  for  ever  replaced  around  it 
by  the  volley  of  the  platoon  which  consignctJ 
him  to  the  grave. 

During  the  trial,  and  when  his  counsel  I)a\l 
appealed  tothc  capitulation  of  Paris 
as  protecting  him,  great  ellbrts  were  j^,„i  „",|  ■,!,„ 
made  with  foreign  powers  to  save  Jjukeof  Welj 
his  life.      Notes  wcro  addiesscd  to  inKion'Hshnro 
all  the  foreign  embassadors  then  at  j,■J.^>j;,"  '""'"■ 
Paris,   and  the  intervention  of  the 
military  chiefs  who  conr  luded  that  convention 
was  in  an  especial  n  am  cr  invoked,     Madame 


HISTORY   OF  EUROPE. 


,Chap.  Ill 


Nev  npplioil  for  nml  obtaincil  nn  interview  with 
tlie  l^iikc  i>r  Wollinfiton  on  tlio  sulijoet,  ami  in 
tlio  must  |i!\ssion:»lo  manner  invoked  the  protec- 
tion of  the  I'JtIi  aniele.  '•  Mudum,"'  answered 
the  Duke,  "thai  ea|)itnl;uiiin  was  only  intended 
to  proteet  the  inhabitants  of  Paris  ay^ainst  the 
ven!,'caneo  of  the  allied  armies;  and  it  is  not 
oliliiratory  cxeept  on  the  powers  which  have 
ratified  it,  which  Louis  XA'III.  has  not  done/' 
'•  Mv  Lord,"  replied  Madame  Ney,  "was  not  the 
fakin<T  possession  of  Paris,  in  virtueof  the  capitu- 
lation, equivalent  to  a  ratification?"'  '-That," 
rejoined  the  Duke,  "  regards  the  king  of  France  ; 
apply  to  him."'  Wellington  expressed  himself 
in  the  same  terms  to  INIarshal  Ney,  in  answer  to 
a  letter  addressed  to  him  by  the  marshal  on  the 
sulijeet.*  The  whole  case  rests  on  both  sides 
on  this  brief  dialogue:  all  the  wit  of  man  to  the 
end  of  time  can  add  nothing  to  their  force. 
Strictly  speaking,  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was 
undoubtedly  risht :  the  capitulation  bound  him, 
and  had  been  observed  by  him ;  if  the  King  of 
France  violated  it,  that  was  the  affair  of  that 
monarch  and  his  ministers;  and  there  was  a 
peculiar  delicacy  in  a  victorious  foreign  general, 
in  military  possession  of  the  capital,  interfering 
with  the  administration  of  justice  by  the  French 
government.  In  private,  it  is  said,  Wellington 
exerted  himself  much,  though  unhappily  with- 
out efl'eet,  to  save  the  life  of  his  old  antagonist 
in  arms;  but,  in  the  face  of  the  united  opinion 
of  the  whole  powers  of  Europe,  he  did  not  con- 
ceive himself  at  liberty  to  make  any  public  de- 
monstration in  his  favor.  His  situation  was 
doubtless  a  delicate  one,  surrounded  with  diffi- 
culties on  every  side  ;  but  there  is  an  instinct  in 
the  human  heart  paramount  to  reason,  there  is  a 
wisdom  in  generosity  which  is  often  superior  to 
that  of  expedience.  Time  ■will  show  whether  it 
would  not  have  been  wiser  to  have  listened  to  its 
voice  than  to  that  of  unrelenting  justice  on  this 
occasion ;  and  whether  the  throne  of  the  Bour- 
bons would  not  have  been  better  inaugurated  by 
a  deed  of  generosity  which  would  have  spoken 
to  the  heart  of  man  through  every  succeeding 
age,  than  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  greatest,  though 
also  the  most  guilty,  hero  of  the  empire. 

Another  trial  took  place  at  the  same  period 
92.  before  the  ordinary  courts  of  justice 

Trial  of  Lava-  in  Paris,  which,  although  not  term- 
'^"®-  inating  in  the  same  mournful  catas- 

trophe, was  attended  with  circumstances  of  per- 
haps greater  romantic  interest.  'M.  Lavalette 
was  in  civil  administration  what  jNIarshal  Ney 
had  been  in  military — the  great  criminal  of  the 
Hundred  Lays.  Accompanied  by  General  Sebas- 
tiani,  he  had  taken  forcible  possession,  in  the 
name  of  the  Emperor,  of  the  important  situation 

*  "  I  have  had  the  honor  of  receiving  the  note  which  you 
addressed  to  me  on  the  13th  November,  relating  to  the 
operation  of  the  capitulation  of  Paris  on  your  case.  The 
capitulation  of  Paris,  on  the  3d  .July,  was  made  between 
•he  commander-in-chief  of  the  allied  British  and  Prussian 
armies,  on  the  one  part,  and  the  Prince  of  Eckmuhl, 
commander-in-chief  of  the  French  armies,  on  the  other, 
and  related  exclusively  to  the  military  occupation  of 
Paris.  The  object  of  the  12th  article  was  to  prevent  the 
adoption  of  any  measures  of  severity,  under  the  military 
authority  of  those  who  made  it,  toward  any  persons  in 
Paris,  on  account  of  offices  which  they  had  filled,  or  their 
conduct,  or  their  political  opinions.  "  But  it  never  was 
intended,  and  could  not  be  intended,  to  prevent  either  the 
axisting  French  Government,  or  any  French  Government 
»t.ich  might  succeed  it,  from  acting  in  this  respect  as  it 
■qjf ht  deem  fit." — Wellington  to  Marshal  Ney,  19th 

f.  16!5;  GuRwooD,  xii.  694. 


of  Director-General  of  the  Post-ofUce,  which  he 
had  formerly  held  under  the  Emperor,  and  Imd 
used  the  power  thus  aqquircd  to  the  worst  pur 
poses.  On  the  20th  March,  before  the  entry  of 
the  Emperor  into  Paris,  ho  had  addressed  a 
treasonable  circular  to  the  inferior  postmasters, 
which  had  a  powerful  elfcct  in  tranquilizing  the 
provinces,  and  facilitating  Napoleon's  peaceable 
resumption  of  the  throne.*  Jn  addition  to  tins, 
he  had  written  to  Napoleon  at  Fontainebleau, 
urging  his  immediate  advance  to  Paris,  and  re- 
fused  post-horses  to  several  of  the  persons  in  tho 
suite  of  Louis  XVHL,  in  particular  Count  Fer- 
rand,  the  former  postmaster,  on  the  departure 
of  that  monarch  for  Lille.  His  guilt,  therefore, 
was  self-evident ;  indeed,  it  has  been  confessed 
by  himself;!  but,  like  so  many  others  of  the  per- 
sons implicated  in  the  treason  of  the  Hundred 
Days,  he  made  no  attempt  at  escape.  He  re- 
mained, on  the  contrary,  at  his  own  hotel,  or  th^ 
country  house  of  his  mother-in-law,  near  Paris, 
after  the  return  of  the  king,  and  even  after  the 
fate  of  Labedoyere  might  have  taught  him  the 
expedience  of  consulting  his  safety  by  flight,  the 
more  especially  as  he  was  not  in  Paris  at  the 
time  of  the  capitulation,  and  could  not  appeal  to 
its  protection.  He  had  even  the  extrenae  im- 
prudence to  disregard  a  significant  hint  sent 
him  by  Fouche,  and  remained  at  his  mother- 
in-law's  without  concealment.  The  ... 
consequence  was,  he  was  arrested  325^'^Moni."'  ' 
and  brought  to  trial;  and,  as  his  teur,  Nov.  21, 
treason  was  clearly  proved,  he  1SJ5 ;  Lava- 
was  found  guiltv  and  sentenced  to  If",';^  ^l^^' 
,,,='■'  n.  150.  loo. 
death.' 

The  counsel  of  Lavalette,  to  gain  time,  advised 
him  to  appi)'  to  have  the  sentence  93 

reviewed  by  the   Court   of   Cassa-  The  king's 
tion.  and  meanwhile  applied,  through  pardon  is  ap 
the  Duke  de  Richelieu,  to  the  king  P^'f^^_  ^°' '° 
for  mercy.     Louis  answered  :  ''M. 
de  Lavalette  appears  to  me  to  be  guilty;  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  demands  examples,  and  1 
believe  them   to  be  necessary.     I  have  every 
wish  to  extend  mercy  to  M.  de  Lavalette;  but 
recollect  that,  the  day  following,  you  will  be 
assailed  by  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  and  we 


*  "L'Empereur  sera  a  Paris  dans  deux  heurs  et  peut- 
etre  avant.  La  capitale  est  dans  le  plus  grand  enthousi- 
asme  ;  et  quoi  qu'on  puisse  faire,  la  guerre  civile  n'aura 
lieu  nuUe  part.  Vive  TEmpereur  I — Le  Conseiller  cTEtat, 
Direct euT-General  des  Pastes,  Comte  Lavalette." — Hon- 
ilettr,  21st  Nov.  1815. 

t  "  En  sortant  de  la  Rue  d'Artois  pour  entrer  snr  le 
boulevard,  je  rcncontrai  le  General  Sebastian!  en  cabrio- 
let. II  me  donna  la  nouvelle  du  depart  du  Roi,  mais  il 
n'en  avail  aucune  sur  TEmpereur.  '  J'ai  hien  d'envie,' 
lui  dis-je,  '  d'en  aller  chercher  a  la  poste  ;'  et  je  me  plagai 
a  cote  de  lui.  En  entrant  dans  la  salle  d'audience  qui 
precede  le  Cabinet  du  Directeur-General,  je  trouvai  un 
jeune  homme  etabli  devant  un  bureau,  a  qui  je  demandai 
si  le  Comte  Ferrand  etait  encore  a  I'hotel.  Sur  la  re- 
ponse  affirmative  je  lui  donnai  mon  nom,  en  le  priant  de 
demander  pour  nioi  quelques  instans  d'entretien  a  M.  Ic 
Comte  Ferrand.  M.  Ferrand  se  presenta,  mais  sang 
s'arreter  et  sans  m'ecouter  il  ouvrit  son  cabinet.  Je  ne 
Ty  suivis  pas  ;  et  j'allai  dans  une  autre  pifce  oit  je  trouvai 
tons  les  chffs  de  division  reunis  de  me  rtvoir,  et  disposes  a 
tout  faire  pour  m'obliger.  M.  Ferrand,  apres  avoir  pris 
ses  papiers,  se  retira,  et  laissa  son  cabinet  a  ma  disposi- 
tion. J'avais  un  vif  desir  de  courir  a  P'ontainebleau. 
pour  embrasser  TEmpereur ;  mais  je  voulais  voir  ma 
femme  avant  de  partir,  et  pour  concilier  ces  deux  mouve 
ments  de  coeur,  je  pris  la  resolution  d'ecrire  a  Fontaine 
bleau.  On  me  donna  un  courrier,  qui  pr.rtit  a  I'instant. 
J'annoncai  a  I'Empereur  la  nouvelle  du  depart  du  Roi,  et 
je  lui  demandai  des  orders  pour  la  Po%te,  puisque  M. 
Ferrand  avait  abandonne  I'administratioa  " — Mimoirt  di 
Lavalette,  ii.,  152,  153 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPK. 


«3 


shall  bo  in  a  fresh  embarrassment."  By  the  ad- 
vice  of  ihi  king,  the  intervention  of  the  Duchess 
d'Anfjouleme  was  applied  for,  as  it  might  sup- 
port him  in  the  course  which  his  inclination 
prompted,  and  the  princess  shed  tears  at  the 
recital,  and  recommended  that  Madame  Lava- 
•ette  should  throw  herself  at  the  king's  feet. 
She  did  so,  having  with  great  difficulty  obtained 
entrance  to  the  chateau  by  the  assistance  of 
Marshal  Marmont ;  but  though  the  monarch 
addressed  her  with  kindness  he  promised  no- 
thing, and  it  was  understood  the  law  would  be 
allowed  to  take  its  course.  It  was  fortunate  he 
did  so,  for  it  gave  occasion  to  one  of  the  most 

1  i.aval.Mem  touching  instances  of  female  hero- 
272,275;  Cap.  ism  and  devotion  that  the  history  of 
iii.  331,  332.      j^g  world  has  exhibited.' 

The  day  of  his  execution  was  fixed,  and  the 
g^  unhappy  prisoner,  despairing  of  life. 

He  escapes  by  had  already  begun  to  familiarize 
the  aid  of  his  his  mind  with  the  frightful  circum- 
1^'''^'  ^""^  '°  stances  of  a  public  execution.  In 
this  extremity  every  thing  depend- 
ed on  the  courage  and  energy  of  Madame  La- 
valette ;  and  to  her  he  owed  his  salvation.  The 
evening  before,  being  the  21st  December,  she 
came  to  have  a  last  interview  with  him,  ac- 
companied b)'  her  daughter,  a  child  of  fourteen 
years  ;  and,  as  soon  as  they  were  alone,  pro- 
posed  that  he  should  escape  in  her  dress.  With 
much  difficulty  she  persuaded  him  to  accede  to 
the  proposal,  and  after  their  last  repast,  the 
change  of  apparel  was  effected  with  surprising 
celerity  and  address.  The  hope  of  success,  the 
consciousness  of  heroism,  had  restored  all  her 
presence  of  mind  to  Madame  Lavaleitc,  and 
she  was  not  only  cheerful  but  animated  on  the 
occasion.  "Do  not  forget,"  said  she,  "to  stoop 
at  passing  through  the  doors,  and  walk  slowly 
:n  the  passage,  like  a  person  exhausted  by  suf- 
fering." He  did  so  :  the  jailers  did  not,  through 
the  vail  which  he  wore,  perceive  the  change  ; 
the  porters  of  the  sedan  chair  in  which  Madame 
Lavalette  arrived  had  been  gained  by  twenty- 
live  louis;  and  after  passing  four  gates,  and 
about  twelve  turnkeys  in  different  places,  he 
got  clear  off.     When  the  jailer  some  time  after 

2  Laval.  Mem.  entered  the  apartment,  he  found  La- 
•i.  2B8,  201 ;  valctte  escaped,  and  the  heroine  of 
Lac.  ii.  22,24.  conjugal  duty  seated  in  his  place. ^ 

But  though  the  prison  gates  had  been  passed, 

95.  much  remained  to  bo  done,  for  the 

Sir  Robert       escape  was  soon   discovered  :  the 

Ilu'trhkison"  P°''*^*^  ^^^''  ""  ^^^  '-^^^^^  I  '^''^  "^O^t 
and  Mr.  '  active  search  was  made  in  every  di- 
Bruce,  enable  rection ;  and  the  Government,  held 
riirii  to  escape,  jq  rigorous  measures  by  the  clamor 
raised  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  where  they 
were  openly  accused  of  having  favored  the  escape, 
were  compelled  to  direct  every  cflbrt  to  be  made 
to  apprehend  the  fugitive.  But  fortune  seemed 
never  weary  of  accumulating  romantic  incidents 
(iroimd  this  memorable  trial;  and  the  escape  of 
Lavalette  from  Paris,  and  into  Germany,  was 
eU'ected  by  an  intervention  of  all  others  the 
most  unlocked  for  in  such  a  case.  Sir  Robert 
Wilson,  the  determined  antagonist  of  Napoleon, 
vrho  had  so  vehemently  denounced  the  massacre 
of  the  prisoners  and  the  poisoning  of  the  sick  at 
.Tall'a,  who  had  commanded  viilh  distinclion  a 
guerilla  party  on  the  frontiers  of  Portugal,  and 
who  was  the  lirst  man  wno  polcred  the  "rcat 


redoubt  in  the  assault  of  Dresden,  was  then  in 
Piris,  and  to  him,  with  the  aid  of  two  courage- 
ous friends,  Mr.  Hutchinson  and  Mr.  Bruce, 
Lavalette  owed  his  escape.  Endowed  by  na- 
ture with  a  heroic  spirit  and  an  ardent  temper- 
ament, Sir  Robert  Wilson  had,  at  the  same  time, 
the  generosity  of  disposition  which  is  so  often 
the  accompaniment  of  that  character,  and 
should  make  every  equitable  mird  overlook 
many  of  the  frailties  to  which  it  is  in  a  peculiar 
manner  subject.  Allied  to  the  Opposition  in 
the  English  Parliament,  with  whom  the  French 
Emperor  had  always  been  an  object  of  interest, 
his  enmity  to  Napoleon  was  turned,  since  his 
fall,  into  ardent  admiration ;  and  his  chivalrous 
disposition  led  him  to  lend  himself  to  every  pro- 
ject formed  for  the  escape  of  the  persons  im- 
plicated in  his  restoration.  He  was  privy  to  a 
design  for  the  escape  of  his  old  antagonist  Ney, 
which  had  been  only  prevented  from  taking  ef 
feet  by  the  tripling  of  the  guards  of  his  prison 
the  evening  before  his  execution ;  i  L^g  jj  ^(j 
and  having  failed  in  that,  his  next  28;  Laval, 
object  was  to  aid  in  the  escape  of  Mem.  ii.  293, 
Lavalette.i  "''^• 

Lavalette,  on  escaping  from  the  prison,  took- 
refuge,  by  the  guidance  of  a  friend,  gg 

M.  Baudin,  who  met  him  by  ap-  Mode  iii 
pointment,  in  the  apartments  of  M.  which  they 
Bressore,  part  of  the  hotel  of  the  ^^'^'^^  ^^^  s" 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  then  oc-  i^g^j  j^^al 
cupied  by  the  Duke  de  Richelieu : 
a  circumstance  which  warrants  a  suspicion  that 
that  generous  nobleman  was  no  stranger  in  se- 
cret to  his  escape.  Meanwhile  the  court  were 
in  consternation,  deeming  the  event  the  result 
of  a  deep-laid  conspiracy  which  was  on  the  point 
of  breaking  out ;  and,  to  their  disgrace  be  it  said, 
Madame  Lavalette,  who  remained  in  prison  in 
her  husband's  room,  was  in  consequence  sub- 
jected for  six-and-twenly  days  to  solitary  con- 
finement, so  rigorous  that,  with  the  entire  igno- 
rance of  her  husband's  fate  in  which  she  was 
kept,  her  mind  became  affected,  and  she  did  not 
entirely  recover  her  sanity  for  twelve  years. 
Lavalette  remained  three  w"eeks  in  his  place  of 
concealment  in  the  Hotel  dcs  All'aires  Etran- 
gcres,  and  at  the  close  of  that  period,  finding 
the  search  for  him  by  the  police  every  day  be- 
coming more  rigorous,  he  succeeded  in  making 
his  escape  from  Paris,  and  reaching  Germany  in 
safety,  by  the  aid  of  Sir  Robert  Wilson,  Mr. 
Hutchinson,  of  the  family  of  Lord  Htifchinson, 
and  Mr.  Bruce  of  Kennet,  in  Clackmannanshire, 
who,  from  motives  of  humanity,  generously  aided 
him  in  the  attempt,  and  accompanied  him  be- 
yond the  reach  of  danger.  They  were  discov- 
ered, however,  and  brought  to  trial  for  abetting 
his  escape,  and  sentenced  to  three  months'  im- 
prisonment, the  lightest  punishment  prescribed 
by  the  French  law  for  offenses  of  that  descrip- 
tion: a  lenient  sentence,  if  their  un-  ;  jyj^^  dc  La- 
doubted  infraction  of  the  laws  of  valctte,  ii.  291, 
that  country  is  considered  ;  but  a  ^'{i  ;  L"'"-  ii 
severe  one,  if  the  motives  of  men,  ?'''  ^*^'   ^Jl" 

1  111-1,1      Ki'Klst.     IMK), 

whose  conduct  had  excited  the  ad-  335;  Mnnii- 
miration  and  interest  of  all  Europe,  eur,  April  20; 
is  alone  regarded.''*  *  ^^^''• 

*  The  indictment  against  Sir  Hubert  Wilson,  Mr.  Hutch- 
inson, and  Mr.  Hriicc,  charged  them  with  liavinR  been 
accessory  to  a  general  conHjiiracy  for  overturning  all  es- 
tsihlished  governments  in  Europe ;  but  nothing  wan 
brought  home  to  them,  except  some  democratic  papers 


HISTORY    OF    KUROPE. 


.Chip  IIJ 


The  (atp  of  nnotlipr  pnliulin  of  the   Ficnch 
g»  Kmpiro  belonirs  to  this   period   of 

Ailvcntnro!*  of  liij'lory,  though  his  fate  was  de- 
Miirat  aftiT  teiminod  on  the  Italian  shores.  Aft- 
ili.<  biiiilo  of  J,,.  ,|,p  cain,„i(ous  result  of  his  rash 
»\  atorloo.  11  1 

nllempt  to  raise  Italy  against  tlie 

Austrian^,  reeounted  in  a  former  vorlc*  this 
illustrious  chief  had  sought  refucie  in  France, 
where  he  remained  obscure  and  unemployed 
durinor  the  Hundred  Days.  Napoleon's  conli- 
dence  in  his  iudi^ment  was  irrevocably  shaken  ; 
liis  white  plume  was  no)  seen  surmountincf  the 
armor  of  the  cuirassiers  on  the  field  of  Water- 
loo. When  that  decisive  battle  had  overturned 
the  Imperial  dynasty  in  Fiance,  he  remained  in 
Provence  in  concealment,  and  repeatedly  es- 
caped, almost  miraculously,  from  the  pursuit  of 
the  police.  At  length,  after  underjjoinfx  three 
months  of  anxiety  and  sufTerinn;,  worn  out  with 
suspense,  and  determined  to  brave  all  hazards 
in  preference  to  continuing  it,  he  issued  from 
his  place  of  concealment,  and  with  great  diffi- 
culty succeeded  in  making  his  way  down  to  the 
sea-coast,  accompanied  by  the  Duke  of  Rocca 
Roraana  and  a  few  other  faithful  attendants  ;  but 
there  he  was  accidentally  separated  from  his  at- 
tendants, and  wandered  about  for  four  days  and 
nights  on  the  sea-coast  alone,  anxiously  looking 
for  a  bark,  and  supported  solely  by  the  ears  of 
maize  which  he  rubbed  in  his  hands.     At  length, 

found  in  Sir  R.  Wilson's  repositories,  and  tlie  actual 
aiding  in  Lavaletfc's  escape,  which  they  all  admitted, 
and  which  was  clearly  proved.  Sir.  R.  Wilson  said  in 
his  defense,  and  the  words,  coming  from  such  a  man, 
drew  tears  from  the  audience— "The  appeal  made  to  our 
humanity,  to  our  personal  character,  and  to  our  national 
generosity — the  responsibility  thrown  upon  us  of  instant- 
ly deciding  on  the  life  or  death  of  an  unfortunate  rnan, 
and  of  an  unfortunate  stranger — this  appeal  was  impera- 
tive, and  did  not  permit  us  to  calculate  his  other  claims 
to  our  good-will.  At  its  voice  we  should  have  done  as 
much  for  an  obscure  unknown  individual,  or  even  for  an 
enemy  who  had  fallen  into  misfortune.  Perhaps  we  were 
imprudent,  but  we  would  rather  incur  that  reproach  than 
the  one  we  should  have  merited,  by  basely  abandoning 
him  who,  full  of  confidence,  threw  himself  into  our  arms. 
Those  very  men  who  have  calumniated  us,  not  knowing 
our  motives,  would  have  been  the  first  to  reproach  us  as 
heartless  cowards,  if,  by  our  refusal  to  save  M.  Lava- 
lette,  we  had  abandoned  him  to  certain  death.  We  resign 
ourselves  with  confidence  to  the  decision  of  the  jury  ;  and 
if  you  should  condemn  us  for  having  contravened  your 
positive  laws,  we  shall  not  have  at  least  to  reproach  our- 
Kftlves  for  having  violated  the  eternal  laws  of  morality  and 
humanity."  Mr.  Bruce  said  in  a  finn  and  manly  tone — 
'■  Political  considerations  had  no  influence  with  me  in  the 
affair  of  M.  Lavalette  :  I  am  moved  solely  by  feelings  of  hu- 
manity; and  you  will  see  from  my  declaration  that  1  scarce- 
ly knew  him.  I  never  was  in  his  house,  nor  he  in  mine. 
I  have  never  had  the  honor  of  seeing  his  wife,  nor  had  I 
any  previous  communication  with  him,  direct  or  indirect, 
since  his  arrest.  It  has  been  proved  that  in  no  respect  was 
either  I  or  either  of  my  friends  implicated  in  his  designs. 
I  respected  the  fetters  and  gates  of  a  court  of  justice.  I 
have  not,  like  Don  Quixote,  gone  in  quest  of  adventures. 
An  unhappy  man,  condemned  by  the  laws,  solicited  my 
protection ;  he  proved  that  he  had  confidence  in  my  char- 
acter— he  put  his  life  in  my  hands — he  appealed  to  my  hu- 
manity— what  would  have  been  said  of  me  if  I  had  gone  to 
denounce  him  to  the  police  ?  Should  I  not  have  deserved 
the  death  with  which  I  have  since  been  threatened  1  Nay, 
what  would  have  been  thought  of  me,  if  I  had  refused  to 
protect  him?  Would  I  not  have  been  regarded  as  a  coward, 
without  principles,  without  honor,  without  courage,  with- 
out generosity,  and  deserved  the  contempt  of  every  honor- 
able mind  1"  These  were  noble  words,  which  make  us 
proud  of  our  country  ;  and  they  came  with  peculiar  grace 
from  Sir  R.  Wilson,  the  determined  antagonist  in  so  many 
bloody  fields  of  Napoleon,  and  Mr.  Bruce,  who  had  stood  at 
the  head  of  his  company  in  the  front  rank  of  the  Foot 
Guards,  which  repulsed  the  last  attack  of  the  Old  Guard  Oii 
the  field  of  Waterloo. — See  Ann.  Rep.  1816,  3h5—App.  to 
Ckron.;  Lavalette,  ii.  29;  and  ilimiteur,  April  10,  IblO. 
*  History  of  Europe,  chap,  xciii  i;^  23,  24. 


driven  by  hunger,  iio  knoclied  at  the  door  of  uf 
huuible  cottage,  and  was  admitted  and  oliercd 
refreshment  by  an  aged  domestic.  Soon  afler 
the  master  of  the  house  came  in,  and,  seeing  a 
stranger  of  a  noble  air  seated  at  table,  he  saluted 
him  courteously,  and  took  a  place  o|)posiie  to  him 
at  the  repast.  A  sudden  ray  of  the  sun  having 
illuminated  the  countenance  of  the  King,  who  sal 
before  in  shade,  the  peasant  knew  him.  He  had 
the  generosity,  however,  not  only  to  conceal  his 
surprise,  lest  ho  sliould  betray  his  illustrious 
guest,  but  to  ofler  to  put  his  life  and  property  al 
his  disposal.  In  spite  of  all  the  precautions  that 
could  be  taken,  the  rumor  spread  abroad  thai 
the  King  of  Naples  was  concealed  on  the  coast, 
and,  on  the  night  of  the  13th  August,  the  cot- 
tage in  which  he  slept  was  surrounded  by  sixty 
armed  volunteers  from  Toulon.  The  old  serv- 
ant, however,  detained  them  so  long  in  opening 
the  door,  that  JNIurat,  who  always  was  dressed, 
and  with  his  arms  beside  him,  had  time  to  es- 
cape by  a  back  window,  and  conceal  himself 
under  a  pile  of  vine  faaots  in  the  vineyard  be- 
hind the  house.  As  he  lay  there  ,  ^^^  ^  q^,, 
hidden,  several  of  the  party,  with  259 ;  Lac.~  ii! 
lanterns  in  their  hands,  passed  32,  33;  Biog. 
within  a  few  feet,  and  almost  trode  Foq^'  ^'"'' 
upon  the  concealed  monarch.' 

Though  this  danger  was  escaped,  yet  as    \ 
was  known  he  was  somewhere  con-  gg 

cealed  in  the  vicinity,  and  a  reward  lie  embarks, 
of  1000  louis  was  ofiered  for  his  ap-  a'ld  lands  in 
prehension,  it  was  justly  deemed  too  o^^"^^- 
great  a  hazard  for  him  to  remain  longer  in  his 
present  state  of  concealment.  He  embarked 
accordingly  in  an  open  boat  attended  by  four 
pei-sons ;  but  was  overtaken  by  a  violent  tem- 
pest, which  carried  away  the  sail  and  rudder, 
and  caused  a  leak  to  be  sprung  in  the  frail  bark. 
They  were  on  the  point  of  sinking,  when  the 
packet-boat  from  Toulon  to  Corsica  came  past, 
by  which  they  were  taken  up,  and  where  he 
found  by  accident  a  number  of  the  partisans  of 
Napoleon,  who  like  him  were  flying  from  thf. 
dangers  of  the  violent  reaction  in  the  south.  0 1 
arriving  in  Corsica,  he  repaired  to  the  house  of 
Colonna  Cecaldo,  in  the  Place  of  Vescovato,  the 
most  considerable  personage  in  that  district,  and, 
announcing  his  name,  solicited  hospitality.  He 
was  kindly  received,  and  soon  after  was  joined 
by  a  few  of  his  partisans  from  Naples.  The 
governor  of  Bastia,  the  chief  place  of  the  island, 
hearing  of  his  descent  at  Vescovato,  issued  a 
proclaiTiation  declaring  him  a  public  enemy,  and 
sent  a  detachment  of  lour  hundred  men  to  arrest 
him  ;  but  Murat,  having  got  intelligence  of  their 
approach,  fled  to  the  mountains,  where  the  fame 
of  his  name  speedily  drew  a  thousand  armed 
peasants  to  his  standard,  who  presented  amidst 
their  defiles  aud  precipices  so  formidable  a  front 
to  the  soldiers,  that  they  did  not  venture  to  hazard 
an  attack,  and  returned  without  having  eflTected 
any  thing.  After  this  success,  the  enthusiasm 
in  his  favor  in  Corsica  was  such  that  the  people 
solicited  him  to  accept  the  crown  of  the  island  ; 
and  he  was  ofTered  an  asylum  in  Austria,  with 
the  title  of  count,  though  on  condition  that  he 
renounced  his  claims  to  the  throne  of  the  two 
Sicilies.  He  was  offered  also  by  Lord  Exrnouth, 
to  whom  he  dispatched  a  messenger,  a  secure 
passage  to  England  on  board  his  ship;  bu*  the 
admiral  was  not  empowered  to  pledge  hii  iseif 


IRIO. 


lIISTOPxY   OF   EUROPE. 


8; 


lor  any  Iliinu  in  refraril  to  liis  nlicrinr  ilestinatinn. 
Fearinij,  however,  lliat  he  woukl  incur  the  late 
of  Napoleon,  and  still  dreaminjr  of  his  beloved 
Naples,  he  resolved  to  hazard  all  by  attempting 
to  refjain  its  throne.  In  vain  his  most  trusty 
I'uUowers  represented  to  him  the  dangers  of  such 
an  enterprise  when  Europe  was  in  arms,  and  the 
Austrian  troops  in  great  strength  occupied  the 
'  CoIIetta,  Six  Italian  peninsula.'  He  was  deaf 
Dernier  Mois  to  every  thing  that  could  be  alleged, 
rie  Alurat,  89,  ^jjj  gg  gg(-  upon  carrying  it  into 
execution,    that    when    his   aid-de- 


92;  Lam.  v. 
267,272;  Biog. 


Univ.  xx.\.       camp,   Colonel   Maeerone,  arrived 
431,  432.  from  Paris  with  a  safe-conduct  from 

the  allied  powers,  and  ofler  of  an  asylum  in  Aus- 
tria, he  declined  the  offers,  and  resolved  in  prefer- 
ence to  brave  all  the  hazard  of  the  attempt. 
He  set  out  from  Vescovato  on  the  17th  Sep- 
gg  tember  with  2.'J0  men,  and  entered 

Ills  arrival  at  Ajaccio,  the  chief  town  of  the  isl- 
Ajaccio,  and  and,  in  triumph,  amidst  the  aecla- 
descent  on  mations  of  the  inhabitants.  It  was 
a  moment  of  illusion  between  the 
throne  and  the  tomb,  which  recalled  lor  a  brief 
period  the  remembrance  of  his  happier  days. 
The  conversation  at  dinner  turned  on  the  battle 
of  Waterloo.  "Ah!"'  exclaimed  Murat,  ''if  I 
had  been  there,  I  am  convinced  the  destinies  of 
the  world  would  have  been  changed.  The  French 
cavalry  was  madly  engaged ;  it  was  sacrificed 
to  no  purpose  in  detail,  when  its  charge  en  masse 
at  the  close  of  the  day  would  have  carried  every 
thing  before  it."  His  conversation  was  easy 
and  varied,  as  if  his  inind  was  relieved  from  all 
anxiety.  In  the  evening  he  wrote  a  letter  to 
Colonel  Maeerone,  intended  for  the  allied  sover- 
eigns, in  which  he  declared  his  resolution  to  de- 
cline their  offers,  and  hazard  all  on  the  expedi- 
tion he  had  undertaken.*  Having  delivered  this 
letter  to  Maeerone  and  retired  to  rest,  a  cannon 
discharged  at  one  in  the  morning  roused  the 
party  from  their  slumbers,  and  they  embarked  on 
board  six  small  feluccas  before  sunrise  on  the 
2Sth  September,  and  after  a  tedious  voyage 
arrived  in  sight  of  the  mountains  of  Calabria 
near  Paolo,  on  the  evening  of  the  Gth  October.' 
The  flotilla  cast  anchor,  and  Murat 
2  Lam.  V.  274,  dispatched  Colonel  Ottaviani  ashore 
283;  Colictta,  tg  gound  the  inhabitants,  and  bring 
lf(iiv!''x.xx.''''''  i'ltelligence  whether  any  thing  had 
431.  been  prepared  to  oppose  his  debark- 

ation. 
Ottaviani  and  the  sailor  who  accompanied  him 
.^  were  arrested  the  moment  ihcy  land- 

Ttickinglandfj. ^'J)  ''^"'1  '■^"^  ""^'f  return.     This  was 
considered  as  a  bad  omen,  and  dis- 
couragement was  already  visible  in  the  expcdi- 

*  "I  can  not  acc-ept  the  conditions  which  Colonel 
Maeerone  haw  ofTured  to  irie.  They  imply  an  abdication 
on  my  part ;  1  am  only  permitted  to  live.  Is  this  llie  re- 
spect due  to  a  sovereiKn  in  miHlortuiie,  known  to  all  Eu- 
rope, and  who  in  a  critical  moment  decided  the  cainpiiiKn 
or  1815  in  favor  of  the  very  powers  which  now  piirHue 
him  with  their  liatred  and  their  inirratiliide  ?  I  have  never 
abdicated  ;  I  am  entitled  to  recover  my  throne,  if  God 
Rives  the  power  and  the  means  of  doing  so.  My  |!resence 
on  the  soil  of  Naples  can  disturb  no  one  ;  I  can  not  cor- 
respond with  Napoli;on,  a  captive  at  St.  Ilclena.  When 
you  receive  this  letter,  I  shall  be  alre;i/ly  at  sea,  advancinj? 
to  my  destiny.  Either  I  shall  succeed,  or  I  shall  terminate 
my  life  with  my  enterprise.  1  liave  faced  death  a  thousand 
times  combatiiic  for  my  country  ;  may  I  not  be  permitted 
to  face  it  once  for  myself!  1  have  hut  one  anxiety  ;  it  is 
on  the  fate  of  mj  family.'' — Muuat  to  (lolonel  MACEnONJE, 
a7ih  September,  Ib'O  ;  LiMAirn.NE,  v.  2M.  262. 


tion.  During  the  night  the  other  vessels  dis- 
appeared ;  and  even  Captain  Courand,  who  hac' 
been  seven  years  a  captain  in  his  guard,  slippcJ 
hi.s  cable  during  the  night  and  made  sail  for 
Corsica.  Disconcerted  with  these  defections, 
Murat  proposed  to  his  captain,  a  man  of  the 
name  of  Barbara,  to  make  sail  for  Trieste,  for 
which  place  he  had  passports  and  the  Austrian 
safe-conduct;  but  he  declined,  alleging  he  had 
no  flour  or  provisions  for  so  long  a  voyage,  offer- 
ing at  the  same  time  to  go  ashore  and  procure  a 
larger  vessel  provided  he  got  the  passports. 
The  king,  fearing  treachery,  refused  to  part 
with  them,  upon  which  an  angry  altercation  got 
up  between  them,  which  ended  in  his  exclaiming 
to  his  officers — "  You  see  he  refuso"  to  obey  me  ; 
well,  I  will  land  myself!  My  memory  is  fresh 
in  the  hearts  of  the  Neapolitans;  they  will  join 
me."  He  then  ordered  his  officers  to  put  on 
their  uniforms;  and  as  the  wind  was  fair,  and 
the  day  fine,  he  steered  into  the  bay  of  Pizzo,  and 
cast  anchor  on  a  desert  strand  at  a  little  distance 
from  that  tov^-n.  His  generals  and  officers,  five- 
and-twenty  in  number,  wished  to  precede  him  in 
going  ashore;  but  the  king  would  not  permit  it. 
"It  is  for  me,"  he  exclaimed,  "to  tcolletta  117 
descend  first  on  this  field  of  glory  120;  Lam.  v. 
or  death;  the  precedence  belongs  to  286,289 ; Biog. 
meas  the  responsibility;" — and  with  43o'^43i^^ 
these  words  he  leapt  boldly  ashore.' 

Already  the  shore  was  covered  with  groups 
of  peasants,   whom  the  unwonted  loi. 

sight  of  the  barks  in  the  bay,  and  \yhere  he 
the  uniforms  of  the  officers  landing,  '^''^• 
had  attracted  to  the  spot.  Among  them  was  a 
detachment  of  fifteen  gunners  who  came  from  a 
solitary  guard-house  on  the  shore.  They  still 
bore  Murat's  uniform.  "  My  children,"  said  he, 
advancing  toward  them,  "do  you  know  your 
king?"  And  with  these  words  he  took  ofl'  his 
hat;  his  auburn  locks  fell  on  his  shoulders,  and 
the  noble  martial  figure  which  was  engraven  on 
their  hearts  appeared  before  them.  "  Yes,  it  is 
I,"  he  continued;  "I  am  your  King  Joachim- 
say  if  you  will  follow  and  serve  the  friend  of  the 
soldiers,  the  friend  of  the  Neapolitans."  At 
these  words  the  officers  in  Murat's  suite  raiseiJ 
their  hats,  and  shouted  "  Vive  lo  Roi  Joachim  !" 
and  the  soldiers  mechanically  grunndctl  their 
arms;  but  a  few  only  exclaimed  "  Vive  Joachiin  !" 
Meanwhile  the  inhabitants  of  Pizzo,  under  the 
direction  of  the  agent  of  the  Duke  del  Infantado, 
vv'ho  had  great  estates  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
who  was  ardently  attached  to  the  Bourbon 
family,  assembled,  and,  while  IMiirat  was  vainly 
awaiting  a  movement  in  his  favor,  declared 
against  him.  While  still  uncertain  what  to  do, 
two  peasants  arrived,  and,  informing  Murat  of 
what  was  going  on  in  the  town,  ollered  to  guide 
him  to  Montelcone,  where  the  garrison  might  be 
expected  to  bo  more  favorable,  and  the  |)osscs- 
sion  of  a  fortified  place  would  open  to  him  the 
gates  of  his  kingdom.  This  offer  Murat  acce|)t- 
ed,  and  the  party,  consisting  in  all  of  forty  per- 
sons, were  soon  seen  in  their  brilliant  uinfornis 
wending  their  way  over  the  olive-clad  summits 
by  which  the  road  passed.  Thoy  wcie  soon  met 
by  a  colonel  of  the  royal  gendarmerie,  named 
Trenta  Capclli,  a  noted  chief  of  the  (\'ilabrian 
insurrection,  and  the  fate  of  whoso  three  brothers, 
slain  on  the  scaffold  by  the  French,  had  inspire<. 
him  with  inextin"uishable  hatred  toward  then. 


s« 


IIISTOKV    OF    EUKOrE. 


[Chap.  HI 


Mural  knew  liin;.  nnd  cnllcil  him  by  name  to 

1  Lain. ▼. C.'S,  J^''"  '•'*  cause.  "My  ki"JI,  "  said, 
Si>f* ;  t'olli'Ua,  ho.  iKiintiiiLT  to  the  ila<j  which  waved  ! 
H6,  151;  j,n  tlie  towers  ol'  I'i/./o.  "is  he 
x\'x*^43l"'^      whose  colors  wave  over  the  king- 

Jom.'"' 
Marat  was  deceived,  or  pretended  to  be  so, 
102.  in   regard  to  Trenta  Capcliis   in- 

Arid  is  arrest-  tentions,  and,  advaneinji;  toward 
'*!•  him,  they  entered  into  conversation. 

But  as  soon  as  the  crowd  ol"  armed  men  which, 
advanced  from  Pizzo  with  the  cannoneers  ar- 
rived. C'apelli  joined  them,  and  summoned  the 
kine  to  surrender.  Seeing  the  intentions  of  the 
crowd  to  be  evidently  adverse,  Murat  addressed 
them  in  a  few  words,  alleging  that  he  had  no 
hostile  designs,  and  was  only  endeavoring  to 
seek  an  asylum  in  the  Austrian  states,  for  which 
he  had  passports  which  their  King  Ferdinand 
himself  was  bound  to  respect.  The  Neapolitans 
answered  only  by  confused  cries  and  violent  ges- 
ticulations, followed  by  a  discharge  of  firearms, 
by  which  one  captain  in  his  suite  was  killed  and 
several  wounded.  A  second  volley  decimated 
his  ranks;  and  3Iurat,  seeing  his  party  dispersed, 
endeavored  to  make  his  escape  across  the  fields 
to  the  sea-coast.  He  there  called  aloud  to  his 
captain,  Barbara,  to  steer  in  and  come  to  his 
relief;  but  the  perfidious  wretch,  instead  of  doing 
so,  stood  out  to  sea,  carrying  with  him  the  arms, 
gold,  ammunition,  and  all  the  effects  of  the  un- 
happy monarch.  At  the  same  time  the  soldiers 
in  Trenta  Capelli's  band  were  seen  rapidly  ap- 
proaching from  the  land  side.  In  this  extremity, 
the  king  threw  himself  into  a  fishing-boat,  moor- 
ed at  a  little  distance  from  the  coast;  but  the 
bark,  stranded  on  the  sand,  resisted  all  his  efforts 
to  set  it  afloat.  He  was  soon  surrounded  by  a 
furious  crowd,  which  broke  into  the  vessel,  and 
dragged  him,  disarmed  and  bleeding  ashore, 
where  the  soldiers  had  the  barbarity  to  strike 
the  wounded  hero  on  the  face  with  the  butt-ends 
of  their  carbines,  and  tore  from  his  breast  the 
ensigns  of  his  glorj',  which  he  wore  in  that  hour 
of  his  fate.  Such  was  the  fury  of  the  multitude, 
that  twice,  in  going  from  the  coast  to  the  prison 
of  Pizzo,  the  hatchet  was  suspended  over  his 

2  Colletta  64  ^'^^^'^  >  ^f"^  '^  '^'^^^  only  by  the  efforts 
71 ;  Lam.'v.  '  of  Trenta  Capelli,  and  the  agent  cf 
301,303;Biog.  the  Duke  del  Infantado,  that  he  v\M 
Lniv.xxx.43l.  g^^.^j  (^.^^  instant  death  .2 

The  moment  intelligence  was  received  by  the 

IQ3  Neapolitan  general,  Nunziante,  who 

Heiscondem-  commanded  in  Calabria,  of  the  de- 

ned  by  a  scent  and  capture  of  an  armed  party 

court-martial.  ^^  ^^^  ^^^^^^  ^^  ^^^^  Captain  Strait's 

with  a  party  of  soldiers  to  secure  and  protect 
the  prisoners,  yet  ignorant  of  the  name  and 
quality  of  their  august  captive.  "  Who  are 
you?"  said  Straits  to  the  third  who  was  brought 
forviard  for  examination.  "Joachim  Murat, 
King  of  Naples,"  replied  the  monarch,  with  an 
intrepid  air.  Straits  bowed  to  heroism  in  mis- 
fortune, and  courteously  ordered  him  to  be  con- 
ducted to  an  apartment  furnished  with  every 
comfort,  and  apart  from  the  other  prisoners, 
where  his  wounds  were  tended,  and  he  had 
leisure  to  reflect  on  his  approaching  fate.  On 
the  following  day,  Nunziante  arrived,  and  dined 
with  the  king  in  an  apartment  of  the  chateau 
to  which  he  had  been  removed.  The  captive 
was  more  cheerful  than  the  general,  for  the  latter 


was  already  seized  w.th  disquietude  as  to  the 
orders  which  lie  might  receive  from  Naples  re- 
garding the  disposal  of  the  prisoner.  So  litllo 
was  Murat  aware  of  his  approaching  fate,  that 
he  conversed  at  table  about  an  arrangement  by 
which  he  might  cede  Sicily  to  the  King  of  Na- 
ples, and  be  himself  recognized  as  king  in  the 
continental  dominions  of  the  house  of  Bourbon. 
Ho  was  not  long  of  being  undeceived.  After 
much  perplexity,  the  court  «)f  Naples  adopted 
the  resolution  of  sending  the  jirisoner  to  a  mili- 
tary commission,  to  try  him  under  a  law  which 
he  himself  had  introduced  against  the  Bourbon 
aspirants  to  his  throne.  So  determined  were 
the  governinent  on  destroying  him,  that  the 
same  orders  which  directed  him  to  be  brought 
before  a  military  commission,  enjoined  that  he 
should  only  be  allowed  half  an  hour  to  receive 
the  consolations  of  religion.*  He  was  brought 
to  trial  accordingly,  and,  when  the  room  was 
preparing  for  the  court-martial,  wrote  a  letter 
to  his  queen,  Caroline,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
touching  examples  of  the  genuine  pathetic  of 
which  history  has  preserved  a  record.!  When 
brought  before  the  tribunal,  he  refused  to  recog- 
nize its  authority,  or  even  to  allow  i  La^,  ^^  sjg 
his  counsel  to  plead  for  him.  and,  221 ;  Colletta, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  was  condemn-  J?^?^^' '^]?§' 
ed  to  be  .shot  within  half  an  hour.'  ^"'-  ^-^•^32. 
The  priest  who  was  sent  for  to  administer  the 
last  consolations  of  religion  happened  104. 
to  be  one  to  whom,  in  the  days  of  his  His  death 
greatness,  he  had  made  a  considera-  ^^^-  ^^■ 
ble  gift  when  in  the  course  of  a  tour  through  his 
provinces :  he  said  to  him  that  that  was  a  good 
omen  for  the  intercession  of  his  prayers  in  his 
behalf.  He  declared  that  he  died  a  good  Chris- 
tian. He  then  heard  without  emotion  the  sen- 
tence of  the  court-martial  which  condemned  him 
to  death,  and  thanked  General  Nunziante,  the 
priest,  and  officers,  for  the  kindness  they  had 
shown  to  him  during  his  short  captivity;  and 
himself  led  the  way  into  a  sort  of  fosse,  where 
the  execution  was  to  take  place,  exactly  similar 
to  the  one  in  the  castle  of  Vineennes  in  which 
the  Duke  d'Enghicn,  whose  delivery  to  a  mili- 
taiy  commission  had  been  countersigned  by 
Murat,^  had  suffered  ten  years  be-  2  History  of 
fore.  Twelve  soldiers,  with  loaded  Europe,  c. 
muskets,  awaited  his  approach  ;  the  ^-'"^'*in-  *>  1- 

*  "Le  General  Murat  sera  traduit  devant  une  Com 
mission  Militaire  dont  les  membres  seront  uommes  paj 
notre  Ministre  de  la  Guerre. 

"  II  ne  sera  accorde  au  condamne  qu'une  demi-heure 
pour  recevoir  les  secours  de  la  religion. — Ferdinand." 
— Lanartine,  Histoire  de  la  Restavration,  v.  313. 

t  "  Ma  chere  Caroline !  Ma  demiere  heure  est  arrivee. 
Dans  quelques  instants  j'aurai  cesse  de  vivre  ;  dans  quel- 
ques  instants  tu  n'auras  plus  d"epoux.  Ne  m'oublie  ja- 
mais. Je  meurs  innocent.  Ma  vienefut  tacheed'aucune 
injustice.  Adieu,  mon  Acliille !  Adieu,  nia  Laetitia 
Adieu,  mon  Lucien  !  Adieu,  ma  Louise  !  Montrez-vous 
au  monde  dignes  de  moi.  Je  vous  laisse  sans  royaunie 
et  sans  biens  au  milieu  de  mes  nombreux  ennenns 
Soyez  constamment  unis  1  Montrez  vous  superieurs  a 
rinf'ortune,  pensez  a  ce  que  vous  etes  et  a  ce  que  vous 
avez  ete,  et  Dieu  vous  benira  !  Ne  maudissez  point  ma 
memoire  1  Sachez  que  ma  plus  grande  peine,  dans  le.^ 
demiers  moments  de  ma  vie,  est  de  mourir  loin  de  mea 
enfants  I  Recevez  la  benediction  paternelle  :  Recevea 
mes  embrassements  et  mes  larmes.  Ayez  tonjours  pre- 
sent a  votre  memoire  votre  malheureux  pere."  With 
truth  does  Lamartine  observe,  "  L'adieu  de  Murat  arra 
chera  des  larmes  a  la  posterite  la  plus  reeulee.  Si  on  n'y 
sent  pas  la  victime  et  le  martyr,  on  y  .sent  I'amant,  In 
pere,  et  le  heros.  II  se  rendait  a  lui-meme  un  vrai  Je 
moignage." — Lamarti.ne,  Histoire  de  la  Rts  awralxm, 
V.  317,  318. 


1815.] 


HxSTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


87 


space  in  the  bottom  of  ilic  ditch  was  so  confined 
that  the  muzzles  ahnost  touched  his  breast. 
Looking  at  them  with  a  steady  eye,  and  a  smile 
on  his  lips,  he  said — "My  friends,  do  not  make 
me  suffer  by  taking  bad  aim;  the  narrowness 
oi'the  space  obli:i;es  you  almost  to  rest  the  muz- 
zles of  your  pieces  on  my  breast;  do  not  trem- 
ble; spare  the  face;  straight  to  the  heart." 
With  these  words  he  put  his  right  hand  on  his 
breast,  to  mark  the  position  of  his  heart,  and  in 
his  left  held  a  little  medallion,  which  contained 
portraits  of  his  wife  and  his  four  children.  He 
was  still  gazing  on  the  loved  images  when  the 
discharge  took  place,  and  he  I'ell  pierced  by 
twelve  balls,  his  left  hand  still  holding  the  med- 
allion till  it  was  relaxed  in  death.  His  remains 
were  respectfully  interred  in  the  cathedral  of 
(  Lam.  V.  321  P'^^.o,  which  his  gifts  had  enriched 
3-25 ;  Colletta,  while  on  the  throne,  and  a  gen- 
167,  174;  e,-al   amnesty  was   humanely  pro- 

x.\x  431  nounced  on  his  companions  m  mis- 

fortune.^ 

Such  was  the  end,  at  the  premature  age 
105.  of  forty-eight,  of  Joachim  Murat, 

Reflections  oil  King  of  Naples,  one  of  the  most 
this  event.  distinguished  of  the  heroes  of  that 
age  of  glory.  His  life,  his  character,  and  his 
death,  apjiroach  more  nearly  to  the  visions  of 
the  poet  than  the  events  of  reality  ;  he  belonged 
to  the  days  of  romance  rather  than  the  Revolu- 
tion. Born  in  a  humble  station  on  the  moun- 
tains of  the  Pyrenees,  he  cut  his  way  to  a  throne 
by  his  good  sword  ;  he  won  the  sister  of  an  em- 
peror by  his  chivalry,  and  the  admiration  of  the 
world  by  his  renown.  Amadis  de  Gaul  or  Pal- 
merin  of  England  could  not  have  exceeded  him 
in  the  vigor  with  which  he  led  his  cavalry  into 
the  midst  of  the  enemy's  squadrons  ;  he  rivaled 
Rinaldo  in  the  heroism  of  single  combat,  Tancredi 
in  the  fervor  of  chivalrous  attachment.  Murat's 
abilities  were  those  of  a  knight  rather  than  a 
general :  no  one  ever  exceeded  him  in  the  gal- 
lantry with  which  he  headed  a  charge  of  horse ; 
but  he  had  no  capacity  for  general  combina- 
tion, and  in  separate  command  never  achieved 
any  thing  worthy  of  his  reputation.  As  a  king 
he  was  mild  and  benevolent  in  his  conduct,  and 
affable  and  conciliating  in  his  manners  ;  but  he 
was  destitute  of  political  firmness,  and,  like 
many  other  men  individually  brave,  vacillating 
to  a  surprising  degree  when  a  decisive  crisis 
arrived.  His  death  alfords  a  memorable  in- 
stance of  the  moral  retribution  which,  even  in 
this  world,  often  attends  great  deeds  of  iniquity, 
and  by  the  instrumentality  of  the  very  acts 
which  appeared  to  place  them  beyond  its  reach. 
He  underwent,  in  1815,  the  very  fate  to  which 
he  himself,  seven  years  before,  had  consigned  a 
hundred  Spaniards  at  Madrid,  who  were  guilty 
of  no  other  cvimc  l)nt  that  of  having  liravely 
defended  their  country;  and  by  the  a|iplicali(in 
of  a  law  to  his  own  case,  which  he  liimself  had 
i  Ilist.  of  Bu-  inti'odnccd  to  check  the  attem])ts 
rope,  c.  iii.  ^  of  the  Bourbons  to  regain  a  throne 
''*•  which  he  had  usurped.* 

Ha[)pily  these  examples  sufficed  to  appease 
the  wrath  of  the  Royalists,  and  the 
Deatliol'.Mou-  •caction  which  invariably,  in  civil- 
lon-Duvernet  ized  society,  siieceeds  to  deeds  of 
Biul  (ii-ncral  severity,  enabled  the  Government 
Charirand.  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^^^  ,j,pj^  decided  inclina- 
tions in  favor  of  a  retuMi  to  hiuiiane  measures. 


General  Mouton-Duvernct  w&.s  one  of  the  last 
victims  of  the  Royalist  reaction.  He  was  deep- 
ly implicated  in  the  events  of  the  Hundred 
Days,  having  commanded  at  Lyons  during  that 
period;  and  after  the  return  of  the  Bourbons, 
he  was  for  some  months  in  the  hoTise  of  a  Royal- 
ist, who  generously  sheltered  him  in  his  misfor- 
tune. At  length,  fearful  of  endangering  his 
benefactor,  or  tormented  by  the  torture  of  anx- 
iety and  suspense,  he  quitted  his  asylum  and 
gave  himself  up.  He  was  tried  by  a  court-mar- 
tial, condemned,  and  executed,  evincing  in  his 
last  moments  the  courage  which  in  misfortune 
so  often  expiates  error.  The  like  fate  attended 
General  Chartrand,  who  had  also  held  an  import- 
ant command  in  the  south  at  the  landing  of  Na- 
poleon, and  by  his  defection  had  much  aided  his 
cause.  He  was  condemned  by  a  council  of  war 
at  Lille,  and  executed.  But  with  these  mourn- 
ful examples,  the  blood  shed  by  the  reaction 
ceased  to  flow  in  France.  Several  persons — in 
particular  General  de  Bello,  General  Gilly, 
General  Clausel,  and  General  Decaen — owed 
their  salvation  to  the  intercession  of  the  Duch- 
ess d'Angouleme,  to  whom  they  had  shown  re- 
spectful regards  during  the  brief  struggle  with 
that  heroic  princess  at  Bord'eaux.*  i  jjjs,  ^f  eu- 
Others  were  acquitted,  among  rope,  c  xciii 
whom  was  Admiral  Linois,  who  ^  ^■ 
commanded  Guadaloupe,  and  for  whom  the  fee- 
ble defense  was  sustained  that  his  defection  to 
Napoleon  was  done  to  prevent  that  colony  from 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  English  ;  General 
Drouet,  whom  Marshal  Maedonald,  not  without 
difficulty,  succeeded  in  saving,  by  recounting 
the  energetic  manner  in  which  the  accused  had 
exerted  himself  to  prevail  on  the  army  of  the 
Loire  to  submit  to  the  royal  decree  directing  its 
dissolution ;  and  General  Cambronne,  who  com- 
manded a  division  of  the  Imperial  Guard  at  the 
battle  of  Waterloo.  It  was  evident  that  the  tide 
was  turning,  and  that  Government,  even  after 
so  vast  a  treason,  and  in  the  excited  state  of  the 
public  mind,  might  safely  return  to  a  system 
of  mercy — happy  distinction  of  an  age  of  real 
civilization  and  under  the  inlluence  of  religion, 
which  is  soon  satiated  with  blood,  i^.^^  jj  jg 
and,  even  under  the  greatest  pro-  22 ;  Lani.  v.' 
vocations,  gladly  returns  to  the  342, 352 ;  Cap. 
sentiments  of  humanity."  '"•  ^^''  '*^'^- 

Encouraged  by  these  symptoms,  the  French 
Government  resolved  to  venture  on  107. 

the  great  act  of  a  general  amnesty  ;  AKmerul  am- 
and  the  time  selected  for  bringing  '"'^^y- 
it  forward  was  the  day  after  the  execution  of 
Alarshal  Ney,  when  all  hearts  in  Paris  yet  thrill- 
ed with  that  mournful  event.  Accompanied 
by  all  liis  colleagues,  the  Duke  do  Richelieu 
entered  the  Chamber,  and  said,  with  a  faltering 
voice  :  "A  great  example  of  just  severity  has 
just  been  given  ;  but  the  tribunals  arc  still 
charged  with  those  who  belong  to  the  first  class 
designated  in  the  ordinani  c  of  21th  July  ;  and 
if  some  have  escaped,  seiitenco  of  death  pro- 
nounced against  them  as  contumacious  will 
servo  as  an  example  in  the  mean  time.  His 
Majesty,  by  the  proclamation  of  Cambray,  has 
already  jiublislicd  an  amnesty  which  he  is  desir- 
ous of  now  extending  ;  the  right  of  forgiveness, 
after  revolts  and  great  political  commotions,  is 
the  most  precious  right  inherent  in  sovereignty 
It  is  an  additional  satisfaction,  on  such  a  solcn'l 


88 


HISTORY    OF    K  I'ROIT.. 


rCi  «r.  Ill 


occasion,  to  obtain  tho  CMncurronec  of  tlie  other 
branches  of  tho  lc<^isiatiire.  Tho  Kinsi  is  re- 
joiced tiiat  a  Loiisideralilo  jiurt  of  tlie  power 
which  the  new  U\ws  luivo  be>toweti  upon  him  is 
temporary  only ;  ho  will  make  use  of  it  with 
justice.  Ho  will  pursue  with  severity  those 
whom  nothing  can  correct,  nolhinjr  conciliate; 
but  extend  mercy  to  such  as  have  been  only 
misled.  The  army  has  been  decimated  at  AVa- 
terloo  ;  some  of  its  chiefs  have  since  met  tho 
death  which  they  wouiil  rather  have  found  on 
the  licld  of  battle.  Obedient  to  the  wishes  of 
tho  Kinii — to  the  wishes  of  France — the  army 
has  yielded  to  the  force  of  misfortune  :  it  has 
been  disbanded.  Evils  enoufrh  oppress  France, 
which  can  not  be  avoided,  without  aggravatins; 
them  bv  our  own  divisions.  The  testament  of 
Louis  XVI.  is  constantly  present  to  the  mind 
of  the  King;  and  his  sacred  word  in  maintain- 
mg  one  of  the  most  important  articles  of  the 
charter  will  inspire  confidence  as  to  the  remain- 
der. He  will  give  the  first  example  of  a  rau- 
tual  reciprocal  confidence,  and  has  charged  us 
to  present  the  following  law  of  a  general  am- 
nesty."' The  amnesty  was  then  read,  which 
applied  to  all  persons  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
insurrection  of  the'Hundred  Days,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  those  mentioned  in  the  first  article  of 
the  ordinance  of  21th  July;  those  in  the  second 
article  were  only  required  to  leave  France  with- 
in two  months,  under  pain  of  transportation  if 
ihey  returned  without  the  leave  of  the  king. 
The  family  or  relations  of  Napoleon,  and  their 
descendants,  to  the  degree  of  uncle  and  nephew, 
were  forever  excluded  from  the  kingdom,  and 
could  hold  no  office,  right,  or  property  in  it ;  but 
they  were  permitted  six  months  to  sell  their 
possessions.  The  Duke  concluded  with  these 
words — '•  The  amnesty  proposed  to  you  is  not 
new  in  our  annals :  Henry  IV.,  whose  acts 
'  Moniteur,  I  arn  proud  to  retrace,  gave  a 
Dec.  10,  1815;  similar  one  in  1594,  and  France 
Cap.iv.36, 43.  was  saved. '■- 

The  proposed  act  was  listened  to  with  pro- 
-Qg  found  attention   by  the   Chartber; 

Which  is  Ijut  it  was  soon  evident  that  a  much 
coldly  re-  larger  degree  of  severilv  was  re- 
ceived by  the  quired  to  satisfy  their  highlv  excited 
(chamber.  ^       .  i  ".u   »  -^  i  i   i 

passions,  and  that  it  would   be  no 

easy  matter  for  the  Government  to  carry  through 
the  amnesty  which  they  were  so  anxious  to  in- 
troduce. On  the  contrary,  the  majority  of  the 
Chamber  openly  aimed  at  carrying  a  much  more 
extensive  proscription  than  the  Government  it- 
self had  at  first  thought  necessary;  and  ^I.  de 
Labourdonna3"e,  who  was  their  mouthpiece,  had 
prepared  a  list  of  twelve  hundred  persons,  who 
were  to  be  included  in  the  first  category,  instead 
of  the  thirty-eight  to  which  the  ordinance  of 
24th  July  extended !  It  was  particularly  urged, 
that  to  include  the  relapsed  regicides,  or  regi- 
cides who  were  involved  in  the  treason  of  1815, 
in  the  amnesty,  was  insupportable — a  wish  which 
struck  at  once  at  M.  Fouche,  and  many  of  the 
•nost  obnoxious  of  the  Revolutionists.  "Attend 
not,"  said  M.  Labourdonnaye,  "to  the  sophisms 
of  a  spurious  philanthropy,  so  skillfully  made  use 
of  by  our  enemies.  When  did  they  ever  prac- 
tice it  when  they  had  the  power?  To  hesitate 
lo  punish  is  to  betrav  weakness.  Divine  Provi- 
dence has  delivered  into  your  hands  the  murder- 
ers a"  your  kinjj,  the  assas.sins  of  vour  fam'lies. 


ns  if  the  supreme  justice  had  reserved  them  iu 
the  midst  of  all  our  disasters,  to  prove  the  van- 
ity of  hunuiii  ))riidcnce,  and  the  perfidy  of  hearts 
wiihoui  remorse.  Thes3  men,  now  vanquished 
and  disanuod,  invoke  a  clemency  which  they 
never  showed  in  the  da)s  of  their  power;  as  if 
crime  was  to  be  forever  assured  of  impunity. 
And  you,  pusillanimous  magistrates,  unforesee- 
ing  Icgishitors,  arc  you  prepared  to  see  proved 
plots  and  treasons,  the  disgrace  of  the  nation  and 
of  humanity,  and  to  hesitate  at  punishing  their  au- 
thors ?  What  possible  excuse  can  be  alleged  for 
those  who,  holding  their  offices  or  their  com- 
mands from  the  sovereign,  have  turned  against 
him,  and  used  the  power  they  had  received  to  sup- 
port to  the  destruction  of  the  royal  authority?"' 
These  words,  which  were  supported  by  the  gen- 
ius and  eloquence  of  M.  de  Chateaubriand,  were 
warmly  applauded  in  the  Chamber,  and  by  the 
whole  Royalist  party,  now  in  a  majority  among 
the  electors.  They  expressed  so  entirely  the 
sentiments  of  the  great  majority  of  the  Chamber, 
that  the  committee  to  whom,  according  to  the 
usual   form,    the    proposed   law   was    referred, 

reported  in  favor  of  a  much  more   , ,,     . 

'        .  •    ,  •  ]    •  '  Moniteur, 

extensive  proscription  ;  and,  in  par-  j^^    3    j^jg. 

ticular,  inserted   a  clause  for  the  Cap.  iv.  43, 
perpetual  banishment  of  the  regi-  ^5;  Lam.  vi. 
cides.»  ^'^• 

Louis  XVIII.  and  his  ministers  were  serious- 
ly alarmed  at  this  impassioned  re- 
sistance of  the  great  majority  of  Modificalions 
the  Assembly  ;  and  it  was  then  that  with  which  it 
the  idea  appears  to  have  first  struck  's  passed  into 
them,  that  it  was  impossible  to  carry  14  jg'ig  "' 
on  the  Government  on  the  princi-  ' 
pies  they  had  adopted  with  such  a  Chamber, 
and  that  a  coup  d'etat,  altering  the  composition 
of  the  legislature,  had  become  indispensable. 
They  made  accordingly  the  strongest  resistance 
to  the  amendments  threatened  to  be  forced  upon 
them  by  the  Assembly.  "  From  the  days  of 
Tiberius,"'  said  the  Duke  de  Richelieu,  "  to  those 
of  Bonaparte,  confiscations  have  been  present 
ed  under  the  name  of  amnesties.  Let  us  not 
deprive  the  august  family  of  the  Bourbons  of 
the  glory  of  having  abolished  them,  and  annihi- 
lated that  inheritance  of  penalties.  How  can 
you  still  insist  upon  the  last  amendment  relative 
to  the  regicides,  to  which  it  is  known  his  Ma- 
jesty is  opposed  ?  It  is  not  on  the  earth,  it  is 
not  among  men,  that  we  are  to  seek  the  causes 
of  this  resolution  of  a  sovereign  who  would  wish 
to  forget  every  thing  but  the  first  pardon.  Is 
it  inspired  by  the  testament  of  the  martyr  king? 
Is  it  dictated  by  an  inherited  magnanimity,  the 
noblest  appanage  of  a  sovereign?  Be  it  as  it 
may,  such  is  the  wish  of  the  king ;  and  who 
would  gainsay  it?  Let  me  conjure  you  not  to 
make  of  a  law  of  mercy  a  subject  of  discord, 
but  rather  a  great  and  touching  image  of  the 
concord  and  reconciliation  of  all  Frenchmen." 
These  words  produced  a  great  impression  :  all 
the  Government  could  do,  however,  was  to  pre- 
vail on  the  Chamber  to  abandon  the  most  severe 
of  its  other  amendments;  but  that  providing  for 
the  perpetual  banishment  of  the  re-  „„  . 
gicides  was  lorced  upon  them  by  j^^  g  jgjg 
the  almost  unanimous  voice  of  the  Cap.  iv.  69, 
Chamber,  and  passed  with  the  act  ""-;  ^^m-  v 


ol  amnosly  into  a  law. 


82,  6j. 


The    formidable    opposition    experienced 


1816.J 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


£9 


the  Chamber  on  this  occasion,  and  which  it  re- 
jjQ  quired  all  the  personal  influence  of 

Proposals  for  the  king  and  his  ministers  to  over- 
a  new  law  of  come,  convinced  the  Government 
elections.  ^^^^  ^  ^^^y  j^^  fg^  ^^j^g  elections 

had  now  become  indispensable.  All  parties 
'.■oRcurred  in  this  opinion.  The  ordinance  of 
13lh  July,  1S15,  under  which  the  existing  Cham- 
oer  had"  been  elected  on  a  footing  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  that  provided  by  the  charter,  had 
emanated  only  from  the  royal  authority,  and  had 
never  received  the  sanction  of  the  legislature. 
A  law  sanctioned  by  the  whole  legislature  was 
therefore  imperatively  called  for;  and  the  Gov- 
ernment had  become  convinced  that  they  could 
not  go  on  with  a  legislature  representing  the 
furious  animosities  of  the  moment  so  faithfully 
as  the  present  one  did.  So  vehement  had  the 
passion  of  the  Chamber  become,  that  the  Presi- 
dent, M.  Laine,  was  publicly  insulted  in  his 
chair  by  an  outrageous  Royalist — a  circumstance 
which  he  felt  so  deeply  that  he  resigned  his  sit- 
uation, and  was  only  prevailed  on  to  resume  it 
at  the  personal  solicitation  of  the  king,  and  from 
the  prospect  which  he  was  encouraged  to  enter- 
tain of  being  admitted  into  the  ministry  at  no 
distant  period.  Meanwhile  the  action  of  the 
Prevotal  Court.s — especially  in  the  southern  prov- 
inces, where  the  Royalists  had  their  entire  di- 
rection— had  become  so  violent,  that  serious 
apprehensions  were  entertained  of  an  outbreak 
of  oivil  war  in  that  quarter;  but  how  it  was  to 
be  averted  was  not  so  apparent,  when  the  Roy- 
alists had  the  majority  in  the  Chamber,  and  had 
proved  themselves  disposed  to  support  any  meas- 
ures, however  stringent,  against  the  party  from 
which  they  had  suffered  so  much.  Both  parties 
thus  I'elt  that  a  change  was  necessary;  and  both 
perceived,  that  whichever  got  the  command  of 
the  elections  would  be  in  a  situation  to  carry 
into  execution  their  system  of  government.  The 
preparation  of  a  law  on  the  elections,  therefore, 
was  eagerly  undertaken  by  each.  M.  Vaublanc 
was  intrusted  with  it  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment, jNI.  de  Villele  undertook  it  on  the  part  of 
the  Royalist  opposition.  The  subject  became 
the  object  of  important  debates  in  the  Chamber, 
fthich  throw  much  light  both  on  the  state  and 
'Can.  iv.  114  views  of  parties  at  the  time,  and 
117;  Lam.  vi.  the  working  of  the  new  reprcscnt- 
flli^S.  ative  system  in  France.' 

"The  situation  of  elector,"  said  M.  de  Van- 
Ill,  blanc,  "  having  become  a  species  of 
M.  Vaublanc's  fixed  function,  it  has  been  found  ne- 
arKuir.erit  in  cessary  in  later  tin;es  to  balance,  bv 
(avor  of  the  /  ,.  .  ■  ,,  " 
ministerial  3-1  cxtraorduiary  measure,  the  inlui- 
projec.t  on  the  encc  of  some  men,  of  whose  princi- 
elcciionH.  p)(,g  j.qq  were  not  secure.  But 
that  expedient,  to  which  the  king  is  entitled  to 
have  recourse,  ceasing  with  the  circumstances 
which  produced  it,  it  has  become  necessary  to 
recur  to  a  fixed  and  stable  law.  Experience 
has  proved  that  the  electoral  power  was  subject 
to  grave  inconveniences  when  all  its  exercises 
were  not  regulated.  Formerly  there  were  three 
steps — the  Primary  Assemblies,  the  Colleges  of 
Arrondisscments,  and  the  Electoral  Colleges  of 
De|)artmcnts.  We  intend  to  abolish  entirely 
the  I'rimary  Assemblies,  whi(;h  are  liaitle  to  be 
troubled  by  tumult  and  discord.  It  has  been 
proposed  to  establish  a  .system  which  has  only 
one  »lep,  wh'cb  wa.9  quite  simple — n  'mely,  that 


the  Colleges  of  Arrondisscments,  composed  of 
citizens  who  pay  each  300  iVancs  of  direct  taxes. 
shflU  name  the  deputies.  That  system  is  plau- 
sible, but,  when  examined  in  detail,  it  will  be 
found  liable  to  insuperable  objections.  In  some 
arrondisscments  the  number  of  citizens  who  pay 
300  francs  of  direct  taxes  is  not  more  than  twenty 
or  thirty.  The  department  of  the  Mouths  of 
the  Rhone,  of  which  Marseilles  is  the  chief  place, 
would  have  only  three  deputies;  that  of  the 
Rhone,  of  which  Lyons  is  the  head,  only  two; 
while  those  of  the  High  and  Low  Alps  would 
have  six.  For  these  reasons  we  have  rejected 
the  system  of  one  degree,  and  are  of  opinion  that 
two  degrees,  wisely  combined,  would  suffice. 
We  have  selected  sixty  of  the  principal  colleges 
of  arrondisscments,  uniting  them  with  the  pres- 
idents of  the  colleges  of  the  first  instance,  the 
procureurs-generaux,  the  presidents  of  the  tri- 
bunals of  commerce,  the  justices  of  the  peace, 
the  vicars-general  and  their  curates.  We  must 
all  agree  that  it  is  desirable,  when 
the  primary  assemblies  meet,  that  iitf"'^' 
their  choice  should  fall  on  such  men.' 

"  The  same  principles  are  applicable  to  the  for- 
mation of  the  electoral  colleges  of  the  112. 
departments.  We  think  they  should  Continued 
be  formed  of  the  first  ministers  of  religion,  with 
the  addition  of  sixty  of  the  principal  proprietors, 
ten  of  the  chief  merchants,  and  also,  provided 
they  implement  the  conditions  required  by  the 
charter,  the  presidents  of  councils  of  the  depart- 
ments. When  you  consider  this  law,  let  me  con- 
jure you  to  reflect  on  what  the  interest  of  the 
French  monarchy  demands.  Never,  perhaps, 
was  Assembly  called  on  to  decide  such  great 
questions.  You  are  placed  between  that  ancient 
monarchy,  which  has  shone  so  long  and  with  so 
brilliant  a  lustre,  and  that  new  monarchy,  which 
has  been  inaugurated  amidst  so  many  storms, 
under  the  auspices  of  virtue  seated  on  the  throne 
Unite  these,  the  past  and  the  futiu-e  ages.  It  is 
to  you  that  I  address  myself — you  who  have  only 
witnessed  in  your  childhood  the  evils  produced 
by  the  social  overthrow.  Prepare  the  happiness 
— prepare  for  yourself  the  honor  of  being  able 
to  say  to  your  descendants.  We  have 
arrested  in  its  march  the  terrible  ]i^'''''  *'  '' 
chariot  of  the  Revolution.'"' 

The  object  and  evident  tendency  of  this  bill 
was  to  tluow  the  whole   electoral  113. 

influence  into  the  hands  of  the  Gov-  Project  of  the 
ernment ;  and,  composed  as  the  Royali-sis. 
ministry  now  was,  the  Royalists  were  not  pre- 
pared to  concede  to  them  any  such  power.  The 
i'undamental  princij)le  of  their  policy  was,  "  that 
it  is  not  possible  to- arrive  at  a  combination  of 
popular  and  aristocratic  liberty  but  in  descend- 
ing to  the  lowest  step  of  the  social  hierarchy, 
and  awakening  its  intinuicy  with  the  aristoc 
racy."  Proceeding  on  this  basis,  the  Roy- 
alists had  calculated,  with  great  local  kn(\wl- 
edge  and  discrimination,  the  probable  inllucnco 
which  might  be  sup|)i)s('d  to  liccome  prevailing 
in  each  dc])artmcnt.  Above  a  mouth  had  been 
passed  in  these  intpiirics,  nnd  in  ])reparing  a 
measure  based  upon  their  results,  the  object  of 
which  was  to  secure  the  influence  of  the  Roy- 
alists in  the  clection.s — to  cxcluile  c<pially  tho 
extreme  democrats  and  the  ministerial  indiienec. 
By  this  project  tiicrc  was  to  be  established  an 
electoral  assembly  in  each  canton,  composed  of 


90 


lllSTDU  Y    OF    KUROl'E. 


[Chap.  Ill 


all  ilomiciloil  citizens  ^pcl^  25  ycnis  coni])lcfc, 
Biul  payiiiij  r)!)  franis  of  direct  taxes  tiiiniially. 
Tlio  cloi-it>riil  list.  pr('|mi"i'(l  by  ft  commission, 
at  ilie  liouii  of  whii-li  was  ilio  unilcr-prcroct,  was 
to  bi-  piiblislji'il  ten  days  bi'r«iio  tlio  nu-i'tin<x  oftlie 
commimiil  nssoniblies.  The  presidonts  of  col- 
leires  wore  to  be  nominnteil  by  the  kinii.  Tiie 
cloeloial  oollejies  in  tiio  doiwrtments  were  not 
to  be  iMuicr  ITiO,  nor  above  300;  anil  the  lists  of 
these  eleeloral  collo<^cs  were  to  be  formed  of  all 
the  citizens  of  30  years  of  a<;e,  payiiir;  300  francs 
of  direct  taxes;  and  if  an  adequate  number 
couKl  not  be  trot,  the  derioicncy  was  to  be  sup- 
plied by  citizens  payiii<r  300  francs  between  2-3 
and  30,  or  by  citizens  of  30  years,  but  not  pay- 
ing 300  francs.  The  number  of  the  deputies 
was  to  bo  402,  and  the  lists  were  to  be  prepared 
by  a  commission  drawn  from  the  fieneral  council 
of  the  department,  of  which  the  prefect  was  pres- 
ident, which  fixed  the  number  of  electors  in  the 
department,  the  list  of  the  persons  eligible  for 
the  electoral  colleges,  and  of  electors  to  com- 
pose the  electors  of  the  department.  The  pre- 
lect was  to  be  ineligible  in  his  department  j  ihe 

1  Moniteur  deputies  were  to  be  elected  for  five 
Maroij  27.  to  years,  or  until  the  king,  before  the 
30,  lblO:Cap.  cxpirv  of  that  term,  exercised  his 
iv.  120,  123.         •  ',    '  ,-  ,•       ,    ,■       ,' 

'  nglit  ot  dissolution.' 

These  opposite  projects  were  tb.e  subject  of 

114.  prolonged  discussions  in  the  Cham- 
The  project  of  bcr  of  Deputies  during  the  whole 
tlie  Royalists  of  ^March.      The  parties  chose  as 
IS  earned   in  .,     .      ,    ..,  ',  ,     ■ 
the  D-piities    their    battle-ground,    as    usual    in 

and  rejec»»d  such  cases,  the  details  and  separ- 
in  the  Peers-  ate  points  of  the  two  measures; 
Apri.  i,  1M6.  ^^j  ^j^^j  ^^.,^g  jyj^g  chiefly  to  conceal 
the  real  motives  which  influenced  each.  These 
were,  on  the  part  of  the  ministerialists,  the  de- 
sire to  augment  as  much  as  possible  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Crown,  by  admitting  the  numerous 
employes  of  administration  in  numbers  to  the 
right  of  voting;  on  the  part  of  the  Royalist 
opposition,  to  vest  the  influence  in  the  small 
proprietors  and  nobles  in  the  provinc(^,  whose 
interests  would  lead  them  permanently  to  sup- 
port the  monarchical  side,  even  when,  as  at  pres- 
ent, necessity  or  delusion  might  cause  the  Gov- 
ernment to  incline  to  the  Liberals.  The  ministry 
combated  this  project  with  all  their  power,  but 
they  were  defeated  by  a  majority  of  48,  the  num- 
bers being  ISO  to  132.  The  whole  Liberal 
party  voted  with  the  Government  against  the 
project  of  the  Royalist  majority' — so  strangely 
were  parties  dislocated  in  less  than  a  3'ear  af- 

2  Lac.  ii.  54,  ter  the  Restoration.'  The  Govern- 
55  ;  Cap.  iv.  ment,  seeing  their  project  defeated, 
120, 146.  g^pj  j(^g^(-  Qj-  ^f,  inflamed  majority 
substituted  in  its  stead,  had  no  alternative  but 
to  get  it  thrown  out  by  the  Peers,  which  was 
done  accordingly,  after  keen  debates,  on  April 
3,  by  a  majority  of  32,  the  numbers  being  89 
to  07. 

As  the  popular  branch  of  the  legislature  was 

115.  now  committed  to  open  war  with  the 
The  Budget.  Crown,  on  so  important  a  point  as  the 
representation  of  the  people,  ministers  began  to 
suspect  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  Govern- 
ment to  go  on ;  either  they  must  resign,  or  a 
coup  d'elat  to  alter  the  composition  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies  be  attempted.  The  former 
would  at  once  have  been  the  course  adopted  in 
England,  where  the  usages  of  a  lepresentaiive 


government  have  come,  from  long  usage,  to  l« 
thoroughly  iinderslood  ;  but  the  latter  was  decm- 
ctl  the  most  advisable  in  France,  where  the  na- 
tion had  been  so  accustomed  to  acts  of  violence 
since  the  commciiceuu'iit  of  the  Revolution,  that 
all  parties  had  come  to  regard  them  as  a  natural 
and  unavoidable  step  in  the  conduct  of  alfairs. 
But  several  subjects  for  discussion  remained, 
which  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  bring  to  a 
close  before  the  termination  of  the  session.  The 
most  important  of  these  was  the  Budget,  and 
that  was  a  subject  beset  with  dillieuhics,  be- 
cause the  enormous  sums  due  under  the  treaty 
of  20th  Nov.  LSI.'),  rendered  heavy  taxes  or  ex- 
tensive  loans  indispensable ;  and  the  impover- 
ished state  of  the  nation  appeared  to  render  it 
equally  hopeless  to  attempt  to  levy  the  first,  or 
to  have  recourse  to  the  last.  After  a  long  pe- 
riod, however,  and  great  eiTorts,  the  diinciillies 
were  surmounted;  and  the  fact  of  their  being  so 
is  the  strongest  proof  both  of  the  almost  inex- 
haustible resources  of  France  when  enjoying 
peace,  and  the  improved  credit  which  its  gov- 
ernment had  obtained  from  tho  re-  1  cap.  iv.  190 
storation  of  its  legitimate  line  of  192;  Lac.  ii. 
monarchs.'  ■"^' 

The  budget  was  based  on  the  following  pro. 
positions.     The  receipts  of  the  nine  jjg 

last  months  of  1S15  amounted  to  Ministerial 
533,715,940  francs  (£21,350,000)  ;  plan  on  the 
and  the  expenditure  to  637,432,662  subject. 
francs  (£25,500,000)  ;  and  for  the  whole  year 
the  receipts  were  taken  at  814,567.000  francs 
(£32.000,000)  ;  and  the  expenditure  at  954, 000,- 
000  francs  (£37,800,000).  The  extraordinary 
tax  of  100,000,000  francs  (£4,000,000),  laid  on 
to  commute  the  contributions  in  kind  to  the  al- 
lied troops,  was  an  additional  burden  to  be  made 
good  by  certain  additional  per-centages,  to  be 
levied  monthly  during  the  first  eight  months  of 
1810.  Woods  to  the  extent  of  400,000  hectares, 
or  600,000  acres,  were  permitted  to  be  alienat- 
ed to  meet  the  exigences  of  the  state.  The 
receipts  of  1816  were  taken  at  800,000,000 
francs  (£32,000,000),  and  the  expenditure  at  the 
same  sum.  The  receipts,  however,  both  years, 
fell  short  of  what  had  been  calculated,  and  the 
budget,  which  became  the  subject  of  vehement 
discussion  and  debate,  both  in  the  Chamber  and 
in  the  public  journals,  was  considerably  modified 
before  it  was  finally  passed,  on  April  24,  1816. 
The  total  receipts  of  1815,  as  actually  collected, 
were  798,590,000  francs  (£31,980,000),  and  the 
expenditure  the  same ;  the  income  being  swell- 
ed by  a  loan  of  100,000,000  francs  (£4,000,000,- 
000),  and  54,760,659  levied  in  anticipation  or. 
the  taxes  legally  due  in  1817.  The  receipts  of 
1810  were  895,577.205  francs  (£35,800,000),  and 
the  expenditure  the  same  ;  but  in  the  former  were 
included  nearly  200,000,000  francs  (£8,000,000), 
of  extra  charges,  which  weighed  with  excessive 
severity  on  a  country  already  wasted  by  ene- 
mies' contributions,  and  a  harvest  uncommonly 
scanty  and  deficient.  It  is  greatly  to  the  honor 
of  the  French  government  that,  when  weighed 
down  by  such  an  unparalleled  load  2  Moniteur 
of  difiiculties,  it  honorably  fulfilled  Dec.  24,  1815, 
its  engagements  both  to  foreign  ?o,''„-^I^"'  ^^■ 
states  and  its  own  subjects."  and  chives'^Diplo 
not  less  so  to  the  nation,  that  matiques,  v. 
when  oppressed  by  such  burdens,  288, 300;  Cap 
and  only  beginning  to  breathe  after  '^'  ^^^'  ^"'' 


1S16.J 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


a  war  of  twenty  years'  duration,  it  not  only  fur- 
nished its  rulers  with  the  means  of  niakinir 
them  good,  but  established  a  sinkingr  fund  of 
20.000,000  francs,  or  £800,000  a  year.* 

The  Government  had  the  utmost  ditRculty  in 
J  J,  carrying   through   the   budget,    so 

Proposition  of  strenuous  was  the  Royalist  opposi- 
the  Chamber    tion,  and  so  numerous  and  harass- 
regarding  the  ji^g  jijg  amendments  they  proposed, 
e  g}-  They  were  obliged  to  abandon  the 

project  of  selling  the  woods  of  the  state,  from 
the  Royalist  opposition.  But  a  variety  of  other 
subjects  were  at  the  same  time  broached  in  the 
Chamber,  which  convinced  Louis  XVIII.  that 
the  legislature  had  become  unmanageable,  and 
that  another  session  could  not  be  ventured  upon 
without  its  dissolution.  The  ideas  of  the  major- 
ity wei-e  firmly  fixed  on  two  objects,  alike  hos- 
tile to  the  spirit  of  the  Revolution  and  the  pres- 
ent frame  of  government,  and  these  were  to 
augment  the  inlluence  of  the  clergy,  and  to  sup- 
plant the  action  of  the  central  government  by 
local  influences  in  the  provinces.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  these  were  the  only  means  by 
which  the  course  of  events  which  the  Revolu- 


tion had  prepared  could  havs  been  arrested; 
whether  it  was  possible  to  introduce  them  aftet 
the  entire  destruction  of  the  landed  proprietors 
vi'hich  the  confiscations  of  the  Convention  and 
the  new  law  of  succession  had  ellected,  an<j 
the  concentration  of  all  power  in  the  hands  of 
the  executive  at  Paris,  which  had  thence  nee 
essarily  resulted,  was  a  dillerent  question,  upon 
which  the  heated  Royalists  never  bestowed  a 
thought.  Experience  has  shown  that  the  ob- 
ject they  followed  was  a  vain  illusion,  impos- 
sible in  the  existing  state  of  society;  but  it  was 
not  thought  so  at  the  time,  and  it  i  Cap.  iv.  257 
is  surprising  with  what  persever-  259;Lac.  ii. 
ance  it  was  pursued. '  ^^'  '^''• 

The  miserable  condition  in  which  the  clergy 
had  been  left  by  the  Revolution  at-  ,,„ 

tracted,  as  well  it  might,  the  early  Amimeiit  in 
attention  of  the  Chamber.     Bereft  favor  of  an  en 
of  all   its   possessions   by  the  very  dowment  of 
first  tyrannical  act  of  the  National 
Assembly,  the  once  richly-endowed  Church   oi 
France  had  ever  since  j)incd  in   indigence  and 
obscurity,  its  clergy  not  elevated  in  cii'eumstan. 
ces  or  consideration  above  the  parochial  school 


*  The  receipts  and  expenditure  of  1815  and  1S16  stood  thus  : — 
1815. 
Receipts. 
Direct  ta.xes,  viz. : — 


Land  Tax, 172,132,000  j 

50  per  cent,  additional, 86,0fi6,000  j 

Personal  Tax, 2T.26'.t,000 

50  per  cent,  additional, 13,044,500  j 

Doors  and  Windows, 12,692,000  j 

Additional, 1,280,000  j 

Patents, 15,410,000  i 

Additional, 771,000  I 


Francs. 
258,198,000 

40,933,500 

14,161,000 

16,187,000 


329,409,500 
Deduct  cost  of  collection,  &c., 9,499,500 

320,000,000 
Registrations  and  domains  and  woods,.  .107,763,000 

Customs  and  salt, 70,615,000 

Tobacco  and  wines  and  spirits, 89,147,000 

Lotterj', 7,857,000 

Posts 8,830,000 

Salt  Mines, 2,400,000 

Miscellaneous, 8,603,000 

Loan, 92,062,000 

In  advances  on  1817, 54,760,000 


Total, 798, 

EZPENEITURE. 

Civil  List, 25, 

Koyal  Family, 8 

Peers, 1 

Deputies, 2 

Justice, 18 

Foreign  Affairs, 9 

Interior, 53 

War, 326 


39, 
1, 

Ifi, 
98, 
8, 
10, 
<^niitributions  to  the.  Allies, 180, 


Navy, . 

Police  General, 

Finance  Minister, 

Interest  of  National  Debt,. 

(Cautionary  Interests, 

Necotialions, . 


Total, 798,590,859 

Archives  Diplo-nalvjws,  v   288,300. 


1816. 
Receipts. 


.172,132,000 
.  75,779,980 
.  27,289,000 
.  12,892,000 
.  1,280,000 
.  6,446,000 
.  15,416,000 
.  17,805,000 
771,000j 


Francs 
223,174,000 


>  124,496,241 


340,618,000 
Deducting  cost  of  collection  and  insolvents, 


Registrations  and  domains  and  woods,.  .168,815,000 

Customs  and  salt, 70,526,000 

Additional, 35,000,000 

Tobacco  and  wine  and  spirits, 95,291 ,000 

Lottery,.. ^ 9,171,000 

Posts 11 ,798,000 

.Salt  Mines, 2,778,000 

Miscellaneous, 3,371,000 

Cautionary, 65,104,000 

Tax  on  salaries, 12,054,000 

Relincjuished  by  King 10,000,000 

Do.  by  Royal  Fannly, 1 ,000,000 

Loan, 69,763,000 

ForestaUed  of  1817, 17,998,000 


Total, 895,577,205 

EXPENDITUUE. 

Civil  List, 25,000,000 

Royal  Family 9,()0(),000 

Peers, , 2,000,000 

Deputies, 700,000 

.Justice, 17,580,000 

Foreign  Affairs,  11,620,000 

Interior, 51,400,000 

Department  Expenses, 23,923,769 

War, 218,600,000 

Navy, 48,000,000 

Police  General, 1,000,000 

Finance  Minister, 15,300,000 

Negotiations, 10,442,780 

Interest  of  National  Debt,   119,420,000 

.Sinking  Fund, 20,000,000 

(Cautionary  Interests, 8,000,000 

Treasury  Hills, 1,122,000 

First  War-contribution  to  Allies, 140,000,000 

(Cost  of  150,000  men,   138,000,000 

Additional  cost  of  Foreigners, 21 ,000.000 

Interest  on  Advances, 6,360,896 


Total, 893,577,203 


99 


IllSTOUY   OF   KURori:. 


[liup.  n: 


mnstots  in  tliis  rouiitry.  Tho  nrcliiiisliop  of 
Paris  hail  only  £000  a  year ;  llio  onliiiary  I'isli- 
•jps,  £-200  ;  llie  parish  priosts  iVo  n  Xl'>  to  .£50 
a  year.  This  stalo  of  things  was  strongly  and 
paihtMii-allv  insisted  on  iu  the  C'lianiher.  '•  Tra- 
vel,'" said'  ,M.  Castelhajac  and  IM.  St.  CJcry. 
"  where  you  will  in  France,  and  you  will  shud- 
der at  the  state  of  humiliation  to  which  religion 
has  heen  reduced.  In  many  oi'  the  provinces, 
iho  temples,  livinjj  monuments  of  the  faith  of 
our  fathers,  are  aliandoncil,  the  hird  ol'  prey 
lias  established  its  abode  where  was  formerly 
the  tabernacle;  and  where  formerly  the  holy 
strains  resounded,  is  to  be  heard  only  the  mourn- 
ful exclamation  of  the  pious  inhabitant  of  the 
iiclds,  who  iiazes  on  the  ruins,  and  asks  where 
is  now  the  abode  of  the  God  of  his  fathers. 
This  has  all  arisen  from  the  confiscation  of  the 
properly  of  the  Church,  and  reiluoinn:  its  minis- 
ters to  the  condition  of  salaried  dependents  on 
the  state.  There  is  great  inconvenience  in 
lowering  the  income  of  ministers  of  religion,  if 
you  desire  to  re-establish  the  influence  of  mo- 
rality and  religion.  Not  to  mention  the  invidi- 
ous distinction  between  their  salaries  and  those 
of  the  civil  servants  of  Government,  it  is  evident 
that,  in  the  present  state  of  society,  influence 
and  importance  depend  on  property,  so  that  the 
clergy  can  not  resume  the  consideration  which 
they  ought  to  possess  in  society  but  by  becom- 
ing proprietary.  In  principle,  in  a  nation  es- 
sentially proprietary,  the  clergy  should  be  in  the 
same  situation. 

"  In  what  respect  has  the  spoliation  of  the 
clergy  contributed  to  the  well-being 
Continued.  °^  ^'^'^  people  ?  The  wise  administra- 
tion of  the  ecclesiastics  difTused  ease 
and  contentment  in  the  lands  which  belonged  to 
them  ;  and  never  were  they  wanting  to  the  state 
in  its  necessities.  Let  us  restore  to  our  de- 
scendants an  institution  which  was  the  source 
of  the  happiness  of  their  fathers.  The  Consti- 
tuent Assembly,  when  it  despoiled  the  clergy, 
came  under  an  engagement  to  provide  them 
wiih  an  income  from  the  state  of  82,000,000 
francs  (£3,280,000).  What  has  been  done  as 
regards  that  engagement,  and  how  has  it  been 
fulfilled?  That  income  is  the  subject  of  a  sa- 
cred promise  ;  let  us  do  what  we  can  to  redeem 
it.  In  many  places,  possessions,  the  rents  of 
capitalists,  have  been  withdrawn  from  the  cupi- 
dity of  the  Revolutionists,  and  put  into  the  hands 
of  third  parties  as  trustees.  The  successive 
governments  down  to  the  Restoration  have  era- 
ployed  fraud,  or  encouraged  informations,  to 
gain  intelligence  of  these  deposits,  or  get  pos- 
session of  them.  Why  not  address  yourselves 
to  the  consciences  of  the  holders  of  these  depos- 
its, and  encourage  their  application  to  the  ob- 
jects of  the  trusters,  without  requiring  any  ac- 
counting for  the  past  ?  Without  doubt,  you 
must  sustain  the  public  credit,  and  meet  all 
public  engagements ;  but  the  evils  described 
must  cease  if  you  would  reconcile  God  with  the 
earth,  the  Almighty  with  France.     Already  the 

t'udgment  of  Heaven  appears  upon  us.  What 
»ut  the  consequences  of  perjury  have  assembled 
us  here  in  the  midst  of  the  mutilated  remains 
of  the  monarchy  ?  Is  it  not  religion  which  fe- 
strains  perjury?  The  army  has  wavered  in  its 
faith;  can  you  therefore  be  surprised  that  the 
God  of  batilea  has  deseri^d  •* '-'     What  has  be- 


come of  the  glorious  days  when  your  standurdj 
left  our  temiiles  to  bo  carried  into  our  camps, 
and  returned  chargcil  with  victoric'i  to  adorn 
our  altars?'  In  pursuance  of  these  princi|)les, 
it  was  proposed  as  a  law,  "  That  the  bisliops 
and  curates  shall  be  authorized  to  receive  all 
donations  of  movables,  heritages,  and  rents, 
made  to  them  by  individuals  for  the  support  of 
the  ministers  of  religion,  its  seminaries,  or  any 
other  ecclesiastical  establishment,  and  possess 
thom.  ihcy  and  their  successors,  for  ever,  under 
the  ohiigation  only  of  applying  them  to  the  pur- 
poses intended  by  the  donors."  In  addition  to 
this,  it  was  proposed  by  M.  Piet  to  restore 
to  the  clergy  all  the  possessions  belonging  to 
the  Church  which  had  not  been  alienated,  and 
that  the  keeping  of  the  parish  registers  should 
be  vested  in  their  hands.  Finally,  a  commis- 
sion, of  which  M.  Laboire  was  the  i  Cap.  iv.  260, 
organ,  reported  that  an  annual  in-  200, 2G'J;Lac. 
crease  of  20,000,000  francs  (£800-  jJitcVDec'"' 
000)  should  be  made  from  the  funds  22, 16I5,  Jan. 
of  Government  to  the  support  of  9,  ibio,  and 
the  Church.i  Feb.  15,  1810. 

Although    these    doctrines   pointed    not    ob 
scurely  to  an  intention  to  resume  at  jgQ 

no  distant  period  the  possessions,  Answer  oftliu 
and  restore  the  influence  and  con-  niiiiisters,an(l 
sideration  of  the  clerjry,  yet  they  "'^'.'"  '^o""'*"" 
were  so  strongly  rooted  in  the  feel- 
ings and  wishes  of  the  majority,  that  it  was  no 
easy  matter  to  combat  them.  The  partisans  of 
Government,  however,  adopted  the  most  ellect- 
ual  means  of  doing  so,  which  was  to  appeal  to 
the  selfish  passions  and  fears  of  human  nature, 
by  identifying  such  extreme  proposals  with  a 
great  increase  of  the  public  burdens  and  an 
eventual  national  bankruptcy.  "  Such  a  system 
of  reparation,"  they  exclaimed,  "is  at  variance 
with  the  interest  of  the  state,  the  public  credit, 
the  engagements  of  the  king,  and  the  liberties 
of  the  people.  If  we  subject  ourselves  in  this 
manner  to  the  influence  of  Rome,  we  shall  find 
ourselves  constrained  to  submit  to  all  the  en- 
croachments and  demands  of  the  Papal  See.- 
Why  create  a  new  injustice,  when  we  are  strain- 
ing every  nerve  to  wipe  away  the  efl'ects  of  an 
old  one  ?  If  we  consider  the  new  charges  which 
it  is  proposed  to  impose  upon  France  in  (avor  ot 
the  clergy,  and  the  enormous  burdens  fixed  upon 
it  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  the  uncertainty  of  its 
revenues,  the  nullity  of  its  cnedit,  what  can  be 
expected  as  the  consequence  of  such  ill-timed 
largesses  ? — a  second  bankruptcy — a  bankruptcy 
under  the  Bourbons;  a  bankruptcy  which  will 
svi-allow  up  the  last  and  only  remaining  third  of 
the  property  of  which  two-thirds  had  been  de- 
stroyed by  the  Revolution,  and  which  will  re- 
quire a  loan  of  at  least  a  thousand  millions.  Shall 
the  work  of  religion  and  bankruptcy  be  brought 
for  the  first  time  into  so  strange  and  unholy  an 
alliance?"  These  considerations  staitled  the 
Assembly;  and  the  Chamber,  as  a  oomproaiise, 
adopted  the  principle  which  passed  inio  law,  that 
the  clergy  might  receive  gifts  to  the  Church, 
but  only  to  the  extent  of  1000  francs  (£40)  year 
ly,  without  the  sanction  of  the  king,  ^  • .  op 4 
but  above  that  sum  only  with  the  aou^'ilac  ii.' 
royal  authority.*  This  was  but  a  44.  40 ;  ^iol^i 
feeble  advantage  to  be  gained  ;  but  teur,  March 

it  was  a  very  important  one,  as  de-  \^'  '\'?f,'^'l^?? 
■'.         '  ,  ,,.'..        April  I'J    iMO 

monstrating  how  the  public  opinion 


MP.) 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


91 


".iis  liiiinn-;  and  niinisleis  bhowctl  their  sense  of 
U  by  milling  10,000.000  iVancs  (.£400.000)  a  year 
to  the  I'uiid.s  of  the  clergy. 

The  next  and  last  important  subject  which  oc- 
.„,  cnpied   the  attention  of  the  Cham- 

Argumont  of  l>er,  before  the  prcrogation  of  the 
M.  Boiiald  session  was  that  of  Divorce.  The 
against  the  deplorable  state  of  general  license 
law  of  divorce.   •    '    i  •   i  u     i  u  i   r.  i 

in  which  manners  had  been  left  by 

the  Revolution,  had  long  rendered  it  evident  that 
some  efiicient  remedy  was  required  in  thi.-s  re- 
spect; but  it  was  easier  to  see  the  evil  than  de- 
vise such  a  cure,  so  strongly  did  the  feelings  of 
the  intluential  class  in  the  metropolis  and  great 
towns  run  in  favor  of  the  unrestricted  liberty 
which  they  had  so  long  enjoyed.  The  ascend- 
ency of  the  clergy  in  the  present  Assembly, 
Iwwever,  encouraged  M.  de  Bonald,  who  had 
struggled  against  this  abuse  ever  since  the  days 
of  the  Consulate,  to  bring  forward  a  law  for  its 
entire  abolition.  "You  must  all  regret,"  said 
ho,  "  that  the  strictness  of  our  regulations  pre- 
vents us  from  paying  a  striking  homage  to  public 
morals,  by  voting  by  acclamation  the  abolition  of 
the  power  of  divorce.  You  can  not  but  lament 
that  you  are  not  at  liberty  to  break  that  disas- 
trous law,  as  those  notorious  criminals  %vhom 
public  justice  puts  hors  la  loi,  and  whom  it  con- 
demns to  a  capital  punishment  as  soon  as  their 
identity  is  established.  Let  us  hasten,  at  least, 
to  abolish  that  part  of  our  weak  and  feeble  legis- 
lation which  dishonors  it;  that  first-born  of  a 
philosophy  which  has  overturned  the  world,  and 
ruined  France ;  and  which  its  mother,  ashamed 
of  its  excesses,  does  not  venture  any  longer  to 
defend.  The  ancients,  in  an  imperfect  state  of 
society — more  advanced  in  the  cultivation  of  the 
arts  than  in  the  science  of  laws — may  have  said, 
'  Of  what  avail  are  laws  without  morals?'  But 
when  a  slate,  arrived  at  the  last  stages  of  civil- 
ization, has  obtained  so  great  an  ascendenc3'over 
the  family,  we  must  reverse  the  maxim  and  say, 
'  W'hat  can  morals  do  without  laws  which  sup- 
port them,  or  against  laws  which  derange  them  ?'  , 
Legislators,  you  have  seen  the  facility  of  divorce 
introduce  in  its  train  all  the  excesses  of  de-  \ 
mocracy,  and  the  dissolution  of  a  family  precede 
that  of  the  state.  Let  that  experience  not  be 
lo.st  either  for  your  happiness  or  your  instruction. 
Our  families  demand  morals,  and  the  state  de- 
mands laws.  To  reinforce  domestic  authority, 
the  natural  element  of  public  power,  and  to  con- 
secrate iiy  law  the  entire  dependence  of  women 
and  children,  is  the  best  security  for  the  con- 
stant obedience  of  the  people."  8o  .strongly 
were  these  ideas  rooted  in  the  minds  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  Chamber,  that  no  opposition  was 
made,  and  the  proposition  to  introduce  the  law 
passed  unanimously.  It  was  too  late,  however, 
lor  it  to  receive  the  sanction  of  all  the  branches 
of  the  legislature  till  the  next  session.  Even ! 
(hen  it  failed  to  apply  a  remedy  to  the  prevail-' 
1  Cap.  iv.269,  ing  evils  :  so  true  is  it  that  i)ositivo 
2TH;  Lac.  ii.  jaws  are  nugatory,  unless  support- 
'  '■  ''°'  ed  by  general  o[iinion.' 

The  hostility,  now  open  and  avowed,  between 
J22  the  majority  of  the  Chamber  and  the 

Chant'cs  in  ministry,  and  the  determination  of 
ihe  admini-s-  the  former  to  force  measures  on  the 
government  which  they  felt  they 
could  not  carry  into  execution,  in  the  existing 
*"v'e  of  the  countrv,  without  inducing  civil  war- 


fare, confirmed  the  leading  members  of  admin- 
istration  in  the  opinion  which,  as  already  men- 
tioned,  they  had  long  entertained,  that  a  legis- 
lature elected  on  a  diflerent  basis  was  indis 
pensable  to  the  existence  of  the  monarchy.  This 
could  only  be  done  by  a  coup  d'etat,  because  it 
was  evident  that  the  existing  Chamber  would 
never  consent  to  a  change  which  might  weaken 
the  influence  of  the  ultra-Royalists  in  future 
legislatures.  But  it  was  necessary  to  be  very 
cautious  in  the  preparation  of  such  a  coup  d'etat, 
because  a  considerable  part  of  the  ministry,  it 
was  known,  would  be  hostile  to  its  adoption,  and 
their  opinion  was  sure  to  be  embraced  by  the 
great  majority  of  the  Chamber.  A  modification 
of  the  ministry  was  therefore  resolved  on,  in  or- 
der to  bring  it  more  into  harmony  with  the  secret 
designs  of  the  Camarilla,  which  took  the  lead  in 
the  cabinet.  To  efiect  this,  M.Laine,  who  had 
supported  the  ministerialist  project  for  the  elec- 
tions, and  incurred,  in  consequence,  the  vehe- 
ment hostility  of  the  majority  of  the  Chamber, 
was  advanced  to  the  important  office  of  ^Minister 
of  the  Interior  in  room  of  I\I.  Vaublanc,  who  was 
permitted  to  retire.  The  only  condition  which 
this  able  and  intrepid  man  made  on  joining  the 
government,  which  was  at  once  agreed  to.  was, 
that  the  basis  of  the  electoral  suflrage  was  to  be 
uniform,  and  that  it  was  to  be  the  payment  of 
300  francs  yearly  of  direct  taxes.  At  the  same 
time  M.  de  ]\Iarbois  was  dismissed  on  the  pre- 
text of  ill  health,  though,  as  he  himself  said, 
"  The  certificate  of  my  physician  attests  that  1 
am  in  a  fair  way  of  recovery  ;  but  the  certificate 
of  the  king  proves  that  I  am  daily  getting  worse." 
His  office  was  not  filled  up,  the  seals  being  in 
trusted  ad  interim  to  the  chancellor.  The  ob- 
ject was  to  leave  a  scat  in  the  cabinet  vacant  for 
some  influential  member  of  the  new  Chamner 
which  was  in  contemplation.  M.  Guizot,  whom 
fate  reserved  for  higher  destinies,  went  out  of 
office  with  his  chief,  M.  de  Marbois,  and  did 
not  re-enter  it  till  an  entire  change  ensued 
in  administration.  Posterity-  has  no  reason  to 
regret  his  retirement  from  the  labors  and  cares  of 
oliicc,  for  it  led  to  his  appointment  i  Can.  iv.29T 
as  professor  of  history  in  the  Uni-  260;  Lac  ii' 
versity  of  Paris,  and  the  composition  65,60;  Lam 
of  his  immortal  historical  works.*      ^''  '•'^'  '•"^• 

While  these  modifications  were  in  progress  in 
the  administration,  with  a  view  to  "jo^ 
the  establishment  of  a  legislature  ConspTr.icyoi 
and  system  of  government  more  in  tlio  Lilicril 
harmony  with  the  prevailing  tone  of  '""''i' 
feeling  which  the  Revolution,  for  good  or  for 
evil,  had  impressed  upon  the  country,  the  ardent 
democrats  and  Napolconij.ts,  impatient  of  in- 
action, were  preparing  more  immediate  and  dc- 
eisive  measures.  They  could  not  brook  ihe  de- 
lays of  Parliament,  or  the  slow  progress  of 
changes  in  general  opinion ;  instant  action,  im- 
mediate overthrow  of  the  governnicnf,  could 
alono  satisfy  their  ardent  aspirations.  In  their 
view  the  government  of  the  Bourbons  had  been 
violently  forced  upon  the  country  by  foreign 
powers,  and  it  was  the  duly  of  every  friend  to 
liis  country  to  concur  without  any  delay  in  nieas- 
ures  for  throwing  it  ofi'.  In  this  they  were  all 
agreed ;  but  very  great  disunion — the  germ  of 
future  civil  conllicl — existed  as  to  the  govern- 
nient  which  was  to  succeed  them.  'J'hc  dis- 
banded odiccrs  of  the  army  were  for  a  ic->»ora- 


94 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chkp.  in 


tion  of  Napoleon  II.,  niul  of  the  military  n'gtwf; '  circumslnncos  unnecc&'ary,  and  which  were 
liut  tlie  <;roat  majority  of  the  civilians  enga«TCii  deeiily  to  bo  rcijrcttcd.  Accoriiinij  to  his  see- 
in  the  conspiracy  luul  diil'crcnt  views.  A  re-  ond  disputoh,  "  liic  insnry;ents  who  attackcii 
public  constructed  on  the  broad  basis  of  univer-  '  Grenoble  were  lour  thousand  stronj^,  and  tlieir 
sal  sullra^e,  like  that  of  I'lKf,  was  the  objccl  of  I  dead  bodies  covered  all  the  roads  round  the 
tlieir  ambition,  because  every  one  hoped  to  have  ,  town ;"  w  heroas,  in  point  of  fact,  they  were  only 
a  lucrative  place  under  such  a  <iovernmcnt ;  and    two  hundred,  and  the  slain  eij;ht  in  all.     The  re- 


they  joined  the  Bonaparte  faction,  in  the  mean 
time,  only  in  order  to  pet  cpiit  of  a  dynasty  which 
was  equally  an  impediment  to  the  ambition  of 
them  ail.  The  plan  of  the  conspirators,  who  had 
their  head-ipiartcrs  at  Paris,  but  their  branches 
over  all  France,  was  to  envelop  the  capital, 
where  the  faubourgs  were  not  yet  disarmed  and 
"reat  elements  of  revolution  existed,  in  a  vast 
net  spread  over  all  France,  except  the  towns  on 
the  frontiers  occupied  by  the  allied  troops,  and, 
I  (,  j^.  291,  before  the  French  army  was  re- 
21-2';  Lain,  vi!  organized,  or  any  means  of  resist- 
mi,97;  Lac.  ii.  ance  existed,  at  once  to  overturn 
02,  63.  ^jjg  monarchy.! 

M.  de  Lafayette,  and  the  heads  of  this  con- 
spiracy at  Paris,  though  in  their 
Outbreak  saloons  and  drawing-rooms  they 
lieudedby  scarcely  attempted  any  conceal- 
DiUicr  at  Gre-  ment  of  their  designs,  were  too 
noble.  May  5,  prudent  to  engage  in  overt  acts  be- 
fore their  preparations  were  com- 
plete, and  the  period  of  action  had  arrived.  But, 
iis  often  happens  in  such  cases,  the  impatience 
of  the  inferior  agents  outstripped  the  more  pru- 
dent designs  of  the  chiefs  :  liberalism  had  its 
ultras,  as  "well  as  loyalty,  ^l.  Didier,  a  fanatic 
of  extravagant  character  and  opinions,  whose 
thirst  for  conspiracies  had  been  such  that,  under 
Napoleon,  he  had  engaged  in  thcni  fur  the  res- 
toration of  the  Bourbons,  and  had  recently  been 
a  haliitue  of  the  ante-chambers  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  where  all  the  discontented  of  all  liberal 
parties  assembled  together  to  exhale  their  com- 
mon animosity  against  the  government,  set  out 
IVom  Paris  in  the  end  of  April,  and  set  up  the 
standard  of  revolt  in  the  neighborhood  of  Gre- 
noble, where  it  was  known  Napoleon  had  many 
partisans,  on  the  14th  May.  Government  had 
information  of  the  design,  and  sent  a  legion  that 
could  be  relied  on  to  Grenoble,  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Donnadieu,  an  able  man  and 
devoted  Royalist,  but,  as  the  event  proved,  of  an 
ambitious  and  exaggerating  character.  The 
revolt  broke  out  on  the  night  of  the  14th  May. 
The  insurgents,  to  the  number  of  two  hundred, 
attended  by  another  hundred  of  mere  spectators 
whom  curiosity  brought  together,  marched  on 
Grenoble,  where  they  were  promptly  met  by 
2  Lam  vi  100  General  Donnadieu,  and  totally  de- 
109;  Cap.  iv.'  feated  and  dispersed,  with  the  loss 
293,' 2UC ;  Lac.  of  eicfht  killed  on  the  spot,  and  sixty 
•i.  C3,  G4.         prisoners.* 

So  far,  General  Donnadieu's  conduct  had  been 
125.  energetic   and  praiseworthy ;    and 

Exaggera-  by  the  defeat  of  this,  the  first  con- 
tions  of  Gen-  gpiracy  which  had  broken  out  since 
the  second  restoration  of  the  Bour- 
bons, he  had  rendered  an  important 
service  to  the  monarchy.  But,  either 
from  misinformation  as  to  the  real  nature  and 
extent  of  the  conspiracy,  or  from  a  natural  ten- 
dency to  exaggeration,  he  transmitted  such  in- 
flamed accounts  of  what  had  occurred  to  the 
(rovernment,  as  not  only  diffused  very  general 
"'arm    bat  led  to  measures  of  severity  in  the 


eral  Donna- 
dieu, and 
needless  se- 
verities. 


suit  was,  that  a  reward  of  iiO,000  francs  (£800; 
was  oflercd  by  Government  for  the  apprehension 
of  Didier,  dead  or  alive;  and  three  prisoners, 
who  had  been  taken  during  the  nocturnal  com- 
bat with  arms  in  their  hands,  were  shot  two  days 
afterward  by  the  Prevotal  Court.  Twenty-one 
were  subsecpicntly  brought  to  trial,  of  whom 
fourteen  were  executed  by  the  guillotine — a 
terrible  example,  and  which  the  magnitude  or 
formidable  character  of  the  insurrection  by  no 
means  warranted.  Didier  himself,  in  the  first 
instance,  made  his  escape  into  the  mountains  on 
the  confines  of  Savoy  and  Dauphiny;  but  the 
promised  reward  proved  too  strong  for  the  virtue 
of  the  mountaineers.  He  was  betrayed  by  the 
friends  (two  men  and  a  woman)  with  whom  he 
had  sought  refuge,  brought  to  trial,  and  con- 
demned to  be  executed.  He  behaved  with 
firmness  in  his  last  moments,  and  seemed  in  the 
supreme  hour  to  regain  the  attachment  which 
he  had  originally  felt" for  the  Bourbons.  His  last 
words,  addressed  to  General  Donnadieu,  were — 
"  Tell  the  king  that  the  only  proof  of  gratitude 
which  I  can  give  him,  for  the  kindnesses  which 
I  have  received  from  him,  is  to  advise  him  to 
remove  from  himself,  from  the  throne,  and  from 
France,  the  Duke  of  Orleans  and  M.  Talleyrand'^ 
— an  advice  which  was  of  importance,  as  com- 
ing from  one  who  had  been  inti-  1  p^p  jy.  20G 
mate  in  the  Orleans  establishment,  310  ;  Lam.  vi 
and  which  subsequent  events  ren-  ^"^^'^5;  ^^° 
dered  prophetic.' 

Paris  is  the  centre  of  every  movement   in 
France ;  an  explosion  never  takes  jae. 

place  in  the  provinces  that  the  train  Conspiracy  ir. 
has  not  been  laid  in  the  metropolis.  !""'»• 
It  was  well  known  to  the  police  that  the  heads  of 
the  Liberal  party  in  Paris  were  privy  to  the  de- 
signs wliich  were  on  foot,  and  that  the  saloons 
of  M.  de  Lafayette,  M.  d'Argenson,  and  I\L 
Manuel,  were  the  rendezvous  almost  every  even- 
ing of  discontented  persons,  by  whom  the  project 
of  overturning  the  government  was  discussed 
with  scarcely  any  reserve.  The  police  had  full 
information  of  their  designs,  and  strongly  advised 
the  arrest  of  IM.  Manuel ;  but  the  government 
hesitated  to  take  a  step  which  would  at  once 
commit  them  into  open  hostility  with  the  whole 
Liberal  party  in  France,  while  the  evidence 
might  prove  insufficient  to  secure  the  conviction 
of  the  accused.  Proceedings  were  adopted, 
however,  against  the  subordinate  agents.  Tol 
leron,  an  engraver,  Pleignier,  a  bootmaker,  and 
Carbonneau,"  a  writing-master,  were  appre- 
hended on  the  charge  of  having  prepared  and 
circulated  a  treasonable  proclamation  ;*  and  it 


«  "  Francais  !  nous  sommes  arrives  au  terme  du  mal 
heur.  Amis  du  people  dont  nous  faisons  partie,  noua 
avons  lu  dans  Tame  de  nos  freres.  Nous  nous  sommes 
empresses  de  prendre  mesures  les  plus  sages  et  les  plus 
certaines  pour  la  chute  entiere  des  Bourbons.  Notre 
succes  est  certain  :  nous  sommes  impenetrables  ;  on  ne 
nous  trouvera  nulle  part  et  nous  sommes  partout :  nous 
pourrions  meme  defier  les  Satellites  de  la  plus  odieuse 
tyrannic :  nous  ne  supposerons  jamais  de  traitres  parmi 
les  compajnons  de  nos  glorj^ix  travaux :  s'il  s'en  tron- 


1S16.] 


HISTORY    OF    EL'ROPE. 


9d 


soon  appeared  that  the  designs  of  the  conspira- 
tors were  of  a  still  more  violent  description.  It 
was  discovered  that  a  small  body  of  these  desper- 
adoes had  formed  a  plan  for  surrounding  and 
attacking  the  Tiiileries  during  the  night.  To 
facilitate  the  operations,  a  mine  was  to  be  run 
under  the  palace,  charged  with  twenty  barrels  of 
powder,  lodged  in  an  old  sewer,  which  was  to  be 
exploded  before  the  attack  was  made.  The  de- 
sign of  the  conspirators  was  to  destroy  the  ro3'al 
family,  establish  a  provisional  government,  and 
convoke  a  new  Assembly.  The  treasonable 
proclamation  was  at  once  admitted  by  the  ac- 
cused, and  they  were  all  convicted  by  the  jury, 
condemned,  and  executed — a  deplorable  result 
of  civil  dissensions,  to  cause  the  passions  to  de- 
scend to  the  lowest  grades  of  society,  whei'e 
1  Cap  iv,  313^  they  tend  to  anarchy,  conspiracy, 
327  ;  Lam.  vi.  and  murder,  and  end  in  hideous  ju- 
137, 14(5.  dicial  massacres. 1 

A  conspiracy,  which  proved  abortive,  was 
127.  also  discovered  at  Lyons  soon  after, 

Conspiracy  at  which,  though  not  in  itself  formid- 
Lyons.JuneS.  ^ble,  acquired  importance  from  the 
time  at  which  it  was  discovered,  and  its  obvious 
connection  with  the  treasonable  plots,  all  eman- 
ating from  Paris,  which  were  elsewhere  in  oper- 
ation. The  outbreak  was  fixed  i'or  the  8th  June, 
on  which  day  the  tocsin  sounded  in  several  of 
the  villages  around  Lyons,  and  a  body  of  con- 
spirators advanced  toward  Lyons  in  the  evening, 
where  they  were  instantly  dispersed  by  a  body 
of  gendarmes.  Eight  or  ten  persons  were  seized 
with  arms  in  their  hands ;  and  the  Prevotal  Courts 
were  soon  in  such  activity,  that  above  two  hun- 
dred prisoners  encumbered  the  prisons  of  the  de- 
partment. But  the  government  were  satisfied 
with  the  advantage  they  had  gained,  and  had 
come  to  regret  the  blood  unnecessarily  shed  at 
Grenoble.  Marshal  Marmont  and  General  Fab- 
vier  were  sent  to  Lyons,  by  whose  orders  the  pros- 
'Lam.vi.  146  eculions  were  suspended;  and  hap- 
151;Moniteur,  pily  tranquillity  was  restored  with- 
Juiie20,  1816.  out;  any  sacrifices  on  the  scaflbld.' 

These  repeated  alarms  confirmed  the  Duke  de 
J2S.  Richelieu,  JM.  Decazes,  and  Count 

Preparations  JMole,  in  their  opinion  that  a  disso- 
of  tlie  povern-  jmion  of  the  Chamber,  and  changes 
chance  "hi  the  '"  ^'^^  electoral  law,  had  become  in- 
electoral  law,  dispensable  to  the  public  tranquil- 
unA  iis  dilli-  ]ity,  and  that  the  longer  continuance 
culties.  of  the  .system  of  government  pursued 

b}'  the  majority  of  the  Chamber  was  ircpossible. 
But  very  serious  difficulties  occurred  in  carrying 
tiiis  intention  into  execution.  Under  what  law, 
supposing  the  Chamber  dissolved,  were  the  elec- 
tions to  take  place?  The  project  proposed  by 
M.  Vriublanc,  on  the  part  of  the  Government, 
Jiad  been  rejected  by  the  Deputies;  and  that  of 
M.  Viliclc,  which  they  had  passed  by  a  largo 
majority,  had  been  combated  by  the  whole  inllu- 
ence  of  the  ministry  in  the  House  of  Peers,  and 
Inrown  out.  The  ordinance  of  Kith  July,  IS  I. 5, 
under  which  the  existing  Chamber  had  been 
elected,  had  been  issued  only  by  the  royal  au- 
thority, and  was  dilferent  in  many  imporlanl  rc- 
f^pects  from  that  under  which  cither  the  first 
Chamber  or  that  of  Napoleon,  during  the  Hun- 

valt  un,  mullicur  alui  son  jiigemcntcst  prononc6,  tenez- 
vous  prcts  :  dans  pen  vos  bra.s  seront  niicessaires.  Son- 
jcz  que  rien  lie  doit  nuus  iiiaiKii'er,  amies,  munitions." — 
CAfiiiiouii,  iv.  31B. 


dred  Days,  had  been  elected.  The  first  Cham- 
ber elected  in  1814  had  not  been  chosen  under 
any  legislative  authority  which  the  Bourbon  gov- 
ernment were  bound  to  acknowledge.  There 
was  thus  no  legislative  cnactincnt  in  existence 
on  the  most  important  and  vital  point  in  a  con- 
stitutional monarchy — the  system  under  which 
the  representatives  of  the  people  were  to  be 
elected.  The  entry  of  M.  Laine  into  the  cabinet 
gave  a  majority  to  the  party  there  which  inclined 
to  the  opinion  that,  in  a  question  surrounded 
with  so  many  difficulties,  the  only  safe  course 
was  to  adhere  to  the  charter  granted  by  Louis 
XVIII.  on  his  first  restoration  ;  and  as  there  was 
no  hope  of  getting  the  existing  Chamber  to  alter 
the  .system  under  which  itself  had  been  elected, 
it  was.  resolved  to  have  recourse  to  a  coup  d'etat^ 
dissolve  the  Chamber,  and  regulate  i  (.  j^.  303 
the  election  of  a  new  one  by  the  333';  Lac. 'ii. 
simple  expedient  of  a  royal  ordin-  "n>  *6;  Lam. 
ance.i  vi.  144, 149. 

"Sire!"  said  M.  Decazes,  in  the  cabinet,  "it 
is  necessary  to  dissolve  the  Cham-  J29. 

ber,  for  it  thwarts  the  government  Speech  of  M. 
of  the  king  :  it  weakens  his  author-  'Decazes  in  fa- 
ity,  usurps  his  power.  At  one  time  ''^^tat  ^  "^""^ 
it  endangers,  at  another  openly  at- 
tacks, the  measures  emanating  from  his  profound 
wisdom  ;  foments  the  angry  passions  which  youi 
Majesty  would  wish  to  calm :  perpetuates,  after 
the  victory  has  been  gained,  the  crisis  of  the 
Hundred  Days;  retards  indefinitely  the  period 
of  the  evacuation  of  our  territory — that  time 
which  can  alone  permit  your  Majesty  to  breathe, 
or  give  rest  to  your  patriotic  heart.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  dissolve  without  delay ;  at  this  very  mo- 
ment, M.  de  Villele,  M.  de  Castelbajac,  and  Cal- 
viens,  are  felicitating  themselves  on  the  triumph- 
ant reception  which  Toulouse  and  Nimcs  have 
awarded  to  them.  In  the  next  session  they  will 
be  emboldened  to  attempt  every  thing,  from  the 
interested  eulogies  passed  on  them  by  those  who 
expect  from  them  the  restoration  of  their  estates. 
By  the  eifeet  of  its  turbulent  combination,  the 
present  Chamber  has  caused  the  entire  year  to 
be  lost,  so  far  as  regards  the  evacuation  of  our 
territory.  By  refusing  to  sanction  the  sale  of 
part  of  the  woods  of  the  state,  with  the  sole  view 
of  saving  the  woods  of  the  clergy,  they  have 
deprived  us  of  all  means  of  borrowing,  by  with- 
drawing the  security  we  might  oiler.  They  have, 
of  their  sole  authority,  broken  an  engagement 
undertaken  toward  the  public  creditors,  and  sanc- 
tioned by  the  law.  The  public  debt  is  regard- 
ed by  them  in  no  other  light  but  as  a  burden 
which  they  are  at  liberty  to  throw  oil'  at  the  ex- 
pcnsc  of  honor,  morality,  and  religion.  When 
we  had  no  other  resource  left  but  crcilit,  and  no 
means  of  re-establishing  it  but  a  scrupulous  good 
faith,  they  have  let  the  infamous  words  of  bank- 
ruptcy escape  from  their  lips,  or  have  supported 
propositions  which  were  identical  with  it.  Mas- 
ters of  the  budget,  with  regard  to  which  they 
have  usiirpeil  tlio  initiative,  they  have  made  it 
the  vehicle  of  their  prejudices  and  their  passions. 
In  presence  of  l.')0,0()()  men  spread  over  our 
strong  places,  they  have  left  us  without  an  army, 
without  national  energy  ;  while  at  the  same  time 
they  give  us  every  reason  to  apprehend  a  crisis, 
when  that  energy  might  revive  from  the  cllects 
of  dcs|)air,  and  a  return  of  the  furious  passions 
at  which  the  universe  has  already  ■shuddered. 


96 


HISTORY   OF    EUROPE. 


[Lhap.  Ill 


'•  ir  that  moment  lias  not  ariiveil,  sire  !  to  wliat 
lire  \vc  to  ascribe  it  ?  EiUiiely  to  tlie 
Loii'imuod  system  of  moilerutiun,  tirmness,  and 
wisdom,  which  vour  Majesty  has  piir- 
5ucd  in  presence  ol"  a  vimlictive  Assembly.  In 
that  honorable  contest,  the  throne  has  for  au.xil- 
iaries  the  entire  naiion,  which  has  separated  its 
cause  from  that  of  the  proud  and  haughty  priv- 
ilc'red  classes.  Tliat  natiim  calls  to  you,  sire! 
Maintain  the  charter — your  work,  your  ijifl  to 
the  nation;  we  can  only  support  by  known  facts 
alarms  so  general.  Yes,  contempt  for  the  char- 
ter is  every  where  professed  by  the  envenomed 
majority ;  your  ^Majesty  is  no  stranijer  to  the  im- 
passioned vehemence  with  which  they  declaim 
against  the  charter;  why  give  that  majority  an 
opportunity  of  giving  a  new  proof  of  its  danger- 
ous disposition  ?  It  would  be  safer,  it  is  some- 
times said,  to  postpone  a  dissolution  till  the  ma- 
jority has  given  a  yet  more  decisive  proof  of  its 
mischievous  tendency.  Is  it  then  certain  that 
the  nation  will  submit  to  fresh  insults  ?  Or  shall 
we  wait  till  the}"  have  inflicted  some  new  wound 
on  the  finances  of  the  state?  Three  months  lost 
for  our  liberation,  three  months  wasted  in  civil 
discord ;  three  months  during  which  your  ]Ma- 
jesty  has  been  controlled  in  the  acts  of  clemency 
so  dear  to  your  paternal  heart ;  three  months  of 
irresolution,  of  anarch}' — these  are  what  your 
faithful  servants  can  no  longer  contemplate  with- 
out horror.  Beyond  the  concessions  which  the 
safety  of  the  state  have  suggested  to  us,  we  can 
not  make  one.  Your  ^Majesty  is  aware  with  what 
patience  we  have  borne  repeated  defeats,  with  an 
equanimity  ol  which  you  alone  know  the  secret 
motive  ;  but  lo  the  public,  by  whom  that  motive 
is  unknown,  it  can  have  no  other  aspect  but  that 
of  weakness.  We  can  not  longer  continue  to 
play  a  part,  which,  if  persevered  in,  would  com- 
promise the  dignity  of  the  crown.  An  immediate 
dissolution  will  re-establish  that  dignity,  of  which 
we  are  the  jealous  guardians,  and  will  exhibit 
royalty  in  all  its  force.  It  will  be  in  some  sort  a 
second  gift  of  the  charter,  a  new  contract  of  love 
and  peace.  It  is  necessary  to  give  that  charter 
a  character  of  immutability,  which  the  ordin- 
ances of  13th  and  14th  July,  1815,  have  unhap- 
pily taken  away,  by  declaring  a  revision  of  four- 
teen articles.  It  is  desirable,  therefore,  that  the 
ordinance  of  the  dissolution  should  be  preceded 
by  a  declaration  that  no  article  of  the  charter  is 
to  be  altered.  The  Chamber  should  be  reduced 
to  260,  the  number  designed  by  the  charter. 
Stability  is  the  first  wish  of  a  people  worn  out 
by  convulsions:  it  is  the  rein  which  is  to  re- 
Mrain  men  consumed  by  the  passion  for  retro- 
grade changes;  it  is  what  Europe  and  its  sov- 
ereigns demand.  It  is  for  us,  or  rather  for  the 
,  ~^  jj  -g  king  to  set  the  first  example  of 
80 ;  Memorial  an  immutable  order,  in  a  country 
of  Decazcs,  which  hiis  undergone  so  many  rev- 
^p.  iv.  3j2,  oi^tions  within,  and  launched  so 
many  abroad." ' 
Whatever  may  be  thought  of  this  speech, 
J3J  which,   amid   much   exaggeration. 

Adoption  of     contained   some    impor  ant   truths, 
these  princi-     there  can  be  but  one  opinion  as  to 
pies  by  the        ^^jg   gj.;,!       ^^    ^.jjj^.^   j^   ^.^g 
king,  and  pre-  ,  ,  ■       /■     i-  i 

parations  for    pared  to  work  on  the  leehngs  and 
sarryingthem  gratify    the    secret    vanity    of   the 
intoexeca-       king.     The  leading  principle  of  his 
mind  at  '.his  period  was  an  anxious 


desire  to  get  quit  of  the  allied  troops,  and  de- 
liver his  ctmntiy  iVom  the  humiliating  vassalage 
to  which  it  had  been  subjected;  his  secret  vanity 
a  pride  in  the  charter,  and  in  his  own  ability  to 
wield  the  power  of  a  constitutional  monarch. 
Louis  XVIJI.,  accordingly,  was  easily  persuaded 
to  give  in  to  these  views;  and  the  Duke  de 
Richelieu  and  Count  Mole  had  already  embraced 
them.  The  whole  month  of  August  was  passed 
in  preparations  by  this  trio  for  the  dissolution, 
and  in  measures  for  increasing  the  popularity 
of  the  court.  The  Legion  of  Honor  was  recon- 
stituted, with  precautions  against  the  undue 
multiplifation  of  its  honors;  the  Eeole  Poly- 
technique  re-established ;  measures  adopted  lor 
advancing  primary  education;  prizes  given  to 
ajfriculture ;  and  the  payments  from  the  Treas- 
ury made  with  such  regularity  as  went  far  to 
re-establish  public  credit,  which  had  been  se- 
verely shaken  by  the  language  of  the  majority 
in  the  Chamber.  Circular  letters  were  addressed 
to  the  prefects  and  heads  of  the  Prcvotal  Courts, 
recommending  the  greatest  moderation  in  pros- 
ecutions. At  the  same  time,  the  sentiments  of 
the  Emperor  Alexander  were  asked  on  the  sub- 
ject, through  the  medium  of  Count  Pozzo  di 
Borgo;  and  the  king  had  the  satisfaction  of  re 
ceiving  an  autograph  letter  from  that  monarch, 

in  which  he  said,  that,  "in  the  in-  ,  _  ,, 

c   .1       r-  .      e  .L      1  Emperor  Al 

terest  ol    the   Government   ot   the  exander  to 

King  of  France,  it  appeared  to  him  Duke  de  Rich 
that  a  dissolution  of  the  Chamber  elieu,  Aug.  5, 
of  Deputies  would  be  attended  by  1%^^^^^'- '" 
beneficial  results."  i 

Fortified  by  such  support,  the  famous  ordin- 
ance of  September  5  was  prepared,  130. 
and  promulgated  in  the  Monitcur,  Ordinance  of 
without  any  one  but  its  immediate  ^^P*-  ^'  ^*''^' 
authors  in  the  cabinet  being  aware  of  what  was 
in  contemplation.  It  was  written  out  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  4th,  signed  at  eight  in  the  even- 
ing, and  immediately  sent  to  the  printing-office 
of  the  Monitcur,  where  it  appeared  to  the  aston- 
ished  inhabitants  of  Paris  the  following  morning. 
The  Count  d'Artois  and  the  other  members  of 
the  royal  family  were  in  entire  ignorance  of  what 
was  going  forward.  This  important  state  paper, 
by  the  mere  authority  of  the  king,  reduced  the 
number  of  deputies  from  394,  their  existing  num- 
ber, to  2G0,  the  number  specified  in  the  charter, 
and  raised  the  age  required  in  deputies  to  forty 
years.  New  electoral  colleges  were  constituted, 
in  terms  of  the  ordinance  of  21st  July,  1S15 : 
those  of  arrondissements  were  directed  to  meet 
on  the  25th  September ;  those  of  departments 
on  the  5th  October.  The  presidents  of  colleges 
were  named  in  the  ordinance,  and  embraced 
Camille  Jourdan,  Andre  de  la  Lozere,  Royer 
CoUard,  and  a  number  of  others,  all  of  the  mod- 
erate or  constitutional  party,  their  appointment 
indicating,  in  the  most  unequivocal  manner,  the 
wish  of  the  government  that  the  Chambers 
should  be  elected  of  moderate  men,  equally  re- 
moved from  the  extremes  on  either  side.  The 
Duke  de  Richelieu,  though  he  acquiesced  in  the 
dissolution  and  ordinance,  was  yet  not  without 
his  misgivings  as  to  the  influence  of  the  new 
electoral  system  upon  the  future  fate  of  France  ; 
and  accordingly  he  said,  in  his  circular  to  the 
prefects  with  the  writ  for  the  new  election — 
"Do  your  utmost  to  prevent  true  Jacobins  being 
returned  in  the  new  Chamber- -that  would  aliu- 


isie  I 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


91 


gelhcr  defeat  our  intentions.  No  party  men 
JMon. Sent.5  — that  Ought  to  be  our  object;  but 
ISlfiiCap.  iv.  if  they  can  not  be  avoided,  ultra- 
358, 3C0;  Lac.  Royalists  are  better  than   Revolu- 

No  words  can  describe  the  consternation  of 
133.  the  royal  family,  the  majority  of  the 

Consterna-  Chamber,  and  the  extreme  Royal- 
tion  of  the  ul-  j^jg  throughout  France,  when 'the 
tra-Rovalists,        ,,  =  ^     r    i       i- 

and  dismissa  sudden  announcement  oi  the  disso- 
of  Chateau-  lution  of  the  legislative  body,  and 
briand.  j^e  convocation  of  a  new  one,  chosen 

under  a  different  electoral  system,  fell  upon 
them.  The  Duke  de  Richelieu  undertook  the 
dilFicult  task  of  announcing  it  to  the  Count  d'Ar- 
tois;  that  prince  was  in  despair  at  the  intelli- 
gence, prophesied  the  fall  of  the  monarchy,  and 
openly  accused  M.  Decazes  of  betraying  the 
throne.  The  Duchess  d'Angoulcme  positively 
refused  to  see  any  of  the  ministers  on  the  sub- 
ject;  the  duke,  her  husband,  was  more  moder- 
ate; and  the  Duke  de  Berri  testified  satisl'action 
on  the  occasion.  The  court  was  in  the  deepest 
affliction  at  the  intelligence  ;  they  could  not  have 
been  more  so  if  the  monarchy  had  been  swept 
away — which,  indeed,  was  generally  prophesied 
as  the  inevitable  result  of  the  measure.  The 
Royalist  press  throughout  France  broke  forth 
into  the  most  violent  invectives  against  the  min- 
!>iry,  whom  they  represented  as  having  usurped 
the  royal  authority,  coerced  the  king,  and  deliv- 
ered over  France,  bound  hand  and  foot,  to  the 
Revolutionists.  Chateaubriand  gave  vent  to  the 
general  feeling  of  the  Royalists  in  an  eloquent 

*  "  Depuis  noire  retoiir  dans  nos  etats,  chaque  jour 
nous  a  dcmontre  cette  verite,  proclamec  par  nous  dans 
une  occasion  solennelle.  qu'  a  cote  de  I'avantage  d'ame- 
liorer,  est  le  danger  d'innover.  Nous  nous  sonimes 
convain(;us,  que  les  besoins  et  les  coeurs  de  nos  sujets  se 
reunissaicnt  pour  conserver  intacte  cette  charte  eonstitu- 
tionelle,  base  du  droit  public  en  France  et  garantie  du 
rcpos  general.  Nous  avons  en  consequence  juge  neces- 
saire  de  reduire  le  nombre  des  deputes  au  nornbre  deter- 
mine par  la  charte,  et  de  n'y  appeler  que  des  hommcs  de 
quarante  ans.  Mais  pour  operer  legalement  cette  reduc- 
lion,  il  est  devenu  indispensable  de  convoquer  de  nouvcau 
les  colleges  electoraux,  afin  de  proceder  a  I'election  d'une 
nouvelle  Chanibre  des  Deputes.  A  ces  causes,  nos  min- 
islres  entcndus,  nous  avons  ordonne  et  ordonnons  ce  qui 
suit.  1.  Aucun  des  articles  de  la  charte  ne  sera  casse. 
M.  La  Chambre  des  Deputes  est  dissoute.  HI.  Le  nom- 
bre des  deputes  des  departements  est  fixe  conformemKnt 
a  I'Art.  33  de  la  charte,  suivant  le  tableau  ci-joint.  Lctj 
colleges  electoraux  d'arrondissement  et  de  departement 
etant  composes  tels  qu'ils  ont  cte  reconnus  et  tels  qu'ils 
nnt  ete  completes  par  notre  ordoiin.ince  du  21  .luillet. 
IfeI5.  Les  colleges  electoraux  d'arrondisst^ment  se  re- 
uniront  le  25  Septembre  de  cette  aniiee.  Chacuii  d'eux 
Clira  un  nombre  de  candidats  6gal  au  iioiribre  de  di  piilcs 
du  di'parleinent.  Les  colleges  electoraux  de  dt  |)art(iiicMt 
en  ri  uriiroiit  le  4  Octobre.  Chacuu  d'cux  choisira  au 
moins  la  nioities  deputes  parmi  les  candidats  presents 
par  les  colleges  d'arrondis.scment.  Si  le  nombre  des 
deputes  du  departement  est  impair,  Ic  partage  sc  lera  a 
I'avantage  de  la  portion  qui  doit  ttre  choisic  parmi  les 
candidats.  Toute  election  oil  n'assistera  pas  la  moitib 
iiu  rnoiris  des  membrcs  des  colleges  sera  nulle.  La  nia- 
jorite  tvidvnte  parmi  les  membrcs  iirescns  est  n^ccssaire 
pour  la  validite  des  elections  des  deputes.  Si  les  col- 
leges d'arrondissemcnts  n'avaicnt  pas  complete  IV'Icrtion 
•ies  candidats  (|U'i1h  peuveiit  choisir,  le  college  du  d^parte- 
iHtiit  n'en  procederait  jras  moiiis  a  son  oji^ration  ;  les 
proc<''s  verbaux  des  elections  seront  examines  a  la  f  :iinm- 
lirc  des  Disputes,  qui  prononcera  sur  la  regularit6  des 
t  Icrlions.  Les  deputy's  elus  seronl  tenus  de  produire  a 
la  chambre  leur  acte  do  naissanre  constatanl  (ju'ils  sont 
iigis  de  40  ans,  et  un  extrait  d'ordresdijment  legalise  par 
le  prefet  constatant  qu'ils  payent  au  moins  1000  francs 
(X'lO)  de  contributions  directes.  La  cession  de  IhlO 
B'ouvrira  le  4  Nov.  de  la  prescntc  aniiee.  Les  disposi- 
tions de  rordoiinanre  du  13  Juillel  1815,  conlrniries  ;i  la 
lifOKrn'e,  sont  T(:\(>i\\mK."-  Monitair,  Mt  Sejii.  lilC 
<:»rtnovE,  i"-.  Vih.  3(1. 

Vol.  i.-(; 


and  impassioned  pc  tscrip .  to  his  celcLraved 
pamphlet  published  at  that  time,  in  which,  not 
content  with  violently  assailing  the  measure,  he 
threw  doubts  on  the  unrestricted  consent  of  the 
king  to  it.  Louis  was  extremely  indignant  at 
this  imputation,  which,  in  addition  to  an  attack 
on  the  ministry,  amounted  to  a  reflection  on  his 
personal  firmness ;  and  the  consequence  wu' 
that  a  decree  appeared  next  day  in  the  Monileut . 
by  which  the  name  of  Chateaubriand  was  erased 
from  the  list  of  privy  councilors.  But  this  mea^• 
ure  of  severity  against  so  very  eminent  a  man 
only  augmented  his  influence,  and  that  of  h.s 
pamphlet,  which  was  immense,  and  materially 
atfected  the  return  of  members  for  the  next 
Chamber. •*  He  lost  not  only  his  i  Moniteur 
situation  in  the  privy  council,  but  Sept.  12, 1810; 
the  salary  attached  to  it,  which  re-  Cap.  iv.  364, 
J         1  L-  La.'  •   »   365;  Lac.  li. 

duced  him  to  such  straits,  ni  point  g3  ' 

of  finance,  that  he  was  obliged  to 
sell  his  country  house  and  books,  reserving  only 
a  little  Homer  in  Greek,  on  the  margin  of  which 
were  some  translations  he  had  made  of  the  lines 
of  the  immortal  bard.     But  he  lost  neither  his 
spirit  nor  his   influence   from  becoming   poor, 
though  he  now  walked  to  the  Chamber  of  Peers, 
or  went  in   a   hackney  coach  when   it   rained. 
•■  In  my  popular  equipage,"   says   he,   "  undei 
the    protection   of  the  mob   which    surroundctt 
the  carriage,  I  regained  for  myself  the  rights 
of  the  working   class,  to  which   1   2  chateaub 
now    belonged ;    from    the    height  Memoires 
of  my  chariot  I  ruled  the  train  of  d'outre  Tom 
kings."  ^  be,vii.227. 

The  royal  ordinance  of  5th  September,  1810. 
wrought  so  great  a  change  in  the  j3^ 

electoral  body  and  composition  of  Great  effects 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies  in  France,  of  this  ordip 
that  it  was  equivalent  in  eflect  to  a  ''"'^''' 
revolution,  and  is  generally  considered  by  the 
Royalist  party  as  the  main  cause  of  the  over- 
throw of  the  elder  branch  of  the  house  of  Bour- 
bon. It  will  appear  in  the  succeeding  volumes 
of  this  work  how  this  eflect  was  worked  out; 
but,  in  the  mean  tiine,  there  are  two  observa- 
tions which  arc  suggested  by  the  tenor  ol'  that 
decree  itself.  The  first  is,  that  the  great  re- 
duction in  the  number  of  deputies — from  oUl  to 
2G0 — operated  to  the  prejudice  of  the  rural  dis- 
tricts, and  proportionally  augmented  the  influ- 

*  Chateaubriand's  postscript  commenced  with  these 
words  ;  "La  Chambre  de  Deputes  est  dissoute  !  Cela 
ne  m'etonne  pas.  C'est  le  systeme  des  inti^rets  r6volu- 
tioniiaires  qui  marche.  Je  ii'ai  donnc  ricn  a  changer  a 
cet  ecrit.  J'avais  pr<ivu  le  denouement,  et  je  I'ai  plusicura 
fois  annonc^.  Cette  mesure  ministcrielle  sauvera,  dit 
on,  la  monarchie  legitime.  Dissoudre  la  seule  Assemblce, 
(jui  depuis  1789  ait  nianifeste  des  scntimeiis  purenient 
Koyalistes,  c'est,  a  mon  avis,  une  etrange  maiiiere  de 
sauvcr  la  monarchie.  .  .  .  Et  que  vent  d'ailleurs  le  Hoi  ? 
S'il  etait  permis  de  penetrcr  dans  les  secrets  de  sa  haute 
sapesse,  ne  pourroit-on  pas  presumer,  qu'en  laissant 
constilutionnellement  toute  liberie  d'action  et  d'opinion 
a  ces  ministres  respimsnbUs,  il  a  jiorto  ses  regards  ]dus 
loin  qu'eux.  II  a  peut-etre  juge  quo  la  France  satislaile 
lui  rcnverrait  les  memos  Deputes  dont  il  etait  salisfait; 
que  Ton  aurait  une  Chambre  Nouvelle  nussi  Hoyaljste 
que  ladernicre  bien  queconvoqut'c  sur  d'nutres  prjiicipi.s, 
et  qu'alors  il  n'y  aurait  iilns  nioyen  do  nier  la  v6rilal)le 
opinion  de  la  France."  'I'heordinaiiceof  the  king  was  in 
these  words  :  "  Le  Vicomtede  Chateaubriand  ayaiil,ilans 
un  ecrit  imprim6,  elev6  des  <loutcs  sur  notre  vnhute  pir- 
sonndle  manifi'slee  par  notre  ordonnancn  du  5  du  present 
mois,  nous  ordonnons  ce  qui  suit. — Le  Vicomte  de  Cha- 
teaubriand cessera,  des  ce  jour,  d'etre  compris  an  noni- 
'■re  de  nos  Ministres  d'Etat.— ,",0111.;."— j)/o»)V,t(r,  12 
>.•)  t.  1816;  I,a  Motinr'-liir  .ni'on  la  Charte  ((Euvres  des 
Cliateituhriaiid.  wui.  131.  44o> 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.  Ill 


ence  ol  tho  towns.  Nearly  the  whole  of  the 
members  struck  oil"  hiid  been  eleoteil  lor  depart- 
ments, ehielly  in  tho  south  of  France,  nnil  they 
were  sele-.-led  lor  destruetion,  beeauso  they  had 
proved  tho  most  nnmanaiieabie.  Tiie  second, 
liiat  in  the  departments  which  still  retained  tho 
priviiepe  ofsendinj^  members  to  Parliament,  tho 
ri<:ht  of  votinjj  was  confined  lo  o)ic  class  onVy, 
nnd  that  a  very  limited  one.  By  tho  ordinance 
of  J.^ih  of  July,  ISl.'j,  under  which  tho  dissolved 
I'iiamber  had  been  elected,  a  variety  of  persons, 
us  members  of  tho  Letrion  of  Honor,  and  oflicial 
lunclionaries,  were  admitted  to  the  franchise; 
I. lit  by  the  ordinance  of  5lh  September,  ISIO, 
these  were  all  swept  away  ;  and  the  sufl'rage 
was  confined  to  one  single  class,  viz.,  persons 
pitying  300  franes,  or  £12  of  direct  taxes.  The 
direct  taxes  are  so  very  heavy  in  France,  that 
this  payment  implies  a  very  ditlerent  class  from 
what  it  would  in  Great  Britain ;  it  denotes 
)>crsons  having  from  2500  to  3500  francs  (from 
£100  to  £140)  a  year.  The  total  number  of 
persons  entitled  to  the  suilVage  in  France  on 
this  payment  was  about  80,000,  of  whom  00,000 
paid  from  300  to  500  franes  (£12  to  £20)  of  yearly 
t!ixcs.  Thus  the  government  of  France,  under 
this  electoral  system,  was  devolved  upon  00,000 
persons  of  one  description  only — that  is,  small 
shopkeepers  in  towns,  and  small  proprietors  in 
the  country.  They,  too,  were  for  the  most  part 
holders  of  the  national  domains — persons  en- 
riched by  the  revolution,  and  resolute  to  sup- 
jiort  the  gains  it  had  brought  them.  The  im- 
mense body  of  peasant  proprietors,  several  mill- 
ions in  number,  and  the  working  classes  in 
towns  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  whole  body  of 
affluent  or  highly  educated  persons  on  the  other, 
were,  to  all  practical  purposes,  unrepresented. 
This  is  not  the  representative  system  ;  it  is  ir- 
responsible class  government  of  the  worst  kind. 
Tho  representative  system  is  founded  on  the  en- 
.ire  representation,  not  of  mere  numbers,  but  of 
classes  of  society:  mere  numbers  have  no  tend- 
ency to  induce  this,  or  rather  they  induce  the 
very  reverse,  viz.,  class  government  of  the  low- 
est ranks  of  society.  An  unrestricted  feudal 
aristocracy  is  a  great  evil ;  but  an  unrestricted 
burgher  aristocracy  is  a  still  greater. 

Another  circumstance  worthy  of  note,  and 
which  appears  not  a  little  strange 
The  whole  ^°  °"^  accustomed  to  English  ideas, 
Chambers  is,  that  in  all  the  changes  made  on 
were  elected  the  electoral  system  in  France,  the 
nance.^  *"^  '"  ^'°y"^  authority  alone  was  inter- 
posed. The  Chamber,  which  sat 
from  July,  1815,  to  September,  1810,  was  elected 
under  the  royal  ordinance  of  13th  July,  1815, 
which  added  134  members  to  it ;  that  of  1816 
and  1817,  and  all  the  subsequent  ones,  under  the 
royal  ordinance  of  5th  September,  1816,  which 
took  them  away.  Supposing  that  a  royal  ordi- 
nance was  a  matter  of  necessity  in  the  disas- 
trous state  of  the  country  in  1815,  when  there 
'jios  no  legislature  in  existence,  the  same  can 
not  be  said  of  the  royal  ordinance  of  5th  Sep- 
tember, 1816,  issued  when  a  legislature  was  act- 
ually sitting,  and  the  concurrence  of  the  three 
branches  of  the  legislature  might  have  been  ob- 
tained for  any  organic  change  which  appeared 
necessary.  It  is  remarkable,  too,  that  ail  class- 
es acquiesced  without  objection  in  this  great 
stretch  of  the  royal  prerogative,  so  subversive 


of  any  thing  like  real  constitutional  government ; 
and,  with  the  Liberal  jtarty,  in  particular,  it  was 
the  subject  of  the  highest  possible  cxultation.nnd 
eulogium — a  striking  contrast  to  their  conduct 
in  July,  1830,  when  they  made  a  similar  exer- 
cise of  tho  royal  authority  a  pretext  for  over- 
turning  the  throne. 

Tho    parliamentary    and    social    history    ol 
Franco  during   1815   and    1816   is  y^c 

worthy  of  jiarticular  attention  from  Rcflectionsnn 
all  who  consider  history,  not  mere-  tlia  reaction  ol 
ly  as  the  amusement  of  a  passing  '*' 
hour,  but  as  a  source  of  political  instruction,  and 
the  subject  of  serious  thought.  Long  as  the  pre- 
ceding chapter  has  been,  it  could  neither  have 
been  shortened  nor  divided,  for  it  embraces  one 
subject,  and  that  one  of  the  most  fruitful  in  polit- 
ical lessons  which  history  has  preserved — the 
Reaction  ov  1815.  The  Revolution  had  work- 
ed out  its  inevitable  and  appropriate  result;  its 
sins  had  been  visited  by  their  natural  conse- 
quences ;  and  conquest,  ignominy,  and  sulfer- 
ing,  had  closed  a  career  commenced  in  selfish- 
ness, ambition,  and  crime.  With  the  usual  dis- 
position of  mankind  to  ascribe  the  punishment  o[ 
their  sins  to  any  thing  but  those  sins  themselves, 
they  now  rushed  into  the  opposite  extreme  ;  and 
the  last  leaders  of  the  Revolution  were  as  much 
the  object  of  unanimous  horror  and  detestation 
as  the  first  had  been  of  triumph  and  enthusiasm. 
All  persons  with  right  feeling  must  regret  the 
measures  of  severity  adopted  on  the  second  res- 
toration, and  the  heroic  blood  shed  on  the  scaf- 
fold in  consequence  of  the  treason  previously 
committed  ;  but,  in  truth,  it  was  unavoidable. 
The  people,  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  de- 
manded victims,  as  so  many  scapegoats  to  bear 
the  sins  of  the  community;  and  the  legislature, 
which  compelled  the  government  to  select  them, 
was  but  the  mouthpiece  of  a  nation  which,  in  a 
voice  of  thunder,  demanded  their  punishment. 

In  this  terrible  and  tragic  reaction,  another 
circumstance  is  very  remarkable.  jg- 

It  was  forced  by  the  nation  upon  wiiich  was 
the  sovereign.  Louis  XVIII.  was  forced  by  the 
constitutionally  humane,  and  he  was  "o^ernmeiu'* 
too  much  versed  in  revolutions  not 
to  know  what  violent  reactions  noble  blood  shed 
on  the  scaflbld  scarce  ever  fails  to  produce. 
Every  one  of  the  victims  of  1815  were  forced 
from  the  humanity  of  the  government  by  tho 
violence  of  the  people.  This  is  a  very  remark- 
able circumstance,  and  well  worthy  of  consider- 
ation, for  it  points  to  the  principal  danger  to  be 
apprehended  under  a  popular  form  of  govern- 
ment. Those  intrusted  with  power  are  invari- 
ably more  inclined  to  moderation  than  those  who 
only  by  their  votes  or  their  clamor  seek  to  con- 
trol their  measures.  The  reason  is,  that  the 
former  feels  its  responsibilities,  and  are  made 
acquainted  with  its  difficulties ;  whereas  the  lat- 
ter are  actuated  only  by  ambition  or  passion, 
unfettered  by  experience  or  a  sense  of  duty. 
Paucity  of  number  in  the  former  case  induces  a 
sense  of  responsibility ;  in  the  latter  it  extin- 
guishes it.  Destructive  measures — ruin  to  na- 
tional security  or  freedom — are  much  more  to  be 
apprehended,  in  a  popular  government,  from  tht 
legislature  than  from  the  executive.  Respons- 
ibility checks  the  excesses  of  the  last ;  the  ab- 
sence of  it  lets  loose  the  passions  of  the  first.  It 
is  a  common  saying  that  patriots  generally  t)»- 


ISlC] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


9-) 


come  corruptt'il  when  they  are  taken  into  admin- 
istration, ami  that  there  is  nothing  so  like  a  Tory 
in  power  as  a  Whig  in  power;  and  the  fact  is 
certain,  but  the  reason  commonly  assigned  for  it 
is  not  the  true  one.     It  is  not  so  much  that  they 


it   was  terminated  by  a  list  of  capital  comvic- 
tions  of  unequaled  paucity.     Onlv  ]3g 

six  persons  suflered  on  the  scalToid  Expedience  o( 
overall  France  for  a  rebellion  which  abolishing  en- 
dethroned  the  king,  cau.sed  the  con-  'ireiy  the  pun 
.    r.i.  .  in       1      II      ishment  of 


are  corrupted  by  the  sweets  of  power,  as  that  j  quest  of  the  country,  and  fixed  adebt  death  u)  pure 
they  <rre  made  aware  of  its  duties  and  impressed  \o(  £64,000,000  on  its   inhabitants,  ly  political  of- 


with  Its  responsibilities 

"Where,"  says  M.  de  Tocqueville,  "shall  a 

person  persecuted  by  the  majority 
Tlio  greatest  in  America  fly  for  redress  ?  To  the 
iniquities  of  legislature? — it  is  elected  by  the 
the  period  majority.  To  a  jury? — it  is  the 
leTbyTuJies!"  j''"''''''"^  commitiee  of  the  majority/'' 

Impartial  justice  must  confess  that 
the  year  1815  in  France  was  no  exception  to  this 
rule;  nay,  that  it  furnishes  the  strongest  con- 
firmation of  it.  The  worst  judicial  acts  which 
stained  the  Royalist  reaction  in  that  country 
were  perpetrated  by  the  agency  of  juries.  It 
was  juries  who,  in  1815,  screened  from  justice 
every  one  of  the  criminals,  however  clearly 
proved  to  be  guilt}'^,  who  were  implicated  in  the 
frightful  Royalist  excesses  in  the  south  of  France 
in  that  year;  it  was  juries  who,  in  the  next,  term- 
inated contemptible  conspiracies  with  a  long 
array  of  criminals  executed  on  the  scaffold.  The 
truth  is,  juries  are,  and  have  been  in  every  age, 
the  judicial  committee  of  the  majority,  and  nei- 
ther more  nor  less.  As  such  they  have  fre- 
quently rescued  persons,  prosecuted  for  oflenses 
interesting  to  the  majority,  from  the  hands  of 
oppression;  but  they  have  in  many  more,  when 
the  majority  itself  was  in  power,  committed  the 
most  atrocious  judicial  iniquities.  In  one  year, 
juries  perpetrated  the  long  catalogue  of  judicial 
murders  consequent  on  the  Popish  Plot;  in  an- 
other they  were  the  instruments  of  the  equally 
unjust  and  sanguinary  vengeance  of  the  Rye 
House.  The  whole  state  trials  of  England — the 
most  appalling  collection, as  Hallam  has  observed, 
of  judicial  iniquities  which  the  history  of  the 
world  can  exhibit — were  conducted  by  means 
of  juries.  The  whole  murders  of  the  Convention 
were  sanctioned  by  the  verdict  of  juries.  No  one 
in  Great  Britain  need  be  told  how  little  chance 
there  is  of  justice  being  done  in  Ireland  by  a 
Catholic  jury  on  a  Catholic  offender,  or  by  an 
Orange  jury  on  a  Protestant.  The  reason  in  all 
these  cases  is  one  and  the  same,  and  it  is  this  : 
Undivided  responsibility  is  a  check  upon  a  single 
judge  in  a  court  composed  of  a  small  number 
of  judges; — but  there  is  no  such  check  upon  ju- 
ries, the  names  of  whoso  members  arc  scarcely 
ever  known,  or,  if  known,  speedily  forgotten; 
and  in  whom,  even  at  the  moment  of  committing 
iniquity,  numbers  shelter  the  perpetrators.  Jei- 
eries  himself  would  never  have  perpetrated  the 
enormities  which  have  forever  blasted  his  name, 
if  he  had  not  been  sheltered  in  the  verdict,  at 
least,  by  the  concurring  iniquity  of  his  juries. 

The  treason  fur  which  Ncy  and   Labedoycre 
Buffered,   was  clearly   proved,   and    it    brought 


The  English  historians  justly  con-  '"'^nses. 
gratulate  themselves  on  the  increasing  humanity 
of  the  age,  when  the  Jacobite  rebellion  of  171.5, 
which  was  confined  to  Scotland  and  the  northern 
counties  of  England,  and  never  for  one  mouuiit 
endangered  either  the  country  or  the  thidiio, 
was  only  chastised  by  the  execution  of  two-amJ- 
twenty.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  therefore,  that 
the  rebellion  of  1S15  was,  according  to  all  the 
settled  maxims  of  European  law,  not  only  clearly 
proved  against  all  the  persons  who  suffered  for 
their  participation  in  it,  but,  on  the  whole,  most 
leniently  dealt  with.  Yet  we  can  not  read  the 
account  of  the  execution  of  Ney  and  Labedoj'- 
ere  without  deep  regret ;  and  that  regret  will 
be  shared  by  the  generous  and  the  humane  to 
the  end  of  time.     The  reason  is,  that  purely 

POLITICAL  OFFENSES    SHOULD    KOT    BE    PUNISHED 

WITH  DEATH ;  banishment  or  transportation  are 
their  appropriate  penalties.  Death  should  be 
reserved  for  great  moral  crimes,  concerning 
which  all  mankind  are  agreed — as  murder,  fire'^ 
raising,  or  violent  robbery — and  not  extended  to 
acts  such  as  those  of  treason,  which  originate, 
not  in  moral  wrong,  but  in  difference  of  political 
opinion,  and  are  sometimes  justified  by  necessity, 
or  rewarded  by  the  highest  fortune  or  lasting 
admiration  of  mankind. 

The  feelings  of  mankind  have  never  stigma- 
tized mere  treason  as  a  moral  ci'ime,  ijg 
so  often  has  it  arisen  from  noble  I3anishmenv 
though  mistaken  motives.  Many  is  its  proper 
families  are  proud  of  an  ancestor  Punishment, 
who  lost  his  head  on  the  scaffold  for  his  acces- 
sion to  a  revolt,  but  none  ever  pointed  with  ex- 
ultation to  one  executed  for  murder  or  house- 
breaking. Transportation  to  a  distant  country, 
under  certification  of  death  in  case  of  return,  is 
the  true  mode  of  dealing  with  acts  which,  with- 
out the  intermixture  of  baser  crimes  or  motives, 
tend  only  to  change  the  government.  The  per- 
sons engaged  in  them  should  bo  considered  as 
domestic  enemies,  to  be  made  prisoners,  and 
treated  according  to  the  laws  of  wai-,  if  in  their 
insurrection  they  conform  to  its  usages.  If  they 
do  otherwise,  and  begin  with  pillage  and  confla- 
gration, by  all  means  treat  them  as  ])irates  and 
enemies  of  the  human  race.  To  go  farther,  and 
shed  their  blood  on  the  scadbld,  though  their 
conduct  hasnotdegeneiatcd  into  such  atrocities, 
but  has  been  confined  to  the  limits  of  legitimate 
warfare,  is  the  same  injustice  and  the  same  er- 
ror as  to  burn  for  heresy.  Opinion  is  not  the 
proper  object  of  punishment — it  is  acts  only 
that  arc;  and  the  appropriate  punishmert  for 
acts  tending  to  dispossess  the  governmciil  is  to 


evils  of  an  unexampled  amount  on  France;  and  I  dispossess  the  person  attempting  it 


100 


H  1  S  T  O  U  V    O  !•'    E  r  U  O  I'  E. 


[Chap.  IV 


CHAPTER  IV. 

90MESTIC    HISTORY   01"    EN'CL.^ND,  FROM  THE    COMMENCEMENT   OK    1817  TO    THE    REPEAL    OF   THE   UANI 

RESTRICTION    ACT    IN    1819. 


The  study,  aod  still  more  Hie  composition  of 
1.  the  histon'  of  an  important  and  ani- 

Vii-issitudes  niatinLT  era  in  human  affairs,  is  apt 
■ess  ch'iTn  ^^  iiitiui-'e  the  belief  that  the  tale  is 
of  events  in  ^*^  close  when  the  principal  actors 
liuinan  af-  have  disappeared  from  the  stage, 
fairs.  and  the  curtain  has  fallen  on  the 

great  catastrophe  in  which  the  drama  has  ter- 
minated. We  are  interested  in  it  as  we  are  in 
i  novel  or  romance,  which  has  a  beginning,  a 
middle,  and  an  end  ;  forgetting  that  in  real  life 
events  grow  in  a  perpetual  chain,  and  share  in 
the  undying  succession  of  the  human  race.  No 
sooner  are  the  transactions  of  one  period  brought 
to  a  close,  and  an  apparent  lull  has  crept  over 
the  busy  scene  by  the  exhaustion  of  the  ener- 
gies by  which  it  had  been  sustained,  than  an- 
other set  of  causes  comes  into  operation,  at  first 
scarcely  perceptible,  and  often  for  a  time  unob- 
ser\'ed,  but  which  in  the  end  act  with  resistless 
force,  and  induce  an  entire  change  on  the  for- 
tunes of  the  world.  The  same  vicissitude  is 
conspicuous  there,  as  in  the  affairs  of  private 
life :  nothing  is  permanent,  nothing  unchange- 
able ;  joy  succeeds  to  sorrow,  sorrow  to  joy ; 
and  what  is  most  earnestly  desired  at  one  pe- 
riod, as  the  highest  object  of  ambition,  is  dis- 
covered at  another  to  have  been  the  commence- 
ment of  ruin.  Seeds  sown  in  one  age  spring 
up.  in  the  next,  with  an  entirely  different  crop 
from  what  was  anticipated,  and  the  calculations 
of  human  wisdom  are  confounded  by  results  di- 
ametrically opposite  to  those  which  had  been 
iooked  for.  To  the  affairs  of  nations,  not  less 
tlian  those  of  individuals,  the  words  of  the  poet 
are  apphed : 

"  Still  where  rosy  pleasure  leads. 
See  a  kindred  grief  pursue; 
Behind  the  steps  that  misery  treads 
Approaching  comfort  view. 
The  hues  of  bliss  more  brightly  glow, 
Chastised  by  sabler  tints  of  woe, 
And,  blended,  form  with  artful  strife 
The  strength  and  harmony  of  life."* 

Xcver  was  the  truth  of  these  beautiful  words 
2  more  clearly  evinced  than  in  the  his- 

Excmpliflca-  tory  both  of  France  and  England  dur- 
t:ons  of  this  ing  and  after  the  memorable  contest 
in"'/he'histV  of  the  Revolution.  Both  had  gained 
ry  of  France  ^vhat  thcy  contended  for  in  the 
and  England  strife ;  both  had  been  successful  in 
after  the  tj^g  grand  objects  for  which  they  had 
ution.  fQygjjj. .  j^jj(j  jjQtjj  have  found  in  the 
attainment  of  these  objects  the  termination  of 
their  greatness,  the  commencement  of  their 
ruin.  The  dreams  of  the  Revolutionists  were 
realized,  the  visions  of  the  Girondists  had  come 
lo  pass  ;  every  thing  they  desired  was  accom- 
plished, and  what  was  the  result  ]  A  monarchy 
without  power,  a  nation  without  consideration, 
iberty  precarious,  loyalty  extinguished,  morals 


*  Gbat— "  Ode  to  Vicissitude  ' 


destroyed,  religior  discredited,  the  bulwarks  of 
freedom  ruined,  and  nothing  but  the  calculations 
of  selfishness  to  sujjjjly  their  place.  The  his- 
tory of  France,  from  1815  to  1852,  is  nothing  but 
the  annals  of  the  impotent  efforts  of  a  nation  to 
recover  what  itself  had  destroyed;  of  wisdom 
to  repair  what  madness  had  broken  through ; 
of  selfishness  to  grasp  what  generosity  had  won 
or  valor  achieved.  England  had  been  as  sue 
ccssful  in  the  end,  in  the  national,  as  France 
had  been  in  the  social  strife  ;  the  Continent 
was  arrayed  under  her  banner,  the  sceptre  of 
the  ocean  had  passed  into  her  hands ;  her  en- 
emy was  vanquished,  glory  transcending  all  for- 
mer glory,  riches  exceeding  all  former  riches, 
had  been  won.  What  was  the  result  1  The 
commencement  of  a  series  of  causes  and  ef 
fects,  springing  out  of  the  very  magnitude  of 
these  triumphs,  which  is  destined  to  undo  the 
fabric  of  British  greatness,  dissolve  the  magnifi- 
cent British  empire,  and  leave  the  fragments  of 
its  dominions  scattered  in  separate  independent 
states  throughout  the  globe. 

Yet  even  in  this  vast  disruption  there  is  mucb 
in  which  humanity  must  rejoice,  in  3. 
which  patriotism  must  exult.  The  Consoling 
English  empire  may  be  rent  asunder,  ev'en'nf  th 
but  the  enlightenment  of  English  ruin  of  the 
genius,  the  achievements  of  English  Old  Woria 
thought,  the  bond  of  English  associations,  wiU 
never  be  lost.  English  will,  beyond  all  questioix 
be  the  language  spoken  by  half  the  globe  for  in- 
terminable ages  yet  to  come ;  and  to  Englisl 
genius  is  opened  a  future  of  fame  and  useful- 
ness, exceeding  any  thing  yet  conceded  to  man- 
kind. In  the  noble  words  of  a  worthy  scion  of 
the  British  stem,  albeit  in  Transatlantic  realms, 
we  may  say,  "  Go  forth,  thou  language  of  Milton 
and  Hampden — language  of  my  country !  Take 
possession  of  the  North  American  Continent ! 
Gladden  the  waste  places  with  every  tone  that 
has  been  rightly  struck  by  the  English  Ivre, 
with  every  English  word  that  has  been  spciken 
for  liberty  and  for  man  !  Give  an  echo  to  the 
now  silent  and  solitary  mountains ;  gush  out 
with  the  fountains  that  as  yet  sing  their  an- 
thems all  day  long  without  response  !  Fill  the 
valleys  with  the  voices  of  love  in  its  purity,  the 
pledges  of  friendship  in  its  fidelity ;  and  as  the 
morning  sun  drinks  the  dew-drops  from  the 
flowers  all  the  way  from  the  dreary  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  meet  him  with  the  joyful 
hum  of  the  early  industry  of  freemen.  Utter 
boldly,  and  spread  widely  through  the  world,  the 
thoughts  of  the  coming  epoch  of  the  people's 
liberty,  till  the  sound  that  cheers  the  desert 
shall  thrill  through  the  heart  of  humanity,  and 
the  lips  of  the  messenger  of  the  peo-  i  Bancroft's 
pie's  power,  as  he  stands  upon  the  American 
mountain,  shall  proclaim  the  renovat-  Revolution 
ing  tidings  c  equal  freedom  to  the  '■^"'^ 
raco  "' 


1H17  J 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


lUi 


The  cause  of  the  sudden  bursting  forth  of 
4.  the  principles  of  decay,  which  took 

Fundamental  place  in  both  France  and  England 
hfisleato d^  after  the  termination  of  the  con- 
aster  in  test,  is  to  be  found  in  a  very  simple 
France.  source — the  general,  it  might  al- 
most be  said  universal,  selfishness  oi  numan 
nature.  So  prone  are  mankind,  in  every  rank, 
station,  and  situation,  to  use  power  mainly  for 
the  advantage  of  themselves  or  their  adherents, 
that  it  scarce  ever  happens  that,  when  one  ob- 
tains it  without  control,  a  government  does  not 
ensue  so  oppressive  as  speedily  to  dry  up  the 
sources  of  national  prosperity,  and  lay  the  foun- 
dation of  ultimate  ruin.  In  France  this  effect 
look  place  by  the  complete  triumph  of  the  pop- 
ular party  in  the  outset  of  the  Revolution,  and 
the  entire  destruction  of  all  the  pow'prs  or  influ- 
ences in  the  state  which  might  be  able  to  co- 
erce their  ambition  or  moderate  their  excesses. 
\Mien  the  king  was  beheaded,  the  aristocracy 
ruined,  tlie  Church  destroyed,  the  corporations 
extinguished,  no  power  remained  in  the  state 
but  the  force  of  numbers ;  and  the  tyranny  of 
the  majority  soon  became  such,  that  the  people, 
from  sheer  necessity,  were  constrained  to  aban- 
don all  their  former  principles,  and  take  refuge 
from  their  own  madness  under  the  empire  of 
the  sword.  The  whole  subsequent  history  of 
France  has  been  nothing  but  a  series  of  fruit- 
less attempts  to  avoid  this  fatal  necessity,  and 
reconstruct  the  fabric  of  freedom,  without  the 
essential  elements  of  which  it  must  be  com- 
posed. 

In  Great  Britain,  as  it  was  not  the  democratic, 
g  but  the  aristocratic  party  which  was 
What  has  victorious  in  the  great  contest  of  the 
done  so  in  Revolution,  the  causes  which  have 
England,  induced  disaster  have  been  different, 
but  springing  at  bottom  from  the  same  inherent 
selfishness  of  human  nature.  The  aristocracy 
which  gained  the  victory,  and  in  whose  hands 
the  war  left  the  direction  of  the  state,  was  one 
of  a  very  peculiar  kind,  and  more  dangerous  to 
social  prosperity  than  a  mere  body  of  wealthy 
territorial  magnates  would  have  been.  Such  a 
body  is  certainly  never  deficient  in  attention  to 
its  own  interests ;  and  if  nations  have  often 
risen  to  greatness  under  the  rule  of  such  a  body, 
it  is  not  because  its  measures  were  more  based 
on  the  general  good  than  those  of  other  men, 
but  because  its  own  interests,  being  based  on 
production,  were  identical  with  tliose  of  the 
great  body  of  producers  throughout  the  state. 
But  the  aristocracy,  which  had  gained  the  as- 
cendency in  England  at  the  fall  of  Napoleon, 
was  not  entirely,  or  even  principally,  a  territo- 
rial aristocracy.  It  was  a  mixed  body,  com- 
posed of  merchants,  manufacturers,  bankers,  co- 
lonial proprietors,  ship-owners,  and  sliop-kcep- 
ers,  even  more  than  landholders,  in  (ireat  Brit- 
ain or  Ireland.  The  House  of  Commons  was 
the  representative,  not  of  one  species  of  prop- 
erty, but  of  every  species  of  property  ;  and,  al- 
though numbers  were  by  no  means  unrejjresent- 
ed,  yet  the  members  elected  by  the  iKtpular  con- 
stituencies were  few  in  numbfr  coniiiared  to 
those  who  rested  on  the  mcrcaiiti!"',  laiidcil,  or 
colonial  interests.  It  was  in  the  undue  ascend- 
ency of  the  mercantile  intere.st  in  this  mixed 
aristocracy  —  springing  out  of  the  vast  riches 
Ihey  had  amassed,  and  tlie  ii.lluf  nee  they  iiad 


acquired  during  the  war — that  the  remote  cause 
of  the  whole  subsequti.t  difficulties  of  the  Brit- 
ish empire  is  to  be  found. 

The  reason  of  this  is  that — unlike  a  territo- 
rial aristocracy,  whose  interests,  be-  c. 
ing  founded  on  production,  must  al-  The  incrcan 
ways  be  the  same  as  those  of  the  "'"  anstoc- 
laboi ing  classes  who  cultivate  their  measures  for 
land — the  gain  of  a  moneyed  aris-  their  pecui- 
tocracy  is  often  found  chiefly  in  the  iar  interests, 
depression  and  penury  of  the  great  body  of  the 
people.  Manufacturers  for  the  home  market, 
indeed,  can  never,  in  the  end,  thrive  on  the  ruin 
of  their  customers ;  but  those  for  the  export 
sale,  who  are  generally  the  most  enterprising 
and  influential,  often  do  so ;  because  the  cost 
of  production  is  lessened  by  a  fall  in  the  wages 
of  domestic  labor,  and  that  fall  does  not  lessen 
the  amount  of  foreign  consumption.  Thus  the 
profits  of  manufacturers  for  foreign  markets  is 
often  materially  augmented  by  domestic  suffer- 
ing ;  and  they  would  be  greatest  if,  like  the 
poor  Hindoos,  the  persons  they  employ  could 
be  brought  to  subsist  on  three-pence  a  day. 
The  moneyed  classes,  all  possessed  of  fixed  in- 
comes, and  all  the  holders  of  realized  capital, 
gain  immensely  by  the  suffering  of  the  produc- 
ing classes,  for  that  brings  down  the  wages  cf 
labor,  lowers  the  price  of  commodities  of  all 
sorts,  and  proportionally  increases  the  value  of 
money.  Hence  the  efforts  of  those  classes, 
when  they  have  become  so  powerful  as  to  have 
gained  the  command  of  the  state,  are  always 
mainly  directed  to  the  introduction  of  measures 
which  may  augment  their  fortunes  without  any 
effort  on  their  part,  simply  by  enhancing  the 
value  of  money  by  cheapening  the  cost  of  every 
thing  else.  These  measures,  by  striking  at  the 
remuneration  of  industry,  are  in  the  long  run 
of  all  others  the  most  fatal  to  the  working  cla8.s- 
es,  and  hence  it  was  that  Adam  Smith  said, 
"  High  prices  and  plenty  are  prosperity ;  low 
prices  and  want  are  misery." 

But  unfortunately  this  effect  is  remote  and 
circuitous,  and  therefore  altogether  7. 

beyond  the  vision  of  the  great  ma-  Which,  in  ig- 
iority  of  men  :  while  the  advant-  norance,  are 
/•       /•  11     /•      ■  11      supported  liy 

ages  of  a  fall  of  prices,  especially  ,j,e  operative 

in  articles  of  daily  consumption,  manufactur- 
are  immediate  and  obvious  to  cv-  «"• 
ery  capacity.  In  the  interval,  too,  which  may 
often  extend  over  years,  between  the  fall  in  the 
price  of  subsistence  and  tlie  inevitable  subse- 
quent decline  in  the  consiun])ti()n  of  manufac- 
tures by  its  producers,  the  operative  manufac 
turers,  as  well  as  their  employers,  may  be  con- 
siderable gainers  by  the  fall ;  because  the  gain 
to  them  has  already  come,  the  consequent  loss 
has  not.  The  producing  classes  are  encroach- 
ing on  their  capital,  or  borrowing  money,  or  liv- 
ing on  credit,  in  hf)pc  of  liettcr  limes  coming, 
rather  than  face  the  immediate  (iiscomfurt  of 
abandoning  the  consumption  of  luxuries,  whii-li 
to  them  have  become  necessaries.  It  need  not 
be  said  that  this  can  go  on  only  for  a  time  ;  that 
the  decline  in  the  resources  of  their  rural  eus- 
tf)mers  must,  in  the  vn(],  tell  with  fearful  eflect 
on  the  welfare  of  llie  uri)an  operatives.  But  in 
the  interval,  sliort  as  it  may  be,  measures  irre- 
versible, when  once  introduced,  though  fraught 
with  the  mo.st  disastrous  ultimate  conseiiueii- 
ces,  may  be  adopted — not  only  with  the  entire 


.02 


HISTORY   OF  EUROPE. 


[Chaf.  IY, 


2oncnfrciico,  hut  in  consequonoo  of  the  enthu- 
siastic support,  of  the  very  ehisses  who  arc  in 
tlie  end  to  sulVer  most  fn)in  tin  in.  Hence  it  is, 
that  it  l\as  always  been  found  that  llie  measures 
ofdiMuestie  legislation  or  social  chan<?e,  which 
have  produced  the  most  wide-spread,  laslin<];, 
and  irremediable  distress  amonj»  tlie  peoi)le, 
have  been  adopted  at  their  sugjiestion,  or  car- 
ried on  to  gratify  their  wishes.  If  hell  is  paved 
with  good  intentions,  this  world  is  built  up  of 
delusive  expectations. 

The  reason  of  this  frequent  ultimate  disap- 

8.  pointment  of  the  hopes  most  gener- 

Reasoii  of      allv  formed  and  ardently  entertained 

ihis  froquent  i,y\i,e  people,  is  to  be  found  in  the 

Jisappoint-        -        ,  ,         *^r  T-.  1  111 

mem  of  gon-  moral  law  of  Providence,  w-hich  has 
eral  wislies.  forever  doomed  to  retribution  and 
suffering,  even  in  this  world,  those  who  engage 
in  measures  calculated  to  elevate  or  beneiit 
their  own  class,  at  the  expense  of  the  other 
classes  of  the  community.  Such  measures  are 
often  attended  with  great  immediate  benefit  to 
the  class  which  introduces  them  ;  and  it  is  the 
prospect  of  this  immediate  benefit  w^hich  con- 
stitutes their  great  attraction,  and  renders  them 
so  fearfully  alluring.  But  if  their  ultimate  con- 
sequences are  traced,  it  will  invariably  be  found 
that  they  bore  with  them  the  seeds  of  retribu- 
tion ;  the  curse  they  bestowed  on  others  has 
recoiled  on  themselves.  The  mutual  depend- 
ence of  all  the  interests  of  society  on  each  oth- 
er, and  the  indissoluble  connection  betv/een  so- 
cial or  national  crime  and  social  or  national 
punishment,  is  not  merely  a  vision  of  the  phi- 
losopher, or  a  dream  of  the  poet,  but  a  practical 
principle  of  ceaseless  operation  among  men, 
to  the  agency  of  which  many  of  the  greatest 
changes  in  human  affairs  are  to  be  ascribed. 
No  class  can  ever  derive  lasting  prosperity  but 
from  measures  which  benefit  equally  every  oth- 
er class :  if  the  one  is  for  a  time  enriched  by 
the  ruins  of  the  other,  it  w^ill,  in  the  end,  be  pro- 
portionally punished.  The  tracing  out  the  op- 
eration of  this  moral  law,  in  the  effects  of  the 
victory  of  the  popular  class  in  France,  and  of 
the  moneyed  class  in  England,  upon  their  coun- 
try and  themselves,  during  the  five-and-thirty 
years  which  succeeded  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  will 
form  not  the  least  interesting  or  instructive  part 
of  this  History. 
The  seeds  of  evil  sown  by  the  violent  con- 
9.  traction  of  the  currency,  and  sudden 

Continued  termination  of  the  war  expenditure 
difcomenT'^  in  the  precedmg  year,  had  been  too 
in  the  coun-  wide-spread,  and  had  taken  too  deep 
iry-  root,  to  be  speedily  eradicated.    The 

distress,  indeed,  was  much  alleviated  in  the  ru- 
ral districts  by  the  rise  in  the  price  of  provisions 
of  all  sorts  which  took  place  in  the  end  of  18)  6, 
and  continued  through  the  whole  of  the  succeed- 
ing year,  in  consequence  of  the  very  bad  han'est 
of  the  first.  Wheat,  on  an  average,  in  1817, 
was  116s.  a  quarter,  while  in  the  spring  of  1816 
it  had  been  down  at  57s.  The  harvest  of  1817, 
though  not  so  bad  as  that  of  the  year  before, 
was  still  very  deficient  both  in  quantity  and 
quality.  But  though  this  great  rise  of  prices, 
almost  to  the  highest  level  they  had  attained 
during  the  war,  was  attended  with  immediate 
relief  to  the  agricultural  class,  it  aggravated  in 
a  most  serious  degree  the  sufferings  of  the  man- 
'U'acturers,  who  w*>re  suffering  at  the   same 


time  under  the  effects  if  the  shiwe  given  -o 
credit  and  general  dimiiaition  of  employmcnk, 
in  consequence  of  the  contraction  of  tlie  cur- 
rency in  the  i)rcceding,  and  which  continued 
through  this  year.  The  country  bankers' 
not(>s  in  circulation  in  England  this  year  were 
only  .ll.').s;(.l,0O0,  while  in' 1815  they  had  been 
£*-;2, 700,000  ;  the  conuncrcial  paper,  on  an  a''- 
erage,  under  discount  at  the  Bank  of  England, 
was  i::3.9()0,000,  while  in  1810  it  had"  been 
£20,070,000,  and  in  1815,  £14,970,000.'  So 
prodigious  and  sudden  a  contraction  '  Alison's 
in  the  currency  of  the  nation,  and  the  Europe,  c. 

accommodation  afforded  to  the  trad-  ^'r?'*.'^^'* 

ana  Ann. 
mg  classes,  was,  of  course,  attended  Reg.  isi7, 
by  a  still  more  ruinous  diminution  of  2,  i>. 
confidence  and  credit ;  and  this,  combining  with 
the  high  price  of  provisions,  produced  an  amount 
of  distress  in  the  great  towns  and  manufactur- 
ing districts,  which,  ere  long,  occasioned  overt 
acts  and  secret  machinations  of  the  most  alarm- 
ing description. 

The  effect  of  the  continued  contraction  of 
the  currency  appeared  strongly  in  jo 
the  great  falling  off  of  the  imports  Plan  formed 
during  1817,  which  only  amounted  ofageneraj 
to  £29,910,000,  while  in  1810  they  "isirrectioD. 
had  been  £37,613,000,  in  1814  £32,622,000,  and 
in  1815  £30,822,000.  Tliis  indicated  a  very 
great  diminution  in  the  means  of  consumption 
which  the  peoj)le  enjoyed,  and  gave  too  much 
ground  for  the  disaffected  to  represent  the  gen- 
eral distress  as  entirely  the  result  of  extrava 
gance  and  waste  on  the  part  of  Government. 
The  real  cause  of  the  suffering,  which  was  to  be 
found  in  the  sudden  contraction  of  the  currency, 
from  the  prospect  of  resuming  cash  payments  at 
no  distant  period,  was  never  once  thought  of. 
Every  thing  was  set  down  to  the  oppression  of 
Government  and  the  unbearable  load  of  taxa- 
tion ;  and  the  remedies  suggested  were  radical 
reform  in  Parliament,  the  disbanding  of  the 
army,  and  overthrow  of  the  Government.  A 
vast  plan  of  insurrection  was  formed,  having  its 
centre  in  the  metropolis,  but  extending  widely 
also  through  the  mining  and  manufacturing  dis- 
tricts of  the  north  of  England  and  Scotland,  the 
object  of  which  was  the  overthrow  of  the  mon- 
archy and  establishment  of  a  republic  in  its 
stead.*  Mr.  Hunt,  the  leading  demagogue  of 
Spafields,  commenced  a  tour  through  the  west- 
ern provinces,  addressing  the  people  evcrj 
where  in  the  most  seditious  and  inflammatory 
language  ;  and  in  the  densely-inhabited  dis- 
tricts of  the  north  appearances  were  still  more 
alarming,  for  there  the  people  were  meeting  in 
large  bodies,  evidently  under  the  2  sidmouth's 
orders  of  secret  leaders,  and  an  out-  Life,  iii.  if  5. 
break  was  daily  expected  by  the  lo-  ^^''• 
cal  magistrates.^ 

Parliament  met  on  the  28th  January,  and  tne 
Prince-Regent,  in  the  speech  from  the  throne, 
lamented  the  distress  which  generally  prevail 


*  "  The  lower  orders  are  every  where  meeting  in  lar£;o 
bodies,  and  are  very  clamorous.  Delegates  from  al!  fluar- 
ters  are  moving  about  among  them,  as  they  were  beiore 
the  late  disturbance  ;  »nd  they  talk  of  a  general  union  of 
the  lower  orders  throughout  the  kingdom." — Mr.  Nadin  to 
Lord  Sidmouth,  Manchester,  January  3,  1817.  "  A  very 
wide  and  e.xtensive  plan  of  insurrection  has  been  formed, 
and  which  might  jiossibly  have  been  acted  upon  before 
this  time,  but  for  the  proper  precautions  used  to  prevent 
it."  —  Duke  of  Northumberland  to  Lobp  Sidmouto, 
March  21,  1S17.  -Life  of  Lord  Sklmauti,  iii   163,  i:~ 


1817. 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


03 


,1.  fed,  anil  the  consequent  decline  which 
Meeting  of  had  taken  place  in  the  revenue  ;  but 
Fariiamen  ,  expressed  a  hope  that  these  evils 
and  auack  ^.^^jj  [,g  ^f  temporary  duration,  and 
Prince-  Strongly  condemned  tlie  factious  ef- 
Regent.  forts  made  to  render  them  the  foun- 
Jan.  29.  dation  of  attempts  to  overturn  the 
Government.  The  Opposition,  headed  by  Earl 
Grey  in  the  Lords,  and  by  Tierney  and  Brougham 
in  the  Commons,  could  find  no  other  remedy  for 
the  existing  evils  but  unflinching  economy  and  a 
great  reduction  of  expenditure — measures  cal- 
culated to  meet  the  diminished  state  of  the 
public  revenue,  but  of  no  effect  upon  the  deep- 
rooted  seats  of  evil  that  occasioned  the  distress 
in  the  country.  The  disturbed  state  of  the  pub- 
lic mind,  and  the  acts  by  which  the  general  suf- 
fering had  been  rendered  the  means  of  exciting 
disaffection  against  the  head  of  the  Govern- 
ment, were  evinced  when  the  Prince-Regent 
left  the  House  of  Lords,  after  delivering  the 
speech  from  the  throne.  The  carriage  was  sur- 
rounded by  an  insulting  mob,  which,  from  con- 

,  , T,„„    tumelious  words,  soon  proceeded  to 

'  Ann.  Reg.        ^         r     ■   ^  i  r   •. 

1817, 1,  3  ;  acts  of  Violence  ;  and  one  of  its 
Hughes,  vi.  glasses  was  broken  by  stones  or 
^•'*-  balls  from  an  air-gun  aimed  at  his 

Royal  Highness.' 
This  open  insult  to  the  head  of  the  Govern- 

ment,  coupled  with  the  alarming  ac- 
Report  of  counts  of  the  progress  of  the  disaffec- 
the  secret  tion  which  they  received  from  all  the 
cummittee  manufacturing  districts,  determined 
Houses       ministers  to  apply  to  Parliament  for 

extraordinary  power.  On  the  3d  Feb- 
ruary, a  message  from  the  Prince-Regent  was 
communicated  to  both  Houses  of  Parliament, 
stating  the  existence  of  a  secret  and  wide-spread 
conspiracy  against  the  Government,  and  upon  its 
receipt  a  secret  committee  was  moved  for  and 
appointed  in  both  Houses.  They  made  their 
report  on  the  19th  February,  and  both  contained 
the  same  information,  which  was  of  a  sufficient- 
ly alarming  character.  The  reports  declared 
that  a  "  general  conspiracy  had  been  formed  to 
overturn  the  Government,  which  had  its  centre 
in  London,  but  its  ramifications  through  all  the 
great  towns  and  manufacturing  districts  of  the 
country.  The  designs  of  the  conspirators  were 
to  be  carried  into  execution  by  a  general  rising 
in  the  metropolis,  and  liberation  of  all  prisoners, 
whether  for  debt  or  crimes,  to  whom  an  address 
was  already  prepared  ;  by  setting  fire  to  the  bar- 
racks of  the  military,  and  by  an  attack  simulta- 
neously on  the  Tower,  liank,  and  other  points 
of  importance  in  the  metropolis.  The  tricolor 
flag  was  to  be  the  banner  imder  wliich  they 
were  to  assemble ;  and  j)articul;ir  pains  were 
to  be  taken  to  conciliate  lh(;  soldicr.s,  wlio  were 
the  brothers  of  the  people.  Tiiis  project  was 
intended  to  have  been  carried  into  execution  at 
the  meeting  in  Spaficlds  on  December  2,  and  it 
was  only  then  preventfMl  from  bciing  success- 
ful by  accidental  circumstances  ;  but  the  design 
was  only  adjourned  till  after  the  meeting  of 
Parliament,  wlien  the  insurrection  was  to  take 
place.  .Similar  designs  had  been  formed  and 
matured  in  Manchester,  Liverpool,  Glasgow, 
and  other  great  towns,  and  not  a  doubt  was  en- 
tertained by  the  conspirators  of  entire  success. 
The  number  of  the  disaffected  who  might  be 
•xpectcd  to  rise  was  estimated  at  several  hund- 


red thousand,  chiefly  in   the  great  iRepntof 
towns  and  manufacturing  districts  ;  Lords  and 
and  societies  were  every  where  form-  Commojis 
ed,  which,  under  the  name  of  "  Spen-  ^s'l^' .?";?■ 

1^.        -1  1  •  .  ,,  /       -f    T  t  lolly      I,      IJ 

cean    Philanthropists,"    "  Hampden  and  P«ri. 
Clubs,"  and  the  like,  really  regulated  Deb.  xx.w 
and  directed  their  movements  which  '^n>438. 
were  conducted  with  equal  skill  and  secrecy,' 
and  almost  entirely  by  the  aid  of  signs  and 
ciphers,  without  other  written  correspondence. 
Upon  receiving  these  reports,  which  revealed 
the  precipice  on  the  brink  of  which         jg 
the  nation  stood,  ministers  brought  suspefisioi 
forward  a  bill  for  the  suspension  of  oi'iheH.ibe 
the  Habeas  Corpus  Act.     It  was  in-  ^ct^^"* 
troduced  by  Lord  Sidmouth  in  the  passing  of 
House  of  Lords,  and  Lord  Castle-  the  Sedi- 
reagh  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  t'ous  Meet- 
met  with  the  most  violent  and  im-  '°^^ 
passioned  resistance  in  both  Houses.     The  re- 
ports of  the  secret  committees  were  ridiculed, 
and  declared  to  be  founded  on  falsehood,  mis- 
apprehension, and  terror ;  the  measures  pro- 
posed were  pronounced  tyrannical  and  oppress- 
ive.   The  public  mind,  however,  was  too  strong- 
ly impressed  with  the  reality  of  the  danger,  from 
the  threatening  demonstrations  held  in  all  the 
great  towns,  to  render  it  a  matter  of  difficulty 
for  the  Government  to  obtain  the  necessary 
powers.     On  the  24th  February  the  bill  for  the 
suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  was  in- 
troduced into  the  House  of  Lords  by  Lord  Sid- 
mouth, and  on  the  same  night  one  for  the  pre- 
vention of  seditious  meetings.     This  bill  em- 
bodied into  one  act  the  provisions  of  the  35 
Geo.  III.  c.  127,  relative  to  tumultuous  meet- 
ings and  debating  societies,  and  the  39  Geo.  III. 
c.  37,  regarding  corresponding  societies.     The 
acts  were  to  be  only  temporary,  and  have  long 
since  expired  ;  but  one  clause  in  the  latter  act, 
which  was  strongly  and  justly  objected  to,  de- 
clared it  punishable  with  death  if  a  meeting,  be- 
ing summoned  by  a  magistrate  to  disperse,  did 
not  immediately  do  so.     Sir  Samuel  Romilly 
and  Sir  James  Mackintosh  strenuously  endeav 
ored,  but  in  vain,  to  get  seven  years'  transpor 
tation  substituted  for  that  extreme  peb.  28. 
penalty.     After  a  violent  opposition  =  Pari.  Deb. 
from  the  whole  ^^'hig  and  Radical  gog'^and*' 
party,  the  bills  passed  both  Houses  by  jgoa,  i.-)02; 
very   large   majorities,   that   in   tiie  Ann.  Reg. 
Commons  being  162  —  the  numbers  1817,2^,34. 
265  to  103 ;  and  in  the  Lords  by  113  to  30.=" 

Armed  with  these  extraordinary  powers,  Gov 
errnnent  were  not  slow  in  taking  the  . . 

necessary  steps  to  put  a  slop  to  the  Measures  of 
insurrection  which  was  rajjidly  or-  (Jovemment 
ganizing  in  every  i)art  of  the  coun-  t^fuppress 
r  MM         ■    r  .  11      llie  insurrec- 

try.     liie    information    was    ihuly  i,,,,,  „iiiiii 
more  alarming,  and  prove<l  that  the  breaks  out  at 
conspiracy  was  more  wide-spread  Derby, 
and  forinidai)le  than  liad  been   at  •'""'^  '''■ 
first  imagined.    Among  the  rest,  the  particular^) 
of  an  oath  administered  in  Glasgow  to  a  seciel 
society  composed  of  great  numbers  of  persons 
were  obtained,  which,  alter  binding  tiie  person 
taking  it  to  entire  secrecy,  under  IIk;  penaltv 
of  death,  to  be  u'flicted  on  him  by  any  iuemi)ei 
of  Ihe  society,  ixiund  him  to  do  his  utmost  to 
ol)tain  annual  parliaments  and  universal  suf 
frage,  and  to  support  the  same  "  by  moral  or 
phij-siial  strength  as  the  case  may  reijuire."     A 


HISTORY    OF   E  TROPE. 


[Chap.  IV 


itiotion  to  omit  the  worJs  "  or  physical"  as  load- 
inj;  ti>  roliollion,  was  iiojjalivid  by  a  larfjo  ma- 
jority. Iiitolli<;eiH't'  ofan  immoiliate  rising  be- 
injl  in  eontomplalion  was  roi'oivetl  at  tiio  same 
tiini"  froin  Maiichestor,  l^olton,  Birmingham,  and 
all  the  principal  mamiracturing  towns.  On  27th 
M.iri'h,  Lord  Sidmouth  addressed  a  eircidar  let- 
ter to  the  lord-lieutenants  of  counties,  calling 
tlieir  attention  to  the  numerous  blasphemous 
anl  seditious  publications  which  were  circu- 
lating through  the  country,  and  stating  that  any 
justice  might  issue  a  warrant  to  apprehend  a 
person  circulating  such  publications  upon  oath, 
and  hoW  him  to  bail.  The  legality  of  the  opin- 
ion thus  expressed  was  strongly  contested  at 
the  time  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  but 
amply  confirmed  by  the  first  legal  authorities. 
EigtU  persons  were  apprehended  on  a  charge 
of  high  treason  at  Manchester,  and  eight  at 
Leicester.  The  whole  of  the  latter  were  con- 
vic'ted,  of  whom  six  suffered  the  last  penalty  of 
the  law.  Severe  as  this  example  was,  it  had 
not  the  effect  of  checking  the  spirit  of  disaffec- 
tion in  the  manufacturing  counties  ;  and  on  the 
9th  June  an  insurrection  broke  out  in  Derby- 
shire which  bore  marks  of  an  extensive  con- 
spiracy. It  was  headed  by  a  man  of  the  name 
of  John  Brandreth,  and  ere  long  500  men  were 
assembled,  who  proceeded  in  military  array  to 
tlie  Butterby  iron-works  near  Nottingham,  from 
whence,  being  deterred  by  the  preparations 
made  for  defense,  they  advanced  toward  Not- 
tingham. On  the  road  to  that  place,  however, 
they  were  met  by  Mr.  Rolleston,  an  intrepid 
magistrate  of  the  county,  with  eighteen  of  the 
15th  Hussars,  under  Captain  Phillips,  by  whom 
they  were  stopped,  pursued,  and  forty  prisoners 
taken.  The  native  cowardice  of  guilt,  the  pow- 
er of  the  law,  was  never  more  clearly  evinced. 
Brandreth  escaped  at  the  time,  but  was  soon 
after  taken,  and  a  special  commission  having 
been  sent  down  to  Derby  in  autumn, 
'  State  Trials  ^^  ^^'^  capitaDy  convicted,  and  suf- 
xxxii.  327  ;  '  fered  death  with  Turner  and  Lud- 
Sidmouth's  lam,  his  two  associates ;  while  elev- 
L^ife,  iii.  1,9,  ^^  others  were  transported  for  life, 
and  eight  imprisoned  for  various 
periods.' 
The  menacing  aspect  of  the  manufactur- 
ing districts,  and  the  intelligence 
El  ension  of  '^^'liich  Government  had  now  re- 
thc  suspen-  ceived  of  the  designs  and  organiza- 
sionofiheHa-  tion  of  the  conspirators,  induced 
beas  Cori^us     ^j^gj^  jq  ^^^^y  j^  Parliament  for  an 

extension  of  the  period  during 
which  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus 
Act,  which  had  been  originally  limited  to  the 
sitting  of  Parhament,  should  be  continued.  The 
evidence  was  laid  before  the  same  select  com- 
mittee which  had  previously  reported,  by  whom 
a  second  report  was  prepared  and  laid  before 
,  ,  both  Houses  in  June.  Their  report 
stated  that  a  plan  of  a  general  insurrec- 
tion had  been  organized,  which  was  to  break 
out  in  the  first  instance  in  Manchester,  on  Sun- 
day 30th  March,  and  to  be  immediately  follow- 
e:l  by  risings  in  York,  Lancaster,  Leicester, 
Nott  ngham,  Chester,  Stafford,  and  Glasgow. 
It  wrs  calculated  that  50,000  persons  would  be 
ready  to  join  tbern  in  Manchester  alone  by 
b cai-  of  day,  and  with  this  immense  force  they 
R'K  to  march  to  attack  the  barracks  and  jails, 


liberate  the  prisonci-s,  .» .under  tl  f  nouses  of  all 
the  nobility  and  gentry,  seize  all  the  arms  in  the 
gunsmiths'  sliops,  and  issue  proclamations  ab- 
solving tiie  people  from  their  allegiance,  and 
establishing  a  re|)ublic.     The  outbreak  in  Der- 
byshire was  a  i)art  of  this  design,  which  was 
only  frustrated  there?  ami  elsewhere  by  the  vig. 
ilance   and   courage   of  the  magistrates,  and 
prompt  appearance  and  steady  conduct  of  the 
military.     Upon  this  report,  the  truth  of  which 
was  abundantly  jiroved  by  the  worst  acts  com- 
mitted at  the  time  by  the  conspirators  in  variola 
parts  of  the  country,  the  House  of  i  Second  Re 
Commons,  by  a  majority  of  190  to  port,  June  3 
50,  continued  the  suspension  of  the  j.^''  'j8i-"-4 
Habeas  Corpus  Act  and  the  oper-  62 ,•  Pari.Deb 
ation   of  the    Seditious   Meetings  xxxvi.  1198, 
Act  to  the  1st  March,  1818,  when  i^^^- 
they  finally  expired.' 

The  effect  of  these  vigorous  measures  was 
great  and  decisive,  and  it  was  much  is. 

aided   by   the   favorable    harvest.  Restoration 
which,  though  not  very  abundant,  of  confidence 
'      ^,    °  ^y       ^,  '   and  improved 

was  greatly  more  so  than  the  one  prospects  to- 
of  the  preceding  year  had  been,  ward  the  close 
Prices  in  consequence  rapidly  fell,  °'  ^''^  >'^*'"- 
and  in  autumn  confidence  began  to  be  generally 
restored,  and  industry  to  resume  its  wonted  la- 
bors.* As  the  distress  of  1816,  and  of  the  first 
half  of  1817,  had  been  mainly  owing  to  the  rapid 
contraction  of  the  currency  and  consequent  fall 
in  the  price  of  produce  of  every  kind,  agricul- 
tural and  manufacturing,  so  the  first  symptoms 
of  amendment  appeared  in  the  enlarged  ad- 
vances of  the  country  bankers,  encouraged  by 
the  suppression  of  the  efforts  of  the  disaffected, 
and  the  great  rise,  compared  with  1816,  which 
had  taken  place  in  the  price  of  rural  produce. 
Prosperity  —  and  it  is  a  markworthy  circum- 
stance— began  with  a  rise  of  prices,  even  though 
that  rise  was  owing  to  a  scarcity  in  the  pre- 
ceding year.  The  importation  of  wheat  in  this 
year  was  considerable,  compared  with  what  ii 
had  been  in  former  years :  it  amounted  to 
1 ,020,000  quarters ;  whereas  the  average  for 
six  years  before  had  little  exceeded  300,000.+ 
The  exports  were  above  an  average ;  they 
amounted  to  £40,011,000  —  a  clear  proof  that 
the  distress  among  the  manufacturing  classes 


*  "In  Devonshire  every  article  of  life  is  falling,  the 
panic  among  the  farmers  wearing  away,  and,  above  all, 
that  hitherto  marketable  article,  discontent,  is  everj-  where 
disappearing.  I  have  every  reason  to  unite  my  voice 
with  my  neighbors  to  say  we  owe  our  present  peaceful 
and  happy  prospects  to  your  firmness  and  prompt  exer- 
tions in  keeping  down  tlie  democrats." — Lord  Esmouth 
to  Lord  SiD.MouTH,  lOth  Sept.  1817.  "  We  can  not,  in- 
deed, be  sufficiently  thankful  for  an  improvement  in  our 
situation  and  prospects,  in  every  respect  far  exceeding  our 
most  sanguine,  and  even  the  most  presumptuous  hopes. 
A  public  and  general  expression  of  gratitude  must  be  re- 
quired in  due  season  by  an  order  in  Council." — Lord  Sid- 
mouth  to  Lord  Ke.nyon,  Sept.  30,  1S17.  Sidmmith's  Life, 
iii.  198,  199. 

t  l.MPOKTATION  OF  WHEAT  AND  WhEAT-FLOUR,  VS-OH 
1811  TO  1818. 
Years.  Qrs.  7-sn.  Qr<.. 

1811  ...  2.^8,366         1817  ...  1,020.*49 

1812  ...  244,385         1818  ...  1^»J,518 

1813  ...  425,599 

1814  ...  681,.S33 

1815  ...  none. 
1616  ...  225,263 

6)1,814,946 
Average  of  six  years,  302,491 
— Porter's  Progress  of  the  Salion,  1J9,    3J  fiht 


1817.J 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


105 


'  Pari.  Deb. 
xxxvi.  27, 
5(1  ;   Ann. 
Reg.  1817, 
15,47;  Sid- 
mnutU's 
Life,  iii. 

I'js,  lyy. 


was  owing  to  the  failure  of  the  home  market, 
even  then  at  least  double  all  foreign  markets 
put  together,  from  the  effects  of  a  contracted 
currency  and  general  suspension  of  credit  and 
-uinous  fall  of  prices.  Government  acted  alike 
ivith  wisdom  and  liberality  in  proposing  and 
c.T'.'ying  a  proposal  on  28th  April,  to  advance 
f  500,000  in  Great  Britain,  and  £250,000  in  Ire- 
land, by  the  issue  of  Exchequer  bills, 
on  proper  security,  to  relieve  the 
general  distress — a  measure  which 
passed  without  opposition,  and  had 
a  surprising  effect  both  in  alleviating 
distress  by  restoring  confidence,  and 
diminishing  discontent  by  showing 
sympathy.^ 
This  was  a  very  trying  year  to  the  exchequer 
17.  of  the  empire,  for  it  had  to  contend 
Finance  at  once  with  a  diminution  in  the  or- 
isn^corn-  binary  sources  of  revenue,  in  conse- 
pared  with  quence  of  the  general  distress  and 
1SS16.  the  huge  gap  in  the  public  income, 

arising  from  the  taking  off  of  the  income-tax  and 
w-ar  malt-tax  in  the  preceding  year.  The  total 
revenue,  which  in  1816  had  been  £62,264,000,  in 
1817  fell  to  £52,195,000 ;  the  war  taxes  amount- 
ed only  to  £14,365,000,  instead  of  £10,665,000, 
as  in  the  preceding  year.  The  total  produce 
of  the  taxes,  irrespective  of  loans,  was,  in  1816, 
£57,300,000  for  Great  Britain  alone;  in  1817, 
£55,783,259  for  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  to-  ! 
gether,  even  with  the  aid  of  arrears  of  war-taxes.  ' 
On  the  other  hand,  the  public  expenditure  of 
1817  amounted  to  £68,875,000,  of  which  no  less 
than  £44,108,000  w^as  for  the  interest  of  the 
public  debt  and  the  sinking  fund,  being  for  the 
united  kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.* 
In  these  circumstances,  a  very  considerable  loan, 
in  some  form  or  another,  became  indispensable  ; 
and  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  provided 
for  the  deficiency  by  issuing  Exchequer  bills  to 
the  extent  of  £9,000,000,  trusting  to  a  gradual 
improvement  in  the  revenue  to  make  up  the  re- 
j  p.  p  A  .  mainder.  The  sum  applied  this 
counts,  1817  ■  year  to  the  reduction  of  debt  was 
Pari.  Ueb.  '  £14,514,000  ;  SO  powerful  did  the 
xxxvi.  2,  sinking   fund   still   continue,   not- 

xxxviii^46  withstanding  all  that  had  been  done 
App.  Porter's  to  cripple  its  operations,  so  that 
Pari.  Tables,  after  taking  into  view  the  sum  bor- 
'■  '■  rowed,  above  £5,000,000  was  re- 

ally applied  to  the  reduction  of  debt.' 

Ireland,  being  wholly  an  agricultural  country, 
suffered,  as  might  well  be  imagined, 
Hjr.  Peel's  beyond  any  other,  from  the  disastrous 
Irish  inmir-  fall  of  prices  produced  by  an  artificial 
rectioiiAct.  scarcity  of  money,  and  the  subse- 
March  11.  fjyppj  ^j^p^  owing  to  a  real  scarcity 
in  the  supply,  which  had  taken  place  in  the  last 

*  The  expenditure  of  Great  Oritain  and  Ireland  for  1817 
was  as  Tollows : 

Interest  of  debt  and  sinkine;  fund £44,108,233 

Do.      on  Exchequer  bilJH 1,815,926 

Other  charges  on  consolidated  fund 2,303,002 

Civil  government  of  Scotland 130,046 

Lesser  expenses 451,403 

Navy 0,473,002 

Ordnance 1 ,435,401 

Army,  deducting  troo'>8  in  France 9,614,664 

Foreign  loans 33,272 

Local  issues 42,565 

Miscclluiieous 2,466,483 

i;68,875,477' 
'Pari  neb.  xxx-'iii.  26,  Pari  Rev. 


two  years.  So  serious  did  the  agi  ai  lan  disturb- 
ances in  that  country  become  that,  on  the  11th 
March,  Government  brought  forward  a  meas 
ure  intended  for  their  permanent  coercion,  am 
which  has  been  attended  by  the  very  best  ef- 
fects. It  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Peel,  the  Secre- 
tary for  Ireland,  afterward  Sir  Robert  Peel, 
whose  measures  will  occupy  so  large  and  import- 
ant a  place  in  this  history.  His  character,  how- 
ever, will  come  in  more  appropriately  after  the 
great  changes  which  he  introduced  into  our  com- 
mercial policy,  and  their  effects,  are  considered. 
The  object  of  the  bill  was  to  establish  a  general 
police  force  capable  of  acting  together  in  any 
county  which  the  Lord-Lieutenant  might  direct, 
that  officer  having  the  power  of  determining 
what  portion  of  tlie  expense  w^as  to  be  laid  on  the 
inhabitants.  The  measure  met  with  general  ap- 
probation, and  proved  so  efficacious  that  Gov- 
ernment did  not  find  it  necessary  to  extend  the 
suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  to  Ireland, 
and  were  able  to  reduce  the  military  ,  „  .  p^j^ 
force  in  that  country  from  25,000  to  xxxv.  9b2 ; 
22,000  men,  and  the  artillery  from  Ann.  Reg.' 
400  to  200  guns.'  181".  43. 

English  legislation,  in  this  instance,  undoubt- 
edly conferred  a  very  great  boon  upon        jg 
Ireland  ;  but  the  same  can  not  be  said  Trial  by 
of  a  measure  introduced  by  English  jury  in  ciy- 
influence  into  Scotland,  and  which  i}  causes  in 

.    .  .-         ■      .,  ■  Scotland, 

came  mto  operation  in  this  year — 

viz.,  the  extension  of  jury  trial  to  civil  causes 
Scotland,  from  the  remotest  period,  has  had 
laws,  institutions,  and  courts  of  its  own.  Its 
inhabitants  may  well  be  proud  of  them,  for  the 
greatest  improvements  which,  during  the  last 
eighty  years,  have  been  introduced  into  the  law 
of  England,  or  which  its  wisest  legislators  are 
now  anxiously  laboring  to  effect,  are  nothing 
but  transcripts  of  the  statutes  which,  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  before,  had  been  inserted  on  the 
statute-book  of  its  northern  and  comparatively 
barbarous  neighbors.*  In  1816,  however,  the 
Anglomania  was  very  ardent ;  and,  partly  to  aid 
the  progress  of  Liberal  ideas  and  the  Liberal 
party  in  Scotland,  partly  to  procure  a  dignified 
and  easy  retirement  for  a  very  amiable  man  and 
agreeable  companion, t  who  had  long  been  on 
intimate  terms  with  the  Prince-R("gent,  a  bill 
was  passed  introducing  jury  trial,  without  lim- 
itation, in  all  cases  where  oral  evidence  was 
required  or  might  bo  anticipated,  in  Scotland, 
and  establishing  a  court,  specially  witli  an  En- 
glish lawyer  at  its  head,  for  the  (lis|)()sal  of  such 
cases.  Great  was  the  joy  of  tlie  ])opidar  lead- 
ers in  the  northern  part  of  the  island  at  this 
change,  which  was  an  entire  innovation  ;  for 
though  Scotland,  from  tlic  earliest  ages,  had 
been  familiar  with  jury  trial  in  criminal  cases, 
it  had  never  been  known  or  atteiiiijled  in  civil 
causes.  Unbounded  were  the  anticiiiations  of 
the  blessings  to  the  country,  and  the  training 
of  its  inhabitants  to  their  social  duties,  which 
would  result  from  the  change.  It  in  every  re- 
spect received  fair  i)lay.  The  judges  on  the 
bench  gave  it  every  possible  encouragement ; 
the  ablest  counsel  at  the  bar,  and  they  were 


*  See  Alison's  Essays,  vol.  il.  035,  "The  old  Scottish 
Parliament,"  where  this  extraordinary  fact  is  fully  de- 
rnonstrateil. 

t  William  Adam,  Esij.  of  Blair-Adam,  who  was  mada 
the  l«ad  of  the  new  court 


106 


HISTOllV    or    EUROPE. 


LCiiAP.  IV 


inui\y  anil  powerful  at  that  tiino,  supported  it 
by  tin  ir  euen;y,  and  adorned  it  by  tlieir  talents  ; 
and  a  elause  was  introdueeil  into  a  subsetiuiMit 
art.  pissed  a  few  years  alter,  autlioriziii;^  the 
trans.'erenee  by  sinipl(>  niolion  of  all  actions  in- 
volvir.j:  parole  proof  from  inferior  courts,  when 
the  demand  of  the  plaint  ill' was  above  £40  stcr- 
'  46  Goo  ^'"S-  l^iHliTtliose  enactments,  if  the 
III.  c.  117;  mode  of  trial  had  been  suited  to  the 
»nd  Juilica-  people,  nearly  the  whole  legal  busi- 
ture  .\ci  for  ,j^..j.g  of  the  country  should  have  been 
earned  mto  the  jury  court.' 
Nevertheless,  it  turned  out  quite  the  reverse  ; 
20.  and  the  attempt  to  introduce  jury  trial 
Its  entire  in  civil  cases  into  Scotland  remains  a 
lailure.  lastin;;  and  instructive  proof  of  the 
imposj.ibility  of  transplantin<»institutions  from 
one  country  to  another  witliout  the  greatest 
risk  of  entire  failure,  or  ruinous  disasters  to  the 
state  into  which  they  are  introduced.  Jury 
trial  has  been,  and  still  is,  a  total  failure  in 
Scotland  ;  and  the  opinion  has  become  general 
among  its  most  experienced  practitioners,  that 
it  is  one  of  the  greatest  curses  that  ever  has 
been  inflicted  upon  the  country.  The  reason 
is,  that  it  is  totally  at  variance  with  the  habits, 
institutions,  and  wishes  of  the  people.  Jury 
trial  succeeds  in  England,  because  it  is  not  the 
trial  of  the  jury,  but  the  trial  of  the  judge  ;  it 
has  failed  in  Scotland,  because  it  is  not  the  trial 
of  the  judge,  but  the  trial  of  the  jury.  Long 
habit,  centuries  of  practice,  have  accustomed 
the  English  juries  to  follow  the  suggestions  of 
the  bench ;  and,  except  in  a  few  cases  which 
violently  excite  the  public  mind,  those  sugges- 
tions are  never  disregarded.  In  Scotland,  where 
the  native  turn  of  the  people  is  opinionative  and 
pugnacious,  and  the  great  object  of  ambition 
with  all  is  to  get  their  own  way,  the  first  prin- 
ciple wth  juries  has  too  often  been  to  assert 
their  independence  by  disregarding  the  bench, 
and  show  their  superiority  to  others  by  throw- 
ing overboard  the  witnesses.  Thus  chance  and 
prejudice  have  come  so  often  to  sway  their  ver- 
dicts, that  it  has  passed  into  a  common  saying 
that  the  issue  of  a  jury  trial  is  as  subject  to 
hazard  as  the  game  of  rouge-et-noir,  and  that 
nothing  is  certain  in  it  but  delay  and  expense. 
The  popular  leaders  have  not  courage  to  admit 
in  public  the  entire  failure  of  their  favorite  sys- 
tem of  training  the  national  mind  ;  but  their 
sense  of  its  unsuitableness  to  Scotland  has  al- 
ready been  evinced  by  an  Act  of  Parliament 
giving  litigants  the  means  of  escaping  the 
much-dreaded  ordeal  ;*  and  so  strongly  has  the 
national  feeling  on  the  subject  been  declared, 
that  after  six-and-thirty  years  of  training  and 
bolstering  up,  the  cases  tried  by  jury  in  all  Scot- 
land have  dwindled  away  to  twenty  or  thirty  in 
a  year ;  and  instead  of  the  Court  of  Session 
being  overwhelmed,  as  was  expected,  with 
hundreds  of  cases  brought  from  the  sheriffcourts 
to  obtain  the  blessings  of  jury  trial,  the  sheriff 
courts  are  overwhelmed  with  as  many  thousand 
cases,  brought  before  them  to  escape  the  cer- 
tain expense  and  uncertain  issue  of  that  species 
oi"  decision.t 


*  The  Act  10  and  11  Victoria,  introduced  by  Lord-Ad- 
rocate  Rutherfurd.  one  of  the  iblest  and  most  accomplish- 
ed of  the  S(!Ot(h  Bar,  whom  the  author  is  proud  to  call  his 
ear.y  and  stealy  friend. 

r  Trie  cases  brought  into  'he  sheriff  court  of  Lanark. 


The  uncertainty  of  jury  trial,  in  cases  which 
strongly  excited  the  pul)lic  mind,  was  jj 
strikingly  evinced  in  England  itself  Acnuiiial 
during  this  very  year.  Watson,  the  fa-  of  Watson 
Iher  of  the  culprit  who  had  shot  the  "'"^  ^'°"*'- 
gunsmith  who  dcfeniled  his  shop  in  the  Spa- 
fields  riot  on  December  2d,  was  tried  for  high 
treason  at  Westminster  Hall,  and  acquitted  by 
the  verdict  of  a  London  jury.  This  decision  is 
perhaps  not  to  be  regretted,  as  the  acts  with 
which  they  were  charged,  though  amounting  to 
sedition  and  riot  of  the  most  aggravated  kind, 
could  scarcely  be  held,  in  reason  at  least,  what 
ever  it  might  be  in  law,  to  amount  to  high  trea 
son,  or  a  design  to  overturn  the  Government ; 
and  the  indictment  was  brought  for  the  heavier 
offense,  mainly  in  consequence  of  the  English 
law  recognizing  at  that  period  no  medium  be- 
tween riot  or  sedition,  which  were  misdemean- 
ors punishable  only  by  fine  and  imprisonment, 
and  high  treason,  which  was  chastised  by  death. 
The  wiser  and  more  humane  Scotch  law  recog- 
nized transportation  as  the  appropriate  punish- 
ment for  aggravated  cases  of  riot,  and  sedition 
bordering  on  treason — a  punishment  which  has 
since,  by  special  statute,  been  introduced  into 
England  and  Ireland  for  such  offenses.  But 
the  same  can  not  be  said  of  another  memorable 
trial,  which  took  place  in  the  same  year  in  the 
Court  of  King's  Bench — of  Mr.  Hone,  for  blas- 
phemous libel.  He  was  tried  three  times — once 
before  Mr.  Justice  Abbott,  and  twice  -before 
Chief- Justice  Ellenborough — and  on  all  these 
occasions  exhibited  a  union  of  self-  i  state  Trials 
possession,  readiness,  and  talent,  xxxii.  471, 
worthy  of  a  better  cause.'  He  was  ^^a;  Hughes 
on  all  the  three  acquitted  ;  on  the  '*"•  ^^^'  ^'^^• 
two  last  chiefly  in  consequence  of  the  overbear 
ing  manner  of  the  presiding  judge,  who  unfor 
tunately  was  as  remarkable  for  the  haste  of  his 
temper  as  for  the  power  of  his  intellect. 

The  contradictory  nature  of  the  verdicts  ob- 
tained in  three  state  trials  in  the  22. 
same  year,  and  in  regard  to  crimes  Reflections  on 
of  substantially  the  same  descrip-  E^ora't'^that 
tion,  suggests  considerations  of  the  period  in  the 
highest  importance  for  the  right  English  law. 
government  of  mankind.  Brandreth  and  twen- 
ty-three of  his  associates  were  sentenced  to 
death  at  Derby  for  exactly  the  same  crime  for 
which  Watson  and  his  accomplices  were  ac- 
quitted in  London.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
there  was  a  great  defect  both  in  the  law  and 
institutions  of  the  countr)',  when  at  the  same 
time,  and  on  so  momentous  a  crisis,  the  same 
criminals  shared  so  different  a  fate.  Nor  is  it 
difficult  to  see  what  this  defect  is.  So  far  as 
the  law  is  concerned,  it  consisted  chiefly  in  the 
absurdity  of  the  English  law,  which  admitted 
no  medium  between  high  treason,  punishable 
with  death  and  its  terrible  penalties,  and  sedi- 
tion, which  could  be  coerced  only  by  fine  or  im- 
prisonment.   It  was  to  evade  this  difliculty  that 

shire  alone,  on  written  pleadings,  are  now  about  7500  an- 
nually ;  in  the  small  debt  court,  in  the  same  county,  which 
decides,  on  oral  pleadings,  cases  under  £S  6a.  bd.  above 
15,000.  The  county  courts  of  England,  which  have  be- 
come so  popular,  and  risen  to  such  importance  in  so 
short  a  time,  have  mainly  succeeded  by  the  suitors  avoid- 
ing Jury  trial  ;  and  if  their  jurisdiction  is  extended,  like 
that  of  th6  sheriffs  in  Scotland,  to  cases  of  debt  and  con 
tract  of  any  amount,  it  is  easy  to  see  they  will  drain 
away  nearly  all  the  business  from  Westminster  Ilall  and 
the  circuit  assizes. 


1817.] 


HISTORY   OF   r.UROPE. 


10'4 


tho  astuteness  of  the  English  lawyers  invented 
the  doctrine  oi  constructive  treason,  or  the  infer- 
ence as  to  an  intent  to  depose,  kill,  or  levy  war 
against  the  sovereign,  from  acts  of  a  seditious 
tendency.  But  although  this  doctrine  is  firmly 
established  in  the  decisions  and  dicta  of  the  En- 
glish judges,  it  has  often  been  resisted  by  the 
common  sense  and  just  feelings  of  the  English 
juries,  and  always  combated  by  all  the  elo- 
quence and  ability  of  the  English  bar.  It  is 
next  to  impossible  to  persuade  a  jurj'  that  the 
leaders  of  a  mob,  which  engages  in  the  most 
outrageous  acts  of  pillage,  violence,  and  depre- 
dation, have  a  design  to  dethrone  or  assassinate 
the  sovereign.  To  get  drunk  or  fill  their  pock- 
ets is  probably  their  ultimatum.  It  was  this 
which  led  to  Watson's  acquittal,  as  it  had  done 
to  the  escape  of  Hardy,  Thelwall,  Home  Tooke, 
and  many  of  the  most  dangerous  state  crimin- 
als recorded  in  English  histor>'.  Indicted  for 
sedition  and  riot,  they  could  not  by  possibility 
have  escaped  ;  and  if  transported,  they  would 
have  suffered  a  punishment  suitable,  and  not 
excessive,  for  their  crimes.  In  prosecution, 
the  wisest  course  always  is  to  select  the  minor 
offense,  unless  the  major  has,  beyond  all  doubt, 
been  incurred ;  in  legislation,  to  affix  no  pun- 
ishment to  crimes  but  such  as  the  general  feel- 
ings of  the  country  will  permit  to  be  carried  rig- 
orously into  execution. 
The  salutary  effect  of  the  suspension  of  the 
23  Habeas  Corpus  Act  in  this  year,  and 

Good  effects  the  death-biuw  which  it  gave  in  a 
of  the  sus-  short  time  to  the  machinations  and 
pension  of     efforts  of  the  disaffected,  suggests 

lll6  Jl'ibcis 

Corpus  p  ct.  the  defect  m  our  mstitutions  to 
which  this  distressing  uncertainty 
•in  the  conviction  of  state  crimes  is  to  be  as- 
cribed. This  is  in  the  idea,  so  plausible  and 
unhappily  so  prevalent,  that  their  prosecution 
should  be  left  to  the  unaided  efforts  of  the  com- 
mon law.  It  no  doubt  sounds  well  to  say  that 
Government  seeks  for  no  extraordinary  pow- 
ers, and  combats  sedition  and  treason  with  no 
otlier  weapons  but  those  of  the  common  and 
statute  law  ;  and  loud  cheers  seldom  fail  to  fol- 
low such  an  announcement  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  Nevertheless,  it  is  founded  on  an 
entire  fallacy ;  and  perhaps  nothing  has  con- 
tributed so  much  to  perpetuate  disorder,  dis- 
tru.st,  and  consequent  misery,  both  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  as  this  miserable  delusion. 
Extraordinary  cases  require  extraonUnary  rem- 
edies ;  it  is  in  vain  to  attem|)t  to  conil)at  tliem 
v^ith  ordinary  ones.  Jury  trial,  and  thr;  trial  by 
that  means  of  subordinate  criminals,  does  very 
well  in  common  crimes,  or  passing  local  disor- 
ders ;  but  it  is  wholly  unsuitable  to  tliosc  more 
serious  exigences,  when  a  large  party  in  the 
state  is  banded  for  some  conmKJti  jjolitical  jiur- 
pose  which  is  to  be  brought  about  liy  violence 
and  intimidation.  To  leave  every  thing  to  the 
ordinary  remedies  of  tlie  law  in  sucli  cases,  is 
to  leave  it  to  be  worked  by  rnen  liable  to  l)e  in- 
fluenced by  prejudice  or  iiitiniidation.  It  is,  in 
effect,  little  else  but  proclaMniiii;  inipiiiiily  to 
criaies  even  of  the  deepest  dye  ;  or  wreaking 
flie  vi.ngeance  of  the  law  upon  Ttiiserabie  and 
del  ided  followers,  while  the  selfish  and  guilty 
leaders,  whom  it  is  as  impossible  to  reach  by 
the  verdict  of  a  jury  as  it  is  easy  to  reach  l)y  an 
act  (tf  the  executive,  remain  wholly  untouched. 


The  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act, 
which  enables  Government  to  apprehend  £uch 
leaders  upon  grounds  perfectly  suthcient  to  just- 
ify their  detention,  though  their  weight  would 
not  be  admitted  by  a  jury  in  excited  times,  is 
the  appropriate  remedy.  The  true  object  oi 
such  apprehension  shou  d  be,  not  to  imprison 
the  persons  seized,  but  to  send  them  out  of  the 
country,  under  pain  of  transportation  if  they  re- 
turned before  the  expiration  of  a  limited  time. 
The  ostracism  of  Athens,  the  banishment  or 
Rome,  were  wise  and  humane  institutions,  had 
they  not  been  often  abused  by  a  tyrant  majori- 
ty ;  and  he  has  little  reason  to  complain  who  is 
intercepted  in  his  projects  of  revolutionizing  his 
country,  and  sent,  till  quieter  times  return,  to 
ruminate  on  social  change  on  the  banks  of  the 
Leman  Lake,  or  dream  of  human  perfectibility 
among  the  crowds  of  Paris. 

Although  the  parliamentaiy  season  of  1817 
was  not  distinguished  by  debates  of  34. 
the  same  surpassing  magnitude  and  Motion  of 
importance  as  that  of  the  preceding  Mr.  Brougti- 
year,  yet  there  were  one  or  two  f^"  theYrade 
things  deserving  of  notice,  as  indi-  an'd  manu- 
cating  the  silent  march  of  thought,  factures  of 
and,  consequently,  of  future  events  the  country, 
which  characterized  it.  The  first  of  these  was 
a  motion  by  J\Ir.  Brougham  on  the  state  of  the 
trade  and  manufactures  of  the  nation,  the  scope 
and  aim  of  which  will  at  once  appear  from  the 
resolutions  wliich  he  moved,  and  which  were 
negatived  by  a  majority  of  55,  the  numbers  be- 
ing 118  to  03.'  Tliese  resolutions,  being  by  in- 
ference condemnatory  of  the  neglect  alleged  to 
have  been  evinced  by  ministers  in  not  securing 
for  the  country  tho.se  commercial  advantages 
which  might  have  been  obtained  by  treaty  with 
foreign  nations  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war, 
were  in  the  main  of  a  party  character,  and 
therefore  of  passing  interest.  But  tliere  were 
some  remarks  which  fell  from  the  able  and  in- 
quisitive mind  of  the  mover  which  were  of  last- 
ing importance,  and,  like  the  first  streaks  of 
light  in  the  eastern  horizon,  betokened  the  com- 
plexion of  the  day  which  was  beginning  to  dawn. 
"The  period,"  said  he,  "is  now  arrived  when, 
the  war  being  closed,  and  prodigious  changes 
having  taken  place  through  the  world,  it  be- 
comes absolutely  necessary  to  enter  on  a  care- 
ful but  fearless  revision  of  our  whole  commer- 
cial system, that  we  may  be  enal)le(l  snfily, yet 
promptly,  to  eradicate  those  faults  wliicli  the 
lapse  of  time  has  occasioned  or  displayed  ;  to 
retrace  our  steps  where  we  sliall  find  that  they 
have  deviated  from  tiie  line  of  true  policy  ;  to 
adjust  and  accommodate  our  laws  to  tlu;  alter- 
ation of  circumstances;  to  abandon  many  prej- 
udices, alike  antiquated  and  senseless,  unsuited 

*  "  I.  That  the  trade  and  manufactures  of  the  country 
are  reduced  to  a  state  of  such  unexampled  dilllculty  as 
demands  the  serious  attention  of  tliis  House.  2.  That 
those  difficulties  are  materially  increased  hy  the  policy 
pursued  -^  tli  respect  to  our  foreifrn  commerce,  and  that 
a  revisiol  of  this  system  oufht  forthwith  to  be  undiTlak- 
(^11  hy  the  House.  3.  That  the  continuance  of  th(\'<c  diffl- 
cullies  is  materially  increased  by  the  severe  pressure  of 
taxation  under  which  the  country  labors,  and  which  ought 
by  i!vrry  practicable  means  to  be  liKhtoncd.  4.  That  the 
system  of  foreiun  policy  pursued  by  his  Majesty's  minis 
ters  has  not  been  such  as  to  obtain  for  the  people  of  this 
country  those  commercial  advanlaRes  which  tli<'  inlliirnco 
of  <;reat  liril.iln  in  forciKii  courls  fairly  entilled  tbcin  to 
expect." — Mr.  liitouonAM'ii  Rtsolultntui,  March  13,  IBi7 
Pari.  Debates,  xx.w.  1041 


•  OS 


HISTORY    OF   KUUOI'E. 


[Chap.  IV 


to  thp  ailvamnM  a^e  in  wliirli  \v»  live,  and  iin- 
wortliy  of  the  sound  jiulijnicnt  which  dislin- 
gui>hes  the  nation.  In  the  Navi-:;ation  Laws, 
m  pailieuhir,  some  ehanjie  is  loudly  called  for. 
Whatever  may  have  heen  the  fjood  policy  of 
that  law  when  it  was  lirst  introduced,  I  am  (juite 
clear  that  we  have  adhered  to  it  fi)r  a  century 
«  Pari.  Pell  •i'^*''" ''""  circumstances  which  alone 
x.\.\v.  \Dis,  justitied  its  adoption  have  ceased  to 
1»>W  exist."' 

If  these  ideas  of  Mr.  Brougham  were  descrip- 
tive of  the  perm  of  the  doctrines, 
EstabUsh-  "'*^  ''"'*  '^'  -^^''i'"  'Smitii's  philoso- 
rnent  ofSav-  phy,  wiiich  afterward  so  widely  ex- 
iiigs  Hanks,  paiuied,  and  occasioned  so  entire  a 
"'if  d  se veri-  revolution  in  the  commercial  policy 
ly  of  punish-  of  England,  Other  acts  of  the  Legis- 
mentincrim-  lature  at  the  same  time  indicated 
M^'-'-^T^*  the  setting  in  of  an  under-current 
^^  "  ■  destined  to  hring  nothing  but  unmix- 

ed good  to  society.  Almost  unnoticed  amid  oth- 
er parliamentary  business,  which  at  the  time 
excited  much  more  attention,  a  bill  passed  both 
Houses  this  year  establishing  Savings  Banks 
— institutions  which  have  since  spread  so  wide- 
ly, and  prospered  so  immensely  in  all  parts 
of  the  island,  and  which,  by  encouraging  habits 
of  prudence,  frugality,  and  self-control  among 
the  working  classes,  and  fostering  the  generous 
affections  in  preference  to  the  selfish  passions, 
have  gone  far  to  elevate  the  character  of  the 
most  deserving  of  the  poor,  and  to  counteract  the 
many  causes  of  debasement  which  since  that 
time  have  spread  such  ruin  among  them.  In  the 
same  session,  the  increasing  humanity  of  the 
general  mind  was  evinced  by  strong  statements 
in  the  House  of  Commons  regarding  military 
flogging,  the  barbarity  of  which  was  daily  attract- 
ing more  attention,  so  as  to  foreshadow  its  aboli- 
tion at  no  distant  period  ;  and  a  bill  brought  in 
by  General  Thornton,  for  abolishing  the  degrad- 
2  Pari.  Deb.  '"g  punishment  of  flogging  in  the  case 
xxxvi.  833,  of  females,  received  the  unanimous 
294,932.       assent  of  the  same  House. ^ 

The  respective  balance  of  parties  in  the 
26.  House  of  Commons  was  materially 

Return  of  Mr.  affected  this  year  bv  the  return  to 
Lfgbo'„"'Jj"d™  the  parliamentary 'arena  of  the 
death  of  Mr.  most  eloquent  man  on  one  side, 
Ponsoaby  and  and  the  death  of  two,  not  the  least 
Mr.  Horner,  eminent,  on  the  other.  Mr.  Can- 
ning— who,  ever  since  his  rupture  with  Lord 
Castlereagh  in  1810,  had  been  out  of  office,  and 
since  1814  in  a  sort  of  honorable  banishment 
as  embassador  at  Lisbon — returned  to  England 
on  the  invitation  of  the  Prince-Regent,  and  ac- 
cepted the  office  of  President  of  the  Board  of 
Control,  vacant  by  the  death  of  the  Earl  of 
Buckinghamshire.  His  name  will  occupy  here- 
after a  prominent  place  ;  his  deeds  and  speech- 
es strongly  arrest  the  attention  in  the  course 
of  this  history.  In  June,  1816,  Mr.  Ponsonby, 
who  had  long  discharged  with  zeal,  ability,  and 
straightforward  honor,  the  arduous  duties  of 
leader  of  the  Opposition,  died  ;  and  his  lament- 
ed loss  was  shortly  succeeded  by 
^  c^a^ning  a  ^y^^^  ^f  ^jj.  Horner,  a  much  younger, 
\Vorks,  i.  but  more  rising  and  promising  man, 
105 ;  Hor-  who  expired  at  Pisa,  whither  he  had 
J*4i2^''^'  &*^"6  on  account  of  a  pulmonary 
■  complaint,  on  8th  February,  1817.^ 

i/lr.  HoE.vEE  was  born  in  1778,  passed  the 


bar  in  Edinburgh  in  1800,  was  called  to  the  liii- 
glish  bar  in  1807,  aiul  entered  the  27. 

House  of  Commons  in  1800.  The  Mr.  Iiornpr'n 
son  of  a  respectable  linen-draper  in  '■''<'  and  char- 
Edinburgh,  he  owed  his  elevation  in  '"^'•"■■ 
no  degree  to  aristocratic  or  parliamentary  in- 
fluences, so  powerful  at  that  period  in  procuring 
advancement  for  others  into  situations  for  which 
they  were  not  fitted  by  nature.  Like  Mr.  Car 
ning.  Sir  S.  Roinilly,  Lord  Eldon,  and  many  of 
the  greatest  men  whom  the  country  can  boast, 
he  was  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune,  and 
entered  on  his  public  career  from  no  other  in- 
fluence but  that  arising  from  his  known  and  ac- 
knowledged abilities.  His  first  seat  was  for  a 
Treasury  borough  (St.  Ives),  for  which,  by  th<! 
influence  of  Lord  Kinnaird  and  the  Whig  Gov- 
ernment then  in  power,  he  was  elected  in  June, 
1806 ;  so  that,  like  all  the  other  great  men  of 
the  day,  he  owed  his  entry  into  public  life  to  the 
nomination  boroughs.  So  great  were  his  abili- 
ties, and  so  high  the  respect  entertained  for  his 
character,  that,  had  he  lived,  he  would,  beyond 
all  doubt,  have  been  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer when  the  Whigs  came  into  power  in 
November,  1830,  and  possibly  risen  to  still  high- 
er situations  during  the  long  continu- 
ance of  that  party  in  office  for  the  Lj'fJ'T":! 
next  twenty  years.'  >  •   '  ■ 

He  was  the  most  intellectual  and  profound 
of  that  remarkable  school  of  eminent  28. 
men  who  were  educated  and  entered  H'^  charac- 
life  together  at  that  period  in  Edin-  a^r^'lnd  po- 
burgh.  Less  eloquent  and  discur-  iitical  phi- 
sive  than  Brougham,  less  aerial  and  losopher. 
elegant  than  Jeffrey,  he  was  a  much  deeper 
thinker  than  either,  and  brought  more  system- 
atically the  powers  of  a  clear  understanding  and 
logical  reasoning  to  bear  upon  a  limited  number 
of  subjects,  to  which  he  directed  his  attention. 
These  he  mastered  with  consummate  ability. 
Many  of  his  papers  on  the  corn-laws  and  the 
currency  in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  as  well  as 
his  speeches  in  Parliament  on  the  same  sub- 
jects, are  models  of  clear  and  accurate  reason- 
ing. Yet  must  history  confess  with  regret  that 
he  stopped  short  in  the  admirable  career  on 
which  he  had  entered,  and  bequeathed  to  pos- 
terity a  host  of  errors  when  he  was  on  the  very 
verge  of  the  most  important  truths.  He  was 
on  the  edge  of  important  discoveries  in  the  mrst 
abstruse  branch  of  political  science,  to  which  he 
had  been  led  by  the  native  vigor  of  his  under- 
standing and  the  clearness  of  his  perception, 
when  he  was  turned  aside  and  riveted  in  eiTor 
by  the  influence  of  party.  He  was  the  main 
author  of  the  Bullion  Report  of  1810,  and  he  be 
queathed  the  adoption  of  its  principles  to  tlie 
nation  by  the  bill  of  1819,  restoring  cash  pay- 
ments. \Miat  those  effects  were  will  abun- 
dantly appear  in  the  sequel,  and  need  not  be 
here  anticipated.  It  is  sufficient  to  observe,  as 
a  curious  proof  of  the  warping  even  of  the 
strongest  intellects  by  the  chain  of  party,*  that 
while  he  clearly  saw  and  has  ably  illustrated 
the  obvious  truths — that  the  great  rise  of  prices 
during  the  war  was  owing  to  the  copious  issue 


*  lie  seriously  complained  to  Mr.  Jeffrey,  then  its  editor, 
that  the  Edinburgh  Review  was  too  independent,  and  nil 
sufficiently  W'higgish — a  charge  which  has  never  befirt 
or  since,  it  is  believed,  been  brought  against  that  celt: I* 
ted  journal. — Cockbuun's  Life  n/Jtffrey,  i.  478. 


1817  1 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


109 


ot  paper  currency,  and  that  the  greatest  clanger 
to  be  apprehended  on  the  return  of  peace  was 
the  impossibiUty  of  discharging  the  debts,  pub- 
lic and  private,  contracted  during  a  plentiful  cir- 
culating medium,  with  the  resources  of  a  con- 
tracted one — he  could  discern  no  other  mode 
of  averting  these  dangers  but  by  instantly  rush- 
ing into  the  contracted  currency ;  and  that  while 
he  was  well  aware  that  variations  in  the  amount 
of  the  circulating  medium  are  the  greatest  ca- 
lamity which  can  befall  a  mercantile  nation,  the 
only  way  in  which  he  deemed  it  practicable  to 
avert  them  was  to  base  it  entirely  on  gold,  the 
most  eagerly  desired,  easily  transported,  and 
therefore  evanescent  of  earthly  things. 
The  close  of  this  vear  was  marked  by  a  most 
melancholy  event,  which,  more  than 
Death  of  tUe  ^"^y  Other  in  the  recollection  of  man. 
Princess  wrung  with  anguish  the  heart  of  the 
Charlotte,  whole  nation.  This  was  the  death 
^°''-  ^-  of  the  Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales, 
who  expired,  after  severe  and  protracted  suf- 
fering, on  the  6th  November.  This  charming 
princess,  whose  beauty,  high  spirit,  and  amiable 
manners  had  endeared  her  to  the  whole  people, 
had  lived  in  domestic  felicity,  known  only  by 
never-faiUng  deeds  of  kindness,  since  her  mar- 
riage in  May  of  the  preceding  year.  She  was 
understood  to  be  in  the  way  of  giving  an  heir  to 
the  monarchy  ;  and  as  the  direct  line  of  succes- 
sion depended  on  the  success  of  her  accouche- 
ment, the  attention  of  the  nation  was  turned 
with  the  most  intense  anxiety  to  the  coming 
event  from  which  so  much  was  hoped.  It  came 
at  last,  but  the  angel  of  death  at  the  same  time 
entered  the  bridal  chamber.  So  long  and  se- 
vere were  the  sufferings  of  the  princess,  during 
a  protracted  labor  of  forty-eight  hours,  that  it 
became  necessary  to  sacrifice  the  infant— an 
uncommonly  fine  and  healthy  prince  —  to  her 
preservation  ;  and  the  painful  sacrifice  was 
made  in  vain.  Such  was  the  exliaustion  of  the 
royal  mother,  after  the  delivery  was  over,  that 
she  sank  rapidly,  and  expired  a  few  hours  after. 
So  great  was  his  despair  at  this  ca- 
181?"  chrou-  lamitous  event,  that  the  principal 
icie,  109 ;  medical  attendant  of  her  Royal 
Hughes,  vi.  Higliness,  in  a  fit  of  insanity  or 
^■*^'  despair,  committed  suicide  a  short 

time  afterward.' 

No  words  can  paint  the  universal  constema- 
,,  tion  and  grief  which  seized  the  cn- 

Uni^vrnal  tire  nation  on  this  calamitous  event, 
grief  of  the  which  buried  an  illustrious  princess, 
iiiitioii  at  |],{.  g„]e  (laughter  of  England,  and 
ihis  event.  ^  ^.^^^j  p„gt(.rity  in  a  single  tomb. 
Nothing  comparable  to  it  had  been  seen  in  the 
country  since  the  head  of  Charles  I.  fell  upon 
the  scafibhl.  Then  was  seen  how  universal 
and  deep-seated  is  the  loyalty  of  the  British 
heart,  and  how  strong  and  indelible  the  chords 
whicdi  bind  the  people  to  their  sovereign.  Ev- 
ery house,  from  the  ducal  palace;  to  the  pca.s- 
ant's  cottage,  was  filled  with  mourning  ;  tears 
were  seen  in  every  eye  ;  the  bereavement  was 
felt  by  all  with  the  intensity  of  domestic  af- 
fliction. Business  was  generally  suspended ; 
scarce  a  word  was  spoken  even  by  the  most  in- 
timate friends  when  they  met  in  the  streets — 
tlicy  pressed  hands  and  went  on  in  silence. 
The  hum  of  men  ceased  ;  no  souml  was  heard 
but  the  ri.'ournful  clang  of  liie  church-btUs,  which 


from  mom  till  night  .^ve  forth  their  melancholy 
peal ;  minute-guns  were  fired  from  all  the  bi-  % 
teries  and  ships — 

"  The  flag  was  hoisted  half-mast  high, 

A  mournful  signal  on  the  main  ; 

Seen  only  when  the  illustrious  die, 

Or  are  in  glorious  battle  slain." 

A  royal  proclamation  ordered  a  geneiai 
mourning.  The  injunction  was  unnecessary  ; 
every  human  being  above  the  rank  of  a  pauper 
spontaneously  assumed  the  garb  of  woe.  On 
the  18th  November,  when  the  funeral  at  Wind- 
sor took  place  with  great  solemnity,  every 
church  and  chapel  in  the  United  Kingdom  was 
opened  and  filled  with  mourning  multitudes, 
whose  grief  could  find  no  other  alleviation  but 
in  its  united  expression.  Those  who  consider 
loyalty  as  a  merely  instinctive  feeling,  wliich 
wears  out  and  becomes  extinct  in  the  progress 
of  society,  with  the  enlightenment  of  the  gen 
eral  mind,  and  the  popularizing  of  institutions, 
would  do  well  to  contemplate  this  memorable 
event,  and  to  search  the  annals  of  the  world  for 
a  parallel  to  the  grief  which  then  wrung  the 
British  heart  among  rude  and  uneducated  na- 
tions, the  most  remarkable  for  attachment  to 
the  throne. 

Tlie  social  condition  of  the  country  and  its 
general  prosperity  were  much  im-  3]. 

proved   in   the   year    1818.      The  Improved  con- 
change  had  begun  in  the  middle  of  di'ion  of  the 
,        fe        , .        "  ,  ,  ■/-    country  m  the 

the  preceding  year,  and  arose  chiei-  g^d  of  i^n 

ly  from  prices  of  agricultural  prod-  and  spring  of 
uce  having  so  much  risen,  and  the  l^'lS- 
home  market  for  our  manufactures  having  in 
consequence  so  much  improved  from  the  in- 
creased ability  of  the  rural  population  to  pur- 
chase them.  The  Funds,  that  sure  test  of  pub- 
lic prosperity,  rose  30  per  cent. ;  in  1817,  the 
Three  per  Cents,  ascended  from  62,  in  January, 
1817,  to  83  in  December  of  the  same  year. 
The  bankruptcies  in  England,  which  in  Febru- 
ary, 1816,  were  209,  were  reduced  in  September 
to  61  :  the  total  was  1575  in  the  year,  being  a 
decrease  of  454  from  the  preceding  year,  when 
they  had  been  2029.*  These  unmis-  ,  ^^^  ^^^ 
takable  symptoms  of  general  amel-  1817,238," 
ioration  continued  throughout  1818.  230;  App. 
The  Funds  maintained  the  level  they  '°  '^'"■""• 
had  reached  on  the  close  of  the  preceding  year ; 
and  the  bankruptcies  w(>rc  519  less  ;  they  sank 
to  1056,  being  only  half  of  what  they  had  been 
in  the  year  1816."  The  revenue,  s^nnRcg 
without  the  imposition  of  any  new  jtus,  305; 
taxes,  rose  above  £1,700,000;  and  App.  to 
the  money  applied  to  the  reduction  ^'"■""• 
of  debt,  which  in  1817  had  been  X14,514,000. 
rose  in  1818  to  £15,339,000,  being  somewhat 
above  the  loans  of  the  year.*  ^\■llei^t,  on  an 
average  of  the  year,  sold  at  98s. — a  high  jirice, 
indeed,  but  a  considerable  reduction  from  the 
preceding  year,  when  it  had  been  116s.;  and 
such  was  the  affluence  of  the  Bank  of  England, 
and  the  general  confidence  reposed  in  that  (es- 
tablishment, that  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chef|uer,  in  the  last  discussion  on  the  subject  in 
1817,  boasted,  not  without  reason,  that  the  bank 
had  begun  voluntarily  to  resume  payments  in 


*  Net  revenue  of  Great  Dtittin  in  1817 jC52,n.').';,013 

"  "  in  1818....    53.747 .7'J3 

-Portbr's  Pari.  Tables. 


ilO 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.  fV. 


rash  ;'  that  nothing  wouUl  [jri-vcnt  tlie  rcstric- 
i  pjjfi  j^pj,  lion  olcasli  paynitMits  from  rxpiring 
xwMi.  115;  in  July,  ISIS  ;  anil  tliat  I'von  in  I'or- 
lluKhcs,  vi.  t>ijrn  I'oiintnt's  thi'  notes  ofliio  l)ank 
•''''•  wvTc  taki'n  in  prcri'iriiro  to  cash. 

The  cause  of  this  firoal  inii)rovenioiit  in  llie 
32  aflairs  oClho  country,  and,  of  consc- 

I'nusi-  of  this  qucncc,  of  tlio  (Jovcrnnicnt,  was  tlie 
iiirroascd        contiiuicd  suspension  of  casli  pav- 

iag  to  the  act  of  1817,  already  noticed."  As  the 
dreadful  crash  and  distress  of  1816 
*  ^^'<  '^-  "■  had  arisen  from  the  sudden  and  pro- 
digious contraction  of  the  country 
bankers"  issues,  which  took  place  from  tlie  pros- 
pect of  immediately  being  obliged  to  pay  their 
notes  in  cash,  which  at  once  reduced  their  circu- 
lation from  £23,700,000  in  1814  to  £15,894,000 
in  1816  ;  so  the  postponement  of  cash  payments 
by  the  bill  of  1816  had  a  directly  opposite  eflect. 
The  circulation  both  of  the  ISanii  of  England 
and  the  country  banks  increased  rapidly  with 
the  period  during  which  cash  payments  were 
postponed,  and  in  1818  it  had  become  above 
£6,000,000  more  than  it  had  been  in  1816.* 
The  necessary  effect  of  this  increase  in  the  cir- 
culation was  a  restoration  of  confidence,  a  gen- 
eral rise  of  prices,  augmented  undertakings  by 
capitalists,  and  improved  comfort  among  the  la- 
boring classes.  The  greater  activity  thus  com- 
municated to  trade  appeared  in  the  increase  of 
the  exports,  which  rose  in  1818  to  £45,180,000 
declared  value,  from  £40,180,000  in  the  pre- 
ceding year  ;  but  the  vast  addition  made  to 
the  well-being  of  all  classes  was  evinced  still 
more  clearly  by  the  great  increase  of  the  im- 
ports, which  rose  from  £27,000,000  in  1816  to 
£36,000,000  in  1818.t 
So  confident  were  the  directors  of  the  Bank 
33  of  England  in  the  continuance  of 

Steps  of  the  these  favorable  circumstances,  and 
Bank  toward  of  their  ability  to  continue  cash  pay- 
ca^h^pay-  ments,  that  in  January,  1817,  they 
issued  a  notice  that  they  were  pre- 
pared to  make  pajTnents  in  cash  of  outstanding 
notes  of  a  certain  description,  amounting  to 
about  £1,000,000  sterling.  Gold  was  so  plenti- 
ful that  it  had  fallen  to  £3  18s.  6d.  an  ounce, 
and  very  little  of  the  cash  at  that  rate  was 
taken  up.  The  success  of  this  experiment  in- 
duced the  directors  to  issue  a  notice,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1817,  that  they  would  pay  cash  for  notes 
of  every  description  issued  prior  to  January  1, 
1817.  But  the  result  of  this  experiment  was 
very  different,  and  gave  a  premonitory  warn- 
ing of  what  might  be  expected  to  ensue  if  the 
suspension  of  cash  payments  was  permanently 


*  Years. 

Bank  ofEn. 
glasd  Notes. 

£24,601,080 
27,261,650 
27,013,620 
27,397,900 
27,771,070 

Coujrtry 
Banks. 

TotaL 

1814 
1615 
1616 
1817 
1818 

£22,700,000 
19,011,000 
15,096,000 
15,694,000 
20,507,000 

£47,501.080 
46,272,650 
42,109,620 
43,291,900 
48,276,070 

—Alison's  Europe,  c.  xcvi.  Appendix. 


Eiport",  official  Value. 
f  Years.            British,  Irish, and  Co- 
lonial. 

Imports,  declared 
Value. 

1816  £49,197,850 

1817  50,404,111 

1818  53,560,338 

£27,431,604 
30,834,299 
36,889,162 

-  Pol  rsR's  Progress  of  the  Nation,  third  edition,  356. 


closed.  The  deficient  harvest  of  the  preceding 
year  had  caused  a  consideraitle  importation  of 
grain,  amnunting  to  aliove  1,500,000  ijuarteis 
of  wheiit  alone — a  ((uantity  unexampled  in  those 
days ;  and  to  meet  the  bills  drawn  for  payment  of 
their  price,  and  also  supply  the  wants  of  the  nu- 
merous English  who  were  Hocking  to  the  Con- 
tinent in  search  of  health,  amusement,  or  econ- 
omy, and  pay  up  a  French  loan  of  £5,000,000, 
a  very  great  drain  for  gold  set  in  upon  the  bank, 
and  the  sum  paid  in  cash  for  these  notes  before 
the  end  of  the  year  amounted  to  £2,000,000. 
This  alarming  drain,  and  the  total  disappear- 
ance from  the  country'  of  the  coin  , 
thus  withdrawn  from  the  coffers  of  itiis"68;'^^ 
the  bank,  at  length  convinced  Minis-  Pari!  Deb. 
ters  of  the  impolicy  of  enforcing  the  "^^x^""- 
return  to  cash  payments  on  5th  July,  ' 
1818,  as  it  then  stood  regulated  by  law,  and  led 
to  unportant  debates  in  both  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment, w-hich  threw  increasing  light  on  that  all- 
important  subject. 

On  the  part  of  Opposition,  it  was  urged  by 
Mr.  Tierney,  Lord  Althorpe,  and  g^ 

Sir  H.  Parnell :  "  We  have  now,  Arpiment  for 
at  the  close  of  the  war,  in  round  the  resump- 
numbers,  £800,000,000  of  funded,  ^'on  of  cash 
and  £40,000,000  of  unfunded  debt  theOpposi-^ 
—  rather  an  appalling  prospect,  tion. 
against  which  it  is  futile  to  set  off  ^'^>"  ^'  l*'!^- 
our  Sinking  Fund  of  £14,000,000,  since,  al- 
though we  keep  up  that  fund,  it  is  done  only  by 
borrowing  money  annually,  in  Exchequer  bills 
or  otherwise,  to  nearly  an  equal  amount.  The 
advantageous  terms  on  which  it  appears  a  loan 
could  now  be  negotiated  proves,  indeed,  the 
present  prosperity  of  the  country.  But  is  there 
any  man  in  his  senses  who  would  maintain  that 
this  prosperity  should  be  based  on  a  circulation 
not  convertible  into  specie  1  On  all  sides  ii 
would  be  heard,  God  forbid !  The  suspension 
of  cash  pa}-ments  was  never  defended  but  as  a 
measure  of  necessity,  justified  by  an  unprece- 
dented combination  of  circumstances.  How, 
then,  has  it  happened  that,  in  the  third  year  of 
peace,  the  same  measure  is  necessary,  which 
was  only  justified  by  the  extraordinary  press- 
ure of  a  most  extraordinary  war  ?  Why  is  the 
pledge  given  as  to  the  return  to  cash  payments 
in  July,  1818,  not  to  be  redeemed!  It  may  be 
true  that  British  capitalists,  from  a  superabund 
ance  of  money,  have  engaged  largely  in  foreigi» 
loans,  and  that  seventy-nine  thousand  travelers 
were  gratifying  their  desires  by  going  abroad  ; 
but  are  such  trivial  circumstances  to  be  gravely 
stated  as  grounds  for  an  entire  subversion  of 
our  monetary  system  1  The  suspension  by  Mr. 
Pitt  in  1797  was  expressly  rested  on  the  most 
overpowering  necessity — a  general  run  upon 
the  bank,  which  brought  it  to  the  brink  of  ruin 
— a  universal  panic  and  hoarding  in  the  coun- 
try, and  vast  loans  in  specie  to  foreign  countries. 
Can  there  be  a  more  complete  contrast  than 
this  state  of  matters  affords,  to  the  present  time, 
when  we  are  at  profound  peace  with  all  the 
world,  when  there  were  no  foreign  subsidies, 
no  threat  of  invasion,  but  increasing  and  appar- 
ently lasting  prosperity  1 

"  Did  not  the  House  of  Commons,  two  years 
ago,  when  there  reall)'^  was  a  panic 
and  great  distress   in  the   country,  coufin'iieA 
even  then  enter  into  a  solemn  pledge 


1818.J 

that  cash  p  lyments  were  to  be  resumed  in  next 
July !  And  have  we  not  been  told  that  such  is 
the  confidence  in  the  bank,  and  the  public  confi- 
dence in  its  solidity,  that  cash  payments  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  have  voluntarily  been  resumed  on 
the  part  of  that  establishment !  Is  it  expedient, 
IS  it  decorous,  under  such  prosperous  circum- 
stances, to  violate  a  pledge  given  in  such  adverse 
ones  1  The  bank  directors  profess  their  willing- 
ness to  resume  cash  payments,  and  have  evinced 
the  sincerity  of  their  declarations  by  their  vol- 
untary acts ;  where  then  is  the  necessity  for 
violating  the  faith  of  Parliament  1  Is  the  House 
satisfied  that  all  that  has  been  advanced  by  the 
Bullion  Committee  should  be  set  aside]  Is 
there  any  one  who  doubts  that  an  excessive 
issue  of  paper  must  have  an  effect  on  the  price 
of  gold  ! .  The  market  price  of  gold  is  at  present 
four  shillings  an  ounce  above  the  Mint  price ; 
is  not  that  difference  to  be  ascribed  rather  to 
the  excess  of  paper  in  circulation  than  the  for- 
eign loans  now  in  course  of  payment]  Sup- 
posing the  loan  to  France  is  £10,000,000,  and 
the  money  required  by  travelers  and  foreign  in- 
demnities £20,000,000  more,  still  a  large  part 
of  this  sum  would  be  sent  out  in  goods,  and  a 
still  larger  in  advances  by  foreign  capitalists. 
But  even  supposing  the  whole  were  sent  out  in 
gold — ^\vould  that  occasion  a  run  upon  the  bank  ] 
Would  it  not  soon  improve  the  exchanges,  and, 
by  rendering  gold  dear  in  this  country,  quickly 
bring  it  back,  and  furnish  the  bank  with  the 
means  of  replenishing  its  coffers]  On  every 
ground,  then,  there  is  an  urgent  necessity  for  an 
inquiry  into  the  circumstances  of  the  bank  ;  for 
if  it  can  resume  cash  payments,  it  should  be 
constrained  immediately  to  do  so  ;  if  it  can  not, 
the  public  should  be  informed  to  what  cause  the 
inability  is  owing,  and  what  prospect  there  is  of 
cash  payments  ever  being  resumed. 

"  There  are  some  persons  in  this  country  who 
anticipate  all  sorts  of  horrors  from 
(.omuiued  ^^^  resumption  of  cash  payments — 
that  nobody  would  receive  rents,  the 
funds  be  reduced  to  zero,  and  a  general  bankrupt- 
cy ensue.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
these  apprehensions  are  either  altogether  un- 
founded, or  greatly  exaggerated.  If  cautiously 
gone  about,  it  would  be  attended  with  little  or  no 
(lisadvantage.  But  even  if  tlic  evils  represented 
were  in  a  great  degree  well  founded,  would  they 
not  be  ]jr(fiTabI(!  to  the  state  of  uncertainty  in 
which  mercantile  speculations  of  all  sorts  are 
kept,  by  the  uncertainty  which  exists  as  to  the 
resumption  of  cash  payments  ]  It  would  be  bet- 
ter to  declare  at  once  that  the  bank  is  never  to 
resume  payments  in  specie,  tiian  to  go  on  every 
year,  lio.stponing  the  return  froiri  year  to  year, 
and,  in  ci)n.sct|iicnce  alternately  fo.stering  specu- 
lation Ijy  an  excessive  issue  of  paper,  and  ruin- 
ing the  .speculators  by  its  sudden  contraction  ] 
The  only  criterion  by  wliicli  it  can  be  known 
whether  or  not  an  issue  of  paper  has  become 
excessive,  is  its  convertibility  into  casji.  When 
the  obligation  to  pay  every  note  issued  in  sp(M-ie 
is  taken  away,  this  criterion  is  entirely  lost ; 
there  is  no  longer  any  restriction  on  the  amount 
of  issues ;  and  the  enonnous  profits  accruing 
from  them  to  the  bank  will  soon  render  them 
excessive. 

"  Recent  events  have  too  clearly  illustrated 
the  realitv  of  this  danger.     In  181G,  the  average 


HISTORY   OF   EUJIOPE. 


11) 


circidation  of  the  Bank  of  England 
was  £26,500,000;  in  1817  it  was  concluded 
£28,200,000— so  that  there  was  an  in- 
crease in  that  species  of  paper  alone  of  two  mill- 
ions ;  although  the  resources  and  loans  of  1816 
were  £82,000,000,  and  in  1817  only  £69,000,000. 
The  average  circulation  of  country  banks  before 
1816  was  £21,000,000  ;  it  was  reduced  by  fully 
a  third  during  that  year,  but  it  had  been  in- 
creased by  the  same  amount  in  1817 ;  so  that, 
between  the  Bank  of  England  and  the  country 
banks,  there  had  been  an  increase  in  the  circu 
lation  in  one  year  of  no  less  than  £9,000,000  ! 
Was  there  any  intelligible  cause,  any  plausible 
excuse  even,  for  such  an  excessive  issue — the 
result  evidently  of  the  postponement  of  the  ob- 
ligation to  pay  in  specie  ]  Was  there  any  man 
of  common  honesty  who  could  deny,  in  these 
circumstances,  that  inquiry  is  necessary  ]  What 
has  become  of  all  this  money  ]  Could  it  have 
any  other  effect  but  raising  the  price  of  every 
thing]  Is  not  the  great  rise  which  has  taken 
place  in  the  Funds  in  the  last  year  entirely  to 
be  ascribed  to  that  circumstance  ]  And  what 
limit  can  be  assigned  to  future  dan-  i  pari.  Deb. 
ger,  when  in  so  short  a  time,  and  un-  xxxviii. 
der  circumstances  so  little  justifying  "^^s,  451 
it,  so  excessive  an  over-issue  has  taken  place  ]"^ 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  answered  by  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  Mr.  33 
Huskisson,  and  Mr.  Thornton  :  "The  Answer  by 
grounds  on  which  the  appointment  t'le  Miris- 
of  a  committee  to  inquire  into  the  af-  ^'^^^' 
fairs  of  the  bank  are  rested  are  entirely  falla- 
cious. The  internal  state  of  the  country  had 
never  been  so  distressed  as  it  was  in  1816,  and 
it  had  never  revived  so  rapidly  as  it  did  in  the 
last  halfof  1817  and  first  months  of  1818.  The 
issues  of  country  banks  had  increased  by  at 
least  £6,000,000  during  that  period ;  but  wky 
had  they  increased  ]  Simply  because  the  great 
impulse  communicated  to  the  agriculture,  trade, 
and  manufactures  of  the  country  during  that 
period  called  for  an  enlargement  of  the  issue 
to  carry  it  on.  The  diflcrence  between  the 
market  and  the  Mint  price  of  gold  was  erro- 
neously considered  as  a  test  of  the  sui)erabund- 
ance  of  paper  in  the  home  market ;  but  it  in  re- 
ality arose  from  a  very  dift'erent  cause  —  the 
gold  which  was  sent  out  of  the  country  to  pay 
up  foreign  loans,  and  meet  the  wants  of  British 
travelers.  The  experience  of  late  years  deci- 
sively proved  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Ihillion 
Comlnittee  in  1810,  that  the  difference  between 
the  market  and  the  Mint  price  of  gold  was  owing 
to  an  over-issue  of  pajjcr,  and  was  ni(\nsur(>d 
by  its  amount,  was  decisively  disproved  by  the 
facts  which  had  since  occurred.  In  1814  the 
bank  issues  were  £2:3,600,000,  and  the  market 
price  of  gold  was  £5  lO.s.  per  ounce;  in  1815 
the  l)ank  jjaper  was  .£26,300,000,  aiul  tiie  price 
of  gold  had  fallen  to  £4  6s.  Od.  jier  ounce  ; 
l)rovinglliat  the  ))rice  of  g<ild  was  owing  to  the 
enlianced  demand  for  it  ou  the  (Continent  to 
meet  the  exigences  of  foreign  war,  and  not  to 
any  excess  in  the  domestic  circulation. 

"  The  immen.se  loans  which  the  French  Gov- 
ernment has  been  obliged  to  contract 
in  the  present  year,  amounting  to  no  (•„„l'i,;ued 
less  than  £30,000,000  sterling,  most 
of  which  would  be  negotiated  in  this  country, 
necessarily  occasioned  a  very  great  drain  o<'golJ 


12 


HISTORY   or   EUROPE. 


[Chap.  IV 


fioiu  tliis  (Miinlry,  lor  wliicli  it  liclioovod  tlio  di- 
ri  elDis  1)1"  tlu'  hank  in  niakf  provision.  Aild  to 
tl  is  .1  loan  of  £5,000,000,  acUially  ucgotiatinR  at 
this  nioiuctil  111  London  'I'lu'sc  loans  won*  i>ij;lit 
times  the  amount  ol'tlu'  Austrian  loans,  in  1796, 
"I"  £1.500.000  whicli  the  directors  at  that  peri- 
od. l>v  a  solemn  resolution  laid  before  Mr.  Pitt, 
declared  would,  if  repeated,  prove  fatal  to  the 
hank.  It  is  true  the  postponement  of  cash  pay- 
ments for  a  year  is  a  deviation  from  what  was 
formerly  proposed  and  intended  ;  but  if  circum- 
stanees  change,  must  not  the  corresponding 
measures  change  also  I  The  sudden  disap- 
j)earance  of  gold  to  the  amount  of  £2,500,000 
in  October  last,  not  only  from  the  coffers  of  the 
bank,  but  frt)m  the  circulation  of  the  country, 
should  be  a  warning  of  the  danger  of  recurring 
to  cash  payments  when  extensive  r..mittanccs 
of  gold  required  to  be  made  to  foreign  coun- 
tries either  for  commercial  transactions  or  for- 
eign loans.  No  doubt,  by  an  unlimited  issue  of 
gold  from  the  bank,  provided  they  could  get  it 
to  issue,  it  might  be  possible  to  turn  the  present 
adverse  exchanges  in  favor  of  this  country. 
But  where  was  the  bank  to  find  gold  adequate 
to  counterbalance  the  greater  part  of  a  loan  of 
£30,000,000,  all  payable  in  specie,  which  was 
to  go  from  this  country  ] 

"  The  proper  time  for  resuming  cash  pay- 
ments is  when  the  exchanges  are  at 
Concluded.  °^"  ^bove  par.  The  great  danger  of 
a  paper  circulation  is  its  tendency  to 
increase  itself,  from  the  profit  with  which  such 
increase  is  attended  to  the  issuers ;  and  if  the 
bank  had  been  prepared  with  gold,  it  would  have 
been  desirable  to  have  returned  to  cash  pay- 
ments last  year ;  but  this  year  the  thing  w-as 
impossible.  The  exchanges,  from  the  large  im- 
portations of  foreign  grain,  and  the  immense  for- 
eign loans  negotiated  in  this  country,  were  so 
much  against  us,  that  to  do  so  at  this  time  was 
out  of  the  question.  The  loans  were  for  the 
most  part  remitted  to  the  Continent  in  bills  of 
exchange  ;  and  it  is  no  doubt  true  that  a  consid- 
erable part  of  such  bills  may  be  paid  in  goods 
manufactured  in  this  country.  But  they  can  not 
all  be  so  paid,  especially  when  loans  to  a  very 
large  amount  have  to  be  remitted  ;  because  the 
foreign  recipients  of  the  loans  can  not  take  an 
unlimited  quantity  of  goods  ;  they  can  take  only 
so  much  as  their  inhabitants  are  willing  to  pur- 
chase and  able  to  pay  for.  The  balance,  which 
is  often  very  large,  must  aU  be  paid  in  money ; 
and  the  fact  of  the  exchanges  being  now  so 
much  against  us,  proves  that  the  foreign  mark- 
'  Pari.  Deb.  ^ts  are  already  overstocked  with 
xxxviii.  our  manufactures,  and  that  the  only 
435,  498.  thing  they  will  take  is  our  gold,  for 
which  there    is   a    never- failing   demand.'"'* 


*  On  this  occasion  Mr.  Huskisson  used  these  expres- 
sions, which  subsequent  events  have  rendered  prophetic : 
"The  facility  enjojed  by  Great  Britain  of  extending  her 
paper  circulation,  has  had  the  like  effect  that  had  been 
found  to  arise  from  the  discovery  of  the  mines  of  Amer- 
ica ;  for,  by  increasing  the  circulating  medium  over  the  world 
to  the  extent  of  forty  millions,  it  proportionally  facilitated 
the  means  of  barter,  and  gave  a  stirnulu.s  to  industry.  In 
proportion,  however,  as  the  bank  found  it  necessary  to 
purchase  gold  on  the  Continent  to  meet  its  engagements 
with  the  public  here,  the  circulating  medium  of  the  Con- 
tinent was  diminished ;  and,  as  the  Continental  States 
did  not  enjoy  the  credit  possessed  by  this  country,  and 
werj  tiereby  debarred  from  increasing  their  paper  circu- 
lation, the  result  was  discernible  in  tlie  great  confusion 
nad  de  erioration  of  property  that  bad  taken  place  on  the 


Upon  this  di^hati^  the  House  ol  Jon.mons  sup- 
ported .Minister.^  by  a  majority  of  G5 — the  num 
hers  being  KM  to  00.  The  Committee  moved 
for  i)y  .Mr.  Ticrney  was  refused,  and  the  sus- 
pension of  cash  i)ayments  was  continued  till 
5th  July,  18 19. 

This,  like  every  thing  relating  to  the  currency 
and,  in  consequence,  general  credit  4i_ 

and  prosperity  of  the  country,  was  Bill  oflndem 

bv  far  the  most  important  measure  "">'  fo^  P"- 
V.i  •  rri     1-  »       11    *   SOUS  seized 

of  this  session  of  Parliament.  But  unjerthesus- 
others  deserving  of  mention  also  pci  sion  of  iiie 
took  place.  Under  the  suspension  HaieasCor 
of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  a  great  P""  '^"• 
number  of  persons  had  been  arrestc  d  undei 
warrants  from  the  Home  Office  in  tlu-  preced- 
ing year ;  and  one  of  the  earliest  mea  iures  of 
the  (jovernment,  in  the  session  of  18U ,  was  to 
move  for  a  committee  to  report,  with  a  view  to 
a  bill  of  indemnity  to  Ministers  for  their  pro- 
ceedings in  regard  to  the  persons  who  had  been 
imprisoned  without  being  brought  to  trial.  In 
the  debates  which  ensued  on  this  subject,  the 
most  vehement  attacks  were-  made  on  Minis- 
ters, on  the  ground  of  their  having  been,  in  fact, 
the  authors  of  the  conspiracy  in  the  preceding 
year,  by  the  employment  of  spies  to  excite  it. 
Lord  Sidmouth,  in  reply,  rested  on  the  informa- 
tion transmitted  to  Government  by  the  highest 
magistrates  and  functionaries  in  the  kingdom  ; 
in  particular.  Earl  Fitzwilliam,  the  Whig  lord- 
lieutenant  of  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  as 
to  the  disturbances  being  the  result  of  a  settled 
conspiracy  to  overturn  the  Government,  and  the 
impossibility  of  obtaining  the  requisite  informa- 
tion to  trace  it  out  without  the  employment  of 
agents  who  might  get  into  the  confidence  of 
the  disaffected.     After  very  warm  debates,  the 

Continent  during  the  last  two  years.  Indeed,  he  had  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  much  of  the  distress  that  had  pre 
vailed  upon  the  Continent  was  fairly  attributable  to  ihe 
purchase  of  bullion  by  the  Bank  of  England.  The  increafco 
of  the  circulating  medium  of  this  country  has  given  a  gre;it 
stimulus  to  its  arts  and  industry :  it  was  only  to  be  la 
mented  that,  while  the  general  appearance  cftiie  country 
had  so  mucli  improved,  the  comforts  and  reward.s  of  the 
laborers  had  been  much  reduced.  The  population  of  the 
country  had  increased  in  proportion  to  the  rapidity  with 
which  the  circulating  medium  had  advanced ;  but  though 
there  was  an  increased  demand  for  labor,  its  wages,  meas- 
ured by  the  existing  price  of  grain,  were  diminished.  But 
the  general  improvement  of  the  country.undertlie  extend- 
ed currency,  is  proved  by  facts  beyond  all  dispute.  From 
1654  to  1758  there  had  not  been  one  bill  of  indosure — and 
this  country  imported  corn  ;  from  1754  to  179fi,  during 
which  there  had  been  a  rapid  increase  of  the  circulating 
medium  by  imports  from  the  mines  of  America,  bills  of  in- 
dosure to  the  number  of  3500  had  been  passed,  and  this 
country  had  become  an  exporting  country.  It  is  idle  to  tall, 
of  the  resumption  of  cash  payments  producing  any  serimut 
convulsion  ;  at  the  same  time,  nothing  has  tended  more  to 
create  alarm  than  the  clamor  raised  on  the  subject  of  the 
resumption  of  cash  payments  by  the  bank.  It  was  noto- 
rious that  in  Scotland,  even  previous  to  the  restriction  upon 
cash  payments  at  the  Bank  of  England,  the  principal  cur- 
rency was  in  paper,  and  that  there  was  very  little  gold 
currency  in  that  country.  Such,  indeed,  was  the  happy 
system  of  the  chartered  banks  in  Scotland,  that,  even  in 
the  years  1793  and  1796,  when  the  pressure  was  felt  as  so 
distressing  in  England,  no  inconvenience  was  felt  in  that 
country  from  want  of  a  metallic  currency.  Nevertheless, 
he  felt  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  bank  to  resume  cash 
payments  as  soon  as  possible  ;  and  he  was  convinced  that, 
by  a  gradual,  temperate,  and  cautious  conduct,  the  resump- 
tion might  take  place  without  risking  any  material  altera- 
tion in  the  affairs  of  the  country."  —  Mr.  IIuskisson's 
Speech,  May  1,  1818;  Pari.  Deb.  x.xxviii.  490,  491.  It  \i 
hard  to  find  a  speech  in  which  more  valuable  and  decisive 
facts  are  adduced  on  one  side,  or  more  erroneous  opinionB, 
notwithstanding,  adhered  to  on  the  other,  thm  in  thi» 
very  remarkable  oration 


i818  J 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


iri 


bill  of  indemnity  passed  both  Houses  by  large 
majorities — that  in  the  Commons  being  82  to 
33— in  the  Lords,  93  to  27;  the  suspension  of 
the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  was  allowed  to  expire 
on  the  1st  March  ;  and  Lord  Sidmouth  commu- 
nicated the  gratifying  information  that  any  fur- 
ther continuance  of  it  was  no  longer  required, 
and  that  only  two  persons  who  had  been  appre- 
hended under  it  remained  still  in  custody.*  The 
conduct  of  Lord  Sidmouth  during  this  trying 
time  was  the  subject  of  vehement  party  con- 
demnation at  the  tune  it  was  going  on  ;  but,  like 
all  other  conduct  which  is  at  once  judicious, 
necessary,  and  intrepid,  it  obtained  in  the  end 
» Pari.  Deb.  the  applause  even  of  its  most  impas- 
xxxvii.338,  sibned  opponents;  and  his  biogra- 
395 ;  Sid-  pj^gj.  jjiay  Well  pride  himself  on  the 
Life  iii.  testimony  borne  to  it,  twenty-five 
2i3,'2i5,  years  after,  by  one  of  the  most  de- 
217,  221,  termined  of  his  parliamentary  antag- 
^-^-  omsts.'t 

The  troops  voted  for  the  army  in  1818  were 
^r,  113,640    men,   including    those    in 

iMilitai-y  and  France,  being  a  reduction  of  22,000 
naval  forces  from  those  voted  in  the  preceding 
voted,  and  yg^r ;  and  20,000,  including  6000 
marines,  only  were  proposed  for  the 
navy.  The  great  reduction  of  these  numbers, 
compared  with  the  establishment  which  had  been 
kept  up  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  which  was 
150,000  soldiers  and  39,000  sailors,  showed  how 
much  the  resources  of  Government  had  been 
hampered  by  the  distresses  of  the  country,  and 
how  much  the  abohtion  of  the  income-tax — as 
Lord  Castlereagh  had  predicted  it  would — dis- 
abled the  country  from  maintaining  the  establish- 
ment called  for  by  its  multifarious  and  wide- 
spread dependences.  The  average  number  of 
notes  of  the  Bank  of  England,  from  January  to 
June,  1817,  had  been  £27,339,000 ;  but  from  July 
to  December  it  rose  to  £29,210,000,  and  contin- 
ued above  £28,000,000  through  1818.  This  con- 
siderable increase  in  the  circulating  medium 
was  attended  by  a  corresponding  rise  in  the 
revenue,  and  increase  in  the  prosperity  of  the 
kingdom.  The  entire  income  of  the  United 
Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  for  1818 
was  £68,294,568,  of  which  £10,850,000  was 
loans  or  advances  on  Exchequer  bills,  leaving 
£57,444,508  for  the  net  revenue  from  taxation 


*  "I  can  not  conclude  without  calling  to  your  recollec- 
tion that  all  this  tumultuous  assembling,  riotinr;,  and  so 
forth,  is  not  the  conseijucnce  of  di.strcss,  want  of  employ- 
ment, scarcity  or  dearness  of  provisions,  but  is  the  ofT- 
apring  of  a  revolutionary  spirit;  and  nothing  short  of  a 
complete  change  in  the  established  institutions  of  the  coun- 
try is  in  the  contemplation  of  tlicir  leaders  and  agitators.'' 
— Earl  FiTZWiLLlAM  to  Lord  Sidmouth,  ITtli  Dec.  1817. 
Sidmouth's  Life,  iii.  214. 

t  "  A.8  I  have  been  correcting  the  press  of  the  third  vol- 
ume of  OT(r  dear  friend  Lord  VVellesley's  memoirs,  in  the 
third  volimie  of  my  'Statesmen,'  I  thought  your  lordship 
would  like  to  see  the  just,  and  most  just,  tribute  which 
I  have  paid  to  your  public  conduct.  I  well  know  that 
nothing  would  have  gratified  more  him  who  unceasingly 
ascrilicil  so  much  of  his  success  to  your  wise  and  generous 
support."— Lord  Ijkouoiam  to  Lord  Sid.moutii,  Sept.  24, 
1843.  .Sidmnulh'n  Mnnnirs,  iii.  222.  The  pasaago  alluded 
to  was  in  these  words:  "Lord  Wcllesley  was  only  pre- 
vailed oirto  retain  his  position  in  India,  at  a  most  critical 
period  of  Indian  history,  by  the  earnest  intercession  of 
Mr.  Pitt's  (Jovernrnent,  who  g;ive  him,  as  Loril  Sidmouth 
did,  with  his  characteristic  courage,  sagacity,  and  firm- 
ness, tlnir  sleaily  Kiipport.  Lord  Wellesley  always  grate- 
fully acknowliilgi'd  the  merits  and  services  of  Lord  Sid- 
mouth, to  vvluiipi,  tlirough  life,  he  hid  been  nnicti  ntlacli 
<i."—Stntr.i7)irn  of  t lit  Tiim:  nf  dean'e  til ,  iii.  30', 

Vol..  I-H 


— a  great  increase  fivii  tlic  ji  ecciling  ycai, 
when  it  had  been  £5.5,783,000  only.' 
The  cheering  effect  of  this  change  ^  jg""''  ''  " 
appeared  in  a  still  more  decisive 
manner  in  the  state  of  the  linking  Fund,  which 
now,  for  the  first  time  since  the  peace,  began  to 
exceed  the  loan  borrowed  during  the  year,  and 
so  to  afford  a  prospect  of  a  real  reduction  of  the 
debt.     The  surplus  of  the  Consolidated  Fund 
this  year  was  no  less  than  £15,038,000,  and  ti.e 
loans  contracted  £10,850,000,  leaving  a  balam  e 
of  £4,188,000  reallv  paid  off.    In  addition  to  this, 
£27,000,000  of  Exchequer  bills  were  funded  tl.'s 
year,  the  money  for  which  was  borrowed  at  tl.e 
very  moderate  rate  of  £4  per  cent.     In  the 
course  of  his  statement  on  the  Budget,  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer  mentioned  that  such  had 
been  the  progress  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  that  since 
1st  November,  1815,  and  1st  June,  1818,  it  h;.d 
paid  ofr£50,000,000  of  stock,  and  was  nowabo^  e 
£15,000,000  a  year.     The  entire  sum  paid  off 
by  the  Sinking  Fund,  since  its  commencemer.t 
by  Mr.  Pitt  in  1786,  was  £347,119,000— a  fact 
speaking  volumes  as  to  the  wis-  ^ 
dom  of  his  finance  system,  and  the  {.oun"ts"'^ParT 
wonders  which  it  would  have  ef-  Deb.  xl'.  32, 
fected  toward  the  extinction  of  the  39,  App.  and 
debt  had  it  been  adhered  to  by  his  20^^'^' '~''~' 
successors.* 

The  expenditure  of  1818,  as  ascertained  by 
the  accounts  laid  before  Parliament         .„ 
in  1819,  amounted  to  £68,821,000,  Expendi- 
of  which  no  less  than  £44,800,000  ture,  andin 
was  for  the  interest  of  the  debt  and  crease  of  e.\ 
Sinking  Fund.     This  was  a  trifling  ports',  "nil 
reduction  since  the  preceding  year,  shipping,  it. 
when    the    expenditure    had    been  ^''''''  ^"'l 
£68,875,000.*    The  accounts  of  ex-  ^*'^^- 
ports,  imports,  and  shipping  exhibited  a  steady 
and  gratifying  increase  since  the  year  of  woe- 
ful depression,  1816,  which  will  best  appear  by 
comparing  the  returns  for  these  different  years 
together.t     The  increase  of  imports  and  ship 
ping  inward,  it  is  to  be  particularly  observed,  in 
three  years,  is  more  than  twice  as  great  as  that 
of  the  total  exports,  home  and  colonial ;  for  the 
shipping  had  advanced  from  17  to  20,  and  the 
imports  from  30  to  40,  but  the  exjiorts  only  from 
51  to  56.     As  this  took  place  at  a  time  when 
industry  in  all  its  branches  at  home  was  ade- 
quately protected  by  fiscal  duties,  this  afford? 
decisive  evidence  that  the  internal  consumptior. 


The  items  were  as  follow : 

Interest  of  debt  and  Sinking  Fund £'\fifi\9,KZ 

Civil  List,  &c 2,3T6,n:9 

('ivil  Government  of  Scotland 129,027 

Other  payments  out  of  Consolidated  Fund  483,471 

Navy (1,521,714 

Ordnance 1,407,807 

Army 8,517,044 

Foreign  Loans 200 

Local  Issues 00,078 

Miscellaneous 2,620,891 

X'C8,si007(i7O 
DedU'    >ian  to  East  India  Company.  144.036 

Total i(i8,ti2r437 

-Ann.  Ueq.  1819,  408— faK.  Accounts. 


Exportii,  <.irinril 


1817 
1818 
1819 


liiipcirta.  ofllciat 

■nluo.  Honri-nnil 

Colonml,  firent 

IlrltHin. 

ijao,  105,500 
33,905,232 
40,157,034 


Sliil'I'i"S  inwnrj. 

T,795,T38tons, 
2.070.132     " 
2,048,8,11     " 


-   I'arl.  Actount.i,  in)'.  Rrg   18r<»,  404,  407 


114 


(llsroUV    OK    KUROPE. 


[Ciii».  [7 


of '.ho  joiintiy  liatl  nmliVfiono  even  a  greater 
m.rrease  than  its  luainirai'tmes  lor  tlie  e.\|H»rt 
"lie,  ami  that  aiirifulturc  ami  the  titajilc  braiicli- 
'>s  orildiut'stio  imliisiiy  liail.  in  a  fireat  dcjiree, 
reef  veretl  thmi  the  state  ot'deijression  in  whieh, 
from  tiie  ruinous  elVeet  of  low  ])riees,  they  were 
sunk  in  the  first  year  aller  tlie  war. 

Notwithstanding  tlie  still  laboring  condition 
^^  of  the  fiiianees  of  the  empire,  in  con- 
Gram  of  a  seijuenee  of  the  loss  of  the  income- 
million  to  lax,  Ministers  had  the  courage  to  pro- 
bjiid  iitw  p,,g^>^  ;,mj  {i,^>  House  of  Commons  the 
.-nurciics.    ^.^^j^^^  ^^  ^.^^^^^^  ^  ^^^^^  ^j.  £1  QOQ  000 

sterling  toward  the  building  of  new  churches, 
chiefly  in  the  manufiicturing  districts.  The  ne- 
cessity of  this  was  very  apparent ;  for,  in  many 
^•ounties,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  persons  had, 
within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  been  sud- 
denly huddled  together,  for  whom  the  old  par- 
ish accommodation,  calculated  for  perhaps  an 
hundredth  part  of  their  amount,  was  wholly  in- 
adequate.* The  necessary  result  of  this  was, 
on  the  one  hand,  a  vast  increase  of  dissent  to 
meet  the  religious  wants  of  such  great  and 
growing  communities  ;  and,  on  the  other,  a  still 
greater  increase  of  that  profligate  and  sensual 
class,  the  parent  of  crime,  wliich  lived  altogeth  ■ 
cr  without  God  in  the  world.  The  money  was 
raised  by  Exchequer  bills,  and  was  aided,  to  the 
amount  of  above  thirty  per  cent.,  by  munificent 
subscriptions  of  private  individuals  ;  yet  all  fell 
lamentably  short  of  the  necessities  of  the  case. 
There  is  no  solid  foundation  for  the  objection 
that  such  grants,  being  for  the  promotion  of  a 
particular  religion,  should  not  come  from  the 
public  funds,  which  are  obtained  by  assess- 
ment from  all  sects.  It  is  the  duty  of  Govern- 
ment to  provide  for  the  religious  instruction  of 
the  destitute  poor  who  can  not  pay  for  it  them- 
selves, and  the  building  of  additional  churches 
is  the  first  step  in  the  discharge  of  that  duty. 
The  religious  accommodation  provided  should 
always  be  in  the  established  faith  of  the  coun- 
try, being  the  faith  of  the  majority  of  the  whole 
inhabitants,  and  w'hich  the  nation  has  deemed 
the  true  one — just  as  the  defenders  of  the  coun- 
try should  be  arrayed  under  the  national  ban- 
ners and  in  the  national  uniform,  whatever  their 
private  opinions  may  be.  J^or  those  who  do  not 
approve  of  it,  and  prefer  the  luxury  of  dissent, 


*  It  was  stated  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  E.xchequer,  iu 
proposing  this  grant,  that  the  proportion  of  persons  who 
MMiid  be  accommodated  in  the  existing  churches  and 
chapels,  to  the  existing  population  in  the  under-mention- 
ed towns  and  districts,  stood  as  follows  : 


Fu;julHtiou 
in  1811. 

SiUinM  ui 
Cliurches. 

Deficiency. 

1,129,451 
720,091 
1,286,702 
325,209 
94,376 
79,459 
75,624 

151,536 
139,163 
228,696 
59,503 
21,000 
10,950 
8,700 

977,915 
720.091 
1,040,006 
265,706 
73,376 
68,509 
66,924 

York  diocese 

Chester  diocese 

Winchester  diocese. 

Manchester 

—Pari.  Debates,  xxxvii.  1119,  1122. 

See  also  a  very  interesting  publication  on  church  ac- 
commodation, by  the  Rev.  M.  Yate^  cplete  with  valua- 
ble information. 

A  parliamentary  return  in  this  year  showed  that  there 
were  in  England  and  Wales- 
Benefices  10,421  \  for  a  population  above 

Churches  and  chapels  11,743  5  10,000,000. 

Glebe  houses  fit  for  residence 5417 

Benefices  under  £100  a  year 2274 

Do.       under  £150  a  year 3503 

-JTiiOHES,  vi.  362,  and  Pari.  Rep.  No.  79,  1818. 


every  possible  facility,  in  the  way  of  private  es 
tablishuu'iit,  shouli)  tie  given  ;  but  i  p^^^  p^i, 
the  state  can,  with  propriety,  from  xxxvii  1118 
the   pulilic  fluids,  support  onlv  its  xx.xviii.  420, 
own  spiritual  militia.'  "  4J0, 462. 

Another  benevolent  and  most  praiseworthy 
attempt  was  made  in  this  session  45. 

of  Parliament,  wiiich,  unfortunate-  Treaty  with 
ly,  was  not  attended  witii  the  same  Spain  for  thn 
,-'„.,  ,.  ,,,,  .  abolition  of 

beneficial  results.  1  his  was  a  the  slave 
treaty  with  Spain,  concluded  on  trade. 
23d  September,  1817,  for  putting  an  s«pt- 23,1817 
end  to  the  slave-trade,  which  gave  rise,  in  tho 
next  session,  to  interesting  debates  in  both 
Houses  of  Parliament.  13y  this  treaty,  in  con- 
sideration of  the  sum  of  £400,000,  to  be  paid  by 
Great  Britain  on  the  30th  February,  1818,  as 
an  indemnity  to  the  persons  engaged  in  tliat  tral 
fie,  the  court  of  Madrid  engaged,  from  and  after 
the  30th  May,  1820,  that  the  slave-trade  should 
be  absolutely  abolished  ;  and  that,  from  that 
date,  "  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  of  the  sub- 
jects of  the  crown  of  Spain  to  purchase  slaves, 
or  to  carry  on  the  slave-trade  on  any  part  of  the 
coast  of  Africa,  upon  any  pretext,  or  in  any  man- 
ner whatever."  It  was  declared  unlawful,  from 
the  dale  of  the  treaty,  for  Spanish  ships  to  carry 
on  the  slave-trade  on  any  part  of  the  coast  of 
Africa  to  the  north  of  the  equator ;  and  a  recip- 
rocal right  of  search  on  the  part  of  ships  of  war 
of  both  countries  was  expressly  provided  for. 
A  similar  treaty  for  the  entire  suppression  of  the 
slave-trade  was  concluded  with  the 
King  of  the  Netherlands  ;="  and  tribu-  ]^l^^  " 
nals,  composed  of  judges  from  both 
countries,  were  appointed  to  adjudicate  upon  the 
seized  vessels ;  and  a  bill  passed  establishing 
similar  mixed  tribunals  for  vessels  seized  be- 
longing to  Portugal,  which  had  already  consent- 
ed to  the  abolition.  It  will  appear  in  the  se^ 
quel  how  these  treaties,  conceived  in  a  noble 
spirit,  were  evaded,  and  how  long,  and  with 
what  cruelty,  the  slave-trade  was  afterward 
carried  on  by  the  merchants  of  every  part  of 
the  Spanish  peninsula.  But  it  must  ever  be 
considered  a  glorious  circumstance  in  the  his- 
tory of  Great  Britain  that  she  took  the  lead  in 
this  great  deliverance  ;  that  she  set  the  exam- 
ple by  first  abolishing  the  odious  traffic  in  her 
own  dominions ;  that  she  contributed  a  large 
sum,  when  embarrassed  in  finance  and  over- 
burdened with  debt,  to  purchase  its  abolition  in 
foreign  states  ;  and  that,  if  it  still  continued  to 
be  carried  on  under  their  flags,  it  was  3  p^^]  pg^ 
in  opposition  to  her  example,  and  xxxvii.  67, 
notwithstanding  the  utmost  efforts  and  xxxviii. 
on  her  part  to  prevent  it.^  ^'■^^'  ^''^^■ 

The  Alien  Bill — which  gives  Goverwment  the 

power  to  apprehend  and  send  out  of         46. 

the  country  foreigners  residing  in  it,  Alien  Bin, 

who  may  be  engaged  in  machina    """^  ^\^-    , 
i-  *      J-  .1     1,  f^  L,-     .  •,     lirougham* 

tions  to  disturb  the  public  tranquil-  committee 

lity  in  this  or  the  adjoining  states —  concerning 
was,  notwithstanding  the  most  vio-  charities, 
lent  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  Opposition, 
continued  for  two  years  longer.  It  was  justly 
deemed  unsafe  and  unwise  to  let  a  knot  of  for- 
eign refugees  make  London  their  head-quarters 
for  rekindling  the  flames  of  war  on  the  Conti- 
nent ;  and  the  recent  example  of  the  return  of 
Napoleon  from  Elba  afforded  decisive  evidence 
of  the  disastrous  results  to  which  the  toleratjon 


M18. 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


lid 


of  even  a  tmall  body  of  such  conspirators  might 
lead.  Mr.  Brougham  took  an  active  part  in  op- 
posing the  bill,  but  it  was  carried  by  a  majority 
of  65 — the  numbers  being  94  to  29.  Mr.  Brough- 
am found  a  much  more  worthy  field  for  his  tal- 
ents in  the  report  of  a  committee,  which  he  had 
succeeded  in  getting  appointed,  on  the  charita- 
ble trusts  and  establishments  of  Great  Britain 
f'or  the  education  of  the  poor.  The  report,  which 
was  a  most  valuable  and  elaborate  one,  bore 
testimony  to  the  great  and  increasing  thirst  of 
the  poor  in  all  situations  for  education,  and  the 
praiseworthy  zeal  with  which  the  inquiries  of 
the  committee  had  been  seconded  by  the  clergy 
of  all  denominations  in  every  part  of  the  isl- 
and ;  but  stated,  at  the  same  time,  "  that  a  very 
great  deficiency  exists  in  the  means  of  educat- 
ing the  poor,  wherever  the  population  is  thin 
and  scattered  over  country  districts.  Tiie  ef- 
forts of  individuals  combined  in  societies  are 
almost  all  confined  to  populous  places.  Noth- 
ing, in  such  situations,  can  supply  the  deficiency 
but  the  adoption,  under  certain  material  modi- 
fications, of  the  parish-school  system,  so  use- 
fully established  in  the  northern  part  of  the  isl- 
and ever  since  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century."  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  jus- 
tice of  these  observations ;  but  it  is 
1  By  the  Act  ^  most  extraordinary  circumstance 
ParUament  that,  notwithstanding  their  undenia- 
1696,  c.  ble  weight,  no  provision  for  a  general 

xviii. ;  Re-     system  of  parochial  education  has 
m°uee  on""'  J'^^  been  made  in  England,  and  still 
Education,    more  e.xtraordinary  tiiat  it  was  fully 
June  3,1818;  established,  and  has  ever  since  been 
xx'^vrn'^eil    ^cted  upon  with  the  best  eti'ects,  in 
827, 1207.    '  Scotland,  above  a  century  and  a  half 
ago.' 
Sir  Samuel  Romilly  continued,  through  this 
4"  session  of  Parliament,  his  humane 

Zffons  of  and  benevolent  efforts  to  effect  a  mit- 
sir  Samuel    jgation  of  our  criminal  code,  and  suc- 

^i?.Ti',l'^„ '°  ceeded  in  getting  through  the  House 
obtain  a  re-  &        .  ^n  ^        P  *■       ..i 

laxation  of  of  Commons  a  bill  for  abrogating  the 
our  criminal  punishment  of  death  for  stealing  un- 
code.  ^lyj.  fjjg  value  of  £5  in  shops.     He 

introduced  this  measure  in  a  luminous  speech, 
in  which  he  stigmatized  excessive  severity  of 
punishment  as  the  greatest  of  all  promoters  of 
ririinc,  by  discouraging  prosecutions,  and  thus 
practically,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  leading  to 
impunity.  In  these  attempts  he  was  seconded 
by  a  still  abler  man,  Sir  James  M.ukintosh, 
who,  in  the  same  session,  obtained  the  ajipoint- 
mcnt  of  a  committee  to  examine  into  the  most 
effectual  means  of  preventing  the  forgery  of 
bank-notes.  1'he  general  concurrence  of  both 
sides  of  the  House  in  thi.s  measure  proved  that 
the  time  was  fast  approaciiing  when  thr'  cruel 
and  excessive  severity  of  our  criiiiinal  law- 
would  yield  to  a  mor(!  humane  and  enliglitened 
system.  When  Sir  Sairiuel's  bill,  however,  was 
sent  up  to  the  House  of  Lords,  Uk;  Giiaficellor, 
Eldon,  succeeded  in  getting  it  thrown  out,  as 
he  had  already  reijcatedly  (h)iie  i)(;fore.  He 
was  deterred  by  the,  effects  whicii  had  followed 
the  bill  passed  in  the  preceding  .session  of  Par- 
liament, removing  the  punishment  of  deatli  from 
theft  from  the  person,  forgetting  that  the  only 
effectual  way  of  repressing  crime  is  by  insuring 
its  punishment ;  and  that  an  increase  of  prose- 
cutions may,  and  sometimes  docs,  arise  more 


from  the  guilty  heing  n  ore  read-  '  I'ari-  Deb. 
ily    brought    to    punishment^  than  tw^J^ss-.s' LiTe 
from  their  absolute  number  increas-  of  Eldon.  ii 
ing.'  316. 

The  period  had  now,  however,  arrived  when 
the  great  la^vyer  and  humane  legis-         ^g 
later,  with  whom  these  reforms  had  Death  and 
first  originated,  was  to  be  withdrawn  character  of 
from  this  earthly  scene.     The  ex-  loinQiy"*^' 
cessive  labors  of  Sir  Samuel  Rom- 
illy's  life,  arising  from  the  combination  of  tne 
highest  practice  at  the  Chancery  bar,  with  the 
late  hours,  continual  excitement,  and  occasion- 
al efliirts  in  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
came  at  length  to  unsettle  a  mind  which,  not- 
withstanding its  powers,  had  a  constitutional 
tendency  to  excessive  sensitiveness.     He  had 
recently  before  been  returned,  without  canvass- 
ing or  solicitation,  for  Westminster,  and  was  at 
the  very  zenith  of  his  fortune,  fame,  and 
usefulness,  when,  on  the  2d  November,  jj'jg'  ' 
1818,  he  was  found  with  life   extinct, 
having  committed  suicide  in  a  fit  of  insanity. 
Lady  Romilly,  to  whom  he  was  tenderly  at- 
tached, had  died  three  days  previously  ;  and  for 
some  weeks  before  he  had  been  in  a  very  nerv- 
ous state,  having  for  many  nights  together  lost 
the  power  of  sleeping.     The  grief  consequent 
on  this  melancholy  bereavement  so  preyed  on  a 
mind  naturally  sensitive  and  nervous,  and  over- 
wrought by  excessive  exertion,  as  to  produce 
the   melancholy  catastrophe   which  „„     ...  ,,_^ 
deprived  the  bar  of  one  of  its  bright-  ^jfe  iii.    *" 
est  ornaments — the  country  of  one  367,  36S , 
of  its  most  useful  and  philanthropic  ^'ys'iesjVi 
legislators.* 

Sir  Samuel  Romilly  was  undoubtedly  a  very 
remarkable  man  :  that  is  sufficiently  49.  ' 
proved  by  his  having  risen,  without  Hischarar- 
either  family  or  official  connections,  '*""• 
to  the  head  of  the  Chancery  bar.  His  powers 
of  reasoning  were  veiy  considerable — his  appli- 
cation immense  —  his  memory  retentive  and 
ready.  By  adopting  De  Witt's  maxim  of  doing 
every  thing  at  its  proper  time,  and  putting  ev- 
ery thing  in  its  proper  place,  he  succeeded  in 
getting  through  a  mass  of  business,  both  legal 
and  parliamentary,  which  would  have  crushed 
any  ordinary  man.  At  the  same  time,  he  kept 
up  with  the  whole  literature  of  the  day — devot- 
ed the  evening  of  Saturday  and  the  whole  of 
Sunday  to  the  enjoyment  of  his  family  in  the 
country,  and  never  allowed  secular  labor  to  in- 
terfere with  the  appointed  seventli  day  of  n^st. 
He  was  eminently  sincere  and  pious  in  his  feel- 
ings, and  humane  in  his  disposition  almost  to  a 
fault.  It  was  the  strength  of  these  feelings 
which  led  him  to  engage  with  such  warmth, 
and  prosecute  witli  sucii  perseverance,  the  n  f- 
ormation  of  the  criminal  co(h'  of  England,  and 
the  extirpation  of  the  many  sanguinary  enact- 
ments which  disgraced  its  .statute-book.  Hu- 
manity owes  him  much  for  having  i)een  the  first 
to  enter  upon  tliat  glorious  task.  Yet  is  it,  per- 
hajis,  not  to  be  regrettcnl  in  a  geneial  point  of 
view,  however  grievous  his  loss  was  to  his  fam- 
ily and  friends,  that  he  was  cut  short  when  he 
was  in  his  career  of  mercy,  for  his  mantle  dc- 
Bcended  upon  a  much  superior  man — a  greater 
philosophic  lawyer.  He  was  i)y  no  means  tho 
('(lual,  either  in  jihilosophy,  oratory,  or  political 
wisdom,  of  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  who  f  illow 


116 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


[Chap.  :V 


Cil  in  his  footsteps.  His  miml  was  osscntially 
stMisitivi-.  "  Improssiouable  foiiimc  uiic  li'ininc," 
mis;lit  he  saiii,  with  not  less  truth,  ol"  him  than 
olLamartine  in  arter  days.  Hence  he  was  a 
warm  party  man,  and  never  rose  to  tliose  lolly 
views  hy  which  Bacon,  Burke,  and  Mackintosh 
showed  themselves  qualilied  to  direct  the 
thou^ihts  of  future  times.  His  excessive  sens- 
il)ility  and  mental  weaknesses  did  not  appear 
in  his  public  career,  hut  have  been  prominently 
brought  forward  by  tlie  indiscreet  zeal  of  his 
1  xwiss'i  li'i'Sriiplii'i".  ^^  whose  amiable  partial- 
Lire  of  ity  they  appeared  as  excellences.' 
Eidon,  ii.  Ho  was  in  the  highest  degree  amia- 
^-^-  ble  in  private  life,  and  beloved  alike 

by  his  friends  and  t)pi)onents.  When  Lord  El- 
don  first  beheld  the  vacant  seat  within  the  bar 
where  Sir  Samuel  used  to  sit,  he  was  so  af- 
fected that  he  burst  into  tears,  and  broke  up  the 
court. 
Another  remarkable  man  died  this  year,  sec- 
ond to  none  in  intellectual  vigor  and 
Death  and  capacity,  although  they  were  dis- 
c'.iaracter  of  played  rather  in  legal  argument  than 
Lord  Ellen-  the  larger  political  arena.  This  was 
borough.  Lord  EUenborough,  Chief-justice  of 
the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  who  died,  after  a 
„  lingering  illness,  on  13th  December. 
His  health  had  long  been  declining. 
Like  almost  all  the  other  great  lawyers  at  the 
English  bar,  he  was  the  architect  of  his  own 
fortune.  Of  respectable  origin,  the  fourth  son 
of  Dr.  Law,  Bishop  of  Carlisle,  he  was  yet  with- 
out either  connection  or  patronage,  and  owed 
his  elevation  entirely  to  the  uncommon  vigor 
and  force  of  his  understanding.  These  were 
such  that  they  in  a  manner  forced  him  into 
greatness,  and  would  have  done  so,  like  other 
great  men,  in  any  career,  civil  or  military,  upon 
w'hich  he  might  have  entered.  Nothing  can 
surpass  the  force  of  the  arguments  which  he 
delivered  at  the  bar,  or  the  lucidity  and  master- 
ly analysis  of  the  judgments  he  pronounced  on 
the  bench.  They  remain  in  the  law  reports 
enduring  monuments  of  the  clearness  and  pow- 
er of  ^is  understanding.  He  was  a  Whig  in 
politics  ;  and  one  of  the  most  unpopular  acts  of 
that  party,  when  they  came  into  power  in  1806, 
was  giving  him  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet — a  step 
which,  however  palliated  in  his  case  by  his 
great  abilities,  was  justly  regarded  as  of  dan- 
gerous example  in  future  times,  as  putting  in 
hazard  the  independence  of  the  bench.  He 
continued  throughout  life  a  Whig,  but  a  Whig 
of  the  old  school — that  is,  one  who  inclined  to 
the  aristocratic,  not  the  democratic,  part  of  the 
Constitution.  Hence,  when  he  was  made  Chief 
Justice  in  1802,  it  was  a  common  subject  of 
complaint  that  he  was  occasionally  arrogant  in 
his  manner,  and  overbearing  in  his  disposition  ; 
and  great  surprise  was  expressed  at  the  same 
person  evincing  these  qualities,  wlio  had  been 
their  most  vehement  opponent  when  at  the  bar 
in  early  life.  But  there  is  nothing  at  all  surpris- 
ing in  the  change ;  on  the  contrary,  they  are 
both  symptoms  of  the  same  ruling  disposition, 
and  often  make  their  appearance  at  different 
periods  of  life  in  the  same  individual.  Resist- 
ance to  opposition  is  the  fundamental  principle — a 
domineering  disposition,  the  uniform  character- 
istic, and  it  never  changes.  In  early  life,  when 
Le  person  actuated  by  it  is  among  the  govern- 


ed, it  appears  in  resistance  to  opi)ression ;  la 
mature  years,  when  he  lias  risen  to  i  a„„  ^„ 
the  station  of  governor,  in  coercion  1818,  Sts ; 
of  insubordination.'  Chron. 

It  is  remarkahli'  that  the  same  year  which 
was  marked  by  the  death  of  Lord  51. 

EUenborough  witnessed  also   the  Death ofWar 
demise    of  Warren    Hastings,   of  ''e'' llast'nf 

,  I'll  1  a'ld  Sir  Philip 

whom,  duruig  his  long  and  vexa-  Francis. 

tious  prosecution,  he  had  been  the  Aug.  22,  and 
steady  and  intrepid  advocate  ;  and  ^'"^-  22- 
of  Sir  Philip  Francis,  who  had  been  his  not  les! 
relentless  and  energetic  persecutor.  The  first 
of  these  remarkable  men  expired  at  his  heredi 
tary  seat  of  Daylesford,  in  Worcestershire — lost 
by  his  ancestors,  but  regained  by  his  exertions 
— on  August  22,  in  the  eighty-sixth  year  of  his 
age.  He  belongs  to  a  dillerent  period  in  the 
history  of  England  —  to  that  marvelous  era 
when,  in  both  hemispheres,  the  deep  founda- 
tions of  British  greatness  were  laid.  There 
were  giants  in  the  earth  before  the  moral  as 
well  as  the  physical  flood.  His  character  has 
been  drawn,  the  ingratitude  he  experienced  de- 
picted, in  a  former  work.*  Less  dis-  j  jjjg,  ^^j 
tinguished  in  public  life,  his  antagonist,  Europe, 
Sir  Philip  Francis,  has  left  a  reputa-  c.  xiviij , 
tion  hardly  less  enduring  ;  for  there  ^  ^''  ^^' 
seems  to  l)e  no  doubt  that  he  was  the  authoi 
of  the  Letters  of  Junius,  which,  for  a  season, 
almost  counterbalanced  the  influence  of  the 
sovereign  on  the  throne.  He  died  in  London, 
on  December  22,  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of 
his  age.  The  uncompromising  enemy  of  op- 
pression, corruption,  and  despotic  measures  in 
both  hemispheres,  he,  at  one  period  of  his  life, 
shook  the  throne  in  England ;  at  another,  fought 
a  duel  with  the  Governor  General  of  India,  from 
whom  he  received  a  shot  through  the  body  in 
178L  A  moral  courage  which  nothing  could 
daunt — great  abilities,  and  the  energy  which  a 
consciousness  of  their  possession  seldom  faila 
to  inspire,  were  his  characteristics.  His  style 
of  composition,  as  it  appears  both  in  the  Letters 
of  Junius  and  in  his  speeches  in  Parliament, 
was  condensed  and  epigrammatic  in  the  highest 
degree  ;  and  it  is  their  admirable  force  and 
brevity  which,  like  the  sayings  of  Johnson,  re- 
corded by  the  graphic  pen  of  Boswell,  have 
given  the  former  their  colossal  and  enduring 
reputation.  But,  like  all  other  productions  in 
the  same  .style,  they  are  one-sided,  and  often 
unjust.  Unfortunately,  however,  it  is  these 
very  blemishes  which  have  rendered  them  sc 
famous  ;  for  such  is  the  admiration  of  mankind 
for  talent,  that  falsehood  and  exaggeration,  brill- 
iantly arrayed,  often  carry  the  day,  even  in  after 
times,  against  truth  and  justice,  clothed  in  the 
silver  robe  of  innocence.  Tacitus  3  ^nn.  Re", 
would  never  have  been  immortal  1818,205;° 
had  he  not  been  a  party  writer.^*       Chron. 

This  great  celebrity  of  rhetorical  ability,  and 
its  superiority  to  unadorned  truth,         ^^ 
however,  is  not  universal ;  and  ev-  gjj  janies 
cry  age  presents  numerous  exam-  Mackintosh 
pies  of  men  in  whom  justness  of  de-  ^'^  ^'^'''y 
cision,  wisdom   of  thought,  and  a 


*  The  author  has  no  doubt  Sir  Philip  Francis  was  the 
author  ofthe  Letters  of  Junius.  Identity  of  style  in  those 
celebrated  letter.s  with  his  a;  knowledged  compositions, 
as  well  a.s  numerous  direct  ;  eces  of  evidence,  appear  to 
place  it  beyond  a  doubt. — Sf  ?  Mahon's  History  of  E'.g.anit, 
V.  274,  2b j. 


•«  f.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUllOPJS. 


il? 


pi  ilo^cijliic  turn  of  mind,  lay  the  foundation  of 
Irtnie  as  great,  and  beneficence  far  more  endur- 
ing, than  the  utmost  brilUancy  of  one-sided  elo- 
quence. Of  this  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  the 
able  and  philosophical  follower  of  llomilly  in  the 
career  of  criminal  amelioration,  is  an  illustrious 
example.  Of  humble  parentage,  the  son  of  a 
small  landholder  on  the  banks  of  Loch  Ness,  he 
owed  nothing  to  early  patronage  or  connections. 
What  he  became  he  owed  to  himself,  and  the 
blood  he  inherited,  alone.  But  he  was  not 
without  advantages  in  the  latter  respect ;  from 
the  mother's  side,  the  usual  channel  in  which 
intellectual  powers  descend,  he  inherited  the 
talents  of  his  grandmother,  Mrs.  Macgillivray, 
a  woman  of  uncommon  powers  and  cultivation 
of  mind.  He  was  born  on  17th  October,  1765, 
and  was  educated  at  Edinburgh,  and  took  part 
in  the  debates  of  the  Speculative  Society  there, 
in  which  Brougham,  Lansdowne,  JefTrey,  Hor- 
i\er,  and  the  many  eminent  men  who  afterward 
rose  into  fame  in  the  Scottish  metropolis,  made 
their  first  essays  in  oratory.  Subsequently  he 
was  called  to  the  English  bar,  and  became  first 
known  to  the  public  by  his  VindiacB  GalliccE,  pub- 
lished to  defend  the  Revolution  in  France  from 
the  dreaded  antagonism  of  Burke.  In  1803  he 
sailed  for  India,  having  been  appointed,  by  Lord 
Sidmouth,  Recorder  of  Bombay  ;  and  there  he 
spent,  in  no  very  agreeable  banishment,  the 
next  nine  years  of  his  life.  In  1812  he  returned 
to  England,  with  a  moderate  independence,  and 
was  soon  after  admitted  to  Parliament  for  the 
close  borough  of  Weymouth.  He  was  after- 
ward made  a  privy  counselor,  but  never  held 
any  Government  appointment,  and  died  in  1832, 

1  Maekin-  while  Still  in  the  full  vigor  of  his 
tosh's  Life,  understanding,   and  without  having 

2  vols.  done  any  thing  in  literature  commen- 
passim.  surate  to  the  high  expectations  just- 
ly formed  of  his  abilities.' 

These  expectations  were  chiefly  formed  in 
consequence  of  its  being  known  that 
he  had  engaged  in  the  herculean  task 
of  continuing  Hume's  History  of  En- 
gland down  to  recent  times  ;  a  work 
in  which  he  had  made  some  progress, 
and  for  which  he  has  left  several  splendid 
sketches,  for  the  most  part  composed  in  his 
voyage  home,  but  which  he  never  brought  to 
maturity.  In  fact,  he  had  not  perseverance 
adequate  to  the  task.  His  powers  of  conversa- 
tion were  great,  and  the  gratification  he  expe- 
rienced from  their  exercise  was  so  excessive 
tliat  it  led  him  to  forego  the  main  object  of  his 
life  for  its  enjoyment.*     He  spent  the  forenoon 

*  The  author  onre  spent  one  of  these  forenoons  in  hi.s 
Bociefy,  from  breakfast  to  two  o'ttlork.  Lord  .Tcffrcy,  and 
i'vlr.  Earle  Montcitli,  now  sherid'  of  Fife,  wore  llie  only 
other  persons  present.  The  superiority  of  Sir  James 
Mackintosh  to  JelTrey,  in  conversation,  was  then  very 
manifest.  IJis  ideas  succeeded  each  other  much  more 
rapidly  ;  his  e.xpressions  were  more  brief  and  terse — his 
repartee  more  felicitous.  .leflWy's  great  talent  consisted 
in  amplification  and  illustration,  and  there  he  wan  emi- 
nently great ;  anrl  he  had  been  accustomed  to  Eilinburgh 
Kociety,  where  he  had  been  allowed,  by  his  admiring  au- 
ditors, male  and  female,  to  prcliit  and  expand  ad  tihitum. 
Sir  James  h;iil  not  greater  ipiickness  of  mind,  for  nothing 
cof.ld  exceed  JefTrey  in  that  respcxt ;  but  much  greater 
power  of  condensed  expression,  and  infinitely  more  ra- 
pidity in  changing  the  subject  of  conversation.  "Tout 
toucher,  rien  approfondir,"  was  his  practice,  as  it  is  of  all 
men  in  wtKun  the  real  conversational  talent  exists,  and 
where  it  has  been  trained  to  perfection  by  frequent  colli- 
•lon  in  poliahed  society  with  equal  oi  superior  ncn,  ail 


53. 
Ilis  charac 
ter  as  a 
statesman 
and  writer. 


generally  conversing  with  adiea  ex  literary 
men,  instead  of  writing ,  iud  it  is  not  thus  that 
great  things  are  done.  "Conversation,"  says 
Gibbon,  "strengthens  the  understanding,  but 
solitude  is  the  school  of  genius."  It  was  deep- 
ly regretted  by  his  friends  at  the  time  that  tins 
distraction  of  the  powers  of  so  great  a  mind 
should  be  going  on  ;  and,  undoubtedly,  for  ethic- 
al and  political  disquisitions,  and  essays  on  his- 
tory, it  can  never  be  sufficiently  lamented  ;  for 
in  these  branches  his  mind  appeared  in  its  full 
lustre.  There  is  nothing  in  the  English  lan- 
guage superior  in  wisdom  to  some  of  his  polit- 
ical essays,  which  first  appeared  in  the  Edin- 
burgh Review,  and  are  now  reprinted  in  his  col- 
lected essays  ;  in  criticism,  to  his  characters  of 
the  leading  men  of  the  eighteenth  century,  to 
be  found  in  the  very  interesting  memoir  of  him 
by  his  son.  But  there  is  no  appearance  in  his 
writings  of  the  qualities  which  indicate  that 
he  could  ever  have  become  great  in  narrating 
events.  He  was  an  admirable  essayist  on  his- 
tory, after  the  manner  of  Guizot ;  but  he  had 
not  the  talents  requisite  for  a  historian.  His 
abbreviated  History  of  England,  and  fragment 
of  the  History  of  the  Revolution  of  1688,  are  a 
proof  of  this.  The  former  contains  many  ad- 
mirable observations  and  reflections  ;  but  it 
gives  no  idea  whatever  of  the  thread  of  events, 
and  the  student  will  rise  from  its  perusal  with- 
out any  distinct  impression,  if  otherwise  unin- 
formed, of  the  history  of  his  country.  The  lat- 
ter is  so  dull,  that  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
any  one,  but  from  respect  for  the  author,  or 
for  motives  of  party  or  reference,  ever  read  it 
through.  His  mind  was  essentially  philosophic- 
al ;  hence  his  powers  were  didactic  rather  than 
pictorial — instructive  than  dramatic ;  and  that 
is  a  fatal  peculiarity  either  for  a  statesman  or 
a  historian.  Energy  and  fire  are  the  soul  of 
eloquence  in  the  forum,  as  much  as  wisdom 
and  moderation  are  of  discourses  in  the  acade- 
my ;  and  there  never  yet  was  a  great  historian 
whose  talents  would  not  have  led  him  to  the 
first  eminence  as  a  painter  or  dramatic  poet. 

In  Parliament,  Sir  James  Mackintosh  attained 
a  high,  but  by  no  means  the  highest 
place.  His  speeches  were  all  pre-  jjjg  clmrae- 
pared :  they  were  learned  and  atlmi-  ter  as  a  par 
rable  essays  on  the  subject  in  hand  ;  lianientarv 
but  they  had  not  the  force  of  ex-  ''l'""''"- 
prcssion,  personal  allusion,  or  stinging  rejoin« 
der,  requisite  for  success  in  a  mixed,  not  al- 
ways learned,  but  always  highly  excited,  assem- 
bly. His  luminous  and  learned  orations  were 
always  listened  to  with  respect,  and  often 
spoken  of,  on  reflection,  with  admiration  ;  but, 
at  the  time,  thry  wert;  often  delivered  to  empty 
benches,  or,  like  Burke's,  acted  like  a  dinner- 
bell  in  clearing  the  House.  But  while  these 
peculiarities  precluded  him  from  rising  to  the 
first  rank  as  a  parliamentary  deiiater.  they  qual- 
ified him  adminiiily  for  the  great  task  to  which 
his  efforts  in  Parliament  were  directed  —  the 
reformation  and  humanizing  of  our  criminal 
cod(^  Hi.s  philosophic  iiiiiiil  tlii'ew  a  luminous 
radianct^  over  that  intricate  subject,  eminently 
calculated  to  make  an  impression  on  a  jxipular 

elegant  and  charming  women.  JeflTrey,  in  conversation, 
was  like  a  skilllul  swordsman  llouriNiilng  his  weapon  in 
the  air  ;  while  Mackintosh,  with  a  thin,  sharp  repicr,  ii 
till*  middle  of  his  evolulions,  ran  tiiii  through  the  bodv 


IIR 


HISTOK       OF   EUllOPE. 


IUmap.  fV 


assemlil)  in  a  Uiri,'o  (art  of  whom  Liberal  ideas 
wore  bejiimiing  to  germinate.  He  took  it  up 
as  a  wliole — generalized  the  intinite  details  in 
wliieli  It  was  involved,  and  deduced  his  eonelu- 
610ns  from  acknowledgetl  j^renuses  ami  gener- 
ous leelmgs.  He  thus  obtained  Car  greater  suc- 
cess than  Sir  Samutl  Romilly,  working  only  on 
separate  and  detached  points,  ever  could  have 
done  ;  and  it  is  to  his  intluenee,  acting  in  public 
and  private,  on  tiie  candid  and  convertible  mind 
ot'  Mr.  Peel,  that  tlie  great  reformation  which 
soon  after  took  place  in  our  criminal  code  is 
mainly  to  be  ascribed. 
This  year  witnessed  the  demise  also  of  the 
55.  Queen,  who  had  so  long  shared  with 
Death  nnd  her  husband  the  honors  and  cares 
OuTen  cu^*^  "^  royalty,  and  whose  latter  years, 
lotte.  during  his  mental  aberration,  had 

Nov.  17.  been  so  assiduously  devoted  to  his 
comfort.  Queen  Charlotte  expired  at  Kcw,  on 
the  1 7th  of  November,  in  the  seventy-fifth 
year  of  her  age.  If  the  old  observation  be  true 
that  those  women  in  any  rank  are  most  estima- 1 
ble  of  whom  least  in  public  is  said,  never  was 
a  more  unexceptionable  character  than  this 
lamented  queen.  She  had  no  beauty,  was  not 
remarkable  for  talents,  and  had  none  of  the  I 
charm  of  conversation  or  coquetry  of  manner  j 
which  so  ollen,  in  exalted  stations,  leads  wom- 
en to  the  perilous  borders  of  eaptivation  and 
corruption.  Married  early  in  life  to  a  consort ' 
of  religious  principles,  integrity  of  character, 
and  domestic  habits  identical  with  her  own,  to 
whom  she  bore  a  numerous  family,  her  life  was 
rather  remarkable  for  the  regularity  with  which 
home  duties  were  performed  than  the  brilliancy 
by  which  public  admiration  or  love  is  secured. 
Her  sense  of  decorum  bordered  on  austerity — 
lier  love  of  economy  on  parsimony.  The  Court, 
under  her  direction,  was  stiff  and  correct ;  very 
different  from  the  brOliant  scenes  with  which  it 
is  always  clothed  in  imagination,  and  sometimes 
arrayed  in  reality.  Yet  must  history  ever  ac- 
knowledge with  gratitude  the  inestimable  serv- 
ice which  she  rendered,  not  only  to  public  mor- 
als, but  to  the  stability  of  the  Constitution,  by 
the  unvarying  correctness  of  her  private  life,  and 
the  care  which  she  took  to  preserve  the  Court 
from  that  contamination  which,  in  so  many  oth- 
er countries  of  Europe,  was  shaking  at  once  the 
throne  and  the  altar.  ^  She  was  in- 
\}^^o^o^'^^'  terred  on  the  2d  December,  in  the 
magnificent  vault  of  St.  George  s 
Chapel,  Windsor,  whither  her  bereaved  lord  was 
soon  to  follow  her — ignorant  now  alike  of  his 
present  loss  or  his  approaching  end. 
The  year  1819  commenced  under  more  favor- 
56.  able  auspices  than  had  been  known 

Favorable  as-  for  several  years.  In  the  speech 
« the  o^e*-"  ^*  ^^^  opening  of  Parliament,  the 
ing  of  "big"'  Prince-Regent  informed  the  nation 
ami  disasters  that  "  there  is  a  considerable  and 
at  its  close.  progressive  improvement  of  the 
revenue  in  its  most  important  branches ;  and 
that  the  trade,  commerce,  and  manufactures  of 
the  country  are  in  a  most  flourishing  condition." 
Allowing  for  a  certain  amount  of  exaggeration 
on  the  favorable  side  in  all  such  state  docu- 
ments, there  is  enough  proved,  by  incontestable 
evidence,  to  leave  no  room  for  doutt  that,  in  the 
first  part  of  the  year  at  least,  a  vc  y  consider- 
able amelioration  had  taken  place      The  rev- 


enue afforded  evidence  of  that ;  it  exhibited  a 
very  considerable  increase  in  the  earlier  months. 
But  these  ap|)earances  were  short-lived  and  fal- 
lacious ;  and  the  distress  of  the  latter  i)art  of 
the  year  was  so  great  that,  upon  the  whole,  in- 
stead of  an  increase,  it  exhibited  a  falling  off 
from  the  preceding  year  of  above  a  million.* 
The  exports  fell  off  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year 
so  immensely  that  they  presented  a  decline  of 
fully  a  fourtii  from  the  preceding  year ;  the  im- 
port.s,  a  falling  off  of  above  a  fifth  i  Something 
must  obviously  have  occurred  in  the  interval,  be- 
tween the  commencement  and  the  end  of  the 
year,  to  produce  so  great  and  disastrous  a 
change  ;  nor  is  it  diflicult  to  perceive  what  that 
something  was.     In  the  interval,  the  act  est.^b- 

LISlllXG     C.^SII    PAY.VIENTS    BY    THE     B.\NK    OF    EN- 
GLAND was  passed  ;  and  with  it  a  series  of  em- 
barrassments began,  national   and  ,  ^^^  -^^^ 
social,  financial  and  political,  which  i8id,  3;  Re- 
have  never  yet  been  got  over,  and  gent's 
have  imprinted  lasting  effects  upon  ^P**'^'' 
the  fortunes  of  the  British  empire.' 

The  period  had  now  arrived  when,  after  vit- 
rious  postponements,  it  was  deemed  57. 
indispensable  by  the  leading  men  on  Commence 
both  sides  of  politics  to  revert  to  ^eb"ateIoiT 
cash  payments  by  the  Bank  of  En-  the  currency 
gland.  That  was  universally  ad-  question, 
mitted ;  the  only  question  was  when,  and  un- 
der what  limitation,  if  any,  the  new^  system  was 
to  come  into  operation.  The  debates  on  this 
subject  are  of  the  very  highest  interest,  fraught 
as  they  were  with  the  future  destinies  of  Great 
Britain,  and  exhibiting  one  of  the  most  curious 
instances  recorded  in  history  of  the  erroneous 
views  entertained  by  the  ablest  men,  and  the 
general  insensibility  to  impending  dangers  on 
the  part  of  an  entire  community,  the  fortune  of 
every  individual  in  which  was  more  or  less  de- 
pendent on  the  measures  which  were  adopted. 
The  subject  was  introduced  on  February  2,  by 
a  motion  on  the  part  of  the  Opposition,  headed 
by  Mr.  Tierney,  for  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee to  inquire  into  the  effects  of  the  Bank 
Restriction  Act ;  which  was  met  by  an  amend- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer on  the  day  following,  <o  the  effect  that 
the  committee  be  instructed  to  report  to  the 
House  such  information,  relative  to  the  affairs 
of  the  bank,  as  may  be  disclosed  without  injury 
to  the  public  interests,  with  their  observations 
thereon.  The  amendment  of  the  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer  was  carried  by  a  ma-  j  p  ,  -^^^ 
jority  of  109,  the  number  being  277  xxxix!  213, 
to  163.  The  secret  committee  was  280;  Ann. 
chosen  by  ballot,  and  its  chairman,  ^^s-  i^i^. 
Mr.  Peel,  brought  up  its  report  on 
April  S.'' 

As  the  Legislature  were  all  but  unanimous  in 
support  of  the  measure  which  was  idtimately 

*  Total  revenue,  1618 f  53,747,795 

"  "         1819 52,648,847 

— Porter's  Progress  of  the  Nation,  475,  third  edition. 


t  Yeir.-. 

E.^p Ti..,  lir-t 

'.lia.iJ  Tnk.ni 

al  -ofti.ial 

Value. 

Impnrlf— de- 
clared Value. 

Exports,  Brit- 
ish and  Irish 
— dei:lared 
Value. 

Shipping. 
Tons. 

1817 
1818 
1819 

£50,404,111 
53.560,338 
42,438,989 

£29,910,508  £40,349,235  2,664,9U(i 
35,845.340     45,180,150  2,674,46S 
29,681,640     34,252,251  2,666,396 

— PoRTETi's  Progress  of  the  Nation,  359.  third  ediliot 
Alison's  Europe,  .\cvi.  Appendix,  311, 


1819.J 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


iiy 


adopted  on  this  all-important  subject,  it  is  es- 
sential, in  order  to  record  the  argu- 
Petitioii  ments  urged  on  the  other  side,  to 
from  Bristol  have  recourse  to  what  was  stated 
against  the  beyond  the  walls  of  Parliament. 
resuTptfo^i  ■^'^'itli  this  view,  nothing  better  can 
ofcas'lipay-  be  adduced  than  the  petition  from 
ments.  the  merchants,  bankers,  and  traders 

Feb.  3, 1810.  ^f  jj^g  pj^y  of  Bristol,  which  was  pre- 
sented to  the  House  of  Commons  on  February 
3.  It  affords  another  example  of  a  truth,  of 
which  many  illustrations  have  occurred,  and 
will  again  occur,  in  the  course  of  this  history — 
that  the  truth  on  important  political  questions 
is  often  much  more  clearly  perceived,  and  the 
practical  effect  of  measures  better  discerned, 
out  of  the  Legislature  than  in  it ;  and  that  the 
powers  of  the  acutest  understandings  are  not 
in  the  latter  situation  to  be  relied  on,  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  influence  of  party  connections  or 
the  sway  of  theoretical  opinions. 

U  was  stated  in  this  remarkable  petition, 
which  was,  as  it  were,  the  opening  of 
*^-  the  great  debate  :  "  Your  petitioners 
have  heard,  with  much  apprehension, 
that  the  design  is  entertained  of  proposing  in 
Parliament  the  resumption  of  cash  payments-by 
the  Bank  of  England.  The  petitioners  have  the 
utmost  confidence  in  the  resources  of  the  nation- 
al bank,  and  that  its  issues  are  fuUy  warranted  by 
the  property  which  it  holds  in  deposit ;  and  they 
are  firmly  persuaded  that,  if  this  measure  shall 
be  forced  upon  the  country  before  it  shall,  by  a 
favorable  state  of  its  foreign  exchanges,  be  fully 
prepared  for  its  reception,  not  only  the  finances 
and  revenue  of  the  state  must  suffer,  but  even 
the  stabihty  of  the  bank  itself  be  endangered, 
by  the  exportation  of  its  bullion,  and  the  depre- 
ciation of  the  property  w^hich  it  holds  as  a  secu- 
rity for  its  issues.  The  petitioners  conceive, 
also,  that  the  present  is  a  period  peculiarly  haz- 
ardous for  an  experiment  of  so  important  a  na- 
ture, when  loans  of  an  unprecedented  magni- 
tude are  in  process  of  payment  in  Europe,  and 
when  the  exchange  with  both  the  continents  is 
greatly  against  this  country.  The  petitioners 
confidently  anticipate  that,  as  the  present  state 
of  our  foreign  exchanges  may  be  justly  attribu- 
ted to  causes  which,  although  quite  adequate  to 
the  effects,  are  not  in  themselves  necessarily 
permanent,  the  period  may  rea-sonably  be  ex- 
pected to  arrive  at  which  a  rcsunjiition  of  cash 
payments  may  be  made  with  safety,  and  with- 
out inconvenience.  Awaiting,  then,  this  period, 
the  situation  of  the  country  can  only  be  render- 
ed alarming  by  a  premature  recurrence  to  meas- 
ures wliicli  the  petitioners  are  satisfied  must 
cramp  the  commercial  intercourse  of  England 
witli  foreign  countries,  contract  its  trade  and 
manufiictures,  and  be  injurious  to  its  best  inter- 

,  r>     .  ,  r,  csts.      The   petitioners,  tiiereforc, 

»  Bristol  Pc-  ^,        ,,'           ^i..i      TT 

tition,  lM;b.  most  humbly  pray  tliat  the  House 

3,  I8l9;rarl.  will    reject   every  proposal   which 

'!■".''• 'i.!!'''''-  may  be  made  for  a  hasty  and  pre- 

'*''   "■  mature  adoption  of  such  a  meas- 
ure.'" 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  argued  by  Mr.  Peel, 

,.  who  was  the  chairman  of  the  com- 

First  speech  mittce,  and  moved  the  adoption  of 

01"  Mr.  I'i;ei  its  report :  "  Tiie  present  i)osilion  of 

onjhc  siiiv  ti„;  i,.„,]^  (.;,ii^^  i„  ii,f.  first  instance, 

for  an  interim  incisure  before  the 


tect. 


final  measure  is  adopteu.  In  consequence  oi 
the  notes  issued  in  1816  and  1817  by  the  bank, 
with  the  very  best  intentions,  in  which  they 
undertook  to  pay  in  specie  all  notes  dated  pre- 
viously to  January  1,  1847,  a  very  large  amount 
of  treasure  had  been  drawn  from  the  bank.  The 
whole  which  had  been  issued  by  the  bank  since 
January,  1816,  had  amounted  to  £5,200,000. 
The  issue  of  that  treasure  had  not  been  attend- 
ed with  any  good  to  the  nation  ;  and  he  thought, 
indeed,  it  might  have  been  foreseen  that,  unless 
their  issue  had  been  accompanied  by  a  simul- 
taneous reduction  of  the  numbers  of  bank-notes, 
the  gold  would  find  its  way  to  those  places  where 
there  was  a  greater  demand  for  it.  There  was 
litTle  doubt,  at  present,  as  to  the  place  of  its 
destination ;  for,  by  a  report  of  the  minister  of 
finance  in  France,  it  appeared  that,  within  the 
first  six  months  of  the  last  year,  125,000,000 
francs  (£5,000,000)  had  been  coined  at  the 
French  Mint,  of  which  it  was  understood  three 
fourths  had  come  from  this  country.  In  these 
circumstances,  it  was  necessary  to  pass  a  bill 
restraining  the  payments  in  gold  until  the  final 
measure  shall  pass  ;  and  the  circumstances  of 
the  bank  were  such,  that  it  had  become  neces- 
sary that  the  bill  should  go  through  its  several 
stages  that  evening."  The  necessity  of  the 
case  being  evident,  a  bill  continuing  i  pari.Deb. 
the  restriction  till  the  final  measure  xxxix.  1399. 
was  adopted,  passed  both  Houses  I'l^'l- 
with  very  little  opposition.' 

The  grand  debate  on  the  final  measure  came 
on  on  May  21,  and  preparatory  to  it  ^.j 

two  petitions  were  presented  to  the  petition  of 
House  of  Commons — one  from  the  the  mer 
directors  of  the  Bank  of  England,  ^anke^rs^of 
and  another  from  the  merchants  and  London  in 
bankers  of  the  city  of  London,  in  favor  of  con- 
which  the  effects  of  the  proposed  'inuing  the 
measure  are  foretold  with  a  clear-  ■'estnction. 
ness,  and,  cis  the  event  has  proved,  a  truth, 
which  render  them  among  the  most  valuable 
and  instructive  documents  recorded  in  history 
That  from  the  bank  directors,  with  great  pro 
priety,  disclaimed  any  interested  view  of  the 
matter,  but  submitted  to  the  Legislature  what 
must  be  the  effect  of  a  return  to  cash  payments 
in  the  existing  financial,  commercial,  and  mon- 
etary state  of  the  country.*     The  petition  of 


*  The  petition  of  the  bank  directors  stated  "  That, 
in  the  view  of  the  committee,  the  measure  of  the  bank 
resuming  cash  payments  on  the  5th  July  next,  the  time 
prescribed  by  the  existing  law,  is  utterly  impracticable, 
and  would  be  entirely  inefllcient,  if  not  ruinous.  The 
two  coiriniilti'cs  have  arrived  at  this  conclusion,  at  a  pe- 
riod wIk  II  Ihi'  outstanding  notes  of  the  bank  do  not  much 
exceed  X'25, 0(1(1, 0(11),  or  when  the  price  of  gold  is  about 
£4  Is.  per  ounce,  and  when  there  is  great  distress  from 
the  stagnation  of  commerce  and  the  fall  in  the  price  of 
imported  articles.  It  must  be  obvious  that,  as  long  as 
such  a  state  of  things  shall  last,  or  one  in  any  degree  sim- 
ilar, without  cither  considerable  improvement  on  one 
side,  or  growing  worsi;  on  the  other,  the  bank,  acting  as 
it  does  at  jiresent,  and  keeping  its  issues  nearly  at  the 
present  level,  could  not  venture  to  return  to  cash  pay- 
ments with  any  possibility  of  benefit  to  the  public  or 
safety  to  its  establishment.  The  proposal  of  the  commit- 
tee is,  that  the  bank  shall  not  resume  payments  in  coin 
for  four  years,  tiut  shall  be  obliged,  from  1st  May,  1821, 
to  discharge  their  notes  in  standard  gold  bullion,  at  Mint 
price,  when  demanded,  in  sums  not  nnionnting  to  less 
than  thirty  ounces  ;  and  that  from  1st  February,  1820,  the 
bank  should  pay  their  notes  in  bullion,  if  demanded,  in 
sums  not  less  than  sixty  ounces,  at  the  rate  ( f  £4  Is. 
per  ounce  ;  and  from  1st  October,  1820,  to  1st  May,  1821, 
at  X3  I'Js.  I'il.  per  3Uine.     The  bank  directors  arv  obliged 


ISO 


n  ISTOU  V    OF   EUROPE. 


ItJllAP.   iV 


the  innrliaiits  ami  baiiktrs  of  London  went  a 
siop  liirtluT,  anil  proplifsitil  the  consoiiuoncos 
of  tUf  jiroposocl  mi'asurt'  in  tlio  lullowinj];  ro- 
niarkahle  terms:  "  Vonr  petitioners  liavc  rea- 
son to  apprehend  tliat  measures  are  in  contem- 
plation, witii  releriMice  to  the  resumption  of 
easli  payments  by  the  Bank  of  En;;laiul,  \vhieh, 
in  the  humble  opinion  of  your  petitioners,  will 
loud  to  a  forced,  precipitate,  and  highly  injurious 
contraction  of  the  currency  of  llic  country.  That 
the  conso(iucnees  of  such  a  contraction  will  be, 
as  your  petitioners  humbly  conceive,  to  add  to 
IliC  burden  of  the  public  dei)t,  f,'rcatly  to  increase 
the  pressure  of  the  taxes,  to  lower  the  value  of 
all  landed  and  commercial  property,  seriously 
to  aflect  and  embarrass  botli  i)iiblic  and  private 
credit,  to  embarrass  and  reduce  all  the  opera- 
tions of  agriculture,  manufactures,  and  com- 
merce, and  to  throw  out  o^  employment  (as  in 
tlie  calamitous  year  1816)  a  great  i)roportion  of 
the  industrious  and  laboring  classes  of  the  com- 


:o  observe  that,  as  it  is  incumbent  en  them  to  consider 
'.he  eirect  of  any  measure  to  be  adopted  as  operating  upon 
the  peneral  issue  of  their  notes,  by  which  all  the  private 
banks  are  regulated,  and  of  which  the  whole  currency, 
exclusive  of  the  notes  of  private  bankers,  is  composed, 
they  feel  themselves  obliged,  by  the  new  situation  in 
which  they  have  been  placed  by  the  bank  restriction  of 
1797,  to  bear  in  mind  not  less  their  duties  to  the  estab- 
lishment over  which  they  preside  than  their  duties  to 
the  community  at  large,  whose  interests,  in  a  pecuniary 
and  commercial  relation,  have,  in  a  great  degree,  been 
conlidad  to  their  discretion.  The  directors  being  thus 
ODliged  to  extend  their  views,  and  embrace  the  interests 
of  the  whole  community  in  their  consideration  'X  this 
measure,  can  not  but  feel  a  repugnance,  however  invol- 
untary, 10  pledge  themselves  in  approbation  of  a  system 
which,  in  their  opinion,  in  all  its  great  tendencies  and 
operations,  concerns  the  country  in  general  more  than 
the  immediate  interests  of  the  tiank  alone  When  the 
bank  directors  are  now  to  be  called  upon,  in  the  new  sit- 
uation in  which  they  are  placed  by  the  Restriction  Act, 
to  procure  a  fund  for  supporting  the  whole  national  cur- 
rency either  in  bullion  or  coin,  and  when  it  is  proposed 
that  they  should  effect  this  measure  within  a  given  peri- 
od, by  regulating  the  market-price  of  gold  by  a  limitation 
of  the  amount  of  the  issue  of  bank-notes,  vith  whatever 
distress  sitcfi  limitation  may  be  attended  to  individuals  or 
>he community  at  large,  they  feel  it  their  bounden  and  im- 
perious duty  to  state  their  sentiments  thus  explicitly,  in 
the  first  instance,  to  his  Majesty's  ministers  on  this  sub- 
ject, that  a  tacit  consent  and  concurrence  at  this  juncture 
may  not  at  some  future  period  be  construed  into  a  pre- 
vious implied  sanction  on  their  part  of  a  system  which 
they  can  not  but  consider  as  fraught  with  very  great  un- 
certainty and  risk.  They  can  not  venture  to  advise  an 
unrelenting  continuance  of  pecuniary  pressure  upon  the 
commercial  world,  of  which  it  is  impossible  for  them  ei- 
ther to  foresee  or  estimate  the  consequences.  The  di- 
rectors have  already  submitted  to  the  House  of  Lords  the 
expediency  of  the  bank  paying  its  notes  in  bullion  at  the 
market-price  of  the  day,  with  a  view  of  seeing  how  far 
favorable  commercial  balances  may  operate  in  restoring 
the  former  order  of  things,  of  which  they  might  take  ad- 
vantage ;  and  with  a  similar  view  they  have  proposed 
that  Government  should  repay  the  banii  a  considerable 
part  of  the  sums  that  have  been  advanced  upon  Excheq- 
uer bills.  These  two  measures  would  allow  time  for  a 
correct  judgment  to  be  formed  upon  the  state  of  the  bull- 
ion market,  and  upon  the  real  result  of  those  changes 
which  the  late  war  may  have  produced,  in  all  its  conse- 
quences, of  increased  ptiblic  debt,  increased  taxes,  increased 
prices,  and  altered  relations  as  to  interest,  capital,  and 
commercial  dealings  with  the  Continent,  and  how  far  the 
alterations  thus  produced  are  temporary  or  permanent, 
and  to  what  extent  and  in  what  degree  they  operate.  The 
directors,  therefore,  feel  that  they  have  no  right  whatever 
to  invest  themselves,  of  their  own  accord,  with  the  re- 
Bponsibility  of  countenancing  a  measure  in  which  the 
uhole  community  is  so  deeply  involved,  and  possibly  fo 
compromise  the  universal  iuttrests  of  the  empire  in  all  the 
relations  of  agric.ilture,  manufarlures,  commerce,  and  rev- 
enue, by  a  seeming  acquiescence  or  declared  approbation 
on  the  part  of  the  directors  of  the  Bank  of  England." — 
Pelilion  of  the  Bank  of  England,  20th  Ms  ',  \h\'i.  Pari, 
lit  'ioies,  \l.  60] ,  604 


munity.  That  your  petitioners  arc  fortified  i» 
the  opinion  thus  expressed  by  the  distresse* 
ex|)ericnced  by  conmiercial,  trailing,  manufac- 
turing, and  agricultural  interests  of  the  king- 
dom, from  the  partial  riMluction  of  the  bank  i.=- 
siu's  which,  it  ap|)(ars,  has  recently  taken  place. 
.\iitiier  tiie  manner  noi  the  time  which,  your 
jictitioners  have  reason  to  a|)prehend,  is  intenil- 
ed  to  be  proposed  for  the  resumption  of  cash 
payments,  is  suited  to  avoid  the  evils  they  an- 
ticipate. The  petitioners,  therefore,  humbly 
crave  that  the  time,  as  at  present  rixcd  by  law, 
for  tlio  termination  of  the  restrictions  on  cash 
payments  by  the  IJank  of  England,  may  be  ex- 
tended to  a  period  which  shall  not  i  petition  of 
tend  to  a  forced  and  precipitate  the  mer- 
contraction  of  the  circulating  me-  fi'^nts  of 
dium  of  the  country,  or  to  embar-  Jj^'y'o"' 
rass  trade,  or  to  injure  public  cred-  i8i9;~Par!. 
it,  agriculture,  manufactures,  and  Deb-  xi.  599, 
commerce.'  '''^''• 

These  petitions  from  Bristol  and  London, 
coming,  as  they  did  from  the  first  62. 
commercial  men  in  England,  and  Which  is 
couched  in  such  strong  yet  respect-  presented  to 
ful  language,  showed  how  strongly  commons  by 
the  mercantile  classes  had  taken  the  first  Sir 
the  alarm  at  the  proposed  resump-  R-  P*^*-'!- 
tion  of  cash  payments  by  the  Bank  of  England, 
and  how  clearly  their  practical  experience  and 
native  sagacity  had  detected  the  real  tendency 
of  a  measure  fraught  with  the  most  momentous 
consequences,  but  which  it  was  known  had  ob- 
tained the  assent  of  both  branches  of  the  Legis- 
lature. The  petition  was  rendered  the  more 
remarkable  by  its  being  presented  to  the  House 
of  Com.mons  by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  who  had  made 
a  colossal  fortune  under  the  r.ash  restriction 
system,  and  who  now  stood  fonvard  to  oppose 
his  eldest  son,  Mr.  Peel,  who  was  prepared  to 
terminate  it.  The  honorable  baronet  observed  : 
"  The  petition  he  held  in  his  hand  came  from  a 
body  of  men  entitled  to  the  very  first  consider- 
ation— a  body  of  men  who,  in  times  of  public 
distress  or  calamity,  were  the  very  first  to 
come  forward  to  relieve  the  Government.  The 
Bank  Restriction  Act  could  not  have  passed  in 
1797  if  the  merchants  and  bankers  of  London 
had  not,  at  a  similar  meeting,  expressed  them- 
selves strongly  in  its  favor.  The  petition  he 
now  held  in  his  hand  was  that  of  a  great  and 
important  body,  all  of  the  first  respectability, 
praying  that  the  resolutions  which  were  intena- 
ed  to  be  submitted  to  the  House  might  not  be 
carried  into  effect.  They  were  the  best  judge? 
of  such  a  measure,  for  their  whole  fortuncF 
were  wound  up  with  it.  Although,  also,  they 
were  the  men  in  the  country  best  qualified  to 
give  evidence,  from  their  great  transactions 
and  connection  with  our  manufactures  and  com- 
merce, yet  they  had  not  been  examined  before 
the  committee.  He  entreated,  therefore,  that 
before  a  measure  so  destructive  of  the  commer- 
cial interests  of  the  country,  and,  with  them,  of 
every  other  interest  in  the  country,  the  House 
would  pause,  in  order  to  collect  that  informa 
tion  which  was  so  irmch  wanted. 

"  At  the  meeting  from  which  this  petition 
originated,  he  was  in  company  with  many  of 
the  best  friends  of  the  country;  but  he  should 
not  do  justice  to  two  persons  who  atte:  ded 
♦here  if  he  did  not  say  that  they  behaved  in  a 


Iil9] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


121 


way  not  the  least  disorderly  in  the  world,  for 
they  were  in  close  alliance  with  his 
His  speech  Majesty's  ministers — they  inveigh- 
oi.  itie  occa-  ed  against  any  attempt  at  deferring 
Kiou  con-  -j^e  period  of  resuming  cash  pay- 
tinued.  nients.     The  circumstance  so  new, 

of  these  men  being  supporters  of  the  administra- 
tion, constituted  the  subject  of  a  very  good  car- 
icature ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  it  filled  liim  witii 
the  most  dismal  forebodings.  To  see  the  noble 
lord  and  his  honorable  friend,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  Messrs.  Hunt  and  Wooller  on  the  other, 
united  in  their  attempt  to  pull  down  the  mighty 
fabric  erected  by  the  immortal  Pitt,  was  at  once 
ludicrous  and  painful.  He  implored  the  House 
to  pause  before  they  engaged  in  any  such  at- 
tempt. It  was  true,  in  resisting  it,  he  should 
have  to  oppose  a  very  near  and  dear  relation. 
But  while  it  was  his  own  sentiment  that  he 
had  a  duty  to  perform,  he  respected  those  who 
did  theirs,  and  who  considered  them  to  be  par- 
amount. The  gentlemen  who  opposed  him  at 
the  meeting  of  which  he  had  spoken  were  rather 
indignant  at  his  mentioning  the  name  of  Mr. 
Pitt.  His  own  impression  was  certainly  a 
strong  one  in  his  favor ;  he  always  thought  him 
the  first  man  in  the  country.  He  well  remem- 
bered one  occasion,  when  that  near  and  dear 
relation  was  only  a  child,  he  observed  to  some 
friends  wno  were  standing  near  him,  that  the 
man  who  discharged  his  duty  to  his  country  in 
the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Pitt  had,  did  most  to 
be  admired,  and  was  most  to  be  imitated ;  and 
he  thought  at  that  moment,  if  the  life  of  his  dear 
relation  should  be  spared,  he  would 
\i^6"3  ^"4  °'^®  ^''^y  present  him  to  his  country 
'  '  '  ■  to  follow  in  the  same  path.'" 
On  the  other  hand,  it  was  argued  by  8ir  Rob- 
64.  ert  Peel's  son,  Mr.  Peel,  who  then 

Argument  of  made  his  first  important  step  in  pub- 
Mr.  Peel  in  ijg  ijjp^  gj^jj  .^yjjg  ^^j^g  chairman  of  the 
resunnUoa  committee  the  resolutions  of  which 
of  cash  pay-  were  proposed  to  the  House  for 
ments.  adoption  :*  "  He  was  bound  to  say 


*  The  proposed  resolution.?  were  as  follows  : 

"  I.  That  it  is  expedient  further  to  continue  the  restric- 
tion upon  cash  payments  by  the  bank  for  a  time,  to  be 
limited  in  such  manner  and  on  sucti  conditions  as  shall 
be  provided  by  Parliament,  with  a  view  to  insure  its  final 
termination  at  the  period  to  be  fi.ved. 

"11.  That,  previously  to  the  resumption  of  cash  pay- 
ments by  the  bank,  it  is  expedient  lliat  the  bank  should 
be  required,  at  a  time  to  be  fixed  by  Parliament,  to  give 
in  exchange  for  its  notes  gold  duly  assayed  and  stamped 
at  his  Majesty's  Mint  (if  diinanded  to  an  amount  not  less 
than  a  number  of  ounces  to  bo  limited),  valuing  the  same 
in  such  exchange  at  a  price  not  exceeding  £1  Is.  per 
ounce. 

"  III.  That  at  the  expiration  of  a  further  period,  to  be 
also  fixed  by  Parliament,  the  bank  should  be  required  to 
give  in  exchange  for  its  notes,  gold,  so  assayed  anil 
stamped,  to  an  amount  not  less  than  a  certain  number  of 
L'unccs  to  be  limited,  valuing  the  sumo  in  such  exchange 
at  the  Mint  price. 

"  IV.  That  at  some  time  between  the  two  periods  above 
mentioned,  the  bank  should  he  recjuired  lo  give  in  ex- 
change for  its  notes,  gold,  so  assnyeil  and  stamped,  valu- 
ing the  same  at  a  price  between  £4  Is.  and  the  Mint 
price;  and  tha'.,  after  the  price  at  which  gold  shall  bo 
valued  in  such  exchanges  shall  have  been  once  lowered, 
it  shall  rot  a^ain  be  raised. 

"  V.  Iha*.  after  the  period  shall  have  arriverl  at  which 
the  bank  f^hall  be  required  to  give  gold  in  exchange  for 
Its  notes  at  the  Mint  price,  a  further  period,  to  be  fixeil 
by  Parliament,  should  be  allowed,  and  a  certain  notice 
given  before  the  bank  shall  be  reijuired  to  pay  its  notes 
In  cash. 

"  VI.  That  it  is  expedient  that  all  laws  which  prohibit- 
ed the  melting  or  exportation  of  the  gold  or  silver  coin  of 


that,  in  consequence  of  the  ^veignt  and  great 
respectability  of  the  evidence  laid  before  tho 
committee,  and  the  discussions  which  had  eji 
sued  upon  it,  his  opinion  in  regard  to  this  ques- 
tion had  undergone  a  great  change.  He  was 
ready  to  avow,  without  shame  or  remorse,  that 
lie  went  into  the  committee  with  a  very  difler- 
ent  opinion  from  that  which  he  at  present  en  ■ 
tcrtaincd ;  for  his  views  of  the  subject  were 
most  materially  different  from  what  they  we/a 
when  he  voted  against  tlie  resolutions  broug;-! 
forward  in  the  bullion  committee  in  1811  ijy 
Mr.  Horner.  After  giving  his  best  attention  to 
the  subject,  he  had  no  hesitation  in  stating,  that 
though  he  should  probably  even  now  vote 
against  the  practical  measure  then  recommend- 
ed, yet  he  concurred  in  the  fourteen  first  reso- 
lutions proposed  to  the  House  by  that  able  and 
much  lamented  individual.  He  conceived  them 
to  represent  the  true  nature  and  law  of  our 
monetary  system.  It  was  without  shame  or 
repentance  he  thus  bore  testimony  to  the  su- 
perior sagacity  of  one  with  whose  views  he 
agreed  on  that  point,  although  he  differed  so 
much  from  him  on  many  other  great  political 
questions. 

"  After  the  repeated  declaration  of  Parlia- 
ment that  it  Avas  advisable  that  the 
bank  should,  at  the  earliest  possible  cont^ued 
period,  resume  cash  payments,  he  had 
hoped  that  the  only  points  necessary  for  them  to 
proceed  to  that  night,  would  be  to  fix  on  the  pe- 
riod when  the  restriction  should  cease,  and  to 
adopt  the  most  feasible  mode  of  carrying  their 
intention  into  effect.  But  it  was  impossible  foi 
him  to  conceal  from  himself  that  new  and  extra- 
ordinary opinions  had  been  promulgated,  which, 
if  the  House  were  prepared  to  act  on  them, 
must  inevitably  lead  to  an  indefinite  suspension 
of  cash  payments.  \Mien  he  recollected  that 
the  necessity  of  a  resumption  of  cash  payments 
was  recognized  in  the  preamble  of  several  acts 
of  Parliament,  when  he  knew  that  no  one  objec- 
tion was  formerly  made  to  the  principle  of  so 
doing,  he  confessed  he  was  not  prejiared  to  hear 
that  a  principle  the  very  reverse  was  to  be  con- 
tended for.  But  judging  from  several  publica- 
tions l)y  which  he  feared  tlie  public  mind  might 
be  influenced,  it  did  appear  that  tlie  return  to 
cash  payments  was  viewed  in  some  quarters 
with  apprehension  ;  and  if  weight  and  authority 
were  given  to  the  sentiments  and  jirincijjles 
contained  in  these  works,  the  House  must  be 
pre  Dared  to  legislate  for  an  indefinite  suspen- 
sion. It  is,  therefore,  absolutely  nec(>ssary  that 
Pailiament  should  in  the  contest  make  up  its 
mind  whether  a  metallic  standard  of  value 
should  not  be  resorted  to.  After  an  experience 
of  twenty-two  years,  during  which  it  was  aban- 
doned, it  did  appear  impossible  tliat  any  consid- 
erate man  could  hesitate  upon  that  (juestion,  or 
upon  tlie  exix'dience  of  returning  to  tli(^  ancient 
system  of  fixing  ui)on  some  standard  of  value. 

"  Uiion  the  necessity  of  establishing  such  a 
standard,  he  could  appeal  to  the  o])in- 
ion  of  all  writers  uiion  political  econ-  continued 
omy,  and  to  the  jiractice  of  every  civ- 
ilized country,  as  well  as  our  own,  prior  to  the 
year  1717.     All  the  witnesses  examined  before 


the  realm,  and  tlwr  exportation  of  gold  or  silver  bullion 
madeof  siirli  cciii,  shoulil  be  repealed."— 6'ow  unii^'t  Rtt 
i  ()luC\ms,  May  2  ,  Ihl'J  ;  Pari.  Ihb.  xl.  Odd 


HIS'l  OllV    OF    ElIROl'E. 


fOiiii.  IV" 


:hi^  committoo,  with  ihe  rxcrption  of  Mr.  .Siuitli, 
A'  Norwirli,  a  very  irs|M>rliil)U'  man,  riH-oin- 
lUfiuU^l  till-  i>sta!)iij^limciil  of  this  t^tiiiuhiril. 
V^viMi  li(>,  wIkmi  askcil  wlit'lhcr  he  would  proposf 
an  iiuh'fuiilo  susptMisioii  ol  rash  payiunits  with- 
out any  stanilanl  of  vahic,  aiisworod,  'No;  the 
pound  should  1)0  tho  standard.'  Being  asked 
what  lie  meant  hy  a  ponntl,  he  answered,  'I  fnid 
ic  diintiilt  to  explain  it ;  but  every  gentleman 
knowd  it:  it  is  sonirthing  whieh  has  existed  in 
this  country  for  eif- lit  hundred  years,  three  hund- 
red years  before  the  introduction  of  gold.'  iMr. 
Locke,  with  all  his  powers  of  understanding, 
could  not  succeed  in  dclhiing  what  he  meant  by 
a  pound.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  himself  was  for  a 
imie  misled  on  this  subject ;  but  at  length  he 
came  back  to  the  simple  doctrine,  that  the  true 
standard  of  value  was  a  certain  detniite  quantity 
of  gold  bullion.  Every  sound  writer  on  the  sub- 
ject came  to  the  same  conclusion,  that  a  certain 
weight  of  gold  bullion,  with  an  impression  on  it 
denoting  that  it  was  of  a  certain  weight  and  of  a 
certain  fineness,  constituted  the  only  true,  intel- 
ligible, and  adequate  standard  of  value  ;  and  to 
tliat  stanilard  tlie  country  must  return,  or  the 
dilRculties  of  our  situation  would  be  aggravated 
as  we  proceeded.  These  difficulties  were  uni- 
versally known,  and  they  would  not  be  diminish- 
ed by  our  declining  to  acknowledge  their  exist- 
ence ;  and  it  is  notorious  that  the  restoration 
of  a  metallic  standard  of  value  is  essential  to 
<iur  relief  from  these  difficulties. 

'•  The  issues  of  the  Bank  of  England  were  the 

foundation  on  which  the  whole  su- 
Coiui'iiucd.  perstructure   of  the   country   banks 

was  raised,  and  those  issues  were 
made  either  in  the  purchase  of  gold,  the  discount 
of  mercantile  bills,  or  the  purchase  of  Govern- 
ment securities.  It  is  a  delusion  to  say  that  the 
issues  of  the  bank  are  regulated  by  the  demands 
and  necessities  of  the  mercantile  world.  How 
can  you  distinguish  between  the  advances  it 
makes  to  Government  in  loans,  or  discounting 
Exchequer  bills,  and  a  paper  circulation  emana- 
ting directly  from  it  ]  The  bank,  no  doubt,  is 
safe  ;  the  solvency  of  their  establishment  is  be- 
yond all  doubt.  But  does  it  follow  that,  because 
the  bank  is  able  to  discharge  all  its  engage- 
nents,  therefore  there  can  be  no  over-issue  of  its 
paper]  If  solvency  alone  was  a  sufficient  proof 
that  there  was  no  excess  of  circulation,  the  the- 
ory of  Mr.  Law  was  just,  and  the  land  as  well  as 
the  funds  might  be  made  the  basis  of  a  circu- 
lating medium.  There  was,  in  fact,  no  test  of 
excess  or  deficiency,  but  a  comparison  with  the 
price  of  gold.  This  was  not  the  conclusion  of 
theory  only ;  the  last  few  years  had  afibrded 
the  most  ample  confirmation  of  it. 

■•  In  the  year  1815  our  commerce  was  in  full 

activity ;  a  great  impulse  had  been 
Continued   g'^^"'  speculation  was  at  its  height, 

and  the  exports  were  great  beyond 
example.  But  1816  and  1817came — the  natural 
result  of  those  overstrained  hopes  and  expecta- 
tions. A  languor  proportionate  to  the  degree  of 
excitation  succeeded.  An  immense  accumula- 
tion of  oroperty  had  taken  place,  for  which  there 
was  n  iemand.  Prices  fell — the  country  banks 
stcppea  their  issues — and  thousands  were  in  a 
moment  stricken  to  the  ground,  by  a  blow  which 
they  could  not  foresee,  and  against  which  it 
was  impossible  lo  provide.    The  Bank  of  En- 


gland notes  in  cir(  nlatinn  previous  to  1814 
were  X'^:},000,Ot)0  ;  i.i  1«15,  i;>jr),()()t),tlOO;  1816, 
X20,0()(),()00;  endof  1817,  X;:U,OOO.OO0.  At  the 
latter  period,  trade  revived,  and  imporlationa 
were  made  from  all  i)arts  of  the  world.  Many 
were  deceived  by  a  nominal  profit,  which,  in 
truth,  resolved  itself  into  an  excess  of  currency  • 
and  the  same  scene  of  distress  and  embarrass 
nient  was  renewed.  Mr.  Gladstone,  the  gi-eal 
Liverpool  mercliant,  had  stated  before  the  com- 
mittee that  the  value  of  grain  and  jirovisions 
imported  into  Liverpool,  from  Ireland,  in  1817, 
was  £1,200,000  ;  and  in  1818,  £l,'J50,000.  He 
added  that,  in  1816,  270,000  bales  of  cottoii  were 
imported  into  the  same  place  ;  in  1817,  350,000; 
1818,  457,000.  The  consequence  of  this  pro- 
digious excess  in  the  supply  was  a  fall  in  the 
price  of  cotton  of  40  per  cent.  Mr.  Gladstone 
added,  that  in  1818  goods  to  the  value  of 
£3,000,000  were  stored  in  Liverpool  beyond 
what  had  been  done  in  the  preceding  year. 
All  this  overtrading  was  productive  of  no  last- 
ing advantage  even  to  the  parties  engaged  in 
it ;  but  to  the  laboring  classes  it  was  attended 
with  incalculable  mischief.  The  unequal  and 
fluctuating  demands  for  labor  deranged  all  the 
relations  of  humble  life.  The  rapidity  with 
which  these  changes  succeeded  one  another  de- 
feated all  private  arrangements,  discouraged  the 
steady  accumulation  of  savings,  and  frequently 
overwhelmed  the  laborer  with  want  and  misery. 
"  The  only  effectual  check  which  can  be  im- 
posed on  these  evils  is  a  check  on  the 

over-issue  in  which  they  all  originate,  n^,.r'„^A 
11-  1-1,1  continued, 

and  this  can  only  be  applied  by  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  metallic  standard  of  value  ;  for 
the  issue  of  paper  has  not,  like  the  wise  i)rovi- 
sions  of  Providence,  or  the  prudent  regulations 
of  man,  any  counteracting  principle  within  itself 
The  paper  system  went  on  very  well  as  long  as 
the  excitation  lasted ;  but  it  was  sure,  on  its 
relapse,  to  scatter  distress  and  ruin.  Private 
bankers,  at  first  anxious  to  accommodate,  no 
sooner  perceived  the  symptoms  of  declining 
credit,  than,  in  the  eagerness  to  provide  for  their 
own  security,  they  refused  further  aid,  and  in- 
creased the  want  of  confidence.  This  is  the 
great  defect  of  the  paper  system  ;  and  the  ques- 
tion the  House  has  to  consider  is,  whether  a 
system  fraught  with  so  many  evils  is  to  be  per- 
mitted to  continue.  Its  evils  in  future  are  not 
to  be  measured  by  the  past.  Hitherto  there 
has  always  been  some  check — the  admonitions 
of  Parliament  had  been  respected  ;  but  if  once 
a  hope  should  be  held  out  that  the  suspension 
might  last  for  an  indefinite  time  —  that  the 
amount  of  the  circulating;  medium  was  to  be 
left  to  the  discretion  of  the  directors  —  they 
would  be  controlled  by  no  consideration  hut 
that  of  their  own  profits,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
overestimate  the  mischief  that  would  ensue. 
The  committee  had  perceived  that  a  mere  dec- 
laration on  the  subject  would  be  useless,  and 
that  mercantile  transactions  would  continue  in 
their  present  course,  instead  of  being  adapted 
to  a  return  to  the  ancient  standard.  It  would 
answer  no  good  purpose  to  declare  in  favor  of 
a  return  to  cash  payments  without  fixing  upon 
some  definite  period  for  the  resumption ;  for 
such  a  promise  had  already  been  made  nc  less 
than  five  times,  and  every  time  proved  delu- 
sive.   Tie  country,  then,  to  be  satisfied,  ncusl 


tsiy  J 


H  1  b  1  U K  V    OF   E  U 11 C  F E. 


t% 


see  that  a  serious  reooluti  m  existed  upon  the 
subject. 

"  It  was  when  engaged  in  the  conquest  of 

Wales,  and  amid  his  efforts  to  subdue 
Coi.ihiued   Scotland,  that  Edward  I.  first  turned 

his  attention  to  the  reformation  of  the 
coin  ;  and  the  next  great  reformer  on  that  sub- 
ject was  Queen  Elizabeth.  At  her  accession 
to  the  throne  she  found  that  the  coin  had  been 
debased  400  per  cent,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  YIII. 
and  Edward  VI. ;  when  there  should  have  been 
eleven  ounces,  there  were  only  three.  The  price 
of  every  thing,  in  consequence,  had  risen  great- 
ly, and  there  were  considerable  commotions 
through  the  country.  By  the  advice  of  Bur- 
leigh, she  determined  to  restore  the  value  of  the 
coin;  and  when  the  difficulties  of  the  attempt, 
m  the  distracted  state  of  her  dominions  and  pre- 
carious title  to  the  throne,  was  represented,  that 
able  minister  replied,  '  So  far  should  such  con- 
siderations be  from  deterring  your  Majesty  from 
the  pursuit,  they  should  rather  be  considered  as 
the  motives  for  perseverance,  as  in  the  end  they 
n»ust  raise  and  establish  the  character  of  the 
country,  increase  the  attachment  of  your  Maj- 
esty's subjects,  and  command  the  respect  even 
of  your  enemies.'  Such  a  conduct  was  the 
proudest  eulogium  on  her  merits.  The  inscrip- 
tion on  her  tomb,  after  enumerating  the  queen's 
titles  to  distinction,  concluded  with  these  words : 
'  Gallia  domata,  Belgium  sustentum,  pax  funda- 
ta,  moneta  in  justum  valorem  reducta.'  The 
glories  of  the  present  reign  exceeded  the  glories 
of  Elizabeth,  and  it  was  to  be  hoped  the  hour 
was  near  at  hand  when  the  triumphant  parallel 
would  l)e  completed. 

"  It  is  a  mistake  to  say  that  the  country  was 

indebted  for  all  its  military  honor  in 

Continued  '^''^  ''^''^  ^^^'^  ^^  ^^  inconvertible  pa- 
per currency.  Had  not  the  country 
enjoyed  its  full  share  of  prosperity  and  military 
glory  before  1797,  when  we  were  first  blessed 
with  an  inconvertible  paper  currency  1  Let 
them  adhere  to  that  good  faith  in  lime  of  peace 
which  they  had  shown  with  such  magnanimity 
through  all  the  dangers  of  war,  and  toward  tiie 
foreigners  wliose  countries  were  at  war  with 
them.  Let  them  recollect  that  the  lluctuations 
of  price  which  an  inconvertible  paper  currency 
occasioned  were  injurious  to  the  laborer,  who 
found  no  compensation  in  the  rist;  of  his  wages 
at  one  time  for  the  evils  indicted  by  their  de- 
pression at  another.  Every  consideration  of 
sound  policy,  and  every  consideration  of  strict 
justice,  should  induce  them  to  return  to  the  an- 
cient and  pcnnancnt  standard  of  value.  It  is  a 
most  delusive  idea  to  suppose  that  the  evils  of 
an  inconvertible  paper  currcjicy  will  be  obviated 
by  obliging  the  i)ank,  as  has  liecu  [jrojiosed,  to 
pay  their  notes  in  liullion  at  the  current  jirice  it 
bore  in  the  market  at  tiie  time.  H(!  warned  the 
House  against  the  adoption  of  a  measure  so 
fatal  —  a  measure  frauglit  with  destruction  to 
the  ends  propo.sed — a  jdan  which  would  reuuce 
gold  to  the  standard  of  iiaper,  in.^tf.ul  of  i)aper 
to  the  standard  of  gold,  and  inevilahly  lead  to 
ll>c  interminalile  coiitirmanee,  Uie  total  adoption, 
of  a  pajier  medium,  and  only  multiply  ad  infini- 
liun  the  difficulties  wilii  wiiicli  lli(!  subject  was 
at  present  surrounded. 

"  When  [jeople  talked  of  gold  rising  in  price, 
were  they  prepared  to  siiovv  it  had  risen  in  in- 


trinsic value  1  Let  then,  not  talk  .»f  .^ 
its  price  in  paper,  but  in  any  other  coac'liided 
commodity  of  a  real  and  fixed  value. 
Did  a  given  quantity  of  gold  at  present  buy  an> 
more  corn,  or  any  more  silver,  than  it  would 
have  done  fifty  years  ago  1  Setting  aside  the 
fluctuations  of  seasons,  which  of  course  materi- 
ally affected  the  price  of  grain,  it  would  be  fnund 
that  gold  did  not  within  the  ppnod  alluded  tc, 
through  its  increased  price,  command  more  of 
any  fixed  commodity  than  in  former  times.  So 
far  from  that  being  the  case,  it  positively  com- 
manded less  than  it  did  in  former  times ;  and 
on  this  account — because  they  had  found  a  sub- 
stitute for  gold  ;  and  beyond  that — because  they 
had  a  greater  stock  of  that  metal,  and  conse- 
quently its  value  was  less  than  it  was  fifty 
years  ago.  There  could  not,  as  long  as  the 
pound  remained  the  standard,  be  any  corre- 
sponding variation  between  the  price  ^ 
of  gold  and  the  increase  of  taxa-  l^l-^^  ^^^ 
tion.'"  ■  •   '  ' 

So  general  was  the  concurrence  of  the  Houses 
of  Commons  and  Lords  in  these  opin-  ^^ 
ions,  that  in  searching  for  tlic  lead-  Argument 
ers  of  the  debate  on  the  other  side,  -^li  the  other 
we  must  recur  to  names  unknov.n  ^■'^^■ 
to  fame  ;  but  not  on  that  account  the  less  wor- 
thy of  attention,  for  they  were  practical  men, 
who  spoke  from  their  actual  experience  of  what 
would  be  the  result  of  the  proposed  change.  It 
was  stated  by  Mr.  Alderman  Heygate  and  Mr. 
Gurney :  "  ll  was  generally  supposed,  and  in 
fact  commonly  assumed  as  an  incontrovertible 
position,  that  our  ]  aper  was  depreciated  to  a 
certain  extent.  Great  as  the  authorities  and 
splendid  as  the  names  were  which  were  cited 
in  the  report  of  the  committee  as  supporters  of 
that  opinion,  yet  research  and  inquiry  would 
convince  every  unbiased  mind  not  only  that 
no  such  depreciation  did  now  exist,  but  that  it 
never  could  exist.  The  preliminary  point  for 
inquiry  is,  Was  our  money  depreciated  or  not ! 
If  it  was,  we  were  bound  to  devise  a  remedy ; 
if  it  was  not.  Parliament  should  pause  before 
they  put  in  force  enactments  which  could  not 
but  have  the  most  distressing  consequences. 
Can  the  circulation  be  called  excessive!  Is  it 
not,  on  the  contrary  too  small,  when  it  '<s  rec- 
ollected that  it  is  no  larger  now  than  it  was  in 
1792 1  It  could  not  be  considered  as  excessive, 
if  we  considered  the  enormous  increase  of  pop- 
ulation, property,  and  taxes,  in  the  intermedi- 
ate jjeriod,  during  which  tiic  inhabitants  of  the 
empire  had  increased  at  least  titty  i)or  cent. ; 
the  revenue  had  risen  from  £10,000,000  a  year 
to  £54,000,000,  and  the  National  Debt  iiom 
£240,000,000  to  £800,000,000.  Add  to  this  the 
still  greater  inerease  of  our  colonieis,  eonnuerce, 
docks,  public  buildings,  agriculture,  manufac- 
tures, and  undertakings  of  all  kintls,  and  no  man 
can  deny  that,  so  far  from  our  circulation  being 
excessive,  it  is  greatly  witiiin  the  wants  of  the 
community. 

"  The  argument  that  the  .^njiply  of  gold  is  do 
penilent  on  tiie  pajjer  eireuialKin,  and 
tliat  it  wdl  always  he  driven  out  ol  tiu;  (•on|',„ued 
coimtry  when  an  over-issue  of  that 
takes  i)lace,  is  utterly  erroneous,  and  is  disap- 
provecl  by  tlu;  facts.  In  Nov.,  1H17,  the  notes  in 
ciriMilation  exceeded  £20,000,000,  and  the  ])iiee 
of  gold  was  £4  Os.  Od.  the  ounce.     Since  thai 


It  I 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[C'li.u-.  I\ 


period  there  had  been  a  rcihu-tion  of  £3.000,000 
in  Iho  iiotos  in  circulation,  and  yet  tlie  price  of 
£;oId  had  been  somewhat  hiiiher.  Oohl,  in  tiie 
last  years  of  the  war.  was  as  iii;:h  as  £5  4s.  an 
ounce ;  and, without  any  reduction  in  the  amount 
of  bank  paper  in  circulation,  it  fell,  in  1816,  to 
£i  Is.  the  ounce.  'J'iie  trntii  was,  gold  was  a 
valuable  commodity,  an  article  of  commerce  in 
universal  request,  and,  like  every  other  such  ar- 
ticle, it  varied  in  price  according  to  the  varying 
demand  for  it  in  this  or  other  countries.  Noth- 
ing could  be  more  dangerous  than  to  make  our 
entire  circulating  medium  dependent  on  the  sup- 
ply of  gold,  and  impose  upon  the  bank  the  ne- 
cessity of  constantly  referring  to  its  price  as  the 
measure  whereby  to  regulate  the  amount  of 
their  own  issues.  The  circulation  of  the  coun- 
try banks  is  entirely  regulated  by  the  profuse- 
ness  or  caution  of  the  issues  of  the  Bank  of 
England  ;  and  the  whole  circulation  being  in 
this  manner  dependent  on  that  basis,  in  what 
situation  shall  we  be  if,  the  moment  the  price 
of  gold  rises,  and  it,  in  consequence,  disappears 
from  circulation,  our  whole  paper  is,  at  the  same 
time,  drawn  in  !  This  was  exactly  what  hap- 
pened in  1816.  Gold  was  then  on  a  par  with 
paper ;  and  yet  such  was  the  calamity,  and  so 
extensive  the  distress  at  that  unfortunate  peri- 
od, that  it  pervaded  every  part  of  the  country. 
The  landed  proprietor  could  get  no  rents,  the 
manufacturer  no  market,  the  laborer  no  employ- 
ment. Bankruptcy  was  universal.  Even  if  next 
autumn  the  harvest  should  be  abundant,  the  ex- 
changes become  favorable,  and  the  price  of  gold 
fall,  still  every  prudent  banker  must,  if  the  pro- 
posed plan  receives  the  sanction  of  Parliament, 
limit  his  issues,  and  every  prudent  merchant 
and  manufacturer  his  undertakings  ;  and  thus, 
with  all  the  elements  of  prosperity  at  our  com- 
mand, universal  distress  must  again  ensue. 
This  anticipation  was  supported  by  all  the  evi- 
dence taken  before  the  committee,  and  by  none 
more  than  that  of  Mr.  Baring,  the  individual, 
perhaps,  in  existence,  best  qualified  to  form  an 
opinion  on  the  subject.  But  if  the  price  of  gold 
should  rise,  and  exchanges  prove  unfiivorable, 
can  imagination  itself  assign  any  limit  to  the 
disasters  which  must  ensue  I 
■'  The  right  honorable  mover  of  the  resolutions 

had  eulogized  the  conduct  of  Queen 
Cmtinaed    Elizabeth  in  restoring  the  purity  of  the 

coin  ;  but  were  the  circumstances  of 
that  period  parallel !  Were  they  not  rather  a  con- 
trast to  the  present  1  The  country  was  not  then 
burdened  with  a  debt  of  £800,000,000,  and  the 
necessity  of  raising  a  revenue  of  £54,000,000 
annually.  What  might  have  been  wise  and 
magnanimous  in  that  princess,  might  now  be 
the  height  of  imprudence  and  infatuation.  It 
is  a  most  x'allacious  idea  to  suppose  that,  if  the 
proposed  plan  were  adopted,  the  price  of  gold 
would  permanently  remain  at  the  present  level. 
It  might  do  so  in  so  far  as  this  country  is  con- 
cerned, but  who  can  be  sure  that  nothing  is  like- 
ly to  occur  abroad  which  will  at  once  raise  the 
price  of  gold,  and  occasion  such  a  run  upon  the 
Bank  of  England  as  will  seriously  injure,  if  not 
W'holly  destroy  credit  1  In  such  a  case,  the  sit- 
uation of  the  bank,  and  with  it  of  every  country 
bank,  would  be  full  of  hazard.  Their  only  chance 
of  safety  would  be  in  an  appeal  to  Parliament 
to  relax  the  law,  but  it  might  not  be  sitting  ai 


the  time  ;  and,  at  all  events,  it  would  ucdoubt- 
edly  be  reluctant  to  interfere  till  the  very  last 
extremity,  and  great  distress  had  already  hce-i 
undergone.  If,  however,  the  recommendatioiu 
of  the  report  were  adopted,  every  merchant, 
manufacturer,  and  banker  would  regulate  hi.? 
dealings  with  a  view  to  the  possibility  of  such 
an  event ;  and  if  it  occurred,  where  would  be 
the  employment  of  the  poor  1  and  how  fearful 
the  increase  of  the  poor-rates  !  This  is  the  ex- 
pectation of  a  large  portion  of  that  part  of  oui 
community  engaged  in  carrying  on  agriculture, 
trade,  and  manufactures ;  and  coming  events 
are  already  foreshadowed  by  the  great  decline 
of  contidencc,  and  decrease  of  o  ders  and  em 
ployment,  which  has  taken  place  since  the  se- 
cret committees  were  appointed  in  the  present 
session  of  Parliament. 

"The  avowed  object  of  the  new  system  is  to 
establish  a  fixed  standard  of  value  ;  but 
although  by  its  adoption  you  may  con-  coniinuod. 
fer  steadiness  on  that  of  gold,  at  what 
price  will  that  be  purchased  in  the  price  of  all 
other  commodities  !  Can  any  man,  if  the  reso- 
lutions are  adopted,  say  what  will  be  the  condi- 
tion or  value  of  his  property  in  February  next ! 
If  a  run  upon  the  bank  takes  place  at  that  time,  it 
may  be  compelled  to  stop  payment  in  a  fortnight. 
The  country,  which  had  so  cheerfully  borne  the 
burdens  of  the  war,  is  at  least  entitled  to  be 
saved  from  the  risk  of  losing  its  currency,  and 
having  the  miseries  to  undergo  consequent  on 
a  universal  destruction  of  credit.  The  rise  in 
the  price  of  provisions  has  no  natural  or  imme- 
diate effect  on  the  wages  of  the  laboring  classes, 
but  a  cessation  of  emplo}inent  has  an  instanta- 
neous and  destructive  effect  upon  them.  All 
we  have  suffered  from  the  terrible  fluctuation 
of  prices  since  the  peace  is  to  be  ascribed  to 
the  erroneous  detemiination  avowed  by  Gov- 
ernment, that  an  ounce  of  gold  should,  under  a 
debt  of  £800,000,000,  happen  what  might,  pass 
for  no  more  than  £3  17s.  lO^d.  an  ounce — a  de- 
termination which  only  fixes  it  at  that  price  by 
destroying  credit,  ruining  industry,  and  occa- 
sioning a  frightful  fluctuation  in  the  prices  of  aU 
other  commodities.  It  is  said  by  the  supporter 
of  the  measure  proposed  (Mr.  Ricardo)  that  the 
variation  of  prices  it  will  produce  will  not  exceed  3 
fcr  cent.  ;*  but  it  will  be  found  that  it  will  be 
above  20  per  cent.;  and  if  so,  how  are  our  farm- 
ers to  pay  their  rents,  or  the  nation  its  taxes, 
and  the  interest  on  its  debts,  public  and  private ' 

"It  is  said  that  an  alteration  on  the  standard 
would  be  a  fraud  on  the  national  cred- 
itors, and  that,  in  justice  to  them,  we  concluded, 
must  return  to  the  old  standard.  But, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  comparative  amount  bor- 
rowed since  the  restriction,  it  should  be  recollect- 
ed there  are  two  parties  to  a  bargain.  Has  the 
national  creditor  called  for  this  change  ^  Had 
he  thought  the  change  would  prove  beneficial  to 
him,  the  Three  per  Cents,  would  have  risen  to 
100,  instead  of  falling,  as  they  have  now  done, 
to  66.  But  the  national  creditor  saw,  what  was 
undoubtedly  the  fact,  that  increased  pressure 
upon  those  who  must  pay  him  his  interest  Icss- 

*  "The  difficulty  Is  only  that  of  raising  the  currency  3 
percent,  in  value  (hear,  hear)  ;  and  who  can  donht  that, 
even  in  those  states  where  the  currency  is  wholly  metal- 
lic, it  often  suffered  a  variation  equal  to  this  without  in- 
convenience to  the  public  ?"' — Mr.  RiCARro  s  Speech,  Maj 
24,1819;  Port.  Deb.  xl.'i3. 


.8iy.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


I2ei 


»  Pari.  Deb 
\l.  bOO. 


ened  his  security,  and  he  would  gladly  continue 
to  take  his  share  in  a  currency  somewhat  di- 
minished in  value,  together  with  his  neighbors, 
rather  than  incur  the  risk  of  being  exempted 
from  that  which,  in  fact,  had  operated  as  a  sort 
of  property-tax  on  property  of  every  description, 
and  which  had  insured  the  regulari- 
■J^l'-^g^'  ty,  if  it  had  diminished  the  value,  of 
■'^  ''    ■  the  stockholders' dividends.'" 
Upon  this  debate  the  resolutions  were  agreed 
-Q  to  without  one  dissentient  voice,  the  pro- 

Decision  of  posed  amendment  of  Alderman  Hey- 
Pariiament  gate  being  withdrawn.  Mr.  Canning 
on  the  sub-  stated  "that  he  would  take  this  as 
'^    ■  nothing  less  than  a  unanimous  determ- 

viation  of  Parliament  that  the  country  should 
return,  as  speedily  as  possible,  to  the  ancient 
standard  of  value  in  the  establishment  of  a  me- 
tallic currency,"  which  was  accord- 
ingly done  by  the  act  which  i)assed 
in  terms  of  the  resolutions. =* 
On  one  occasion,  counsel,  pleading  in  the 
;g  House  of  Lords  before  Lord  Eldon, 
Reflections  opened  the  case  by  saying,  "  My  lords, 
on  this  de-  this  is  an  appeal  from  a  unanimous 
cision.  judgment  of  the  Court  of  Session." 
"So  much  the  worse  for  you,"  observed  the 
Chancellor,  "for  that  renders  it  the  more  prob- 
able that  the  case  was  either  not  understood  or 
not  properly  considered."  When  the  question 
was  put  to  the  Convention  whether  Louis  XVL 
was  guilty  or  innocent,  they  unanimously  de- 
clared him  guilty ;  the  subsequent  narrow  divi- 
sion was  on  the  nature  of  the  punishment  to  be 
inflicted  only.  Posterity  has  reversed  the  sen- 
tence ;  it  has  unanimously  declared  him  inno- 
cent. This  is  not  the  time  to  discuss  the  effects 
of  this  great  measure,  with  which,  for  good  or 
for  evil,  the  future  destinies  of  Great  Britain, 
and,  with  it,  of  half  the  globe,  are  wound  up.  At 
present  three  things  only  are  worthy  of  observ- 
ation, and  should  be  kept  in  mind  in  consider- 
ing the  ample  commentary  which  subsequent 
events  have  furnished  on  this  unanimous  de- 
cision of  the  Legislature.  The  first  is,  that  no 
allusion  was  made  on  either  side  to  the  great 
defalcation  then  going  on,  and  which  had  been 
in  progress  for  ten  years  before  the  discussion 
began,  in  the  supply  of  the  precious  metals  for 
the  use  of  the  globe  from  the  South  American 

'  The  resolutions  were : 
I.  That  it  is  inexpedient  to  continue  the  restriction 
(if .  a.sh  payments  beyond  the  time  at  present  limited  by 
law. 

"H.  That  it  is  expedient  that  a  definite  period  should 
be  fixed  for  the  termination  ofihe  restriction  on  cash  pay- 
ments, and  that  preparatory  measures  should  be  taken  to 
facilitate  and  insure,  on  the  arrival  of  that  period,  the  pay- 
ment of  the  n.-i'es  of  the  Bank  of  England  in  the  current 
coin  of  the  rcaim. 

"III.  That  the  debt  of  £10,000,000  due  by  Government 
to  the  bank  should  be  provided  for  and  {;radually  paid. 

"IV.  That  it  is  expedient  to  provide  by  law,  that  from 
and  after  I  si  February,  \hW,  the  bank  shall  he  liable  to 
deliver  on  demand,  cold  of  standard  fineness,  having  been 
assayed  and  stamped  at  his  Majesty's  Mint,  a  (piantity  of 
not  less  than  sixty  ounces  beiiiR  re(|uiri'il  iji  cxihiitiKe  for 
such  an  amount  oi^barik-notes  of  the  bank  as  shall  hi'  ei|ual 
to  the  value  of  the  gold  so  required,  at  the  rate  of  £4  Is. 
per  ounce. 

"V.  That  from  1st  October,  1820,  the  bank  shall  be  lia- 
ble to  deliver  pold  at  the  rate  of  £3  IDs.  fid.  per  ounce,  and 
from  Ist  May,  1«21,  at  .£3  17s.  10,\d.  ;  and  that  from  1st 
May,  1823,  the  bank  shall  pay  its  notes  on  demand  in  the 
legal  coin  of  the  realm. 

"VI.  That  all  laws  prohibilini!  the  meltinjE  and  cxpor- 
laiion  of  coin  shall  be  repealed." — Pari.  Ucb.  xl.  701. 


mines,  from  the  revolutioiary  convulsioi.s  rag- 
ing in  that  quarter,  although  the  effect  of  tL.^sc 
convulsions  had  been  to  reduce  the  annual  sup- 
ply of  the  precious  metals  to  little  mo-e  tlian  a 
fourth  of  its  former  amount.  The  second,  that 
the  ablest  speakers  who  supported  the  resolu- 
tions— in  particular,  Mr.  Peel  and  Mr.  Ri'ardo 
— maintained  that  the  change  of  prices,  arising 
from  this  measure,  would  not  exceed  3  per  cent., 
and  that  its  adoption  was  the  only  way  to  guard 
against  the  evils  of  great  variations  in  prices. 
The  third  is,  that  these  views  were  unanimous' 
ly  adopted  by  the  Legislature — the  opponents  of 
the  measure  being  too  few  in  mmiber  to  risk  a 
division — at  the  very  time  when  a  contraction 
of  the  currency  was  so  much  to  be  deprecated 
from  the  great  falling  off  in  the  supply  of  the  pre- 
cious metals  from  the  South  American  mines, 
and  the  vast  addition  to  the  wants  and  transac- 
tions of  the  world  which  was  daily  taking  place 
from  the  continuance  of  peace,  the  extension 
of  commerce,  and  rapid  increase  of  population, 
as  well  in  Europe  as  in  the  States  of  North 
America,  and  the  immense  loans  which  at  that 
very  time  required  to  be  provided  for,  contract- 
ed by  the  French  government. 

The  finances  of  the  country  underwent  a  very 
thorough  discussion  in  this  session  of        ^^ 
Parliament,  both  on  occasion  of  a  mo-  Mr.  van 
tion  by  Lord  Castlereagh  for  a  select  sittart's 
committee  to  inquire  into  the  income  finai'ceres- 
and  expenditure  of  the  country,  and 
of  a  series  of  finance  resolutions*  which  Mr. 
Vansittart  brought  forward  on  3d  June. 
These  resolutions,  and  the  report  of  the     ^^^   ' 
committee,  are  very  valuable,  as  exhibiting  the 
financial  state  of  the  country,  and  the  resources 
it  possessed  at  the  time  when  the  great  change 
in  its  monetary  policy  was  adopted.     The  re- 
sults were  extremely  satisfactory — much  more 
so  than  could  have  been  anticipated,  when  it  ia 
considered  what  an  enormous  weight  of  debt, 
funded  and  unfunded,  remained  at  the  close  of 
the  year ;  that  £18,000,000  of  taxes  were  taken 
off  in  the  first  year  of  the  peace,  and  the  reve- 
nue that  remained  had  been  seriously  impa'  red 


"  The  income  and  expenditure  of  Great  Britain  and  (re 
land  for  the  year  1819  stood  as  follows  : 
I.  Income. 

Customs f  ll,r.',)2,rfi.l 

Excise 2.'),.ori,'-),fi  10 

Stamps f),lsKt,07  1 

I'ost-ollice l,7'J0,iy'J 

Lesser  Hans. 

Lottery fifi.'),nflO 

Unclaimed  dividends 237,312 

Imperial  moneys 37),il(lf> 

Total  revenue 5^01 0,1 08 

Loans lH.75fi.ll87 

Total £74,7U0,1U0 

II.    Exi'ENDITUHE. 

Interest  of  National  Debt  and  Sink- 
ing Fund £  16,lfi7,<)9r 

Interest  on  Exchequer  bills 77U,'J'J2 

Civil  List,  and  charges  on  Consoli- 
dated Fund 2,538,()fi0 

Civil  Government  of  Scotland 12!),'.W8 

Lesser  payments 380,101 

Navy fi,3i).'),.'>.'j2 

Ordnance 1,,138,S0« 

Army <J,4,'')0,(i.')0 

Local  objects ,'j3,|(il 

Miscellaneous 1, 8.0.'), 048 

Total ^ £0y,i9y,27a 

—Ann.  Reg.,\mO.  OlS. 


1C6 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[Chap.  IV 


by  the  rcpoateil  fluctuations  of  the  currency,  in- 
iluced  by  the  constant  terror  of  resuming;  cash 
payments  which  liiinf;  over  tlic  bank  ;  and  that, 
with  very  few  exceiitions,  and  those  of  short 
periods  only,  general  distress  had  prevailed  in 
the  country.  It  was  stated  in  Mr.  Vansittart's 
resolutions  that,  by  the  r(  inoval  of  the  property 
and  war  malt  taxes,  the  income  of  tireat  Brit- 
ain had  been  reduced  by  X  18,000.000  yearly; 
that  the  interest  and  charge  of  the  debt,  funded 
and  unfunded,  of  Ireland,  exceeded  its  revenue 
by  i.' 1. 800.000  annually  ;  that  the  income  of  the 
United  Ringilom.  for  the  year  ending  5th  Janu- 
Erv.  1818.  \v.is  X.5I.665.458,  while,  for  the  vear 
ending  5th  January,  1819,  it  was  £54.620,000, 
showing  an  increase  of  above  £3,000.000,  wliich, 
liowcver,  was  reduced  by  arrears  of  war  i'  Jties 
on  malt  and  property  to  only  £49,334,927  ^  the 
real  income  in  1817,  while  the  income  i-.  1818 
included  only  £556,639  of  these.  The  general 
result  was.  that  there  was,  in  1818,  a  total  sur- 
plus of  £3,558.000,  applicable  to  the  reduction 
V  of  the  national  debt;  and  if  £1,000.000 
^,',J.',;-  *pI  was  allowed  as  the  interest  of  the  loan 
nance  Res-  required  to  keep  the  expenditure  off 
oiutions ;  the  .Sinking  Fund,  there  would  remain 
Tf  9i4^9-23  -£2,500,000  of  real  surplus  revenue, 
'  "  '  and  really  paid-off  debt.' 
Mr.  Vansittart  stated,  in  reference  to  future 

finance  measures  of  Government, 
Mr.  Van-  "That  in  consequence  of  the  extens- 
siiuirfs  ive  and  searching  investigations  that 
finance  had  lately  taken  place  into  our  finance 
iiew  uies  situation,  its  strong  and  its  weak  points 

were  now  fully  known  both  in  this 
country  and  abroad;  while,  at  the  same  time, 
by  the  return  of  our  army  from  France,  and  the 
great  reductions  which  had  been  made  in  our 
establishments,  both  by  land  and  sea,  we  had 
arrived  at  what  might  be  called  our  peace  es- 
tablishment, from  which  no  material  reductions 
were  to  be  expected.  At  the  same  time,  our 
currency  had  at  length  been  restored  to  its  prop- 
er basis  ;  and  as  the  military  pensions,  which 
constituted  so  large  a  part  of  the  cost  of  the 
army,  must  soon  yearly  diminish,  it  becomes 
Parliament,  at  the  same  time,  to  take  measures 
for  putting  our  finance  on  a  proper  foundation. 
This  can  only  be  done,  adverting  to  the  magni- 
tude of  our  public  debt,  by  applying  £5,000,000 
at  least  annually  to  its  reduction.  The  Sinking 
Fund  is  about  £15,000,000  a  year ;  and  the  loan 
his  year  will  be  £13,000,000.  This  leaves  an 
excess  of  £2,000,000  really  applicable  to  the  re- 
t  uction  of  debt ;  and,  therefore,  £3,000,000  ad- 
ditional taxes  would  require  to  be  laid  on,  to 
make  up  the  requisite  annual  surplus.  The 
loan  of  the  year  I  propose  to  devote  one  half  in 
liquidation  of  the  unfunded  debt,  and  one  half  in 
repaying  part  of  the  £  1 0,000,000  advanced  by  the 
bank."  Parliament  agreed  to  these  proposals, 
which  were  obviously  founded  in  statesman- 
like wisdom,  and  the  new  taxes  imposed  were 
on  foreign  wool  and  tobacco,  tea,  coffee,  and  co- 
coa-nuts. This  was  a  great  step  in  the  right 
direction  ;  for  not  only  was  a  considerable  sink- 
ing fund  secured,  but  it  was  obtained  without 
recurring  to  the  odious  and  unjust  system  of 
direct  taxation,  which  falls  with  very  unequal 
weight  upon  a  small  part  only  of  the  communi- 
ty ;  but  by  indirect  taxation,  chiefly  on  luxuries, 
which  is  in  general  so  light,  and  spread  over  so 


Parl.De- 

xl.'J17,'J2'' 


large  a  surface,  that  it  is  no  t'xaggeration  to  sa) 
the  money  is  got  without  any  one  be- 
ing sensible  of  the  burden  of  its  col- 
lection.' 

Sir  James  Mackintosh,  in  this  session  of  Paj 
liament.  brought  forward  the  subject  .„ 
of  a  reform  of  the  criminal  law  in  a  sir  James 
speech  rei)lete  with  masterly  state-  Mackin- 
ments  and  statesman-like  views,  'osU's  arpu- 
which  showed  how  little  the  cause  Jl^fr"  of"cr"m 
had  lost  by  the  work  of  Romilly  mai  law  re 
having  been  transferred  to  him.  He  form- 
observed  :  '•  I  do  not  propose  to  fomi  ''^'"'^•'  2. 
a  new  criminal  code.  Altogether  to  abolish  a 
system  of  law,  admirable  in  its  principle,  inter- 
woven with  the  habits  of  the  English  people, 
and  under  which  they  have  long  and  happily 
lived,  is  a  proposition  too  extravagant  to  be  for 
a  moment  listened  to.  Neither  is  it  proposed 
to  abolish  the  punishment  of  death.  The  right 
of  inflicting  it  is  a  part  of  the  right  of  self-de- 
fense with  which  all  societies  as  well  as  indi- 
viduals are  endowed.  Like  all  other  punish- 
ments, the  infliction  of  death  is  an  evil,  if  un- 
necessary ;  but,  like  any  other  evil  employed  to 
remedy  a  still  greater  one,  it  is  capable  of  be- 
coming a  good.  Nor  is  it  proposed  to  take  away 
the  power  of  pardon  from  the  Crown.  On  the 
contrary,  my  object  is  to  restore  to  the  sover- 
eign the  real  and  practical  enjoyment  of  that 
prerogative,  of  which  usage  in  modern  times 
has  nearly  deprived  it.  My  object  is  to  bring 
the  letter  of  the  law  more  near  its  practice  ;  to 
make  the  execution  of  the  law  form  the  major- 
ity, its  remission  the  minority  of  cases.  It  is 
impossible,  indeed,  to  frame  a  system  of  law  sc 
graduated  that  it  can  be  applied  to  every  case 
without  the  intervention  of  a  discretionary  pow- 
er ;  but  there  is  good  reason  to  complain  or  a 
system  of  law-  such  as  that  which  at  present 
prevails  in  England,  when  the  remission  of  the 
law  forms  the  rule,  and  its  execution  the  ex- 
ception. The  object  of  my  reform  is  to  trans- 
fer into  the  statute-book  the  exceptions  to  rig- 
or, which  the  wisdom  of  modern  times  has  in- 
troduced into  its  practice. 

"  It  is  said  the  progress  of  the  country  in  man- 
ufactures is  the  principal  cause  of  the 
great  increase  of  crime  which  has  continued 
taken  place.  But  is  our  progress  in 
wealth  and  manufactures  to  be  arrested  1  Great 
cities  are,  without  doubt,  the  hot-beds  of  crime ; 
but  can  cities  be  prevented  from  becoming  large 
in  the  later  stages  of  society  1  It  is  to  the  causes 
of  increase  which  arise  from  errors  of  legisla- 
tion, and  a  pernicious  code  of  laws,  that  the  at- 
tention of  Parliament  should  chiefly  be  direct- 
ed, because  it  is  there  alone  that  the  means  of 
reformation  are  in  our  hands.  The  game-laws 
are,  without  doubt,  in  rural  districts,  a  great 
source  of  demoralization  ;  and  the  returns  of 
commitments  show  a  great  increase  since  1808, 
when  our  paper  currency  first  became  serious- 
ly depreciated.  But  the  main  ground  for  a  ref- 
ormation of  the  criminal  law  is,  that  it  is  not 
so  efficacious  as  it  ought  to  be  in  checking  the 
increase  of  crime  arising  from  these  various 
causes,  and  that  in  consequence  of  its  excessive 
severity.  There  are  no  less  than  two  hundred 
felonies  on  the  statute-book  •  punishable  with 
death ;  but,  by  the  returns  from  London  and 
Middlesex,  from  1749  to  1819,  a  period  of  sev 


1819.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


\21 


enty  years,  there  are  oii.ly  twenty-five  sorts  of 
felonies  for  which  any  individuals  have  been  ex- 
ecuted ;  so  that  there  are  a  hundred  and  seven- 
ty-five capital  felonies  respecting  which  the  law, 
during  that  time,  has  never  been  enforced  !  In 
the  thirteen  years  since  1805  there  are  only 
thirty  descriptions  of  felonies  on  which  capital 
convictions  have  taken  place  in  England  and 
Wales  ;  so  that  there  are  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty capital  felonies  which  have  practically  gone 
into  desuetude. 

This  extraordinary  multiplication  of  crimes 

against  which  the  sanction  of  death 
CunUnued   ^^^^  pronounced,  has  arisen  mainly 

from  the  Revolution  of  1688 — in  other 
respects  productive  of  so  much  good — by  the  fa- 
cility which  it  afforded  to  every  class  to  get  any 
offense  w'hich  trenched  at  all  on  them  declared 
capital.  It  is  inconceivable  how  heedlessly  and 
recklessly  this  was  done  in  former  times.  The 
anecdotes  which  are  current  of  this  extraordi- 
nary and  shameful  facility  I  am  almost  ashamed 
..0  repeat.  Mr.  Burke  told  me  that  on  one  oc- 
casion, when  he  was  leaving  the  House,  one  of 
the  messengers  called  him  back.  Mr.  Burke 
said  he  was  going  on  urgent  business.  '  Oh  !' 
replied  the  messenger,  '  it  will  not  keep  you  a 
single  moment ;  it  is  only  a  felony  without  ben- 
efit of  clergy.'  Mr.  Burke  added,  that  although, 
from  his  political  career,  he  was  not  entitled  to 
ask  any  favor  of  the  ministry,  yet  he  was  per- 
suaded he  had  interest  enough  at  any  time  to 
obtain  their  assent  to  a  felony  without  benefit 
of  clergy.  This  unfortunate  fiicility  in  grant- 
ing an  increase  in  the  severity  of  the  law  to  ev- 
ery proposer,  with  the  most  impartial  disregard 
of  political  consideration,  arose  and  was  carried 
on  at  the  very  time  when  the  humane  feelings 
of  the  country  were  daily  more  and  more  refin- 
ing under  the  influence  of  knowledge,  and  this 
it  was  which  produced  the  final  separation  be- 
tween the  letter  and  practice  of  the  law  ;  for 
the  Government  and  the  nation  alike  revolted 
at  executing  laws  which  in  moments  of  hecd- 
lesFness  the  Legislature  had  sanctioned.  Most 
justly  did  that  great  and  good  man,  Sir  William 
Grant,  say  that  it  was  impossible  both  the  law 
and  the  practice  can  be  right ;  that  the  tolera- 
tion of  such  a  discord  was  an  anomaly  which 
could  no  longer  be  tolerated  ;  and  that  as  the 
law  might  be  brought  to  an  accordance  with  the 
|)ractice,  but  it  was  impossible  to  bring  the  prac- 
tice into  accordance  with  the  law,  the  law  ought 
to  be  altered  for  a  wiser  and  more  humane  sys- 
tem. 'Hie  last  century  has  exhibited  a  contin- 
ual confederacy  of  prosecutors,  witnesses,  coun- 
sel, juries,  judges,  and  the  advisers  of  the 
Crown,  to  prevent  the  execution  of  the  law. 
"The  crimes  against  which  our  penal  code, 

as  it  at  present  stands,  denounces  the 
Continued.  P"n'sl'nfient  of  death,  may  be  divided 

into  three  classes.  In  the  first  are 
numbered  murder,  shooting,  stabl)ing,  and  such 
other  offenses  as  endanger  iifi',  and  on  wlii<-h  the 
extreme  sentence  of  tlie  law  is  iiivarialdy  exe- 
cuL-jd.  In  the  second  cl.'iss  arc^  included  arson, 
liighway  robbery,  piracy,  and  oilier  similar  of- 
fenses, in  which  the  law,  though  not  always,  is 
very  frequently  carried  into  effect.  On  these 
two  divisions  I  admit  that  at  present  it  would 
1)0  unsafe  to  make  any  alteration.  But  there  is 
1  ttird  c'ass — some  connected  with  frauds  of 


various  kinc.s,  but  ethers  of  the  most  frivoioua 
and  fantastic  description,  against  which  tlie  pun- 
ishment of  death  is  denounced  in  our  statute- 
book,  but  never  now  carried  into  execution,  and 
in  which  it  never  was  executed,  even  in  former 
times,  without  exciting  the  utmost  disgust  and 
horror  in  all  good  men — such  as  cutting  dowr 
a  hop-vine,  or  a  tree  in  a  gentleman's  park;  oi 
cutting  the  head  of  a  fish-pond,  or  being  found 
on  the  high-road  at  night  with  the  face  black- 
ened. These  trifling,  and  even  ridiculous  cap 
ital  felonies,  are  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  in 
number ;  and  although  for  the  last  seventy  years 
they  have  in  no  one  instance  been  carried  into 
execution,  yet  there  they  stand,  at  this  hour,  a 
perpetual  monument  of  savage  barbarity,  and 
an  eternal  proof  of  the  difference  between  the 
written  law  and  its  practical  execution.  From 
the  whole  of  this  class  of  cases  I  propose  to 
take  away  in  law,  as  has  long  been  done  in  prac- 
tice, the  capital  sanction. 

"  But  even  in  those  cases  where  the  punish- 
ment of  death  may  still,  without 
shocking  our  moral  feelings,  be  in-  fontiuued 
flicted,  it  seems  expedient,  in  every 
point  of  view,  that  the  extreme  punishment  of 
the  law  should,  if  not  entirely  removed,  be  at 
least  extremely  limited.  I  do  not  contend  fcr 
the  entire  abolition  of  the  punishment  of  death  : 
in  some  crimes,  and  especially  murder,  it  ougiit 
to  he  inflicted.  The  courts  of  law  sliould,  in 
such  cases,  be  armed  with  the  awful  power  of 
taking  away  the  offender's  life  ;  and  thus  it  may 
be  seen  that,  in  this  country,  that  may  be  done 
by  justice  which  may  not  be  done  by  power. 
But  in  order  to  render  that  authority  fully  im- 
pressive, I  am  convinced  that  the  punishment 
of  death  should  be  abolished  in  those  cast^ 
where  inferior  punishments  are  not  only  appli- 
cable, but  usually  applied.  Nothing  can  bo  more 
detrimental  to  the  purposes  of  justice  tiian  the 
frequency  with  which  the  sentence  of  death  is 
pronounced  from  the  judgment-seat,  with  all 
the  solemnities  prescribed  for  the  occasion, 
when  it  is  evident,  even  to  those  against  whom 
the  sentence  is  pronounced,  that  it  will  not  be 
carried  into  effect.  The  frecjucMicy  of  escape 
in  such  cases  takes  away  the  whole  effect  of 
capital  sentence  as  an  example.  '  A  single  es- 
cape,' says  Fielding,  'excites  a  greater  degree 
of  hope  in  the  minds  of  criminals  than  tW(Mity 
executions  excite  of  fear.'  Tlie  whole  eflect 
of  punishment,  as  an  examjjle,  is  destroye'l 
when  the  symimthy  of  the  spectators  is  with 
the  criminal  when  he  is  executed,  or  against 
the  law  when  sentence  is  pronounced. 

"  In  all  nations,  and  in  all  stages  of  society 
an  agreciiient  between  the  laws  and 
the  general  feeling  of  the  jjcople  is  concluded 
essential  to  their  ( fhcacy.  But  this 
agreement  becomes  of  unspeakable  importance 
in  a  country  in  which  the  charge  of  executing 
the  laws  is  in  a  great  measure  committed  to 
the  pefijile  themselves,  d'od  forbid  that  I  .should 
wish  to  throw  any  impediment  whatever  in  the 
way  of  our  civil  governmeiii ;  on  the  contrary, 
it  is  my  object  to  removf*  such  as  exist.  My 
obje(;t  is  to  make  the  laws  po|)ular,  to  reconcile 
[)ul)lic  oiiinion  to  their  enactments,  and  thus  to 
redeem  their  character.  It  is  to  render  their 
execution  easy,  their  terror  overwhelming,  their 
efficacy  comidele,  that  I  implore  tlu;  House  to 


128 


HISTORY  OF   EUROPE. 


LChap.  IV. 


ifivo  t(i  tlio  siilijeot  their  iiKisl  si^riinis  coiisiilor- 
I'.lion.  Tlu' just  aiitl  f.iitlirul  admiiii.stration  of 
liio  law  is  tlic  i;n\il  lumil  nl  society — tlie  point 
M  which  authority  and  ohedieneo  meet  luest 
nearly.  It"  those  who  hold  tiie  reins  of  govern- 
ment, instead  of  attenii)tinjj;  a  remedy,  content 
themselves  with  vain  lamentations  on  the  in- 
crease of  crime — if  they  refuse  to  conform  the 
I  p,rt.  Hob.  hiws  to  the  opinions  and  dispositions 
xxitix.  TTS,  of  the  pul)lic,  that  growth  must  con- 
7i>s.  tribute  to  spread  a  just  alarm.'" 

To  these  just  and  able  arguments,  it  was  re- 
gji  plied  by  Lord  Castlcrcagh,  Mr.  Can- 

Answorof  iiing  also  coinciding  with  him  :  "My 
l.ordCasile-  own  views  do  not  differ  materially 
rodgli.  from    those  whicii   have   been   en- 

forced by  the  honorable  gentleman  with  so 
much  learning  and  ability.  The  great  point, 
however,  is  to  proceed  with  due  caution ;  for 
unless  this  is  done,  the  cause  of  crimiital  re- 
form itself  will  be  endangered  by  the  experi- 
enced failure  of  its  effects.  This  result  has  al- 
ready taken  place  in  one  instance.  In  the  year 
1815,  Sir  Sanmel  Romilly  brought  in  a  bill, 
which  became  law,  taking  away  the  punish- 
ment of  death  for  stealing  from  the  person. 
What  was  the  result  ?  Why,  that  the  convic- 
tions for  that  offense  increased  four-fold  ;*  that 
crime,  the  punishment  of  which  had  relaxed, 
had  increased  in  a  greater  proportion  than  oth- 
er crimes.  The  argument,  therefore,  that  a  re- 
laxation of  punishment  Avould  produce  diminu- 
tion of  crime,  was  not  in  every  instance  well 
founded.  This  did  not  show  that  the  parlia- 
mentary inquiry  moved  for  should  not  be  grant- 
ed ;  but  it  w MS  a  warning  how  cautiously  and 
deliberately  it  should  be  entered  into.  The 
committee  moved  for  was  not  to  be  authorized 
to  consider  the  question  of  secondary  punish- 
ments. But  how  was  it  to  bring  about  any  prac- 
tical good  unless  it  did  so^  For  if  the  punish- 
ment of  death  is  to  be  taken  away,  is  not  the 
very  first  thing  to  be  considered,  what  penalties 
are  to  be  substituted  in  their  roomi  Out  of 
the  13,000  criminals  with  whom  our  jails  are 
annually  crowded,  at  least  10,000  are  those  to 
vrhom  such  secondary  punishments  are  appli- 
cable. 

"  It  is  fortunate  that  the  learned  mover  has 

not  been  led  away  by  the  theoretical 
Continued,  innovations  as  to  the  abolition  of  the 

punishment  of  death  in  all  cases. 
When  was  there  a  nation  which  had  ever  been 
able  to  dispense  with  that  painful  necessity  1 
Indeed,  the  mover's  speech  is  to  be  admired, 
not  less  for  what  is  contained  than  what  is 
omitted  in  it.  It  may  be  true  that  the  great  in- 
crease which  has  taken  place  in  the  crimes  for 
which  the  punishment  has  been  mitigated,  has 
been  owing  to  the  increased  number  of  prose- 
cutions. But  is  it  possible,  with  any  consist- 
ency, to  say  first  that  the  increase  of  crime 
has  been  owing  to  undue  severity  in  its  punish- 
ment, and  then  that  a  still  greater  increase  has 
1/  een  owing  to  its  relaxation  1  If  there  is  truth 
.1  the  argument  on  the  other  side,  the  dimin- 


*  Ci;kvicted  foe  Stealino  from  the  Person. 

Year^  Convicted. 

1810 04 

1811 83 


1812. 
1813. 
1814. 


1.3i 
311 


Tears. 
1815 
1816. 
1817. 
1818, 


131 
234 
2.57 
262 


isheil  severity  of  iinnishment,  nnd  consequcn. 
increase  of  convictions,  siiouid  .lave  led  to  a  de- 
crease in  llie  crimes  committed.  TIk^  comnnt- 
tcc  already  appoiiit(><l.  and  now  actually  sitting, 
on  the  stale  of  llie  jails  in  the  kingdom,  with  a 
view  not  only  to  tlie  safe  custody,  but  to  the 
reformation  lif  |)risoners,  would  have  to  consid- 
er much  whicii  siiould  Ix;  embraced  in  the  pres- 
ent motion  ;  tiiat  on  the  punishment  of  Iraii:3- 
portation,  anotiier  part.  It  was  jirudent  to 
await  the  result  of  their  laliors,  before  engaging 
in  any  more  extensive  inquiry  as  to  the  general 
amendment  of  the  criminal  law  ;  for  what  could 
be  more  dangerous  than  to  abolish  generally  the 
punishment  of  death,  without  being  i  p^^.  Deb. 
lirejjared  to  say  what  secondary  j)en-  xx.\ix  wo, 
allies  could  be  infii(;ted  in  its  stead  !"'  *>•"'■ 

It  was  evident,  from  the  feeble  manner  in 
which  Sir  James  Mackintosh's  mo-         go. 
tion  for  the  appointment  of  a  com-  -"^ir  James 

mittee  to  inquire  into  our  criminal  ,^'^'"!'"I"„ 
1  •  *    1   ,.1    i.  ,••  ..  tosh's  mo- 

laws  was  resisted,  that  Ctovernment  tj^n  is  car 

felt  that  the  case  was  indefensible,  ried. 
and  that  the  sense  of  the  House,  as  ^'^rch  3. 
well  as  the  nation,  was  in  favor  of  the  desired 
reformation.     They  only  resisted  the  motion  by 
a  side-wind,  in  order  to  gain  time,  or  bring  for- 
ward a  motion  themselves,  on  which  they  might 
get  a  committee  of  their  own  appointment.    In 
this,  however,  they  were  unsuccessful,  for,  on 
a  division.  Sir  James's  motion  was 
carried  by  a  majority  of  19  — the  xxxlx.'^s 
numbers  being  147  to  128.=' 

This  was  the  first  decisive  victoiy  gained  in 
the  Legislature  by  the  advocates  of  gj 
criminal  reform,  and  as  such  it  de-  Reflections 
serves  consideration.  It  was  the  o'>  ^^'^  sub- 
turning-point  between  two  systems.  ^^'^^' 
For  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  it.  every 
successive  session  of  Parliament  had  been 
marked  by  one  or  more  additions  to  the  cata- 
logue of  capital  crimes,  until  at  length  they  had 
reached  the  enormous  number  of  two  hundred 
Since  that  time,  the  penal  sanction  has  been 
taken  away  by  statute  in  so  many  cases,  and 
the  mercy  of  the  Crown  exercised  so  liberally 
in  others,  that  for  ten  years  past  no  persons 
have  been  sentenced  to  death  in  Great  Britain 
but  for  murder ;  and  execution  has  never  taken 
place,  except  in  willful  and  cold-blooded  cases 
of  that  crime.  The  number  of  persons  who 
suffer  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law  is  now 
never  above  fifteen  or  twenty  in  a  year  in  En- 
gland, and  three  or  four  in  Scotland ;  and  the 
melancholy  spectacle  of  public  executions  does 
not  take  place  a  tenth  part  as  frequently  as  it 
used  to  do,  before  Romilly  and  Mackintosh  be- 
gan their  humane  labors.*  So  far  there  is  great 
cause  for  congratulation  on  the  part  of  all  the 
friends  of  humanity.     But  the  subject  is  sur- 


Sentenced  to  Death  in  England  and  Wales. 


Tears. 

Sentenced. 

Execu- 
ted. 

Tears. 

Sentenced. 

Elecu- 

tfd. 

1816 

8'JO 

,95 

1845 

49 

12 

1817 

1302 

ll5 

1846 

56 

6 

1818 

1254 

97 

1847 

51 

8 

1819 

1314 

108 

1848 

GO 

12 

1820 

1236 

107 

1849 

66 

15      1 

Since  1839  no  person  has  been  executed  in  Eng'andbut 
for  willful  murder  ;  before  ttie  change  in  the  law,  the  mur- 
derers were  seldom  more  than  a  fourth  of  the  numbei 
executed. — Porter's  Progress  {,""  the  Nation,  635,  tbird 
edition. 


1819] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


I'i9 


92. 

Results  of 
experience 
on  the  sub- 
ject. 


rounded  with  difficulties  ;  and  if  there  is  good 
cause  for  rejoicing  in  this  respect,  tliere  is  equal 
ground  for  apprehension  in  another.  The  diffi- 
fully  arises  not  from  the  argument,  but  the 
fact,  and  tlie  results  which  have  actually  fol- 
lowed this  great  relaxation  of  our  penal  code. 
It  has  been  followed  by  a  very  great  ir  crease 
both  of  committals  and  convictions  ; 
the  former,  however,  in  a  consider-' 
ably  greater  proportion  than  the  lat- 
ter— indicating  that,  though  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  criminal  law  has 
becomb  more  regular,  and  there  is  an  increased 
inclination  on  the  part  of  injured  persons  to 
prosecute,  and  of  juries  to  convict,  yet  no  de- 
crease, but,  on  the  contrary,  a  very  great  in- 
crease v-<f  crime  has  taken  place.*  The  in- 
crease of  commitments,  since  the  lenient  sys- 
tem first  began  to  be  carried  into  eflect  in  1822, 
has  been  most  alarming ;  for  they  have  swelled 
in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  during  that  period 
from  27,000  to  74,000,  or  above  250  per  cent. ; 
while,  in  the  same  period,  population  has  only 
advanced  from  21,000,000,  in  the  two  islands, 
to  28,000,000,  or  about  33  per  cent. ;  in  other 
words,  crime  has  increased  about  eight  times  as 
fast  as  the  numbers  of  the  people.!  This  is  a 
sufficiently  startling  result,  the  more  especially 
as  the  last  year  (1849)  was  undisturbed  either 
by  Irish  famine  or  rebellion  ;  and  the  free-trade 
measures,  from  which  the  most  general  bless- 
ings had  been  predicted  for  the  empire,  had 
been  for  three  years  in  full  operation  in  Great 
Britain.  And  as  it  is  well  known  to  all  persons 
practically  engaged  in  these  matters  that,  so  far 
from  commitments  for  trial  being  of  late  years 
ittsued  for  more  trivial  crimes  than  formerly, 
the  case  is  just  the  reverse  ;  and  cases  are  con- 
stantly now  disposed  of  by  the  police  magis- 
trates, and  chastised  by  a  few  weeks'  imprison- 
ment, for  which,  thirty  years  ago,  sentence  of 
death  or  transportation  was  pronounced. 
In  truth,  however,  this  anomaly  is  more  ap- 
gj  parent  than  real ;  and  this  disheart- 
What  has  ening  result,  so  far  from  disproving, 
caused  the  only  proves  more  clearly  the  justice 
apparent  q^  <^jJ.  James  Mackintosh's  principles, 
anomaly?     f,   ■  ,  ,  .  '  ^  ■, 

Crmie  has  mcreased  so  nnmensely, 
chiefly  because  they. were  applied  only  to  the 


Convictions  in  England  and  Wales  ter  cent,  of 

Committals. 


Year,. 

I'ur  Cent. 

Yci.r,-.          1        I'er  Cent.        | 

180.5 

60.43 

1830 

70.72 

IHIO 

61.35 

1835 

71.04 

1815 

R2.46 

1841 

73.05 

1820 

67.23 

1815 

71.60 

1825 

69.01 

1849 

75.49 

t   COMMIT.MENTS  FOR   SERIOUS   CllIMES  IN   GREAT  BniT- 

AiN  AND  Ireland. 


Tears. 

England. 

Sent- 
bind. 

Irvlnnj. 

Total. 

''"'I 

iiHtioM  or 

lioll!. 

nn,onn 

J  822 
1823 
1824 
1S25 
1826 

1845 
1846 
1847 

1848 
1849 

12,241 
12,263 
13,608 
14,437 
14,104 

24,303 

2.'-.,  107 
2H,H,S3 
30,340 
27.806 

1,601 
1 ,733 
1,802 
1 ,876 
1,099 

3,.5.37 
4,060 
4,635 
4,009 
4,357 

13,251 
14,632 
15,2.18 
15,515 
16,318 

16,606 
18,402 
31,209 
38,522 
4 1 ,082 

27,183 

28,628 
30,718 
31,828 
34,481 

44,.').3n 
47,668 
64,677 
73,780 
74.162 

21, 
28,f 

-Ports 

R's  Prov 

I'HX  ofl 

He  IWntion 

,  third  ed 

ion 

p.  8,635 

M7.  668,  and  ['nrl.  Rriurn 
Vol..   I  —I 


punishment  of  death,  and  not  followed  out,  as 
they  should  have  been,  through  the  whole  ram- 
ifications of  offenses,  and  the  penalties  attached 
to  them.  His  fundamental  principle  was,  that 
certaintij  of  punishment  is  the  only  effectual 
mode  of  deterring  from  crime,  and  that  this  can 
never  be  attained  unless  the  feelings  of  the  peo- 
ple coincide  with  the  law,  and  co-operate  in  its 
execution.  No  reasonable  being  can  douot  f  lie 
soundness  of  this  principle  ;  but,  to  be  effecti\  e, 
it  should  be  applied  universally.  When  the  cap- 
ital sentence  is  taken  away  from  a  great  vari- 
ety of  offenses,  if  certainty  of  secondary  punish- 
ment is  not  imposed  in  its  stead,  the  temptatiiJii 
to  the  commission  of  crime,  from  the  hope  cf 
comparative  impunity,  is  of  course  increased. 
Unfortunately,  however,  many  causes  have  con- 
tributed to  render  secondary  punishments  in  the 
British  empire  more  uncertain  and  ineffective, 
at  the  very  time  when  the  punishment  of  death 
has  in  all  cases,  excepting  willful  murder,  been 
taken  away.  One  class  trusted  to  education  lo 
arrest  the  progress  of  crime  ;  forgetting  that  in 
England  the  educated  criminals  were  already 
double  of  the  uneducated,  and  in  Scotland  four 
and  a  half  to  one.*  Another  rested  their  hopes 
on  the  effect  of  the  improvement  of  prison  dis- 
cipline in  reforming  the  criminals,  an  illusion 
of  all  others  the  greatest ;  for  experience  has 
now  abundantly  proved  that  neither  solitary 
confinement,  nor  long  imprisonment,  nor  any 
amount  of  moral  and  religious  instruction  with- 
in the  walls  of  a  prison,  has  the  least  effect  in 
amending  the  lives  of  prisoners  in  their  own 
country,  when  they  are  discharged  from  it.  In 
the  mean  while,  the  great  increase  of  prisoners 
transported,  who  swelled  from  a  few  luindreds 
to  nearly  five  thousand  annually,  and  the  ex- 
tremely injudicious  step  of  sending  them  all, 
without  any  intermixture  of  untainted  settlers, 
to  Van  Diemen's  Land — the  most  remote  colo- 
ny of  Great  Britain,  and  the  least  accessible  to 
free  colonists — rendered  transportation  there  so 
great  an  evil,  and  so  much  an  object  of  dread 
to  other  colonies,  that  a  general  resistance  to 
the  reception  of  convicts  was  manifested,  and 
for  several  years  none,  excepting  young  women, 
Avere  removed  to  the  colonies.  Thus  transpor- 
tation, after  being  pronounced  as  a  sentence, 
was  not  carried  into  effect;  the  jails  soon  be- 
came incapable  of  holding  the  multitudes  crowd- 
ed within  their  walls;  government  quietly  let 


*  Table  showing  the  instruction  or  criminals  over  the 
British  empire  in  1841  and  1848  : 


Neitlier 
rend  nor 
write. 

Imper- 
foill.v. 

Well. 

Supe- 

Tntnl  ed 
uc.it.-d. 

Totnl 

iiued.i- 
rnted. 

1841. 
England  .. 
Scotland  .. 
Ireland  ... 

1848. 
Enijland  .. 

Srolland.. 
Ireland  . . . 

9,220 

606 

7,152 

9,601 

13,732 
2,248 
3,084 

17,111 

2,253 

654 

5,631 

2,664 

-- 

126 
42 

61 

18,171 
2,831 
8,733 

20,076 
3,985 

0,220 

696 

7,152 

9,691 

—I'lirl.  Rcttimx,  1641-8. 

Ill  France,  it  appears  from  M.  flucrry's  tabks  that  in 
all  the  eighty-four  departments,  without  exception,  the 
amount  of  crime  is  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  in- 
struction ;  while  in  Prussia,  where  education  i.s  more 
fjonciral  than  in  any  other  country  in  the  world,  bcinfi 
enforced  by  government  on  every  citizen  with  a  family, 
tliejiroportion  of  serious  crimes  to  the  jiopiilation  \»  twelve 
limrx  grrrilcr  than  in  France,  where  half  llie  people  can 
iicitlicr  r<ail  nor  writ'  .•  -See  .\l1.son's  £*sajs,  i.  558 


130 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


rCHAP.  It 


Ihpin  <j(i,  after  a  year  oi  two  of  imprisoninont 
liail  bt'tMi  uiulor^ionr  ;  and  llu\v  wvtc  soon  liaok 
ill  thrirolil  liauiits,  (•oiniuittiiii;  new  criinos,  and 
pivin^  tlu'ir  old  assiH-iatt-s  t!i(>  most  oncoura- 
•rinj:  accounts  of  tlic  case  witli  wliidi,  by  a  little 
address,  liberation  from  the  severest  sentence 
of  transportation  could  be  obtained* 
The  true  principles  to  follow  in  dealinsj  with 
94  secondary  punishments  as  with  that 

True  prin-  of  death,  is  to  render  them  as  cer- 
:ipies  on  tain  as  possible,  and  to  consider  im- 
iiie  subject,  prisonment  at  home  as  only  a  i)rcpa- 
ration  for,  and  means  of  teaching  a  trade  to, 
those  who  are  ultimately  to  be  transported. 
For  juvenile  offenders,  and  trifling  cases,  a  very 
short  imprisonment,  as  of  a  week,  or  a  flogging, 
should  be  inflicted,  merely  with  a  view  to  ter- 
ror. For  a  second  offense  of  any  sort,  or  a  first 
of  more  serious,  a  prolonged  imprisonment,  as 
of  nine  months  or  a  year,  should  be  the  penalty, 
during  which  the  convict  should  be  carefully 
instructed  in  a  trade.  For  the  next  offense, 
transportation  should  invariably  he  inflicted, 
and  as  inrariahhj  carried  into  execution.  And  if  it 
be  objected  that  the  colonists  will  not  receive 
the  convicts,  the  answer  is,  that  no  such  diffi- 
culty was  experienced,  till,  by  the  abolition  of 
the  assignment  system,  and  keeping  convicts 
in  gangs,  and  sending  them  all  in  overwhelm- 
ing multitudes  to  one  colony,  it  became  an  ob- 
ject of  dread,  rather  than  ambition,  to  all  oth- 
ers ;  that  this  difficulty  will  at  once  be  over- 
come by  engaging,  on  the  part  of  Government, 
to  send  three  untainted  colonists  for  one  con- 
vict to  any  colony  which  will  receive  the  latter ; 
or  establishing  an  entire  new  penal  colony,  to 
which  all  untainted  persons  emigrating  at  the 
expense  of  Government  might  be  sent ;  a  sys- 
tem which  would  at  once  convert  all  the  re- 
fractory colonies  into  petitioners  for  a  portion 
of  the  fertilizing  stream  ;  and  that,  if  it  should 
prove  otherwise,  Australia  is  large  enough  to 
afford  room  for  the  establishment  of  new  penal 
colonies,  regarding  which  no  consent  need  be 
asked  for  thousands  of  years  to  come.t 

Another  subject  of  general  interest  was  dis- 
93  cussed  in  Parliament  this  year,  which 
Clandestine  was  that  of  the  succors  clandestine- 
s'i<^<-or&  ly  furnished  by  the  Briti,sh  to  the  in- 
Engiish  to''  surgents  in  South  America.  Ever 
the^South  since  the  contest  between  the  splen- 
American  did  colonies  of  Spain  and  the  mother 
insurgents,  country  had  begun  in  1810,  of  which 
an  account  has  been  given  in  a  chapter  of  the 
'  Hist,  of  author's  former  work,'  it  had  been  re- 
Europe,  garded  with  warm  interest  in  Great 
c.  ixvii.  Britain:  partly  in  consequence  of  the 
strong  and  instinctive  attachment  of  its  inhab- 
itants to  the  cause  of  freedom,  and  sympathy 
with  all  who  are  engaged  in  asserting  it ;  part- 
ly in  consequence  of  extravagant  expectations 


*  At  the  spring  circuit  at  Glasgow,  in  April,  1848,  out 
of  117  ordinary  criminals  indicted,  there  were  22  who  had 
been  convicted  at  that  place  within  two  years  previously, 
and  sentenced  to  various  periods  of  transportation,  none 
under  seven  years ;  and  the  previous  sentence  was  stated 
In  the  indictment  as  an  aggravation  of  the  offense.  The 
same  was  the  case  for  several  years,  and  obtains,  though 
in  a  lesser  degree,  to  this  day.' 

t  In  the  essay  on  "  Crime  and  Transportation,"  in  the 
author's  Miscellaneous  Essays,  vol.  i.,  p.  547,  this  very 
important  and  interesting  subject  is  discussed  more  at 
length,  and  i  1  detail,  thai  is  practicable  in  a  work  of  gen- 
eral history. 


formed  and  fominted  by  interested  parties,  a? 
to  the  vast  field  that,  by  the  independence  of 
these  colonics,  would  be  opened  to  British  com- 
merce and  enterprise.  As  long  as  the  war  in 
Europe  lasted,  this  sympathy  was  evinced  only 
by  an  anxious  observance  of  the  struggle;  for 
the  (ihysical  resources  of  the  country  were  en- 
tirely absorbed  in  the  terrific  contest  with  >ia- 
poleon.  But  when  peace  succeeded,  and  the 
armies  of  all  tlie  European  states  were  in  great 
part  reduced,  the  interest  taken  in  the  cause  of 
South  American  independence  began  to  assume 
a  more  practical  and  eflicient  form.  Great  num- 
bers of  officers  from  all  countries,  wearied  of 
the  monotony  of  pacific  life,  or  tempted  by  the 
high  rank  and  liberal  pay  offered  them  in  South 
America,  began  to  go  over  to  the  ranks  of  the 
insurgents,  and  ere  long  rendered  their  forces 
greatly  more  formidable  than  they  had  previous- 
ly been.  The  English,  prompted  by  the  love 
of  freedom,  wandering,  and  adventure,  which 
seems  to  be  inherent  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  char- 
acter, were  soon  pre-eminent  in  this  respect ; 
and  the  succors  they  sent  over  ere  long  assum- 
ed so  formidable  an  appearance  as  attracted  the 
serious  notice  of  the  Spanish  government.  Not 
only  did  great  numbers  of  the  Peninsular  vet- 
erans, officers  and  men,  go  over  in  small  bod- 
ies, and  carry  to  the  insurgents  the  benefit  of 
their  experience  and  the  prestige  of  their  fame, 
but  a  British  adventurer,  who  assumed  the  title 
of  Sir  Gregor  M'Gregor,  collected  a  considera- 
ble expedition  in  the  harbors  of  this  countiy, 
with  which,  in  British  vessels  and  under  the 
British  flag,  he  took  possession  of  Porto  Bello, 
in  South  America,  then  in  the  undisturbed  pos- 
session of  a  Spanish  force,  a  country  at  peace 
with  Great  Britain.  This  violent  aggression 
led  to  strong  remonstrances  on  the  part  of  the 
Spanish  government,  in  consequence  of  which 
Government  brought  in  a  Foreign  i  p^^^j  -^^^ 
Enlistment  Bill,  which  led  to  violent  june  28, 
debates  in  both  Houses  of  Parlia-  1819,  xi. 
ment.'  l^Sl,  1382. 

On  the  part  of  Government,  it  was  argued 
by  the  Earl  of  Liverpool,  Lord  Bath-  95. 
urst,  and  Lord  Castlereagh :  "As  the  Argument 
law  at  present  stands  by  the  9th  and  of  Minister? 
29th  Geo.  11.,  and  the  9th  Geo.  III.,  the  Foreign 
it  is  made  felony,  without  benefit  of  Enlistment 
clergy,  to  seduce  subjects  of  this  ^'"• 
country  to  enlist  in  the  service  of  foreign  pow 
ers.  These  enactments  are  quite  general,  and 
apply  to  all  foreign  countries  without  exception, 
and  have  no  special  reference  to  the  raising 
troops  for  the  service  of  the  Pretender,  though 
they  were  probably  conceived  with  that  view 
Soon  after  the  late  peace  was  concluded,  it  wa? 
discovered  that  several  British  officers  had  left 
this  country  to  take  service  with  the  insurgents 
of  South  America.  At  first,  while  the  number 
was  inconsiderable,  the  Government  did  not 
consider  it  necessary  to  notice  their  engage- 
ments. AVhen,  however,  the  number  increased, 
it  was  notified  to  officers  on  half-pay,  that  if 
they  enlisted  in  foreign  service  they  would  lose 
their  half-pay.  This  notice,  however,  had  not 
the  desired  effect.  The  enlistment  of  recruits 
for  South  America  went  on  openly  :  several 
large  bodies  embarked  in  British  harbors  for 
that  country,  and  lawyers  thought  it  doubtfiil 
whether  the  existing  .\cts  of  Parliament  could 


1819] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


VT 
Contir.'ied 


reach  them.     It  became  necessary,  therefore, 
to  do  somelliing  more  efficient;  and  this  was 
alike  called  for  by  our  position  as  a  neutral  pow- 
er, and  by  the  special  engagements  under  which 
we  stood  with   Spain  relative  to  the  South 
American  insurgents. 
"By  the  treaty  of  1814  with  the  cabinet  of 
Madrid,  Great  Britain  had  expressly 
become  bound  to  furnish  no  succors 
to  the  Spanish  insurgents,  and  the 
Government  declared  their  resolution  to  ob- 
serve a  strict  neutrality;  and  a  proclamation, 
founded  on  this  principle,  was  issued  in  1817, 
warning  his  Majesty's  subjects  not  to  accept 
any  military  commissions  from,  nor  give  any 
aid  to,  either  of  the  parties.    This  principle  was 
strictly  acted  upon  by  the  British  Government ; 
and  although  some  British  officers  were  serv- 
ing by  license  in  the  Spanish  army,  it  was  un- 
derstood they  w^ere  not  to  act  against  the  in- 
surgents, and  this  understanding  had  been  en- 
forced in  two  instances.    A  change  of  the  law, 
however,  had  become  necessary,  because  the 
severity  of  the  penalty  denounced  in  it  render- 
ed it  impossible  to  carry  it  into  execution.     It 
is  proposed  in  the  present  act  to  take  away  the 
capital  sanction,  and  declare  persons  enlisting 
in  foreign  service  guilty  of  misdemeanor  only, 
and  to  declare  the  supplying  the  belligerents 
with  warlike  stores,  and  equipping  vessels  for 
warlike  purposes,  the  like  offense.     The  law 
thus  mitigated,  in  conformity  with  the  spirit  of 
the  age,  may  be  really  carried  into  effect,  so  as 
to  show  that  we  are  really  in  earnest  in  the 
neutrality  we  have  declared. 
"  Such  a  determination  is  one  which  is  not 
to  be  regarded  as  a  temporary,  but  a 
ConUnued   Permanent  resolution — a  declaration 
of  the  policy  which,  in  all  similar  cir- 
cumstances, has  regulated  just  and  considerate 
neutral  states,  and  which  it  is  incumbent  on 
this  country  in  an  especial  manner  steadily  to 
adhere  to.     It  is  expressly  provided  for  by  the 
treaty  with  Spain  in  1814;  br.t,  irrespective  of 
that  treaty,  it  is  incumbent  on  us  by  the  eter- 
nal principles  of  justice,  and  the  acknowledged 
maxims  of  international  law.     It  is  impossible 
to  say  we  are  at  peace  or  amity  with  a  country, 
the  subjects  of  which  are  entitled  to  make  war 
at  pleasure  with  the  subjects  of  our  own  coun- 
try.    Such  a  species  of  hostility  is  war  in  its 
very  worst  form;  for  it  is  war  without  its  laws, 
its  restraints,  its  direction,  or  its  objects.    It  is 
not  national  hostility  directed  to  public  purposes, 
but  private  piracy  aiming  at  nothing  but  indi- 
vidual plunder.    Can  we  permit  armaments  fit- 
ted out  in  this  country  to  attack  the  peaceable 
colonies  or  possessions  of  another  country,  or 
to  aid  its  insurgents  in  severing  themselves 
from  its  dominion^     This  case  has  actually  oc- 
curred in  the  recent  seizure  of  Porto  Bello,  a 
town  of  New  Spain,  by  an  expedition  command- 
ed by  a  person  who  assumed  the  title  ofSirGreg- 
or  M'Gregor.     If  this  was  sanctioned  against 
Porto  Bello,  might  it  not  equally  be  done  against 
Corunna,  Cadiz,  or  Madrid  itself^     Was  this 
consistent  with  justice  ]     Was  it  not,  on  the 
contrary,  saYictioning  the   grossest  injustice ! 
Of  all  states  in  the  world,  Great  Britain  is  the 
one  which  has  the  most  decided  iiiti^rest  to  re- 
sist the  promulgating  of  su<;li  doctrines  ;  for  not 
only  is  Ireland  the  perpetual  field  of  domestic 


discontent  and  foreign  tampering,  but  her  colo- 
nies in  every  part  of  the  world  at  once  invite  ag- 
gression, and  render  defense  almost  1  opeless. 
"  The   same   case  has   occurred  in  formei 
times  with  other  countries,  and  been 

always  met  by  the  steady  resistance  ^    ^?- ,  . 
r         1-1,  i       1      T     ,  rvr,„   ConcluQed 

for  which  we  now  contend.    In  1792 

a  treaty  was  concluded  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States,  by  which  it  was  stipu- 
lated that  the  subjects  of  neither  power  should 
accept  commissions  in  the  service  of  any  prince 
or  state  at  war  with  the  other.  The  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  when  the  war  broke 
out  between  this  country  and  France,  immedi- 
ately passed  a  law  prohibiting  the  enlisting  of 
their  citizens  in  the  service  of  any  foreign 
prince  or  power,  or  furnishing  them  with  ships 
or  warlike  stores ;  and  this  act,  which  punish- 
ed any  infringement  of  its  provisions  by  fine  or 
imprisonment,  though  at  first  temporary,  was 
afterward  made  permanent.  In  1818  the  Amer- 
icans extended  this  law  to  any  power,  whether 
recognized  or  not,  expressly  in  order  to  meet 
the  case  of  the  succors  sent  to  the  Spanish  in- 
surgents in  the  southern  parts  of  their  conti- 
nent. It  is  true  that  volunteering  into  foreign 
service  was  permitted  in  the  reigns  of  Eliza- 
beth, Charles  I.,  and  James  II. ;  but  then  it  was 
only  because  the  services  entered  into  were 
those  of  states  at  war  with  the  avowed  enemies 
of  Great  Britain,  and  at  a  time  when  the  viru- 
lence of  religious  warfare  rendered  hostilities 
as  ceaseless  between  Catholics  and  Protestants 
as  ever  they  had  been  between  Mussulmans 
and  Christians.  But  can  this  be  predicated  of 
our  old  and  faithful  allies  the  Spaniards,  whe 
have  stood  by  our  side  in  the  terrible  Peninsu- 
lar struggle  during  seven  years  with  Napoleon  ■ 
And  are  we  prepared,  as  the  first  proof  of  oui 
gratitude  to  them  for  the  devoted  fidelity  with 
which  they  fulfilled  their  engagements  toward 
us  during  war,  to  aid  their  enemies,  i  pari.  Dci>. 
on  the  return  of  peace,  in  dismem-  xi- 1378, 
bering  their  dominions  !'"  ^■^*"- 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  contended  by  Lord 
Holland,  Lord  Lansdowne,  and  Mr.  jqq 
Tierney  :  "  The  present  bill  has  been  Answer  by 
brought  forward,  not  on  any  general  ti>e  Oppo- 
ground  of  policy,  for  it  is  directly  con-  ^'tion. 
trary  to  the  practice  of  England  in  its  best  days, 
but  solely  in  consequence  of  a  specific  applica- 
tion from  the  court  of  Spain.  Had,  tl:en,  that 
power  any  right  to  make  that  demand,  either 
upon  the  ground  of  the  general  law  of  nations, 
or  the  terms  of  any  particular  treaty ;  and  if 
she  had  not,  are  there  any  reasons  of  justice  or 
expedience  which  call  upon  us  to  depart  from 
the  undoubted  law,  and  still  more  undoubted 
feeling,  of  this  country  for  above  a  century 
back?  Both  questions  must  i)e  answered  in 
the  negative.  The  Gernuui  jurists,  particularly 
Martens,  say  that  it  is  perfectly  consistent  with 
neutrality  to  give  every  assistance  to  either 
of  the  belligenMits,  excejit  warlike  expeditious. 
This  princi|)lc  has  i)een  constantly  actcnl  upon 
in  this  country.  It  was  done,  and  to  a  very 
great  extent,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  when 
the  Dutch  were  struggling  for  their  indejiend- 
ence ;  and  in  that  of  James,  when  Gustaviis 
Adolphus  was  contending,  on  the  ))lains  of  G<>r- 
many,  fiir  the  cause  of  religious  freedom  all  over 
the  world.     Could  it  be  said  that  the  efforts  <»l 


/d2 


H  I  S  T  O  R  Y  O  F   E  II  R  O  I'  E. 


[Chap   l\ 


u\M\'Hh\M>  to  siipiiorl  tlio  cause  of  South  Amcr- 
ioau  iiulopcMuliMifc  were  warlike  ex|)iHlitions,  in 
the  siMisc  of  llio  tiormaii  jurist !  '  Every  slate,' 
says  Martens,  'lias  a  rijjlit  to  give  liberty  of 
raisiuu  troops  in  its  donunions,  and  inarching 
them  through  the  country,  and  may  grant  to  one 
state  what  it  refuses  to  another,  without  in- 
I'ringing  its  neutrality.'  It  is  in  vain  to  say  this 
is  a  novel  and  unheard-of  doctrine  ;  it  has  been 
constantly  acted  upon  in  this  country.  Queen 
Elizabeth  allowed  her  subjects  to  enlist  to  any 
extent  in  the  service  of  the  Dutch  common- 
wealth, though  never  in  that  of  Philip  of  Spain  ; 
and  James  I.,  a  great  jurist,  though  certainly  no 
iiero,  allowed  2S00  soldiers  to  be  laised  for  tiie 
service  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  while  he  remiiin- 
eJ  undisturbed  in  his  relations  of  amity  with 
the  Emperor,  against  whom  they  acted.  It  may 
be  asserted,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that 
for  four  centuries,  and  down  to  the  year  1793, 
wljen  the  Netherlands  were  engaged  in  a  revolt 
against  Joseph  II.,  there  never  was  a  period  in 
which  British  subjects  were  not  engaged  in 
giving  succor,  as  individuals,  to  other  states ; 
and  no  instance  can  be  shown  in  which  govern- 
ment interfered  in  the  manner  now  proposed  to 
prevent  them. 

"  But  it  is  said  the  government  of  Spain  is  en- 
titled to  particular  rights  by  the  treaty 
ConUnued.  ^^  ^^^'^'  already  alluded  to.  Not  a 
hint  on  this  subject  had  been  given 
when  the  treaty  was  signed  ;  but  now,  after  the 
lapse  of  five  years,  they  come  forward  and  claim 
performance  of  certain  stipulations  in  their  fa- 
vor. It  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  the  clause 
in  that  treaty  is  to  be  under.stood  in  the  sense 
now  put  upon  it ;  for,  if  so,  how  is  it  possible  to 
explain  the  silence  of  both  governments  in  re- 
gard to  it  during  the  last  five  years?  Nay,  in 
the  treaties  with  France,  the  subjects  of  the  two 
countries  are  interdicted  from  issuing  letters  of 
marque ;  so  that,  according  to  the  doctrine  of 
Government,  this  country,  not  having  the  ad- 
vantage of  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  Spain, 
was  to  be  held  as  having  incurred  an  obligation 
which  only  a  treaty  of  commerce  could  have  im- 
posed. The  strict  interpretation  of  this  treaty 
would  bear  very  hard  on  the  independent  states 
of  South  America ;  for  it  is  well  known  that 
arms  are  sent  openly  from  this  country  to  the 
government  of  Old  Spain,  to  be  used  against  the 
South  American  states  ;  and,  indeed,  the  public 
journals  have  publicly  declared  that  the  expe- 
dition from  Cadiz  was  only  delayed  for  that  pur- 
pose. The  execution  of  this  treaty  would  not 
be  preserving  even  the  balance  of  a  strict  neu- 
trality ;  it  would  be  enabling  the  government 
of  England  to  give  assistance  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Old  Spain,  while  it  withheld  succor  from 
the  states  of  South  America,  struggling  for  their 
independence. 
"  Much  had  been  said  as  to  the  assistance 
given  to  the  South  American  states 
ConclQdei  ^^  ^^^  half-pay  officers  who  have  en- 
tered their  service  from  the  army  of 
this  country  ;  but  there  is  much  also  to  be  said 
on  the  other  side,  on  behalf  of  that  gallant  and 
meritorious  body  of  men.  It  is  easy  to  make 
rhetorical  flourishes  about  soldiers  retiring,  and 
converting  their  swords  into  pruning-hooks ;  but 
every  one  knows  that,  though  that  sometimes 
took  jilacc  in  antiquity,  it  does  not  exist  save 


in  the  dreams  of  the  poets  in  modcn  times.  A 
large  Ixuly  of  men  who  havcMlcvotcd  themselves 
to  war  as  a  i)rofcssion,  and  have  spent  the  best 
part  of  their  lives  in  its  service,  can  not,  in  gen 
eral,  turn  to  any  other  profession ;  and  if  unable 
to  maintain  tluMnsclves  in  their  ])roper  rank  in 
this  country,  it  is  the  height  of  injustice  to  debai 
them  from  following  out  their  profession  in  for- 
eign states.  The  conunercial  interests  of  the 
country  loudly  call  for  the  Government  not  to 
discourage  a  movement  eminently  calculated  to 
extend  and  promote  new  fields  for  the  enterprise 
of  its  merchants  in  the  New  World.  This  is  a 
great  and  nnporlant  consideration,  which  ought 
not  liglitly  to  be  passed  over.  There  is  no  man 
in  England  who  can  for  a  moment  suppose  that 
the  colonies  of  Spain  will  ever  return  to  the 
government  of  the  old  country,  attached  as  they 
are  to  freedom  by  passion  and  inclination,  as 
well  as  by  the  prospect  of  enjoying  the  bless- 
ings which  Providence  has  so  bountifully  placed 
within  their  reach.  After  the  long,  painful,  and 
bloody  war  shall  have  ended,  and  these  coun- 
tries have  obtained  those  first  of  earthly  bless- 
ings, liberty  and  independence,  it  would  be  pain- 
ful to  think  that  England,  during  its  continuance, 
had  been  linked  only  with  the  cause  of  their  ty- 
rants ;  and  that,  not  content  with  dealing  out  a 
fair  measure  of  justice  between  the  contending 
parties,  Parliament  had  thought  fit  to  invoke  the 
aid  of  the  common  informer  against  those  per- 
sons who  devoted  their  abilities  and  ipari.Deb 
energies  to  the  cause  of  freedom  in  xi.  1388, 
the  New  World.'"  l^ioi. 

On  this  debate  the  Lords  determined  in  favoi 
of  Ministers  by  a  majority  of  53 — the  numbers 
being  100  to  47.  On  a  debate  on  the  same  sub- 
ject in  the  House  of  Commons,  the 
majority  was  61 — the  numbers  being  ?.^4'^'',?,p'' 
190  to  129.'' 

It  was  evident,  from  the  comparatively  nar 
row  majority  in  the  Commons  on  this  ]03. 
important  subject,  that  a  strong  na-  The  succor» 
tional  feeling  had  come  to  prevail  in  ^otheinsur- 
the  Legislature  in  favor  of  the  insur-  contfnue. 
gents  in  South  America ;  and,  in  Reflectioii.s 
truth,  this  feeling  was  but  the  reflec-  9"  ''"''^  ^^^>- 
tion  of  a  still  stronger  one  in  the  na-  •'®'^'' 
tion  on  the  subject.  The  English  people  were 
all  but  unanimous  in  favor  of  the  cause  of  South 
American  independence.  All  classes  joined  in 
the  desire  to  see  the  Spanish  colonies  emancipa- 
ted from  what  was  supposed  to  be  the  tyranny  of 
the  mother  country.  The  pliilanthropic  and  en- 
thusiastic saw  a  boundless  career  of  happiness 
opened  to  those  boundless  regions,  if  they  were 
extricated  from  the  meshes  of  governors  and 
priests,  and  blessed  with  Anglo-Saxon  freedom 
and  institutions.  The  democratic  party  re- 
joiced in  the  establishment  of  republican  insti 
tutions  all  over  the  world.  The  half-pay  offi- 
cers, languishing  in  obscurity  and  poverty,  were 
easily  persuaded  to  enter  the  service  of  states 
which  offered  them  high  rank,  liberal  pay,  and 
a  grant  of  land  at  the  conclusion  of  the  contest. 
Not  a  few  of  the  giddy  youth  were  caught  by 
the  brilliant  uniforms  which  were  displayed  at 
the  shop-windows,  and  which,  donned  the  mo- 
ment they  received  their  commissions,  enabled 
them  to  figure  at  balls  in  London  before  they 
had  undergone  any  of  the  perils  of  real  warfare. 
The  covetous  and  selfish — and  they  were  by  far 


I<J9.] 


HISTU  R  Y  OF    EUROPE. 


133 


till'  largest  class — looked  fonvani  to  an  immpnse 
addition  to  our  export  trade,  to  the  future  ex- 
tension of  which  no  limits  could  be  assigned, 
if  the  Spanish  monopoly  was  broken  down,  and 
a  colonial  trade,  which,  before  the  war,  amount- 
ed to  above  fifteen  millions  sterling  of  exports 
from  Old  Spain,  was  thrown  open  to  British  en- 

1  xiumhoidt  terprise.'  The  two  strongest  prin- 
Noiivelle  '  ciples  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  mind  — 
Espagne,  iv.  the  love  of  freedom  and  the  love  of 
153, 154.  ggjjj — were  so  firmly  enlisted  in  fa- 
vor of  the  South  American  insurgents,  that  all 
attempts  to  check  it  were  vain.  The  Act  of 
Parliament  passed  remained  a  dead  letter.  The 
embarkation  of  troops,  stores,  and  loans  of 
money  continued  without  intermission  ;    and, 

2  ggg  jjjgj  as  detailed  in  a  former  work,  Span- 
ofEurope,  ish  America  was  thereby  rendered 
c.  ixvii.  independent,  and  severed  from  the 
H'-9i.       dominion  of  Old  Spain.' 

Yet,  though  success  attended  these  efforts  of 
Great  Britain  in  favor  of  the  Spanish 
Va.st  extent  insurgents,  as  it  did  those  of  France 
of  the  aid  in  support  of  the  North  American  in- 
thus  afford-  surgents  in  the  last  century,  there 
EurcentV"'  ^^^  ^^  "°  doubt  that  in  both  cases 
the  conduct  was  equally  criminal, 
and  equally  a  violation  of  the  law  of  nations. 
Admitting  that  the  doctrine  of  Martens,  on 
which  Lord  Lansdowne  so  strongly  rested,  is 
well  founded,  and  that  it  is  in  no  violation  of 
neutrality  for  one  belligerent  to  be  allowed  to 
levy  men  in  the  dominions  of  a  neutral  power, 
that  was  a  very  different  thing  from  the  course 
which  was  now  adopted  in  Great  Britain  in  re- 
gard to  the  South  American  insurgents.  There 
was  no  levying  of  men  by  isolated  foreign 
agents,  as  in  the  wars  of  the  Duke  of  Alva  or 
Gustavus  Adolphus.  Joint  stock  companies 
were  formed ;  loans  to  an  enormous  extent 
granted  to  the  governments  of  the  insurgent 
states,  at  a  very  high  rate  of  interest,  provided 
for  by  retaining  twenty  or  thirty  per  cent,  off 
the  sum  subscribed  ;  and  great  expeditions  sent 
out,  which  at  last  amounted  to  8000  and  10,000 
men,  fully  armed  and  equipped  by  the  compa- 
nies engaged  in  the  undertaking,  in  order  to  se- 
cure for  them  the  payment  of  their  dividends. 
Never  had  the  Government  of  England  during 
the  war,  before  the  Spanisii  contest  commenced, 
furnished  such  effective  succors  to  its  allies  on 
the  Continent,  both  in  men,  money,  and  arms, 
as  were  now  sent  out  by  private  companies  and 
individuals  to  aid  the  cause  in  which  they  were 
so  deeply  interested  in  the  New  World ;  and 
the  success  gained  was  proportionally  great ; 
'Ilist.  ofEu-  ^"''  i''  ''"'1  i''  <'il"ne,  prolonged  the 
rope,  c.  l.xvii.  contcst,  and  at  length  severed  the 
i)i)  49-91.  colonies  from  the  parent  state.' 

But  immediate  snncess  is  not  always  the  test 

105.         either  of  the  wisdom  or  justice  of 

Punishment    national  measures.     God  vi.sits  the 

\viii.ii  Ell-       f^jtifj  „f  t|„.  fatjiers  upon  the   chil- 

(;i;ii](l  liaa  re-     ,  i     .    ■.    ■         n  .\        .11 

(■"^ived  fo.-  drcn,  but  it  is  olten  on  tiie  third 
this  injus-  and  fourtii  generations.  From  1814 
''"•=•  to  1824,  England  acted  most  iniciui- 

lously  in  aiding  in  the  dismembenncnt  of  an  al- 
lied state,  witii  which  she  was  in  perff'ct  amity 
at  the  time,  and  which  had  faithfully  stood  by  her 
during  her  jjrevious  struggle,  and,  like  France, 
for  a  similar  faithlessness  before,  she  lias  got  her 
reward.     By  aiding    ''C  revolution  in  America, 


France  hrouirht  on  re/oluliori  upon  herself  a 
few  years  aft'T ;  and  the  same  result  followed, 
though  from  a  different  scries  of  causes,  the 
English  efforts  to  dismember  the  allied  Spanish 
empire  in  the  next  century.  The  prolongation 
of  the  contest,  which  raged  without  intermis- 
sion for  fifteen  years,  from  1810  to  182,'5,  utterly 
ruined  the  mines  of  South  America,  and  brought 
down  the  annual  supply  of  precious  metals  for 
the  use  of  the  globe  from  ten  millions  to  three 
millions  annually;  thence,  of  course,  ensued  a 
general  reduction  of  prices  of  every  article  over 
the  whole  world,  and  especially  its  work-shop 
and  trading  emporium,  Great  Britain.  Actu- 
ated by  a  similar  motive,  the  love  of  gain,  and 
the  desire  of  augmenting  the  value  of  realized 
capital,  England  at  the  very  same  time  adopted 
the  decisive  step,  by  the  Act  of  1819,  of  con- 
tracting her  paper  currency,  and  rendering  it  en- 
tirely dependent  on  the  retention  of  gold,  beyond 
the  limited  amount  of  fourteen  millions  —  an 
amount  wholly  inadequate  to  the  wants  of  the 
nation.  At  the  moment  when,  by  its  foreign 
policy,  and  the  aid  given  to  the  cause  of  insur- 
rection, the  nation  was  so  diminishing  the  sup- 
ply of  the  precious  metals  over  the  globe,  as  to 
render  their  retention  in  this  country  in  ade- 
quate quantities  a  matter  of  impossibility,  it  vol- 
untarily cut  off  the  resource  of  a  domestic  paper 
circulation,  and  dried  up  the  springs  of  indus- 
try, by  halving  the  currency  by  which  it  was  to 
be  maintained.  Thence  the  terrible  monetary 
crisis  of  1825,  the  long-continued  and  wide- 
spread suffering  which  followed  that  catastro- 
phe, the  Reform  revolution  which  that  suffering 
induced,  the  total  change  in  the  commercial 
policy  of  the  empire  which  ensued  in  the  next 
twenty  years,  and  the  dissolution  of  those  bonds 
which  united  her  colonies  to  the  parent  state, 
and  held  together  the  magnificent  fabric  of  the 
British  empire.  All  this  resulted  from  our  own 
acts — was  all  the  direct  and  immediate  conse- 
quence of  our  own  injustice.  The  year  1819 
was  the  turning-point  in  our  policy,  both  foreign 
and  domestic  ;  all  the  vast  changes  which  have 
since  ensued  may  be  traced  to  the  ascendency 
of  the  principles  in  the  nation  which  were  then 
brought  into  operation. 

And  what  gain  has  England  won,  even  in  the 
first  instance,  to   compensate   such        ]oc,_ 
wide-spread  and  lasting  devastation  1  Dreadi'ui 
Admissions  made  by  the  ablest  lead-  losses  aris 
ers  of  the  new  system,  facts  collect-  J,"^  jJ"°J."_ 
ed  by  its  best  statisticians,  give  the  lorpm-o 
answer      Lord  Palmerston  has  told  wiili  .Souih 
us,  in  his  place  in  i'arliaincnt,  that  AintTieii. 
Great  Britain,  between  1820  and  1840,  had  ad- 
vanced £150,000,000  in  loans  to  the  populai 
states  and  republics  of  Spain  and  South  Amer 
ica,  nearly  the  whole  ofwhicii  had  iieeii  lost  iiy 
the  faithlessness  or  insolvency  of  the  states 
which  received  them.     If  to  this  we  add  the 
dreadful  losses   consequent   on  the  monetary 
crisis  of  182.5,  the  direct  consequence,  as  will 
immediately  ajipear,  of  the  speculations  entered 
into  in  1824by  British  capitalists  in  South  Amer- 
ica, at  a  time  when  the  maintenance  of  our  cur- 
rency at  home  was  rendered  entirely  dc^pendent 
on  our  retention  of  the  daily  declining  supplies 
of  gold,  we  shall  have;  a  loss  of  thnn'  hundred 
millions  sterling  inflicted   upon  (Jreat  Britain, 
the  direct  consequence  of  her  own  selfish  piii 


iM 


HISTORY  OF   EUROPE. 


[Chap.  IV. 


suit  of  gain  at  the  expense  of  other  interests  or 
states.  Was,  then,  the  gain  from  these  unwise 
or  iniquitous  measures  sueh  as  to  compensate 
Uie  direct  and  fearful  loss  with  which  they  were 


expobts  from  great  britain  to  soutii  american 
States. 


1827 
1628 
1829 

1840 
1841 
1842 


692,800 
307,028 
303,562 

465,330 
434,901 
374,969 


1.948  213,972  1 54,895|228,466 

6,191,261,113  312,3891374,615 

..  232,703,758,540  300,171 

2.373  359,743  614,047  799.991 

21,2651 158,972  989,466  536,040 

..  |231,71l|969,791i684,313 


1,292,076 
1,261,330 
1,549,048 

2,239,454 
2,140,440 
2,260,784 


-Porter's  Pari.  Tables,  xii.  1 14. 
t  Imports  from  Spain,  and  Exports  to  it  from  the 
South  American  Colo.nies  in  1809. 


linptyruyron  Spnii 


Porto  Rico 

Mexico 

New  Granada 

Caraccas 

Peru  and  Chili 

Buenos  Ayres  and  Potosi . . . 


11,000,000 
21,000,000 
5,700,000 
8,500,000 
11,500,000 
3,500,000 


59,200,000 


2,750.000 
5,250,000 
1,450,000 
2,150,000 
2,875,000 
875,000 


15,200,000 


Rxporu  to  Spain. 


Porto  Rico  . . . 

Mexico 

NewGranada. 

Caraccas 

Peru  and  Chili 

BnenosAyres ) 

and  Potosi.  3 


Agricultural  Produ 


Precic 


I  Metals. 


Piastres.              j£          ■     Piastres.  £         I 

9,900.000  2,250,000  |                 I 
9,000,000  2,250.000  22,500,000  5,660,000 

2,000,000     500,000  3,000,000     750,000, 

4,000,000  1,000,000  1                 1 

4,000,000  1,000,000  8,000,000  2,000,000 

2,000,000'    500,000  5,000,000  1,250,000 


30.000,000  7,500,000  38,500,000  9,650,000} 


— ItuMSOLDT's  Ettai  Politique  nir  la  Nouvelle  Espagne, 
if.  15S,  IM. 


attended  ]  So  far  from  1  the  export  trade  from 
Great  Britain  to  Soutli  America,  which  em- 
braces nearly  all  of  European  fabrics  which  the 
indcDcndent  states  can  take  off,  had  sunk  tc 
£1,290,000  in  1827,  and  in  1842  had  only  reacli 
ed  £2,300,000;*  although  the  exports  from 
Spain  alone  to  these  colonies  before  the  war 
was  £15,000,000,  and  the  imports  from  them 
£17,150,000,  the  greater  part  of  which  immense 
trade  was  in  the  hands  of  British  merchants.t 
As  if  to  demonstrate,  too,  that  it  is  to  the  Rev- 
olution, and  it  alone,  that  tliis  prodigious  de- 
cline is  to  be  ascribed,  our  exports  to  Brazil, 
which  has  retained  its  monarchical  government, 
have  averaged  about  £2,500,000  for  the  last 
twenty  years. t  And  our  exports  to  America, 
exclusive  of  the  United  States,  were  in  1809, 
before  the  Revolution  began,  no  less  than 
£18,014,219 ;  and  in  1810,  £15,640,166.'^  Such 
have  been  the  effects,  even  to  the  immediate 
interests  of  England,  of  her  iniquitous  attempt 
to  dismember,  by  insidious  acts  in  peace,  the 
dominions  of  a  friendly  and  allied  power  !  Prov- 
idence has  a  just  and  sure  mode  of  deahng  with 
the  sins  of  men,  which  is  to  leave  them  to  the 
consequences  of  their  own  actions. 

t  Exports  fro.m  Great  Britain  to  Brazil  and  Amer- 
ica, excluding  United  States. 


To  Brazil. 

ye.in». 

1827 £2,312,109 

1828 3,518,297 

1829 2,516,040 

1840 2,625,853 

1841 2,556,554 

18J2 1.756,805 


To  America,  excluding 
United  States. 

Tears. 

1806 £10,877,968 

1807 10,439,423 

1808 16,591,671 

1809 18,014.219 

1810 15,640.166 

1611 11,939,680 

-Porter's  Pari.  Tables,  xii.  114. 
(f  Porter's  Progress  of  the  Tiatitm,  S29,  third  editica. 


18  9] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


:» 


CHAPTER  V. 

rROGRESS    OF    LITERATURE,   SCIENCE,  THE   ARTS,  AND   MANNERS,  IN    GREAT  BRITAIN  AFTER   THE   PEACE 


Those  who  consider  war  a  universal  and  un- 
mitigated evil,  and  fields  of  battle 
Great  impulse  ""^^^  shambles,  where  human  be- 
Kiv(.n  to  liter-  ings  massacre  each  other  without 
atuii  and  sci-  either  object  or  pity,  would  do  w'ell 
once  after  tiie  ^^  consider  the  progress  of  Great 
Britain  and  France  in  literature, 
science,  and  the  arts,  durirg  the  forty  years 
which  followed  the  close  of  the  war,  and  com- 
pare it  with  any  other  epoch  which  is  to  be 
found  in  the  annals  of  modern  times.  In  none 
does  so  great  an  impulse  appear  to  have  been 
given  to  human  genius,  nor  were  such  efforts 
made  by  human  industry,  nor  such  triumphs 
achieved  by  human  exertion.  Compared  with 
this  era,  all  preceding  ones  sink  into  insignifi- 
cance. Science  made  'splendid  discoveries — 
literature  a  mighty  stride — genius  took  lofty 
flights.  The  effect  was  the  same  in  England, 
France,  and  Germany ;  the  Augustine  age  of 
each  is  that  which  immediately  succeeded  the 
fall  of  Napoleon.  The  triumphs  of  art,  the  ad- 
ditions made  to  the  power  of  man  over  the  el- 
ements, were  unparalleled  during  this  period. 
Space  was  almost  annihilated — time  essentially 
abridged.  The  electric  telegraph  conveyed  in- 
telligence in  a  few  minutes  from  Paris  to  Lon- 
don. Steam  conveyed  the  emigrants  in  ten 
days  from  Britain  to  America,  in  six  weeks  to 
India.  In  proportion  to  the  vehemence  of  the 
internal  passions,  the  hidden  fires  which  im- 
pelled mankind  into  the  wilderness  of  nature, 
was  the  addition  made  to  the  facilities  by  which 
they  were  to  reach,  the  powers  by  which  they 
were  to  subdue  it ;  and  after  the  lapse  of  three 
thousand  years,  Fire  vindicated  the  right  of  the 
poet  to  rank  Prometheus  as  the  greatest  bene- 
factor of  the  human  species. 

It  is  not  merely  by  the  impulse  given  to  cn- 
2  crgy,  aiid  tiic  extrication  of  talent  and 
Way  in  vigor  by  the  danger  and  necessities 
which  war  of  war,  that  it  acts  in  this  decisive 
^i™'^"fr^-  way,  in  great  emergencies,  upon  the 
Lc .  f„^(„„(,y  of  mankind.  A  still  more 
important  effect  takes  place  by  the  direction 
which  it  gives  to  the  passions  and  the  thoughts, 
by  impelling  them  out  of  the  narrow  circle  of 
selfish  and  individual  objects,  into  the  wider 
sphere  of  pul)lic  and  national  interest.  Selfish- 
ness is  th(^  n[)a.s-tree  wtii(!li  invariably  grows 
up  and  shcd.i  its  poi.^oned  drops  around  during 
periods  of  tiaii(|iiillity,  because  then  there  is  no 
counter-attraction  to  llie  seductions  o.'"  sense — 
the  suggestions  of  interest.  Every  man  sits 
under  the  shadow  of  his  own  fig-tree,  but  every 
man  thinks  of  that  fig-tree  alone.  In  war,  he  is 
obliged,  by  the  approach  of  danger,  to  extend 
his  view  to  the  furthest  [)arts  of  the  horizon — 
to  become  interested  in  remote  and  future 
events ,  to  sympathize  witii  the  fortnni's  of 
men  in  distant  lands.  This,  when  extended  to 
nations,  is  an  iumiense  advantage  ;  for  it  is  the 
application  of  a  (einedy  to  the  greatest  weak- 


ness and  radical  curse  of  humanity.  The  act- 
ors in  war,  indeed,  are  often  selSsh,  rapacious, 
hard-hearted ;  though  many  amoLg  them  are 
noble,  gene  ous,  devoted.  But  the  sufferers 
under  it  are  actuated,  in  general,  by  the  gener- 
ous emotions.  Among  them  is  to  be  found  the 
patience  which  endures  suffering,  the  heroism 
which  braves  danger,  the  patriotism  which  sac- 
rifices self  to  country.  It  is  in  these  emotions 
that  the  spring  is  to  be  found  of  national  great- 
ness, even  in  the  arts  of  peace ;  it  is  not  less 
true  in  the  moral  than  the  material  world,  that 
"  a  nation  makes  the  Past,  the  Distant,  and  the 
Future  predominate  over  the  Present — exalts 
us  in  the  scale  of  thinking  beings." 

If  the  period  succeeding  the  war  is  one  which 
is  not  rich  in  great  events,  it  is  fruit-  , 

ful  in  great  men ;  if  the  triumphs  Rapid  prog- 
of  arms  are  awanting,  those  of  phi-  ress  or  steam 
losophy,  literature,  and  the  arts  navigation  in 
were  memorable  and  everlasting.  '"'*'""• 
It  was  distinguished  by  the  first  successful  ap- 
plication of  steam  to  the  purposes  of  locomo- 
tion— a  discovery  of  which  the  original  honor  is 
due  to  Scotland,  but  the  first  successful  appli- 
cation to  America ;  and  of  which  the  conse- 
quences, in  their  ultimate  results,  are  destined 
to  change  the  face  of  the  moral  world.*  Like 
all  the  other  changes  which  have  made  a  great 
and  lasting  impression  on  human  affairs,  its  im- 
portance was  not  at  first  perceived.  It  was  de- 
cried by  philosophy,  and  rejected  by  the  French 
savans,  to  whom  Napoleon  remitted  the  consid 
eration  of  it  as  a  means  of  forwarding  the  in 
vasion  of  Great  Britain.t  Practical  men,  how- 
ever, were  not  long  of  discovering  its  import- 
ance ;  and  within  a  few  years  of  the  time  when 
the  first  steam-boat — the  Comet — was  launch- 
ed upon  the  Clyde,  several  hundreds  were  sail- 
ing round  the  British  islands.  For  long  it  was 
thought  that  steam  could  not  be  used  for  long 
voyages  ;  and  naval  men  generally  declared 
that,  from  the  fragility  of  the  materials  neces- 
sarily employed  in  generating  it,  it  would  make 
no  material  change  in  naval  warfare.  Time, 
however,  has  now  enabled  us  to  estimate  at 
tlieir  true  value  these  prognostications.  The 
Atlantic  has  been  breasted  by  the  British  steam- 
ers— the  duration  and  expense  of  the  voyage  to 
New  York  have  been  halved — the  journey  to 
Bombay,  l)y  the  Red  Sea,  is  habitually  p(-r- 
fi)rmed  in  six  weeks ;  and  preparations  are 
making  fi)r  conveying  emigrants  in  seven  by 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama  or  that  of  Suez  to  Aus- 
tralia.    Already  nearly  the  half  of  the  British 


*  The  first  stcnm-boat  ever  constructed  wa8  built  by 
Mr.  Miller,  of  IJalswinton,  in  1797.  The  atithorhas  seen 
it,  as  a  curiosity,  on  the  Forth  and  Clyde  Canal.  One  of 
the  workmen  engaged  in  its  construction  carried  the  se- 
cret out  to  America,  where  it  was  eagerly  embraced,  and 
energetically  carried  into  execution  by  Fulton  in  1HI2. 
The  (irst  one  which  ever  sailed  in  the  Uriti.sh  si^as  wnn 
the  Comet,  on  board  of  which  the  author  made  a  voyage 
in  1B13.  t  See  Alison's  Europe,  c.  34,  <)  f>7, 


136 


HISTOllV    OF   EUROPE. 


i;:ii.»p.  V, 


navy  is  coiuposoJ  of  stcnin-vossols  of  war  ;  ami 
t!ie  priiu'ii).il  stxnirity  of  Kn^^land  is  fouiidoil  on 
tho  bolii'f  that  sho  could,  on  an  cnicr^cMicy,  lit 
out  a  f;roat(>r  niiinbor  of  those  ocean  giants  than 
any  other  power. 

Less  strikini;  in  api)earance,  but  not  less  iin- 
4  portant  in  reality,  has  been  the  prog- 

Anloi'ihe  ress  of  the  cotton  n)anufaeture,  the 
r.iuon  mail-  creature  of  steam,  in  the  British  isl- 
iiiiu-turc.  anils,  especially  (hiring  the  years 
\v  liich  immediately  succeeded  the  peace.  Rap- 
id as  had  been  its  advance  during  the  war,  its 
forward  movement  and  the  improvement  in  its 
machinery  was  still  more  marvelous  since  its 
termination  ;  for  British  industry  was  then  ex- 
jiosed  to  the  competition  of  foreign  nations  in 
which  labor  was  cheaper  and  taxes  lighter,  and 
superiority  could  only  be  maintained  by  a  con- 
tinued addition  to  the  powers  and  simplification 
of  the  wheels  of  machinery.  But  here  the  coal 
and  iron-stone  of  Great  Britain  came  to  the  aid 
of  its  inhabitants ;  and  great  as  had  been  the 
discovery  of  Watt,  its  powers  were  quadrupled 
by  the  additions  made  to  it  by  subsequent  gen- 
ius. The  marvels  of  the  cotton  manufacture, 
in  Britain,  have  since  that  time  exceeded  all 
other  marvels ;  and  the  vast  development  of 
native  wealth  and  industry  during  the  last  thir- 
ty years  has  been  mainly  owing  to  its  progress. 
From  the  accounts  laid  before  Parliament,  it 
appears  that  the  official  value  of  cotton  goods 
exported,  which  in  1785  was  £864,000,  and  in 
1  797  had  risen  to  £2,580,000,  had  mounted  in 
1814.  at  the  close  of  the  war,  to  £17,655,000; 
and  in  1833  had  reached  the  enormous  amount 
of  £46,000,000!*  So  great  and  rapid  an  in- 
crease is,  perhaps,  not  to  be  found  in  any  single 
branch  of  manufacture  ;  nor,  perhaps,  in  all 
branches  put  togetliCT,  since  the  beginning  of 
the  world.  If  these  wonderful  statistics  afford 
a  key  to  much  of  the  strength  exhibited  in  En- 
gland during  the  war,  those  which  follow  are 
equally  symptomatic  of  its  weakness,  and  of 
the  prolific  seeds  of  distress  which  the  resump- 
tion of  cash  payments  and  the  contraction  of 
the  currency  had  implanted,  in  the  period  suc- 
ceeding the  peace,  in  the  community.     The 


Cotton  Manufactures  and  Yarn  exported  fsom 
Great  Britain. 


Ye«s. 

Offic.a:  Value. 

Derlared  Value. 

16'J7 

£5,915 

1780 

355,060 

1785 

864,710 

1797 

2,580,568 

ISOO 

5,854,057 

1810 

18,951,994 

1814 

17,655,378 

£20.033,132 

1815 

22,289,045 

20,620,956 

1816 

17,564.461 

15,577,392 

1817 

21,259,224 

16,012,001 

1818 

22,589,130 

18,767,517 

1819 

18,282,292 

14,699,912 

1820 

22,531,079 

16,516,758 

1821 

23,541.015 

16,094,807 

1822 

26,911,043 

17,218,801 

1823 

26,544,770 

16,276.843 

1821 

30,155,901 

16,376,515 

1825 

29,495,281 

18,253,631 

1826 

25.194,270 

14,013,675 

1827 

33,182,898 

17,502,394 

1828 

33,467,417 

17,140,114 

1S29 

37,269,432 

17,394,575 

18:i0 

41,050.969 

19,335,971 

1631 

39.357.075 

17,182,936 

1832 

43.7!J6,255 

17,344,670 

1833 

46,337,210 

18.459,000 

—yarl.  Paper,  1631,  No.  145  ;  an.1  Finan-e  Accounts,  1834. 


iiffiiial  value,  which  indicatci  the  qnantily  man- 
ufactured, had  risen,  between  1814  and  1832, 
from  £17,()00,000  to  £46,000,000;  the  declared 
value,  whicli  indicatc-s  the  ])riee  received  foi 
it,  had  sunk  from  £20,000,000  to  £18,450,000 
It  is  not  .sin  prising  that  this  extraordinary  dim- 
inution in  the  declared  value  of  cotton  gooda 
exported  took  place  at  a  time  when  so  great  an 
increase  in  tlie  i)roduction  was  going  forward, 
for  such  was  the  reduction  in  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction, by  the  application  and  improvement  of 
machinery,  and  contraction  of  the  currency,  that 
the  price  of  cotton-yarn.  No.  100,  which  in  1786 
was  38s.,  had  sunk  in  1832  to  2s.  lid. ;  and  a 
piece  of  calico,  which  in  1814  cost  £1  4s.  7d., 
was  selling  in  1833  for  6s.  2d. !  Whoever  will 
consider  these  figures  with  attention,  will  have 
no  difficulty  in  discovering  the  princijjal  causes 
at  once  of  the  strength  and  weak-  i  uamcs'.s 
ness  of  the  British  emj)ire  during  History  of 
and  subsequent  to  ♦he  War,  and  of  J^o't""  M"""" 
the  vast  social  and  political  changes  357'"7''arL  ' 
which  so  soon  after  occurred  in  Papers,  1831, 
it.'  No.  145 

The  vast  impulse  given  at  this  period  to  in- 
dustry was  not  confined  to  the  cotton 
manufacture ;  though  it,  as  the  great-  progress 
est,  was  the  most  conspicuous,  and  in  other 
has  attracted  most  attention.  In  wool-  tranches 
en  goods,  cutlery,  hardware,  and  iron,  facture"' 
the  progress  was  nearly  as  rapid  ;  the 
last,  in  particular,  was  in  a  manner  a  new  cre- 
ation in  Great  Britain  since  the  peace.  The 
total  quantity  of  pig-iron  wrought  in  Great  Brit- 
ain, in  1814,  was  350,000  tons ;  in  1835  it  had 
risen  to  1,000,000  tons.*  Generally  speaking, 
however,  it  was  in  the  useful  arts  only  that  this 
extraordinary  growth  was  perceptible ;  in  the 
more  delicate  and  ornamental,  and  those  which 
depended  on  the  fine  arts  for  their  design  and 
beauty,  we  were  still  greatly  inferior  to  our 
Continental  neighbors.  Remoteness  of  situa- 
tion, distance  from  the  models  of  taste  in  the 
remains  of  ancient  genius,  was  the  cause  of 
this  inferiority.  The  necessity  of  studying 
them,  the  value  of  schools  of  design  to  diffuse 
and  perpetuate  a  knowledge  of  their  beauty  and 
of  the  principles  of  art,  was  unknown.  A  quar- 
ter pf  a  century  had  to  elapse  before  the  nation 
became  sensible  of  its  inferiority  in  these  re- 
spects, and  endeavored,  by  the  general  estab- 
lishment of  elementary  schools  for  the  study  of 
the  fine  arts,  to  emancipate  itself  from  the  ne- 
cessity of  recurring  to  foreign  artists  for  de- 
signs in  all  the  ornamental  branches  of  manu 
facture.  Since  that  period  its  progress  in  the 
fine  manufactures,  and  the  designs  requisite  for 
them,  has  been  great  and  rapid  ;  but  at  the 
Great  Exhibition  of  1851  it  was  apparent  that 
even  then  an  equality  with  foreign  taste  had  not 
yet  been  attained. 

If  the  triumphs  of  British  art  and  industry 
have  been  great  during  this  memorable  period, 


Iron  made  in  Great  Britain. 


1796 124,000 

1802 170,000 

1806 250,000 

1814 350,000 

1823 442,000 

1625 581,.S67 

1828 702,584 


Years. 


Tons. 


18.30 653,000 

ia35 1,000,000 

1836 1,200,000 

1840 1,500,000 

1847 1,999,000 

1648 2.093,736 


Porter's  Progress  of  the  Nation,  2G7,  269,  3d  edition 


Chap.  V.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


13V 


those  of  its  genius  and  thoi-ght  have  been  not 
^  less  remarl  able,  and  still  more  last- 

Brilliant  eras  ing.  This  is  generally  the  case,  aft- 
in  iiterature  er  a  great  and  decisive  national 
which  gener-    gtruffsle :  the  energy  and  talent  de- 

ally  succeed      -^'""b--       ,.-..•  • 

those  of  great  veloped  during  Its  continuance  by 
public  dan-  the  urgency  of  the  public  dangers, 
gers.  jg  directed,  on  their  termination,  to 

pacific  objects.  Literature  then  assumes  its 
noblest  character,  and  is  directed  to  its  most 
elevated  objects  ;  for  general  have  superseded 
mdividual  desires,  and  the  selfish  passions  have, 
by  the  pressure  of  common  danger,  been  for  a 
time  extinguished  by  the  generous.  This  ap- 
peared —  and  from  the  same  cause  —  both  in 
Greece  and  Rome,  and  in  modern  Europe : 
the  age  of  Pericles  and  Euripides  immediately 
succeeded  that  of  Themistocles  ;  -the  genius  of 
Cicero  and  Virgil  illuminated  the  era  which  had 
witnessed  the  contests  of  Cajsar  and  Pompey. 
The  era  of  Michael  Angelo,  Ariosto,  and  Tasso 
threw  a  radiance  over  the  expiring  strife  of  the 
Crusades  ;  that  of  Bossuet,  Moliere,  and  Racine 
over  the  declining  glories  of  the  Grand  Mo- 
narque  ;  that  of  Shakspeare,  Bacon,  and  Milton 
soon  followed  the  fierce  passions  of  the  Refor- 
mation. The  period  during  which  this  trans- 
cendant  union  exists  is  generally  as  short-lived 
as  it  is  brilliant ;  and  the  reason,  being  founded 
in  the  very  causes  which  produced  it,  is  of  last- 
ing influence.  The  vehement  contests  which 
awaken  and  draw  forth  the  latent  powers  of  the 
human  soul  are  necessarily  of  no  very  long 
duration  :  one  party  or  another  is  ere  long  van- 
quished in  the  strife  ;  and  alike  to  the  conquer- 
ors and  the  conquered  succeeds  a  period  of  con- 
strained repose.  It  is  at  the  commencement  of 
that  period,  when  the  sway  of  the  generous  pas- 
sions, awakened  by  former  common  danger,  is 
still  felt,  and  their  direction  only  is  changed, 
that  genius  appears  in  its  brightest  colors,  and 
works  destined  for  immortal  endurance  are  pro- 
duced. The  lengthened  duration  either  of  the 
prosperity  consequent  on  success,  or  the  humil- 
.ation  resulting  from  adverse  fortune,  does  not 
extinguish  genius,  but  misdirects  it ;  in  the  first 
case,  by  directing  elTort  to  selfish  objects — in 
the  last,  by  depressing  it  through  the  extinction 
of  hope. 
Sir  Walter  Scott  is  universally  considered 
1  as  the  greatest  writer  of  imagina- 

Literary  char-  tion  of  this  century  ;  and  his  repu- 
atterofSir  tation  has  been  so  wide-spread 
Walter  Scott.  ^^^^  lasting,  that  it  may  reasonably 
be  anticipated  that  it  will  not  materially  decline 
in  Succeeding  times.  Like  most  other  great 
men,  the  direction  of  his  genius  was,  in  a  great 
degree,  determined  by  the  circumst.inces  in 
which  he  arose ;  but  its  character  was  cxclu- 
aively  his  own.  He  rose  to  manhood  during  the 
heart-stirring  conflict  witli  tiie  I'rencii  Revolu- 
tion ;  and  his  mind,  naturally  ardent,  was  early 
inflamed  by  the  patriotic  and  warlike  feelings 
which  that  contest  naturally  i)ro(iwce(l.  A  vol- 
unteer himself  in  the  yeomanry  ranks,  his  ani- 
mated strains  induced  many  to  follow  his  ex- 
ample. Tlie  influence  of  tliose  circumstances 
is  very  consjiicuous  in  his  writings,  and  many 
of  the  finest  passages  in  his  descriptions  of 
Flodden  and  Bannockburn  were  suggested  by 
the  mimic  warfare  on  Portobello  Sands,  near 
Edinburgh,  where  his  corps  exercised.     This  in 


some  degree  directed  the  application,  but  t  did 
not  stamp  the  character  of  his  genius.  That 
was  entirely  his  own.  Close  observation  of 
nature,  whether  animated  or  inanimate,  was 
his  great  characteristic  ;  the  brilliancy  of  fancy, 
the  force  of  imagination,  were  directed  to  cloth- 
ing with  sparkling  colors  her  varied  ci  cations. 
It  is  hard  to  say  whether  his  genius  was  most 
conspicuous  in  describing  the  beauties  of  na- 
ture or  delineating  the  passions  of  the  heart ; 
he  was  at  once  pictorial  and  dramatic.  To  this 
he  owes  his  great  success — hence  his  world- 
wide reputation.  He  was  first  known  as  a 
poet ;  but,  charming  as  his  poetic  conceptions 
were,  they  were  ere  long  eclipsed  by  the  wide- 
spread fame  of  his  prose  romances.  The  nov- 
els of  the  author  of  Wavcrky  caused  the  poems 
of  \^'alter  Scott  to  be  for  a  time  forgotten.  But 
time  has  re-established  them  in  their  celebrity ; 
and  great  as  is  still  the  fame  of  the  Scotch  nov- 
els, it  is  rivaled  by  the  heart-stirring  verses  of 
Marmion,  the  enduring  charm  of  the  Lady  of  the 
Lake. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  commenced  his  career  un- 
der very  peculiar  circumstances,  sin-  g 
gularly  favorable  for  the  portraiture  peculiar 
of  character  at  difierent  times  and  character 
under  diflerent  aspects.  Passing  of  his  writ 
much  of  his  childhood  on  the  banks  '  "  " 
of  the  Tweed,  his  early  fancy  was  kindled  by  the 
tales  of  the  Border  chivalry  ;  educated  in  Edin- 
burgh, he  dreamed,  in  maturer  years,  in  the 
grassy  vale  of  St.  Leonard's,  of  the  knights  of 
Ariosto  and  the  siege  of  Jerusalem.  But  the 
charms  of  poetry,  the  creations  of  romance,  did 
not  detach  his  mind  from  the  observation  of 
nature.  Mounted  on  a  hardy  Highland  pony, 
he  wandered  over  the  mountains  of  Scotland, 
observing  its  scenery,  inhaling  its  beauties, 
studying  the  character  of  its  inhabitants.  On 
the  mountain's  brow,  by  the  glassy  lake,  he  en- 
graved the  features  of  the  land  on  his  recollec- 
tion ;  by  the  cottage  fireside  he  stored  his  mind 
with  the  feelings  and  anecdotes  of  the  peasant- 
ry ;  amid  the  castle  ruins  he  realized,  in  fancy, 
the  days  of  chivalry.  The  poetic  temperament 
of  his  mind  threw  over  the  pictures  of  memo- 
ry the  radiance  of  imagination,  \\itIiout  taking 
away  the  fidelity  of  the  recollection.  Thence 
the  general  admiration  with  which  his  works 
were  received.  The  romantic  found  in  them 
the  realization  of  their  imaginative  dreams ; 
the  antiquarian,  a  reminiscence  of  the  olden 
times  ;  the  practical,  a  picture  of  the  cliaraclers 
they  had  seen  around  them,  and  with  which 
they  had  been  familiar  from  their  infancy. 
Lord  Jeflrey  said,  in  one  of  the  early  reviews 
of  his  writings,  that  Scott  had  opened  an  un- 
workable vein,  and  that  no  human  aliility  could 
make  the  manners  of  the  olden  time  |)oi)u]ar — 
a  strange  observation  in  a  country  in  which  the 
creations  of  Ariosto,  the  tenderness  of  Tasso, 
charmed  every  successive  generation  of  men, 
and  the  error  of  which  subseciucnt  experience 
has  abundantly  demonstrated. 

With  these  great  and  varied  i)owers  Scott 
might  have  been  a  most  dangerf>us  g 

writer,  if,  like  Voltaire,  lie  had   di-  Their  ele- 
rected  them  fo  sajiping  the  fouiida-  vaieil  moral 
tions  of  religion,  or  to  the  delinea-  '■'""■"^'K-''"- 
tion  of  the  degrading  or  licentious  in  character. 
But  the  elevated  strain  of  his  mind  prcscivcd 


us 


11I8T011V    OF  EUROPE. 


:cha/.  v. 


Iiiin  from  siicli  oontamination.  It  \\as  on  the 
no'ole,  whet  tier  in  liif^li  or  low  lifo,  that  his  atFoc- 
tions  wort)  lixrd ;  tlio  ordinary  was  dehncatcd 
only  as  a  sct-ofFto  its  lustre.  Thence  his  en- 
during fame — thence  his  passport  to  immortal- 
ity. Nothing  over  i)ermaneiitly  lloated  down 
the  stream  of  time  hut  what  was  huoyant  from 
its  oleTating  tendency.  The  degrading,  the  li- 
centious, the  fetid,  is  for  a  time  popular,  and 
then  forgotten.  Alike  in  delineating  the  man- 
ners of  feudal  times,  or  the  feelings  of  the  cot- 
tage, the  dignity  of  man  was  ever  uppermost  in 
his  mind  :  he  was  the  poet  of  cliivalry,  but,  not 
less  than  the  bard  of  nature,  he  never  forgot 
that 

"  The  rank  is  but  the  guinea  stamp, 
Tlie  mail's  tlie  gowii  for  a'  that." 

No  man  ever  threw  a  more  charming  radi- 
ance over  the  traditions  of  ancient  times,  but 
none  ever  delineated  in  a  nobler  spirit  the  vir- 
tues of  the  present ;  and  his  discriminating  eye 
discovered  them  equally  under  the  thatch  of  the 
cottage  as  in  the  halls  of  the  castle.  It  has 
been  truly  said  that  the  influence  of  his  writings 
neutralized,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  effect  of  the 
Reform  Bill ;  but  it  is  not  less  true  that  none 
ever  contributed  more  powerfully  to  that  puri- 
fication, witliout  which  all  others  are  nugatory 
— the  reform  of  the  human  heart ;  and  perhaps 
he  is  the  only  author  of  numerous  works  of  fic- 
tion of  whom  it  may  wnth  truth  be  said  that  he 
never  wrote  a  line  which,  on  death-bed,  he  could 
wish  recalled. 

It  is  to  his  earlier  writings,  however,  that  this 
JO  unqualified  praise   applies.      Warer- 

The  defects  lej/,  Guy  Mannering,  The  Antiquary, 
of  his  later  The  Bride  of  Lammermoor,  Old  Mor- 
wntings.  talily,  are  the  perfection  of  romantic 
pictures  of  later  times  ;  The  Abbot,  Quentin  Dur- 
ward,  and  Icanhoc,  of  the  days  of  chivalry.  But 
these  rich  veins  were  at  length  exhausted,  and 
the  prolific  fancy  of  the  author  diverged  into 
other  scenes  and  periods  in  which  he  had  not 
such  authentic  materials  to  work  with,  and 
where  his  graphic  hand  was  no  longer  to  the 
same  degree  perceptible.  Some  of  his  later  ro- 
mances are  so  inferior  to  the  first,  that  it  is 
difficult  to  believe  they  have  been  composed  by 
the  same  master  spirit.  It  is  on  the  earlier 
novels,  which  delineate  the  manners,  feelings, 
and  scenes  of  Scotland,  and  a  few,  such  as  Ivan- 
hoe,  KenUworlh,  The  Talisman,  and  Quentin  Dur- 
ward,  which  paint  those  of  other  lands,  that  his 
fame  as  a  writer  of  romance  will  permanently 
rest ;  another  proof  among  the  many  which  the 
annals  of  literature  afford,  that  it  is  on  a  faith- 
ful delineation  of  nature  that  the  permanent 
reputation  of  works  even  of  imagination  must 
be  founded,  and  that  the  Ideal  can  be  securely 
rested  on  no  other  basis  but  the  Ileal.* 

Lord  Byron  is  the  author  who,  next  to  Sir 

Walter  Scott,  has  obtained  the  most 
Lord  Byron,  wide-spread  reputation  in  the  world ; 

and  yet  his  character  and  the  style 


*  Sir  Walter  Scott  had  a  prodigious  fund  of  stories  and 
anecdotes  at  command,  both  m  regard  to  the  olden  and  the 
present  time,  which  he  told  with  infinite  zest  and  humor; 
and  his  conversation  was  always  interspersed  with  those 
strokes  of  delicate  satire  or  sterling  good  sense  which 
abound  in  his  writings.  But  he  had  not  the  real  conver- 
sational talent ;  there  was  little  interchange  of  ideas  when 
be  talked  :  he  took  it  nearly  all  to  himself,  and  talked  of 
persons  or  old  anecdotes,  or  charstters,  net  things. 


of  his  writings  diffe.  so  widely  from  those  of  ^H 
the  AVizard  of  the  North,  that  it  is  difficult  tc  ^H 
understand  how,  at  the  same  time,  they  attain- 
ed almost  e(iual  celebrity.  He  was  not  antl- 
qiuirian  in  ideas,  nor  graphic  in  the  delineation 
of  character.  He  neitlier  studied  the  days  of 
chivalry  in  old  romances,  nor  huivian  nature  in 
the  seclusion  of  the  cottage.  He  was  in  an 
especial  manner  the  poet  of  high  life.  He  has 
often  delineated  the  Corsairs  of  the  Archipelago 
and  the  maids  of  Greece  ;  but  it  was  to  please 
the  high-born  dames  of  London  that  all  his  pic- 
tures were  drawn.  Born  of  a  noble  English 
family,  but  of  a  Scotch  mother,  and  nursed  amid 
the  mountains  of  Aberdeenshire,  his  ardent  tem- 
perament was  first  evinced  in  childhood  by  a 
precocious  passion  for  a  Scottish  beauty,  his 
poetic  disposition  awakened  by  the  rnist-clad 
rocks  of  Lochnagar.  Thrown  into  the  fashion- 
able world  in  London  at  a  very  early  age,  he 
soon  felt  that  satiety  which  genius  never  fails 
to  experience  from  the  excess  of  pleasure,  and 
that  dissatisfaction  which  real  greatness  gen- 
erally feels  amid  the  vanities  of  fashion.  Wea- 
ried with  the  inanities  of  gay,  the  dissipation  ol 
profligate  life,  he  sought  change  abroad  :  the 
rocks  of  Cintra,  the  beauties  of  Cadiz,  the  isles 
of  Greece,  successively  rose  to  his  view  ;  and 
the  brilliant  moving  panorama,  seen  through  the 
eyes  of  genius,  produced  the  poem  of  Childe 
Harold,  which  has  rendered  his  name  immortal. 
It  is  on  this  splendid  production,  more  than 
on  his  metrical  romances,  that  his  12. 

reputation  will  ultimately  rest.  The  His  merits 
success  of  the  latter  was  at  first  pro-  ^"''  defects, 
digious,  but  it  arose  from  a  peculiarity  which  is 
fatal  to  durable  fame.  They  were  so  much  ad- 
mired, not  because  they  were  founded  on  nature, 
but  because  they  differed  from  it.  Addressed 
to  the  exclusive  circles  of  London  society,  they 
fell  upon  the  high-born  votaries  of  fashion  with 
the  charm  of  novelty ;  they  breathed  the  lan- 
guage of  vehement  passion,  which  was  as  new 
to  them  as  the  voice  of  nature,  speaking  through 
the  dreamy  soul  of  Rousseau,  had  been  to  the 
corrupted  circles  of  Parisian  society  half  a  cen- 
tury before.  As  such  they  excited  an  immense 
sensation,  and  even  more  than  the  thoughtful 
and  yet  pictured  pages  of  Childe  Harold,  raised 
the  author  to  the  very  pinnacle  of  celebrity. 
But  no  reputation  can  be  lasting  which  is  not 
founded  on  the  images  and  feelings  of  nature  • 
singularity,  affectation,  caprice,  if  w-ielding  the 
powers  of  genius,  may  acquire  ^  temporary 
celebrity,  but  it  will  be  but  temporary.  With 
the  circumstances  which  nursed,  the  fashion 
which  exalted  it,  it  falls  to  the  ground.  It  was 
ere  long  discovered  that  his  Corsairs  and  Sul- 
tanas were  all  cast  in  one  mould,  and  bore  one  ;  j 
image  and  superscription  ;  their  passions  were  |l 
violent  and  powerfully  drawn,  but  they  were  all  rl 
the  same,  and  bore  no  resemblance  to  the  di- 
versified emotions  of  real  hfe.  They  were  like 
the  trees  of  Vivarez  or  Perelle,  so  well  known  jl 
to  the  lovers  of  engravings — rich,  luxuriant,  and  .ll 
charming  at  first  sight,  but  characterized  by  de- 
cided mannerism  very  different  from  the  vera- 
cious outlines  of  Claude  or  Salvator. 

In  one  class  of  readers  the  dramas  of  Byron 
have  won  for  him  a  very  high  reputation ;  in 
another,  Don  Juan  is  hi  ?  passport  to  popularity. 
But  though  characterizec  by  ardent  genius,  and 


Chap.  V.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


13d 


J3  abounding  with  noble  lines,  his  dra- 

ins dramas  niatic  pieces  want  the  elements  of 
and  Don  enduring  fame.  They  are  too  wild 
Juan.  ^Qj.  ordinary  life,  too  extravagant  for 

iheatrical  representation.  They  do  not  come 
•lome  to  our  hearts ;  there  is  nothing  in  them 
which  can  be  enjoyed  by  the  cottage  fireside. 
Applause  from  the  humbler  classes  would  never 
begin  with  their  performance.  They  are  ad- 
dressed to,  and  calculated  for,  minds  as  high- 
strung  and  poetical  as  his  own  ;  and  how  many 
are  they  amid  the  multitude  of  ordinary  readers  I 
Don  Jua7i  is  different :  there  is  much  in  it  which 
unhappily  too  powerfully  rouses  every  breast. 
But  although  works  of  fiction,  in  which  genius 
is  mingled  with  licentiousness,  often,  at  first,  ac- 
quire a  very  great  celebrity,  at  least  with  one 
sex,  they  labor  under  an  insurmountable  objec- 
tion—  they  can  not  be  the  subject  of  conver- 
sation with  the  other.  Works  of  fiction  are 
chiefly  interesting  to  both  sexes,  because  they 
portray  the  feelings  by  which  they  are  attracted 
to  each  other.  When  they  are  of  such  a  de- 
scription that  neither  can  communicate  those 
feelings  to  the  other,  the  great  object  of  com- 
position is  lost,  and  lasting  celebrity  to  the  au- 
thor is  impossible.* 

The  same  objection  applies  in  an  equal  degree 
14.  to  the  earUer  writings  of  TvIoore  ;  but 
Moore  as  a  there  is  a  much  wider  acquaintance 
lyric  poet,  y/ith  the  human  heart  in  his  later 
poems,  and  a  much  more  graphic,  and  therefore 
touching,  delineation  of  human  feeUng  than  in 
the  Corsairs  and  Medoras  of  Byron.  In  some 
respects  he  is  the  greatest  lyric  poet  in  the  En- 
glish language.  Without  the  discursive  imagin- 
ation of  Akenside,  without  the  burning  thoughts 
of  Gray,  without  the  ardent  soul  of  Campbell,  he 
has  written  more  that  comes  home  to  the  hearts 
of  the  young  and  impassioned  of  both  sexes 
than  any  other  author — if  a  few  lines  in  Burns 
are  excepted — in  the  whole  literature  of  Great 
Britain.  His  Irish  and  national  melodies  will 
be  immortal ;  and  they  will  be  so  for  this  rea- 
son, that  they  express  the  feelings  which  spring 
up  in  the  breast  of  every  successive  generation 
at  the  most  important  and  imaginative  period 
of  hfe.  They  have  the  delicacy  of  refined  life 
without  its  fastidiousness — the  warmth  of  nat- 
ural feeling  without  its  rudeness.  He  is  in  an 
especial  manner  the  poet  of  love  ;  but  it  is  the 
love  of  chivalry  and  romance  rather  than  license, 
and  embellished  with  all  those  images  and  asso- 
ciations with  which  f,-!iius  in  successive  ages 
has  heightened  the  warmth  of  natural  feeling. 
Vast  numbers  of  his  lines  are  committed  to 
memory  by  the  young  of  l)otii  sexes  ;  their 
charm  is  to  many  associated  with  the  magic  of 

*  It  was  impossible  tliat  a  man  of  Lord  Byron's  genius 
could  (onvorse  for  any  length  of  time  without  some  sparks 
falling  ;  and  hi.s  celebrity  and  rank  rendered  him  a  great 
favor]le,especially  of  women  of  high  rank.  IJut  he  want- 
ed nature  in  his  ideas,  and  simplicity  in  his  manner.  Ho 
never  forgot  himself,  and  was  constantly  aflecting  the  roue 
and  man  of  fashion,  rather  than  the  poet  or  literary  man. 
Don  Juan  was  the  picture  of  him  in  real  life,  much  more 
than  any  of  his  heroes  or  Corsairs.  Tlie  author  met  him 
only  once  at  Venice  in  181b,  when  he  kindly  entertained 
him  in  his  hotel,  and  rowed  him  through  the  Grand  (;anal 
«nd  the  Lngunas  to  Lido  in  his  gondola.  The  conversa- 
tion was  charming,  chiefly  from  the  historic  anc'cdotes 
connecird  with  the  places  which  Lord  liyron  mentioneil  ; 
but  the  iinprcssion  left  on  the  whole  was  rather  lowering 
than  cie-atiug  lo  that  previcusly  formed  by  the  study  of 
b:N  writii  gs. 


song — the  smiles  of  beam  )■ ;  and  -heir  enduring 
celebrity  may  be  anticipated  by  the  wide-spread 
interest  which  they  have  already  awakened. 

The  mind  of  Moore  was  essentially  Oriental 
the  images  and  ideas  of  the  East  j^ 

sparkle  in  all  his  verses.  His  feel-  His  Oriental 
ings  were  chivalrous  —  his  soul  turn,  and  sa- 
penetrated  with  the  refinements  of  *i"cai  verses- 
Europe  ;  but  his  thoughts  were  of  the  cloudless 
skies,  and  resistless  genii,  and  bewitching  maids 
of  the  land  of  the  sun.  So  strong  was  this  pro- 
pensity, that  it  led  to  the  composition  of  a  poem 
of  which  the  scene  and  characters  were  entirely 
laid  in  the  East ;  and  Lalla  Rookh  remains  an 
enduring  monument  of  the  charm  produced  by 
the  clothing  of  Oriental  images  and  adventure 
with  the  genius  and  refinement  of  the  Western 
World.  But  though  charming  to  persons  of  gen- 
eral reading  and  varied  information,  it  \v'i]l  never 
be  so  popular  with  ordinary  readers  as  those 
lyric  poems  which  express  the  feelings  of  the 
universal  heart.  The  greatest  defect  of  his 
compositions  is  a  vein  of  conceit,  which,  sven  in 
mature  years,  he  was  never  able  entirely  to 
overcome.  His  images  are  always  sparkling, 
often  brilliant ;  but  they  are  as  frequently  far- 
fetched, and  bespeak  rather  the  conceit  of  fancy 
than  the  genuine  eflusions  of  passion,  ilis  ear- 
lier poems,  published  under  the  name  of  Little, 
though  often  beautiful,  are  so  licentious  that 
they  are  never  now  heard  of  but  from  tLe  lips 
of  the  professed  votaries  of  pleasure.  Great 
part,  in  point  vi  bulk,  of  his  poems  is  occupied 
with  subjects  if  a  satirical  cast  or  epheriieral 
character  :  they  will  share  the  usual  fate  of  such 
productions  ;  they  will  expire  with  the  manners 
or  characters  which  are  satirized.  There  are 
many  Imes  in  the  satires  of  Juvenal  and  Horace 
which  are  in  every  mouth,  but  the  u-lwlc  ■poems 
are  read  by  none  except  school-boys,  into  whom 
they  are  driven  by  the  force  of  the  rod.  Many 
persons  are  amused,  some  instructed,  by  the 
picture  of  the  follies  of  their  own  age,  but  com- 
paratively few  by  the  absurdities  of  those  which 
have  preceded  them ;  and  although  few  are  in- 
different to  the  scandal  of  their  contemporaries, 
fewer  still  take  an  interest  in  that  of  l heir  great- 
grandmothers.* 

If  the  wide  spread  of  his  fame,  and  deep  im 
pression  produced  i)y  his  poems,  is  to        .. 
be  taken  as  the  test  of  excellence,  Campbell- 
Campbell  is  the  greatest  lyric  poet  his  vast 
of  England,  and  second  to  few  in  the  «"<1  "oble 
general    scale    of  poetic   merit  that  *''''"'"^- 
Great  Britain  has  ever  produced.     With  the  ex- 
ce|)tion  of  Shaks|)eare  and  Gray,  there  is  no  au- 
thor of  whom  so  many  ideas  and  lines  have 
been  riveted  in  the  general  mind  of  his  country, 
or  become,  as  it  were,  household  words  of  the 
English  in  every  land.     It  is  not  so  much  Iho 


*  The  author  met  Moore  only  onco,  but  that  was  under 
very  intercstiiij!  ciniimstances.  Alter  an  evening  iiarty 
at  Paris,  in  the  Hue  Mont  lilanc,  in  I8i!l,  when  ho  charmed 
every  one  by  his  singing  of  his  own  melodies,  espeiially 
tho  e.\quisito  one  on  genius  outslrip))iiig  wealth  in  the 
race  for  ladies'  favor,  tliey  walked  home  togellier,  and  fall- 
ing into  very  interesting  conversation,  walked  rouinl  the 
Place  VendOme,  in  constant  talk  for  tlireo  hours.  They 
se|iarated  at  three  in  the  morning,  with  regret,  at  the  foot 
of  the  Pillar  of  Auslerlit/,,  and  never  met  again.  Ilis  con- 
versation was  very  sparkling  ;  and,  as  it  abounded  in  the 
rapid  interchange  of  poetical  ideas,  t  impressed  the  au 
thor  more  than  the  more  discursive  uiiU  amusing  ynao- 
dotes  of  Sir  Walter  Scott. 


(to 


HISTOU  V    OF    i:r  liOPE. 


[LiiAi-.  V 


tflidty  ami  hrovity  ot  exprrssion,  th(Hi,<;h  tliry 
novrr  wore  surpassoil,  wliirh  have  won  for  liiiti 
this  vast  cold  r'»y  ;  it  is  llie  rlovatiou  ami 
moral  •jrandour  of  his  tlioujilits  which  have  so 
fTfiirrally  fascinatcil  tlie  niimis  of  moii.  H(>  was 
in  every  sense  tiie  Hani  of  Hope.  Undouhting 
in  failli.  iintireil  in  hope,  he  diseerned  tiie  Uain- 
how  o\'  IVaee  aniid  tlie  darkest  storms  of  the 
moral  world.*  In  the  crioomiest  disasters  he 
never  despaired  of  the  fortunes  of  mankind,  and 
was  prepared  to  light 

"The  Torch  of  Hope  at  Nature's  funeral  pile." 

The  experienced  in  the  ways  of  men  will  prob- 
ably be  inclined  to  regard  many  of  his  poems  as 
Utopian  and  impracticable  —  the  wise  and  re- 
flecting, as  better  adapted  to  a  future  than  the 
present  state  of  existence;  but  the  young,  the 
ardent,  and  enthusiastic  will  never  cease  to 
turn  to  tliem  as  fraught  witii  the  noblest  aspi- 
rations of  our  nature  ;  and  we  may  despair  of 
the  fortunes  of  the  species  when  the  admiration 
(br  The  Pleasures  of  Hope  begins  to  decline. 
Great  as  is  the  reputation  of  that  noble  poem, 

17.  that  of  his  lyric  pieces  is  still  greater. 
His  lyrical  They  are  at  present,  perhaps,  the 
poems.  most  popular  poems  of  the  kind  in 
the  English  language  ;  and  there  is  no  appear- 
ance of  their  fame  diminishing.  The  Rainbow, 
the  Mariners  of  England,  the  Stanzas  to  Paint- 
ing, Lochiel's  Warning,  the  Ode  to  Winter,  the 
Last  Man,  Hohcnlindcn,  the  Battle  of  the  Baltic, 
have  become  so  engraven  on  the  national  heart 
that  their  impression  may  be  regarded  as  in- 
delible. They  bear  a  very  close  resemblance 
to  the  ballads  and  poems  of  Schiller,  and  share 
in  all  the  noble  feelings,  and  yet  simple  and 
homespun  images,  by  which  those  beautiful 
strains  are  distinguished.  They  have  all  the 
terseness  and  felicity  of  expression  which  have 
rendered  Horace  immortal,  without  any  of  the 
licentiousness  which  disfigures  his  pages.  But 
his  poems  are  very  unequal :  many,  especially 
of  the  later  ones,  are  so  feeble  and  inferior,  that 
it  could  hardly  be  believed  they  proceeded  from 
the  same  hand  as  his  earlier  productions.  No 
man  was  ever  more  felicitous  in  his  images,  or 
conveyed  a  beautiful  idea  in  more  pure  and 
striking  metaphor.  His  well-known  image — 
"  'Tis  the  sunset  of  life  gives  me  mystical  lore. 

And  coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before" — 

is  perhaps  the  most  perfect  and  unmixed  met- 
aphor in  the  English  language.  His  genius  was 
brilliant,  but  it  was  precocious,  and  declined  as 
life  advanced ;  its  flame  rose  up  at  once  to  a 
towering  height,  but  it  did  not,  like  that  of 
Burke,  Bacon,  and  Rousseau,  gather  strength 
with  all  the  acquisitions  of  life ;  and  of  him 
could  not  be  said,  as  was  done  of  ancient  gen- 
ms,  "  Materia  alitur,  motibus  excitatur,  et  uren- 
do  lucescit." 

If  the  Pleasures  of  Hope  to  the  end  of  time 


*  Witness  his  noble  lines  on  the  partition  of  Poland  : 
•'  Hope  for  a  season  bade  the  world  farewell. 
And  Freedom  shrieked  as  Kosciusko  fell ; 
Yet  thy  proud  lords,  unpitied  land  !  shall  see 
That  Man  hath  yet  a  soul,  and  dare  be  free  ; 
A  little  while  along  thy  saddening  plains 
The  starless  night  of  Desolation  reigns  ; 
Truth  shall  restore  the  light  by  Nature  given. 
And,  like  Prometheus,  bring  tlie  fire  of  Ileaven. 
I'rone  to  the  dust  Oppression  shall  be  hurled — 
Ua  na^e,  her  n  '.ure,  withered  from  the  world." 
Pleasures  of  Hope. 


will  fascinate  the  young  and  llie  ar-  ]s( 
dent,  those  of  il/cmwn/ will  have  equal  Rngcrs* 
eiiarms  for  tin'  advanced  in  years  and  I'l^asure* 
tii(>  reflecting.  Kogeks  has  struck  a  ^'M«"">'y 
chord  which  will  forever  vibrate  in  the  human 
heart,  and  lie  has  touched  it  with  so  much  deli- 
cacy and  pathos,  that  his  poetry  is  felt  as  the 
more  charming  the  more  that  the  taste  ia  im- 
jiroved  and  the  mind  is  filled  with  the  recollec- 
tions of  the  past.  His  verses  have  not  the  ve- 
hemence of  Byron's  imagination,  nor  the  ardor 
of  Campbell's  soul :  "thoughts  that  breathe  and 
words  that  burn"  will  be  looked  for  in  vain  in 
his  compositions.  He  was  not  fitted,  therefore, 
to  reach  the  highest  flights  of  lyric  poetry.  He 
never  could  have  written  the  "  Feast  of  Alex- 
ander," like  Drydcn  ;  nor  the  "Bard"  of  Gray  ; 
nor  the  "  Stanzas  to  Painting"  of  Campbell ;  but 
he  possessed,  perhaps,  in  a  still  higher  degree 
than  any  of  them,  the  power  of  casting  togeth- 
er pleasing  and  charming  images,  and  pouring 
them  forth  in  soft  and  mellifluous  language 
This  is  his  great  charm  ;  and  it  is  one  so  great 
that,  in  the  estimation  of  many,  particularly 
those  with  whom  the  whirl  and  agitation  of  life 
is  past,  it  more  than  compensates  for  the  ab- 
sence of  every  other.  To  the  young,  who  have 
the  future  before  them,  imagination  and  hope 
are  the  most  entrancing  powers,  for  they  gild 
the  as  yet  untrodden  path  of  life  with  the  wish- 
ed-for  flowers.  But  to  the  aged,  by  whom  its 
vicissitudes  have  been  experienced  and  its  en- 
joyments known,  memory  and  reflection  are 
the  faculties  which  confer  the  most  unmixed 
pleasure,  for  they  dwell  on  the  past,  and  recall 
its  most  enchanting  moments.  Campbell  had 
the  most  sincere  admiration  for  Rogers,  and  re- 
peatedly said  that  he  was  a  greater  poet  than 
himself  Without  going  such  a  length,  it  may 
safely  be  affirmed  that  there  is  none  more 
chaste,  none  more  refined ;  and  that  some  of 
his  verses  will  bear  a  comparison  with  the  most 
perfect  in  the  English  language.* 

If  ever  two  poets  arose  in  striking  contrast 
to  each  other,  Rogers  and  Southey  jg 
are  the  men  ;  and  yet  they  appeared  Southey  • 
in  the  same  age,  and  flourished  abrea.st  his  peculiiir 
of  each  other.  Rogers  is  the  poet  of  '^''^''acter. 
home  ;  his  charm  consists  in  painting  the  scenes 
of  infancy  —  portraying  the  endearments  of 
youth ;  and  he  is  read  by  all  with  such  pleas- 
ure in  mature  life,  because  he  recalls  ideas  and 
revives  images  which  all  have  known,  but 
which  have  been  almost  forgotten,  though  not 
destroyed,  by  the  cares  and  anxieties  of  life. 
Southey  embraces  a  wider  sphere,  but  one  less 
calculated  permanently  to  interest  the  human 
heart.  His  knowledge  was  immense — his  read- 
ing unbounded — his  memory  tenacious  ;  and  he 
availed  himself  of  the  vast  stores  these  provid- 
ed, with  graphic  power  and  scrupulous  fidelity. 
He  was  a  historian  in  poetry  as  well  as  prose  ; 
and  narrated,  with  all  the  charm  of  diction,  and 
embellished  with  the  richest  hues  of  nature, 
many  of  the  most  stirring  events  which  have 


*  As,  for  example,  the  Invocation  to  Memory : 
"Hail,  Memory,  hail!  within  thy  sparkling  mine, 
From  age  to  age  what  boundless  treasures  shine  I 
Thought  and  her  shadowy  brood  thy  call  obey, 
And  space  and  time  are  subject  to  tliy  sway  I 
Thy  pleasures  most  we  feel  when  most  alone, 
Tho  only  pleasures  we  :an  call  our  own  I" 

Ptecuiures  of  Aleitunyi. 


Chap.  V.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


(41 


occurred  in  the  annals  of  mankind.  But  it  is 
rare,  indeed,  to  find  a  mind  which  can  clothe 
reality  in  verse  with  the  charms  of  fiction.  Ho- 
mer, Virgil,  and  Shakspeare,  have  alone  done 
so  since  the  beginning  of  time ;  and  the  secret 
of  their  success  was  not  their  graphic  power, 
nor  their  brilliant  imagination,  so  much  as  their 
profound  knowledge  of  what  is  in  all  ages  the 
same — the  human  heart.  Southey's  Madoc,  Don 
liodcrick,  and  the  Curse  of  Kchama,  are  splendid 
metrical  histories,  but  they  do  not  contain  the 
traits  which  speak  at  once  to  all  mankind — they 
are  addressed  to  the  learned  and  studious,  and 
these  are  a  mere  fragment  of  the  human  race. 
Admired,  accordingly,  by  the  well-informed, 
they  are  already  comparatively  unknown  to  the 
great  body  of  readers  ;  and  the  author's  poetical 
fame  rests  chiefly  on  Thalaba,  in  which  his  brill- 
iant imagination  revelled  without  control,  save 
tliat  of  high  moral  feeling,  in  the  waterless  des- 
erts, and  palm-shaded  fountains,  and  patriarchal 
}ife  of  the  happy  Arabia. 

If  Southey's  knowledge  as  a  historian  has 
2Q  impeded  his  success  as  a  poet,  his 
His  merits  fancy  as  a  poet  has  not  less  seriously 
as  a  histo-  marred  his  fame  as  a  historian.  He 
nan  and  -.vrote  several  large  historical  works, 
of  which  the  Annals  of  the  Peninsular 
War  and  the  History  of  Brazil  are  the  most  con- 
siderable ;  but  though  both  possess  merits  of  a 
ver>-  high  order,  and  abound  in  passages  of  great 
descriptive  beauty,  they  have  never  attained 
any  high  reputation,  and  are  now  well-nigh  for- 
gotten. He  had  not  the  patience  of  research 
and  calmness  of  judgment  indispensable  for  a 
trustworthy  historian.  His  facts  in  many  places 
will  not  bear  investigation ;  he  was  credulous 
in  the  extreme,  and  gravely  retailed  statements 
on  the  authority  of  inflamed  chronicles  which 
subsequent  inquiry  disproved,  and  common 
sense  at  the  moment  might  at  once  have  dis- 
covered to  be  false.  Living  secluded  and  re- 
tired, he  was  entirely  ignorant  of  tlie  realities 
of  life,  and  never  had  been  brought  in  contact 
with  men  in  their  business  transactions — the 
only  way  in  which  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
their  secret  springs  of  action  can  ever  be  at- 
tained. The  want  of  this  is  painfully  conspic- 
uous both  in  his  historical  and  social  writings ; 
but  though  this  deficiency  must  prevent  them 
from  permanently  holding  the  place  in  general 
estimation  which  might  have  been  anticipated 
from  the  genius  and  acquirements  of  the  au- 
thor, Ihey  must  always  command  respect  from 
the  erudition  they  disi)lay,  the  reflection  they 
evince,  and  *he  elevated  moral  and  religious 
feelings  by  which  llicy  arc  always  cliaraclcr- 
ized.* 

In  all  these  respects,  except  tlic  last,  the 
neighbor  of  Southey  in  the  mountains  of  Cum- 

*  The  author  met  Soutlicy  only  once,  but  he  then  saw 
much  of  him,  under  very  interesting  circumstances. 
Traveling  through  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  in  ai^tumn, 
1819,  with  his  friend  Mr.  Jlope,  the  present  Lord  Justice- 
Clerlt  of  Scotland,  they  were  put  into  a  room  ut  Fort  Au- 
gustus, the  inn  being  crowdec"  with  two  other  gentlemen, 
■who  proved  to  be  Mr.  Tclfnnl,  Ihc^  cclibraled  engineer,  a 
very  old  friend  of  the  author,  and  Sonlbcy.  It  may  read- 
ily be  believed  the  conversalioii  did  not  Hag  in  such  soci- 
ety ;  it  continued  from  nine  at  niglit  till  two  in  the  morn- 
ing, without  a  moment's  intermission.  Southey  was  very 
brilliant,  but  yet  unassuming.  He  left  an  im))rcssion  on 
Ihe  mind  which  has  never  been  elTaced  ;  and  the  author 
was  gratified  to  find,  on  sending  him  a  copy  of  his  }{is- 
Wry,  that  he  had  not  forgolien  the  iioiturnai  mceiirg. 


berland,  Wordsworth,  presents  the  must  tie 
cided  contrast.     He  had  not  his  in-  ^, 

formation — was  not  distracted  by  -words- 
any  prose  compositions — and  made  worth :  his 
no  attempt  to  traverse  the  numerous  character  as 
and  varied  fields  of  thought  or  indus-  grTat'fa' "J"^ 
try  which  Southey  has  tilled  with  so  ^^  ''"*''■ 
much  zeal.  But  on  that  very  account  he  wag 
more  successful,  and  has  left  a  far  greater  rep- 
utation. He  was  less  discursive  than  his  brill- 
iant rival,  but  more  profound.  Little  attended  to 
as  works  of  that  stamp  generally  are  in  the  out- 
set, they  gradually  but  unceasingly  rose  in  pub- 
lic estimation  ;  they  took  a  lasting  hold  of  the 
highly  educated  youth  of  the  next  generation  ; 
and  he  now  numbers  among  his  devout  worship 
ers  many  of  the  ablest  men,  profound  think 
ers,  and  most  accomplished  and  discriminating 
women  of  the  age.  Indeed,  great  numbers  ol 
persons,  whose  mental  powers,  cultivated  taste, 
and  extensive  acquirements  entitle  their  opin- 
ion to  the  very  highest  consideration,  yield  him 
an  admiration  approaching  to  idolatry,  and  as- 
sign him  a  place  second  only  to  Milton  in  En- 
glish poetry.  He  is  regarded  by  them  in  much 
the  same  light  that  Goethe  is  by  the  admiring 
and  impassioned  multitudes  of  the  Fatherland. 
It  may  be  doubted,  however,  whether,  with 
all  his  depth  of  thought,  simplicity  22 

of  mind,  and  philosophic  wisdom.  Parallel  be- 
Wordsworth  will  ever  get  that  gen-  tween  him 
eral  hold  of  the  English  which  and  Goethe 
Goethe  has  done  of  the  German  mind.  The 
reason  is,  that  he  is  not  equally  imaginative.  He 
is  a  great  philosophic  poet ;  and,  to  minds  of? 
reflecting  turn,  no  writer  possesses  more  dura- 
ble or  enchaining  charms.  But  how  many  are 
the  thoughtful  or  reflecting  to  the  great  body 
of  mankind  ?  Not  one  in  twenty.  "  C'ept 
Fimagination,"  said  Napoleon,  "qui  domine  Ic 
monde."  Goethe,  on  the  other  hand,  is  not  onl> 
simple  and  reflecting,  but  he  is  in  the  highest 
degree  imaginative.  His  creative  genius  trans- 
ports us  alternately  to  the  Chersonesian  Tau- 
rus, the  palace  of  Ferrara,  and  the  cliffs  of  the 
Brocken.  He  is  equally  at  home  in  the  prison 
of  Count  Egmont,  the  wickedness  of  Mephis- 
topheles,  and  the  jealousy  of  Tasso  Words- 
worth had  nothing  drainatic  in  his  composition  ; 
he  had  an  eye  alive  to  the  t)eauty,  a  soul  re- 
sponsive to  the  melody,  of  nature  ;  but  he  had 
not  the  power  of  bringing  the  events  of  life  with 
the  colors  of  reality  before  tlie  mind  of  the  read- 
er. His  reflection  was  vast  on  the  stream  of 
human  afl^airs,  his  sagacity  great  in  detecting 
their  secret  springs ;  but  he  viewed  tliein  as  a 
distant,  unconcerned  si)ectator,  not  an  impns 
sioned,  energetic  actor.  Goctlu?  had  as  litthi 
turn  for  action  as  Wordsworth,  but  he  liail  in- 
comparably more  power  of  narrating  its  pas- 
sions ;  he  kept  out  of  the  whirl  liimsclf,  i)ut  ho 
lent  tlie  whole  force  of  iiis  niiiul  to  delineating 
the  feelings  of  those  wiio  wrro  tossed  about  by 
its  billows.  As  tlie  active  hears  so  gn  at  a 
proportion  to 'the  speculative  [lart  of  mankind, 
Goethe,  who  depicts  the  feelings  of  the  former, 
will  always  be  a  more  general  favorite  than 
Wordsworth,  who  delineates  the  specidations 
of  the  latter;  but  that  very  circumstance  only 
enhances  the  admiration  f(>lt  for  the  I'lnglish 
poet  by  tliat  small  but  gifted  portion  of  Ilieliii- 
maii  s|)ecics  who,  mingling  vvith  llie  active  i..i<t 


HI  STOU  V    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.  V 


,il"ilu>  worlii,  yot  .)iul<,'i'  them  witU  l\\v  powers 
ut"  tlie  s|)('eiilatiV(>.  . 

Coi  KKiDiJK,  ill  some  respeets,  bore  :i  close  re- 
03  semblaiiee  to  W'onlswortli,  but  in  oth- 
rolcruigr:  ers  lie  Was  wuk'Iy  (litlereiit.  He  was 
>»i»  jioi-iic  deep  ami  rerteetinjr.  learned  in  jiliilo- 
characicr.  sj,pi,i^,  1j„.j,^  ;„h1  i„,h1  of  eritical  dis- 
quisition. He  was  Ic-^s  abstraet  than  ^\'(lrds- 
wortli.  but  more  draniatie  —  less  philosophic, 
but  more  pietorial.  Deeply  penetrated  with 
the  genius  of  Sehillcr,  he  has  transferred  the 
marvels  of  two  of  the  great  German's  immortal 
dramas  on  M'allcnstein  to  the  English  tongue 
with  the  exactness  of  a  scholar  and  kindred  in- 
spiration of  a  poet.  His  ode  to  Mont  Blanc  is 
one  of  the  sul)limt>st  productions  in  that  lofty 
style  in  the  English  language.  But  he  is  far 
from  having  attained  the  world-wide  fame  of 
Gray,  Burns,  and  Campbell  in  that  branch  of 
poetry.  The  reason  is,  that  his  ideas  and  im- 
ages are  too  abstract,  and  too  little  drawn  from 
the  occurrences  or  objects  of  common  life.  He 
was  deeply  learned,  and  his  turn  of  mind  strong- 
ly metaphysical ;  but  it  is  neither  by  learning 
nor  metaphysics  that  lasting  celebrity,  either  in 
oratory  or  poetry,  is  to  be  attained.  Eloquence, 
to  be  popular,  must  be  in  advance  of  the  age, 
and  but  a  little  in  advance.  Poetiy,  to  move  the 
general  mind,  must  be  founded  on  ideas  com- 
mon to  all  mankind,  and  feelings  with  whicli 
every  one  is  familiar,  but  yet  educe  from  them 
novel  and  pleasing  conceptions.  It  reaches  its 
highest  flights  when,  from  these  common  ideas 
and  objects,  it  draws  forth  uncommon  and  ele- 
vating thoughts  ;  conceptions  which  meet  with 
a  responsive  echo  in  every  breast,  but  had  nev- 
er occurred,  at  least  with  equal  felicity,  to  any 
one  before. 

The  genius  of  woman  at  this  period  produced 
24.  a  rival  to  Coleridge,  if  not  in  depth  of 
Mrs.  He-  thought,  at  least  in  tenderness  of  feel- 
mans,  jpg  gj^(^  beauty  of  expression.  Mrs. 
Hemans  was  imbued  with  the  very  soul  of  lyric 
poetry  ;  she  only  required  to  have  wTitten  a  Ut- 
ile less  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  in  that  branch 
that  England  ever  produced.  A  small  volume, 
containing  twenty  or  thirty  of  her  best  pieces — 
and  these  only  such  as  "  The  Graves  of  a  House- 
hold," "The  Deserted  Hearth,"  "  The  Chffs  of 
Dover,"  "The  Voice  of  Spring,"  "The  Ances- 
tral Homes  of  England,"  and  the  like — would 
at  once  take  its  place  beside  the  lyric  poems  of 
Collins,  Gray,  and  Campbell.  Melancholy  had 
marked  her  for  its  own ;  she  was  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  woes  of  life,  and  it  is  in  work- 
ing up  mournful  reflections  and  images  with  the 
utmost  tenderness  and  pathos  that  her  great 
excellence  consists.  There  she  is,  perhaps, 
unrivaled  in  the  English  language.  She  had  un- 
dergone more  than  the  usual  share  of  the  suf- 
ferings of  humanity  ;  for,  married  early  in  life, 
and,  as  it  proved,  unhappily,  she  was  thrown, 
in  some  degree,  for  the  support  of  herself  and 
sons,  upon  the  resources  of  her  own  genius. 
Thence  at  once  her  excellence  and  her  faihngs : 
her  sufTerings  made  her  portray  grief  with  faith- 
ful power ;  lier  circumstances  impelled  her  to 
do  so  in  dangerous  profusion.  It  is  impossible 
to  be  a  great  and  xoliiminous  lyric  poet :  the 
fame  of  Horace  and  Pindar  rests  on  as  few 
great  odes  as  Schiller,  Gray,  or  Campbell  have 
left  to  the  world.     The  diamond,  the  brightest 


and  jjuresl  of  all  substances,  lies  hid  111  the  re- 
cesses of  nature,  and  is  diawu  forth  only  in 
small  portions,  and  distant  intervals,  to  fascia- 
ate  the  world. 

Memorable,  indeed,  in  poetic  annals  is  the 
age  which  produced  seven  such  poets 
as  those  who  have  now  been  consider-  cra(,j)e. 
ed  ;  and  immortal  would  be  the  British 
muse,  if  she  never  added  another  string  to  hei 
lyre.  But  there  were  other  poets  at  the  same 
I)eriod  whose  talents  adorned  the  poetic  litera- 
ture of  the  day,  and  whose  genius  would  have 
conferred  lustre  on  any  precc-ding  age.  Ckabbb 
was  a  writer  of  a  totally  difTercnt  character 
from  any  of  the  preceding ;  but,  nevertheless, 
of  very  high  merit.  He  had  nothing  imagina 
tive  in  his  disposition  —  none  of  the  spirit  of 
chivalry,  none  of  the  ardor  of  romance.  But 
he  had  a  feeling,  sensitive  heart — warm  sym- 
pathy with  the  sufferings  of  the  poor,  great 
power  of  delineating  them.  Living  in  a  coun- 
try viOage,  and  surrounded  with  distress,  which 
his  humanity  prompted  him  to  seek  out,  and 
affluence  did  not  enable  him  to  relieve,  he  en- 
deavored to  support  the  cause  of  the  poor  by 
painting  their  lives,  their  virtues,  their  sufTer- 
ings, and  thus  enlisting  the  sympathy  of  the 
rich  in  their  behalf.  In  this  attempt  he  was 
eminently  successful ;  and  whoever  wishes  to 
obtain  a  faithful  picture  of  the  real  condition  of 
the  rural  population  of  England  at  that  period, 
will  do  well  to  consult  his  graphic  pages.  But 
their  reputation  is  sensibly  on  the  decline  :  he 
is  now  seldom  read,  and  still  seldomer  quoted ; 
none  of  his  lines  have  sunk  mto  the  public  mind, 
and  become  as  household  words.  'I'he  reason 
is  that  they  want  the  lofty  spirit,  the  elevating 
tendency,  which  is  the  only  passport  to  immor- 
tality. Such  a  lofty  spirit  is  perfectly  consist- 
ent with  the  delineation  of  humble  life.  We 
see  it  in  the  lives  ol  the  patriarchs  in  Holy  Writ 
— we  see  it  in  the  poems  of  Burns — we  see  it 
in  the  talcs  of  Sir  Walter  Scott.  Gray  has  made 
the  most  popular  poem  in  the  English  language 
out  of  the  reflections  on  a  country  church-yard, 

"The  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor." 

But  the  mere  delineation  of  humble  life,  with- 
out the  heroism  which  dignifies,  or  the  magna- 
nimity which  rises  superior  to  it,  however  popu- 
lar for  a  season,  never  has  a  durable  reputation. 
Time  ever  vindicates  the  immortal  destiny  of 
man ;  nothing  can  permanently  float  down  its 
stream  but  what  is  buoyant  from  its  elevating 
tendency. 

Joanna  Baillie  is  an  authoress  of  a  totally 
opposite  character — of  less  graphic,  but  26. 
greater  imaginative  powers.  In  the  se-  Joanna 
elusion  of  a  Scottish  manse  were  nur-  Baiiiie. 
tured  in  her  breast,  in  early  life,  the  romantic 
visions  of  real  genius  :  the  past,  with  its  heroes, 
its  minstrels,  its  damsels,  its  tragedies,  floated 
before  her  eyes  ;  she  aimed  at  delineating  the 
passions,  but  it  was  the  passions  as  they  exist 
in  noble  breasts.  Less  stately  and  pompous 
than  Corneille,  less  vehement  and  impassioned 
than  Schiller,  her  dramas  bear  a  certain  affinity 
to  both ;  they  belong  to  the  same  family,  and 
give  token  of  the  same  elevated  and  heroic  spir- 
it. The  great  defect  of  her  tragedies  is,  that 
they  want  those  touches  of  nature  and  genuine 
pathos  which  go  at  once  to  the  soul,  ant  thrill 


CKAP.  V.J 


HISTORl    CF   EUROPE. 


14i 


every  succeeding  age  by  the  intensity  of  the 
emotions  they  awaken.  Every  thing  is  in  so- 
norous Alexandrine  verses  ;  stately,  dignified, 
and  often  beautiful ;  but  sometimes  tedious, 
and  often  unnatural,  at  least  in  impassioned 
scenes.  She  had  no  conception  of  stage  effect ; 
and  on  this  account,  as  well  as  from  the  En- 
glish being  habituated  to  the  rapid  dialogue  and 
strokes  of  nature  in  Shakspeare,  her  dramas 
have  never  succeeded  in  actual  representation. 
But  to  minds  of  an  elevated  and  sympathetic 
cast,  they  form,  and  will  ever  form,  a  charming 
subject  of  study  in  the  library ;  and  whoever 
reads  them  with  a  kindred  spirit  will  acquiesce 
in  the  elegant  compliment  of  Sir  Walter  Scott — 

"And  Avon  swans,  while  rang  the  grove 
Wilh  Basil's  love  and  Montfort's  hate, 
Responsive  to  the  vocal  strain, 
Deemed  their  own  Shakspeare  lived  again." 

Tennyson  belonged  to  a  period  in  English 
annals  somewhat  later  than  the  one 
Tennyson  "^^^^  which  we  are  now  engaged  ;  but 
the  whirl  of  political  events  will  not 
permit  a  recurrence  to  the  inviting  paths  of  po- 
etry and  literature — and  he  will,  perhaps,  not 
regret  being  placed  beside  his  great  compeers. 
He  has  opened  a  new  vein  in  English  poetry, 
and  shown  that  real  genius,  even  in  the  most 
advanced  stages  of  society,  can  strike  a  fresh 
chord,  and,  departing  from  the  hackneyed  ways 
of  imitation,  charm  the  world  by  the  concep- 
tions of  original  thought.  His  imagination,  wide 
and  discursive  as  the  dreams  of  fancy,  wanders 
at  will,  not  over  the  real  so  much  as  the  ideal 
world.  The  grottoes  of  the  sea,  the  caves  of 
the  mermaid,  the  realms  of  heaven,  are  altern- 
ately the  scenes  of  his  song.  His  versification, 
wild  as  the  song  of  the  elfin  king,  is  broken 
and  irregular,  but  often  inexpressibly  charming. 
Sometimes,  however,  this  tendency  leads  him 
into  conceit ;  in  the  endeavor  to  be  original,  he 
becomes  fantastic.  There  is  a  freshness  and 
originality,  however,  about  his  conceptions, 
which  contrast  strangely  with  the  practical  and 
interested  views  which  influenced  the  age  in 
which  he  lived,  and  contributed  not  a  little  to 
their  deserved  success.  They  were  felt  to  be 
the  more  charming,  because  they  were  so  much 
at  variance  with  the  prevailing  ideas  around 
him,  and  reopened  those  fountains  of  romance 
which  nature  has  planted  in  every  generous 
bosom,  Ijut  which  are  so  often  closed  by  the 
cares,  the  anxieties,  and  the  rivalry  of  the 
world. 
It  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that  the  same 
age  was  to  be  eciually  celebrated  in 
Character  P^ose  compositions  ;  it  is  rarely  that 
of  the  prose  the  sober  thought  rc(iuircd  in  works 
composi-  of  abstract  reasoning,  and  the  ardent 
temperament  which  is  tlic  soul  of  po- 
etry, coexist  in  the  same  generation. 
VTet  such  a  union,  though  unfrequent,  is  not  un- 
known ;  and  the  ages  of  Sophotrles,  Socirates, 
and  Thucydides — of  Cicero,  Virgil,  and  Eivy — 
of  Bossuct,  llacine,  and  Molicre,  are  sufficient 
to  prove  that,  when  it  does  occur,  it  leads  to 
the  very  highest  efforts  of  human  intellect.  It 
could  not,  in  truth,  be  otherwise  ;  for  repetition 
and  monotony  of  ideas  arc  the  bane  of  litera- 
ture not  less  than  of  imagination  ;  and  the  so- 
cial convulsions,  which  lead  to  the  most  daring 
flights  of  the  poetic  nmse,  tend  equally  to  cast 


tionsorihe 
period. 


down  the  barriers  which  restrain  thought,  and 
induce  the  collision  of  opinions,  from  whicli, 
as  fron.  the  striking  of  flint  and  steel,  the  light 
of  truth  is  elicited.  It  is  not  at  once,  how- 
ever, that  the  bright  illuitiination  always  ap- 
pears ;  clouds  and  dust  often,  for  a  time,  fol- 
low the  shock ;  and  it  is  only  when  they  have 
rolled  away  that  the  pure  flame  at  length  shines 
forth. 

As  a  philosopher,  Dugald  Stewart  stands  at 
the  head  of  the  writers  of  the  age  ;  but  29. 
yet  he  belonged  rather  to  the  one  which  Dugald 
had  preceded  it.  His  writings  are  the  Stewart, 
efflorescence  of  the  ideas  which  grew  in  the 
days  of  Montesquieu  and  Helvetius,  of  Reid 
and  Hume.  French  philosophy  and  Scotch  met- 
aphysics met  in  his  mind  ;  but  he  arrayed  the 
offspring  of  the  marriage  in  brilliant  colors. 
His  learning  was  great,  his  taste  exquisite  :  all 
the  philosophy  of  mind,  from  the  days  of  Plato, 
was  present  to  his  memory ;  all  the  images  of 
poetry,  from  the  time  of  Homer,  floated  in  his 
imagination.  The  author  is  not  afraid  of  ex- 
aggerating, either  from  the  recollections  of  ear- 
ly friendship,  or  the  reverence  of  academic  in- 
struction, when  he  places  him  at  the  head  of 
the  didactic  orators  of  the  age.  His  lectures 
were  written,  but  always  interspersed  with  long 
interludes  of  extempore  effusion  ;  and  on  these 
occasions  the  glow  of  his  eloquence  and  the 
rich  treasures  of  his  memory  were  poured  forth 
with  a  profusion  which  transported  every  one 
who  listened  to  it.  Philosophers  may  contest 
many  of  his  opinions,  statesmen  search  in  vain 
for  instruction  in  his  writings ;  but  none  ever 
listened  to  his  lectures  without  having  an  im- 
age engraven  on  the  memory  which  no  length 
of  time  can  efface. 

Yet  with  these  many  and  transcendent  mer- 
its, Stewart  had  several  wants  ;  and  30 
hence  his  fame  with  posterity  will  be  His  "want 
greatly  less  than  it  was  with  the  age  of  original 
in  which  he  lived.  The  very  qualities  ^^ougia. 
which  rendered  him  so  great  as  a  teacher  to 
the  young,  disqualified  him  from  being  tlie  lead- 
er of  opinion  to  those  engaged  in  active  life ; 
he  lived  in  thought  witfl  the  past,  and  tlicreforc 
he  failed  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  present.  He 
was  the  man  of  the  past  age,  but  not  of  the  one 
in  which  he  lived;  he  brought  his  pu|)ils  (h)wn 
the  stream  of  time  with  admirable  skill  to  the 
edge  of  the  ocean  on  which  they  were  to  em- 
bark ;  but  he  there  left  them,  without  cither 
rudder  or  compass,  to  the  mercy  of  the  waves. 
He  did  more  ;  he  imbued  them  with  doctrines 
which,  if  carried  out  to  their  full  extent,  would 
lead  to  the  most  disa.strous  con.sequences.  In 
metaphysics,  he  had  corrected  the  errors  of 
Locke  and  Hume,  by  the  sound  sagacity  of 
Reid  ;  but  in  politics,  he  was  still  guided  by  the 
visions  of  Turgot  in  the  days  of  Napoleon  ;  in 
political  economy  he  was  a  follower  of  Ques- 
nay  and  Smith,  in  the  ag(>  which  was  resound- 
ing wilh  the  gloomy  predictions  of  Malthus. 
He  discoursed  admirably  on  the  thoughts  of 
preceding  times,  but  he  drew  little  light  from 
the  events  of  his  own  ;  and  his  writings  are 
distingui.shcd  rather  by  great  learning,  refined 
taste,  and  correct  judgment,  than  original 
tliouglit,  or  a  just  appreciation  of  the  social 
changes  j  1  the  midst  of  which  he  himself  WE.« 
placed. 


M4 


HISTORY   C  r   EURUjeE. 


[Chap.  V. 


31. 
Or.  Urown. 


The  succossur  of  niiir.iKl  Stewart  in  tlio  chair 
of  .Moral  Philosophy  at  Eiliiihiiri;h, 
Dr.  Thcm.vs  Ukown,  was  a  man,  if 
uot  o."  so  riillivatoil,  at  k>ast  of  a 
more  oriiiinal  cast.  His  mind  was  of  a  very 
peeuhar  kiiiil ;  it  was  a  cross  between  tlie 
Seoicli  metapliysieiaii  and  the  German  roman- 
cer. He  had  all  the  acuteness  and  analytical 
tiuTi  of  Hume  or  Hutchinson,  and  all  the  ardor 
and  tenderness  of  (.ioethe  or  Schiller.  It  is  not 
often  that  such  opposite  qualities  and  powers 
coexist  in  the  same  mind ;  but,  when  they  do, 
ihcy  selilom  fail  in  producint;:  a  very  great  im- 
pression, and  conferring  durable  fame.  Rarity 
is  not  the  least  ingredient  in  earning  perma- 
nent popularity  ;  it  is  common  minds,  witli  their 
works,  which  are  swept  down  the  gulf  of  time. 
inferior  in  learning  to  Stewart,  Brown  was 
moie  original ;  he  drew  less  from  the  thoughts 
of  others — more  from  the  ideas  of  liis  own 
breast.  He  was  extremely  acute,  and  inferior 
to  none  in  the  masterly  manner  in  which  he 
analyzed  the  feelings,  and  detected  the  errors 
of  tormer  inquirers.  But  it  was  other  qualities 
which  gave  him  his  great  success.  Himself  of 
a  poetical  turn  of  mind,  his  taste  was  exquisite, 
and  he  adorned  his  lectures  by  those  charming 
fraginents  of  former  genius  which,  often  more 
than  even  original  composition,  contribute  to 
the  power  of  eloquence.  The  success  of  his 
published  Lectures,  accordingly,  was  immense  ; 
they  have  already  gone  through  sixteen  editions 
— by  far  the  greatest  number  of  any  book  on 
the  subject  in  the  English,  or  perhaps  any  oth- 
er language.  So  vast  a  circulation  proves  that 
they  had  extended  beyond  the  narrow  circle  of 
metaphysicians  into  the  great  sphere  of  gener- 
al readers.  A  premature  death,  brought  on  in 
some  degree  by  the  intensity  of  his  studies,  cut 
him  off  in  the  flower  of  his  age,  and  deprived 
Great  Britain  of  one  of  the  most  eminent  phi- 
losophers, and  his  friends  of  one  of  the  most 
amiable  men  that  ever  existed. 

If  Scotland,  in  Brown,  gave  token  of  its  na- 
tional  character,  by  exhibiting  the  com- 
Paiey.  ^ination  of  poetic  genius  with  metaphys- 
ical acuteness,  tfte  practical  and  saga- 
cious turn  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  mind  was  not 
less  clearly  evinced  in  P.vlev.  He  belongs 
rather  to  the  age  of  George  III.  than  to  that  of 
his  successor ;  but  he  is  too  eminent  to  be 
omitted  in  a  survey  of  English  literature  at  this 
period.  His  mind  was  essentially  English,  and 
English  in  its  best  mood.  He  was  not  remark- 
able for  his  learning,  though  far  from  being  ill- 
informed  ;  but  the  bent  of  his  mind  was  not  to- 
ward scholarship.  He  was  eminently  practical 
in  his  ideas  ;  his  thoughts,  descending  from  the 
clouds,  ever  turned  to  some  object  of  actual  im- 
portance in  real  life.  His  mind  was  not  of  the 
most  elevated  cast,  and  accordingly  he  made 
utility  the  great  object  of  life  and  measure  of 
actions.  He  will  never  be  a  favorite,  accord- 
ingly, with  that  handful  of  men  who  neverthe- 
less alone  do  great  things  in  the  world,  who  aim 
at  the  noble  and  generous  in  all  things,  and  let 
the  useful  take  care  of  itself.*  But,  while  his 
disposition  precluded  him  from  rising  to  the 
highest  rank  in  literature,  which  never  is  to  be 

*  "  Paucorum  civium  egregiani  virtutem  cuncta  patra- 
visse,  eoque  factum,  ut  divitias  paupertas,  multitudinein 
paucitas  superaret  '— Sallust,  Bell.  Cat.  i)  53 


attained  but  by  tlie  influence  of  lofty  feelings 
withm  his  luuiis,  and  in  a  lower  sphere,  he  was 
very  admirable,  and  eminently  uiseful.  Hia 
Natural  Theolosxif  is  the  best  work  on  the  sul>- 
limest  subject  of  human  contemplation  —  the 
wisdom  of  God  in  the  works  of  nature  —  that 
exists  in  our  language  ;  his  Moral  Philosophy,  a 
clear  e.\i)ositi(in  of  the  leading  truths  and  most 
useful  braiiclies  of  ethics.  That  so  very  emi- 
nent a  man,  wlio  had  rendered  such  services  to 
his  country,  should  not  have  been  raised  to  the 
highest  dignities  in  the  Church,  to  which,  so 
many  inferior  men  were  elevated,  is  the  stron- 
gest proof  of  the  narrow  and  timid  principles  on 
which  patronage  in  those  days  was  regulated. 
George  III.  said  of  him,  "  Paley  is  a  great  man 
— will  never  be  a  bishop,  will  never  be  a  bish- 
op;" words  which  at  once  mark  the  acknowl- 
edged superiority  of  his  intellect,  and  the  infe- 
riority of  those  who  are  intrusted  with  the  dis- 
posal of  Church  preferment. 

If  original  views  were  awanting  in  this  ac- 
complished writer,  they  were  not  so 
in  the  great  political  philosopher  of  Maitiius. 
the  age,  Mr.  Malthus.  On  him,  at  what  led" 
least,  the  experience  of  passing  events  ^^.  '"^  doc 
was  not  thrown  away ;  and  the  col-  "''"^'*- 
lision  of  thought  struck  out  new  and  original 
ideas,  which  cast  a  broad  light  on  political  sci 
ence.  Action  and  reaction  seems  to  be  the 
law,  not  less  of  the  moral  than  the  material 
world  ;  it  is  only  after  violent  oscillations  either 
way  that  the  pendulum  of  thought  takes  its  last- 
ing position  in  the  centre.  From  tlie  earliest 
period  of  civflized  history,  it  had  been  thought 
that  the  strength  of  a  state  depended  mainly  oi: 
the  amount  of  its  population  ;  and  it  had  passed 
into  a  maxim,  both  with  statesmen  and  philos. 
ophers,  that  to  increase  the  numtjers  of  the  peo- 
ple was  the  surest  way  botli  to  augment  the 
national  resources,  and  add  to  the  sum  of  hu- 
man happiness.  In  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  however,  the  aspect  of  things,  both  in 
the  Old  and  the  Xew  World,  led  this  original 
thinker  to  distrust  these  propositions.  Thi 
social  misery  which  had  terminated  in  such  con- 
vulsions in  France — the  increasing  and  alarm- 
ing weight  of  the  poor-laws  ir  England  —  ap- 
peared to  give  no  countenance  to  the  idea  tiiat 
the  oldest  periods  of  60cial  progress  were  the 
happiest ;  while  the  extraordinary  rapidity  with 
which  population  was  advancing  in  America 
afTorded  the  clearest  indication  of  the  capability 
of  advance  with  which,  under  favorable  circum- 
stances, the  human  species  was  invested.  Mr. 
Wallace  had  previously  demonstrated  that  the 
rate  of  human  increase,  if  unchecked,  was  that 
of  a  geometrical  progression  ;  and  as  that  ra- 
pidity of  progress  had  actually  been  realized  for 
nearly  two  centuries  in  America,  IMalthus  ar- 
rived at  the  conclusion  that  it  would  obtain  uni- 
versally, if  the  powers  of  human  multiplication 
were  not  restrained  by  adverse  external  cir 
cumstances.  These  appeared  to  be.  Moral  Re- 
straint— or  a  prudential  abstinence  from  mar- 
riage till  the  means  of  providing  for  a  family 
had  been  attained — and  Vice  and  Misery ;  and 
so  general  and  wide-spread  did  the  operation  of 
the  two  latter  checks  seem  to  be,  compared  to 
the  limited  sphere  of  the  former,  that  he  arrived 
at  the  melancholy  conclusion  that  the  grcu 
source  of  huiwan  sufTering  was  to  be  f' ur.d  a 


Cha7.  V.7 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


J  45 


tne  disproportion  between  the  powers  of  human 
increase  and  those  by  which  subsistence  can 
be  provided  for  the  growing  multitude.  Popu- 
lation was  capable  of  increasing  in  a  geomet- 
rical, while,  by  the  utmost  efforts  of  industry, 
subsistence  could  not  be  made  to  advance  in 
more  than  an  arithmetical  ratio  :  the  former 
was  thus  constantly  pressing  on  the  latter ;  this 
pressure  nicreased  with  the  advancing  age  of 
society ;  and  so  severe  did  it  at  length  become, 
that  all  other  sources  of  misery  were  as  nothing 
compared  to  the  original  and  inherent  causes 
of  distress  which  arise  necessarily  and  imme- 
diately from  the  constitution  of  our  nature,  and 
our  position  in  the  world. 

To  produce  a  great  and  immediate  effect  on 
general  opinion,  there  is  nothing  so 
Great  iiiflu-  efficacious  as  some  image  which 
ence  and  rapid  Strikes  the  senses,  or  some  terse 
spread  of  his  expression  of  familiar  illustration, 
octnnes.  -vvhich  conveys  in  the  clearest  pos- 
sible manner  a  simple  idea  to  the  mind.  It  is 
the  most  difficult  thing  in  the  world  for  reason 
or  experience  to  combat  such  an  influence. 
Government,  for  many  a  long  day,  was  twitted 
with  ''the  ignorant  impatience  of  taxation,"  of 
which,  in  vexation  at  losing  the  income-tax. 
Lord  Castlereagh  spoke  ;  anO  many  convul- 
sions which  shook  the  most  powerful  states 
have  arisen  from  the  cry  at  the  high  price  of 
provisions,  or  the  exhibition  of  the  big  and  little 
loaf  The  celebrated  paradox  of  Malthus  was 
of  this  description.  The  idea  he  struck  out 
was  novel — the  illustration  by  which  it  was  con- 
veyed, equally  clear  and  felicitous.  The  geo- 
metrical and  arithmetical  progression  were  soon 
in  every  mouth.  Men  caught  with  alacrity  at 
an  expression  which  seemed  to  express  with 
precision  an  idea  which  had  been  long  floating 
in  their  minds,  and  which  explained  in  the  clear- 
est possible  way  some  of  the  most  alarming 
anomalies  in  our  social  position.  It  was  satis- 
factory to  be  able  to  lay  upon  Providence  many 
evils  which  had  formerly  been  supposed  to  have 
been  induced  by  ourselves ;  and  it  was  not  the 
least  agreeable  consequence  of  such  a  doctrine, 
that  the  necessity  of  public  and  private  charity 
was  in  a  great  measure  removed  by  the  obvious 
inadequacy  of  such  remedies  to  close  the  real 
sources  of  human  suffering. 

Political  economy  is  not  less  certain  in  its 

conclusions  than  the  exact  sciences, 

Hi3error.s    '^'i^"  it  is  founded  on  a  suflicicnt- 

and  siih.so-  1)'  broad  deduction  of  facts,  and  the 

quentdem-  whole    circumstanccs  bearing   on  a 

"'r^i*^™'""  particular  result  are  carefully  taken 
of  them.       '  11  X   x  •    ..1  z 

mto  view.  But  it  is  the  nu)st  uncer- 
tain of  all  branches  of  thought,  when  conclu- 
sions are  drawn  from  insulated  or  detached 
facts,  and  general  inferences  are  deduced  from 
partial  premises.  The  geometrical  and  arith- 
metical progression  is  nothing  rnon;  than  a  inige 
fallacy,  only  the  more  deceptive  from  its  wear- 
ing an  air  of  mathematical  precision.  There  is 
no  relation  between  the  increase  of  population 
and  subsistence,  but  that  of  cause  and  effect ; 
if  mouths  increase  fast,  hands  increase  as  fast 
also,  and  hands  in  a  right  governed  state  will 
never  want  employment.  Population,  it  is 
mathematically  certain,  is  capable,  if  uncheck- 
ed, of  advancing  in  a  geometrical  ratio;  and  it 
is  equally  certain  tli;it  the  earth,  if  unchecked 
Vol..  I  -  K 


will  fly  to  the  centre  of  attraction,  and  the  vision 

of  the  poet  be  reali7;ed  ; 

"  Suns  sink  on  suns,  and  sj-steins  systems  crusn  , 
Headlong,  extinct,  to  one  darlt  centre  fall, 
And  dark,  and  night,  and  chaos  minjle  all '" 

But  the  centrifugal  force  averts  the  catastrophe, 
and  forever  retains  the  heavenly  bodies  in  their 
orbits.  .It  is  the  same  in  human  affairs  ;  there 
are  centrifugal  as  well  as  centripetal  forces  in 
the  moral  as  well  as  in  the  material  world.  1  he 
passions  of  men,  the  moving  powers  of  mind, 
ruled  by  Omnipotence,  hold  the  balance  as  evrn 
in  the  former  as  the  opposite  forces  of  attractidtj 
and  repulsion  do  in  the  latter.  Even  in  the  a-ge 
in  which  Malthus  lived,  this  was  demonstrated. 
While  the  attention  of  men,  fascinated  by  the 
novelty  of  his  doctrine,  and  the  striking  exam- 
ple of  North  American  increase,  was  fixed  en 
the  alarming  powers  of  human  multiplication, 
the  human  race  was  disappearing  in  its  original 
seats,  and  the  most  gloomy  apprehensions  wei  e 
entertained  of  its  entire  extinction  on  the  plains 
of  Shinar,  and  in  the  Delta  of  Egypt.  And 
within  half  a  century  of  the  time  when  the  ter 
rors  of  undue  multiplication  in  these  islands  got 
possession  of  the  British  mind,  a  stop  was  put 
to  British  increase ;  for  the  first  time  in  five 
centuries  our  numbers  declined,  and  the  annual 
exodus  of  300,000  of  our  people  proved  that 
Providence,  when  the  appointed  season  arrives, 
can  transport  the  chosen  race  to  the  promised 
land.^ 

Notwithstanding  this  fundamental  error,  Mal- 
thus was  a  great  political  philoso-  3^ 
pher,  and  the  very  promulgation  of  iiis  character 
his  error  was  an  important  step  in  as. a  political 
the  advance  to  truth.  It  is  by  slow  Pi^'iosopher. 
degrees  and  frequent  oscillations  that  the  pen- 
dulum at  length  settles  in  the  centre.  His  mind 
was  vigorous  and  capacious — his  understanding 
clear  —  his  information  immense.  He  cast  a 
discriminating  glance  over  the  whole  surface  of 
the  world,  and  compared  the  condition  of  man 
kind  in  all  ages  and  countries,  with  a  view  to 
deduce  the  general  laws  of  their  social  condi- 
tion. His  principles  of  population  were  a  vast 
step  in  political  science,  and  even  greater  in  the 
method  of  investigation  pursued  than  in  the  de- 
ductions drawn.  He  first  applied  on  a  great 
scale  the  method  of  induction  to  political  sci- 
ence, and  made  the  "  Past,  the  Distant,  and  the 
Future"  predominate  over  the  Present.  Hume 
had  obtained  a  glimpse  of  the  system,  but  he 
had  not  sufficient  indu.stry  to  carry  it  through. 
Malthus  did  not,  like  Adam  Smith,  dream,  in  tlie 
solitude  of  Kirkcaldy,  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
Economists,  and  imagine  a  scheme  of  universal 
frecdo.Ti  from  restraint,  at  variance  aliki^  with 
the  wants,  the  necessities,  and  tlie  scKishiu'ss 
of  men.  He  was,  in  every  sense,  the  man  of 
the  age — impressed  with  its  wants — aware  of 
its  necessities — taught  by  its  lessons.  But  it 
is  not  equally  certain  that  he  was  the  man  of 
the  next  age.  He  first  opened  tlie  eyes  of  nnni 
to  the  important  truth  that  the  mere  multiidi- 
cation  of  their  numliers,  tliougli  an  important, 
is  not  the  sole  element  in  national  jjrosperity ; 
and  that,  though  generally  a  source  of  strength, 

*  The  population  of  Ireland  had  declined,  between  IMS 
and  IS.')!,  ahovo  2,fl()n,()nn ;  that  of  tho  llritish  island.s, 
taken  together,  about  G(X),000  in  ihe  sBme  period.— et7i*i/j 

of  1K51. 


I  tr> 


HISTORY    OP    EUROPE, 


[Chap.  T 


11  may,  under  advorsc  pircumstanoos,  become  a 
raiiso  i>r  weakness.  He  is  a  bold  man  who, 
witli  tlie  example  of  Ireland  lielore  his  eyes,  at- 
tempts to  jrainsay  that  proposition.  The  result 
at  which  philosophy  will  probably  ultimately  ar- 
rive is.  that  the  true  test  of  social  felicity  is 
to  be  found  in  the  increase  of  muiikind  comlnncd 
with  their  general  felicity  ;  that  the  means  ofat- 
taminfi  this  combination  have  been  aflbrded  by 
the  bounty  of  Providence  in  every  atre  to  all; 
that  tlie  requisite  limitations  to  population  are 
as  much  a  i)art  of  the  human  constitution  as  the 
principle  of  increase  itself;  and  that  nothing 
mars  the  harmony  of  their  co-operation  but  the 
disturbing  forces  arising  from  the  selfishness, 
the  follies,  and  the  vices  of  men.* 

Adam  Smith  and  Malthus  were  the  two  orig- 
inal men  whose  idccs  meres  gave  an 
Rirardo  cnUTG  i\c\v  lum  and  direction  on 
M-Luiioch,  these  subjects  to  human  thought, 
stiiior,  and  But  they  were  followed  by  other  men 
Mills.  Qj-  great  talent   and   industrj-,  who 

pushed  their  doctrines  to  their  remotest  conse- 
quences, and  perhaps  impaired  their  practical 
usefulness — certainly  diminished  their  popular- 
ity— by  laying  down  their  results  as  abstract 
propositions  of  undoubted  truth,  to  be  carried 
into  execution  without  any  regard  to  the  mod- 
ifying circumstances  of  society.  Immense  is 
the  influence  which  their  principles  have  had, 
not  so  much  with  the  majority  of  men  in  En- 
gland as  with  the  thinking  few,  who  in  every 
age  regulate  the  opinions  and  determine  the 
destiny  of  their  countrymen.  If  the  Economists, 
of  whom  Turgot  was  the  incarnation,  had  a 
great  share  in  producing  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, the  political  economists  have  had  a  still 
greater  in  inducing  the  alteration  of  opinion  on 
commercial  and  monetary  subjects,  and  with  it 
the  organic  changes  which  have  altered  the 
Constitution,  and  the  commercial  policy  which 
has  been  adopted  by  the  councils  of  England. 
They  have  collected  a  great  variety  of  statis- 
fical  facts,  relating  to  the  present  time,  to  sup- 
port their  opinions  ;  but  unfortunately  have  not, 
like  Sismondi  in  France,  been  equally  attentive 
to  those  on  the  other  side,  which  the  historical 
records  of  other  states  present.  Mr.  Ricardo, 
Mr.  M'CcLLOCH,  Mr.  Senior,  and  Mr.  Mills  are 
the  most  eminent  of  this  school  of  political  phi- 
losophy in  recent  times  ;  and  they  have  brought 
to  bear  upon  that  important  and  interesting  sci- 
ence intellectual  powers  and  industry  of  the 
very  highest  kind.  Even  those  who  differ  most 
—and  they  are  many — from  their  abstract  con- 
clusions, or  the  expedience  of  applying  them 
practically  in  these  times,  and  our  present  com- 
plicated state  of  society,  must  be  the  first  to 
admit  their  great  ability,  and  the  vast  addition 
which  the  facts  they  have  collected,  and  the 
ideas  they  have  thrown  out,  have  made  to  the 
sum  of  human  knowledge,  and  eventually,  by 
their  establishment  or  overthrow,  to  the  cause 
of  truth. 

If  Malthus  caist  a  broad  and  lasting  light  on 
political  affairs,  Daw,  in  the  same  age,  gave  an 
impulse  almost  as  great  to  physical  science. 


*  The  author  is  profoundly  impressed  with  the  truth  of 
the  propositions  contained  in  this  paragraph,  which  he 
Has  endeavored  to  illustrate  in  his  Principles  of  Popula- 
tion; but  they  are  too  much  at  variance  with  present 
spinions  (o  render  it  possible  for  him  to  look  for  a  general 
?tncnrreu(  e  in  them  during  his  own  lifetime. 


Endowed  by  nature  with  the  intrepid 
and  inijuisitive  spirit  which  is  the  pavj;  hi* 
very  soul  of  discovery,  he  carried  the  piniosoph- 
torch  of  sagacious  inquiry  into  the  icaldiscov 
recesses  of  nature,  and  for  the  first  "'*^^' 
time  detected,  in  tlie  physical  world,  mineral 
substances  the  existence  of  which  had  never 
before  been  even  suspected  by  the  most  in- 
quisitive observers.  His  powers  of  conversa- 
tion were  great,  liis  temper  mild,  his  disposi- 
tion unruffled.  He  carried  the  spirit  of  "the 
last  days  of  a  philosopher"  through  the  whole 
of  life.  Nor  were  his  researches  confined  to 
abstract  subjects.  He  applied  science  with  suc- 
cess to  its  noblest  purpose  —  human  improve- 
ment ;  and  had  the  happiness,  which  to  a  man 
of  his  benevolent  mind  was  great,  of  reflecting, 
on  his  death-bed,  that  he  had  chained  even  the 
frightful  violence  of  the  fire-damp,  and  given  the 
miner  the  means  of  securely  pursuing  his  dark- 
some toil,  while  the  noisome  blast,  pregnant 
with  death,  played  innocuous  rourul  the  lambent 
flame  that  rested  on  his  forehead.* 

Though  not  on  a  level  with  these  illustrious 
philosophers,  there  were  several  other  gg 
men  in  Great  Britain  who  signalized  Herschei, 
themselves  in  different  branches  of  Piayfair, 
science  and  literature  at  this  period,  ^[[g^^*''' 
Herschei,  by  multiplying  with  incredi- 
ble labor  and  skill  the  powers  of  the  telescope, 
was  enabled  to  look  further  into  space  than  man 
had  ever  done  before,  discover  a  world  hitherto 
unseen  in  the  firmament,  and,  in  the  Georgium 
Sidus,  add  a  "  new  string  to  the  lyre  of  heaven ;" 
Piayfair,  illustrating  with  philosophic  wisdom 
and  chastened  eloquence  the  thoughts  of  Hut- 
ton,  developed  the  true  theory  of  the  earth,  now 
universally  admitted,  and  traced  in  the  revolu- 
tions of  our  globe  that  mysterious  system  of 
action  and  reaction  which  pervades  alike  the 
moral  and  the  material  world ;  D'Israeli  (the 
father),  casting  the  glance  of  genius  over  its 
achievements  in  former  days,  illustrated  the 
curiosities  of  literature,  the  literary  character, 
the  animosities  and  sufferings  of  authors,  with 
the  knowledge  of  a  scholar,  the  zeal  of  an  anti- 
quarian, and  the  powers  of  an  orator,  at  the 
same  time  that,  in  history,  he  threw  a  new  and 
important  light  on  the  eventful  reign  of  Charles 
I. ;  while  Alison,  inspired  by  a  genuine  taste 
for  the  sublime  and  the  beautiful,  resolved  the 
beauty  of  the  material  world  into  the  expression 
of  mind,  traced  the  influence  of  association  in 
muhiplying  the  hnks  of  the  unseen  chain  whick 
unites  man  to  the  Creator,  and  ,  ^jg^jj^g 
sought  to  represent  "  the  world  we  Essays  on 
inhabit  as  the  temple  of  the  hving  Taste,  con- 
God,  in  which  praise  is  due,  and  f^^^^  ^®" 
where  service  is  to  be  performed.'" 


*  Sir  Humphry  Davy's  powers  of  conversation  were 
lErreat,  and  the  more  charming  from  the  entire  freedom 
from  vanity  or  ostentation,  and  almost  boyish  simplicity, 
by  which  they  were  distinguished.  The  author  once  sup 
ped  with  him  at  Rome,  when  the  whole  party  consisted 
of  Sir  Humphry,  Lady  Daw— who  was  also  brilliant  in 
conversation— Canova,  and  his  late  lamented  friend.  Cap- 
tain Basil  Hall.  The  conversation  turned  on  the  deficien- 
cy, at  that  period,  of  the  fine  arts  in  England,  and  the  au- 
thor observed  that  it  was  very  surprising,  because  in 
other  countries,  as  Greece  and  modern  Italy,  the  fine  arts 
had  advanced  abreast  of  literature,  philosophy,  and  the 
drama.  Canova  replied,  '•  Sir,  it  is  entirely  owing  to 
vour  free  Constitution  :  it  drains  away  talent  of  every 
sort  to  the  bar  and  the  House  of  Commons.  If  England 
had  been  Italv,  Mr.  Pit.  and  Mr.  Fox  would  Lave  bcf« 


Cuxr  v.] 


HISTORY  OF   EUROPE 


Hi 


One  branoli  of  knowledge  may,  in  a  manner, 
4(j  be  said  to  have  been  created,  and  al- 

Modern  most  brouglit  to  perfection,  during 
geology :  this  period.  This  was  the  science  of 
Buckiand,  Geology,  as  based  on  the  study  of 
Sedgewick,  ■■        ■     ^i  /    ^ 

Sir  Charles  Organic  remains  in  the  various  strata 
Lyeii,  and  of  which  the  crust  of  the  earth  is 
Sir  David     formed.     Werner,  in  Germany,  and 

revts  er.  jj^^jq,^^  j^  Scotland,  had  previously 
presented  complete  theories  of  geology,  which 
still  remain  monuments  of  their  genius  and 
reach  of  thought,  and  from  a  combination  of 
which  the  true  theory  of  the  earth  has  since 
been  extracted ;  and  Playfair  had  illustrated 
the  subject  with  the  spirit  of  philosophy  and  the 
graces  of  eloquence.  But  little  was  thought,  or 
indeed  known,  by  any  of  these  great  men,  of 
the  organic  remains  which  were  imbedded  in 
the  strata,  the  formation  of  which  they  consid- 
ered, and  which  yet,  like  the  relics  of  language 
in  the  strata  of  the  human  species,  bespoke  the 
successive  revolutions  of  the  globe.  The  study 
of  these  remains  opened  a  new  field  of  profound 
and  interesting  inquiry — so  much  the  more  val- 
uable, that  it  was  entirely  based  on  facts  and 
actual  discovery — so  much  the  more  interest- 
ing, that  it  carried  us  back,  by  a  certain  clue, 
into  the  labyrinth  of  forgotten  time.  Mr.  Buck- 
L.iNB,  Professor  Sedgewick,  and  Sir  Ch.\rles 
LvELL,  are  the  most  eminent  of  the  new  school 
of  geology  which  has  sprung  up  simultaneously 
in  France  and  England,  and  which,  by  a  strict 
application  of  the  Baconian  method  of  philoso- 
phizing, has  made  earth  reveal  the  secret  of  its 
formation  anterior  to  the  race  of  man,  by  the 
remains  imbedded  in  its  bosom.  A  more  fas- 
cinating inquiry  never  was  presented  to  the  in- 
vestigation of  the  philosopher ;  and  it  derives 
additional  interest  to  the  Christian  believer, 
from  the  confirmation  which  it  affords,  at  every 
step,  of  the  Mosaic  account  of  creation,  and  the 
truth  of  Holy  Writ.  Optics  had  made  so  great 
a  stride  under  the  genius  of  Newton  that  httle 
remained  to  be  gleaned  by  future  observers ; 
but  yet  Brewster  has  added  much  to  the  circle 
of  our  knowledge  in  the  polarization  of  light, 
and  added  a  new  element  in  the  production  of 
harmonious  beauty  in  the  changes  of  the  kaleid- 
oscope. 

In  one  particular  a  fresh  walk  in  literature 
•  was  opened  up  at  this  period,  and 

P.iae  of  the  cultivated  with  the  most  brilliant  suc- 
'earncd  re-  ccss.  This  was  the  new  style  of 
views  and  review  and  lengthened  essay.  Re- 
essfy'J!"'"^  views,  indeed,  had  long  been  estab- 
lished in  Great  Britain;  and  Addison, 
Steele,  and  Mackenzie  had  brouglit  the  short 
essay  to  as  great  perfection  as  was  practical)le 
in  that  limited  species  of  compositiciu.  But  the 
Monlklij  Review  and  Gentle  man's  Maij;azinc  were 
poor  periodicals,  distinguished  by  little  talr:nt, 
illuminated  by  no  genius,  containing  scarcely 
more  than  meagre  abstracts  of,  or  interested  eu- 
logiums  on  books,  and  jejune  records  of  trans- 
actions. Even  the  mighty  genius  of  Burke, 
then  unconscious  of  its  own  .strength,  had  hccn 
unable  to  burst  the  fetters  with  whicli  politiiral 
narrative  at  that  period  was  restrained  ;  and 
his  historical  compositions  in  the  Annual  Reg- 
ister contmn  few  symptoms  of  the  vast  concep- 


your  artist.s  ;  and  then  you  would  have  had  no  rcaHon  to 
lan-ent  your  inferiority  in  the  line  arts."' 


tions  which  afterward  shv  ne  foith  and  illumin- 
ated the  world  in  his  writings.  Ao  one  need 
be  told  that  the  essays  of  Addison,  Steele,  and 
Jchnson  are  charming  compositions,  distin- 
guished by  taste,  embellished  by  fancy,  adorn- 
ed by  imagination,  in  which  the  stores  of  learn- 
ing are  set  off  witii  all  the  decorations  of  mod- 
ern genius.  But  their  day  has  passed  away ; 
they  are  well-nigh  forgotten.  They  are  to  be 
seen  in  every  library,  but  are  seldom  taken 
down  from  its  shelves.  This  oblivion  is,  no 
doubt,  in  part  to  be  ascribed  to  the  prodigious 
multiplication  of  works  of  imagination  which 
has  since  taken  place,  and  whichrenders  it  next 
to  impossible  for  works  of  a  former  period  to 
maintain  their  ground  against  the  constantly- 
increasing  tide.  Yet  this  is  not  the  sole  cause 
of  their  neglect ;  works  of  superlative  merit 
have  no  ditficulty  in  maintaining  their  place 
Poems  innumerable  have  since  appeared,  but 
Virgil  and  Tasso  are  in  no  danger  of  being  for- 
gotten ;  our  walls  are  every  day  decorated  with 
new  paintings,  but  we  gaze  with  undiminished 
admiration  on  the  works  of  Raphael  and  Claude. 
The  true  reason  of  the  decline  in  the  estima- 
tion in  which  our  old  essayists  are  held  is  to 
be  found  in  their  own  defects.  With  a  few 
brilliant  exceptions,  they  are  commonplace  in 
thought,  and  feeble  in  expression  ;  full  of  tru- 
isms, but  wanting  in  originality ;  often  distin- 
guished by  conceit,  seldom  by  simplicity ;  re- 
markable more  for  taste  than  genius ;  and  rath- 
er fitted  for  the  thoughtless  amusement  of  a 
vacant  half  hour  than  to  be  the  charming  com- 
panion of  an  evening  fireside. 

It  was  in  this  state  of  the  periodical  litera- 
ture of  the  country  that  the  Edin-  ^^ 
BURGH  Review  arose,  and  communi-  Rise  of  the 
cated  a  new  character  to  its  pages,  Edinburgh 
a  fresh  impulse  to  its  exertions.  Review, 
Discarding  the  feeble  and  irresolute  Review  ^ 
criticisms  of  the  British  Critic  and  and  Bla'ck- 
Monthhj  Review,  its  authors  boldly  wood's  Mag- 
dashed  forward  into  the  unoccupied  '^''""^' 
arena  of  severe  and  caustic  animadversion,  am' 
quickly  secured  general  favor  by  indulging  in 
general  abuse.  This  is  the  most  certain  pass- 
port to  extensive  pojjularity.  All,  except  the 
objects  of  attack,  like  to  see  others  abused. 
Above  all,  it  was  refreshing  to  the  great  body 
of  readers  to  see  the  oligarchy  of  autiiorship 
broken  down,  and  the  lash  of  criticism  a|)i)lied 
to  a  class  who,  even  when  in  fault,  had  hillier- 
to  escaped  without  any  adccpiate  animadver- 
sion. The  practical  aiiplication  of  their  motto, 
"Judex  damnatur  cum  nocens  absolvitur,"  gave 
universal  satisfaction  ;  for  every  one  hoped  his 
neighbor  would  fall  under,  and  himself  escape 
the  chastisement.  'I'lii;  vigorous  talent  and 
varied  acqiiirenients  of  ils  early  contrilmtors 
sustained  and  increased  the  reputation  at  first 
acquired  by  more  (|iiestioiiable  means ;  it  was 
impossible  that  a  journal  where  the  talents 
of  Jeffrey,  Brougham,  Sidney  Sinitii,  Mackin- 
tosh, Playfair,  and  .Malthus  weie  allrrnalcly 
exerted,  could  fail  in  attiacling  general  notice 
and  acquiring  extensive  |)opularily.  Its  repu- 
tation, accordingly,  soon  became  very  great,  its 
circulation  immense,  its  influence  formidable 
even  to  the  Govt^rnment  in  power.  To  coun- 
teract it,  a  new  journal  was  set  up  in  London, 
which,  under  the  title  of  the  Qcarteui.y  R»- 


148 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPr.. 


LC'iiAP.  V 


*iK\v.  under  tlio  diroction,  first,  of  Gillbrd,  and 
thou  of  Lookhart,  with  the  aid  of  ISir  M  alter 
Scott,  Southey,  Canninfi,  Kllis,  Trero,  and  Rose, 
Boon  came  to  rival  its  northern  competitor,  and 
nas  ever  since  maintained  its  eUnated  position  ; 
wlule  m  Kdinhnr^'h  itself  a  rude  assault  was 
made  on  the  NN'hiji  olijjarchy  of  the  north  by  a 
still  more  sturdy  antagonist,  and  the  g;enius  of 
Wilson,  Lockhart,  and  their  coadjutors  soon 
elevated  BLACKwoon's  Magazink  to  the  lead  in 
patriotic  cl!ort,  independent  thous^ht.  and  varied 
criticism.  These  journals,  each  admirable  in 
its  way.  but  yet  entirely  diflerent  from  each 
other,  have  given  an  entirely  new  tone  to  our 
[)eriodical  literature,  and  been  the  vehicles  by 
which  the  most  important  thoughts  on  philo- 
sophical, political,  and  literary  subjects  have, 
during  the  last  half  century,  been  sent  forth  to 
the  world. 

Jeffrey,  who  took  the  lead  in  this  great  rev- 
^2  olutiou  in  literature,  was  a  very  remark- 
Jeffrey,  ^ble  man,  but  more  so  from  the  light,  airy 
turn  of  his  mind,  and  the  felicity  of  il- 
lustration which  he  possessed,  than  from  either 
originality  of  thought  or  nervous  force  of  ex- 
pression. His  information  was  far  from  ex- 
tensive :  he  shared  in  the  deficiency  of  his 
country  at  that  period  in  classical  knowledge  ; 
he  was  ignorant  of  Italian  and  German  ;  and 
his  acquaintance  with  French  literature  was 
chiefly  confined  to  the  gossiping  memoirs  of  the 
day,  and  with  that  of  his  own  country,  to  the 
writings  of  the  Scotch  metaphysicians  or  the 
old  English  dramatists.  But  these  subjects  he 
knew  thoroughly ;  within  these  limits  he  was 
thoroughly  master.  He  was  fitted  by  nature 
to  be  a  great  critic.  A  passionate  admirer  of 
poetry,  alive  to  all  the  beauties  and  influences 
of  nature,  with  a  feeling  mind  and  a  sensitive 
heart,  he  possessed  at  the  same  time  the  calm 
judgment  which  enabled  him  to  fonn  an  im- 
partial opinion  on  the  works  submitted  to  his 
examination,  and  the  correct  taste  which,  in 
general,  discovered  genius  and  detected  imper- 
fections in  them.  Kindly  and  affectionate  in  pri- 
vate life,  he  was  equally  indulgent  and  consid- 
erate in  his  public  disquisitions ;  his  long  career 
as  a  critic  foreshadowed  on  a  great  scale  the 
uprightness  and  temperance  of  opinion,  which 
rendered  him  in  the  highest  degree  popular  and 
useful  as  a  judge.  His  style  of  speaking  in 
pubUc  was  rather  fascinating  from  quickness  of 
fancy  or  felicity  of  illustration,  than  impressive 
from  force  of  expression  or  elevation  of  thought. 
In  conversation,  his  mind  was  rapid,  discursive, 
and  often  very  brilliant ;  but  there  was  a  con- 
stant straining  after  display,  and  a  total  want 
of  that  simplicity  which  always  characterizes 
the  greatest  minds  and  constitutes  their  chief 
charm.  His  political  essays  contained  nothing 
original  or  striking,  and  were  so  deeply  imbued 
with  the  party  views  of  the  day,  that  they  have 
long  since  been  forgotten,  and  have  not,  in  one 
single  instance,  been  reproduced  in  his  collected 
works. 

A  more  striking  contrast  to  Jeffrey,  as  an  es- 
^^  sayist,  can  hardly  be  imagined  than 
Brougham.  Brougham  ;  for  he  possessed  all  that 
the  former  wanted,  and  wanted  every 
thing  which  he  possessed.  His  WTitings,  like 
his  speeches,  are  varied,  vigorous,  and  discurs- 
JTC,  full  of  talent,  replete  with  information,  and 


often  adorned  by  a  manly  eloquence.  But  they 
have  none  of  the  cool  thought  and  temperate 
judgment  which  is  essential  for  lasting  influ- 
ence in  political  science;  they  partake  lather 
of  th(>  <'X('itement  of  the  bar,  or  the  fervor  of 
the  senate,  tlian  the  sober  judgment  of  the  acad- 
emy. Many  of  them  were  much  admired  and 
talked  of  when  they  first  appeared ;  none  ai« 
now  recollected,  or  have  taken  a  lasting  place 
in  our  literature.  \Miat  is  very  remarkable,  hia 
.style,  both  of  speaking  and  WTiting,  is  precisely 
the  reverse  f  what  his  taste  approves,  and 
what  hisjudgm.T.t  has  selected  as  particularly 
worthy  of  admiration  in  others.  He  is  a  pas- 
sionate admirer  of  the  Greek  authors,  and  pe- 
culiarly emphatic  in  his  eulogies  on  the  terse- 
ness of  their  expression,  and  the  admirable 
brevity  of  their  diction  ;  and  yet  he  himself,  in 
his  style  of  composition,  is  the  most  signal  ex- 
ample of  the  danger  of  deviating  from  these 
precepts,  and  of  the  way  in  which  the  greatest 
talent  may  be  in  a  manner  buried  under  the  re- 
dundance of  its  own  expression.  He  illustrates 
an  idea,  and  puts  it  in  new  forms,  till  the  orig- 
inal impression  is  well-nigh  obliterated.  His 
knowledge  is  great,  his  acquirements  vast,  his 
mind  capacious  ;  but  his  fame  is  varied  rather 
than  great.  He  has  marred  his  reputation  by 
aiming  at  eminence  in  too  many  things ;  and 
he  will  be  considered  by  posterity  rather  as  a 
powerful  debater  and  a  skillful  dialectician, 
than  either  a  profound  philosopher  or  consist- 
ent statesman. 

Mackintosh  has  been  already  discussed  in 
these  pages  as  a  senator ;  but  his  45. 
merits  as  an  essayist,  and  as  one  Sir  .lames 
of  the  original  contributors  to  the  Mackintosh. 
Edinburgh  Review,  are  too  considerable  to  ren- 
der any  apology  necessary  for  again  making 
him  the  subject  of  discussion.  His  mind  was 
essentially  philosophical ;  his  soul  was  imbued 
with  principle,  his  memory  stored  with  knowl- 
edge. He  was  fitted  to  have  been  a  great 
teacher  of  men,  rather  than  their  powerful  rul- 
er. These  characteristics  are  strongly  appar- 
ent in  his  writings  ;  and  the  English  language 
can  not  present  a  more  perfect  example  of  phil- 
osophical disquisition  than  some  of  his  political 
essays,  particularly  that  on  Parliamentary  Re- 
form, exhibit.  He  had  candor  enough,  in  his 
later  years,  to  abandon  many  of  the  opinions 
which,  with  the  hasty  ardor  of  genius,  he  had 
at  first  embraced  ;  the  antagonist  of  Burke,  and 
the  apologist  of  the  Revolution  in  the  VindicitB 
Gallica:  in  early  life,  he  became  the  most  ardent 
admirer  of  the  former,  and  enemy  of  the  latter, 
in  his  maturer  years.  He  had  great  powers 
both  of  generalization  and  condensation — two 
qualities  apparently  dissimilar,  but  which,  in 
reality,  are  counterparts  of  each  other ;  for  the 
former  distills  thought,  the  latter  abbreviates 
expression.  He  was  greatly  improved  as  a  phi 
losopher,  though  perhaps  injured  as  a  debater, 
by  his  long  residence  in  the  solitude  of  the 
East :  it  is  not  in  the  arena  of  politics,  or  the 
busy  whirl  of  party  contention,  that  the  fount- 
ains of  wisdom  are  unlocked  to  mankind.  His 
compositions  on  the  voyage  home  are  a  proof 
of  this  ;  there  is  nowhere  to  be  found  a  more 
brilliant  series  of  characters  of  literary  and  po 
litical  men  tt  m  those  in  the  composition  ot 
which  he  rel.'  ved  the  solitude  of  the  AI'.aDti^i 


Chap,  v.] 


HISTORV    OF   EUROPE. 


Ha 


wave,  and  which  appeared  in  his  admirable  bi- 
ography by  his  sons.  But  his  mind  was  philo- 
sophic, not  dramatic  ;  his  style  didactic,  rather 
than  graphic.  He  had  no  pictorial  powers,  and 
little  poetic  thought ;  he  was  a  great  discourser 
on  history,  but  not  a  historian.  He  never  could 
have  carried  on,  in  a  style  of  equal  popularity, 
the  immortal  work  of  Hume  ;  and  the  absorp- 
tion of  his  mind,  and  waste  of  his  time  in  the 
attractions  of  London  society,  so  much  a  sub- 
ject of  regret  at  the  time  to  his  friends,  perhaps 
saved  his  reputation  from  the  injury  it  must 
have  sustained  had  he  aimed  at  a  liigher  flight, 
^nd  failed  in  the  attempt. 

Sidney  Smith,  so  well  known  in  his  day  as 
4g.  one  of  the  most  popular  essayists  in  the 
Sidney  Edinburgh  Review,  and  of  the  most  brill- 
Smith,  iant  wits  about  London,  had  powers  of 
an  entirely  different  order,  but  more  fitted  for 
immediate  popularity  than  Mackintosh.  He 
had  no  philosophic  turn,  httle  poetic  fancy,  and 
scarce  any  eloquence,  but  a  prodigious  fund  of 
innate  sagacity,  vast  powers  of  humorous  illus- 
tration, and  a  clear  perception  of  the  practical 
bearing  of  every  question.  Though  bred  to  the 
Church,  and  holding  considerable  preferment, 
the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  had  very  little  of  the 
clerical  in  his  disposition  ;  his  turn  was  rather 
for  the  humorous  in  thought,  the  brilliant  in  so- 
ciety, the  felicitous  in  expression.  He  would 
have  made  a  great  nisi  prius  lawyer ;  his  influ- 
ence with  juries,  from  the  combined  effect  of 
wit  and  sterling  good  sense,  would  have  been 
irresistible.  In  society  he  was  very  much 
sought  after,  from  the  fame  of  his  convivial  tal- 
ents, and  the  real  force  of  his  colloquial  expres- 
sions ;  but  there  was  a  constant  straining  after 
effect,  and  too  little  interchange  of  thought  to 
raise  his  discourse  to  a  very  high  charm.  It  is 
very  seldom  that  the  conversation  of  professed 
wits  possesses  that  attraction  ;  it  sometimes 
amuses,  seldom  interests.  It  is  in  statesmen, 
diplomatic  characters,  and  men  of  the  world, 
where  they  are  also  well  informed,  that  we  must 
look  for  the  true  conversational  talent,  which 
consists  in  the  rapid  interchange  of  thoughts 
on  interesting  subjects,  and  whic;h,  when  it  oc- 
curs between  persons  of  equal  abilities,  sym- 
lathetic  minds,  but  opposite  sexes,  is  perhaps 
"lie  greatest  enjoyment  which  life  can  offer.  It 
is  neither  to  be  found  in  the  prelections  of  pro- 
fessors, the  vanity  of  artists,  nor  the  sallies  of 
wits.  Sidney  Smith's  talents  as  an  essayist 
were  great ;  the  success  of  his  collected  works, 
both  in  Great  Britain  and  America,  is  a  decisive 
proof  of  it.  But  their  popularity  was  owing  to 
force  and  felicity  of  expression,  ratlicr  than 
depth  of  thought  or  power  of  eloquence  ;  his 
name  is  linked  with  no  great  question,  either 
in  morals  or  politics,  which  is  permanently  in- 
teresting to  mankiml ;  and  lie  will  |)rohal)ly,  in 
the  end,  afltjrd  another  illustration  of  tiie  triilii 
of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds'  observation  .  Poster- 
ity and  present  times  are  rivals  ;  lie  who  pays 
court  to  the  one  mu.st  reckon  upon  being  dis- 
countenanced by  the  other." 

Macaulay,  as  a  historian,  belongs  to  a  later 
period  of  this  lii.story  ;  l)Ut,  as  an  e.s- 
Macauiay  sayist,  he  early  began  to  give  tokens 
"  of  the  vast  and  deserved  reputation 
which  he  afterward  acquired.  Nature  had  sin- 
gled iiim  Of*,  fe .-  a  great  man :  she  had  imjjressed 


the  signet  mark  of  genius  on  nis  mind.  E.i 
dowed  with  vast  powers  of  application  and  an 
astonishing  memory,  an  accomplished  scholar 
and  erudite  antiquarian,  he  had,  at  the  same 
time,  the  brilliant  genius  which  can  apply  the 
stores  of  learning  to  useful  purposes,  and  the 
moving  eloquence  which  can  render  them  per- 
manently attractive  to  mankind.  It  is  hard  to 
say  whether  his  poetry,  his  speeches  in  Parlia- 
ment, or  his  more  brilliant  essays  are  the  most 
charming ;  each  has  raised  him  to  very  great 
eminence,  and  would  be  sufficient  to  constitute 
the  reputation  of  any  ordinary  man.  That  he 
was  qualified  to  have  taken  a  very  high  place 
in  oratory,  is  proved  by  many  of  his  speeches 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  particularly  those 
on  the  Reform  Bill ;  that  he  was  a  briUiant  es- 
sayist will  be  doubted  by  none  who  have  read 
his  reviews  of  Lord  Clive  and  Warren  Hastings, 
perhaps  the  most  perfect  compositions  of  the 
kind  in  the  English  language  ;  that  he  was  im- 
bued with  the  very  soul  of  poetry  is  sufficiently 
evinced  by  his  "  Battle  of  the  Lake  Regillus,"' 
and  his  moving  "Legends  of  Rome."  Rarely, 
indeed,  does  a  single  mind  exhibit  a  combina- 
tion of  such  remarkable  and  opposite  qualities. 
But  perfection  was  never  yet  given  to  a  chfld 
of  Adam,  and  the  traces  of  the  weakness  com- 
mon to  all  may  be  discerned  in  him  in  the  very 
brilliancy  of  the  qualities  which  render  h\m  so 
attractive.  His  imagination  often  snatches 
the  reins  from  his  reason ;  his  ardor  dims  ^lis 
equanimity.  His  views,  always  ingenious,  gen- 
erally eloquently  supported,  are  not  uniforml) 
just ;  his  powers  as  a  rhetorician  sometimes 
make  him  forget  his  duties  as  a  judge  ;  he  is 
too  often  splendid,  rather  than  impartial.  The 
reader  will  never  fail  to  be  interested  by  his 
narrative  ;  but  he  is  not  equally  certain  to  be 
instructed :  the  impression  left,  however  brill- 
iant, is  often  fallacious  ;  and  the  fascinating  vol- 
ume is  often  closed  with  regret  that  the  first 
pleader  at  the  bar  of  posterity  has  not  yet  been 
raised  to  the  bench. 

If  the  Quarlerly  Review  can  not  exhibit  such 
a  splendid  series  of  essays  from  one 
individual,  as  those  of  Macaulay  in  the  Lockhan. 
Edinburgh,  it  has  not  the  less  taken  a 
memorable  part  in  English  literature,  and  ac 
quired  no  inconsiderable  weight  in  the  forma 
tion  of  English  opinion.  Supporting  the  prin- 
ciples of  Conservatism  in  jjoiitics,  of  orthodo.xy 
in  religion,  it  has  brought  to  tlie  supjiort  of  the 
altar  and  the  tiirone  a  powerful  i)halanx  of  tal- 
ent, and  an  immense  array  of  learning.  Its 
present  accomplished  editor,  Lockuakt,  who  at 
a  siiort  interval  succeeded  Giflbrd  in  its  direc- 
tion, l)rought  to  his  arduous  task  quaiiti(>s  wiiich 
eminently  fitted  him  fi)r  its  duties.  He  is  not 
Iiolilical  in  his  disposition,  at  least  so  far  as  en- 
gaging in  the  great  strife  of  piibii{;  (jii(":tions  is 
c()iic,(Tne(l ;  he  is  one  of  tiie  light,  not  tlu;  lieavy 
anned  infantry,  and  pn'fi^rs  exchanging  tiirust.'? 
with  a  court  rapier  to  wielding  the  massy  clul) 
of  Hercules.*     But  in  the  lighter  branches  of 

*  The  expression  was  Bii(;gcHted  by  llio  ilistinntli'n 
drawn  by  n  lady  of  rank  and  genius,  wlio  was  well  iie- 
quaintcd  with  the  InlentH  of  either,  and  at  her  KpU-mlid 
inansion  of  Newton  Don  hail  ollcn  reeeivcd  both  Sir  Wal- 
ter .Scott  and  Mr.  Loekhart.  "Sir  Waller,"  said  Liidy 
Don  (now  Lady  \Vallae<^),  "always  puts  me  in  mind,  in 
ronversation.of  hisown  description  of  Uirhard  (,'(Knr-ile- 
Lion:  lie  lets  full  a  massy  club:    Lockhart  In  Saladiu 


ibO 


H  I  s  T  O  U  1    U  !•'    E  U  K  0  1'  E. 


[Ciixr.  f 


litoratiiro  no  has  desorvcilly  attained  the  vrr>' 
highest  oiiiinonoo.  As  a  novelist,  a  critic,  and 
n  bioizrapluT,  ho  has  taken  a  histing  place  in  En- 
glish literature.  His  Valrrius  is  the  most  suc- 
ressful  attempt  which  has  ever  yet  been  made 
to  insirafl  the  interest  of  iiiodern  romance  on 
ancient  story  ;  its  extreme  difUcidty  may  be 
judired  of  by  the  brilliant  <;onius  of  Biihvcr  hav- 
ing alone  rivaled  him  in  the  imdertakin^.  But 
his  fame  with  posterity  will  mainly  rest  on  his 
Life  of  Sir  Waller  Seolt,  for  which,  as  his  near 
relation,  he  had  no  doubt  frreat  advantages,  but 
which  he  has  executed  with  so  much  skill,  and 
in  so  admirable  a  manner,  that,  next  to  Bos- 
well's  Ltfe  of  Johnson,  it  will  probably  always 
be  considered  as  the  most  interesting  work  of 
bioirraphy  in  the  English  language. 

\\"iLso>f.  as  the  leading  contributor,  for  a  long 
series  of  years,  to  BlackicootV  s  Magazine, 
Wilson.  ^^^  brought  more  vigor  and  genius  into 
the  field  of  periodical  literature  than  any 
of  his  contemporaries.  His  mind  is  essentially 
poetical.  The  inspiration  of  genius  is  apparent 
in  all  his  vTitings.  Ardent  in  feeling,  warm  in 
temperament,  impassioned  in  thought,  he  wants 
the  calm  judgment,  patient  research,  and  labo- 
rious industr>'  requisite  for  success  in  political 
or  historical  literature  ;  his  fancy  w-heels  in  ae- 
rial flights  through  the  heavens,  without  alight- 
ing or  caring  for  the  concerns  of  a  lower  world. 
He  dwells  in  the  regions  of  imagination,  and 
there  he  soars  on  the  eagle's  wing.  The  whole 
literature  of  England  does  not  contain  a  more 
brilhant  series  of  critical  essays  than  those  with 
which  he  has  enriched  the  pages  of  Blackwood'' s 
Magazine  ;  and,  what  is  rarer  still,  the  generos- 
ity of  feeling  by  which  they  are  distinguished 
equals  their  critical  acuteness  and  delicacy  of 
taste.  Himself  a  poet,  and  endowed  with  the 
very  highest  gifts  of  the  muses,  he  is  entirely 
destitute  of  that  VTCtched  jealousy  which  so 
often,  in  persons  of  a  similar  temperament, 
mars  the  greatest  endovMnents,  and  disfigures 
the  brightest  genius.  If  his  criticisms  have  any 
imperfections,  it  is  that  they  are  too  indulgent. 
He  is  justly  alive  to  faults,  and,  when  obliged 
to  notice,  signalizes  them  with  critical  justice  ; 
hut  the  generosity  of  his  nature  leads  him  rath- 
er to  seek  for  excellences,  and,  when  he  finds 
them,  none  bestows  the  meed  of  praise  with 
nore  heartfelt  fervor.  He  is  one  of  the  most 
striking  examples  that  ever  existed  of  the  im- 
portant truths,  that  simplicity  of  thought  and 
generosity  of  feeling  are  the  surest  character- 
istics of  the  highest  class  of  intellect ;  that 
true  taste  is  to  be  evinced  by  the  appreciation 
of  beauties,  rather  than  the  detection  of  blem- 
ishes ;  and  that  none  are  fitted  really  to  criticise 
merit  but  those  who  could  have  rivaled  it. 

Historical  literature,  next  to  poetrj',  reflects 
most  strongly  the  images  of  the  time ;  the  mov- 
ing phantasmagoria  of  real  events  ere  long  kin- 
dles the  imagination,  and  tinges  the  pictures 

who  flies  round  him  with  a  Damascus  cimiter."  It  is  im- 
possible to  characterize  more  happily  the  conversational 
character  of  these  two  near  relatives  and  very  eminent 
mnn  :  and  the  author  trugts  an  early  and  hijihiy-valued 
friend,  whose  Sfreat  talents  and  charm  in  conversation — 
e(]ual  to  that  of  cither — so  eminently  qualify  her  to  appre- 
ciate similar  excellences  in  others,  will  forgive  him  for 
recording  an  e.xpression  which  depicts,  more  truly  and 
faithfully  than  he  could  have  done,  the  conversational  tal- 
ents of  two  men  in  whom  posterity  will  always  feel  so 
warm  an  interest. 


of  the  narrative.  The  cold  ;  rademic  style  of 
Robertson  may  suit  the  comparative  jf, 
calmness  of  the  eighteenth  century,  change  ic 
but  the  fervor  and  animation  of  its  ti'c  style 
close  communicated  itself  to  the  his-  ^'''history 
torical  works  of  the  next.  Hall.\m  *  '""' 
was  the  first  historian  whose  style  gave  token 
of  the  coming  change  ;  his  works  mark  the  tran- 
sition from  one  age  and  style  of  literature  to  an- 
other. In  extent  and  variety  of  learning,  and  a 
deep  actjuaintance  with  antiquarian  lore,  the 
historian  of  the  Middle  Ages  may  deservedly 
take  a  place  with  tlie  most  eminent  writers  in 
that  style  that  Europe  has  produced ;  but  his 
mind  is  more  imaginative  than  those  of  his  la- 
borious predecessors,  and  a  fervent  eloquence, 
or  poetic  expression,  often  reveals  the  ardor 
which  the  heart-stirring  events  of  his  time  had 
communicated  to  his  disposition.  His  extens- 
ive and  varied  learning,  alike  in  parliamentary 
transactions  and  general  literature,  has  enabled 
him  to  throw  an  important  light  on  our  consti- 
tutional history,  and  illustrate,  with  happy  dis- 
crimination, the  literature  of  modem  Europe. 
It  is  only  to  be  regretted  that  he  sometimes 
has  not,  in  artistic  style,  sufficiently  massed 
his  lights  and  shadows.  There  is  often  a  want 
of.breadth  in  his  pieces  ;  the  light  is  thrown  too 
equally  on  all,  and  the  mind  of  the  reader,  op- 
pressed with  an  infinity  of  unimportant  details 
or  unknown  names,  sometimes  loses  the  gen- 
eral thread  of  the  composition,  or  misses  the 
impression  which  the  author  himself  desired  to 
produce  by  his  work. 

Sharon  Turner,  like  Hallam,  belongs  to  the 
antiquarian  school,  but,  like  him,  he  gj 
has  enlivened  the  industry  of  un-  sharon  Tur- 
wearied  compilation  by  gleams  of  ner  and  Pal- 
fervent  imagination.  His  History  of  s^a^^'f^- 
the  Anslo-Saxons,  by  far  his  best  work,  has 
thrown  a  new  and  important  hght  on  that  in 
teresting  portion  of  English  history  ;  and  ilhis 
trated,  with  equal  truth  and  accuracy,  the  insti 
tutions,  manners,  and  habits  of  the  people  who 
form  so  large  a  part  of  the  stock  of  English  an 
cestry.  When  Ave  compare  the  meagre  and  oft- 
en inaccurate  accounts  of  our  Saxon  forefathers, 
which  preceded  the  labors  of  this  indefatigable 
antiquarian,  with  the  broad  light  which  has  now 
been  shed  upon  them,  the  step  appears  great 
indeed,  and  evinces  how  many  treasures  ardent 
zeal  and  indefatigable  industry  may  often  ex 
tract  from  mines  which  appeared  well-nigh  ex 
hausted.  Turner's  History  of  England,  though 
distinguished  by  the  same  research  and  acute- 
ness, is  not  of  equal  merit ;  and,  unfortunately, 
the  peculiarities  and  uncouthness  of  its  style,  as 
well  as  a  strange  attempt  to  introduce  novelty 
in  spelling,  has  hindered  the  work  from  acquir- 
ing the  popularity  which  it  really  deserves.  No 
account  of  the  historians  of  early  England  could 
be  regarded  as  complete,  if  honorable  mention 
is  not  made  of  Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  whose 
antiquarian  lore  is  so  great,  and  withal  so  ac- 
curate, that  we  not  only  have  obtained  the  same 
light  from  his  labors  on  the  past  which  we  en 
joy  on  the  present,  but  feel  equal  confidence  in 
threading  our  way  through  the  one  which  we  do 
in  treading  the  other. 

LiNGARD  is  a  historian  of  great  merit,  wliose 
labors  have  filled  up  an  important  blank  in  En- 
glish literature.    However  much  wc  m?  y  pride 


Ohap.  V  ] 


HISTORY   OF  EUROPE. 


ourselves  on  the  liberty  of  our  Constitution,  and 
50  the  manner  in  which,  under  the  in- 
Lingiird:  fluence  of  unbounded  freedom  of  dis- 
previous  cussion,  truth  is  elicited  from  the  col- 
prejudices  jjsion  of  opposite  opinions,  there  is 
"nrians  of  nothing  more  certain  than  not  only  that 
the  Refor-  it  is  not  immediately  that  this  effect 
mation.  takes  place,  but  that  centuries  may  oft- 
en elapse  before  the  most  important  transac- 
tions are  represented  in  their  real  colors.  Vio- 
lent convulsions,  whether  in  religion  or  politics, 
£0  strongly  move  the  passions,  that  the  stron- 
gest partialities  or  prejudices  are  often  perpetua- 
ted for  a  very  long  period ;  chains  may  be  thrown 
over  the  human  mind,  as  well  by  the  tyrant  ma- 
jority as  by  the  imperious  despot.  Emancipa- 
tion is  as  slow,  and  often  more  difficult,  from 
the  prepossessions  of  the  multitude,  as  from  the 
dogmas  of  priests  or  the  mandates  of  sover- 
eigns. No  one  can  now  read  the  History  of  the 
Reformation  without  seeing  that,  for  nearly  three 
centuries,  it  had  been  represented  in  a  great 
measure  under  false  colors  by  Protestant  his- 
torians. They  did  not,  they  could  not,  exagger- 
ate the  blessings  of  the  liberation,  but  they  rep- 
resented in  an  entirely  fallacious  light  the  mer- 
it of  many  of  the  liberators.  The  emancipation 
from  superstition  was  the  work  of  Heaven  ;  but 
the  actors  in  the  deliverance  were  not  all  im- 
bued with  heavenly  virtues.  Here,  as  else- 
where, human  passions  and  iniquity  mingled 
with  the  current ;  rapacity  largely  influenced 
the  actors  ;  ambition  disgraced  the  leaders  in 
the  movement ;  and  an  extrication  of  the  hu- 
man mind,  which  was  destined  to  spread  in  the 
end  the  seeds  of  freedom  throughout  the  world, 
was  impelled  in  the  outset  by  the  profligacy  of 
passion  or  the  cupidity  of  selfishness.  It  is  the 
clearest  proof  of  the  salutary  tendency  of  the 
Reformation,  and  the  Divine  influence  which 
has  protected  it,  that  from  such  beginnings  ul- 
timate blessings  have  sprung. 

Dr.  Lingard  has  taken  the  leau  in  the  attempt 
to  exhibit  the  other  side  of  the  ques- 
His  merits  ^'"'^  ^^"^  *^^^*  presented  by  the  Prot- 
and  defects  estant  historians,  and  no  man  could 
as  a  iiisto-  have  been  found  more  fitted  for  the 
"*"■  task.    Acute,  learned,  and  indefatiga- 

ble, he  possesses,  at  the  same  time,  the  caution 
and  self-control  which,  in  contests  with  the  pen 
not  less  than  the  sword,  are  essential  to  lasting 
success.  Ars  est  cclarc  artcm  is  his  maxim  ;'  he 
is  a  partisan  writer,  but  no  one  conceals  his  par- 
tialities more  cautiously,  or  exhibits  a  greater 
appearance  of  candor  in  treating  of  the  most 
delicate  questions.  He  had  too  much  tact  not 
to  be  well  aware  that  violence  in  language  and 
intemperance  in  thought  generally  defeat  their 
own  object ;  anil  that,  as  future  times  always 
come  to  be  divesteil  of  tlie  pas.sions  of  the  pres- 
ent, no  opinions  ca.ii  by  po.ssil)ility  lie  (hirable 
nut  those  which,  founded  in  reason  and  support- 
ed by  experience,  are  likely  to  command  tlie  as- 
sent of  distant  and  unimpassioned  generations. 
His  prepossessions  —  and,  like  all  sincere  Ro- 
man Catholic  writers,  they  arc  many  —  arc  all 
in  favor  of  his  own  religion,  and  tii*^  sovereigns 
or  statesmen  who  have  supjiortecl  it  in  liie  great 
contest  with  the  Lutheran  heresy;  but  his  nar- 
rative wears  no  aspect  of  partisanship,  and  he 
trusts  for  impression  ratiier  to  the  views  wliieii, 
from  the  facts  p-esei  ted,  will  naturally  occur  tc 


the  reader's  mind,  than  to  any  attempt  vividh 
to  force  his  own  opinions  upon  him.  His  secret 
bias  appears,  not  from  what  he  tells  us,  but  from 
what  he  conceals  ;  the  best  informed  critic  wil! 
not  easily  detect  him  in  a  false  allegation,  h"' 
the  most  superficial  will  have  no  difliculty  in 
discovering  much  that  is  known  and  true,  but 
adverse  to  his  side,  that  is  kept  out  of  view. 
He  has  not  moral  courage  or  confidence  in  hia 
opinions  sufficient  to  state  them  boldly  and 
manfully ;  or  perhaps  he  has  yielded  to  the  max- 
ims of  his  persuasion,  and  never  attempts  open 
ly  what  can  be  accomplished  covertly.  He  is 
not  eloquent,  has  no  poetic  imagination,  and  but 
slight  dramatic  or  pictorial  powers  ;  and  there- 
fore his  history,  in  general  estimation,  will  nev- 
er rival  the  immortal  narrative  of  Hume.  But 
he  is  skillful,  ingenious,  sagacious,  and  indefati- 
gable ;  his  history  will  ever  be  the  text-book  of 
English  story  with  all  of  his  own  persuasion ; 
and  even  with  the  candid  of  the  other  it  will  al- 
ways be  esteemed  as  containing  the  opposite 
side  of  the  question,  and  disentangling  historica . 
truth  from  many  errors  with  which  the  counter 
partialities  of  preceding  historians  had  clogged 
it. 

The  influence  of  the  increasing  lights  and  in- 
formation of  the  age,  which  absolutely  5^ 
required  an  enlarged  impartiality  in  pytier':  hi 
historians,  is  clearly  evinced  in  the  impartial 
next  great  historical  writer  of  this  pe-  character, 
riod,  Tytler,  whose  labors  have  thrown  so  im- 
perishable a  light  on  Scottish  history.  Unlike 
his  predecessors,  who  were  contented  with  the 
meagre  details  of  monkish  annalists,  or  the  fab 
ulous  compilations  of  imaginative  historians,  he 
went  at  once  to  the  fountain-head,  and  founded 
his  narrative  mainly  on  the  authentic  corre- 
spondence preserved  in  the  State-Paper  Office. 
He  was  indefetigable  in  his  endeavors  to  deduce 
from  thence  both  an  impartial  estimate  of  char- 
acter and  a  truthful  narrative  of  events.  As 
the  success  with  which  he  has  prosecuted  this 
praiseworthy  plan  has  been  the  principal  cause 
of  the  durable  and  general  reputation  with  all 
men  of  sense  and  information  which  his  great 
work,  the  History  of  Scotland,  has  acquired,  so 
it  is  the  one  which  has,  perhaps,  most  impeded 
its  immediate  popularity,  ^\'llen  lu;  went  to 
the  authentic  records  of  private  and  confidential 
letters,  he  found  much  that  had  l)een  either  un- 
known to  or  concealed  by  ])n^ce(ling  iiistorians. 
Many  a  great  rejiutation  is  lessened  when  the 
secret  thoughts  conu'  to  be  revealed  :  not  a  fi'w 
who  were  tiiougiit  to  have  been  saints,  i)rove  to 
have  been  sinners.  Tytler,  in  l)ringing  forward 
tiie  truth  foiuided  on  authentitr  docuiuents,  lias 
undergone  the  fate  invariably  reserviMl  for  those 
who  make  such  an  attem])t :  ho,  has  incurred 
the  rancorous  hostility  of  those  whose;  minds, 
steeped  in  error,  or  inflamed  by  party,  whether 
in  religion  or  politics,  fi'cl  the  utmost  antipathy 
for  all  who  attempt  to  unhinge  their  settled  opin- 
ions. He  will  only  on  that  account,  howevei, 
be  the  more  esteemed  by  posterity ;  and  his  fame, 
with  future  times  will  be  founded  on  tin;  very 
circumstances  which  have  impeded  his  popular- 
ity with  the  ])resent. 

He  possesses  in  a  very  high  degree  many  of 
the  (pialities   of  a  great   historian.  55. 

Indi'fatigable  in    industry,  accurate  Hi»  merim 
in    deti'il,  trnstworlhy   in  spirit,  he  8'"^  il«'eci* 


152 


HIS  TOR  V  nr    i:i:iU3  I'E. 


fC.HAP.  V 


unitr's  with  those  qualities — whii-h  are  tiie  fmin- 
(latioii  ot"  liislory — the  poetie  toiiiperainent  ami 
iVrvt'iit  spirit,  wliieli  are  essential  to  tiie  siiper- 
slrueture.  His  mind  was  not  phikisopliiea! ;  he 
hail  few  general  views,  and  little  turn  for  the 
wide-spread  glar.ee  with  whieh  Kohertson  and 
(fuizot  have  surveyed  tlu^  maze  of  human  af- 
I'aiis.  His  disposition  was  rather  for  hiography 
than  general  history ;  he  interested  himself,  like 
a  Tiovelist,  more  in  individual  event  or  eharae- 
itT,  than  in  the  progress  or  transactions  of  na- 
tions. On  that  very  account,  however,  he  was 
peculiarly  litted  for  the  history  of  Scotland, 
which  is  little  more,  in  all  its  phases,  than  a 
narrative  of  the  deeds  of  the  kings,  queens,  and 
nobles  by  whom  its  destinies  have  been  ruled. 
His  powers  of  narrative  and  description  are 
great ;  he  had  both  the  eye  of  a  painter,  the 
soul  of  a  poet,  and  the  refinement  of  a  scholar 
in  his  composition.  His  Scottish  Worthies  is, 
perhaps,  the  most  interesting  series  of  short  bi- 
ographies in  the  English  language ;  his  death 
of  Queen  Mary,  in  his  great  history,  one  of  the 
most  moving  historical  pictures  that  ever  was 
presented  to  the  world.  The  defect  of  his  work, 
and  it  is  one  into  which  antiquarians,  and  those 
who  found  their  narrative  on  accurate  research, 
are  peculiarly  liable  to  fall,  is  that  it  contains 
too  many  quotations  from,  original  documents, 
or  letters,  in  ike  text ;  a  practice  which,  however 
clearly  it  may  evince  the  industry  and  accuracy 
of  the  writer,  is  injurious  to  the  continued  in- 
terest, and  consequent  popularit}',  of  the  work. 
The  information  founded  on  original  letters,  or 
documents,  is  of  inestimable  importance,  and 
the  light  they  throw  on  character  often  of  the 
very  highest  value.  But  it  is  rarely  that  they 
contain  expressions  so  important  or  character- 
istic as  to  call  for  a  place  in  the  text ;  and  the 
author  who  transfers  them,  as  is  too  much  the 
practice  now,  to  the  body  of  his  work  in  great 
numbers,  inevitably  destroys  the  symmetry  of 
its  composition,  and  mars  the  unity  of  effect 
which  in  history,  not  less  than  any  other  of  the 
fine  arts,  is  indispensable  to  the  highest  success. 
The  next  great  historian  who  appeared  in 
England  at  this  period,  General  Napier, 
Naoier  Possesses  merits  and  is  marked  by  de- 
fects of  a  different  description.  Asade- 
scriber  of  noble  deeds  and  heart-stirring  events, 
he  is  without  a  parallel  in  the  English,  or  per- 
haps any  other  language.  Himself  a  soldier, 
who  had  acted  bravely  and  bled  freely  in  the 
field,  he  possesses  in  a  very  high  degree  beth 
the  military  ardor  which  prompts  to  glorious  ac- 
tions, and  the  scientific  mind  which  qualifies 
him  to  judge  of,  and  criticise,  the  conduct  of 
others  in  military  affairs.  His  great  reputation 
has  arisen  chiefly  from  the  fire  and  moving  el- 
oquence of  his  descriptions  of  battles  ;  which 
are  at  once  so  true,  so  graphic,  and  so  animated, 
that  European  literature,  perhaps,  can  not  pre- 
sent their  equal.  But,  to  professional  men,  his 
History  of  the  Peninsular  War  possesses  a  still 
higher  merit ;  and  both  the  young  and  the  ex- 
perienced soldier  will  study  with  equal  profit 
and  delight  the  just  and  scientific  observations 
with  which  he  has  enriched  his  work,  on  the 
military  conduct  both  of  his  own  countrymen 
and  of  their  enemies.  His  candor  as  a  military 
critic  appears  in  the  generous  praise  he  has  so 
often  beslOMed  on  Napoleon  ?nd  hij  generals; 


although,  i)erhaps.  the  natural  indignation  he 
felt  at  the  exaggerated  [)retensions  and  vain- 
glorious boasts  of  the  Spaniards  has  led  him 
sometimes  not  suflicicnlly  to  estimate  the  in- 
fluence of  their  indomitable  perseverance  on  the 
final  issue  of  the  contest.  His  great  defect  as 
an  artist  is,  that  he  has  not  suSiciently  studied 
the  management  of  light  and  shade,  and  has 
brought  a  multitude  of  inconsiderable  combats 
so  prominently  forward  as  to  confuse  the  read- 
er's recollection,  and  impair  the  unity  of  hia 
composition.  As  a  historian,  the  candid  reader 
— amid  all  his  admiration  for  the  genius  of  the 
writer — will  have  frequent  cause  to  regret  the 
unfounded  severity  of  his  judgments,  especially 
in  civil  transactions,  and  the  occasional  vehe- 
mence of  his  language.  He  would  have  been 
a  perfect  historian  if  he  had  wielded  the  pen 
with  the  same  calmness  that  he  did  the  sword, 
and  recollected  that  in  civil,  not  less  than  mili- 
tary conflicts,  the  observation  of  General  Foy 
is  applicable — "  Le  soldat  Anglais  possede  la 
qualite  la  plus  precieuse  dans  la  guen^e — le 
calme  dans  la  colere." 

Lord  M.^Hov  has  brought  to  the  arduous  task 
of  continuing  Hume's  History  through  57. 
the  eighteenth  century,  the  taste  of  a  Lord  .Ma 
scholar,  the  liberality  of  a  gentleman,  ^°"- 
and  the  industry  of  an  antiquarian.  As  he  be- 
gins his  narrative  only  with  the  Peace  of 
Utrecht,  the  greater  part  of  the  period  which  he 
had  to  go  over  was  pacific ;  and  therefore  his 
History  of  necessity  became,  in  a  gre.it  degree, 
for  the  most  part  a  parliamentary  one.  But  he 
has  great  powers  of  description ;  and,  where  an 
opportunity  occurred  for  their  display,  he  has 
made  use  of  them  with  very  great  effect.  His 
account  of  the  Rebellion  in  1745,  the  death  of 
Wolfe,  and  of  the  principal  events  of  the  Amer- 
ican war,  is  by  far  the  best  that  has  yet  ap« 
peared  of  those  interesting  episodes ;  and  he 
has  interspersed  his  narrative  with  agreeable 
and  instructive  disquisitions  on  letters,  man- 
ners, and  scientific  progress,  which  add  so  much 
to  the  value  of  history,  and  are  so  necessary, 
especially  in  pacific  periods,  to  enhance  its  in- 
terest. His  position  as  a  nobleman,  and  the 
heir  of  an  ancient  house,  rendered  illustrious  in 
one  of  the  brightest  periods  of  English  story, 
has  given  him  great  advantages  in  the  account 
of  the  formation  of  cabinets,  the  contests  for 
power,  and  the  secret  causes  of  the  rise  and 
fall  of  Administrations ;  and  his  characters  both 
of  statesmen  and  heroes,  are  able,  just,  and  dis- 
criminating. If  these  are  not  the  most  moment- 
ous or  interesting  topics  for  history,  they  are 
the  most  suitable  for  the  period  which  his  work 
embraced  ;  for  the  eighteenth  century  was  one 
of  mental  repose  and  social  rest,  midway  be- 
tween the  religious  contests  of  the  seventeenth, 
and  the  political  passions  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
turies ;  and  Lord  Mahon's  disposition  and  ac- 
quirements peculiarly  qualified  him  for  the  elu- 
cidation of  its  secret  springs  of  action. 

If  Lord  Mahon  has  left  a  chasm  between  the 
termination  of  Hume's  and  the  com-  5^), 
mencement  of  his  own  narrative,  Macauiay'a 
that  important  period  of  English  his-  I'lsKry- 
tory  was  not  long  of  being  adequately  illustra- 
ted.  .Mr.  Macaul.w  has  brought  to  the  task  of 
developing  that  rr;oiiientous  epoch  the  same 
talents  and  acqui.-enients  whifh  have  rendered 


Chap,  v.] 


HISTORY  OF   EUROPE. 


153 


his  essays  so  great  an  acquisition  to  English 
literature.  Genius  the  most  transcendent,  el- 
oquence the  most  captivating,  graphic  power 
the  most  brilliant,  shine  forth  in  all  his  pages, 
united  to  learning  the  most  extensive,  and  re- 
search the  most  unwearied.  It  is  this  combi- 
nation of  the  imaginative  ■with  the  laborious 
qualities,  of  the  flights  of  fancy  with  the  solid- 
ity of  ii  brmation,  which  renders  his  works  so 
romarkaole,  and  in  that  respect  unrivaled  in 
modern  literature.  If  their  calmness  of  judg- 
ment and  impartiality  of  statement  were  equal 
to  their  profusion  of  learning  and  brilliancy  of 
style,  they  would  be  without  a  parallel  in  mod- 
ern historical  literature.  His  mind  is  not  mere- 
ly poetical  but  systematic,  and  where  not  in- 
fluenced by  the  zeal  of  a  partisan,  no  one  can 
exhibit  more  of  the  wisdom  of  a  statesman  or 
the  far-seeing  glance  of  a  philosopher.  Unfor- 
tunately, however,  the  ardor  of  his  mind  has 
sometimes  disturbed  its  equanimity ;  his  learn- 
ing is  greater  than  his  impartiality,  his  power 
of  description  than  his  equity  of  judgment.  He 
has  given,  so  far  as  he  has  yet  gone,  the  most 
brilliant  and  fascinating,  but  not  the  most  trust- 
worthy or  impartial  history  in  the  English  lan- 
guage. It  is  not  by  the  allegations  of  any  thing 
which  is  erroneous  or  can  be  disproved  by  au- 
tlientic  evidence,  so  much  as  by  keeping  out 
of  view  what  is  equally  true,  but  adverse  to  the 
side  which  he  has  espoused,  that  this  is  done. 
He  is  more  a  brilliant  barrister  than  an  upright 
judge.  Instances  of  this  disposition  appear  in 
many  parts  of  his  writings.  His  style,  always 
condensed  and  pregnant,  is  sometimes  labored  ; 
his  ideas  often  succeed  each  otiier  too  rapid- 
ly ;  the  mind  of  the  reader  can  scarcely  keep 
pace  with  the  rapidity  of  thought  in  the  writer. 
Filled  to  repletion  with  a  succession  of  striking 
thoughts  and  brilliant  images,  the  student  of  his 
History  sometimes  sighs  for  the  repose,  even 
the  tedium  of  ordinary  narrative.  The  immor- 
tal episodes  of  Livy  owe  much  of  their  charm 
to  the  simplicity  of  the  narrative  with  which 
they  are  environed;  the  fascination  of  Scottish 
scenery  is  heightened  by  the  long  tracks  of  dusky 
moor  which  separate  its  sequestered  glens  and 
glassy  lakes. 
If  the  reader  of  the  splendid  history  of  Ma- 
59  caulay  sometimes  regrets  the  want 

Miss  strick-  of  the  impartial  charge  of  the  judge 
land.  in  the  brilliant  oratory  of  the  barris- 

ter, the  student  of  Miss  STRicKL.\Nr)  meets  with 
excellences  and  deficiencies  of  a  somewhat 
similar  description.  The  mind  of  this  highly- 
gifted  lady  fitted  her  in  a  peculiar  manner  to 
write  the  History  of  ikc  Queens  of  Enffland ;  and 
probably  no  man,  be  his  abilities  what  tiiey  may, 
could  have  executed  a  work  on  that  subject 
equally  suitalile  and  entertaining.  She  pos- 
sesses all  the  zealous  industry  and  indefatigable 
research  which  characterize  Macaulay,  and,  like 
him,  she  has  her  prepossessions  and  dislikes. 
A  vail  is  sometimes  drawn  over  the  weak  points 
of  tlio  favorite  Princesses  or  Houses  who  form 
the  subject  of  her  narrative.  But  it  is  all  done 
in  a  noble  spirit:  the  foundation  of  her  judg- 
ment is  always  admiration  of  the  gallant  in  con- 
duct, the  chivalrous  in  disposition  ;  and  though 
the  intensity  of  this  feeling  has  often  biased  her 
judgment,  it  does  not  diminish  the  respect  due 
to  her  motives.     Tiie  reader  may  soineliines  be 


misled  in  the  estimate  of  individual  character 
by  her  captivating  pen,  but  he  is  sure  never  to 
be  so  on  the  side,  whether  of  virtue  or  vice, 
which  is  the  fit  subject  of  praise  or  condemna- 
tion. Her  work  is  conceived  in  the  true  spirit 
of  chivalry,  and  a  brighter  record  does  not  ex- 
ist of  its  elevating  tendency  than  in  her  varied 
and  animated  pages.  Add  to  this,  her  habits 
and  objects  of  interest  as  a  woman  have  led  hei 
to  enrich  it  with  a  variety  of  interests  and  de- 
tails in  regard  to  manners,  customs,  hospitali- 
ties, feasts,  coronations,  and  dresses,  which,  per- 
haps, no  man  would  have  collected,  but  which, 
nevertheless,  are  invaluable  as  a  record  of  the 
olden  time,  and  as  illustrating  the  moving  dio- 
rama of  her  long  and  interesting  narrative. 
What  is  principally  to  be  regretted,  in  so  very 
accomplished  and  fearless  a  writer,  is  that,  with 
true  womanly  sympathy  with  misfortune,  she 
espouses,  in  her  history  of  Mary  of  Modena  and 
Queen  Anne,  the  cause  of  the  Stuarts  so  strong- 
ly, and  evinces  such  intense  indignation  against 
William  III.  and  Marlborough,  as  not  only  ren- 
ders her  impartiality  suspected,  but  weakens  the 
effect  of  the  original  and  important  disclosures 
she  has  made  in  regard  to  that  important  period, 
with  every  unbiased  mind.  The  style  of  her 
work  is  easy  and  flowing,  often  graphic  and  pic- 
torial, at  times  rising  into  moving  and  dignified 
strains  of  eloquence.  Its  chief  defect  consists, 
not  in  what  she  has  written,  but  in  what  she  has 
inserted  of  the  writings  of  others;  but  the  un- 
due loading  of  historical  works  with  long  quo- 
tations in  the  text,  of  original  documents  and 
letters,  is  the  fault  of  the  age  in  which  she  lives, 
and  should  not  be  visited  on  the  head  of  any 
single  writer,  and,  least  of  all,  on  that  of  a  lady 
who  stands  at  the  head  of  her  whole  sex,  in  all 
ages,  in  historical  literature. 

Any  account  of  the  literature  of  the  British 
empire,  in  the  first  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  would  be  imperfect,  if  MitfoVd. 
the  merits  of  the  rival  historians  of 
Greece  are  not  displayed.  Mr.  Mitford  is  the 
first  who  brought  to  the  arduous  task  of  Grecian 
history  the  extensive  research,  accurate  inquiry 
and  profound  reflection  which  characterize  the 
scholars  of  recent  times.  Instead  of  comi)iling, 
as  former  historians  had  done,  a  pleasing  nar- 
rative from  the  romances  of  Xenophon,  or  the 
credulity  of  Herodotus,  he,  like  Niebuhr  in  the 
elucidation  of  Roman  story,  sought  every  con- 
temporary authority,  every  authentic  document, 
every  line  of  poetry,  which  could  elucidate,  cor- 
rect, or  confirm  their  charming  episodes,  and 
extracted  from  the  whole  an  ('lal)orale  and  con- 
sistent account  of  tiie  complicated  transactions 
of  the  Greek  republics.  It  is,  perhajjs,  the  most 
dillicult  task  in  the  world  to  make  such  an  ac- 
count interesting ;  fi)r,  with  the  exception  of 
the  magnificent  periods  of  the  Persian  invasion, 
the  Syra(!usan  expedition,  and  Alexander's  con 
(juests,  it  is  nothing  but  the  annals  of  the  inter 
nal  divisions  and  wars  of  a  cluster  of  republics, 
the  transactions  of  wliich  are  at  once  so  insig- 
luficaiit  and  conipHcatrd  that,  if  there  is  any 
thing  more  dillicMiit  tlian  to  make  them  intelli- 
gible, it  is  to  render  them  interesting  to  the 
reader.  The  marvels  of  genius  which  were 
displayed  in  these  diminutive  states  have  done 
little  to  relieve  the  historian  of  this  dUrKuilty  ; 
for,  unhappily,  human  annals  are  chiefly  com- 


154 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[Ciup  V 


p<tsi\l  of  tlio  public  transactions  of  nations,  not 
llie  trunnpiis,  however  jjrcat,  of  philosophy  or 
art.  iNcvcrthdoss,  IMitfonl  lias  done  nuicii  in 
this  way ;  and  his  two  volumes  on  the  con- 
quests of  .Vlexantler  the  (Ireat  eoniliine  the  in- 
terest of  tlu>  ronuinee  of  Quintiis  C'urtius  with 
the  authenticitv  and  accuracy  of  Arriau.  Mis 
great  work  was  chietiy  composed  durin<i,  or 
shortly  after,  the  French  Revolution ;  and  it 
was  mainly  intended  to  counteract  the  vision- 
ary ideas,  in  re<;ard  to  the  blessings  of  Grecian 
democracy,  which  had  spread  so  far  in  the  world 
from  the  niairic  of  Athenian  genius.  Willi  this 
view  he  has  brought  out  a  great  many  most  im- 
portant facts,  concealed  before  amid  the  splen- 
dors of  Grecian  eloquence,  which  -he  republican 
party  would  willingly  have  buried  in  oblivion, 
and  which,  as  they  tended  to  unhinge  many 
settled  opinions,  excited  the  most  violent  in- 
dignation among  them.  Perhaps  he  would  have 
done  more  wisely  if,  like  Lingard,  he  had  con- 
cealed his  object,  and  left  facts  to  speak  for 
themselves,  without  disclosing  too  openly  the 
end  in  view  in  their  compilation.  But  the  cause 
of  truth  has  been  essentially  aided  by  his  exer- 
tions ;  and  the  experiences  of  the  working  of 
democracy  i,i  our  own  times  have  been  such  as 
to  forbid  a  doubt  as  to  the  accuracy  of  the  facts 
he  has  stated,  whatever  hesitation  may  be  felt 
as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  expressions  in  which 
Uiey  are  sometimes  conveyed. 

If  Milford,  notwithstanding  his  industry  and 
abilities,  is  sometimes  open  to  the  re- 
Grote.  Proach  of  having  too  keenly  asserted  the 
conservative,  it  is  fortunate  for  the  cause 
of  historic  truth  that  another  distinguished  w-rit- 
er  of  equal  talent  has  recently  illustrated  Gre- 
cian history  on  the  opposite  side.  A  decided 
liberal,  perhaps  even  a  republican  in  politics, 
Mr.  Grote  has  laboi'ed  to  counteract  the  influ- 
ence of  Mitford  in  Grecian  history,  and  con- 
struct a  history  of  Greece  from  authentic  ma- 
terials, which  should  illustrate  the  animating  in- 
fluence of  democratic  freedom  upon  the  exer- 
tions of  the  human  mind.  In  the  prosecution 
of  this  attempt  he  has  displayed  an  extent  of 
learning,  a  variety  of  research,  a  power  of  com- 
bination, which  are  worthy  of  the  very  highest 
praise,  and  have  secured  for  him  a  lasting  place 
among  the  historians  of  modern  Europe.  If 
his  voluminous  work,  like  that  of  Mitford,  is 
often  uninteresting,  and  it  is  felt  to  be  a  heavy 
task  to  get  through  it,  that  must  be  ascribed 
rather  to  the  nature  and  complication  of  the 
Bubject  than  to  any  defect  in  the  historian  ;  and 
those  only  wlw  have  attempted  the  task  can 
conceive  the  extraordinary  difficulty  of  throwing 
a  broad  and  steady  light  on  such  a  multitude 
of  minute  transactions  as  Grecian  story  pre- 
sents. A  more  serious,  because  better  found- 
ed, charge  arises  against  him  from  his  adopting 
the  Greek  mode  of  spelling  in  the  names  of 
places  and  of  the  heathen  deities,  instead  of  the 
Roman,  heretofore  in  use  in  modern  Europe. 
The  attempt  is  hopeless,  and  tends  only  to  con- 
fuse the  unlearned  reader.  Jupiter  and  Nep- 
tune, Venus  and  Mars,  Vulcan  and  Diana  are 
too  much  naturalized  among  us  to  admit  of 
their  names  being  ever  changed  ;  they  may  be 
so  when  the  works  of  Virgil  and  Ovid,  of  Hor- 
ace and  Cicero,  of  Milton  and  Racine  are  for- 
gotten, but  not  till  then.     It  may  a.ipear  strange 


to  say  that  there  i.-,  equal  ttut.i  in  the  monarch 
ical  history  of  Circecc  by  Mitford,  and  the  re 
publican  by  Grote,  but,  nevertheless,  it  is  so. 
Both  tell  the  trulii,  and  nothing  but  the  truth-- 
but  licit h(M'  the  wiudc  truth.  They  each  illus- 
trate, truly  ami  justly,  the  opposite  working  of 
the  democratic-  principle  on  the  greatness  and 
suderings  of  nations ;  but  neither  presents  a 
picture  of  their  united  operations,  which,  never- 
theless, was  what  really  occurred,  and  occasion- 
ed the  brilliant  meteor  of  Grecian  genius,  with 
its  simultaneous  suffering  and  rapid  fall. 

If  the  political  events  and  anxieties  of  the 
lime  have  caused  the  history  of  Greece 
to  be  learnefi"  in  a  very  difi'erent  spirit,  j^^^i^ 
and  with  much  greater  intelligence,  than 
in  any  former  period  of  modern  times,  a  similar 
efTect  has  aiipeared  in  regard  to  llie  history  of 
Rome ;  and  the  world  has  too  much  cause  to 
lament  the  premature  death  which  interrupted 
the  work  which  was  in  progress  illustrative  of 
this  influence.  Arnold  possessed  the  chief 
qualities  required  to  form  a  great  historian.  To 
profound  scholarship,  vast  industry,  and  un- 
wearied application,  he  united  the  rarer  gifts  of 
original  genius,  independent  thought,  an  ardent 
disposition.  Adopting  from  Niebuhr  and  the 
German  scholars  all  lliat  their  prodigious  labors 
had  accumulated  in  regard  to  the  early  histoiy 
of  Rome  and  the  adjoining  states  of  the  Italian 
peninsula,  he  arranged  their  discoveries  in  a 
more  lucid  order,  and  adorned  Ihem  with  the 
charms  of  a  captivating  eloquence.  His  mind 
was  ardent  in  all  things  ;  patient,  but  yet  imag- 
inative— bold,  but  methodical — brilliant  in  con- 
ception, but  laborious  in  execution.  What  gen- 
ius had  struck  out,  learning  supported,  industry 
filled  up,  and  eloquence  embellished.  He  had 
a  strong  bias  on  political  subjects,  and,  like  most 
men  of  an  independent  turn,  inclined  at  first  to 
the  popular  side ;  but  he  was  essentially  candid 
and  trustworthy,  and  the  philosophic  student 
will  nowhere  find  more  important  facts  on  the 
practical  working  of  dem.ocracy  than  in  his  lu- 
minous pages.  He  had  great  graphic  powers,  a 
strong  turn  alike  for  geographical  description, 
strategical  operations,  and  tactical  evolutions. 
His  account  of  the  campaigns  of  Hannibal — the 
best  that  exists  in  any  language — proves  that, 
like  Livy,  he  was  adequate  to  the  history  of  the 
majestic  series  of  Roman  victories.  A  critical 
taste  will  probably  condemn  the  strange  style 
in  which  he  has  narrated  the  early  and  immor- 
tal legends  of  Rome,  and  regret  that  the  charm- 
ing simplicity  of  Livy  was  not  imitated  in  trans- 
lating his  pages ;  but  a  generous  mind  will  hesi- 
tate to  condemn  where  there  is  so  much  to  ad- 
mire, and  join  in  the  general  regret  that  the  enly 
man  who  has  yet  appeared  in  Britain  capable 
of  throwing  over  the  rise  and  progress  of  the 
Roman  Republic  the  same  light  which  Gibboii 
has  cast  over  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Empire 
should  have  been  cut  short  in  the  very  threshold 
of  his  career. 

If  the  historians  of  England,  during  the  last 
half  century,  exhibit  in  a  clear  light  the  53 
important  influence  of  political  convul-  The  new 
sions  on  national  literature,  the  work-  school  or 
ing  of  the  same  causes  is  still  more  n°^<="«'s 
strikingly  evinced  in  our  writers  of  romance. 
Indeed,  there  the  change  is  so  great,  and  so 
striking,  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  whole  an 


Chap,  v.] 


HISTORV   OF   EUROPE. 


155 


nals  of  English  literature  to  compare  to  it.     If 
we  consider   the  novelists  wiio  had  attained 
great,  and,  in  some  respects,  deserved  reputa- 
tion, before  the  time  of  Sir  Walter  Scott— Rich- 
ardson, Mackenzie,  Mrs.  RadclifTe,  Mrs.  Char- 
lotte Smith — the  magnitude  of  the  step  made 
by  that  great  writer  appears  prodigious.    It  was 
not  merely  the  length  of  the  stride  which  he 
made  that  constituted  its  importance  ;  the  great 
thing  was,  that  it  was  made  in  the  right  direc- 
tion.    Preceding  writers  of  novels  had  consid- 
erable talents,  great  command  of  the  pathetic, 
brilliant  powers  of  description.     Fielding  and 
Smollett  had  delighted  the  world  with  their  wit, 
humor,  and  graphic  powers.     But  the  senti- 
mental school  were  entirely  deficient  in  the 
most  essential  of  all  requisites  for  works  of 
imagination — a  thorough  acquaintance  with  hu- 
man nature  in  all  its  grades ;  and  the  humorous 
was  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  middle  or 
low  life,  and  destitute  of  tliose  elevated  and 
chivalrous  feelings  which  constitute  at  once  the 
greatest  charm  and  chief  utility  of  works  of  im- 
agination.    It  was  reserved  for  Scott  to  com- 
bine both,  and  exhibit,  in  his  varied  and  fasci- 
nating pages,  alternately  the  noble  spirit  of 
chivalry,  the  dignified  feelings  of  heroism,  the 
cliarms  of  beauty,  and  the  simplicity  and  vir- 
tues, without  the  vulgarity,  of  humble  life. 
Ere  the  wand  of  this  mighty  enchanter,  how- 
64.        ever,  had  wrought  an  entire  change 
Mis.sEdge-  in  the  lighter  literature  of  the  age, 
worth.         tiie  reaction  against  the  sentimental 
school  had  become  very  conspicuous ;  and  what 
is  remarkable,  a  female  writer  had  led  the  way 
in  the  alteration.     Miss  Edgeworth  possesses 
merits  of  a  very  high  order  ;  but  they  are  of  the 
solid  and  substantial,  rather  than  the  light  and 
airy  kind.    Strongly  impressed  with  the  vision- 
ary and  dreamy  tendency  of  the  romance  writers 
who  had  immediately  preceded  her,  she  boldly 
struck  out  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  deline- 
ated life,  not  in  its  romantic  and  poetical,  but  in 
its  real  and  practical  form.     She  aimed  at  por- 
traying, not  the  sorrows  of  the  heart,  but  the 
sad  realities  of  life  :  "  Out  of  Debt,  out  of  Dan- 
ger," was  much  more  in  her  thoughts  than  "  All 
for  Love,  or  the  World  well  Lost."     She  had  a 
keen  eye  for  the  humorous,  and  has  delineated 
Irish  character  with  a  skill  which  never  was 
surpassed  ;  but  the  chief  merit  of  her  composi- 
tions is  her  sterling  good  sense,  sound  judg- 
ment, and  practical  acquaintance  with  middle 
life  which  they  exhibit.    Her  defects — since  all 
have  some,  and  the  fair  sex  are  not  exempted 
from  thern — are  the  want  of  the  noble  and  chiv- 
alrous sentiments  wliich  constitute  the  great 
characteristic  of  modern  Europe,  as  contradis- 
tinguished from  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  and 
the  almost  entire  absence  of  any  appeal  to  the 
feelings  and  influences  of  religion.    There  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  siie  was  skeptical  or  in- 
different on  this  subject ;    indeed,  those  who 
enjoyed  her  friond.ship  know  it  was  very  much 
the  reverse ;  but  still  there  i.s  no  allusion  to  it 
in  her  novels,  and  tiiat  has  .seriously  impaired 
the  value  of  her  writing.s,  and  has  already  caused 
their  popularity  to  decline.     Neither  tlie  sensi- 
ble, the  pra(;tical,  nor  tlie  humorous  ever  can 
suffice  alone  for  the  gratification  of  the  human 
mind  ;  other  ffselings  must  be  roused,  other  as- 
pirations satisfied  ;  and  the  autlio'  .vlio  di.'>card.-> 


the  ii.fluences  of  love  and  devotion  has  vclun 
tarily  cast  away  the  chief  means  by  which  A\e 
human  heart,  in  every  age,  is  to  be  affected,  oi 
lasting  fame  attained. 

Another  writer,  still  more  voluminous  th.an 
Miss  Edgeworth,  soon  after  began  to         ^^ 
pour  forth  a  periodical  stream  of  nov-  j^j^^  jaines. 
els  with  a  prodigality  which  has  not 
yet  ceased  to  astonish  the  world.    If  Mr.  J.uies's 
works  have  not  all  equal  merit,  and  frequent  rep 
etition  of  images  and  scenes  is  to  be  found  in 
them,  they  are  entirely  exempt  from  many  of 
the  blemishes  which  disfigure  some  of  those  ot 
his  conte  nporaries  which,  in  the  outset,  have 
acquired  greater  popularity.     There  is  a  con- 
stant appeal  in  his  brilliant  pages  not  only  to 
the  pure  and  generous,  but  to  the  elevated  and 
noble  sentiments ;  he  is  imbued  with  the  very 
soul  of  chivalry,  and  all  his  stories  turn  on  the 
final  triumph  of  those  who  are  influenced  by 
such  feelings  over  such  as  are  swayed  by  self- 
ish or  base  desires.     He  possesses  great  pic- 
torial powers,  and  a  remarkable  facility  of  turn- 
ing his  graphic  pen  at  will  to  the  delineation  of 
the  most  distant  and  opposite  scenes,  manners, 
and  social  customs.     His  best  novels — Atlila, 
Philip  Augustus,  Mary  of  Burgundy,  and  the  Rob- 
bers— must  ever  hold  a  very  high  place  in  En- 
glish literature.    In  his  works  may  be  discerned 
the  varied  capabilities  of  the  Historical  Ro 
M.iNCE  of  which  Sir  Walter  Scott  was  the  great 
founder,  and  which  has  so  immensely  augment- 
ed both  the  iiitrrest  and  utility  of  works  of  im- 
agination, by  at  <ince  extending  the  sphere  of 
their  scenes,  and  rendering  them  the  vehicles 
of  information  as  well  as  amusement.     Not  a 
word  or  a  thought  which  can  give  pain  to  the 
purest  heart  ever  escapes  from  his  pen  ;  and 
the  mind  wearied  with  the  cares,  and  grieved 
at  the  selfishness  of  the  world,  reverts  with 
pleasure  to  his  varied  compositions,  which  carry 
it  back,  as  it  were,  to  former  days,  and  portray, 
perhaps  in  too  brilliant  colors,  the  ideas  and 
manners  of  the  olden  time.     But,  with  these 
great  and  varied  merits,  he  can  not  he  placed  in 
the  first  rank  of  romance  writers  ;  he  wants  the 
chief  qualities  requisite  for  its  attainment.     He 
has  no  dramatic  powers  :  his  dialogue  is  seldom 
brilliant,  often  tedious,  and  totally  deficient  in 
the  brevity  and  antithesis  which  is  the  very  soul 
of  conversational  success.    His  mind  is  pictorial 
more  than  reflecting,  his  descriptions  rather  of 
external  objects  than  internal  feelings.    It  is  in 
the  last,  however,  that  the  greatest  charm  of 
romance  is  to  be  found :  it  is  not  so  much  by 
describing  physical  nature  as  by  reopening  the 
fountains  of  tenderness,  which  once  liavc  gush- 
ed forth  in  every  bosom,  that  llio  wand  of  the 
intellectual  magician,  like  tliat  of  Moses,  re- 
freshes the  soul,  wearied  amid  the  wilderness 
of  life,  and  carries  it  back,  iicriiaps  only  for  a 
few  minutes,  to  the  brightest  moments  on  which 
memory  can  dwell. 

If  the  romances  of  .Mr.  .lames  are  deficient  in 
the  delineation  of  tiie  secret  feelings  co. 
that  dwell  in  the  re(;esses  of  tiie  Sir  Kdwnnt 
heart,  the  same  can  not  be  said  of  "•  I-J't""- 
the  next  great  novelist  whose  genius  has  adorn- 
ed English  literature.  In  th(!  highest  (jualilies 
required  in  this  branch  of  composition.  Sir  V,\)- 
WARD  Bin.wEU  LvTToN  .st.inds  iire-eniinent,  and 
entitled  to  a  place  beside  Scolt  hi!nself,  at  the 


i.'ie 


HISTORY    OF    EUKori:. 


Oiup.  7. 


very  head  of  the  prose  writers  of  works  of  im- 
agination in  onr  rt)untry.  Horn  of  a  nolilc  fam- 
ily, the  inheritor  of  aneestral  lialls  of  iiiicoin- 
mon  splendor  and  interest,*  he  has  reeeived 
from  his  IS'orman  fon'fathcrs  the  (pialities  wliich 
rendered  lliem  nobh'.  No  man  was  ever  more 
thoroujjhly  imbued  with  tiie  elevated  Ihoiifihts, 
tiic  ehivalrous  feelinf^s,  wliieh  are  the  true  mark 
of  patrieian  blood  ;  and  whieh,  however  they 
may  he  admired  by  otliers.  never  perhaps  exist 
m  sueh  purity  as  in  those  who,  like  the  Arab 
steeds  of  hi;;h  deseent,  ean  trace  their  pedigree 
baek  throui;h  a  long  series  of  ancestors.  In  dc- 
lincaling  the  passion  of  love,  and  unfolding  its 
secret  leclings,  as  well  in  his  own  as  the  op- 
posite sex,  he  is  unrivaled  in  English  literature ; 
iN[adame  de  Stael  herself  has  not  portrayed  it 
with  greater  truth  or  beauty.  In  that  respect 
he  is  greatly  superior  to  Scott,  who  cared  little 
for  sentiment,  and  when  he  did  paint  the  tender 
feelings,  did  so  from  their  external  symptoms, 
and  from  the  observation  of  others  only.  Bul- 
wer  would  seem  to  have  drawn  his  pictures 
from  a  nmch  truer  and  wider  source — his  own 
experience.  He  describes  so  powerfully  and  so 
well  because  he  has  felt  so  deeply.  There  is 
no  portrait  so  faithful  as  that  which  is  drawn  by 
a  great  master  of  himself  Ricnzi  is  one  of  the 
most  perfect  historical  romances — Godolphin 
and  Ernest  Maltravers  among  the  most  inter- 
esting and  charming  novels  in  the  English  lan- 
guage. Nor  is  he  only  remarkable  as  a  novel 
writer — he  is  at  the  same  time  a  successful  poet 
and  dramatist.  He  has  inhaled  the  kindred  spir- 
it of  Schiller  in  the  translation  of  his  ballads. 
His  Timon  is  by  far  the  most  brilliant  satire,  his 
plays  the  most  popular  dramatic  compositions, 
of  the  age  in  which  he  lives. 

If  some  of  his  other  works  are  not  of  equal 
c-  merit,  it  is  only  the  usual  fate  of 

His  merits  gsnius  to  be  more  happy  in  some 
as^aj")^' and  conceptions  than  in  others.  In  all, 
the  marks  of  deep  reflection  and 
profound  thought  are  to  be  seen,  as 
well  as  great  observation  of,  and  power  in  de- 
lineating character.  A  more  serious  defect  is 
to  be  found  in  the  occasional  choice  of  his  sub- 
ject, and  the  charms  with  which  his  magic  pen- 
cil has  sometimes  environed  vice.  The  great- 
est admirers  of  his  genius  can  not  but  feel  sur- 
prised that  he  should  have  chosen  as  the  heroine 
of  one  of  his  novels  a  woman  who  commits  three 
murders,  including  that  of  her  own  husband  and 
son;  or  regret  that  one  so  capable  of  charming 
the  world  by  pictures  of  romance  in  its  most 
elevated  form  should  ever  have  exerted  his 
powers  on  the  description  of  low  life,  or  charac- 
ters and  scenes  of  the  most  shocking  depravity. 

*  The  dining-room  at  Knebworth,  in  Hertfordshire,  Sir  E. 
Bulwer  Lytton's  noble  family  mansion,  originally  built  by 
a  Norman  follower  of  the  Conqueror,  is  firty-si.\  feet  long 
and  thirty  high,  hung  round  with  the  armor  which  the 
family  and  their  .-etainers  wore  at  the  battle  of  Bosworth, 
and  ended  by  the  gallery  ii.  which  the  minstrels  poured 
forth  their  heart-stirring  strains :  in  the  state-room  is  the 
bed,  hung  round  with  velvet  curtains,  in  which  Queen 
Elizabeth  slept  in  the  year  of  the  Armada  :  in  the  library, 
the  oak  table  at  which  Cromwell,  Pym,  and  Vane  con- 
certed the  Great  Rebellion.  The  author  had  once  the  hap- 
piness of  spending  two  days  under  Sir  Edward's  hospita- 
ble roof,  with  himself  and  his  highly-valued  friends  Pro- 
fessor Aytoun  and  the  late  lamented  Mr.  Robert  Black- 
wood :  he  must  be  forgiven  if  he  adds  that  it  is  seldom,  in- 
deed, in  life  that  such  sotetj'  is  enjoyed  amid  such  recol- 
lections. 


dramatic 
writer. 


It  is  true  he  never  makes  licentiousness  m  th6 
end  successful,  and  the  last  impression  in  his 
works,  as  well  as  innumerable  exquisite  reflec- 
tions, are  all  on  the  side  of  virtue  ;  but  in  inter- 
mediate stages  it  appears  often  so  attractive 
that  no  linal  catastrophe  can  counteract  the 
previous  impression.  Every  one  knows  that 
this  is  no  more  than  what  occurs  in  real  life ; 
but  that  is  just  the  reason  why  additional  force 
should  not  be  given  to  it  by  the  charms  of  im- 
agination. It  is  true,  painting  requires  contrast, 
and  the  mixture  of  light  and  shade  i.";  requisite 
to  bring  out  the  forms  and  illu.strate  the  beauty 
of  nature;  but  the  painter  of  the  mind,  not  lesa 
than  material  objects,  would  do  well  to  recollect 
the  rule  of  Titian,  that  the  greater  part  of  every 
picture  should  be  in  mezzotinto,  and  a  small 
portion  only  in  deep  shade. 

Disraeli,  long  known  as  a  brilliant  satirist  and 
romance  writer,  before  he  was  elevated 
to  the  lead  of  the  House  of  Commons,  BiJi-aeii 
is  an  author  different  from  either  Mr. 
James  or  Sir  E.  Bulwer  Lytton,  but  with  merits 
of  a  very  high  description.  He  is  not  feudal 
and  pictorial,  like  the  first — nor  profound  and 
tender,  like  the  last ;  he  is  more  political  and 
discursive  than  either.  He  has  great  powers 
of  description,  an  admirable  talent  for  dialogue, 
and  remarkable  force,  as  well  as  truth,  in  the 
delineation  of  character.  His  novels  are  con- 
structed, so  far  as  the  story  goes,  on  the  true 
dramatic  principles,  and  the  interest  sustained 
with  true  dramatic  effect.  His  mind  is  essen- 
tially of  a  reflecting  character  ;  his  novels  are, 
in  a  great  degree,  pictures  of  public  rnen  or  par- 
ties in  political  life.  He  has  many  strong  opin- 
ions— perhaps  some  singular  prepossessions — 
and  his  imaginative  works  are,  in  a  great  de- 
gree, the  vehicle  for  their  transmission.  To 
any  one  who  studies  them  with  attention,  it  will 
not  appear  surprising  that  he  should  be  even 
more  eminent  in  public  life  than  in  the  realms 
of  imagination  ;  that  the  brilliant  author  of 
Conmgsbij  should  be  the  dreaded  debater  in  the 
House  of  Commons — of  Viman  Grey,  the  able 
and  lucid  Chancellor  of  the  Excliequer.  His 
career  affords  a  striking  example  of  the  truth 
of  Dr.  Johnson's  observation,  that  what  is  usu- 
ally called  particular  genius  is  nothing  but 
strong  natural  parts  accidentally  turned  into 
one  direction ;  and  that  when  nature  has  con- 
ferred powers  of  the  highest  description,  chance 
or  supreme  direction  alone  determines  what 
course  their  possessor  is  to  follow. 

The  strong  turn  which  romance  and  novel 
writing,  in  the  first  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  took  to  the  delineation  Sickens, 
of  high  life,  with  its  charms,  its  vices, 
and  its  follies,  naturally  led  to  a  reaction,  and 
a  school  arose,  the  leaders  of  which,  discarding 
all  attempts  at  Patrician  painting,  aimed  at  the 
representation  of  the  manners,  customs,  ideas, 
and  habits  of  middle  and  low  life.  The  field 
thus  opened  was  immense,  and  great  abilities 
were  early  turned  to  its  cultivation.  At  the 
very  head  of  this  school,  both  in  point  of  time 
and  talents,  must  be  placed  Mr.  Dickens,  whose 
works  early  rose  into  great,  it  may  be  said,  un- 
exampled celebrity.  That  they  possess  very 
high  merits,  is  obvious,  from  this  circumstance: 
No  one  ever  commands,  even  for  a  time,  thfl 
suffrages  of  the  multitude,  without  the  posses- 


Chap.  V.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE 


15/ 


sion,  in  some  respects  at  least,  of  remarkable 
powers.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to  see  what,  in  Mr. 
Dickens'  case,  these  powers  are.  To  extraor- 
dinary talent  for  the  delineation  of  the  manners 

nd  ideas  of  middle  life,  and  a  thorough  ac- 
quaintance with  them  in  all  their  stages  below 
the  highest,  he  unites  a  feeling  and  sensitive 
heart,  a  warm  interest  in  social  happiness  and 
impi-ovement,  and  most  remarkable  powers  foi 
the  pathetic.  To  this  must  be  added,  that  he 
is  free  from  the  principal  defects  of  the  writers 
who  have  preceded  hmi  in  the  same  line,  and 
which  have  now  banished  their  works  from  our 
drawing-rooms.  Though  treating  of  the  same 
subjects  and  grades  in  society,  he  has  none  of 
the  indelicacy  of  our  older  novelists.  We  see 
in  him  the  talent  of  Fielding,  without  his  in- 
decency— the  humor  of  Smollett,  without  his 
grossness.  These  brilliant  qualities,  joined  to 
the  novelty  and  extent  of  the  field  on  which  he 
entered,  early  secured  for  him  a  vast  circula- 
tion and  wide-spread  reputation.  It  was  found- 
ed on  more  than  the  merit,  great  as  it  was,  of 
the  author — selfish  feelings  in  the  readers  com- 
bined with  genius  in  the  writer  in  working  out 
his  success.  The  great  and  the  affluent  re- 
joiced in  secret  at  beholding  the  manners  of 
the  middle  class  so  graphically  drawn.  To 
them  it  was  a  new  world ;  it  had  the  charm  of 
foreign  traveling.  They  said  in  their  inmost 
hearts,  "  How  different  they  are  from  us  !"  The 
middle  class  were  equally  charmed  with  the 
portrait ;  every  one  recognized  in  it  the  picture 
of  his  neighbor — none  of  himself. 

A  host  of  other  writers  have  followed  in  the 
-Q  same  school,  which  has  become  so 
Thackeray  considerable  as  to  have  assumed  an 
and  the  important  place  in  the  literature  of 
School.'*  the  nineteenth  century.  Many  of 
these  writers  are  distinguished  by 
great  talent  and  graphic  powers,  among  whom 
Mr.  Thackeray  stands  conspicuous.  The  taste 
for  compositions  of  that  description  has  become 
so  decided,  that  it  has  extended  to  our  highest 
imaginative  writers.  It  is  not  difficult  to  fore- 
see, however,  that  it  is  not  destined  to  be  du- 
rable ;  and  that,  from  the  general  reaction 
which  will  ensue,  compositions  in  that  style 
are,  perhaps,  likely  to  be  sooner  forgotten  than 
their  real  merits  deserve.  Satirical  or  humor- 
ous works,  founded  on  the  ridicule  of  passing 
manners,  however  popular  or  diverting  at  the 
time,  rarely  attain  any  lasting  celebrity.  The 
reason  is,  that  tlie  follies  which  they  ridicule, 
the  vices  which  they  lash,  are  in  general  only 
of  ephemeral  duration.  Those  only,  as  the 
works  of  Juvenal,  Cervantes,  Le  Sage,  or  Mo- 
liere,  which  dive  deep  mto  the  inmo.st  recesses 
of  the  soul,  and  reach  failings  universal  in  man- 
kind, command  the  admiration  of  all  ages.  Pro- 
found insight  into  the  human  heart,  condensed 
power  of  expression,  are  essential  to  success 
in  such  compositions  ;  and  they  are  given  only 
to  the  greatest  of  mankind.  Imagination  is  a 
winged  deity  ;  its  flight,  to  be  commanding, 
must  ever  be  upward.  Ridicule  is  valued  only 
by  those  who  know  the  persons  ridiculed  ;  ele- 
vation of  thought  is  prizf.'d  by  all  who  feel  gen- 
erous sentiments,  and  they  are  the  noble-heart- 
ed in  all  ages. 

There  arc  two  writers  of  works  of  imagina- 
tion, however,  who  belong  to  a  different  school, 


because  their  genius  h.is  h\   them 

to  aim  at  different  objects.      Miss  ,,„„  '/,„,  _ 

.  1    »»  TVT  i_     i-  Miss  /lUSt.B 

Austin  and  Mrs.  JNorton  botli  pos- 
sess merits  of  a  very  high  order,  and  yet  en- 
tirely different  from  the  authors  of  the  Dick- 
ens school.  Miss  Austin,  whose  career  ended 
in  1817,  aims  chiefly  at  the  delineation  of  the 
domestic  life  of  England,  which  her  sex,  hei 
turn  of  mind,  and  her  opportunities  of  observa- 
tion enabled  her  to  do  with  peculiar  effect. 
There  is  nowhere  to  be  seen  in  our  literature 
so  correct  and  faithful  a  delineation  of  the  man- 
ners, motives,  and  ideas  of  the  middle  classes 
of  English  society,  that  great  class  which  is  ev- 
ery day  rising  into  greater  importance,  and  is 
equally  removed  from  lords  and  ladies  on  the 
one  hand,  and  assassins  or  desperadoes  on  the 
other.  She  does  not  aim  at  representing  either 
the  lofty  in  character,  the  heroic  in  action,  or 
the  pathetic  in  feeling ;  it  is  the  average  events 
and  emotions  of  e very-day  life  which  she  por- 
trays ;  and  that  she  has  done  with  a  tact,  deli- 
cacy, and  truth  which  never  were  surpassed 
Marivaux  himself  has  not  exceeded  her  m  the 
delineation  of  the  working  of  vanity  in  the  fe- 
male heart — Beaumarchais,  in  the  truth  w'itl, 
which  she  has  portrayed  the  selfish  impulset^^ 
which,  in  general,  actuate  people  of  ordinar] 
characters  in  this  world.  She  is  the  Wilkie  of 
novel-writing. 

Mrs.  Norton  aims  at  a  much  higher  object 
and  has  attained  a  distinguished 
place  in  romantic  literature.  Gifted  ^^.^  >,?orton 
with  the  true  poetic  genius,  and  im- 
bued with  that  vein  of  romance  which  is  the 
secret  spring  of  every  thing  that  is  noble  and 
elevated  in  this  world,  she  has,  at  the  same 
time,  advantages  which  have  fallen  to  the  lot 
of  few  of  her  sex  for  the  faithful  picture  of  the 
very  highest  English  society.  Descended  from 
the  great  Mr.  Sheridan,  she  has  inherited  not 
only  his  talents,  but  his  comic  vein,  while  she 
has  blended  with  it  the  romantic  feelings  which 
give  a  higher  tone  to  their  direction,  and  the 
delicacy  which  her  sex  seldom  foils  to  show  in 
the  delineation  of  the  softer  feelings.  Thrown 
from  her  earliest  years  into  the  most  elevated 
circles,  and  having  enjoyed  the  friendship  of 
nearly  all  the  eminent  men  of  the  age,  she  is 
better  qualified  than  perhaps  any  other  living 
person  could  be  to  exhibit,  as  in  a  mirror,  at 
once  their  excellences,  their  ideas,  and  thcii 
follies.  But  her  writings  i)rovc  that  the  enjoy 
ments  of  this  elevated  society,  and  the  unbounil- 
ed  admiration  which  her  personal  charms  ai\d 
great  powers  of  conversation  have  long  secured 
for  her,  have  not  been  sufficient  to  fill  up  the 
void  of  a  refined  and  ardent  mind  ;  and  that  her 
life  has  been  a  long  a.sjjiration  after  an  iniagm- 
ed  felicity,  which  she  has  never  yet  attained 
Melancholy  is  the  prevailing  tendency  of  hei 
mind  ;  and  though  we  can  not  hut  regret  that 
one  who.se  society  never  fails  to  confer  j)lcas- 
ure  should  have  so  often  been  disappointed  in 
its  search  herself,  we  can  not  hut  rejoice  that 
circumstances  shoulil  have  thrown  her  genius 
into  that  which  was  perhaps  its  natural  chan- 
nel, and  enriched  our  literature,  botli  in  poetry 
and  prose,  with  so  many  gems  of  the  jjathetic, 
which  are  indelibly  engraven  on  the  memorj 
of  all  whf)  are  aefpiainted  with  them. 

Very  different  in  style  from  this  accomplish 


HISTORY    01'    EUROPE. 


[ClIAF.    V 


ptl  authoress,  Mr.  W.^rkkn  has  tiik- 
Mr  wl'rV.n  P"  i>  lastinir  i)liu-(>  anunif;  tin'  iuwij,'- 
inativc  wnttrs  ol  tins  pt-nixl  o\  hii- 
glish  history.  He  posscsst's,  in  a  rt'inarkahlc 
inanner,  tlio  tomlcnicss  of  heart,  and  vividness 
111"  Ifolinsr,  as  well  as  powers  of  description, 
whieh  are  essential  to  the  delineation  of  the 
pathetic,  and  which,  when  existinjr  in  tin  d(>- 
gree  in  which  he  enjoys  tluMU,  till  his  pafies 
with  scenes  wiiicli  can  never  be  for>;ottcn.  His 
Diarij  of  (I  riii/siriiin  and  Ten  Thoimaud  a  Year 
are  a  proof  ol'  this  ;  they  are,  and  chietly  for 
this  reason,  anion^  the  most  popnlar  works  of 
imagination  that  this  age  has  produced.  Mr. 
A\'arren.  like  so  luany  other  romance  writers 
of  the  ajie,  has  oltcn  tilled  his  canvass  with 
pictures  of  middle  and  humble  life  to  an  extent 
which  those  whose  taste  is  fixed  on  the  eleva- 
ting and  the  lofty  will  not  altogether  approve. 
But  that  is  the  fault  of  the  age  rather  than  the 
man.  It  is  amply  redeemed,  even  in  the  eyes 
of  those  who  regard  it  as  a  blemish,  by  the 
gleams  of  genius  which  shine  through  the  dark 
clouds  of  melancholy  with  which  his  concep- 
tions are  so  often  invested ;  by  the  exquisite 
pathetic  scenes  with  Avhich  they  abound ;  and 
the  pure  and  ennobling  objects  to  which  his 
compositions,  even  when  painting  ordinary  life, 
are  uniformly  directed. 

C.4RLVLE  is  the  object  of  impassioned  admi- 
ration, not  only  to  a  large  class  of  read- 
Carhie  *^''®'  ^"''  ^^  niany  whose  taste  and  ac- 
■  '  quirements  entitle  their  opinions  to  the 
very  highest  respect.  Nature  has  impressed 
upon  his  mind  the  signet-mark  of  genius.  A 
sure  test  of  it  is  that  there  is,  perhaps,  no  writ- 
er of  the  age  who  has  made  so  many  original 
and  profound  remarks,  or  ones  which  strike  you 
so  much  when  transplanted  into  the  compara- 
tively commonplace  pages  of  ordinary  writers. 
But  it  is  to  his  detached  and  isolated  thoughts 
that  this  high  praise  chiefly  applies  ;  as  a  whole, 
his  ideas  are  not  calculated  to  command  equal 
respect,  at  least  with  the  generality  of  men. 
He  is  essentially  a  "  hero-worshiper,"  and  the 
defects  as  well  as  the  merits  of  that  disposition 
are  strongly  marked  in  his  writings.  He  has 
made  strenuous  efforts  to  glorify  several  doubt- 
ful, and  write  down  several  celebrated  charac- 
ters recorded  in  history ;  and  that  is  always  a 
perilous  attempt — for  the  voice  of  ages  arising 
from  the  general  opinion  and  experience  of  men 
is,  in  the  ordinary  case,  founded  in  truth ;  and 
the  author  who  attempts  to  gainsay  it  runs  the 
risk,  when  "  he  meant  to  commit  murder,  of 
only  committing  suicide."  Mr.  Carlyle  has 
great  powers  in  the  delineation  of  the  terrible 
and  the  pathetic  ;  numerous  instances  of  both, 
in  his  history  of  the  French  Revolution,  will 
immediately  recur  to  the  recollection  of  every 
reader.  But  his  style,  founded  upon  an  un- 
bounded admiration  and  undue  imitation  of  the 
German  idiom,  appears  often  harsh  and  dis- 
cordant to  the  read(ir  ;  and  this  peculiarity  will 
probably  prevent  his  writings  from  ever  acquir- 
ing the  popularity  of  standard  works  with  the 
great  body  of  English  readers. 
No  similar  blemish  is  to  be  found  in  Dr.  Cro- 
LY,  whose  thoughts  full  of  genius  and 
In  croly  '^^^^  views,  are  conveyed  in  the  pur- 
est and  most  classical  English  idiom. 
The  ardent  admirer  of  Burke,  he  has  adopted 


his  views,  shared  his  fervcr,  and,  in  a  grea' 
measure,  imitated  his  style.  But  he  has  largei/ 
inhaled,  also,  the  sjiirit,  and  jirotited  by  the  les- 
sons of  tlie  age  in  which  he  lived:  the  contem- 
porary and  observer  of  the  French  Revolution 
and  its  conseiiuences,  he  has  |)ortr€ayed  both  in 
a  philosophic  spirit  and  with  a  poet's  fire ;  and 
what  Burke  predicted  from  the  contemplation 
of  the  Future,  he  has  painted  from  the  observa- 
tion of  the  Present.  His  Life  of  that  great 
man,  written  in  a  kindred  spirit,  is  the  best  ac- 
count of  his  mind  and  writings  in  our  language : 
in  many  of  his  other  writings  there  appear  the 
style  and  thoughts  of  a  proi)het,  not  less  than 
the  pictures  and  colors  of  a  historian.  The 
ardent  champion  of  Protestantism,  he  has  met 
the  zeal  of  the  Romish  Church  with  equal  fer- 
vor, and  been  led  sometimes,  perhaps,  with  un- 
due warmth  into  the  defense  of  his  own  faith. 
It  is  only  to  be  regretted  that  an  author  capa- 
ble of  such  things  should  have  devoted  his  tal- 
ents so  much  to  illustrating  the  ideas  of  others, 
and  not  inscribed  his  name  on  some  great  orig- 
inal work,  at  once  a  monument  of  his  own  gen- 
ius and  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 

H.vzLiTT  was  prior  in  point  of  time  to  both 
these  very  eminent  writers,  and  he  dif- 
fers materially  from  either.  He  was  Ua^f^t 
less  political  and  historical  in  his  dis- 
position ;  his  ideas  were  riveted  on  the  realms 
of  imagination,  not  on  the  transactions  of  men ; 
it  was  on  the  world  of  thought,  not  the  world 
of  humanity,  that  his  mind  was  fixed.  Criti- 
cism, the  drama,  the  theatre,  poetry,  the  arts, 
alternately  engaged  his  pen,  and  his  ardent 
mind  and  deep  reflection  never  failed  to  im- 
press upon  these  subjects  the  marks  of  original 
thought  and  just  observation.  In  critical  dis- 
quisitions on  the  leading  characters  and  works 
of  the  drama,  he  is  not  surpassed  in  the  whole 
range  of  English  literature  ;  and  what  in  an  es- 
pecial manner  commands  admiration  in  their 
perusal  is  the  indication  of  refined  taste  and 
chastened  reflection  which  they  contain,  and 
which  are  more  conspicuous  in  detached  pas- 
sages than  in  any  entire  work.  He  appears 
greater  when  quoted  than  when  read.  Possi 
bly,  had  his  life  been  prolonged,  it  might  have 
been  otherwise,  and  some  work  emanated  from 
his  gifted  pen  which  would  have  placed  his 
fame  on  a  durable  foundation. 

If  a  great  work  has  been  wanting  to  the  fame 
of  Hazlitt  and  Croly,  the  same  may  ^^ 
with  still  more  justice  be  said  of  a  BgntiJa^. 
very  eminent  man  who  has  illustrated 
the  age  by  his  profound  and  original  thoughts. 
Bentham  has  brought  to  the  philosophy  of  law 
the  vigor  of  an  independent,  and  the  views  of  a 
creative  mind.  He  was  not  a  practical  lawyer, 
and  therefore  his  views,  how  just  and  convinc- 
ing soever,  must  often  be  essentially  modified 
and  most  cautiously  handled  before  they  aro 
introduced  into  practice ;  but  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  they  contain  the  germ  of  much  use 
ful  legislation  on  the  subjects  they  embrace. 
They  are  so  because  they  contain  the  deduc- 
tions of  an  acute  and  reflecting  mind  on  the 
application  of  the  principles  of  human  nature, 
and  especially  the  ruling  principle  of  selfish 
ness,  to  the  principal  situations  and  trials  of 
character  which  emerge  in  the  course  of  le- 
gal  conflict  or  judicial  decision.     In  this  re- 


Chap.  V.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE 


169 


spect  his  writings  contain  more  original,  and 
often  just  thought,  than  is  to  be  found  in  any 
other  writer.  He  was  very  indolent,  and,  not- 
withstanding the  clearness  and  force  of  iiis  un- 
derstanding, had  not  the  faculty  of  expressing 
his  ideas  in  equally  distinct  or  lucid  language  ; 
hence  his  thoughts  were  often  communicated 
to  the  world  in  a  foreign  language,  to  be  col- 
lected by  the  friendly  industry  of  Dumont,  and 
are  to  be  found  rather  scattered  through  a  va- 
riety of  works  than  contained  in  any  one  of  su- 
perior condensation  or  excellence.  He  was  a 
utihtarian  in  principle,  an  ultra-Liberal  in  poli- 
tics, hence  lofty  views  and  generous  feelings 
are  not  to  be  looked  for  in  his  writings ;  but 
that  only  renders  the  suggestions  they  contain 
the  more  worthy  of  consideration,  in  a  practical 
point  of  view,  in  a  world  where  selfishness  or 
ambition  so  largely  influences  the  actions  of  tlie 
great  majority  of  men. 

Ch.^lmers,  though  his  name  is  attached  to  no 
work  commensurate  to  the  great  fame 
Chalmers.  ^®  enjoyed  during  his  life,  has  made 
a  vast  impression  on  the  minds  of  his 
countrymen,  and  deservedly  earned  a  high  place 
in  the  bright  assembly  of  Scottish  worthies. 
He  was  gifted  with  very  great  natural  powers, 
which  had  been  scattered  rather  than  con- 
dei^sed  by  the  style  of  education  then  generally 
given  in  his  country.  He  was  not  very  learned ; 
his  information  was  various  rather  than  ex- 
tensive on  any  one  subject ;  and  we  shall  look 
in  vain  in  his  writings  for  those  stores  of  eru- 
dition which,  when  brought  forth  by  genius 
and  arranged  by  philosophy,  form  the  only  true 
foundation  for  lasting  fame  in  the  mental  or 
social  concerns  of  men.  But  Chalmers,  not- 
withstanding, was  a  great  man.  Within  the 
limits  which  nature  or  education  had  prescribed 
to  him,  he  did  great  things.  The  fervor  of  his 
mind,  the  brilliancy  of  his  genius,  overcame  ev- 
ery obstacle,  supplied  every  deficiency,  at  least 
for  the  purposes  of  present  gratification  to  his 
audience  or  his  readers.  His  oratorical  pow- 
ers were  very  great,  greater  perhaps  than  any 
of  his  contemporaries.  No  one  so  entirely 
thrilled  the  hearts  of  his  audience,  or  swept 
away  every  mind  in  one  irresistible  burst  of 
common  emotion.  His  judgment,  however, 
was  not  so  strong  as  his  fancy ;  his  opinions 
are  not  to  be  so  implicitly  relied  on  as  his  gen- 
ius is  to  be  admired.  If  his  writings,  howev- 
er, often  do  not  materially  inform  the  under- 
standing, or  safely  regulate  the  judgment,  they 
never  fail  to  charm  the  imagination,  and  move 
the  feelings  by  the  fervent  piety,  benevolent 
spirit,  and  enlarged  understanding  which  they 
evince,  and  the  brilliant  eloquence  in  which 
they  are  always  couched. 

There  would  be  no  end  to  the  present  chap- 
79  ter  if  every  writer  of  eminence  in  the 
Monkton  British  empire,  in  the  present  or  past 
Miines  and  age,  were  to  be  separately  noticed. 
Aytoun.  y^^j^  there  are  two  who,  albeit,  from 
youth,  not  as  yet  at  the  zenith  of  their  fame, 
have  given  .such  brilliant  i)romi.se  of  future  ce- 
lebrity, tkat  they  can  not  be  passed  over  in  si- 
lence. Mr.  Monkton  Milnk.s  has  pre.scnted  to 
the  world  several  volumes  of  poems  abounding 
in  such  brilliant  imagery,  and  containing  such 
refined  sentiments,  that  they  have  secured  for 
liim  a  very  high  place  in  the  estimation  of  all  to 


whom  the  beautiful  or  inteiesting  in  Ti  or  na 
ture  possess  any  charms.  And  Mr.  Wilium 
Aytou.v,  albeit  bred  to  different  habits,  and  o-l- 
ucated  in  the  thorny  pursuits  of  the  law,  ha^ 
evinced  early  in  life  the  very  highest  talents 
for  lyric  poetry,  and  enriched  the  literature  cf 
his  country  with  a  volume  of  ballads,  which  ex- 
ceed the  strains  of  Tyrtaeus  in  patriotic  spirit, 
while  they  rival  the  odes  of  Dryden  in  fire  and 
pathos.  So  great,  indeed,  is  their  merit,  and  so 
varied  the  taients  and  powers  of  their  accom- 
plished author,  that  no  hesitation  need  be  felt 
in  predicting  for  him,  if  his  life  is  spared,  the 
highest  destinies  in  the  realms  of  poetry,  as 
well  as  the  less  inviting  fields  of  political  dis- 
cussion. 

If  the  house  of  mourning,  in  real  life,  ever 
adjoins  the  house  of  joy,  and  the 
voice  of  gladness  is  ere  long  drown-  l  e.  l. 
ed  in  the  wail  of  sorrow,  the  same  Warbun'on, 
vicissitude  is  not  less  conspicuous  ^"ii  'i^o  au- 
in  literature.  The  cypress  is  ever  Eoiiieli 
mixed  with  the  laurel  in  its  verdant 
fields.  If  the  brilliant  author  of  Eothen  haa 
produced  one  of  the  most  striking  pictures  of 
the  East  that  ever  was  presented  to  the  nations 
of  the  West,  another  author,  whose  pencil,  like 
his,  was  "  dipped  in  the  orient  hues  of  heaven," 
has  been  prematurely  snatched  from  his  admir- 
ing country.  Mr.  Elliot  Warburton,  v>-hose 
glowing  descriptions  of  the  East,  rivaling  those 
of  Beckford  himself,  are  so  indelibly  engraven 
on  the  national  mind,  has  been  prematurely 
snatched  by  a  mournful  catastrophe  from  the 
country  whose  literature  he  was  so  well  quali 
fied  to  adorn  ;  and  not  many  years  before,  a  fe- 
male authoress,  whose  lyre,  as  melancholy  and 
not  less  melodious  than  that  of  Sappho,  had  so 
deeply  moved  the  British  heart,  breathed  her 
last  on  the  sombre  shores  of  Cape  Coast  Castle. 
But  the  poems  of  L.  E.  L.,  of  surpassing  sweet- 
ness and  pathos,  rivaling  those  of  Mrs.  Norton 
herself  in  heart-rending  sentnnenc,  wil?  long 
survive  their  unhappy  author,  and  speak  to  the 
heart  of  generations  to  which  her  premature 
fate  will  be  a  lasting  subject  of  commiseration. 

The  impulse  given  to  the  Fine  Arts  in  Great 
Britain,  by  the  animation  and  excite-  g, 
ment  of  the  war,  was  not  so  great  The  Fine 
as  might,  perhaps,  have  been  ex-  Arts— Arch 
pccted,  and  suggests  a  painful  doubt  ^"'^■'"'■'=- 
whether  there  is  not  something  in  the  climate 
of  England,  or  the  character  and  consequent 
institutions  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  which  is 
inconsistent  with  eminence  in  those  noble  de- 
partments of  genius.  Architecture  was  the 
one  in  which  our  deficiency,  during  the  war,  was 
most  ajjparent,  and  in  which  the  greatest  efforts 
were  made,  on  the  return  of  peace,  to  repair 
that  deficiency.  The  numerous  travelers  who 
crowded  to  the  Continent  for  several  years  aft- 
er the  peace,  all  returned  with  the  greatest  ad- 
miration of  the  noble  edifices  recently  erected 
in  Paris,  or  which  attested  the  magnificence  of 
former  ages  in  Rome,  I'lorence,  and  ViMiice,  and 
with  a  painful  sense  of  the  inferiority  of  England 
in  that  particular.  Her  cathedrals,  and  many 
of  her  country  churches,  were  the  finest  in  the 
world  ;  and  St.  Paul's  is,  in  the  interior,  only 
second — in  the  exterior,  superior — to  the  fane 
of  the  Vatican,  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's.  But  if 
the  streets  of  London  were  considered,  be'ng 


.60 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


[ClIAP.  V. 


entirely  built  iif  brii'k,  antl  for  tlio  most  part  rx- 
tiemriy  narrow,  tliey  hoic  no  i>ioi)orlion  to  the 
^•raltli  or  iiuportani-o  oftlu*  IJritisli  niotropolis. 
V;;iorous  I'llbrts,  Imwi'vcr,  wcrr  soon  niaih^  to 
»':pply  tlio  (loforts.  Rt\«;tMit  ytroot,  oix'nrd  up 
throufrli  one  of  tlio  donsost  parts  of  Lontlon, 
soon  exhibited  a  si)I(>ndid  antl  varied  scene  of 
arehiteotural  decoration  and  mercantile  opu- 
lence ;  Regent's  I'avk  showed  lon<i  lines  of  pil- 
lared sct'uery  surmountins;  its  glassy  lake  and 
umbragc-ous  foliaire  ;  and  \\'aterloo,  Southwark, 
and  London  Bridjjes  bestrode  the  Hoods  of  the 
Thames,  with  arches  second  to  none  in  the 
worhl  in  magnilicence  and  durability.  Unhap- 
pily, however,  the  other  buildings  of  the  mc- 
trojiolis,  with  very  few  exceptions,  were  all 
constructed  of  brick,  with  plaster  fronts;  and 
the  facility  of  adding  decoration  Avitii  that  plas- 
tic material  has  introduced  a  taste  for  gorgeous 
display  at  variance  with  every  principle  of  good 
taste,  and  which  painfully  contrasts  with  the 
perishable  nature  of  the  materials  of  which  it 
is  composed.  The  nol)Ie  freestone,  and  com- 
manding situation  of  Edinburgh,  have  led  to  the 
prevalence  there  of  a  chaster  and  severer  style 
of  architecture,  and  rendered  it  by  far  the  fin- 
est city  in  the  British  dominions,  and  one  of  the 
most  striking  in  Europe.  But  having  ceased  to 
be  the  seat  of  government,  and  consequently 
lost  the  concourse  of  the  nobility,  it  has  sunk 
into  a  provincial  town,  and  can  never  again  be 
adorned  by  those  sumptuous  edifices  which  are 
raised  by  the  national  resources,  and  gathered 
round  the  centre  of  the  nation's  power. 

It  can  no:  be  said  that  the  country  of  Sir 
go.  Ji  shua  Reynolds  is  destitute  of  the 
Sir  Thomas  genius  for  painting ;  and  yet  this  no- 
Lawrence,  [jie  aj-t  has  not,  in  the  period  wlien 
it  might  most  confidently  have  been  expected, 
risen  to  any  distinguished  eminence.  There 
have  been  portrait-painters  in  abundance  — 
some  of  very  great  merit ;  but  placed  beside 
the  works  of  the  great  masters  of  the  Flemish, 
Italian,  and  Spanish  schools,  theirs  sink  into 
insignificance.  Valuable,  often  invaluable,  to  a 
single  generation,  from  the  fidelity  of  the  like- 
ness they  have  preserved,  they  cease  to  be  con- 
sidered when  a  new  race  succeeds  to  which 
that  likeness  was  unknown.  None  of  them 
will  bear  a  comparison  with  the  master-pieces 
of  Vandyke  or  Rubens,  of  Titian  or  Velasquez. 
The  details  are  unfinished,  the  still  life  is  neg- 
lected, the  attitude  often  stiff,  the  extremities 
ill  drawn.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  whole  ef- 
fort of  the  painter  has  been  thrown  into  the 
likeness  of  the  countenance.  The  reason  is, 
that  the  countenance  only  was  an  object  of  in- 
terest to  the  purchasers  of  the  pictures  ;  few 
of  them  had  knowledge  to  understand,  or  taste 
to  appreciate  any  thing  else.  The  best  pictures 
of  Sir  Thomas  L.4.wrence  are  no  exceptions  to 
these  observations.  The  likeness  is  generally 
good,  the  countenance  powerful,  the  light  and 
shade  well  disposed,  the  expression  often  an- 
gelic ;  but  the  picture,  on  the  whole,  is  always 
unfinished — the  coloring,  except  on  the  face, 
raw  and  inharmonious.  Many  of  his  most 
lovely  female  portraits  often  resemble  an  angel 
peeping  out  of  the  clouds.  His  best  pieces, 
when  put  beside  the  master-pieces  of  Vandyke 
or  Titian,  appear  so  inferior  that  an  Englishman 
turns  aside  with  mortification.     H  5  fame  was 


great,  the  prices  received  for  his  paintings  im- 
mense, during  his  life;  but  i)()th  have  sensibly 
declined  since  his  death,  and  his  portraits  hav~ 
come  to  stand  on  tliiMr  own  merits  as  pieces  of 
art,  irrt^spcctive  of  the  recognition  of  the  like- 
ness by  the  spectators. 

TuKNF.R,  in  landscape-painting,  has  attained 
a  reputation  more  likely  to  be  durable ; 
for  in  genius  he  is  equal,  in  variety  of  xuriier 
conception  su])erior,  to  Claude  himself. 
No  one  can  study  the  Lihcr  Studiorutn  of  the 
fornn^r  master,  and  compare  it  with  the  LUct 
Vcritatis  of  the  latter,  without  perceiving  that 
the  palm  of  originality  and  variety  of  imagina- 
tion must  be  awarded  to  the  first.  There  is 
none  of  his  pictures  as  perfect  as  one  of 
Claude's  ;  none  over  which  the  glow  of  an  Ital- 
ian sunset  is  thrown  with  such  magic  over  ev- 
ery object  in  the  piece  —  the  sky,  the  sea,  the 
trees.  But  there  is  greater  variety  in  his  ef- 
fects;  his  drawing  from  nature  has  extended 
over  a  much  wider  surface  ;  his  fancy  is  more 
di.scursive  —  his  conceptions  wilder,  and  more 
dissimilar.  He  has  aimed  at,  and  succeeded  in 
awakening  emotions  of  a  far  more  varied  kind 
than  his  great  predecessor.  Within  his  own 
limits  Claude  is  perfection,  but  those  limits  are 
narrow.  Turner's  embrace  the  whole  earth, 
and  all  ages  of  history.  It  is  to  the  power  of 
his  conceptions,  however,  and  the  vigor  of  his 
imagination,  that  this  unqualified  praise  ap- 
plies; indelicacy 'of  finishing,  harmony  of  col- 
oring, and  minuteness  of  detail,  combined  with 
generality  of  effect,  he  is  inferior  to  Claude,  as 
indeed  every  subsequent  painter  has  been,  and 
perhaps  ever  will  be.  The  latter  pictures  of 
Turner,  when  he  indulged  in  a  new  and  more 
vivid  style  of  coloring,  in  wiiich  bright  orange 
and  saffron  predominate,  can  hardly  be  consid- 
ered as  his  productions ;  they  would  be  more 
aptly  designated  as  the  works  of  genius  run 
mad.  There  is  only  one  consolation  in  reflect- 
ing on  this  running  riot  of  so  much  talent,  and 
that  is,  that  it  has  elicited  the  genius,  and  dis- 
played the  taste  and  vivid  powers  of  description 
of  his  accomplished  advocate,  Mr.  Ruskin,  who, 
in  attempting  to  defend  his  extravagances,  has 
only  caused  his  ingenuity  to  be  the  more  ad- 
mired, that  it  has  obviously  been  exerted  in  an 
indefensible  cause.  His  great  and  varied  gen- 
ius and  taste  appear  equally  conspicuous  in  his 
Seven  Lamps  of  Architecture — one  of  the  most 
profound  and  original  works  of  the  kind  in  the 
Enghsh  language. 

Copley  Fielding  can  not  be  said  to  be  the 
equal  of  Turner  in  vigor  of  conception      g^^ 
or  variety  of  imagination  ;  but  in  beau-  Cople'y 
ty   of  detail   and  polish   of  finishing  Fielding, 
he  is  sometimes  his  superior.     Like  Thomson 
Claude,  his  limits  are  narrow  ;  but, 
like  him,  within  them  he  is  very  perfect.     He 
has  two  sets  of  pieces,  and  is  essentially  a  man- 
nerist in  both  ;  but  in  both  a  vivid  eye  for  the 
beautiful  in  nature,  and  great  powers  of  execu- 
tion are  conspicuous.     No  one  ever  excelled 
him  in  the  representation  of  storms  at  sea,  or  of 

"  Ocean's  mighty  swjng, 

When,  heaving  on-  the  tempest's  wing, 
It  breaks  upon  the  shore." 

And  in  the  delineation  of  sunsets  at  land,  of  the 
misty  heat  of  a  forenoon  in  the  Highlands,  oi 
of  the  wild  sweep  of  open  downs  in  England, 


;.UAP.  v.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUKOPK 


161 


he  is  equally  perfect.     These  are  his  limits, 
however;  he  never  passes  them  ;  if  he  attempts 
to  do  so,  he  only  repeats  himself     Williams 
has  thrown  over  the  exquisite  remains  of  Gre- 
cian genius  the  glow  of  a  southern  sun,  en- 
hanced by  the  richness  of  northern  fancy  ;  and 
|)ermanently  implanted  into  our  collections  the 
image  of  the  most  perfect  architectural  ruins 
in  the  world ;  while  Thomson,  endowed  with 
greater  powers,  and  a  more  masculine  turn  of 
thought,  has  disdained  to  leave  his  o^vn  coun- 
try in  the  search  of  the  sublime  or  beautiful,  and 
found,  in  its  spreading  pines,  and  misty  mount- 
ains, and  glassy  lakes,  the  elements  which  only 
awaited  the  hand  of  genius  to  be  moulded  into 
the  expression  of  perfect  beauty.     Like  all  the 
painters  of  the  day,  however,  he  is  deficient  in 
finishing ;  his  pictures  appear  rough  sketches 
when  put  beside  those  of  Poussin  or  Salvator, 
to  whose  conceptions  his  bear  a  very  close  anal- 
ogy.    Neither  portrait  nor  landscape  painting 
will  ever  approach  perfection  in  this  country 
till  our  artists  learn  that  minuteness  of  finish- 
ing is  perfectly  consistent  with  generality  of 
effect ;  that  accuracy  of  drawing  is  essential  to 
give  reality  to  the  conceptions  of  imagination  ; 
and  that  unity  of  impression  is  not  to  be  at- 
tained without  a  copious  sacrifice  of  lesser  de- 
tails to  the  one  prevailing  emotion  intended  to 
be  awakened. 
It  was  long  before  any  portrait  painters  ap- 
85         peared  in  London  upon  whom  the 
Grant,         mantle  of  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence  ap- 
PickersgUl,  peared  to  have  descended ;   but  at 
swinton.     igugtij  t^yQ  artists  arose  whose  tal- 
ents  seemed  to  indicate  that  the  Fine  Arts 
could  take  root  in  the  mountains  of  Caledonia 
as  well  as  on  the  slopes  of  the  Apennines.    Mr. 
Francis  Grant,  albeit  not  originally  bred  to  the 
art,  and  habituated  at  first  to  the  most  elegant 
and   polished   society,  ere  long  showed  that 
genius  can  overcome  the  want  of  early  study, 
and  that  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  most 
polished  society  only  makes  an  artist  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  aerial  graces  and  nameless 
charms  which  enter  so  largely  into  fhe  com- 
position of  the  Cestus  of  Beauty.     No  British 
artist  ever  excelled  him  in  the  delineation  of 
female  elegance  ;  it  is  easy  to  see  that  he  is  a 
gentleman  who  has  not  only  felt  its  influence, 
but  felt  in  what  it  consists,  and  learned  how  it 
is  to  be  perpetuated  to  future  times.     His  ear- 
ly passion  for  the  chase,  also,  has  stamped  the 
character  of  his  works  in  another  respect.    His 
horses  are  admirable,  and  jjarticularly  remark- 
able for  the  spirit  and  accuracy  of  drawing  they 
display.     Pickersgill's  portraits  are  often  ad- 
mirable, from  the  fidelity  of  the  likeness  and  the 
brilliancy  of  the  coloring  ;  but  there  is  gcnera'- 
ly  a  deficiency  of  shade  in  tliern,  and,  as  in  all 
modern  pieces,  a  want  of  finisliing  of  details. 
SwiNTON  is  the  rival  of  Grant,  and  in  the  same 
style :  he  represents  female  elegance  so  well, 
because,  by  living  with  it,  he  lias  learned  in 
what  it  consists.     Many  of  his  portraits  of  the 
most  lovely  of  our  female  nobility  are  beautiful 
pictures,  as  well  as  striking  likenesses  ;   but 
thny  are  very  unequal,  and  a  want  of  drawing 
is  sometimes  conspicuous,  even   in  his  most 
careful  productions.     Nor  is  Scotland  without 
tier  own  honors  in  the  Fine  Arts  ;  for  Uakiuirn 
was  equal  to  any  artist  of  his  time  in  portrait 
Vol.  r.— 1, 


'  painting;  and  Allan  has  left  many  pamtings, 
especially  of  Eastern  and  Circassian  scenes,  of 
very  great  excellence  ;  while  in  Sir  John  Wat- 
son Gordon  she  may  still  boast  an  artist,  per- 
haps, superior  to  any  of  his  contemporaries  ia 
the  delineation  of  masculine  power  of  counte- 
nance. 

There  is  one  painter  of  the  age,  however, 
who  stands  at  the  very  head  of  the 
department  of  the  art  to  which  his  Landseer 
genius  has  been  directed,  and  has  ele- 
vated it  to  a  height  which  never  was  attained 
in  any  foreign  state.    It  may  safely  be  said  tli;>.t 
in  the  representation  of  animals  Landseer  is 
unrivaled.     In  truth,  he  has  opened  an  enti;e 
new  mine  of  surpassing  richness  in  this  branch 
of  art.     Schneider  had  represented,  with  the  ut- 
most skill,  the  painful  scenes  of  boar  hunts,  an  1 
in  vigor  of  design  and  power  of  execution,  l.e 
never  was  surpassed ;  and  Ileinagle  and  L)u 
Jardin  had  delineated  the  domestic  life  of  ani- 
mals with  equal  taste  and  fidelity.     But  Land- 
seer has  struck  out  an  entirely  new  path ;  lif 
has  represented  the  pathetic  in  animals.     He  i? 
not  the  painter  of  them  when  hunted,  and  either 
the  enemies  or  the  victims  of  man  :  he  is  one 
of  themselves  ;  he  sympathizes  with  their  ter- 
rors, shares  their  griefs,  is  inspired  by  their  af- 
fections.   His  representations  of  the  fawn  seek- 
ing to  obtain  nourishment  from  its  dead  mother, 
of  the  herd  striking  into  the  wilderness  on  the 
approach  of  the  hunters,  of  the  devoted  fideUty 
of  dogs,  of  the  monarch  of  the  glen  starting  up 
from  his  heathery  lair,  and  other  similar  sub- 
jects, are  not  merely  admirable  as  pieces  of  art, 
but  unrivaled  in  the  expression  of  pathos  and 
sentiment.     He  is  the  painter  of  Nature,  and 
has  studied  her  not  merely  in  her  wildest  scenes, 
but  in  her  most  hidden  recesses  and  secret  hab- 
its.   England  may  well  be  proud  of  having  given 
birth  to  such  a  man ;  and  he  affords  evidence 
that,  if  painting  in  its  highest  branches  has  not 
hitherto  flourished  as  might  liave  been  expect- 
ed in  so  brilliant  an  era  in  tliis  country,  tlic 
fault  lies  in  the  direction  of  the  national  taste, 
not  in  want  of  genius  in  its  artists. 

Wilicie's  name  will  be  always  associated 
with  this  period  of  English  history ; 
and,  in  many  respects,  he  is  equal,  in  wiikie. 
his  own  style,  to  the  greatest  j)ainters 
the  world  has  ever  produced.  He  did  not  aim 
at  the  expression  of  the  pathetic  in  animals, 
like  Landseer — nor  tlie  humorous  in  man,  like 
Teniers — nor  the  vulgar  in  low  life,  like  Ostade 
he  took  counsel  from  his  own  genius,  and  struck 
out  a  new  vein  in  tlie  representation  of  man- 
kind. He  portrayed  the  domestic  in  Jmniblo. 
life — its  joys,  its  interests,  its  amusements,  its 
.sorrows.  He  was  the  Burns  of  painting — in 
spired  with  his  sentiment,  penetrated  with  his 
ardor,  gifted  with  his  ])owers.  In  minuteness 
and  delicacy  of  finishing,  he  was  quite  equal  to 
I'eniers,  and,  at  the  same  time,  without  iiis  oc- 
casional coarseness  •  so  that  his  jiaiiitings,  even 
of  the  humblest  scenes,  may  l)e  looked  on  bj 
the  most  delicate  female  without  pain.  His 
drawing  is  admirable — his  coloring  brilliant,  and 
yet  harmonious.  The  great  defect  of  his  style 
— and  it  is  a  very  serious  one — is,  that  he  does 
not  sutnciently  mass  his  lights  and  shadows : 
admirable  in  detail,  there  is  a  want  of  generality 
in  eflect.     Tiie  light  on  each  figure  Ls  idmii;vbl>' 


162 


HISTORY    OF   EUROTE. 


[Chaf   V 


iloup  ;  but  the  li-itit  on  tlic  wliolt^  is  too  iiitlis- 
orimmattly  ihrnwii,  Ht-  liiis  sliadrd  wrll,  ac- 
rordiiij:  to  Titiiin's  simiU',  rai-li  iiulividual  urapo  ; 
but  lio  lias  ror<rot  tlio  sliaiiinjz  of  tla-  wliolo 
buiu'li.  Bv  far  too  many  olhis  li^Min>s  arc  ilhi- 
ininattnl :  ho  would  liavo  dono  well  to  havo  rc- 
meiubored  the  observations  of  Sir  Joshua  I{cy- 
nolds.  that,  in  Titian's  painlinjr,  two  thirds  is  in 
shade,  and  only  one  third  in  bright  light. 

If  l^ndseer  has  struek  out  a  new  vein — the 
l)ath(>tic  in  animals,  Chantrky  lias 
ihamrey  *''l":'lly  illustrated  himself  by  opening 
a  fresh  mine — the  pathetic  in  seulp- 
ture.  In  this  he  is  unrivaled — "  above  all  (Jreek, 
above  all  Roman  fame."  The  group  of  the  IS'i- 
obe  family  alone,  in  ancient  sculpture,  showed 
what  powerful  emotions  might  be  awakened  in 
that  way ;  but  Chantrey,  in  his  monumental 
pieces,  worked  it  out  with  deep  feeling  and  ad- 
mirable effect.  Breaking  off  at  once  from  the 
strange  mixture  of  allegory  and  conceit  with 
which  the  barbarous  taste  of  former  ages  in 
England  had  deformed  the  glorious  fane  of 
Westminster,  he  boldly  struck  into  a  new  line, 
and,  with  the  materials  of  the  Simple,  aimed  at 
the  expression  of  the  Pathetic.  His  success 
was  prodigious  and  decisive  ;  it  raised  him  at 
once  to  the  very  head  of  modern  art  in  this  de- 
partment. His  Sleeping  Children,  in  Lichfield 
(.Cathedral,  which  first  gave  him  his  colossal  rep- 
utation, and  several  other  monumental  pieces 
in  the  same  style,  are  unequaled  in  simplicity 
of  thought  and  beauty  of  expression.  Many  of 
his  busts  —  among  which  that  of  Sir  Walter 
Scott  may  be  cited  as  the  most  admirable — are 
as  perfect  and  characteristic  likenesses  as  ever 
wju'e  made.  If  to  these  powers  and  chaste  de- 
signs this  great  artist  had  united  the  knowledge 
of  drawing  and  command  of  the  figure  which 
Phidias  and  the  first  masters  of  antiquity  pos- 
.sessed,  he  would  perhaps  have  made  the  great- 
est sculptor  that  ever  existed.  But  there  he 
was  obviously  deficient ;  and  perhaps  no  modern 
artist,  without  the  advantage  of  the  Palestra, 
can  ever  hope  to  rival  the  artists  of  antiquity  in 
that  respect.  His  entire  figures  are  generally 
stiff — sometimes  out  of  drawing  ;  the  attitudes 
are  often  constrained,  the  contour  unpleasing, 
the  horses  unnatural.  His  fame  will  rest  on 
his  sepulchral  pieces  and  portraits,  not  on  his 
entire  figures  or  public  monuments. 

Flaxman  possessed  a  greater  and  more  varied 
imagination  than  Chantrey,  and  more 
Flaxman.  ^'^'^  ^'^  ^^^  genius  of  ancient  sculp- 
ture. He  did  not  aim  so  much  at  the 
expression  of  one  sentiment  or  feeling  as  at  the 
delineation  of  incident  or  event  of  a  critical  or 
interesting  nature,  by  means  of  the  chisel ;  and 
there  his  powers  were  of  the  very  highest  order. 
The  Metopes  of  the  Parthenon,  the  contests  of 
the  Athenians  and  Amazons,  constantly  floated 
before  his  imagination ;  he  was  imbued  with 
the  very  soul  of  Homer.  His  designs  in  illus- 
tration of  the  Iliad  are  the  finest  series  of  the 
kind  which  modern  Europe  has  produced.  If 
English  taste  or  spirit  had  been  adequate  to  the 
undertaking  of  a  national  monument  to  com- 
memorate the  deliverance  of  Great  Britain  from 
Gallic  invasion,  he  would  have  produced  a  frieze 
worthy  of  being  placed  beside  that  of  Phidias 
himself.  His  conceptions  were  grand — his  atti- 
tiides  varied  and  striking,  his  drawing  truthful 


and  accurate.  He  was  less  perfect,  liowcvcr, 
with  the  chisel  than  the  crayon  :  his  execution 
was  not  eijiial  to  his  conception  ;  he  could  hard- 
ly work  out  the  luauty  w hich  he  had  imagined. 
In  single  figures  he  often  failed,  and  in  still  life 
was  st)metimes  inanimate;  it  was  the  vehe- 
mence and  heat  of  battle  which  kindled  his  im- 
agination and  iiis|)ired  it  with  the  heroic  spirit. 
His  i)ortraits  of  individuals,  tiiough  often  strik- 
ing likenesses,  were  not  e(jual  to  those  of  Chan- 
trey ;  his  power  consisted  in  the  representation 
of  life  in  action  rather  than  character  in  repose. 
Albeit,  born  in  Italy,  and  bred  in  France, 
Baron  Marociiktti  may  be  reckoned 

among  British  artists,  and  is  entitled  .,„.®''k  ... 
1  •   1     1  .111      Marocncttl 

to  a  very  high  juace  among  the  high- 
est of  them.  He  has  become  naturalized  among 
us;  his  genius  has  adorned  our  chief  cities;  and 
the  statues  of  Richard  Cceur-de-Lion  in  London, 
and  the  Duke  of  Wellington  in  Glasgow,  have 
given  him  an  enduring  claim  to  the  gratitude 
of  his  acquired  countrymen.  His  genius  is  of 
the  very  highest  order;  it  is  a  combination  of 
that  of  Chantrey  and  Flaxman.  In  the  expres- 
sion of  character  he  is  equal  to  the  former,  in 
the  delineation  of  incident  he  rivals  the  latter. 
By  combining  a  frieze  in  alto-relievo,  in  which 
the  figures  are  in  action,  round  the  pedestal  of 
his  statues,  with  the  figures  in  an  attitude  of 
repose  on  its  summit,  he  has  succeeded  in  ex- 
hibiting his  powers  in  both  these  lines  in  the 
same  monument.  So  European  has  his  repu- 
tation become,  that,  shortly  after  finishing  his 
noble  statue  of  Victor  Emmanuel  at  Turin,  he 
was  engaged,  at  the  same  time,  in  the  monu- 
mental figure  of  Napoleon  for  his  tomb  in  the 
Invahdes  at  Paris,  in  the  formation  of  the  eques- 
trian statue  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  in  Glasi- 
gow,  and  that  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  at  Algiers. 
His  drawing  is,  in  general,  accurate  ;  he  is  a  per- 
fect master  of  the  anatomy  of  horses,  and  his 
grouping  is  bold  and  striking ;  but  in  working 
out  the  details  of  his  figures,  he  is  not  equal  to 
the  recent  sculptures  of  the  German  school ; 
and  the  prize  at  the  Great  Exhibition  in  Lon- 
don, in  1851,  was  worthily  awarded  to  Kiss,  for 
his  inimitable  representation  of  the  combat  of 
the  Amazon  and  Lion. 

In  one  art,  nearly  akin  to  sculpture,  England 
at  this  period  rose  to  the  very  highest  eminence. 
If  the  drama  is  the  efflorescence  of  epic  poetry, 
the  histrionic  art  is  the  efflorescence  of  sculp- 
ture. 

"  But  by  the  mighty  actor  brought. 
Creation's  brightest  fancies  come  ; 
Verse  ceases  to  be  airy  thought, 
And  sculpture  to  be  dumb." 

In  this  noble  and  bewitching  art  the  family 
of  the  Kembles  stands  pre-emi- 
nent ;  and  Mrs.  Siddons  was  the  ^/^^.g  siddons. 
founder  of  the  honors  of  the  house. 
She  was  the  Tragedy  Queen  personihed.  En 
dowed  by  nature  with  a  commanding  figure,  a 
noble  countenance,  and  stately  air,  nith  raven 
locks,  a  majestic  carriage,  and  sonorous  voice, 
she  united  all  that  the  poets  had  prefigured  of 
the  lofty  in  character,  the  imposing  in  woman. 
She  had  nothing  tender  in  her  disposition — none 
of  its  expression  in  her  countenance — none  of 
the  elements  which  awaken  it,  either  in  her 
character  or  person.  She  was  made,  not  to  be 
loved,  but  worshiped ;   she  stepped  forth,  no" 


CUAF.   V.J 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


I6S 


amid  her  adorrrs,  but  her  subjects.  She  could 
at  times — iu  Juliet,  Desdemona,  and  Belvidera 
— awaken  the  very  soul  of  tenderness,  and 
melt  every  spectator  by  the  most  harrowing 
touches  of  the  pathetic  ;  but  that  only  showed 
the  variety  of  her  powers — it  did  not  bespeak 
the  bent  of  her  disposition.  It  was  the  majes- 
tic, the  noble,  the  devoted,  the  generous,  which 
suited  her  character ;  and  in  the  expression  of 
them  she  was  unrivaled.  In  Queen  Constance, 
Isabella,  Mrs.  Haller,  Lady  Macbeth,  and  similar 
characters,  her  powers  shone  forth  in  their  full 
lustre  ;  and  she  produced  an  effect  upon  every 
class  of  spectators,  which  never  has  been,  and 
probably  never  will  again  be  equaled  on  the  En- 
glish stage. 

John  Kemble,  brother  to  Mrs.  Siddons,  and 

the  coinheritor  with  her  of  the  gen- 
John  Kemble    ^"^  ^^  *^®  family,  was  cast  in  the 

same  mould  and  endowed  with 
the  same  spirit ;  but  he  had  not  the  same  mar- 
velous combination  of  physical  advantages. 
His  countenance  had  her  Roman  cast — his  hair 
was  of  her  raven  hue  ;  but  he  had  not  the  same 
stately  air,  the  same  majestic  figure.  Seen  off 
the  stage,  his  height  seemed  under  the  middle 
size ;  and  latterly  he  had  a  considerable  stoop 
from  the  shoulders.  His  voice,  never  powerful, 
was  at  times  husky,  and  plaintive  rather  than 
melodious.  But  these  disadvantages,  which,  in 
a  person  less  mentally  gifted,  would  have  been 
serious,  if  not  fatal,  were  overcome,  and  more 
than  overcome,  by  the  ardor  of  his  mind,  the 
energy  of  his  disposition,  the  lofty  conceptions 
which  filled  his  soul.  In  these  he  was  fully 
equal  to  his  sister,  more  highly  gifted  though 
fShe  was,  so  far  as  personal  advantages  are  con- 
cerned. His  mind  was  filled  with  grand  ideas  ; 
a  Roman  magnanimity  was  the  characteristic 
of  his  disposition.  He  had  great  powers  for  the 
pathetic ;  but  it  was  not  ordinary  grief  which 
he  represented  ;  it  was  the  Stranger  mourning 
his  faithless  love — it  was  Cato  preferring  death 
to  slavery — it  was  Brutus  learning,  on  the  eve 
of  Philippi,  the  death  of  Porcia,  which  he  rep- 
resented with  such  admirable  effect.  He  was 
learned,  a  great  antiquarian,  and  studied  the 
dress,  armor,  and  costume  of  the  olden  time 
with  the  most  assiduous  care.  His  air  was 
magnificent  when  he  walked  the  boards  as  Bru- 
tus or  Coriolanus,  in  the  exact  costume  of  the 
conquering  republic  :  the  line  of  the  poet  invol- 
untarily recurred  to  the  mind, 

"  Thou  last  of  all  tlie  Romans,  fare  thee  well '." 

If  Kemble  overcame  many  personal  disad- 
vantages by  the  lofty  tone  of  his 
Miss  O'Xcil  i"'"'^'  3"  actress  who  rose  in  his  de- 
clining years,  yet  often  appeared  on 
the  boards  with  him.  Miss  O'Nf.il,  had  every 
gift  of  nature  to  aid  a  tender  and  impa.ssioned 
disposition  in  melting  the  hearts  of  the  specta- 
tors. A  finely-chiseled  Grecian  countenance, 
dark  glossy  hair,  a  skin  smooth  as  monumental 
marble,  and  beautiful  figure,  gave  her  every  ad- 
vantage which  genius  could  covet  for  awaken- 
ing emotion  ;  but  to  these  were  added  the  very 
mental  qualities  which  were  fitted  to  bring  them 
forth  in  full  lustre.  She  was  not  majestic  and 
queen-like,  like  Mrs.  Siddon.s — nor  statrly  anil 
imposing,  like  Kemble ;  shr;  was  ix'ither  Uic 
tragedy  queen   nor  the   impassioned   sultana. 


The  tender  woman  was  her  real  character,  and 
there  she  never  was  surpassed.  She  had  not 
the  winning  playfulness  which  allures  to  love, 
nor  the  fascinating  coquetry  which  confirms  it ; 
but  none  ever  possessed  in  a  higher  degree 
the  bewitching  tenderness  which  affection, 
when  once  thoroughly  awakened,  evinces  in  its 
moments  of  unreserve  —  or  the  heart-rending 
pathos  with  which  its  crosses  and  sufferings  in 
this  world  are  portrayed.  In  the  last  scenes  of 
Juliet,  Belvidera,  and  Desdemona,  nothing  could 
exceed  the  delicacy,  power,  and  pathos  of  her 
performance.  She  was  too  young  for  Queen 
Constance — too  innocent  for  Lady  Macbeth; 
but  in  Mrs.  Haller  her  powers,  aided  by  her 
beauty,  shone  forth  in  the  highest  perfection  ; 
and  when  she  appeared  on  the  boards  of  Co- 
vent  Garden  in  that  character  with  John  Kem- 
ble, whose  older  aspect  and  bent  figure  so  well 
suited  her  deserted  husband  as  the  Stranger,  a 
spectacle  was  exhibited  such  as  no  one  ever 
saw  before,  as  no  one  will  ever  see  again,  and 
which  did  not  leave  a  dry  eye  in  the  whole  au- 
dience. 

Kean,  although  contemporary  with  Miss 
O'Neil,  was  an  artist  of  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent character.  He  had  no  advantages  j^^^^^ 
of  figure  or  air ;  his  stature  was  short — 
his  voice  far  from  powerful — his  countenance, 
though  very  expressive,  not  handsome.  But  all 
these  deficiencies  were  compensated,  and  more 
than  compensated,  by  the  fire  and  energy  of  his 
mind.  "  Sir,  he  is  terribly  in  earnest,"  said 
John  Kemble  of  him  when  he  first  appeared ; 
and  this  was  strictly  true,  and  was  the  secret 
of  his  success.  The  vigor  of  his  thoughts,  the 
vehemence  of  his  delineation  of  passion,  bore 
down  all  opposition,  and  raised  him  to  the  very 
highest  eminence  in  the  histrionic  art.  He  was 
not  so  commanding  as  Kemble  in  any  one  part, 
but  he  excelled  in  a  greater  number  of  parts  : 
the  former  had  more  grandeur  of  conception — 
the  latter  more  variety  of  execution.  He  was 
peculiarly  admirable  in  the  delineation  of  villainy 
and  dissimulation,  or  of  the  mental  conflicts  of 
irresolute  character.  None  could  excel  him  in 
the  representation  of  lago  or  Richard  III. ;  few 
in  the  conflicting  passions  of  Jaflier  or  Hamlet. 
He  would  have  made  a  perfect  Jaffier  to  Kem- 
ble's  Pierre  ;  and  if  Miss  O'Neil  had  at  the  same 
time  played  Belvidera,  future  ages  might  per- 
haps hope  to  rival,  but  assuredly  they  never 
could  excel,  the  spectacle. 

If  powers  of  the  very  highest  order  united 
to  fascinating  beauty,  and  the  most  95 
lofty  c<incej)tions  of  the  dignity  and  Miss  Helen 
moral  objects  of  her  art,  could  have  l''"ucit. 
arrested  the  degradation  of  the  stage,  Miss 
Helen  Faucit  would  have  done  so.  But  this 
highly  giftwl  actress  arose  in  tiie  decline  of  the 
drama,  and  even  her  genius  was  unecjual  to  the 
task  of  Rui)porting  it  in  the  days  of  corrupted 
taste.  .She  is  a  Cdmbiiiation  of  Mrs.  Siddons 
and  Miss  O'Neil;  witli  llic  iiiajcHtic.  air  and  lofty 
thoughts,  but  not  tb(^  coMuiiaiiding  figun;  of  tlio 
former,  and  as  great  patiielic  [lower,  and  not 
less  winning  grace,  but  without  tiie  regular  fi-at- 
ures  of  the  latter.  Variety  is  her  great  charac- 
teristic, versatility  her  distinguishing  fi'aturc. 
Like  (iarrick,  she  excels  ecpially  in  tragedy  or 
elegant  coiiiedy  :  it  is  hard  to  say  wlustiier  her 
Rosalind  is  the  more  charming,  or  her  l.adj 


164 


HISTORY  OF   EUROPE. 


[Chap.  V. 


Teazle  the  moie  f;iscinatin2,  or  her  Juliet  the 
more  heart-ri'udii.jc.  Dark  raven  locks,  a  fine 
fij:ure,  and  singularly  expressive  eounteuance, 
iH'stow  on  her  all  the  advaiitaires  which,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  highest  mental  gills,  beauty  never 
peases  to  confer  tm  woman  ;  and  a  disposition 
marked  by  deep  feeling,  alternately  lively  and 
serious,  sportive  and  mournful,  playful  and  con- 
templative, gives  her  that  command  of  the  ex- 
pression of  ditlcrent  emotions,  and  that  versa- 
tility of  power,  which  constitute  her  great  and 
uncijuiiled  charm.  ."She  has  the  highest  concep- 
tion of  the  dignity  and  moral  capabilities  other 
art,  and  by  tlie  unifomi  ehasteness  and  delicacy 
of  her  perlbrmances  does  the  utmost  to  uphold 
it  in  its  native  purity  ;  but  it  is  all  in  vain.  She 
has  appeared  in  the  days  of  the  decline  of  taste, 
and,  notwithstanding  her  great  genius  and  ce- 
lebrity, is  unable  to  arrest  it.  The  drama  here, 
as  elsewhere,  has  been  in  a  certain  stage  of  so- 
ciety succeeded  by  the  melodrama  ;  the  theatre 
by  the  amphitheatre.  Covent  Garden  has  be- 
come an  Italian,  Drury  Lane  an  English  opera- 
house.  Singing  and  dancing,  stimulants  to  the 
senses,  splendor  for  the  eye,  have  come  to  sup- 
plant the  expression  of  passion,  the  display  of 
tenderness,  the  grandeur  of  character. 
This  progress  has  occurred  so  uniformly  in 

rich  and  luxurious  nations,  that  it 
Decline  of  ^^^  ^^  considered  as  inevitable,  and 
the  drama  arising  from  some  fixed  and  univers- 
in  England,  al  principle  in  our  nature.  Nor  is 
causes  ^^  difficult  to  sce  what  that  principle 

is.  It  arises  from  the  gradual  rise, 
and  ultimate  ascendency,  of  a  middle  class  in 
society,  the  minds  in  which  are  not  so  cultivated 
as  to  enable  them  to  enjoy  intellectual  or  moral 
pleasures,  while  their  senses  are  sufficiently  ex- 
cited to  render  them  fully  alive  to  the  enjoy- 
ments of  the  physical.  Disguise  it  as  you  will, 
that  is  the  real  principle.  \Mien  that  class, 
which  is  ever  a  vast  majority  of  mankind,  be- 
comes, in  the  progress  of  opulence,  so  rich  and 
powerful  that  its  patronage  forms  the  main  sup- 
port of  the  theatre,  the  ruin  of  the  drama  is  in- 
evitable  and  at  hand.  This  change  was  accel- 
erated, and  perhaps  prematurely  brought  on  in 
this  country,  by  the  well-meant  and  sincere  but 
unfortunate  prejudices  of  a  large  and  respecta- 
ble portion  of  society,  which  withdrew  alto- 
gether from  our  theatres,  from  a  natural  feeling 
of  indignation  at  the  immorality  of  some  of  its 
dramas,  and  the  license  of  many  of  its  acces- 
sories. There  can  be  no  doubt  it  would  be 
well  if  these  abuses  could  be  corrected  ;  and  it 
would  also  be  well  if  corruption  could  be  ban- 
ished from  literature,  vice  from  the  world.  Un- 
fortunately, the  one  is  not  more  likely  to  happen 
than  the  other.  Both  spring  from  the  universal 
corruption  of  our  nature,  and  will  cease  when 
we  are  no  longer  children  of  Adam,  but  not  till 
then.  The  only  effect  of  this  portion  of  society 
withdrawing  from  our  theatres  has  been  that 
their  direction  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
unscrupulous.  Their  support  of  the  profligate, 
and  the  licentious  character  of  their  represent- 
ations, have  in  consequence  been  greatly  in- 
creased. We  can  not  destroy  the  art  of  £s- 
cJiylus,  Shakspeare,  and  Schiller,  but  we  may 
alter  its  character  and  degrade  its  direction ; 
5uid  the  unhappy  result  of  the  respectable  class- 
es withdrawing  from  the  theatre  has  been  too 


often  to  convert  what  might  be,  at  least  oc- 
casionally, the  school  of  virtue  into  the  academj 
of  vice. 

Society  in  the  higher  classes  underwent  a 
great  change  in  England  during  the 
year  subscciuent  to  the  peace,  and  The  exciu- 
from  the  same  cause  which  induced  sivc  sysiea 
the  decline  of  the  drama.  During  in  society: 
the  twenty  years  that  the  war  had  "^  '^''"'"'*- 
lasted,  great  fortunes  had  been  made  in  agri 
culture,  the  law,  trade,  and  commerce ;  and 
numbers  of  persons  had  risen  to  affluence  and 
distinction  in  society,  many  of  whom  had  been 
ennobled,  who  were  not  equal  in  birth,  manners, 
or  refinement,  to  those  among  whom  they  were 
now  introduced.  The  glorious  victories  and 
unparalleled  successes  of  the  army  in  the  latter 
years  of  the  contest  had  led  to  numerous  chiv- 
alrous honors  being  bestowed  on  its  veteran 
commanders,  some  of  whom,  however  gallant 
or  able  in  the  field,  were  rather  saddle  than 
carpet  knights,  and  better  fitted  to  wrest  stand- 
ards from  the  enemy  than  to  win  smiles  from 
ladies  fair  in  drawing-rooms.  From  this  inter- 
mixture of  society,  and  extensive  introduction 
of  a  new  class  into  its  highest  circles,  arose 
another  species  of  aristocracy — that  of  fashion 
— self-elected,  but  universally  bowed  to,  which 
deserves  mention  even  in  a  work  of  general 
history,  from  the  important  political  consequen- 
ces by  which  it  was  followed.  Beyond  all 
question,  the  Exclusive  System  was  one  of  the 
remote  causes  of  the  Reform  BiU. 

It  was  very  natural,  and  not  to  be  wondered 
at,  that  the  ancient  aristocracy,  who  gg 
saw  their  hereditary  and  long-acknowl-  us  great 
edged  domain  invaded  by  a  host  of  in-  effect  on 
truders,  many  of  whom  were  better  society. , 
provided  with  wealth  to  dazzle  than  manners 
or  accomplishments  to  adorn  it,  should  endeavor 
to  arrange  themselves  in  an  interior  and  more 
limited  circle,  to  which  the  only  passport  should 
be  the  possession  of  some  qualities  which  added 
to  the  lustre  or  enhanced  the  charms  of  society. 
It  was  like  the  garrison  of  a  fortified  town, 
driven  from  the  external  walls,  taking  refuge 
behind  the  ramparts  of  the  citadel.  The  beauty, 
charms,  and  accomplishments  of  the  ladies  of 
high  rank  and  distinction,  who  were  at  the  head 
of  this  exclusive  circle,  soon  rendered  its  at- 
traction universal,  their  own  influence  irresist- 
ible. Mere  wealth  was  wholly  inadequate  to 
procure  admission  to  it ;  rank  even  the  highest, 
if  unaccompanied  by  other  qualifications,  as 
little  :  the  carriages  of  duchesses  were  to  be 
seen  waiting  at  the  doors  of  the  ladies'  patron- 
esses of  Almacks,  where  marchionesses  and 
countesses  presided  over  the  distribution  of  the 
tickets.  The  highest  fame  and  consideration 
in  the  other  sex  were  equally  unable  to  resist 
the  ascendant  of  fashion — the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton and  Lord  Castlereagh  bowed,  perhaps  not 
unwillingly,  to  its  influence.  Yet  even  here  the 
changes  which  recent  events  had  introduced 
into  society  were  conspicuous  ;  the  ancient  pre- 
rogatives of  birth  were  often  broken  through 
from  the  influence  of  modern  distinction,  and 
genius  obtained  an  entrance  when  hereditary 
rank  was  excluded.  Literature  was  speedily 
influent  ed  by  this  new  power  which  had  arisen 
in  the  metropoUs,  and  a  host  of  novels  appeared, 
professing  to  paint  tlie  manners  of  the  esclu- 


Chap,  v.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


16: 


.sives  and  the  penetralia  of  that  inner  shrine,  of 
which  so  many  were  the  devout  worshipers,  but 
so  few  the  initiat^jd  priesthood.  Meanwhile  its 
attractions  were  magnified,  as  is  always  the 
case,  by  the  imaginations  of  those  who  were 
shut  out  from  the  magic  circle  ;  and  discontent 
and  jealousy  spread  widely  through  society  from 
the  injustice  thought  to  have  been  committed 
upon  many  of  its  members.  The  important  po- 
litical effects  of  this  feeling  will  abundantly  ap- 
pear in  the  sequel  of  this  history. 

During  the  fifteen  years  which  immediately 
gg  followed  the  peace,  the  tendency  be- 
Increasing  came  very  apparent  in  young  men  of 
liberalism  rank  to  adopt  Liberal  opinions,  and 
er  ranks^**'  ^^"S^  themselves  in  politics  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  side  which  their  fathers 
had  adopted.  So  far  did  this  tendeacy  spread, 
that  although  during  the  war  fully  two  thirds 
of  the  House  of  Peers  had  been  of  the  Conserva- 
tive party,  before  the  Reform  Bill  was  carried 
it  had  become  doubtful  whether  they  had  a  ma- 
jority. This  important  change  arose  doubtless 
in  part  from  the  natural  tendency  to  reaction  in 
the  human  mind,  against  the  strong  bias  to 
monarchical  opinions  which  had  been  induced 
in  Great  Britain  by  the  horrors  of  the  Revolu- 
tion in  the  neighboring  kingdom.  Opinion  had 
been  bent  so  far  one  way,  that  now,  in  the  next 
generation,  it  inclined  equally  far  the  other. 
But  it  was  in  a  great  degree,  also,  owing  to  the 
influence  of  the  foreign  travehng  which  at  that 
period  prevailed  so  widely  among  the  young 
men  of  this  country.  Long  shut  out  from  it  by 
the  war,  the  youth  of  Great  Britain  rushed  in 
crowds  to  the  Continent  on  the  return  of  peace ; 
and,  being  in  great  part  recently  escaped  from 
college,  or  emancipated  from  parental  control, 
they  were  just  at  the  age  when  new  ideas  most 
easily  find  an  entrance  into  the  mind,  and  for- 
eign influences  are  most  powerful.  Wherever 
they  went,  except  in  Vienna,  they  found  Liberal 
opinions  in  a  large  portion  of  the  higher  ranks 
in  the  ascendant,  and  the  most  agreeable  houses 
and  charming  society  deeply  imbued  with  them. 
These  influences,  with  young  men  of  ardent 
minds  and  generous  dispositions,  often  proved 
irresistible  ;  the  new  opinions  only  appeared  the 
more  attractive  because  they  were  new ;  and 
the  sons  of  many  sturdy  peers,  whose  fathers 
had  spent  their  lives  in  combating  the  democrat- 
ic principle,  gave  way  to  its  sway  under  the  in- 
fluence of  French  Liberalism  or  the  smiles  of 
Italian  beauty. 

This  tendency  in  so  many  of  the  younger  part 
jQQ  of  the  f^nglish  aristocracy,  at  this 

'nfluence  in  period,  was  much  increased  by  the 
flocieiy  of  the  extraordinary  attractions  presented 
homieai^^'^  by  the  society  in  several  of  the  lead- 
ing Whig  hou.sos.  Holland  House, 
Devonshire  House,  Lansdowne  House,  Wohurn 
Abbey,  and  several  other  mansions  of  the  Whig 
nobility,  both  in  the  provinces  and  the  metrop- 
olis, collected  a  circle  and  exhibited  attrac- 
tions such  as  never  before  had  been  seen  in 
English  society.  Intimate,  from  their  rank  and 
connections,  with  the  highest  aristocratic  fam- 
ilies, they  did  not,  like  the  exclusives,  confine 
their  attentions  to  their  members  alone.  They 
nought  out  and  encouraged  talent  in  every  de- 
partment, whether  at  tbc  i)ar,  the  senate,  in  lit- 
wature,  science  or  art.    They  bcs'owcd  on  the 


rising  or  eminent  in  their  department  the  flat- 
tery which,  of  all  others,  is  the  most  seductive 
to  talent  less  favored  by  birth  or  fortune — a 
momentary  equality  with  those  to  whom,  in 
both  respects,  she  had  been  most  propitious. 
It  was  very  difficult  for  young  men,  whose  gen 
ius  had  raised  them  much  above  the  position  in 
society  in  which  they  had  been  born,  to  resist 
the  attraction  of  a  society  in  which  Lady  Hol- 
land and  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  Macaulay  and 
Landseer,  Jeffrey  and  Chantrey,  were  to  be  met 
at  dinner ;  where  Moore  sang  his  bewitching 
melodies  with  still  more  bewitching  right  hon- 
orables  in  the  evening,  and  the  lustre  of  the 
most  splendid  assemblies  or  balls  closed  the 
scene  of  enchantment.  Incessant  were  the  ef- 
forts made  by  the  Whig  party,  in  the  interval 
between  the  close  of  the  war  and  the  passing 
of  the  Reform  Bill,  to  recruit  their  ranks  with 
the  most  rising  young  men,  of  whatever  side,  by 
their  attractions ;  and  to  the  success  with  which 
they  were  attended,  the  progressive  rise  in  the 
strength  of  the  Liberal  party  in  both  Houses  of 
Parliament,  during  that  period,  is  in  no  slight 
degree  to  be  ascribed.  There  are  Armidas  in 
the  political  as  well  as  the  military  world  ;  and 
the  charms  of  genius,  the  smiles  of  beauty,  by 
withdrawing  the  most  stalwart  knights  from 
their  own  side  in  the  conflict,  have  prolonged 
or  decided  many  other  contests  besides  those 
around  the  walls  of  Troy  or  the  ramparts  of 
Jerusalem. 

The  Tories  at  that  period  had  no  correspon  '- 
ing  attraction  on  the  other  side  to  loi. 

present ;  and  to  the  want  of  this  Which  was 

the  decline  in  their  numbers,  and  ?J;^"i,'"^  °" 
,  ..  ^  z-  ^1     ■        1,  the  Conserva 

desertion  of  many  of  their  adher-  tive  side : 

ents  in  Parliament,  is  in  some  de-  causes  of  the 
gree  to  be  ascribed.  The  same  difference, 
has  long  been  observed  in  English  society ;  for 
nearly  a  century,  the  principal  houses  where 
the  aristocracy  of  rank  and  talent  were  united 
had  been  those  of  the  great  Whig  nobility.  The 
reverse  has  only  begun  to  take  place  since  the 
Tories  were  excluded  from  power  by  the  effects 
of  the  Reform  Bill,  and  they  have  been  driven 
by  necessity  to  the  alliance  with  talent,  from 
which  their  opponents  had  derived  so  much 
benefit.  The  reason  is  founded  in  the  nature 
of  things  ;  and  the  relative  position  of  the  twc 
parties  will  be  found,  in  similar  circumstances, 
to  be  of  permanent  influence.  The  Tories  being 
the  dominant  party,  w-tiich  had  been  long  in 
power,  and  rested  on  the  support  of  the  great 
bulk  of  the  property  in  the  kingdom,  which  at 
that  period  influenced  the  House  of  (4)mmons 
through  the  nomination  borouglis,  they  not  only 
did  not  require  the  aid  of  genius,  but  they  were 
averse  to  it.  They  dreaded  the  influence  of  a 
rival  power,  which  they  feared  might  one  day 
wrest  from  them  their  exclusive  domain.  Tliey 
desired  the  aid  of  talent,  but  it  was  of  talent 
entirely  subservient  to  their  views  and  devoted 
to  their  purpo.se.s — that  is,  of  talent  emasculated 
and  rendered  inca[)al)le  of  permanently  direct- 
ing or  iiiflu('ncing  mankind. 

'I'bc  ^V'lllgs  had  no  such  jealwjsy  or  appre- 
hensions.    (Jut  of  power,  they  had  ,qj 
no  f(;ars  of  being  compromised  by  and  advunt- 
the  imprudence  of  their  support-  acrofthc 
ers  ;  in  a  minority  in  Parliament,  }J'JI,'j!'^'', '"  "*'* 
they  were  fain  to  obtain  the  aid  of 


reMpecl 


iC6 


nisi()K\   oi  i: i: :u;  1' K. 


[(    IIAP     V. 


any  |Ki\vor  whirh  eoiilil  aiil  ihiMu  m  naiiiin^,'  n 
majority  'I'lunoo  u  liiiiji-i-oiitimicil  alliaiu'c  hc- 
twofii  the  powers  ormtcllrcl  ami  tin'  iiriiifiplcs 
of  lilu'ralism.  ofwliirli  tlic  tllifls  will  aiM|ily  lu- 
unldlili-d  III  the  .s('()ut'l  of  tins  work.  Ilnth  par- 
lies icit  the  Ix'iielit  ol' a  iinioii  into  wliieli  liotli 
luul  hein  driven  Ity  necessity,  anil  eaili  was 
likely  to  »'X|K'rienee  the  advantage,  llul  tlio  nl- 
liaiiec  was  not  destined  to  he  per|)etual ;  it 
ceased  with  the  vietory  whieh  their  united 
^treiiKlh  hail  aeliieved.  'I'lie  revolution  in 
France  of  is;t0,  m  Kiijjlaiui  oIlSUC,  dissolved  it 
in  both  eoiintnes  'J'he  reaelion  of  the  slreii;,'th 
ill  inind  against  the  despotism  of  miiiihers  then 
bewail  on  hoih  sides  til'  the  Channel ;  it  was  dis- 
eovered  that  the  tyranny  of  nuiubers  is  even 
more  oppressive  than  that  ol  a  inonareh  or  an 
xrisloeiaey.  Tlu*  eause  ol"  hninanity  and  Iree- 
Juiii  was  lost,  il  the  powers  ollhouj-lit  hail  lol- 


lowed  the  >;eneral  hent,  and  Haltered  the  riilinj; 
liuiltitiide  as  niiieh  as  its  syeophanlish  lollower^ 
then  did,  or  eoiirliers  had  done  kinj^s  in  loriner 
days  lint,  in  that  crisis,  Mind  remained  trim 
to  ilsell',  and  reasserted  its  orijjmal  ilestiny  as 
the  leailir  id"  maiikmd.  Intellect  rallied  itsell 
iiiidcrits  real  standard — thai  ol  the  hiiinaii  race, 
lieniiis.  Ion;;  a  siranyiT  to  the  cause  ol' order, 
resumed  her  place  hy  its  side  ;  slie  ^ave  to  a 
siiHeriiiK  what  she  had  reliised  to  a  ruling  |)ower. 
It  is  this  reaction  ol"  inilepenilenee  a;.'amsl  op- 
IMcssioii — the  power  ormind  against  tlii^  tyran- 
ny id  strength— the  I'oiee  of  intellect  a^^ainst 
the  domination  of  numliers,  winch  steadies  llio 
march  of  human  events,  and  renders  the  iiiis- 
rortuiies  ol"  one  a^e  the  means  at  once  ol"  in- 
slriiclm^'  the  w  isdom,  correcting  the  errors,  and 
mitijLiatiiif,'  iho  sull'erings  ol"  those  vhicli  soe- 
ceed  il. 


.816. 


HISTORY   OF    EUROPE. 


!«•' 


CHAPTER  VI. 

niSloav    OF    FRANCE    FKOM    TlIK    C<Ji;r    dV.TAT    OI--    SKI-IEMIiER    5,    181C,    70    HIE    CEEATICN    OF 

TEERS    IN    1819. 


Till-;  ruupd'elal  (if/jlli  Fcbruiiry,  ISKi,  wliich 
.  dissolved  (he  Chiunlier  of  iJopiitics, 

EfT'.i'.ts  of  ilic  I'l'l  cluinfjcd  the  clecloiul  .sy.slcin, 
coup  iVclnl  or  i.s  jrcncriilly  considered  as  tlic  cmii- 
&tli  Si:|it<;in-  iTicnfeniciit  (if  constitutional  irov- 
crnnicnt  in  1' rtince,  hceaii.so  it.  al- 
toicd  the  franchise,  and  remodeled  the  p()|(iihir 
liranch  of  the  lcf;ishiHire,  in  conlorinity  willi  tlic 
wish  ol'  tho  pojiular  party,  and  j^javo  them  the 
means,  by  the  annual  retirement  of  a  lilih  of  its 
members,  and  election  of  others  in  their  stead, 
of  permanently  briiigin<r  the  lef^Mslatiirc  into 
harmony  with  the  majority  of  the  electors.  As 
such,  it  has  received  the  most  uiKpialilicd  eulo- 
•riiitn  from  the  whole  L»l)cral  parly  of  France. 
Jt  i.s  true,  tho  number  of  electors,  com|)ared 
with  the  population,  was  small  ;  it  did  not 
amount  to  100,000,  out  of  :)0,000,000.  IJiit 
this  was  immaterial.  Jt  is  tho  cldss  from  which 
the  electors  who  return  an  assembly  vested  with 
supreme  power  which  is  tho  decisive  circum- 
stance. A  dfinorralic  olif^arcliy  of  electors  can 
return  an  assembly  whicdi  will  work  out  the  pur- 
poses of  Ue|)iiblicanism  as  eliectually  as  the 
most  numerous  body  of  constituents  :  sixty  thou- 
sand Liberals,  intrusted  with  the  ehu'lion  of  iIk; 
majority  of  tho  le<jislatiirc,  can  mould  the  meas- 
ures of  its  {,'overiimcnt  to  th(;ir  will  just  as  <;f- 
Cectually  as  six  millions.  Nay,  they  are  likely 
to  do  so  more  eliectually,  because,  bein<^  a 
smaller  body,  tlipy  arc  more  compa('t,  more 
docilo  to  the  directions  of  their  chiisls,  and  more 
likely  to  be  swayed  by  personal  ambition  or 
clas.s  interests,  than  a  lar<fcr  and  more  hetero- 
geneous multitude. 

Tho  suirraj^c  in  Franco  beinj;  founded  on  one 

2.  basis   only — viz.,   tho    payment   of 

Democratic       300  fnine's  direct  taxes  to  (Jovern- 

Da«iH  on  ,      .1       1-       .■  (•  .1       11 

wliicli  llin        mciil — Iho  direction  ot  the  lei^isla- 

elcclive  (run-  lure  fell  necessarily  into  tho  hands 
<:hiH<!  wa.s  of  a  majority  of  that  siuf^lv  class  of  so- 
fouridod.  ciety.    This  majority,  it  was  known 

from  tho  fax-odice  returns,  was  to  bo  found  in  jicr- 
sons  payin<i;  from  300  to  .OOO  francs  a  year  of  taxes 
(Irom  .Ci'-l  to  .L'M),  and  th(!y  formed,  ptuhaps, 
tho  most  daiif^'crous  class  in  tho  comiuunily,  if 
liistinif  mciiKures  were  looked  to.  'I'hcy  were 
not  so  likely  to  adopt  violent  measures,  in  the; 
outset,  as  a  body  ol'  elector.s  cmbraiMn<^  the  in- 
ferior classes  of  society  ;  but  lliey  wcro  mor(^ 
likely  to  follow  them  out  to  tho  end  ;  they  were 
less  hasty,  but  more  pc^rsevcring.  Tho  income 
of  persons  payiiij;  direct  taxes  to  this  amount 
was  from  XKlO  to  Xl'il)  u  year;  and  this  class 
was  invested  with  tho  entire  direction  of  the 
fttato.  They  formed  sixty  out  of  tho  ci;;hty  or 
ninety  thousand  electors  in  France.  A  lenisla- 
lure  tho  majority  of  which  was  composc^d  of 
per.sons  elected  by  such  a  body  of  small  proprie- 
tors, was  not  so  likely  to  be  thrcatciiiiif^  to  prop- 
erty a,s  to  |)ower;  there  was  no  daii^rcr  of  their 
not  attendini,'  to  their  own  interests,  but  ;,'rcat 
lisk  that  they  vvoidd  be  rc;4m(lless  of  the  inter- 


ests of  others.  Tiic  risk  was  not  that  tlicy  would 
su)iport  measures  subversive  of  prf)perty,  but 
that  they  would  pursue  a  system  which  would 
be  dan<,'erous  to  the  throne,  and  {jrnlify  their 
own  ambition  by  cstablishinff  a  rejiublicaii  Imiu 
of  government,  in  which  tliey  niif^ht  divide  tin- 
ollices  and  emoluments  amonff  themselves.  'I'hi^ 
accordin<rly  was  tho  result  which  actually  took 
place  ;  and  tho  history  of  France  durinfj  the  next 
year  is  nothing  but  that  of  a  continual  strup- 
f:le  of  the  Crown  with  tho  Lcfxislaturc  whicli, 
by  a  violent  stretch  of  tho  royal  prcro<rative, 
itself  had  called  into  existence. 

Louis  XVIII.  had  given  a  cordial  assent  to 
tho  ordinances  of  September  T), 
1810.*  Ho  was  more  npprehen-  ^i,,,  (.Jiictions 
sivc  at  that  period  of  tho  Ultra-:  of  1815,  ami 
Rovalists  than  of  the  Democrats;  mcasureHtak- 
1     "^1         11.1/'        »    11  A    .    ■  1   ^'"    t"  Hccuro 

he  dreaded  the  (-oiint  d  Artois  and  j^j.^ 

tho  Pavilion  Marsan  inoro  than 
either  the  .Jacobins  or  tlio  Napoleonists.  Every 
thinj!;-,  however,  depended  on  tho  elections: 
for,  as  the  (Government  had  now  unreservedly 
thrown  itself  upon  the  Liberal  party,  and  en- 
tirely broken  with  the  Royalists,  if  a  Jacobin 
Chamber  was  returned  it  might  at  once  lead  to 
the  overthrow  of  tho  monarchy.  The  greatest 
|)ains,  accordingly,  w(!ro  taken  to  secure  returns 
which  might  lucet  the  views  of  the  Govern- 
ment ;  and  the  King,  both  in  circulars  to  tho  pre- 
fects, and  in  verbal  audiences  given  to  the  heads 
of  tho  electoral  colleges,  did  his  utmost  to  im- 
press his  views  upon  them,  and,  by  their  means, 
ujjon  the  electors.  Concord  and  uiiuiiiuiity 
was  the  ])revailing  idea  in  the  royal  mind  ;  he 
thought  that  the  passions  of  the  Revolution 
might  bo  expected  to  subside  when  its  convul- 
sions had  ceased,  as  the  waves  of  tho  ocean 
subside  after  tho  storm  has  ceased  to  blow. 
■'  France,"  said  he,  to  one  of  the  eku-toral  pres- 
idents, M.  Ravi/.,  "has  unhappily  undergone  too 
many  convulsions;  it  has  need  of  repose.  To 
enjoy  it,  what  is  re(piired  is  a  body  of  represent- 
ative's attached  to  my  person,  to  tho  cause  of 
legitimacy,  and  to  the  charter;  but,  above  all, 
inod(M-ale  and  ])rudeiit.  Tho  department  of  tho 
(Jirondi',  to  which  vou  belong,  has  already  given 
me  many  proofs  ol  its  attachment  and  lidelity  : 
1  expect  fresh  ones  in  tho  elec'tions  about  to 
take  place.  Tell  them  that  it  is  a  good  old 
man  who  only  asks  them  to  make  his  last  day.i 
ha|)py  for  the  felicity  of  his  child-  ,  q  v  2  7- 
ren.    ' 

Tho  Royalists,  scnsililo  of  tho  danger  which 
impended   over  tho   monarchy,  and  that  every 


*  "  Uii  fIcH  riiomciiN  Uis  plus  hcuroux  ilo  mn  vie  n  614 
n.'liii  qui  11  huivi  la  vi^ito  tin  I'Einperuur  ilo  Husslu  on 
IHIH.  N(iri  Nciili'iMiiit  11  (!lnlt  rntri'j  ilium  toutcs  inc."*  pm- 
N(ic!H,  iwiin  il  iii<^  li'H  avail  diloH  nvniit  qiid  jVusso  fit  Ic 
tempM  (In  li's  ciiirUri'.  II  avail  liaiilciiii'iil  apprimvo  le 
HyMlciiii!  ill!  Kiiiivrrnriiiriil  i:l  la  lii^iir  ili*  iiiiiiliiili'  ipi<!  y 
Hiiin,  (li'piiiH  ipir  jr  nil-  muIn  ilrlcriMJiii  a  nnilri!  rniiloii- 
iiaiiiT  ilii  :•  .SrptiMil)rr."--.i;.S'.  i/c  l.oiiis  .Will.;  (All 
MlJUli,  IV.  'M'i'J. 


168 


HISTORY    OF    EUIIOPK. 


iliin^  ilojicnJeil  on  tho  result  of  the  elections, 
^  nmile  the  piealcst  elloits  to  secure 

Efloris  oi"  the  a  majority  in  their  favor.  They 
Kosaiisis  aid  foniieil  at  that  period  a  very  Jiowcr- 
Libcrals.  j-|||   \,^^\y .  „,„i  nclinir,  as  they  did, 

under  tho  directions  of  a  central  committee  of 
direction  in  Paris,  their  ellorts  were  tho  more 
likely  to  be  attended  with  success.  In  the  south 
and  west  of  France  they  were  all-powerful,  both 
from  tho  feelinn;  of  the  "people,  which  was  there 
monarchical  to  excess,  anil  from  nearly  the 
whole  ollii-ial  apptiintments  havinji  fallen  into 
their  hands  (kirin<i  tho  period  when  the  Count 
d'Artois,  on  the  suir2:cstion  of  the  local  Koyalist 
committees,  filled  them  up  with  the  most  de- 
termined men  of  their  party.  Secret  societies 
were  formed,  which  powerfully  contributed  to 
aid  the  same  cause,  and  which  p;overnment  in 
vain  endeavored  to  suppress.  So  stroncly  did 
"jcneral  opinion,  even  in  the  towns,  at  this  period 
run  in  favor  of  the  Royalist  party,  that  the  Dem- 
ocratic parly  every  where  took  refuge  under  the 
wings  of  the  ministerialists;  and  the  strange 
spectacle  was  exhibited  of  the  Government  func- 
tionaries generally  supporting  candidates  who 
were  avowedly  banded  together  to  overturn  the 
throne  !  So  true  it  is  that  the  greatest  and 
most  durable  popular  revolutions  receive  their 
first  impulse,  in  many  cases,  from  the  efforts  of 
the  executive.  The  reason  is  not  apparent  at 
first  sight,  but  when  once  stated,  its  force  be- 
comes very  apparent.  The  government  for  a 
time  allies  itself  with  the  democrats,  because, 
'Lac  ii  89-  for  a  brief  season,  this  relieves  it 
Cap.v.  10, 12;  of  its  opponents,  and  adjourns  the 
Lam.  vj.  140,  inevitable  conflict  to  a  future 
*^'-  lime.» 

The  ordinance  of  5th  September,  which  di- 
5  vided  the  electoral  colleges  into  two 

Result  of  the  parts — the  colleges  of  arrondisse- 
elections.  ment,  and  the   colleges  of  depart- 

ment— gave  great  advantages  to  the  ministerial 
party.  It  was  diflicult  to  suppose  that  the  Gov- 
ernment would  not  obtain  one  or  two  names  in 
each  list  of  candidates,  and  that  they  should  not 
have  sufficient  influence  to  get  their  candidates 
nominated  for  the  colleges  of  department ;  and 
this  accordingly,  in  a  great  many  instances,  took 
place.  Nevertheless,  so  strong  was  the  Royal- 
ist feeling  in  the  majority  of  the  rural  districts, 
and  so  well  organized  and  ably  conducted  their 
system  of  opposition,  that  in  a  great  many  in- 
stances they  succeeded  in  throwing  out  the  min- 
isterial candidate.  Nearly  the  whole  leaders  of 
the  Royalist  party  re-entered  tho  Chamber  by 
the  result  of  the  elections,  many  of  whom  the 
ministers  would  have  gladly  dispensed  with ; 
and  even  in  Paris  and  the  great  towns,  where 
the  ministerial  action  was  the  most  powerful  and 
most  strongly  exerted,  several  Royalists  were 
returned.  If  the  Chamber  had  been  retained  at 
its  former  number  of  39-1,  the  majority  would  still 
have  been  Royalist,  and  it  was  turned  the  other 
way  only  by  the  great  reduction  of  its  members 
to  260.  So  skillfully  had  this  reduction  been  ef- 
fected, and  so  weil-lbunded  the  local  information 
on  which  it  was  rested,  that  the  disfranchised 
places  and  classes  of  electors  were  for  the  most 
part  those  which  were  likely  to  return  the  most 
determined  Royalists;  and  those  on  the  Liberal 
tide  were,  comparatively  speaking,  left  untouch- 
ed.    The  result  was,  that  the  ministerialists  ob-  i 


[ClIAI-    VI. 

taincd  a  majority  in  tho  now  Chamber,  though 
not  so  considerable  as  they  had  expected.  Those 
of  tho  old  Chamber  rc-electcd  were  17  1  :  SG 
were  new  members,  and  1 15  of  the  former  legis- 
ture  were  thrown  out,  cither  by  being  defeated 
at  the  poll,  or  from  having  not  attained  tho 
legal  age  of  10  years.  Among  tho  j  j^j^^,  jj  p,j 
latter  was  M.  Decazcs,  whom  the  90 ;  Cap.v.  16^ 
king  in  consequence  determined  to  17 ;  Lam.  vi 
raise  to  the  peerage.'  ^'^^'  '■*'• 

After  tho  couptTetat  of  5th  September,  the  cab- 
inet was  completely  united.  Tho  6. 
greatest  cflbrts  were  made  to  sus-  Internal  rov- 
tain  the  revenue  ;  and,  by  incredi-  """'f"'  /"v"^ 
ble  exertions,  all  the  stipulated  ofsth  Sepiem- 
payments  to  the  allied  sovereigns  btr. 
and  the  public  creditors  were  made  good  ;  but 
it  was  done  by  such  sacrifices  as  demonstrated 
the  extreme  financial  embarrassment  of  the 
country.  The  Five  per  Cents  were  at  57  and 
58 ;  the  exchequer  bills  were  still  negotiable, 
but  at  a  very  heavy  discount.  It  was  by  means 
of  loans,  however,  that  the  Treasury  obligations 
could  alone  be  made  good,  and  the  capitalists  of 
Paris  declared  themselves  unequal  to  the  relief 
of  the  necessities  of  Government.  In  this  ex- 
tremity, recourse  was  had  to  foreign  assistance; 
and,  after  great  difficulties,  a  large  loan  was 
concluded  with  Messrs.  Hope  and  Baring,  by 
which  the  immediate  necessities  of  Government 
were  relieved,  though  at  a  heavy  rate  of  inter- 
est. The  cabinet  unanimously  agreed  on  the 
necessity  of  maintaining  tho  laws  restraining 
the  liberty  of  tho  press,  and  establishing  the 
Prevotal  Courts  ;  but  instructions  were  sent  to 
the  presidents  and  prefects  to  diminish  the  pros- 
ecutions, and  lessen  the  severity  of  punish- 
ments. At  the  same  time,  a  more  liberal  sys. 
tern  was  established  in  the  army.  The  Duke 
do  Feltre  received  instructions  to  be  more  in- 
dulgent in  the  granting  of  commissions  :  several 
were  bestowed  on  the  relatives  of  Liberal  lead- 
ers ;  and  the  half-pay  officers,  recently  the  ob- 
jects of  so  much  jealousy,  were  cautiously  re- 
admitted to  the  ranks.  The  princes  of  the  blood 
vied  with  each  other  in  endeavors  to  conciliate 
this  important  branch  of  the  public  service  ;  and 
frequent  reviews,  and  periodical  visits  to  the 
barracks  and  hospitals  of  the  troops,  revealed 
their  anxious  desire  to  conciliate  the  affections 
of  the  men.  A  general  order  from  the  minister 
at  war  directed  that  each  legion  in  succession 
should  be  called  to  the  service  of  the  capital ; 
while  the  utmost  pains  were  bestowed  on  the 
composition,  both  in  officers  and  men,  of  the 
Guards.  Every  thing  indicated  that  the  Gov- 
ernment was  preparing  for  the  time  when  the 
allied  troops,  which  occupied  the  frontier  for- 
tresses, were  to  be  withdrawn,  and  the  Govern- 
ment was  to  be  left  to  rest  alone  on  1  Lac  jj  90 
the  loyalty  of  the  people,  and  fidel-  91 ;  Cap.  v.  23. 
ity  of  the  army.'                                   ^''• 

But  in  the  midst  of  these  useful  and  honorable 
labors,  a  new  difficulty  arose,  which  ^ 

was  the  more  hard  to  guard  against  Grrat  distress 
that  it  arose  not  from  the  act  of  in  France  in 
man,  but  the  direct  dispensation  of  Jo^^'^TL"'^''  *^ 
the  Almighty.  The  summer  and 
autumn  of  TsiC,  beyond  all  precedent  cold  and 
rainy  in  all  the  northern  parts  of  Europe,  were 
in  an  especial  manner  impropitious  in  Franco 
Nearly  incessant  rains  during  the  whole  of  July 


1816.J 


HISTORY-   OF   EUROPE 


169 


August,  and  September,  entirely  flooded  the  low  i  the  measures  which  were  most  likely  to  insure 


grounds  adjoining  the  rivers,  and  almost  de 
stroj-ed  the  crops  on  their  banks  ;  and,  even  in 
dry  situations,  the  harvest  was  essentially  in- 
jured by  the  long  continued  wet.  But  for  the 
potato  crop,  which  fortunately  in  that  year  was 
very  abundant,  famine  with  all  its  horrors  would 
have  been  superadded  to  the  other  ills  of  France. 
As  it  was,  prices  rose  rajiidly ;  and  the  holders 
of  grain,  anticipating  a  still  greater  advance  of 
prices,  kept  up  their  stocks,  and  supplies  in  very 
uisulHiient  quantities  were  brought  to  market. 
M.  Laine,  upon  whom,  as  minister  of  the  in- 
terior, the  duty  of  facing  this  dreadful  calamity 
principally  fell,  did  his  utmost  to  assuage  the 
public  distress,  and  granaries  were  established 
in  the  most  distressed  parts  of  the  kingdom, 
where  corn  was  sold  by  Government  to  the  most 
dest.tute  of  the  people  at  a  reduced  price.  But, 
in  s-pite  of  every  thing  that  could  be  done,  the 
suffering  was  extreme  :  prices  rose  to  more  than 
double  their  average  level,  and  in  many  parts  of 
the  kingdom  numbers  perished  of  actual  want. 
In  these  distressing  circumstances  the  benefi- 
cence of  the  king  and  the  royal  family  shone 
forth  with  the  brightest  lustre  :  their  names 
were  to  be  seen  at  the  head  of  all  subscriptions 
in  every  part  of  the  country :  and  such  was  their 
unwearied  benevolence  that  it  might  have  soft- 
ened down  many  asperities,  and  extinguished 
many  animosities,  if,  in  a  country  heated  by  the 
I  Cap.  V.  25  fervor  of  a  revolution,  any  thing 
26;Lac.  U.95,  could  have  this  eflect  but  the  grat- 
^^-  ification  of  its  passions.' 

The  Chamber  met  on  the  5th  October,  and 
g  the  opening  speech  of  the  king  was 

Opening  of  the  deeply  tinged  by  the  disastrous  cir- 
Chambers.  cumstances  in  which  the  country 
*^*^'-^-  was  placed.     "Painfully  affected," 

said  he,  "by  the  privations  which  the  people 
are  suffering  in  consequence  of  the  inclemency 
of  the  season,  the  king  feels  still  greater  regret 
at  being  unable  to  hold  out  any  prospect  of  an 
alleviation  of  the  public  burdens.  He  feels  that 
the  first  necessity  of  the  people  is  economy,  and 
he  has  endeavored  to  introduce  it  into  every 
branch  of  the  public  service.  My  family  and 
myself  will  make  the  same  sacrifices  as  last 
year;  and  to  enable  me  to  conduct  the  govern- 
ment, I  rely  on  your  attachment  to  my  person 
and  to  our  common  country.''  He  concluded  by 
expressing  his  firm  determination  to  uphold  the 
charter,  and  never  permit  the  smallest  infringe- 
j  ment  of  its  fundamental  provisions. 

Oct  0  1816.  "  ^^y  ordinance  of  5th  September, 
181G,  says  it  sutliciently.''* 
When  the  Chamber  was  constituted  and  pro- 
ceeded to  business,  the  vast  change 
made  in  the  representation,  eflected 
by  the  ordinance  of  5th  September, 
was  at  once  apparent.  The  Roy- 
alists, who  composed  so  large  a 
majority  in  the  former  Chamber,  were  now  re- 
duced lo  a  mmority  of  eighty  mcmbcr.s,  who, 
howevei,  were  formidable,  as  all  similarly  con- 
stitnted  bodies  are  in  a  deliberative  assembly, 
from  1]l>*at  unanimity  of  opinion,  their  perfect 
discipliae,  and  docile  obedience  to  the  voice  of 
their  cliief.  Having  lost  the  command  of  the 
ChamLujr,  and  the  direction  of  the  (Jovcrnment, 
they  h&d  recourse  to  the  pen,,jc,  and  on  every 
occasion  advanced  the  ojiinions  and  su[)portcd 


State  or  pa/' 
ties  in  tht 
Chamber  »^ 
DeputleH. 


their  popularity,  even  with  the  opponents  of  their 
general  system  of  government.  Their  leaders 
in  the  Assembly  were  M.  de  Villele  and  M.  de 
Corbiere,  and  none  could  be  more  skillful  in  the 
lead  of  such  an  opposition;  but  it  was  not  there 
that  their  real  strength  was  to  be  found.  The 
real  strength  of  the  party  was  the  press  :  its  ef- 
fective leaders  the  great  writers.  M.  de  Cha- 
teaubriand and  I\I.  de  Frioee,  powerfully  sup 
ported  their  side  by  the  united  powers  of  genius 
and  eloquence;'  and  so  powerful  are 
these  weapons,  and  so  overjoyed  the  ^^'  ^'  ' 
people  to  see  them  ever  ranged  on  their  side 
against  the  Government,  that  they  very  soon 
acquired  great  popularity,  and  an  influence  in 
the  Assembly  altogether  disproportioned  to  theii 
numerical  strength. 

The  Centre,  as  it  is  called  in  French  parlia- 
mentary language,  was  the  most  nu-  jq. 
merous  and  important  body  in  the  As-  Centre  and 
sembly,  because,  by  its  inclining  to  ^^'^• 
the  side  of  Ministers  or  the  Opposition,  it  at 
once  determined  the  measures  of  government 
and  the  fate  of  administration.  It  was  divided 
into  the  Centre  Droit  and  the  Centre  Gauche, 
according  as  its  members  inclined  to  the  extreme 
royalist  or  democratic  opinions;  but,  in  general, 
it  supported  the  measures  of  Government,  partly 
from  patriotic  feelings,  partly  from  an  instinctive 
dread  of  any  decisive  measures  which  might  be 
attended  with  important  changes.  M.  Laine 
was  the  most  distinguished  man  of  this  party: 
and  to  insure  its  support,  the  chief  members  of 
Administration,  among  whom  may  be  reckoned 
MM.  Pasquier  and  Bignon,  besides  INI.  Lainu 
himself,  were  taken  from  it.  The  Centre  Gauche 
was  chiefly  distinguished  by  M.  Camille  Jour- 
dan,  and  M.  de  Courvoisier,  whose  abilities  and 
eloquence  caused  them  always  to  be  listened  to 
in  the  Assembly,  though  their  practical  acquaint- 
ance with  business  was  not  such  as  to  cause 
their  being  taken  into  the  Administration.  In 
the  extreme  Left,  which  mustered  about  sixty 
votes,  M.  Lafitte,  a  great  banker  in  Paris,  who 
afterward  became  celebrated,  and  M.  Roycr 
d'Argenson,  were  the  acknowledged  leaders, 
but  such  was  now  the  strange  confusion  of  par- 
ties in  the  Assembly,  that  they  were  much  more 
frequently  acting  in  support  of  Ministers  than  in 
alliance  with  the  Royalist  opposition.  Tiie  dif- 
ferent parties  came  to  a  trial  of  strength  on  the 
choice  of  a  president.  MM.  de  Scrres  and 
Pasquier,  who  were  supported  by  the  Ministers 
and  Centre,  had  respectively  112  and  102  votes; 
while  tiic  Royalist  candidate,  M.  de  a  cap.  v.  36 
Corbiere,  had  only  70. *  43,  43. 

The  first  important  legislative  measure  of  th« 
session  was  an  act  brought  forward 
by  Ministers  to  legali/e  the  preccd-  j^„^  oi  piec- 
ing election,  and  obtain  the  sane-  tions  of  5tli 
tion  of  all  the  branches  of  the  le<ris-  February, 
laturo  to  the  royal  ordinance  of  5th     ^ 
September,  ISIG.     There  was  an  obvious   ab- 
surdity in  an  assembly,  elected  by  a  royal  ordi- 
nance, proceeding,  as  its  first  act,  to  pass  a  law 
legalizing  its  oifii  appointtncnt,  and  declaring  it 
to  be  the  law  in  future ;  but  so  accustomed  were 
the  French  to  cotips  d'etat  that  they  saw  nothing 
incongruous  in  this  proceeding — arid  |)(Mliii|is,  in 
the  circumstances,  when  a  stretch  on  tiio  part 
of  the  ("lown  had  been  committed,  there  was  M 


no 


HISTORY    ()!•'    Kl'KorK 


[CiiAr.  VI 


othor  wiw  of  ccttinij  linck  to  loj,'iil  nicnsnrcSj 
To  support  tlio  ministtM-liil  measures,  returns 
were  obtained  from  liillereiit  departments  of  tho 
number  ot'  persons  emit  led  to  the  Irnnchise 
under  the  ordinance  ol  r)th  iSeplemher,  and  they 
amounted  to  00,S7S,  payiiiij  i^OO  iVanes  of  direct 
taxes;  and  Ui,0r)'2,  jiavinsi  1(100  francs  yearly. 
It  was  evident,  thcrelore,  that  thoiigh  the  suf- 
fraije  was  very  limited  in  point  of  numbers,  yet 
the  majority  of  that  number  was  decidedly  dem- 
ocratic; for  out  of  the  whole  90.000,  no  less  than 
00,000  were  jicrsons  payinji  from  300  to  SOO 
francs  of  direct  taxes  yearly  (.£12  to  .£"-0),  which 
corresponds  to  incomes  of  I'rom  2500  to  4000 
francs  (from  .£100  to  illCO);  being,  perhaps, 
the  most  democratic  portion  of  the  community. 
The  ministerial  project  was,  that  every  Frcnch- 
uuin  ajicd  thirty  years,  and  payinjr  300  francs 
yearly  of  direct  taxes,  should  be  entitled  to  the 
siiilVage;  that  the  prefect  was  to  prepare  the 
electoral  lists,  and  decide  appeals  afjainst  his 
judgment  in  his  council,  the  courts  of  law  de- 
termining such  as  depended  on  legal  questions. 
Every  department  was  to  have  one  electoral 
college,  which  was  to  meet  at  the  chief  place  of 
its  bounds:  it  was  to  sit  ten  days  to  receive  the 
votes,  and  to  be  presided  over  by  a  chairman 
:ipi)ointcd  by  the  king;  and  if  more  than  COO 
electors  required  to  vote  at  any  college,  it  was 
to  be  divided  into  two  or  more  sections.  The 
,  Monitcur  debates  on  this  project  began  on 
Dec  26  and  the  20th  December,  and  elicited 
27,  lS16;Cap.  arjiuments  of  the  highest  historical 
'  ^'^'  •'^-  importance.' 

On  the  part  of  the  Government  it  was  urged 
j2  by  M.  Royer  CoUard,  M.  de  Serres, 

drgument  of  and  M.  Camille  Jourdan:  "The 
.lie  ministers  ruling  principle  of  this  project  is 
.11  support  of  ,Q  {jrj„„  j(^g  electoral  law  into  bar- 
tiic   incisure.  " 

mony,  as  nearly  as  possible,  with  the 

charter  :  unless  we  adhere  to  that  landmark,  we 
have  no  chance  of  avoiding  being  lost  in  a  sea 
of  speculation  and  innovation.  Now,  the  char- 
ter leaves  no  doubt  on  the  matter;  it  expressly 
declares  that  the  electoral  right  shall  be  bestowed 
on  every  Frenchman  paying  300  francs  of  direct 
taxes;  that  the  elections  shall  be  direct,  and  by 
one  degree  only.  The  double  election — first  by 
arrondissement,  and  then  by  department — is  infi- 
nitely more  complicated,  and  exposed  to  the 
action  of  corruption  and  intrigue.  It  is  prepos- 
terous to  suppose  that  a  law  which  confines  the 
sullrage  to  90,000  out  of  30,000,000  of  inhabit- 
ants, is  too  democratic.  At  the  same  time,  the 
electors  by  department  will  be  sufficiently  nu- 
merous to  render  bribery  or  undue  influence 
impossible.  In  every  point  of  view,  therefore, 
the  project  is  both  safe  and  expedient — protective 
to  liberty,  and  yet  not  endangering  to  monarchy. 
"Had  the  charter  stopped  short  with  laying 
down  certain  vague  principles  for  the 
Continued,  elections,  some  difficulty  might  have 
been  experienced  in  the  details  of  any 
measure  intended  to  carry  it  into  effect;  but  the 
charter  has  relieved  us  of  this  difficulty — for  it 
lias  pronounced  on  all  questions  that  can  arise 
in  their  fullest  extent.  It  has  declared  that 
there  shall  be  deputies  by  department,  and  nei- 
ther more  nor  less;  that  every  Frenchman  pay- 
ing 300  francs  a  year  of  direct  taxes,  shall  be 
admitted  to  the  franchise.  These  arc  precisely 
ttie  bases  of  the  proposed  law.     The   Elective 


Chninbcr  is  inleiuhvl  lo  represent  the  naticn,  it; 
opinion.-',  and  its  wants;  and  for  that  very  rea- 
son, all  those  who  fulfill  the  prescribed  conditions 
are  ipso  facto  electors.  Nothing  is  said  of  pri- 
mary elections,  lor  this  plain  reason,  that  thc^ 
are  not  mentiimcd  in  the  charter.  It  has  wisely 
closed  that  lield  of  discord,  so  fatally  ensan- 
guined during  so  many  years.  The  projected 
law,  then,  is  the  complement  of  the  charter:  it 
carries  into  execution,  and  brings  out  in  detail, 
the  principles  which  it  has  announced.  It  is  its 
principle,  its  life,  its  movement :  it  should  influ- 
ence all  our  destinies.  If  a  wider  field  were 
opened  for  ourdiscussion — if  wc  were  not  chained 
to  the  charter — much  might  perhaps  be  ad- 
vanced in  favor  of  a  double  degree  of  election, 
and  the  admission  of  an  inferior  number.  Tho 
only  danger  of  the  proposed  system  is,  that  it 
reposes  on  too  limited  a  base — that  it  does  not 
sufficiently  secure  the  interests  of  the  masses. 
But  to  object  to  it  on  the  ground  of  i  Monitgyr 
its  not  being  sufficiently  protective  Jan.  I,  and  2, 
of  the  monarchy  is,  of  all  unfounded  ^^'^\''  *^ap.  v. 
objections,  the  most  untenable. '''  '  ''■ 

To  these  arguments,  which  sufficiently  dem  ■ 
onstrated  that  the  Centre  was  en-  h. 

listed  on  the  side  of  the  ministerial  Answer  by  the 
measure,  it  was  replied  on  the  part  l^oi'^''*'**. 
of  the  Royalists,  by  M.  Villele,  M.  Dceazes,  and 
M.  de  Castelbajae ;  "It  is  an  entire  mistake  to 
suppose  that  the  circumstance  of  the  electoral 
sufl'rage  being  confined  to  persons  paying  300 
francs  of  direct  taxes  is  a  sufficient  security  for 
the  monarchy  The  elections  will  be  determined 
by  the  persons  paying  iVom  300  to  500  francs  of 
direct  taxes  annually  (£12  to  £50),  and  they 
are  the  most  democratic  portion  of  the  commu- 
nity. The  great  proprietors  will  have  no  influ- 
ence; the  immense  body  of  the  peasant  propri- 
etors and  working  classes  as  little.  Is  this  a 
proper  representation  of  a  country  at  once  agri- 
cultural and  commercial;  rich  in  great  names 
and  historical  recollections — richer  still  in  mod- 
ern energy  and  glory?  Such  a  law,  instead  of 
being  imposed  upon  us  by  the  charter,  is  only 
fit  to  destroy  the  institutions  and  the  guarantees 
which  it  has  given  us.  The  charter  has  not 
intrusted  the  exclusive  nomination  of  the  legis- 
lature to  a  majority  of  electors  paying  from  300 
to  500  francs  of  direct  taxes,  and  yet  that  is  the 
effect  of  this  law.  It  virtually  confines  the  suf- 
frage to  one  class  of  society;  and  as  it  is  neces- 
sarily the  most  numerous,  it  becomes  master  of 
the  state,  and  may  let  in  anarchy  when  it  pleasis. 
To  obviate  such  dangers,  it  is  necessary  to  cs 
tablish  an  electoral  system  more  extensive  than 
that  which  is  proposed.  The  king  might,  with- 
out danger,  and  in  policy  should,  permit  the 
citizens  to  group  themselves  around  such  inter- 
ests as  they  have  in  common.  Thus  there  shoiiKl 
be  established  under  the  monarchy,  councils  oi 
secondary  administration,  corporations,  cham- 
bers of  commerce,  legal  bodies,  and  fraternities 
of  men  of  letters,  and  of  all  sorts.  All  these 
bodies  should  have  representatives  in  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies,  and  not  merely  a  single  class 
of  society. 

"  Five-and-twenty  years  of  revolution  have  in- 
fluenced our  destinies  too  powerfully 
not  to  render  innovation    repugnant  continaed. 
when   it  is  not  absolutely  necessary. 
Wc  have  gone  on  very  well  hitherto  with  tho 


1817.] 

elections  by  double  degrees;  we  owe  to  it  the 
Chamber  of  1S14,  which,  on  the  return  of  our 
legitimate  monarchs,  showed  itself  so  favorable 
to  the  sentiments  of  France  ;  to  it  the  Chamber 
of  1815,  now  the  object  of  such  undeserved  cal- 
umny. The  prefects,  who  have  suceeeded  by 
their  influence  in  removing  as  candidates  the 
members  of  1815,  are  the  w-orst  enemies  of  the 
monarchy.  Party  in  a  monarchy  is  necessarily 
adverse  to  the  king  ;  no  absurdity  can  be  so 
great  as  is  implied  in  the  words,  'the  Royalist 
Party. ^  What!  under  the  government  of  a  king, 
can  there  be  a  royalist  party  ?  It  is  by  such  de- 
nominations that  the  way  is  prepared  for  revolu- 
tion. We  are  called  '  (Jltra  Royalists:'  do  the 
Liberals  hope  by  these  words  to  efface  the  blood- 
shed, the  services  rendered,  the  heroic  devotion? 
The  ideas  of  monarchy,  and  of  the  influence  of 
families,  are  inseparable;  and  every  electoral 
law  which  does  not  rest  upon  these  ideas  ■w'U 
speedily  become  a  weapon  in  the  hands  of  the 
factious  for  the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy.' 
,  -,    .  All  that  we  contend  for  is,  to  avoid 

Jan.  4  and  10,  ^he  operation  of  a  law  which  would 
1817  ;  Cap.  v.  deliver  over  the  Chamber  of  Depu- 
V'  ^^!  "Jj.  ties,  and  with  it  the  entire  govern- 
-ac.  II.  (.  mentof  France,  toa  class  of  French- 
men from  whom  we  contend  the  electors  should 
not  be  exclusively  chosen. 

"The  proposed  law  is,  in  truth,  more  danger- 
ous than  the  wildest  conceptions  of  the 

r.  'i^".  J  Constituent  Assembly.  It  receives  no 
Concluded.  ^  ^  .        .■'^  „,       , 

support  ironi  the  charter.  1  he  char- 
ter merely  says  that  '  the  French,  aged  thirty 
years,  and  paying  300  francs  of  direct  contri- 
butions, shall  concur  in  the  election  of  the  depu- 
ties ;  the  present  law  says  that  they  alone  shall 
name  them.  The  whole  question  lies  there  : 
tho  charter  says  these  persons  shall  form  one 
class  of  the  e'ectors ;  the  law  says  they  shall 
constitute  the  sole  class.  The  pretended  wor- 
shipers of  the  charter,  therefore,  have  reserved 
for  themselves  the  privilege  of  altering  and  mod- 
ifying it  according  to  their  interest  or  inclina- 
tion, or  their  insatiable  thirst  for  popularity. 
The  unity  of  the  College  of  Electors  adds  an- 
other scourge  to  that  of  the  unity  of  tho  direct 
representation.  We  shall  have  armies  of  ten  or 
twelve  thousand  electors  assemble  in  a  single 
great  city  for  their  votes — armies  only  a  little 
less  numerous  than  those  with  which  Gustavus 
Adolphus  shook  the  Austrian  throne.  By  re- 
moving the  higher  college,  and  reducing  every 
thing  to  a  single  college,  you  v.ill  overthrow  the 
strongest  barrier  which  Napoleon  had  construct- 
ed against  the  revolutionary  spirit.  Can  the 
monarchy  dispense  with  the  support  of  the  great 
proprietors?  and  how  is  it  to  be  exercised  in  the 
midst  of  a  crowd  of  uniform  electors,  paying  300 
francs  each,  and  enjoying,  at  an  average,  not 
4000  francs  a  year  each  ?  If  the  great  propri- 
etors are  not  permitted  to  vote  in  a  college  apart 
by  themselves,  they  will  be  virtually  disfran- 
chised, and  every  thing  governed  by  a  mob  of 

,  „  ..  small  proprietors.  What  can  be  the 
»  Moniteur,  '      '  ,.     ,  •      ,  , 

Jan.   19,   and  consequence   ol   this   but  new  ad- 

21, 1817;  Cap.  vances,   fresh   spoliations,  and   the 

^'■yh'^'.V'"^'  ultimate  overthrow  of  tho  mon- 
u.  143,  144.  ,     „,,- 

'  archy?   ' 

Various   amendments   were    proposed  in   the 

Chamber,    and    tho    law    became    the    subject 

of   warm    and    able    discussions    in    tho    public 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


171 


press,  and  in  a  host  of  pamphlets    n  either  <id«, 
M.    de    Serres,   one   of   the  ablest  17. 

raenon  the  Royalistside,  proposed  an  It  is  paese«i, 
amendment,  theobjeclof  which  was,  ^'^^  5,1817. 
when  there  was  only  one  member  for  a  depart- 
ment, to  establish  a  separate  college  for  the 
urban  and  the  rural  electors.  The  discussion  con- 
tinued extremely  animated,  both  in  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies  and  in  the  public  journals,  dur- 
ing the  whole  of  January ;  and  the  king  every 
day  become  more  infatuated  in  favor  of  his  sys- 
tem of  a  uniform  franchise,  founded  on  the  pay- 
ment of  300  francs.  As  the  majority  of  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  were  known  to  be  deci- 
sively in  favor  of  the  ministerial  measure,  with- 
out any  amendment,  M.  Decazes  took  advant- 
age of  this  delay  to  secure  a  majority  in  the 
Chamber  of  Peers.  The  king  warmly  seconded 
him  in  this  attempt :  he  spoke  constantly  in  fa- 
vor of  the  uniform  suflVage  ;  and  when  an  oppo- 
sition of  opinion  appeared,  he  scrupled  not  to 
exert  all  his  private  i.ifluence,  and  even  to  make 
use  of  entreaties,  to  secure  even  a  single  vote. 
At  length,  by  these  means,  and  the  most  unscru- 
pulous exertions  of  the  whole  influence  of  the 
Crown,  the  measure  was  adopted  in  both  Houses, 
but  by  a  larger  majority  in  the  Commons  than 

the  Peers.  The  majority  in  the  form-   ,  ,,     .. 

„,      ,,         ,■' ■      •',„.,      .      r       '  ft.  oniteur, 
erwas32 — there  bemg  132  votes  lor  Feb.  10  1817 
the  measure,  and  100  against  it ;  in  Cap.  v.  79, 83  i 
the  latter  it  was  only  18,  the  num-  I-i*"-  "•  ^'^*> 
bers  being  95  to  77.' 

On  reviewing  this  debate  and  decision  of  tlia 
legislature,  wlia'li,  like  all  other  de-  jg, 

cisions  involving  a  great  change  in  ReHectionson 
the  electoral  system,  was  decisive  "''^  ''*^^- 
of  the  fate  of  the  monarchy,  one  thing  must 
strike  every  one  as  very  remarkable.  This  is 
the  opinion  which  was  so  generally  expressed 
by  the  ministerial  party,  that  no  possible  danger 
could  be  apprehended  I'romthe  proposed  change, 
because  the  number  of  electors  would,  under  it, 
be  so  small  in  proportion  to  tho  whole  popula- 
tion—not more  than  100,000  out  of  30,000,000. 
They  forgot  that  it  is  not  on  the  number  of  elect- 
ors, but  on  the  disposition  and  feeling  of  their 
majority,  that  every  thing  depends.  A  country 
may  be  as  eirectually  revolutionized  by  100,000 
electors  as  by  10,000,000,  sometimes  more  ef- 
fectually, provided  only  that  the  majority  of  the 
100,000  are  of  tho  democratic  party,  and  invest- 
ed with  sufficient  power  to  work  out  their  de- 
signs. A  convention  of  1200  men  overturned 
monarchy,  extinguished  the  church,  and  divided 
property  in  France.  3,000,000  of  electors  placed 
Napoleon,  6,000,000  Louis  Napoleon,  on  Ihcim 
|)erial  throne.  Tho  peril  of  the  electoral  law,  in 
a  manner  forced  upon  Franco  by  the  Crown, 
consisted  in  this,  that  it  invested  with  supremo 
power  a  majority  of  electors  drawn  from  a  body 
of  all  others  the  most  democratic — little  propri- 
ctors — and  virtually  disfranchised  the  great  pro. 
|)rielors,  tho  men  of  cultivated  education,  and 
tho  laboring  classes  ol'  the  community.  It  is 
remarkable  that  this  decisive  law,  fraught  with 
the  fate  of  tho  monarchy,  originated  with  the 
king's  ministers,  was  forced  through  the  Com- 
mons i)y  their  influence,  and  throtigh  tho  Peers 
by  tho  personal  solicitation  and  ellbrts  of  thv 
kin"  himself.* 


*  "La  victoiro  paralssait  incertainc,  el  Ioh  Ministrea 
etaient  mcnacua  d'une  dtfuite  oclulaate  a\  lo  Roi,  qui  en- 


m 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPK. 


Tae  noxt  imporinnt  measures  of  tho  session 
.„  were   those   relating   to    indiviiliial 

Laws  on  por-  lieeiloni  anil  the  liheiiy  of  the  press, 
isonsl  Ifwdom  The  violent  restrictions  on  these, 
*jid  the  liberty  ^hieh  hail  been  olilainoi!  from  the 
31  the  I'ress.     ,>.        ,  .-  i,.-i-     i      i   i 

Cl)an)l)erol   isl.i,   liuil  heen  nitro- 

liiicpil  by  i^L  Deeazes,  and  carried  tlirou<rh  by 
iho  Royalist  niajorilv,  then  inclose  alliance  with 
him.  and  theyallex(iireilat  the  end  of  tho  session, 
beinfr  limited  to  that  period.  Now,  however,  the 
Rovalisis,  being  in  opposition,  felt  these  restric- 
tions oppressive,  and  by  a  natural  consequence 
became  desirous  of  their  abolition.  The  press  was 
tlie  principal  engine  by  which  they  hoped  to  suc- 
ceed in  shaking  the  Liberal  party  now  in  pos- 
session of  power,  and  therefore  they  were  desir- 
ous of  securing  its  freedom  :  it  was  the  chief 
enemy  which  the  Liberals  had  to  dread,  there- 
fore they  were  desirous  of  continuing  its  restric- 
tions. Such  a  transposition  of  parties  on  a  par- 
licular  question  is  well  known  in  the  history  of 
England,  and,  however  strange  in  appearance, 
it  arises  from  a  ver)'  obvious  cause,  and  is  not 
likely  ever  to  cease.  It  springs  from  the  desire 
for  power  being  stronger  than  the  influence  of 
principle,  and  individual  ambition  supplanting 
public  consistency. 

The  ministerial  project  concerning  the  liberty 
20.  of  the  press  was  short  and  simple. 

Projects  of  It  was,  "that  the  censorship  of  the 
laws  regard-  p,-ess  was  to  be  continued  till  Jan- 
ing  the  liberty   '  i     ic,o'»      t^i  i 

of  the  press  "^""y  1)  1S18.  1  he  proposal  was 
and  personal  based  on  the  alleged  necessity  of  the 
freedom.  ]a.vv,  which  was  curious,  as  it  was 

now  to  be  applied  against  the  very  party  for 
■whose  support  it  had  originally  been  introduced. 
The  proposed  law  on  the  liberty  of  the  person 
was  not  so  stringent  as  that  of  1815,  but  still  suf- 
ficiently dangerous  to  freedom.  It  was  to  this 
eilect,  that  every  person  charged  with  a  conspir- 
acy or  machination  against  the  person  of  the 
king,  or  the  security  of  the  state,  might  be  sum- 
marily arrested  without  the  necessity  of  being 
immediately  brought  to  trial.  No  extraordinary 
arrest  could  be  made  but  on  a  warrant  signed 
by  the  President  of  the  Privy  Council,  and  by 
one  of  the  Secretaries  of  State.  The  jailer  was 
to  send  an  intimation  of  the  name  of  the  person 
imprisoned,  with  the  charge  against  him,  to  the 
Procureur  du  Roi,  by  whom  he  was  to  be  inter- 
rogated, and  the  charge  and  declaration  trans- 
mitted to  the  i\Iinister  of  Justice.  It  was  al- 
most identical  with  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Act  in  England,  and  was  to  continue 
only  to  the  first  of  January,  1818.  This  law  un- 
derwent a  most  animated  discussion  in  both 
1  Cap.  V.  109  Chambers,  and  was  not  passed  into 
112;  Lac.  ii.  a  law  without  the  most  violent  op- 
151, 152.  position,' 

On  the  part  of  the  Opposition,  it  was  contend- 
ed by  M.  de  Villele,  M.  Castelbajac,  and  M. 
de  Labourdonnaye  :  "  We  are  told  that  the  strin- 
gent laws  of  1815   have  restored  public  tran- 


trait  dans  leurs  voeux  avec  ardeur,  n'appuyait  son  influ- 
ence personnelle  de  I'ascendant  de  son  amitie  sur  de  nobles 
Pairs  qui  faisaient  partie  de  sa  cour.  Apres  avoir  forme 
Bon  humble  cour  de  Mittau  et  Hartwell,  ce  fut  le  30  Jan- 
Tier  1817  que  la  Chambre  des  Pairs  vota  sur  I'ensemblee 
de  la  loi.  II  fut  adopte  a  la  majorite  de  95  voir  contre  77. 
La  soumission  plutot  que  la  conviction  donnait  une  ma- 
jorite qui  devait  cedcr  au  jiremier  choc,  des  que  deux 
eprenves  peu  favorables  a  I'espoir  des  Ministres  ramen- 
traint  ce  debat."— Lachetelle,  Ilistoire  de  la  Restau- 
ii.  IjO. 


[ClIAP.   VI 

'  quillity  :  if  so,  where  is  the  necessity  for  still  re 

curring  to  exceptional  laws?     I::  gi. 

181.')    the    French    army   was   dis-  Arpumcnt 

banded,  tho  courts  of  justice  disor-  aR^inst  tl"" 

1,1       ,        1        ,-  1  ,  .     law  on  the  h'l 

ganized,  the  hciuls  oi  departments  g^^y  pj-  o,,. 

changed,  tho  most  violent  and  terri-  press  by  th» 
bio  political  and  external  crisis  just  Opposition, 
surmoimtcd.  These  were  the  reasons  assigned, 
and  with  justice,  for  the  suspension  of  individual 
liberty  at  that  time  ;  but  now  the  same  measures 
are  attempted  to  be  justified  by  a  state  of  things 
exactly  the  reverse — by  the  happy  re-establish- 
ment of  the  influence  of  the  Government  in  all 
branches  of  the  administration.  We  have  no- 
thing to  add  to  the  picture  of  general  improve- 
ment drawn  by  the  partisans  of  Government  ex- 
cept the  corrollary  naturally  flowing  from  these 
— '  the  exceptional  laws  should  cease.'  What  is 
our  present  position  ?  The  charter  guarantees 
to  us  individual  freedom  and  the  liberty  of  the 
press,  and  we  have  neither  the  one  nor  the  other. 
Has  France  any  reason  to  apprehend  a  fresh 
revolution  ? — is  royalty  of  new  in  peril  ?  If  it  is 
so,  let  the  king  be  invested  with  unlimited  power. 
But  if,  thanks  to  Providence,  France  is  peaceful, 
why  not  terminate  the  exceptional  laws,  justifi- 
able only  in  periods  of  anarchy? 

"  All  is  favorable — all  is  well,  exclaim  the 
supporters  of  Government :  the  elec- 
tions are  free — the  cries, '  Down  with  n^„^.'.^  a 
.1  1  1      1  ,  T^  11  •  ,   Concluded 

the  nobles,'  'Down  with  the  priests, 

are  no  longer  heard  under  the  peaceful  reign  of 
the  Bourbons ;  the  deputies  of  the  departments 
will,  under  the  new  electoral  law,  be  chosen 
from  the  most  estimable,  the  most  esteemed, 
the  most  independent  of  their  several  districts ; 
the  bases  of  public  instruction  are  to  be  love  of 
God  and  fidelity  to  the  king.  The  word  legiti- 
macy may  well  be  very  differently  defined,  if  you 
adopt  this  project,  from  what  it  was  lately  by 
a  member  of  the  Government,  when  he  said, 
'  Legitimacy  is  order — order  is  moderation.'  You 
can  not  den}',  indeed  you  yourselves  boast,  that 
the  Jacobins  are  reduced  to  a  dozen  or  two  of 
individuals  whom  every  one  laughs  at,  and  five 
or  six  insane  fanatics ;  where  then  is  the  neces- 
sity, where  the  expediency  of  continuing,  under 
these  favorable  circumstances,  which  the  Govern- 
ment are  themselves  the  first  to  proclaim,  those 

exceptional  laws,  the  fatal  bequest  ,  ,,    . 

P     ,r  ■   .    ,  1  •   ,  '  '  Moniteur, 

ot    disastrous    periods,    which    are  j^n.  15  17 

alike  subversive  of  public  freedom  and  18,  1617; 
and  of  all  rational  attachment  to  Cap.  v.  1 10, 
the  throne  ?■"!  *^'*- 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  contended  by  M. 
Decazes,  I\I.  de  Serres,  and  M.  de  33 

Courvoisier,  on  the  part  of  the  Ad-  Answer  of  the 
ministration  :  "  Anterior  to  the  re-  ministerial- 
turn  of  Napoleon  on  the  20th  March,  '*'^' 
the  respect  for  individual  freedom  was  carried 
the  length  of  absurdity.  A  law  similar  to  thai 
of  29lh  October,  1815,  would  have  disconcerted 
the  consjiirators,  and  prevented  all  the  ruinous 
consequences  which  have  resulted  frcm  their 
success.  This  consideration  alone  is  sufficient 
to  engage  us  to  support  the  project  which  has 
been  brought  forward  by  the  Ministry.  LaM'S 
of  exception  are  made  for  extraordinary  circutii- 
stances ;  and  can  it  with  reason  be  maintained 
that  there  are  no  extraordinary  circur>jSvanccsat 
this  lime?  I  see  Frenchmen  rejeci  i  by  their 
country,    and   have   they  no    interes     to   revi>.a 


1 


1817. 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


173 


troubles  and  overturn  the  existing  order  of 
things  ?  I  see  150,000  allied  soldiers  in  posses- 
sion of  our  fortresses — is  that  not  an  extraor- 
dinary circumstance?  In  the  interior  there 
are  a  vast  number  of  discontented  persons,  offi- 
cers out  of  the  service,  employes  without  occu- 
pation— is  it  not  for  the  public  interest  to  de- 
prive them  of  the  means  of  creating  fresh  dis- 
turbances? 

'•  The  king  measured  with  a  judicious  and  dis- 
criminating eye  the  state  of  France 
Concluded  '"'^en  be  published  the  ordinance  of 
5th  September  last.  His  words  and 
deeds  on  that  Dccasion  alike  afford  fresh  guaran- 
tees for  liberty,  security,  and  property.  If  he 
dissolved  by  a  somewhat  violent  act  the  former 
Chamber,  it  was  because,  it  must  be  said,  the 
vehement  exasperation  of  the  great  majority  in 
it  threatened  the  French  with  the  destruction  of 
their  property  and  liberties.  The  Ministry  are 
not  to  be  deterred  by  declamations  about  a  dic- 
tatorship: they  know  their  position  as  consuls 
of  the  state,  and  they  are  not  afraid  of  the 
Tarpeian  rock.  The  circumstances  are  critical : 
distress  generally  prevails  from  the  badness  of 
the  last  harvest ;  the  minds  of  the  people  are 
soured  by  misfortune ;  agitators  are  on  the  watch 
to  convert  the  general  discontent  into  measures 
of  sedition  and  rebellion.  Is  this  a  time  to  relax 
the  precautions  taken  to  insure  public  tranquillity 
in  circumstances,  in  truth,  less  alarming?  The 
king  relies  on  the  love  of  his  people ;  the  people 
on  the  love  of  their  king."  The  Chamber,  by  a 
large  majority,  supported  the  two  measures  of 
Government,  suspending  the  liberty  of  individu- 
als and  that  of  the  public  press :  in  the  former 
case  by  a  majority  of  43,  the  numbers  being  130 
1  ^foniteur  ^°  ^'^  >  ^^  ^'^^  latter  by  one  of  39,  the 
Jan.  17 and  18,  numbers  being  128  to  89.  In  the 
1817 ;  Cap.  v.  Peers,  in  like  manner,  they  passed 
114, 121.  jjy  considerable  majorities.' 

A  more  difficult  task,  however,  remained  be- 
25.  hind,  than  that  of  contending  with  a 

Extreme  scar-  powerful  minority  in  parliament,  and 
city,  and  ^j^^j.  y^-g^g  making  head  against  the 

measures  of       ,.  ^  i  •   i     ?•  ,i   ° 

Government  distress  which,  Irom  the  extreme 
in  con.se-  deficiency  of  the  last  harvest,  had 

quence.  ,^Q\y  come  to  press  upon  every  part 

of  France.  Bread  had  risen  in  Paris  to  twenty- 
four  sous  for  a  loaf  of  four  pounds,  which  was 
about  2Jd.  a  pound — a  frightful  state  of  things, 
as  it  was  nearly  triple  the  usual  price.  Dis- 
turbances in  consequence  were  general,  both 
there  and  in  every  part  of  France  ;  and  although 
they  did  not,  except  at  Lyons,  assume  a  politi- 
cal character,  yet  they  were  very  alarming,  and 
called  for  the  utmost  vigilance  on  the  part  of 
Government  and  those  intrusted  with  the  ad- 
ministration. The  carts  of  farmers  bringing 
grain  to  market  were,  in  many  places,  seized  by 
the  peasantry,  and  their  contents  distributed 
among  famishing  multitudes;  and  many  grana- 
ries were  broken  open  and  openly  pillaged.  As 
a  natural  consequence,  less  grain  was  brought 
to  market,  and  less  imported  and  stored  in  the 
warehouses,  which  augmented  the  general  dis- 
tress. The  riots  were  particularly  formidable 
at  Chateau-Thierry,  Chatillon-sur-Seinc,  and  in 
the  department  of  Puys  do  Dome.  These  ex- 
cesses were  vigorously  repressed  by  the  Govern- 
ment, but  not  without  bloodshed  in  many  |)la(;cs 
—a  liistrcssin'T  slate  of  things,  and  wiiii-li  more 


than  any  thing  else  justmcd  tne  ttri.igent  law« 
introduced  by  the  Ministers,  to  prevent  the  dis- 
affected from  taking  advantage  of  the  general 
distress  to  excite  disturbances  against  the  Gov- 
ernment. A  large  vote  of  credit  was  passed  by 
the  Chambers  to  give  Government  the  means  of 
relieving  the  public  distress  ;  large  purchases  of 
grain  were  made  in  the  Crimea,  both  by  Govern- 
ment and  private  individuals  ;  and  a  bounty  was 
oU'ercd,  on  the  importation  of  grain,  of  5  francs 
a  quarter.  By  these  means,  so  plentiful  a  supply 
was  obtained  from  Odessa  and  the  i  Moniteur 
fertile  plains  of  Poland  and  the  Uk-  Jan.  27,  and 
raine,  that  in  the  spring  of  1817  the  ^>^^-  l-*'  }§i" 
price  rapidly  fell,  and,  before  sum-  jgj"'  '  "' 
mer,  was  below  its  ordinary  level.' 

A  more  liberal,  and  withal  judicious,  system 
was  at  the  same  time  adopted  in  the  26. 

army.  The  public  necessities,  and  More  liberal 
the  enormous  weight  of  the  contri-  system  in  tlw 
butions  made  to  the  Allies,  rendered  '"'™>- 
considerable  reduction  of  expense  necessary  in 
that  department;  but  so  judicious  were  the 
measures  of  the  Duke  de  Feltre  that,  simultane- 
ously with  these  reductions  of  expenditure,  he 
was  able  to  make  a  considerable  increase  in  the 
eflcctive  strength  of  the  army.  A  fifth  squadron 
was  added  to  each  regiment  of  cavalry,  and  the 
strength  of  the  legions  considerably  augmented. 
The  repugnance  to  the  old  officers  of  the  Impe- 
rial army,  so  generally  felt  in  the  first  years  of 
the  Restoration,  was  rapidly  giving  way;  and 
numerous  officers  on  half-pay  were  every  day 
readmitted  into  the  ranks  from  the  lists  of  half- 
pay,  who  at  once  increased  the  strength  of  the, 
army  and  diminished  the  resources  of  the  dis- 
contented parties  in  the  state.  At  length  the 
general  rule  was  adoped,  that  all  the  officers  on 
half-pay  who  had  not  been  replaced  in  the  ranks 
should  be  replaced  in  the  last  squadron  and 
battalion  formed.  By  this  means  the  expense  of 
the  half-pay  was  diminished  at  the  very  time 
that  the  ranks  of  the  army  were  recruited  by 
experienced  officers ;  and  it  was  mainly  by  the 
adoption  of  this  judicious  system  that  the  dimin- 
ished expense  of  the  army  was  ac-  „  ^  ,^ 
.'  ,  ,  .  r  •.  "  Cap.  V.  138. 
companied  by  an  uicrease  oi  its  nu-  j^jg 

merical  strength." 

Dilficulties  had  arisen  between  the  court  of 
Franco  and  the  papal  see,  on  the  07. 

subject  of  eternal  discord  between  Concordat 
the  Pope  and  the  temporal  princes  '"'"^  liomc. 
— the  extent  of  the  interference  of  the  former  in 
ecclesiastical  appointments.  To  obviate  them, 
and  negotiate  a  concordat,  M.  do  Blaoas,  who 
had  negotiated  the  marriage  of  the  Duke  de 
Bcrri  with  the  Princess  Caroline  of  Naples,  was 
sent  to  Rome  in  the  beginning  of  1817.  But, 
though  not  destitute  of  abilities,  M.  do  Blacas 
was  no  match  in  negotiatinn  for  tiio  Cardinal 
Gonzalvi,  and  the  other  skillful  diplomatists  who 
at  that  period  conducted  the  foreign  afiliirs  of 
the  court  of  Rome.  His  pious  zeal  led  him  to 
make  concessions  unauthorized  by  the  Cham- 
bers,  unsuitable  to  the  age,  and  for  the  support 
of  which  no  possible  means  remained  of  provid- 
ing funds  in  the  revolutionized  realm  of  France. 
M.  Gonzalvi  skillfully  represented  to  M.  da 
Blacas,  that  Napoleon's  former  concordat  in 
1801,  which  had  done  so  much  to  establish  tho 
independence  of  iho  Church  of  France,  should 
be  aiHiullcd,  as  a  concession  on  the  part  of  ih« 


174 


HISTORY    OF    F.UROrE. 


ICiiAP.  Tl 


papal  SCO  to  the  revolutionary  spirit  justified 
only  l>y  necessity.  To  this  M.  ile  IJlacas  con- 
sen'icir;  ami  the  olTect  of  this  was  to  revive,  in 
liill  loree,  the  coneonlnt  dI"  Francis  1..  and  annul 
all  the  concessions  made  by  the  Komish  see  since 
17SIK  Amon<j  the  rest,  it  revived  a  claim  lor 
the  territory  of  Avi<;non,  one  of  the  first  con- 
quests of  the  Revolution  from  the  Church  ;  and 
this  M.  do  Blacas  agreed  to  take  into  considera- 
tion, or  pay  an  indemnity.  But  a  much  more 
serious  inconvenience  resulted  from  this  injudi- 
cious abandonment  of  the  concordat  of  ISOl,  and 
that  was  the  revival  of  the  numerous  bishopries 
and  other  ecclesiastical  benefices  which  at  that 
remote  period  covered  the  soil  of  France,  and 
were  richly  endowed  from  its  territorial  posses- 
sions ;  but  for  the  support  of  which  no  funds 
whatever  now  existed  but  from  a  vote  of  the 
Chambers,  who  it  was  easy  to  see  would  not 
consent,  in  the  present  distressed  state  of  the 
finances,  to  any  addition,  even  for  these  pious 
purposes,  to  the  public  burdens.  To  render  the 
risks  of  this  concession  still  greater,  by  the  con- 
cordat of  Francis  1.,  now  revived,  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  papal  court  was  requisite  for  any 
appointment  to  a  monastery,  prebendary,  or 
bishopric,  and  the  right  of  excommunication  of 
whole  districts  for  notable  offenses 
JuUMg"  mr' ■  '^'^  recognized.  It  was  easy  to 
Archiv.'  Dip. '  See  how  these  powers  would  ac- 
V.  627,  C29,  cord  with  the  feelings  of  revolution- 
C31 ;  BuUctin,  j^^j  France  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 

iSOV.  24, 161 «.  , 

tury-' 
The  main  difficulty  of  the  year,  however,  in 
28  France   at  this   period  lay   in  the 

Extreme  diffi-  finances,  the  embarrassments  of 
culty  regard  which  were  only  equaled  by  the 
ing  the  finan-  pressing  necessity  of  effecting  as 
speedily  as  possible  some  adjustment 
of  them.  In  truth,  the  dilficulties  in  this  depart- 
ment were  such  that  they  might  fairly  be  con- 
sidered as  insurmountable  ;  and  they  would 
have  proved  so,  had  not  the  allied  sovereigns 
and  their  ministers  met  them  in  a  liberal  spirit, 
and  abated  in  their  demands  founded  on  the 
treaty  of  •20th  November,  1S15.  in  order  to  facil- 
itate the  re-establishment  of  the  king's  govern- 
ment in  France,  and  relieve  it  of  the  most  press- 
ing dangers  with  which  it  was  surrounded.  On 
the  one  hand  were  the  allied  sovereigns,  armed 
with  the  severe  clauses  of  the  treaty  of  181-5,  in 
possession  of  all  the  frontier  fortresses,  held  by 
150.000  of  their  troops,  commanded  by  the  Duke 
of  Wellington,  all  of  whom  were  paid,  clothed, 
and  fed  at  the  expense  of  France.  On  the  other 
hand  was  the  realm  of  France,  worn  out  by  a 
war  of  twenty  years'  duration,  scarcely  able  to 
meet  its  own  engagements,  and  )'et  burdened 
with  the  payment,  in  a  few  years,  of  £61,000,000 
of  indemnities  to  the  allied  sovereigns  or  their 
subjects  !  The  strongest  head  reeled,  the  most 
intrepid  spirit  quailed,  under  such  a  combination 
of  difficulties  ;  and  yet,  till  they  were  overcome. 
no  stable  government  could  be  erected  in  France, 
or  the  least  prospect  be  afforded  of  a  dynasty 
being  firmly  seated  on  the  throne.  The  diffi- 
culties, great  as  they  were,  with  the  sums  due 
to  the  governments  under  the  treaty,  yet  yield- 
ed to  those  arising  from  the  rapacity  and  ex- 
3  Cap  y  j52  orbitant  demands  of  the  persons  and 
153 ;  Lac  ii.  bodies  entitled  to  indemnity  by  its 
153. 136.  provisions,"  which  proved  to  be  so 


prodigious  that  there  appeared  no  possibility  of 
tiieir  ever  being  liipiidated. 

Fortunately  ft)r  France  and  the    tranquilliry 
of  Kurojic,  tiio  mixed  commission,  go. 

to   whom   tlie  adjustment  of  these  Eflbrts  of  iho 
claims  was  referred,  was  presided  Emperor    Ai 
1  1  ••  .   e.xandcr     and 

over  by  a  man  whose  capacity,  great  j,,g   ^y^^   ^^^ 

in  military,  was  not  less  conspicuous  AVellington  to 
in  civil  aliairs,  and  whose  modera-  obviate  these 
tion  and  sense  of  justice,  as  well  as  '^'^cu'^'cs- 
good  sense,  were  equal  to  his  genius.  M.  Dudon 
was  the  nominal  president  of  the  mixed  commis. 
sion  ;  but  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was  the  per- 
son to  whom  all  difficult  points  were  referred, 
and  he  was  its  real  head.  The  Duke  de  Riche- 
lieu, finding  the  demands  for  indemnity,  especial- 
ly on  the  part  of  the  lesser  German  princes,  so 
exorbitant,  addressed  a  long  memorial  to  his  old 
patron  and  friend,  the  Emperor  Alexander,  on 
the  subject ;  and  he  returned  a  noble  answer, 
and  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, which  deserves  a  place  in  history,  as  invest- 
ing with  fresh  laurels  the  brow  of  conquest.* 
Instructions  in  the  same  equitable  spirit  were 
addressed  by  the  Russian  government  to  their 
embassador  at  Paris,  which  distinctly  recognized 
the  truth  of  the  statement  to  the  Duke  de  Riche- 
lieu, that  such  was  the  magnitude  of  the  pri- 
vate indemnities  demanded  of  France  under  the 
treaty,  that  it  was  wholly  impossible  for  that 
country  to  make  them  good,  and  pointed  to  some 
equitable  adjustment  which  might  be  within  the 
bounds  of  possibility.!  and  lead  to  an  eventual 


*  Place  comma  vous,  etes,  M.  le  Marechal,  a  la  tete 
des  forces  militaires  de  1' Alliance  Eiiropeenne,  vous  avez 
contribue  plus  d'une  fois,  par  la  sagesse  et  la  modera- 
tion qui  vous  distinguent,  a  concilier  les  plus  graves  In- 
terets ;  Je  me  suis  constamment  addresse  a  vous  dans 
toutes  les  circonstances  qui  peuvent  particuliereinent  in- 
tluer  sur  Taffermissemrnt  de  I'etat  heureusement  rclabli 
en  France  par  vos  glornux  exploits ;  maintenant  que  la 
question  de  creance  pariiculiere  a  la  charge  de  la  France 
prend  un  caractere  critique  et  decisif,  a  raison  des  dif- 
ficultes  que  prcsente  I'exfecution  litterale  dn  traite  du  8-20 
Novembre,  1815,  je  n'ai  pas  cru  devoir  laisser  ignorer 
mon  opinion  aux  monarques  mes  allies,  sur  le  mode 
d'envisager  cet  engagement  onereux,  de  maniere  a  en 
prevenir  rinfraction  et  a  le  rendre  executable.  Les  asser- 
tions du  fouvernement  Francais  vous  sont  connues,  M. 
le  Marechal ;  mon  Ministre  a  Paris  recoit  I'ordre  de  vous 
communiquer  le  memoire  ijUi  a  ete  trace  sous  mes  yeux 
relativement  a  cette  question  importante.  Je  vous  invite 
a  porter  toute  votre  attention  sur  I'enchalnement  des 
motifs  de  droit  et  de  convenance  politiques  qui  se  trou- 
vent  consignes,  dans  ce  travail,  a  I'appui  du  prinripe  d'ac- 
commodement  present,  pour  resoudre  les  complications 
inherentcs  a  I'acquittement  des  creances  particulieres, 
qui  furent  imposees  a  la  France,  alors  qu'il  n'etait  pas 
facile  de  prevoir  leur  enorme  developpment.  Vous  ap- 
puierez,  M.  le  Marechal,  I'ensemble  des  considerations 
superieures  qui  plaident  a  I'appui  d'un  systeme  de  con- 
ciliation Equitable.  Vous  repandrez  toute  la  lumiere 
d'un  esprit  juste,  la  chaleur  d'une  ame  elevee  a  la  hauteur 
des  circonstances,  sur  une  question  de  laquelle  depend- 
ent peut-etre  le  repos  de  la  France,  et  I'inviolabilte  des 
engagements  les  plus  sacres.  C'est  la  moderation  et  la 
bonne  foi  qui  ont  6te  de  nos  jours  le  mobile  d'une  Ibrce 
bienfaisante  et  reparatrice,  et  c'est  a  celui  qui  en  a  pro- 
pose et  seconde  le  triomphe  a  faire  entendre  dans  tous  les 
momens  critiques  le  langage  de  cette  meme  moderation 
et  de  cette  meme  bonne  ibi.  Dans  cette  conviction  s'il 
me  restait  encore  un  vteu  a  6noncer,  ce  serait  de  vous 
deferer,  par  I'assentiment  unanime  de  mes  allies,  la  di- 
rection principale  des  negociations  qui  pourraient  s'ouvrir 
a  Paris,  sur  la  question  des  creances  particulieres,  ct  sur 
le  mode  le  plus  equitable  de  la  decider  d'un  commun  ac- 
cord. Recevez,  &c  Alexandre. " 
— Capefigue,  Histoire  de  la  Restauration,  v.  2U7,  209. 

t  "Toutes  les  puissances  sentent  le  besoin  d'arrivera 
un  resultat  sans  d^truire  le  textc  des  conventions  ar- 
retees.  Le  gouvernement  Fraiipais  ne  conteste  pas  la 
dette  qu'il  a  contractee  en  signant  le  traite  du  20  Nov.  U 
en  a  deja  acquitte  jusqu'  a  concurrencf  de  200  mUions 


1817.J 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


175 


shorfer.iiig  of  the  period  of  the  occupation  of  its 
'  Convention,  teriitor}'.!  In  consequence  of  this 
Feb.  10,  1618;  interposition,  the  presidency  of  the 
^'IglJ;  ^JP-  commission  for  liquidating  the  de- 
V.  162  177-  niands  of  private  creditors  was 
Martens,  Sup.  taken  from  M.  Dudon,  and  bestowed 
"•  '■■  ^'^  on   M.  Mounier,   who   co-operated 

cordial!}'  with  the  Duke  of  Wellington  on  the 
subject.  The  latter  general  was  appointed  pres- 
ident of  the  diplomatic  and  finance  committtee 
charged  with  the  same  afiair ;  and  the  result  of 
their  labors  was  a  convention  concluded,  in  Feb- 
ruary', ISIS,  by  which  the  burdens  undertaken 
by  France,  by  the  treaty  of  November,  1815, 
were  sensibly  abated,  and  a  prospect  was  open- 
ed of  the  ultimate  evacuation  of  its  territory. 
By  this  convention  it  was  provided — 1.  That 
30.  the  strength  of  the  army  of  occupa- 

Convention  of  tion  should  be  diminished  by  30,000 

ii'.'i^''f '■"^?''  men ;  that  is,  by  a  fifth  'of  each 
JslS,    for    the  r  »i     ^  ^     rr.i         i  ■ 

diminution  of  corps  ot  that  army.  2.  That  this 
the  army  of  reduction  should  be  carried  into  ef- 
occupation.  feet  on  1st  April  next  ensuing.  3. 
That  from  that  date  the  200,000  rations  which 
the  French  government  were  bound  to  furnish 
daily  for  the  support  of  the  troops  should  be  re- 
duced to  160,000,  without,  however,  any  reduc- 
tion being  made  in  the  00,000  rations  furnished 
daily  for  the  horse.  In  communicating  this  con- 
vention, the  embassadors  of  the  allied  powers 
observed — "  In  communicating  so  signal  a  proof 
of  the  regard  entertained  by  their  august  mas- 
ters toward  his  most  Christian  Majesty,  the  em- 
bassadors are,  at  the  same  time,  desirous  of  de- 
claring to  his  Excellency  the  Duke  de  Richelieu 
the  sense  they  entertain  of  how  much  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  ministry  over  which  he  presides 
have  contributed  to  establish  that  mutual  con- 
fidence and  good  understanding  which,  directed 
by  justice,  and  a  regard  to  existing  treaties,  has 
yet  succeeded  in  arranging  such  delicate  inter- 
ests, and  affording  the  prospect  of  a  speedy  and 
eatisfaetory  definitive  arrangement."  The  ease 
afforded  to  France  by  this  arrangement  was 
considerable,  but  it  was  rendered  doubly  valua- 
ble by  the  prospect  which  it  afi'orded  of  a  final 

^    ,,        and  entire  deliverance  of  the  ter- 
^SeetheCon-     •.         u     ij      u 

vention    Mar-  r'tory.''     ftuch  as  it  was,  it  was  en- 
tens,  Sup.  vii.  tirely  to  be  ascribed  to  the  magnan- 
??.'  ,2?P'   ^'  imous  disposition  of  the  Emperor 
'  >    "■  Alexander,  and  the  wisdom,  mod- 

eration, and  generosity  with  which  his  views 
were  met  and  carried  out  by  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington and  Count  Pozzo  di  Oorgo,  to  whom  the 
French  historians  themselves  entirely  ascribed 
the  relief  thus  obtained  for  their  country.* 


ic  total  dcs  reflamations  qui  subsistcnt  encore  s'clevo  i 
plus  d'un  milliard.  Quelque  diminution  que  cctte  som- 
me  puisse  6prouvcr,  il  est  imi)OHHible  au  pouvernemerit 
Fran^aiH  de  Tacquitler ;  d'ou  resulte  la  question,  '  Les 
principes  du  droit  public,  n'aulorisent-ils  pas  le  gouv- 
emement  de  sa  Majoste  tros  clircticnne  a  proposer  aux 
puissances  alliccsilo  modifier  esHcntidlement  ce  l.-ait6  ?" 
—Instructions  au  Minislre  Russe  a  Paris,  1812.  Cape- 
FIOUE,  V.  20'J. 

*  ".le  ne  Hauiais  trop  rendrc  timolRnage  4  la  mng- 
nanime  iiiflui'nce  de  rKmpcreur  iMcxaiidrc  dans  touto 
eette  n6gociallon.  Le  Czar  se  moiitra  genereux  envcrs 
la  France  comme  il  avail  ete  lors  du  traitu  du  mois  de 
Novembre,  1815.  Jo  lo  dirai  ('•Kalcment  de  I'actioti  du 
Comte  Pozzo  di  Borgo,  sur  les  notes  addrcHs6e«  a  M.  de 
Neeselrode,  par  uii  rapport  personellement  soumis  a 
I'Empereur  di^  Russie  sur  la  situation  et  des  opinions  en 
France  ;  enfin  b-s  sentiments  personnels  du  Due  de  Wcl- 
lini^ton  i.inilribiiOrent  au  grand  ri'sultat  olitcnu." — Cape- 
viacs,  Hintoire  de  la  licstauriilion   v.  177 


All  the  moderation  and  generosity  of  the  al- 
lied sovereigns  and  their  ministers,  3i_ 
and  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Duke  of  The  Budget  o/ 
AVellington,  would  have  failed  in  ^^^'■ 
obtaining  the  desired  result,  had  the  efforts  of 
the  French  financiers  not  contributed,  at  the 
same  time,  to  such  regularity  in  the  discharge 
of  their  engagements  as  enabled  the  Allies  to 
meet  their  wishes  without  injuring  the  just 
claims  of  their  own  subjects.  Never  was  a 
more  difficult  task  undertaken  by  man,  for,  to 
meet  the  immense  engagements  under  which 
France  lay  by  the  Treaty  of  1S15,  there  did  not 
appear  to  be  any  available  resources  whatever. 
The  utmost  limits  of  taxation  had  been  reached 
during  the  years  1S15  and  1S16  ;  and  experience 
had  proved  that  any  attempt  to  increase  the 
amount  levied  on  the  country  would  fail  by  the 
imposts  becoming  unproductive.  The  sum  to 
be  raised  in  the  year  1817  by  loan,  to  meet  the 
unavoidable  expenses,  amounted  to  250,000,000 
francs,  or  £10,000,000  sterling;  and  when  the 
capitalists  of  Paris  were  applied  to  on  the  sub- 
ject, they  unanimously  declared  the  impossibil- 
ity, at  any  rate  of  interest,  of  their  advancing  so 
large  a  sum.  Diminution  of  expenditure  seemed 
impossible,  for  that  had  been  carried  to  the  ut- 
most practicable  length  in  the  two  preceding 
years,  and  any  farther  reductions  would  both  in- 
crease the  public  discontent  and  render  France 
altogether  defenseless  in  regard  to  foreign  pow- 
ers. In  this  extremity  the  Duke  de  Richelieu 
applied  to  the  capitalists  of  London  and  Amster- 
dam, and  he  was  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  a 
loan  from  them  of  the  required  sum,  though  at 
a  most  exorbitant  rate  of  interest.  Not  less  than 
9,090,000  francs  of  rentes  -were  implcdged  for 
100,000,000  of  francs  advanced,  which  was  up- 
wards of  9  per  cent.,  in  addition  to  which  the 
creditors  were  allowed  2^  per  cent,  commission  -, 
and  the  first  term  of  payment  was  postponed  to 
31st  March,  1817.  They  contracted  also  for  a 
second  loan  of  100,000,000  francs,  at  58  francs 
advanced  for  5  francs  interest.  These  terms 
were  so  high  that  they  gave  rise  to  warm  and 
able  debates  in  both  Chambers,  in  the  course  cj 
which  the  financial  and  oratorical  abilities  of  M. 
de  Villule  shone  forth  with  the  highest  lustre. 
But  the  answer  of  ministci\s,  that  the  terms  of 
the  loan,  however  to  be  regretted,  were  una- 
voidable, as  the  requisite  sum  could  not  be 
got  on  any  other  terms,  was  justly  ,  M„nite„r, 
deemed  decisive;  and  the  budget  Jan. 2  and  29, 
containing  these  loans  passed  both  181";  <^up.  t. 
Chambers  by  very  large  major-  '''^I'r'f'iVn*"' 
ities.'  *     (See  Table  in  next  page.)     '       ' 

A  measure  fraught  with  very  important  re- 
sults, and  which  in  its  ultimate  con-  32 
sequences  Vi'as  one  of  the  causes  of  Law  regard- 
thc  overthrow  of  the  elder  branch  of  '"R  beque-sts 
the  house  of  Bourbon,  was  brought  '"'he  Church, 
forward  in  this  session  of  parliament,  relative  to 
bequests  to  the  Church.  Already,  even  before  it 
was  risen  from  its  ruins,  the  aspiring  disposition 
of  the  Romish  Church  had  become  apparent, 
and  it  was  evident,  from  the  measures  which  ils 
clergy  brought  forward,  that  they  aimed  at  no- 
thing  less  than  the  rc-establishment  of  its  ancient 
hierarchy  and  splendor.  Louis  was  by  no  means 
inclined  to  favor  these  jjretcnsions.  lie  felt 
warmly  toward  the  clergy,  but  still  more  t-o  to- 
ward lh#   ?rown    and  he  was  by  no  means  <lis- 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE 


[(.ii\r.  Vl 


posoil  to  sacrifice  any  of  its  rights  to  tho  ftinbi- 
tion  of  a  rivnl  cstaltlisliiuont.  The  bill  on  tiic 
suliject,  which  was  brouj^lit  forvvaiil  by  M. 
Laiiic,  provided  that  "every  ccclcsiasticiil  cs- 
lablishmeiit  li-i^ally  ai'thnrizid  niiirht  accept,  but 
irifli  thi-  fnnrtion  of  the  A-i/ii;',  all  tho  goods  mov- 
able and  immovable  which  might  be  conveyed 
to  it  b)-  donation  inter  vivos,  or  by  bequest  after 
death.  Tho  great  object  of  this  enactment  was 
lo  reconstilutc  the  clergy  on  the  footing  of  sopa- 
rate  proprietors,  and  put  an  end  to  the  humiliat- 
ing state  of  de|icndence  in  wliich  they  wore  now 
placed,  on  annual  votes  of  tho  Chambers  lor  a 
precarious  and  miserable  subsistence.  Vehe- 
ment debates  took  place  also  on  what  was  sub- 
stantially the  same  question — a  proposal  by  tiie 
Minister  of  Finance  to  alienate  a  portion  of  the 
woods  yet  belonging  to  the  clergy  to  meet  the 
exigencies  of  the  state.  The  debates  on  this 
subject  were  of  the  highest  importance,  for  they 
relate  to  one  of  the  greatest  wounds  inflicted  on 
society  by  the  Revolution,  and  are  of  lasting  in- 
'■  Cap.  V.  165,  tcrest  to  all  future  generations  of 
'Sfi.  man.* 

On  the  part  of  the  clergy  it  was  contended  by 
33  M3I.  Laine,   Bonald,  and  Villele  : 

Arsuments  "  There  is  no  footing  on  which  the 
lor  a  proprie-  clergy  can  be  established  in  a  re- 
lary  clergy,  spectable  and  useful  manner,  but 
that  of  beinjj  separate  proprietors.  The  propo- 
sa.  10  alienate  a  portion  of  their  woods  for  the 
necessities  of  the  state,  is  brought  forward  by 
tne  same  party  who  resist  the  re-acquisition  of 
property  by  t'le  church,  from  the  munificence  or 
bequests,  of  in'iividuals.  Both  are  founded  on  the 
same  busis — a  dread  of  a  beneficed  and  inde- 
pendent clergy,  the  greatest  blessing  which  it  is 
possible  for  society  to  receive,  but  on  that  very 
account  the  object  of  a  superstitious  dread  on  the 
part  of  the  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. They  dreaded  the  independence  of  the 
clergy,  because  it  tended  to  establish  in  society 
an  interest  and  influence  which  might  rival  their 
own.  Yet,  how  is  it  possible  in  any  other  way 
to  render  the  clergy  either  independent,  useful, 
or  respectable  ?  Since  the  woods  of  the  clergy 
have  escaped  the  hammer  of  atheism,  the  hatchet 
of  cupidity,  what, right  have  we  now  in  these 
days  to  wrest  them  from  the  clergy,  or  rather 


from  religion  itself?  It  is  i  meie  mocksrv  to 
say  you  propose  to  increase  the  vote  for  the 
clergy  by  .},00(),()()()  (.£;iC0,()O0)— a  sum  equal  to 
the  anniuil  value  of  the  woods  sold.  What  com- 
parison is  there  between  a  revenue  forever  ilc- 
rivcil  from  iiideiicndent  funds  and  a  precarious 
aniuial  vole  from  a  democratic  Assembly  ?  Deep 
indeed  have  been  tho  wounds  religion  has  re- 
ceived in  recent  times;  but  was  it  ever  antici- 
pated that  the  most  cruel  lilow  should  be  struck 
in  tho  name  of  a  descendant  of  St.  Louis  ? 

'•  We  tolerate  religion  now  as  we  do  a  return- 
ed emigraiU,  on  the  condition  that  ho 
is  to  make  no  claim  to  restitution.  Wo  (;o„ti,iugj 
tolerate  tho  clergy  on  condition  that 
they  are  never  to  become  independent,  and  that 
they  are  to  grow  mercenary.  Every  year  a  vote 
of  tho  Chamber  is  to  determine  the  salaries  of 
tho  clergy  :  it  depends  on  whether  or  not  they 
please  the  majority  of  the  members  whether 
their  condition  is  to  be  comfortable  or  destitute. 
Is  this  a  fit  condition  for  the  teachers  of  tho  peo- 
ple, the  ministers  of  our  holy  religion,  to  be 
kept  in  ?  We  are  apparently  awaiting  tho  elec- 
tion of  a  thoroughly  democratic  Assembly,  the 
worthy  inheritors  of  the  Constituent,  which  shall 
confiscate  the  whole  remaining  property  of  the 
church,  and  withdraw  the  miserable  pittance 
which  they  have  allowed  instead  of  its  once 
magnificent  endowments. 

'•  A  proprietary  clergy,  the  grand  object  of  ter- 
ror to  tho  philosophers  of  tho  eighteenth 
century,  seems  lo  bo  equally  the  object  coni-l^iided 
of  dread  to  the  statesmen  of  the  nine- 
teenth. They  lay  their  plans  with  more  skill,  dis. 
guise  their  motives  with  more  address,  embody 
their  measure  in  a  less  revolting  form ;  but  the  ob- 
ject is  the  same.  That  object  is  to  render  the  cler- 
gy entirely  destitute  of  property,  and  dependent 
for  their  subsistence  on  the  votes  of  the  Chamber. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  to  our  proprietary  clergy  that 
we  owe  tho  greatest  blessings  we  possess — the 
fertility  of  our  fields,  and  the  example  of  a  vigilant 
and  paternal  administration.  Is  it  to  favor  agri- 
culture, that  great  branch  of  industry,  the  inter- 
ests of  which  are  incessantly  invoked  and  inces- 
santly betrayed,  that  this  measure  is  adopted  ? 
It  would  seem  that  our  rulers  take  a  pleasure  in 
consummating  its  ruin,  by  furnishing  fresh  fuel 


Tho  Budget  of  1817  was  as  follows  :— 
Receipts. 

Francfl. 

Land  Tax 358,141,667 

Stamps 154,170,000 

Posts 12.475,000 

Lottery 6,830,800 

Salt  tax 66,376,000 

Indirect  taxes 101,575,000 

Salt  mines  of  the  state 2,574,000 

Miscellaneous 741,000 

Woods 16,819,200 

Arrears  of  do 8,843,800 

Surrendered  by  King  and  Royal  Family . .  5,000,000 

Deducted  from  salaries 12,399,000 

Loans.  345,065,000 

Do 7,024,033 


1,118,532,502 
To  meet  arrears  of  former  years 84,997,790 


Revenue  of  1817 1,033,535,700 

(or  X'41,340,000) 


^—Aicbima  Diplomatises,  v.  301,  304. 


Expenditure. 


National  Debt 120,600,000 

Sinking  Fund 40,000,000 

Annuities 12,400,000 

Pensions — military,  civil,  and  ecclesiast.  44,434,964 

King,  and  Civil  List 34,000,000 

Peers  Deputie-s 2,630,000 

Justice 18,265,000 

Foreign  Affairs 55,300,000 

Departmental  expenses 28,727,000 

Bounties  on  grain  imported 22,200,000 

Purchases  of  grasn 2,500,006 

English  indemnities .♦ 5,700,000 

Cadastre 10,152,032 

Army 157,000,000 

Do  of  occupation .  23,560,605 

Navy 173,000,000 

Police 44,000,000 

Cautionary  engagements 1 ,000,000 

Interest  on  do 9,000,000 

Negotiating 22,709,000 

Fifth  contribution  to  Allies 140,000,000 

Arrears  of  former  contributions 23,0U0,lX)O 

MisceUaneous  to  AUi'iS 20,494,144 


1,030,810,58« 
or  £11,470,000; 


1817. 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


177 


to  the  flamo  which,  ever  since  the  Revolution,  has 
never  ceased  to  consume  it — that  is,  the  infinite 
subdivision  of  properties.  Now  that  leveling 
fury  is  carried  to  such  a  length  that  it  is  desired 
to  sacrifice  to  it  the  woods  wh  ch  the  Revolution 
itself,  in  the  midst  of  its  furies  and  its  extrava- 
gances, has  left  untouched.  Des^Mte  the  univers- 
al complaints  on  the  state  of  ouriields,  support- 
ed by  a  thousand  reasons,  by  a  thousand  facts,  our 
present  enlightened  friends  of  agriculture  pro- 
pose to  level  with  the  ground  those  ancient  for- 
ests which  adorn  our  hills,  shelter  our  plains, 
and  constitute  the  sole  fuel  of  our  people.  It  has 
been  reserved  for  an  age  boasting  its  intelligence 
and  its  wisdom  to  accomplish  the  prediction  of 
Sully,  that  France  would  one  day  perish  for 
want  of  woods.  Pagan  superstition  has  for  use- 
ful purposes  clothed  these  woods  with  supersti- 
tious reverence,  to  save  them  from  the  cupidity 
of  the  spoiler  ;  but  we,  who  pay  so  little  respect 
to  the  laws  of  the  living  God,  we  insult  alike 
the  wisdom  of  the  ancients,  and  the  foresight  of 
our  ancestors,  in  order  to  lay  the  foundation  of 
1  Moniteur  ^  sinking  fund,  destined  to  afford 
March  7  and  food  for  speculation  on  compound 
10, 1S17;  Lac.  interest,  the  worthy  bequest  of  an 
11.163,165.       age  of  revolutions."' 

'•  On  ths  other  hand,  it  was  contended  by  M. 
3g  Camille  Jourdan,   M.  Courvoisier, 

Answer  of  the  and  the  Keeper  of  the  Seals: 
niinisierial-  "  There  is  an  essential  difltrence 
'^'^"  between  the  property  of  an  incor- 

poration, and  the  property  of  an  individual  which 
descends  to  his  heirs.  The  jurisprudence  of 
every  country  has  recognized  this  distinction  ; 
and  it  is  founded  on  the  obvious  consideration 
that  the  heirs  of  an  individual  are  known  and 
des'gned  by  law,  and  therefore  there  is  an  obvi- 
ous injustice  done  to  them,  if  they  are  deprived 
of  their  inheritance  ;  but  no  man  can  say  who 
are  to  be  the  successors  of  an  incorporation,  and 
therefore  no  one  can  say  he  is  injured  by  its 
property  being  applied  to  the  service  of  the  state. 
The  pretensions  now  openly  put  forth  by  the 
clergy,  and  sought  to  be  embodied  in  these  en- 
actments, clearly  reveal  the  ambition  of  that 
aspiring  body;  and  their  determination,  at  all 
hazards,  to  regain  that  opulence  and  political 
power  which  they  once  possessed,  and  so  much 
abused.  Such  an  attempt,  made  in  this  age,  is  a 
greater  absurdity  than  the  worst  extravagances 
of  the  Revolution  ;  it  is  more  calculated  to  inflict 
a  wound  on  religion  itself  than  the  eflTorls  of  its 
worst  enemies.  For  what  object  is  the  sacrifice 
of  these  woods,  of  which  so  much  is  said,  requir- 
ed ?  Is  it  not  to  liberate  our  soil  from  the  pres- 
■  ence  of  the  stranger,  to  emancipate  our  citadels 
from  his  hands?  Is  it  to  withhold  such  a  blessing 
from  France  that  so  great  an  elfort  is  now  made 
to  prevent  any  part  of  the  woods  of  the  church 
from  being  alienated  for  their  redemption? 
"What  signify,  in  so  grave  a  discussion,  and 
when  such  weighty  interests  are  at 
Concluded  ^'^^'^^t  '•'"^  frivolous  lamentations  of 
our  adversaries  on  the  hardship  of 
being  deprived  of  the  many  recreations  allordcd 
by  our  forests  ;  on  beholding  the  trees  fall  which 
have  sheltered  our  infancy,  on  their  loss  as  de- 
priving us  of  splendid  apjianagcs  ?  Their  hearts 
appear  to  have  contracted  for  tho.se  noble  trees 
a  sort  of  chivalrous  enthusiasm — one  of  them  has 
yen  gone  so  far  as  to  enter  ifito  a  pTlheiic  dia- 
VoL   I.— M 


logue.     The    oak   which   inclosed   the   soul  of 
Clorinca  did  not  draw  more  tears  from  Tancredi, 
when  prepared  to  strike  it,  than  our  menaced 
forests  have  caused  to  fall  from  the  eyes  of  M. 
Piet,  in  the  course  of  the  speech  which  evinced 
that  singular  species  of  sensibility.     To  answer 
all  that,  is  to  say  that  it  would  be  very  allow- 
able and  very  agreeable  to  abandon  ourselves  to 
all    these   fantasies,  for  trees,  for  gardens,  for 
palaces,  if  our  fortune  would  admit  of  it;  but  that 
when  bankruptcy  threatens  us,  the  best  direc- 
tion which  even  the  most  poetical  imagination  can 
take — the  best  measure  which  this  most  chival- 
rous sensibility  can  adopt — is  to  endeavor  to  pay 
our  debts  not  only  by  abandoning  ,  ^oniteur, 
all  useless  superfluities,  but  even  March7, 1817 
by   retrenching  some  of  our  most  Lac  ii.  164, 
cherished  long-established  necessi-  JoI'.li'^P'  ^ 
ties.    * 

Upon  this  debate  the  Chamber,  by  a  large  ma 
jority,  supported  both  the  proposi-  33. 

tions  of  Government — that  is,  they  Result  of  ttt 
admitted  legal  donations  or  bequests  '^'^bate. 
of  property  to  the  church,  provided  they  were 
sanctioned  by  the  king  ;  and  they  voted  the  alien- 
ation of  woods  belonging  to  the  church  to  the 
extent  of  20,000,000  francs  (£800,000).  As  an 
increased  grant  of  4,000,000  francs  (£100,000) 
was  voted  to  the  clergy,  there  was  no  injury 
done  to  the  church  in  the  mean  time ;  but  the 
debates,  nevertheless,  are  valuable,  as  bearing 
on  a  great  question  of  state  principle  of  lasting 
interest  to  mankind,  and  illustrating  the  indomit 
able  firmness,  strong  vitality,  and  aspiring  dis 
position  of  that  church  which  had,  to  a  cap.  v.  187, 
all  appearance,  been  entirely  crush-  194  ;  Lac.  ii. 
ed  by  the  events  of  the  Revolution."  ^*'"- 

As  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  was  now  decid 
ediy  Liberal,  and   the   majority  of  „^ 

the  Ministry  of  the  same  way  of  Modi/lciition 
thinking.  Government  felt  the  neces-  of  the  Muh* 
sity  of  making  it  entirely  so.  and  VJi'  '^'"^' 
rooting  out  of  the  Cabinet  the  last 
remains  of  the  Royalist  party,  of  which,  in  ths 
first  instance,  it  had  been  almost  entirely  com- 
posed. The  first  change  was  made  in  the  min- 
istry of  marine,  in  which  IM.  Dubouchaze  was 
supplanted  by  Marshal  Gouvion  de  St.  Cvr, 
whose  great  abilities,  as  well  as  popularity  with 
the  veterans,  seemed  to  point  him  out  as  the 
proper  person  to  carry  into  execution  the  great 
changes  in  the  composition  of  the  army  which 
were  in  contemplation.  The  appointment  of 
St.  Cyr  to  the  ministry  of  marine,  accordingly, 
was  only  temporary;  and  ere  long  a  royal  ordi- 
nance appeared,  appointing  Gouvion  St.  Cyr  to 
the  ministry  at  war  and  Count  Molk  to  that  of 
the  marine.  This  was  an  important  change; 
for  both  the  dismissed  ministers  belonged  to 
the  Royalist  party,  and  the  Duke  do  Feltrc  was 
one  of  their  ablest  and  stanchest  supjjorters. 
All  the  pure  Royalists  were  now  rooted  out  of 
the  Cabinet;  its  composition  had  beconio  en- 
tirely Liberal  or  Doctrinaire,  and  in  complete 
accordance  with  the  majority  of  the  Chamber 
of  De])uties.  Of  its  whole  orig'nal  members, 
the  Duke  denichelieu,  MM.  Decazes  and  Cor- 
vetto,  alone  remained  in  it;  and  they,  either 
from  necessity  or  conviction,  had  embraced  in 
their  full  extent  the  Liberal  doctrines.  Things 
were  adva.ieing  swill ly  in  their  natural  course. 
For   good    or    lor    evil,  the   loup  d  itat    of  .Olb 


i78 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


(Chai.  VI 


September,   1Sj6,  was    jir- Hieing   its  unavoid- < 
nl)lo  fruits — it  wns  oillier  to  prove 
Jli"^    "  ^^^'  ^^^  snlvutiim  or  the  ruin  of  the  mon- 
areliy.' 
Count  Moi.K.  \vl)i)  was  nmv  for  tlic  first  time 
40.  nilniitti'd  intii  the  Cabinet,  was  one 

Piocrnpliy  snd  ol"  the  most  reuiarkabie  men  of  the 
rlitrac-tcr  of  Restoration.  He  cnjovcd,  in  a  very 
i.  ou.it  .M0I6.  ,jj^,,j  degree,  the  conlidenco  of  the 
Hukc  de  Riehelicu  :  and  his  administrative  tal- 
ents fully  justified  his  predilection.  Endowed 
by  nature  with  a  firm  and  energetic  mind,  he  had 
li'een  early  thrown  into  the  seliool  of  Napcdeon; 
iiut  even  the  ascendant  of  that  c:reat  man  had 
not  been  able  to  modify  the  stronfj  mould  and 
distinctive  marks  of  his  character.  He  was  bet- 
ter litted  to  direct  than  to  obey — to  communicate 
tiian  to  receive  impressions.  No  one  in  his  grade 
possessed  in  a  higher  dcgiee  the  confidence  of 
Napoleon;  and  in  the  evening  conversations  in 
which  the  Emperor  took  such  delight,  and  in 
which  the  talents  of  Cambacercs,  Monge,  Porta- 
lis,  and  ^I.  de  Fontanes,  shone  forth  with  so  much 
lustre,  he  bore  a  most  distinguished  part.  Had 
lie  possessed,  with  these  brilliant  qualities,  per- 
severance and  patience  equal  to  his  energy  and 
determination,  he  would  have  been  a  first-rate 
statesman.  But  the  defect  of  his  character  was 
a  want,  not  of  resolution,  but  of  endurance:  he 
wa.s  easily  disconcerted  and   frequently  led  to 

.  Tt  IT  •„  abandon  the  most  important  objects 
'  iiioe.  Univ.        ,  '.  IT  1 

Sup.,  voce        and  even  retire  into  private  lile,  rath- 
Mole,  l.\xiv.     er  than  exert  the  resolute  persever- 
ifis'iQ^^''   ^    ancc  which  so  often,  by  wrestling 
'      ■  with  difficulties,  overcomes  them.' 

Marshal  Gouvion  de  St.  Cyr  was  one  of  those 
41_  celebrated  characters  of  the  Empire 

Gouvion  St.  whose  name  it  is  impossible  to  hear 
Cyr.  without  a  thrill  of  emotion.    No  one 

acquainted  with  the  annals  of  those  memorable 
years  need  be  told  of  his  achievements.  On  the 
Rhine  and  the  Moselle,  in  Catalonia  and  Saxony, 
he  was  equally  distinguished  ;  and  the  military 
works  he  has  left  on  those  campaigns  are  not 
the  least  valuable  of  the  monuments  which  re- 
main of  the  astonishing  talent  and  energy  with 
which  they  were  conducted.  He  was  a  decided 
Liberal  in  politics,  and  therefore  eminently  qual- 
ified  to  carry  through  the  great  task  to  which 
he  was  destined  by  the  Government — that  of  re- 
modeling and  popularizing  the  army.  This  had 
now  become  in  a  manner  a  matter  of  necessity  ; 
."or,  as  there  was  now  a  fair  prospect  of  the  al- 
lied troops  being  withdrawn  from  the  frontier 
fortresses,  the  Government  would  be  left  to  its 
own  resources,  and  could  not  expect  either  to 
maintain  its  existence  or  independence  but  by 
the  support  of  its  own  subjects.  St.  Cyr  was  a 
soldier  of  the  Revolution  ;  and  he  never  got  over 
ibe  strong  impression  in  favor  of  public  freedom 
then  made  on  his  mind.  But  he  was  an  honest 
and  upright  man  ;  he  was  attached,  like  so  many 
others,  to  the  popular  party,  because  he,  in  truth, 
believed  it  to  be  the  only  true  foundation  of  con- 
stitutional freedom  or  social  happiness.  In  com- 
mand he  was  a  strict  disciplinarian,  as  persons 
of  these  principles  generally  are,  and  rigid  in 
exacting  the  discharge  of  their  duties  by  the 
officers  ;  but  he  was  beloved  by  the  private  men, 
fw  whose  interests  and  comforts  he  was  always 
ready  to  exert  himself.  His  appointment  to  the 
important  sUuaiiun  of  War  Minister  was  there- 


fore a  very  important  step  and  regarded  as  such 

by  both  parties.     The  Napoleonists  and  lemo. 

erats  hailed  it  as  an  indication  of  the  disposition 

of  the  Court  to  throw  itself  in  sincerity  and  good 

faith  on  the  nation,  and,  casting  away  foreiirn  in- 

fiiiencc,  to  resume  its  jiroper  place  in  the  scale 

of  European  politics;  the  Royalists  regarded  it 

as  a  step  which  wouUi  probably  be  irrevocable 

in  the  overturning  of  the  monarchy.  ,  f,      ^  jg^ 

The  Count  d'Artois  said  tha-t,  pines  201 ;   Biog. 

the  king  was  determined  to  destr,'>y  Univ.  voce  St. 

himself,  he  might  do  so,  and  that  he  .^5'^'  ^"'J' 
1111       .  .■     1  •  •   .        .1  Ixxiv.  191. 

would  lookout  lorliisownintcrcst.s.' 

The  elections  of  1817  for  the  fifth  of  the  Ck^a'• 
her,  who  by  lot  vacated  their  seats,  42. 

and  were  replaced  by  new  mem-  The  ele<:ti'>n< 
hers,  were  conduced  peaceably,  and  oflSl"- 
without  any  external  tumult;  but  their  impou 
ance  was  not  on  that  account  less  generally  fcl' 
and  it  was  already  foreseen  by  both  parties,  that 
in  its  ultimate  results,  the  new  electoral  la^  • 
would  prove  decisive  of  the  fate  of  the  monarchy. 
Eight  new  deputies  were  to  be  returned  for  Pa- 
ris ;  they  were  all  elected  from  the  Liberal  ranks, 
and  more  than  a  half  were  democrats,  hostile 
even  to  the  present  Liberal  government.  JNIM. 
Lafitte,  Delessert,  Roy,  and  Casimir  Perier,  were 
among  the  returned ;  not  one  Royalist  was  among 
the  number.  Upon  the  whole,  although  as  usual 
in  such  eases,  the  results  were  various,  and  suc- 
cess apparently  nearly  balanced,  yet  the  Royal- 
ists sensibly  lost  lost  ground,  and  the  extreme 
Republicans  gained  it.  Government  might  con- 
gratulate themselves  upon  the  defeat  of  the  three 
known  leaders  of  the  republicans,  MM.  Lafayette, 
i\Ianuel,  and  Benjamin  Constant :  but  they  ex- 
perienced a  bitter  alloy  in  seeing  three  extreme 
Liberals,  Dupont  de  TEure,  Chauvelin,  and  Be- 
guin,  admitted  to  the  legislature.  The  Royal- 
ists, who  were  generally  defeated,  loudly  de- 
claimed against  an  electoral  law  which  excluded 
from  the  king's  service  his  most  faithful  serv- 
ants, and  predicted  the  ruin  of  the  monarchy 
from  its  effects.  The  Doctrinaires,  who  had  in- 
troduced that  law,  began  in  secret  to  dread  its 
effects,  but  still  in  public  defended  it,  and  flat- 
tered themselves  that,  though  in  power,  and 
exposed  to  the  obloquy  of  office,  they  would 
be  able  to  contend  successfully  in  2  Lac.  ii.  163, 
the  elections  with  their  democratic  184  ;  Cap.  v 
rivals.'  214, 225. 

The  circumstances  of  the  country,  however, 
were  such  that  the  democratic  party  43. 

however  much  in  reality  inclined  to  Stateof public 
overturn  the  monarchy  and  revert  opinio"- 
to  a  republican  form  of  government,  were  con- 
strained to  be  circumspect  in  their  measures. 
Notwithstanding  the  embarrassments  of  the 
Treasurv,  and  ths  enormous  weekly  contribu- 
tions which  were  paid  to  the  allied  powers,  the 
country  generally  was  rapidly  increasing  in 
prosperity.  The  wretched  harvest  of  1816  had 
been  succeeded  by  one  in  1S17  which,  although 
still  below  an  average,  was  greatly  better  than 
that  which  had  preceded  it;  and  the  blessed 
Cil'eets  of  peace  and  tranquillity  appeared  in  & 
general,  and,  for  so  short  a  time,  surprising  re- 
vival of  industry  and  increase  of  opulence. 
Paris,  especially,  had  already  attained  an  un- 
precedented degree  of  prosperity.  Strangers 
arrived  from  all  quarters  to  visit  its  monuments, 
its  theatres,  its  galleries;  its  pleasures  attracted 


18   7.1 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


17& 


the  yi)un<]r,  it«  historical  interest  and  objects  of 
ait  the  mitidlc-aged  and  reflecting.  Those  who 
had  visited  it  in  1814  or  1815  and  returned  again 
in  ISIS — among  whom  the  author  may  include 
himself — were  astonished  at  the  unmistakable 
marks  of  prosperity  which  were  to  be  seen  on 
all  sides.  Splendid  streets  had  arisen  or  were 
in  progress  in  many  quarters ;  the  Boulevards, 
the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries,  the  Champs  Ely- 
sees,  breathed,  even  on  ordinary  occasions,  the 
air  of  happiness  and  joy  ;  the  streets  were  filled 
with  elegant  equipages;  while  the  increasing 
brilliancy  of  the  shops,  and  variety  and  beauty 
of  the  dresses  of  the  women,  proved  that  the 
bourgeois  class  shared  in  their  full  proportion 
of  the  general  affluence  and  prosperity  which 
the  continuance  of  peace  and  the  immense  con- 
course of  strangers  had  brought  upon  the  me- 
tropolis. Among  these  strangers,  the  Russians 
and  the  English  were  particularly  remarkable 
for  the  eagerness  after  works  of  art  which  they 
exhibited,  and  the  immense  sums  wliich  they 
spent.  These  sums,  indeed,  were  so  great  as 
much  to  exceed  the  heavy  weekly  payments 
which  the  French  were  still  compelled  to  malce 
to  the  commissioners  of  the  allied  powers ;  and, 
like  the  Greeks  of  old,  they  might  console  them- 
selves with  the  reflection  that  they  had  estab- 
lished a  more  desirable  ascendant  than  that  of 
conquest  over  the  minds  of  their  conquerors  ; 
and  that,  if  they  paid  tribute  to  the  rude  barba- 
rians of  the  North,  they  received  a  homage  more 
lasting  and  flattering  in  the  influ- 
227*'*  ^  '  '  ^"^'^  of  their  acknowledged  superi- 
ority in  taste  and  art.' 
In  jjresence  of  so  much  material  prosperity, 
44  and  with  the  happy  prospect  of  soon 

State  of  public  obtaining  a  definitive  liquidation  of 
opinion,  and  their  debt.s,  and  evacuation  of  their 
of  the  press,  territory  by  the  allied  powers,  the 
Liberal  party  did  not  venture  openly  to  attack 
the  government  of  the  Bourbons.  Too  many 
real  interests  had  flourished,  too  much  undoubted 
prosperity  prevailed,  to  admit  of  this  being  done 
at  the  moment,  with  any  pro.spcct  of  success. 
But  they  were  not,  on  that  account,  the  less  de- 
termined nor  the  less  able  and  energetic  in  the 
policy  which  they  pursued.  They  prepared  the 
ground  for  future  operations  by  every  means 
which  prudence  could  suggest,  or  talent  carry 
into  efl'ect.  The  press  was  the  great  cngiirj  of 
which  they  made  use  to  agitate  the  public  ir.ind, 
and  disseminate  those  alarms,  or  inculcate  those 
principles,  which  might,  at  some  future  jierind, 
lead  to  the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy  Decla- 
mations against  the  ambition  of  priest.i  and  the 
intrigues  of  the  Jesuits;  alarms  insidiouslv 
spread  as  to  the  resumption  of  the  church  prop- 
erty and  the  dispossessing  of  the  holders  of  na- 
tional domains  ;  elofpient  eulogies  on  the  glories 
of  the  Empire,  and  the  boundless  career  of  fame 
«nd  fortune  then  open  to  e\cry  Frenchman, 
Airmod  the  staple  of  their  compositions.  By  a 
skillful  use  of  these  topics,  and  no  small  ability 
in  the  handling  of  them,  lliey  succeeded  in  at- 
tracting to  their  standard  the  large  bourgeois 
class,  who,  in  towns  especially,  are  for  the  most 
part  envious  of  Government,  and  desirous  of 
humbling  it;  and  it  soon  appeared  that,  on  every 
»  Cap.  V.  229  successive  election,  the  great  ma- 
231;_Ij.ar.  ii.  jority  of  this  class  would  vote  for 
'he  Libo  a!  candidate. ' 


183,  184. 


The  partisans  of  the  Orleans  family  still  form 
ed  a  considerable  party,  which  was  45. 

held  firmlv  together  by  the  skill  and  Tlie  Orless- 
riches  of  the  r  chief,  and  the  chances  *^'-^- 
of  eventually  succeeding  to  the  throne,  whieb 
were  evidently  open  to  him  in  the  divided  state 
of  the  public  mind.  The  immense  estates  of  the 
family  had,  with  perhaps  imprudent  generosity, 
been  restored  to  them  by  Louis;  he  hoped  to 
attach  them  by  this  act  of  liberality ;  but,  al 
though  acts  of  kindness  may  sometimes  concili- 
ate an  enemy,  they  seldom  have  any  other  cU'ect 
but  that  of  augmenting  the  alienation  of  a  rival. 
It  is  the  mortification  to  self-love  which  arises 
from  being  indebted  to  one  whom  it  is  desired 
to  supplant  which  has  this  efl'ect.  The  Duke 
of  Orleans,  however — who  was  gifted  with  un- 
common penetration  and  powers  of  mind,  and 
whose  eventful  career  had  made  him  acquainted 
with  the  secret  designs  of  all  the  parties  in  the 
state — was  fully  aware  of  the  difliculties  of  his 
position,  and  the  still  greater  embarrassments 
he  would  encounter  if  he  were  to  succeed  to  the 
throne.  "  I  am  too  much  a  Bourbon,"  said  he. 
"for  the  one,  and  not  enough  for  the  other," — 
a  very  just  observation,  on  which  his  future 
eventful  career  aflbrds  a  striking  commentary. 
Thus  the  different  parties  arrayed  against  the 
Government  were  held  to  their  respective  ban- 
ners rather  by  a  vague  hope  for  the  future  than 
any  definite  projects  for  the  present;  and  the 
only  point  on  which  they  were  all  united,  and 
to  which  their  immediate  endeavors  tended, 
was  that  of  resisting  the  measures,  and  aug- 
menting to  the  utmost  of  their  pow- 
er, the  unpopularity  of  the  Bour-  236^^^  ' 
bons.i 

The  general  result  of  the  elections  had  been 
so  decidedly  Liberal,  that  IMinisters  4g 

felt  the  necessity  of  both  conciliat-  Measures  of 
ing  the  Chambers  and  disarming  the  session : 
their  opponents  by  bringing  forward  gj-^iff^  °  ^^' 
measures  in  the  interest,  and  likely 
to  secure  the  suH'rages,  of  the  majority.  The 
first  and  most  important  of  these  was  the  law 
of  recruiting  for  the  supply  and  future  establish- 
ment of  the  army.  This  had  now  become  a 
matter  of  necessity,  for  the  negotiations  with 
the  allied  powers  left  no  room  for  doubt  that  the 
evacuation  of  the  territory  would  take  place  at 
an  earlier  period  than  was  originally  contem- 
plated, and  the  present  strength  of  the  army 
was  not  such  as  to  enable  the  Government  to 
stand  alone,  or  maintain  its  position  as  an  in- 
dependent power.  On  this  other  hand,  there 
were  no  small  difliculties  in  the  way  of  augment- 
ing it.  The  rallying  cry  of  the  Bourbons,  when 
they  returned  to  France  in  1814.  had  been — 
"  I'lus  de  Cunscription  .'"  and  it  was  the  extreme 
unpopularity  of  that  mode  of  filling  the  ranks 
which  had  been  the  chief  cause  of  the  reluctance 
of  the  people  to  support  Napoleon  in  the  later 
years  of  the  war  wliich  had  occasioned  his  fall. 
The  army  had  been  recruited  hitherto,  since  the 
peace,  by  voluntary  enlistment ;  but  that  mclho<l 
brought  a  great  number  of  loose  characters 
about  the  royal  standards,  and  it  was  very  doubt- 
ful whether  it  would  prove  adequa'e  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  extended  force  which  would  become 
necessary  upon  the  withdrawal  (f  the  allied 
forces.  On  the  other  hand,  the  conscriptioa 
brought  forth  the  very  flower  of  the  '«  *  \*va- 


<80 


HISTORY   OF    EUROTE. 


[Chap.    VI. 


Iniion  ;  but  it  ran  the  risk  of  bcoominp;  iinpopu- 
I'nr,  it  involved  a  brcai-h  of  tlio  royal  wonl,  and 
il  could  not,  it  was  well  known,  be  re-established 
without  that  progressive  rise  of  privates  to  the 
rank  ofollieers  whieh  was  the  •:;reat  alleviation 
ot"  its  bitterness  to  the  people,  and  was  so  direct 
an  expression  of  the  desires  of  the  Revolution. 
This  tilling  up  of  commissions  from  the  ranks 
of  the  soldiers  might  be  extremely  agreeable  to 
them,  and  so  far  obviate  the  objections  to  this 
mode  of  recruiting  the  army  ;  but  it  involved 
the  sacrifice  of  the  most  important  part  of  the 

Cap.  V.  240    '■fyil  prerogative,  and  it  might  ul- 

242;  Lac.  ii. '  timately  place  the  armed  force  in 

1S5;  Lam.  vi.  thg  hands  of  those  upon  whom,  in  a 

crisis,  no  reliance  could  be  placed.' 

In  a  question  surrounded  by  so  many  dilli- 
47  culties,  the  Government  adopted  the 

Ttieiawofre-  course  usually  followed  in  such 
cruiting  pro-  cases ;  they  brousihl  in  a  measure 
posed  bv  Gov-   •     ■      '  -.u     u      ■      i-      .•  r 

eminent.  '"  harmony  with  the  mclmation  ol 

the  majority  of  the  legislature.  M. 
Gouvion  St.  Cyr,  in  a  very  able  report,  unfolded 
both  the  principles  and  the  details  of  the  pro- 
posed project.  "All  modes  of  recruiting."  said 
he,  '•  reduce  themselves  to  two — voluntary  en- 
rollment and  compulsory  service ;  the  latter 
will  not  be  called  into  operation  unless  the  first 
siiall  prove  insufficient.  The  complement  of  the 
legions  is  fixed  at  1-50,000  men;  the  number 
required  \-early  is  40,000.  The  proposed  regu- 
lations are  to  be  divided  into  three  heads  :  those 
concerning  the  levj-ing,  the  legionary  veterans, 
and  the  promotion.  The  first  are  mainly  founded 
on  the  old  laws  of  the  conscription — softened, 
however,  in  every  particular  in  whieh  it  was 
practicable.  The  regulations  concerning  the 
legionary  veterans  are  based  on  the  principle 
that,  in  a  free  state,  every  man  is  bound  to  ren- 
der service  to  maintain  the  independence  of  his 
country.  Those  regarding  promotion,  on  the 
principle  that,  as  a  compensation  for  the  sacri- 
fices  thus  imposed  upon  the  people,  a  regular 
and  invariable  system  of  promotion  should  be 
established  in  the  army ;  that,  beginning  from 
the  ranks,  it  should  ascend  to  the  highest  grades  f 
»  Rapport  de  that  the  regulations  on  this  subject 
M.  Gouvion  should  have  the  fixity  of  laws,  and 
St.  Cyr,  .Mon-  jj^g  recompenses  should  be  as  wide- 
ileur,  Jan.  14  ,       '  ,  .  ,  , 

and  17,  1818 ;  spread  as  the  services,  so  that  the 
Cup.  v.  276,  common  soldier  might  have  the 
2"-  prospect  of  arriving  at  any  rank, 

any  employment,  without  any  limit,  or  any  other 
title  but  his  talents  or  his  services." 

A  law  fraught  with  such  momentous,  and  it 
4g  might  be  irreparable  consequences, 

Argument  in  called  forth,  as  well  it  might,  ani- 
supportofthe  mated  debates  in  both  Chambers. 
Kri  On  ^^^  one  hand,  it  was  contended 

on  the  part  of  Ministers,  by  INI.jM. 
Courvoisier  and  Royer  Collard  :  •'  The  proposed 
law  differs  from  the  conscription  in  the  most 
essential  particular,  for  it  fixes  the  maximum  of 
the  levy,  whereas  the  main  grievance  of  Napo- 
leon's system  consisted  in  this,  that  nothing  was 
fixed  absolutely ;  no  amount  of  sacrifices  secured 
the  country  against  fresh  demands.  Under  the 
monarchy,  although  voluntary  recruiting  was  as 
much  as  possible  encouraged.  Government  never 
lost  hold  of  the  important  right  of  forced  enroll- 
ment. The  militia  was  constantly  raised  by 
levy ;   in  remoter  times  the   Ban  and  Arriere 


Ban  were  culled  forth.  Forced  levies  were  re 
pcatodly  had  recourse  to  during  the  long  and 
disastrous  wars  of  Louis  XIV.  Look  at  En- 
gland, that  model  of  representative  government- 
does  it  not  make  use,  in  cases  of  neccso-ty,  of 
compulsory  service?  What  else  is  the  pre.->.«i, 
which  mans  the  fleet  which  has  given  her  the 
empire  of  the  waves'?  Look  around  yon  in 
Europe,  and  you  will  see  armies  every  where 
maintained  by  forced  enrollments,  which  latterly 
have  been  pushed  to  a  length  that  apparently 
knows  no  limits.  Is  it  fitting  for  us,  surrounded 
by  so  many  powerful  neighbors,  decorated  with 
so  much  glory,  the  object  ol'such  inextinguishable 
animosities,  to  rely  ibr  our  defense  only  on  the 
shadow  of  an  army  ?  Are  we  prepared  to  de- 
scend from  the  summits  of  military  fame,  to  tlte 
condition  and  the  reputation  of  a  second-rate 
power?  We  have  still  within  ourselves  the 
elements  of  a  military  force  capable  of  securing 
forever  the  independence  of  our  country;  shall 
we  let  them  wither  away  for  want  of  employ- 
ment? Our  misfortunes  have  not  deprived  us 
of  the  right  to  be  proud,  but  they  have  imposed 
upon  us  the  duty  of  being  vigilant.  Cast  youi 
eyes  on  our  frontiers,  on  the  garrisons  of  our  cita 
dels,  and  say  if  this  is  th«  time  to  slumber  a'l 
our  posts?  We  are  accused  of  betraying  the 
royal  authority  when,  if  we  acted  otherwise,  we 
should  be  betraying  the  independence  of  our 
country;  and  the  king,  by  surrendering  that  of 
his  prerogative,  has  given  a  noble  example  of 
what  the  duty  of  his  situation  requires,  the  love 
of  his  people  can  effect. 

"  The  reserve  of  veterans  whieh  it  is  pro- 
posed  to  establish,  under  the  name  of 
'legionary  veterans,'  is  a  measure  at  continued 
once  called  for  by  necessity,  and  jus- 
tified by  every  noble  and  honorable  feeling.  "We 
have  to  consider,  in  approaching  this  subject,  if 
we  shall  again  call  to  the  defense  of  the  country 
the  soldiers  who  have  created  its  clory,  or  if  we 
shall  forever  stigmatize  them  as  dangerous  to  its 
repose.  Such  a  declaration  would  be  at  once 
rigorous  and  unjust,  for  our  soldiers  were  admir- 
able in  the  day  of  battle,  and  indefatigable  ardor 
animated  and  heroic  patience  sustained  them  ; 
never  have  they  ceased  to  i'eel  that  they  owed 
their  life  to  the  safety  of  France  ;  and  when  they 
retired  from  their  standards  they  were  still  pre- 
pared to  offer  to  them  immense  treasures  of  force 
and  bravery.  Is  it  fitting  that  France  should 
renounce  the  privilege  of  demanding  them?  Is 
it  fitting  she  should  cease  to  pride  herself  on 
those  whom  Europe  is  never  weary  of  admiring  ? 
No !  the  thing  is  impossible ;  our  safety  is  not 
placed  in  the  oblivion  of  such  services,  in  the  dis- 
trust of  such  courage,  in  the  abandonment  of  so 
secure  a  rampart.  Empires  are  not  founded  on 
distrust.  The  king  knows  it;  the  king  wishes 
that  there  should  not  exist  in  France  a  single  na- 
tional  force  which  does  not  belong  to  him,  a  single 
generous  sentiment  of  which  he  has  not  made 
the  conquest.  Our  soldiers  have  expiated  much, 
for  they  have  sufl[ered  much ;  breathes  there  the 
man  who  would  still  repel  them? 

'■  We  must  say  to  those  whom  the  phantom 
of  the  old  army  terrifies,  that  their 
prejudices   are   unjust,    their   alarms  concluded, 
without  foundation,  and  that  in  this,  as 
in  so  many  othir  cases,  the  dread  of  imaginary 
perils  may  induce  veal  danger.     After  a  crisis 


ISIS  I 


HISTORY   OF    EUR0P2. 


iSi 


I 


such  as  we  are  enier<;iiiir  from,  for  evils  such  as 
we  huve  endured  there  is  but  one  remedy — and 
ihat  i^  ohlivion.  It  is  oblivion  alone  which  can 
heal  the  wounds  of  a  state  so  long  and  violently 
ai;itated.  Whoever  refuses  to  sacrifice  to  ob- 
.livion  prepares  new  tempests.  What  Frenchman 
iias  not  need  of  oblivion,  if  not  for  himself,  at 
least  for  his  family,  his  brothers,  his  children? 
B'.rror  has  been  in  all  camps,  within  all  walls, 
without  all  walls,  under  all  banners.  Our  coun- 
I  Moniteur,  ti'y  has  often  seen  rebels  in  both 
Jan.  I4an(129,  armies.  All  of  us  have  faults  more 
ItjlS;  Ann.     Qf  ]gjs  jrrave   to  expiate:  and  the 

Hist.  1. 54.  C9 ;   ,  .         ,      '^     •  ^,       ,'      .     '        r  .,     ^ 

oap.  V.  279  "'i.i?'  "^s  civen  the  best  proot  that 
284  ;  Lac.  ii.  he  knows  how  to  reign  by  his  know- 
]S9, 192.  ing  how  to  forgive  !"  ' 

The  last  words,  pronounced  in  a  most  em- 
5j  phatic  manner  by  the  Minister  at 

Argument  on  War,  produced  a  prodigious  impres- 
the  other  side  sion  both  in  the  Chamber  and  over 
fas""^  ^°^^^'  France.  They  spoke  too  strongly 
to  the  most  powerful  passions  of  the 
people  not  to  excite  universal  enthusiasm.  They 
penetrated  alike  the  camps,  the  towns,  and  the 
cottages;  already  the  words  were  heard  in  the 
streets,  "the  Grand  Army  still  exists."  But  the 
Royalists  were  not  discouraged;  and,  without 
directly  running  counter  to  these  noble  and  popu- 
lar sentiments,  they  rested  their  opposition  to 
the  proposed  measure  chiefly  on  its  tendency  to 
despoil  the  Crown  of  the  most  important  part 
of  its  prerogative,  that  of  appointing  officers  to 
the  army,  and  to  establish  an  armed  force,  which 
could  not  be  relied  on  under  all  circumstances,  to 
support  its  authority.  ''  The  proposed  law,"  said 
MM.  de  Villele,  de  Chateaubriand,  and  Salaberry, 
''  will  renew  what  was  most  odious  and  oppress- 
ive under  the  Imperial  regime — the  forced  levy- 
ing of  men  by  the  conscription.  Such  a  measure 
is  repugnant  to  every  idea  of  a  tempered  consti- 
tution or  real  freedom ;  it  is  unknown  in  En- 
gland, where  compulsory  enrollment  is  known 
only  in  time  of  war,  and  then  only  for  the  militia, 
which  can  not  be  sent  out  of  the  country  but 
with  its  own  consent.  Other  kings  have  known 
how  to  conquer  provinces,  resist  formidable 
leagues,  with  the  aid  of  voluntary  enrollment ; 
are  we  less  powerful  than  they?  The  conscrip- 
tion is  the  scourge  of  every  country,  but,  above 
all,  of  an  agricultural  one;  for  what  can  replace 
the  robust  arms  which  are  torn  from  the  plow? 
It  leaves,  as  in  the  last  years  of  the  Empire, 
none  to  conduct  cultivation  but  widows  and  or- 
phans. Why  make  such  a  display  of  hostile  in- 
tentions at  this  time?  Is  it  desired  to  awaken 
the  jealousy  of  the  sovereigns,  to  make  them  call 
to  mind  the  exploits  of  the  Grand  Army,  and 
dream  of  a  second  Waterloo?  Is  legitimacy  so 
very  firmly  established,  that  it  can  with  safety 
be  abandoned  to  those  who  have  so  recently  shown 
themselves  its  bitterest  enemies?  On  the  other 
hand,  why  oblige  the  veterans  to  come  f(rtli  from 
their  retreats,  and  persecute  them  by  a  com|iii|. 
Eory  service,  under  a  government  wliich  there  is 
too  much  reason  to  fear  they  are  forever  severed 
from  in  their  hearts? 

"'Promotion,    promotion!'      These   arc    the 

magic  words  which  arc  presented  as 
r-    ?^'..„i    the  soul  of  the  new  law,  as  the  secret 

destmcd  to  procure  lor  us  the  restor- 
ation of  our  perilous  c'"ry.  Promotion  indeed! 
is  it  alreadv  fi  rgotiei    hat  Ireiizy  uus  siibstilulcd 


for  the  noble  sentiment  of  patriotism  in  the  yonnj; 
elcvcs  of  Napolcnn.  and  that  U<  it  are  entirely  to 
be  ascribed  the  disasters  of  the  Hundred  Days? 
How  is  it  proposed  to  regulate  this  promotion? 
Why,  by  despoiling  the  king  of  what  is  the  very 
essence  ol  the  royal  prerogative — the  appoint- 
ment of  officers  to  the  armed  force  !  The  char 
ter  e.xpresslv  secures  this  important  power  to  the 
king;  and  now  the  authors  of  the  ordinance  Ok" 
5lh  September,  who  were  so  loud  in  their  asser- 
tion of  the  principle  that  not  an  iota  of  the  char 
ter  should  be  changed,  openly  violate  it,  in  order 
to  secure  the  suffrages  of  a  party  the  sworn  ene 
mies  of  legitimacy,  and  in  order  to  humiliate  thp 
rural  noblesse,  who  are  the  best  supporters  o) 
the  throne  ! 

"  It  is  not  the  law  as  a  military  institution 
which  we  are  to  consider.  Possibly, 
in  that  view,  it  may  be  open  to  very  conclildeil 
few  objections.  It  is  its  spirit,  its 
tendency,  that  we  are  to  consider.  Its  tendency 
in  this  view  is  perfectly  plain — it  is  anti-mon- 
archical. All  its  clauses  are  conceived  in  t\)\-i 
spirit,  that  the  impulsion  and  the  movement  shall 
no  longer  proceed  from  the  throne.  Under  the 
monarchy,  on  the  same  principle,  and  for  the 
reason  that  all  judicial  appointments  and  au- 
thority flowed  from  the  throne,  so  the  army,  cs- 
sentially  obedient,  recognized  no  other  but  i!ip 
sovereign.  It  was  his  name,  and  his  alone,  which 
it  bore  on  its  arms,  on  its  standards.  The  pro- 
posed law  alters  this  entirely,  for  it  takes  the 
nomination  and  promotion  of  oflicers  from  the 
king;  it  violates  the  charter,  which  expresslv 
recognizes  that  privilege  as  residing  in  him  • 
the  formation  of  veteran  legions  is  nothing  but 
a  decisive  concession  to  those  who  have  never 
ceased,  and  will  never  cease,  to  aim  at  the  over- 
throw of  the  monarchy  and  the  charter.  There 
exists  a  flagrant  conspiracy  against  both.  The 
coup  d^elat  of  September  5  has  rendered  it  om- 
nipotent in  civil  matters,  the  present  law  will 
do  the  same  with  military.    There  was  wanting 

to  the  Genius  of  Evil  nothing  but 

■        V     u        1.1  '  Moniteur, 

an  army ;  when  he  has  obtained  one,  j^^  jj  i(,ig. 

he  will  seat  hiiTiselfon  the  ruins  of  a  Ann.  I'list.  i! 

throne,  at  the  foot  of  which  fidelity  70. 72^  C.ip.  v. 

and  honor  will  fall  in  vain,  too  late  f''^,',^H^,'„,,   '^^ 

111  1  •        1  n  1         n.  ioo,  lyu. 

recalled,  too  late  appreciated.'  ' 

Various  amendments  were  proposed,  and  some 
carried  in  both  Chambers  :  but  they  54. 

related  only  to  matters  of  detail,  Ttie  l)iii  is 
which  were  worked  out  with  ex-  Passed  uiio  a 
treme  care.  The  principle  of  the  "^^" 
law  was  too  stronglj'  intrenchod  in  tlie  fecliiig"i 
and  opinions  of  the  majority  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  to  bo  shaken  ;  and  although  a  majoriiy 
of  the  Peers  were  inclined  to  the  other  side,  the 
influence  of  Ministers,  and  the  personal  solicit- 
ations of  the  King,  obtained  for  it  su'^ooss.  On 
the  final  division,  the  law  passed  the  Depntiis 
by  a  majority  of  .'55 — the  numbers  being  1  17  to 
9"J.  In  the  Peers,  the  majority  was  less  consid- 
erable— the  numbers  being  yC  to  74.  Thus 
passed  this  bill,  which  has  ever  since  eontiniied 
the  charter  of  tlic  French  army,  and  has  been 
successively  adopted  by  all  the  goveinmciits 
which  have  stKxeeded  to  its  direction.  Its  con- 
scfiuenccs  were  great — it  may  be  said  decisive 
— on  the  future  fate  of  France  and  of  Europe. 
Is  is  remarkable  that  this  important  change  in 
the  composition  of  the  French  army — fraught. 


1*2 


11 1ST  Oil  V    OF    EUROPE 


ikS  iho  event  provcil,  with  siu'li  nuimciitous  con- 
»e(iuenocs  was  oarriod  tliroiiijh  in  piescnco  of  the 
Kiirojioanembassnilors,  and  wiiii  their  armicsslill 
occupying  the  French  citadels;  and  there  was 
as  inucii  truth  as  ekxpienee  in  the  last  speech  of 
the  Minister  at  War  on  the  snhjeet — '"It  is  a 
Spectacle  unique  in  the  history  oltho  world  to  be- 
1  j^^^  jjjj.,  j  hold  a  free  and  national  government 
10l;Monitoiiri  discussinir  its  military  system  in 
Feb.  5,  niid  presence  of  the  armies  ol"  Europe, 
Mar.  9,  lbl8.  ^^-^  encamped  on  ils  territory.'"' 
This  was  the  ijreat  and  decisive  measure  of 
.,  the  session.     When  this  important 

Law  rpgard-  victory  was  gaineil  by  the  popular 
inR  the  lilicTty  party,  the  lesser  successes  followed 
01  the  press,  g^,  ^  niatier  of  course.  The  prin- 
cipal remainin<i  stru^j^le  took  place  on  the  law 
proposed  by  <^ovcrnmcnt  in  regard  to  the  liberty 
of  the  press.  The  provisions  of  the  bill  on  this 
subject  brought  forward  by  31.  Pasquier,  the 
Keeper  of  the  Seals,  were  these  :  The  author  of 
every  writing  published  in  France  was  to  be 
primarily  responsible  for  its  contents;  if  the  au- 
thor was  unknown,  the  jniblisher;  and  minute 
regulations  were  laid  dov\-n  for  the  seizure  of 
works  of  an  inflammatory  tendency,  and  leading 
to  revolt;  and  no  journals  or  periodical  works 
were  to  appear  without  the  sanction  of  the  cen- 
sorship, before  the  1st  January  1821.  This  cer- 
tainly was  very  far  from  being  the  liberty  of 
the  press,  but  still  it  was  a  step  toward  it,  and 
indicated  an  intention  on  the  part  of  Govern- 
ment, at  no  distant  period,  to  remove  all  restric- 
tions on  it.  The  project,  however,  excited  a 
great  division  in  the  Chamber  ;  and  a  portion  of 
the  Centre,  beaded  by  CamiUe  Jourdan,  voted 
against  it.  This  was  an  ominous  symptom,  and 
so  the  event  proved.  The  bill  was  so  altered  by 
successive  amendments — carried  some  against, 
some  by  the  government — that  in  the  end,  nei- 
ther party  was  very  anxious  for  its  passing  into 
a  law;  and  the  result  was.  that  after  having 
passed  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  by  a  majority 
of  34 — the  numbers  being  131  to  97 — it  was 
thrown  out  by  the  Peers  by  a  majority  of  43 — 
the  numbers  being  102  to  59.  This  result  was 
obtained  by  the  Royalists  having  to  a  man  united 
with  the  extreme  Left  to  throw  out  the  bill ; — a 
strange  coalition  at  first  sight,  but  natural  in 
reality,  when  two  parties — the  most  at  variance 
on  other  points — are  excluded  from  power,  and 
'Ann.  Hist. i.  ^o'-^  1°°^  ^°  freedom  of  discus- 
41, 53 :  Cap.T.  sion  as  the  only  means  of  regaining 
267,  270.  it.a 

The  laws  restrictive  of  individual  liberty,  and 
establishing    the    odious    Prevotal 

r>  ^\- .X.  Courts,  expired  at  the  end  of  this 
Expiry  of  the  '        *.   ,  •    i      i  .i 

law's  against  year,  to  which  period  alone  they 
jiersonal  free-  stood  extended,  without  either  re- 
dom  and  the  newal  or  observation.  In  fact,  they 
Courts?  had  become  a  dead  letter;  only  four 

arrests  had  been  under  their  author- 
ity in  the  course  of  the  year.  Thus  the  cause 
of  freedom  was  sensibly  advancing  in  France 
with  the  cessation  of  treason  and  sedition.  Gov- 
ernment no  longer  felt  the  necessity  of  excep- 
tional laws,  and  were  too  happy  to  let  them  ex- 
pire; the  public  feeling  at  once  reprobated  and 
rendered  unnecessary  their  continuance.  A 
great  truth,  interesting  to  all,  and  especially 
free  nations,  may  be  gathered  from  this  circum- 
stance— and  'hat  is,  that  the  cause  of  real  free- 


[ClIAP.    VI. 

dom  never  is  promoted  by  sedition  or  revolt.  A 
change  of  government  may  result,  and  often  has 
resulted,  from  the  success  of  such  attempts;  but 
the  cause  of  liberty  has  never  failed  ti^  suflcr 
from  them.  If  the  treason  is  successful,  none 
dare  call  it  treason;  its  leaders  are  elevated  to 
high  stations,  and  liberty  is  in  every  mouth;  but 
meanwhile  the  substance  is  lost,  and  the  new 
government  is  both  more  powerl'ul  and  oppress- 
ive than  the  old.  If  it  is  unsuccessful,  the  old 
government  is  only  rendered  the  more  powcrlVil 
and  vindictive,  from  the  failure  of  an  attempt  to 
shake  its  authority.  Freedom  can  not  be  won 
by  rude  violence,  though  a  change  of  masters 
for  the  worse  may  :  it  is  the  result  only  of  con- 
tinued trancjuillit}'  and  peace,  and  i  Lac.  ii.  195, 
perishes  in  the  first  burst  of  civil  I'Jti;  Cap.  v 
dissension.'  269,2/0. 

A  more  serious  difficulty  awaited  ministers  in 
the  establishment,  in  the  realm  of  ^_ 

France,  of  the  concordat  lately  con-  Failure  of  the 
eluded  with  the  court  of  Rome,  law  for  estub- 
This  could  only  be  done  by  the  lishing  the 
consent  of  the  Chambers,  because,  J]^^  <-oncor- 
as  the  Church  had  been  despoiled 
of  all  its  inheritance  by  the  Revolution,  the  new 
sees  and  establishments  proposed  could  only  be 
endowed  from  the  funds  of  the  state.  It  was 
no  easy  matter,  with  a  Chamber,  the  majority  of 
which  was  decidedly  Liberal,  to  obtain  such  a 
grant;  and  yet,  without  it,  the  concordat  would 
remain  a  dead  letter.  The  Duke  de  Richelieu, 
to  meet  the  diiriculties,  brought  in  a  moderate 
bill,  the  purport  of  which  was,  that,  in  conform- 
ity with  the  concordat  of  Leo  X.  and  Francis  I., 
now  again  become  the  law  of  France,  there 
shojuld  be  seven  new  archbishoprics,  and  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five  new  episcopal  sees  es- 
tablished in  France,  the  funds  for  the  support 
of  which  should  be  taken  from  the  public  ex- 
chequer ;  that  no  bull  or  brief  of  the  Pope  should 
be  published  in  France  till  it  had  received  the 
sanction  of  the  king;  and  that  those  concerning 
the  Church  in  general,  the  interest  of  the  slate, 
or  which  modified  its  existing  institutions,  should 
be  submitted  to  the  Chambers.  It  was  not  likely 
that  a  bill  which  went,  on  the  one  hand,  to  im- 
pose so  considerable  a  burden  on  the  public 
funds,  and  on  the  other,  abridged  in  such  im- 
portant particulars  the  authority  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  would  meet  with  the  support  either  of 
a  Liberal  Chamber,  or  of  the  Papal  2Cap.  v.  272, 
Government.*  It  experienced,  ac-  275;  Ann.,_ 
eordingly,  great  opposition;  and  ■'^'^'- '•  ^' ^'■ 
after  being  anxiously  discussed  in  committee, 
and  vehemently  by  the  public  press,  it  was 
withdrawn  by  ministers,  and  the  matter  re- 
ferred again  to  the  Duke  de  Richelieu,  for  far- 
ther negotiation  with  the  Court  of  Rome. 

The  most  important  matter  which  remained 
for  consideration  was  the  Budget, 
and  the  greatest  interests  were 
wound  up  with  it.  On  the  success 
of  the  Ministry's  measures  of  finance  it  depend- 
ed whether  France  could  make  good  its  still 
onerous  engagements  to  the  Allies,  and  thereby 
effect  an  arrangement  which  might  lead  to  the 
evacuation  of  liie  territory.  This  was  a  matter 
of  the  very  highest  importance,  upon  which  the 
king's  heart  was  most  anxiously  set,  and  upon 
the  success  of  which  the  stability  of  his  govern- 
ment might  be  considered  as  in  a  great  degt«« 


I 


.58. 
The   Budget 


1S18.J 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


S3 


dependent  Much  consideration  was  requisite 
beiore  a  subiect  so  sunoiinded  with  ditriculiies 
could  be  adequately  handled,  and  the  resources 
of  France,  equally  with  the  capital  of  its  mone\-ed 
men,  were  alike  unequal  to  making  good  the 
engagements.  But  happily  the  Credit  of  its 
government  stood  high,  and  the  honorable  punc- 
tuality with  which  it  had  discharged  its  obliga- 
tions, since  the  Restoration,  had  gone  far  to  re- 
move the  effects  of  the  confiscation  of  so  large  a 
part  of  its  public  debt  during  the  Revolution. 
M.  Corvetto,  the  Finance  Minister,  estimated  the 
ordinary  receipts  at  767,778,000  francs  (£30,- 
710,000)  ;  and  the  expenditure  was  993,244,0-22 
francs  (£39,700,000)  ; — so  that  the  deficit  to  be 
provided  for  by  loan  was  no  less  than  225,465,- 
000  francs,  or  £9,018,000.  As  the  French  cap- 
italists were  wholly  unequal  to  the  raising  a 
sum  so  large,  especially  alter  the  great  loans  of 
the  preceding  years,  recourse  was  again  had  to 
foreign  aid,  and  jMessrs.  Baring  and  Hope  fur- 
nished the  requisite  assistance.  The  loan  was 
obtained  on  more  favorable  terms  than  that  of 
the  preceding  year,  the  Five  per  Cents  being 
taken  at  67  instead  of  58,  as  in  1817;  no  less 
than  16.000,000  francs  of  rentes  were  inscribed 

,  , „„,  •    on  the  Grand  Livre  for  the  interest 

'  Ann.  Hist.  I.  1,1  '11 

195, 197  ;  Cap.  ol  this  loan  ;'  the  loan,  with  the  ex- 
V.  285,  288 ;  tra  charges  of  commission,  &c.,  was 
Moniteur,  contracted  for  at  nearly  10  per 
Dec.  1/,  ISli.  .  ,   ■  ^     1      -^      I, 

cent. ;  and  it  must  always  be  re- 
garded as  a  most  honorable  circumstance  for  the 
French  government  and  nation,  that  they  dis- 
charged such  enormous  obligations  with  exact- 
ness and  fidelity.* 

This  great  difiiculty  having  been  surmounted, 
"*'S'^''^''°"  began  in  good  earnest 
Conclusion  of  *or  the  evacuation  of  the  French 
an  arrange-  territory.  The  great  obstacle  was 
the  enormous  amount  of  the  indem- 
nities claimed  by  governments  or 
individuals  for  exactions  made  from 
the  war,  which  had  swelled  to 
1,600,000,000  francs,  or  £64,000,000.  At  length, 
however,  bv  the  indefatigable  eflbrts  of  the  com- 
missioners, aided  by  the  liberal  and  just  views  of 
the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who  was  at  their  head. 


ment  regard- 
ing the  indem- 
Dities. 

them  durinr 


the  claims  were  so  far  adjusted  that  the  irtcresi 
of  the  new  debt,  to  be  created  for  this  purpose, 
was  fixed  at  12,400,000  francs,  or  £482,000,  tj 
very  small  sum  compared  with  what  had  been  an- 
ticipated. "France,"  said  the  Duke  de  Riche- 
lieu, in  announcing  the  conclusion  of  this  ar- 
rangement to  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  "  should 
now  reap  the  reward  of  her  courageous  resigna- 
tion. Holding  in  her  hands  the  treaties  of  which 
she  has  performed  the  most  onerous  conditions, 
she  will  not  appeal  in  vain  to  Europe  for  the 
execution,  in  her  turn,  of  such  as  are  favorable 
to  her.  The  treaty  of  20lh  November.  1815, 
bears  this  clause  :  '  The  military  occupation  of 
France  may  terminate  at  the  end  of  three  years !' 
That  term  approaches,  and  every  French  heart 
quivers  at  the  thought  of  seeing  on  the  soil  of 
our  country  no  other  banner  but  that  of  France. 
The  sovereigns  are  about  to  assemble,  to  deliber- 
ate on  this  great  question.  This  assembly  will 
not  be  one  of  the  congresses  of  kings  which  his- 
tory has  often  recounted  as  of  sinister  omen  :  that 
august  reunion  will  open  under  noble  auspices. 
Justice  will  preside  over  it — the  august  rulers 
of  nations  will  yield  to  the  wish  of  the  king — to 
that  wish  which,  after  the  example  of  its  august 
family,  entire  France  has  pronounced  with  a 
unanimous  voice.  The  most  perfect  tranquillity 
reigns  in  France — our  institutions  are  developed 
and  strengthened — the  charter,  thrown  open  to 
all  parties,  receives  them,  not  to  become  their 
prey,  but  that  they  may  be  cherished  and  lost  in 
its  bosom.  If,  for  a  moment,  they  have  seemed 
to  revive,  the  wise  firmness  of  the  king  has  im- 
mediately disarmed  them ;  and  the  experience 
of  that  has  proved  for  us,  as  for  all  Europe,  an 
evident  demonstration  of  their  impotence.  Last 
year  a  cruel  calamity,  the  most  likely  of  any  to 
agitate  a  people,  made  itself  severely  felt.  If, 
in  the  midst  of  so  many  difficulties,  the  legiti- 
mate monarchy  has  displayed  so  much  strength, 
what  has  it  to  apprehend  for  the  future;  and 
what  alarm  can  Europe  feel  at  the  prospect  of 
France,  free  under  the  beneficent  sceptre  of  it-s 
sovereigns  ?"  As  a  corollary  to  these  cheering 
expressions,  he  proposed  the  inscription  on  the 
Grand  Livre — in  other  words,  the   creation  of 


b 


*The  Budget  of  1818  stood  tlius  :— 
I.  Income. 


Land  tax, 259,054,937 

Personal  tax,  patents,  windows, 98,433,603 

Registers  and  woods,  1 02,20(1,0(10 

Customs, HO, 000, 000 

Indirect  taxes, 120.000,000 

Ports,  12,000,000 

Lottery  and  salt  mines, 14,000, ooo 

Given  up  by  Royal  Family, 3,000,000 

Receipts  by  police,  5,900,000 

Retained  from  salaries, 13,200,000 


Total  income 707,778,600 

Total  expenditure, 993,244,022 


Difference  to  be  provided  for  by  loan,  . . .  225,405,422 
(or  about  i'9,0I 8,000; 


II.  ExrK.NDITURE. 

Ordinary. 

FrancK. 

Interest  of  National  Debt, 1 40,782,000 

Sinking  Fund, 40,000,000 

Annuities, 12,800,000 

Pensions  of  all  sorts, 65,908,000 

Civil  List,  34,000,000 

I  Icrgy, 22,000,000 

I'firs, 2,000,000 

Drputies, 680,000 

Various  Ministries 291,913,000 

Deparlmenial  expenses, 31,976,000 

(Cautionary  engagements, 8,000,000 

Negotiation, 18,000,000 

Cadastre, 3,000,000 

Non  Valeurs, 9,910,000 

680,975,000 

llxtravrdinary. 

Fifth  war  contribution, 140,000,000 

(;o.st  and  pay  of  allied  troops, 151,800,000 

Arrears  of                   do 11,468,423 

MisccUanects,    6,000,000 


Total,. 
Snt^tutLe  TTistoriquc.  i.  196,  197,  and  Moniteur,  ICM  I)c.:.  1K17. 


312,268,421 
993,224,023 


164 


HISTORY    t)F    EUROPE. 


!«t<Vk—tn  the  extent  of  1^,100,000  francs,  to  meet 
the  deiu.Hiuls  of  private  parties,  and  L'l.OOOjOOO 
iranes  o\  rentes  yearly  (X'JOOjOOO),  to  form  a 
fiinil  of  eredit  wherewith  to  meet  the  demands 
of  the  foreign  powers.  Overjoyed  at  the  pros- 
'  rap  V.  297  peet  of  obfaininfjaiiberalionoftheir 
8t>S;Ann.  territory  by  such  sacrifices,  tliese 
lljst.  i.  172,      grants  were  a'rrecd  to  without  a  dis- 

sentinq-  voice  in  both  houses.' 
Aix-i.A-CH.vrEi.i.K.  where  it  was  determined 

that  the  Coni^ir'sschar<ied  with  such 
A'l  la-Chn  weitrhty  matters  of  consideration 
pelle  and  its  should  sit,  is  an  old  town  in  the 
roncourse  of  German  part  of  the  Low  Countries, 
Illustrious        Jq    ,  celebrated  for  its  antiquities, 

and  the  memorable  events  of  which 
it  has  been  the  theatre.  Charlemaf^nc  fixed 
upon  it  as  the  capital  of  his  extensive  dominions, 
which,  like  those  which  a  thousand  years  after- 
ward were  under  the  influence  of  Napoleon,  ex- 
tended far  into  Germany  on  the  rijiht  bank  of 
the  Rhine.  It  contains  the  tomb  of  that  illustri- 
ous man,  and  many  objects  of  antiquarian  inter- 
est ;  but,  having  ceased  to  be  a  metropolis  when 
his  miirhty  dominion  fell  to  pieces,  it  had  rapidly 
sunk  from  its  ancient  splendor,  and  for  several 
centuries  had  been  chiefly  supported  by  the  con- 
course of  strangers,  who  assembled  annually  to 
drink  its  celebrated  waters.  Now,  however,  it 
received  a  passing  but  brilliant  illustration  from 
the  momentous  Congress  which  assembled  with- 
in its  walls,  and  on  whose  decisions  the  fate,  not 
only  of  France,  but  of  Europe,  in  a  great  meas- 
ure depended.  To  those  who  reflect  on  the 
vicissitudes  of  time,  and  the  mighty  changes 
produced  by  the  course  of  events,  it  will  not  ap- 
pear the  least  remarkable  coincidence  of  that 
memorable  era,  that  the  sovereigns  charged 
with  the  consideration  of  when  the  French  ter- 
ritory should  be  liberated  from  its  thralldom, 
assembled  after  the  lapse  of  a  thousand  years  in 
the  capital  city  of  their  former  conqueror,  and  in 
the  close  vicinity  of  his  tomb  :  and  that  a  leading 
power  in  the  conferences  was  that  formed  by  the 
J  descendantsof  the  heroic  ^\'itikind,* 

2^2^^'  ^'       '  who  had  struggled  as  long  and  per- 

severingly  against  the  first  Charle- 
magne as  his  descendants  had  done  against  the 
second. 

The  concourse  of  strangers  soon  began  in  Aix- 
6]  la-Chapelle.       Prince    JMetternich 

Embassadors  arrived  on  the  20th  September,  and 
there,  and  in-  goon  after  M.  Capo  d'Istria.  Prince 
structions   of   t  •  in  i-    tj     '  i 

Louts  to  the  Lieven,   and  rozzo  di  JBorgo,  and 

Duke  de  Nesselrode  ;  on  the  part  of  Russia, 

Richelieu.  General  Chernicheff,  Count  Woron- 
Septemberao.  ^^g-^  General  Jomini,  and  several 
others.  Prince  Hardenherg,  Baron  Bernstorff, 
and  Baron  Alexander  de  Humboldt,  appeared 
on  behalf  of  Prussia;  Lord  Castlereagh,  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  and  jNIr.  Canning,  on  that  of 
Great  Britain.  Finally,  Messrs.  Hope,  Baring, 
and  Rothschild,  were  there  as  private  individ- 
uals, but  possessing  more  weight  than  many 
sovereigns,  from  being  alone  possessed  of  the 
capital  requisite  to  carry  into  ellect  the  vast 
financial  operations  which  were  in  contempla- 
tion. Tne  Duke  de  Richelieu  attended  on  the' 
part  of  France  ;  he  took  an  aflectionate  leave  of 
Louis  XVIII.,  whose  last  words  to  him  on  setting 
out  were  :  '■  M.  de  Richelieu,  make  every  sacri- 
fice to  obtain  the  evacuation  of  the  territory;  it 


[t  ii.'.p.   V\ 

is  the  first  condition  of  our  independence  :  n( 
flag  but  our  own  slioidd  wave  in  France.  Ex 
press  lo  my  allies  how  dilFicult  my  governmer 
will  be  so  loiiii  as  it  can  be  reproachnj  with  thr 
eulaiiiities  of  the  country,  and  the  occupation  of 
the  territory;  and  yet  you  know,  j\l.  de  Riche. 
lieu,  it  was  not  I,  but  Bonaparte,  who  brought 
the  allies  upon  us.  These  are  my  whole  in- 
structions. Repeat  to  the  Emperor  Alexander 
that  he  has  it  in  his  power  to  render  a  greater 
service  to  my  house  than  he  has  done  in  1814 
or  1815;  after  having  restored  legitimacy^  it  re- 
mains for  him  to  reap  the  glory  of  having  re- 
stored the  national  independence.  Obtain  the 
best  conditions  possible;  but,  at 
any  sacrifice,  get  quit  of  the  stran-  3g-  ^'    '       ' 

'1  he  king  of  Prussia,  within  vv-hose  territorie? 
Aix-la-Chapelle  is  situated,  arrived 
on  the  26th  September,  to  receive  Brilliant  con 
his  august  allies,  the  Emperors  of  course  of 
Russia  and  Austria,  who  arrived  on  strangers  at 
the  2sth.     As  the  congress  was  ex-  ptfig.'^'^'*^" 
pected  to  be  short,  there  was  not  the 
same  brilliant  concourse  of  strangers  which  had 
met  at   Vienna   in    1814;    but   still   enough   to 
throw  an  air  of  splendor  over  the  august  assem- 
bly.    The  Princess  Lieven  and  Lady   Castle- 
reagh   shone    pre-eminent    among    the    female 
diplomatists — not  the    least    important   person- 
ages in  a  congress  of  that  description — and  re- 
ceived   all    the    illustrious   persons    who    were 
assembled  on  the  occasion.     The  splendid  dia- 
monds of  the  latter  were  the  object  of  general 
admiration.     Madame  Catalani  appeared  there 
with  the  magnificent  diamond  brooch  which  had 
been  given  her  by  the  Emperor  Alexander ;  and 
the  chief  beauties  of  the  opera  at  Paris  added 
the  influence  of  thoir  charms  to  the  gayety  of  the 
scene.      Nor   were    there    wanting    some    whc 
aimed  at  attracting  the  notice  of  the  Emperor 
Alexander  bv  falling  in  with  his   peculiar  and 
superstitious  feelings  ;  and  Mademoiselle  Lenor- 
mand,  in  the  dress  and  with  the  pretensions  of  a 
sibyl,  endeavored,  though  without  the  same  suc- 
cess, to  play  the  part  which  Madame  Krudener 

had  done  in  bringing  about  the  Holy  ,  „, ,„. 

.  ,,.  -  o     o  .2  Cap.  V.  3bo. 

Alliance.' 

The  Emperor  Alexander  gave  several  audi- 
ences to  M.  de  Richelieu,  with  gg 
whom  he  conversed  in  the  most  un-  ConTersation 
reserved  manner  on  the  affairs  of  of  Alexander 
France.  "Your  nation,"  said  he,  "is  ^^'■^  Riche- 
brave  and  loyal;  it  has  supported 
its  misfortunes  with  a  patience  which  is  heroic. 
Do  vou  think,  i\L  de  Richelieu,  that  it  is  prepar- 
ed for  the  evacuation  :  do  you  consider  the  gov- 
erment  sufficiently  established  ?  Tell  me  the 
simple  truth ;  you  know  I  am  the  friend  and  ad- 
mirer of  your  nation,  and  I  wish  nothing  but 
your  word  on  the  subject."  "Never,"  replied 
the  Duke  de  Richelieu,  "  was  nation  more 
worthy  and  better  prepared  to  receive  the  great 
act  which  the  magnanimity  of  your  Majesty  is 
preparing  for  it.  Your  Majesty  has  seen  with 
what  fidelity  it  has  discharged  all  its  engage- 
ments;  and  I  will  answer  for  the  results  of  its 
political  system."  "  ^ly  dear  Richelieu,"  re- 
joined the  Emperor,  "you  are  loyalty  itself.  I 
do  not  fear  the  development  in  France  of  liberal 
institutions:  I  am  liberal  myself — very  liberal. 
I  should  even  wish  that  your  king  should  per 


181S  J 


IlISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


IBS 


i 


form  some  act  which  should  conciliate  the  hold- 
ers of  the  national  domains ;  but  I  fear  the  Jac- 
obins— I  hate  them  :  beware  of  throwing  your- 
self into  their  arms.  Europe  will  have  nothing 
more  to  do  with  Jacobinism.  There  is  but  one 
Holy  Alliance  of  kings,  founded  on  morality  and 
Christianity,  which  can  save  the  social  order. 
AVe  should  set  the  first  example."  "  You  may 
rely  on  the  King  of  France  doing  all  in  his 
power  to  extinguish  Jacobinism:  and  the  law 
of  elections  has  produced  satisfactory  results." 
'•  I  know  it,"  replied  the  Emperor  ;  "  but  let  us 
await  the  next  returns.  In  the  name  of  Heaven, 
M.  de  Richelieu,  let  us  save  the  social  order. 
Prussia  is  very  urgent  for  money ;  Austria,  too, 
is  very  needy;  I,  for  my  own  part,  should  have  no 
objections  to  i-eceive  the  sums  due  to  me  for  in- 
demnities as  King  of  Poland.  Come  to  an  under- 
standing with  M.  Baring ;  it  is  there 
3-p^P-  ^-  ^^^'  that  the  key  to  all  the  arrange- 
ments we  desire  is  to  be  found."' 
When  sentiments  of  this  sort  were  entertained 
g^  by  the  principal  parties  at  the  Con- 

Conclusion  of  gfPss,  it  was  not  difficult  to  come 
tlie  treaty  of  to  an  understanding.  The  prelim- 
Aix-Ia-CUap-  jnaries  were  arranged  on  the  1st 
elle.  Sept.  30.   ^  ,   ,  ,  »    .         ., 

October,  and  a  courier,  the  mo- 
ment the  signatures  were  attached,  was  dis- 
patched to  the  King  of  France  to  announce  the 
happy  result.  The  conditions  were — 1.  That 
the  troops  should  retire  from  the  strong  places 
which  they  occupied  on  the  territory  of  France, 
on  or  before  the  30th  November,  which  were  to 
be  immediately  occupied  by  the  French  troops. 
2.  That  the  sums  required  for  the  pay,  clothing, 
and  maintenance  of  the  troops,  as  regulated  by 
the  convention  of  December  1,  1S17,  should  be 
paid  down  to  the  30th  November.  3.  That,  in 
consideration  of  this  evacuation  before  the  five 
years,  to  which  it  might  have  extended,  had  ex- 
pired, France  should  pay  to  the  allies  the  sum 
of  205,000,000  francs  (£10,600,000),  of  which 
100,000,000  were  to  be  made  good  in  inscrip- 
tions in  the  Grand  Livre,  dated  22d  September, 
1818,  and  taken  at  the  current  rate  of  5th  Oc- 
tober. 4.  The  remaining  165,000,000  were  to 
be  settled  by  drafts  on  the  houses  of  Hope  and 
Baring,  in  nine  monthly  payments  of  equal 
'  Treaty,  Oct.  amount  each,  the  drafts  to  be  de- 
9,  1818;Mon-  livcred  to  the  commissioners  of 
\^S^I'  ^A^'J"'  the  allied  powers  by  the  agents  of 

lolo  ;    Ann.  ,       T-.  1  I          •  f 

Hist.  i.  432,  the  I"  rench  treasury  at  the  time  ot 
433 ;  Cap.  v.  the  final  evacuation  of  the  terri- 
ii2,  St  J.  torv.' 

Having  accomplished  this  great  object  of  the 
g5  deliverance    of   the    territory,    the 

Secret  treaty  next  object  of  the  Uuke  do  Rich- 
witti  the  Al-  elieu  was  to  obtain  the  admission 
of  France  into  the  European  con- 
fcderacv,  by  whom  it  had  so  long  been  an  object 
of  secret  dread  or  open  hostility.  He  addressed 
himself  to  this  effect  to  the  ministers  of  the 
allied  powers,  and  the  request  was  favorably  re- 
ceived ;  but  it  was  deemed  better  that  the  first 
diplomatic  advance  should  come  from  the  pow- 
ers themselves.  In  consequence,  a  note  signed 
by  the  ministers  of  the  four  great  powers  was 
addressed  to  the  Duke  de  Richelieu,  in  which 
they  stated  that  their  sovereigns,  after  having 
maturely  and  anxiously  weighed  the  state  of 
France,  and  the  chances  of  stability  in  its  exist- 
ing institutions,  had  come  to  a  unanimous  opin- 


ion that  they  had  the  happiness  of  thinking  th.at 
the  order  of  things  established  by  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Bourbon  line,  and  the  wisdom  of  his 
Most  Christian  Majesty,  was  now  firmly  root- 
ed ;  that  the  French  government  had  discharsred 
its  obligations  with  the  most  scrupulous  fideliiy, 
and,  in  consequence,  the  allied  powers  had  de 
termined  to  make  the  occupation  of  the  terrilorj 
cease  on  the  30th  November.  Animated  by 
these  sentiments,  they  indulged  the  hope  that 
his  most  Christian  Majesty  would  permit  them 
to  unite  their  counsels  and  efforts  with  his  lor 
the  attainment  of  these  objects  ;  and  they  invite 
him  to  take  part  in  their  deliberations,  present 
or  future,  for  the  maintenance  of  i  xnn.  Hist  i. 
peace,  and  the  mutual  guarantee  434,_4_35 ;  Cap 
of  the  rights  of  nations.'  ^-  ^">  "'®- 

This  was  a  most  important  step,  as  it  tended 
at  once  to  readmit  France  into  the  66. 

European  alliance  :  a  matter  of  Answer  of 
nearly  as  great  importance  to  the  ^°"^^  ^^  ^''• 
stability  of  its  government  as  the  evacuation. 
M.  de  Richelieu,  in  the  name  of  Louis  XVTII., 
hastened  to  answer.  "  His  Majesty  the  King  of 
France  has  received  with  the  most  lively  satis- 
faction this  fresh  proof  of  the  confidence  and 
friendship  of  the  sovereigns  who  have  taken 
part  in  the  deliberations  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  In 
casting  his  regards  on  the  past,  and  being  con 
vinced  that  at  no  other  period  no  other  nation 
could  have  discharged  with  equal  fidelity  the 
engagements  France  has  contracted,  the  King 
has  felt  that  this  new  species  of  glory  was  to  be 
ascribed  to  the  force  of  the  institutions  which 
rule  it ;  and  he  perceives  with  joy  that  the  con- 
solidation of  these  institutions  is  regarded  as  not 
less  advantageous  to  the  repose  of  Enrope  than 
essential  to  its  prosperity.  Convinced  that  his 
first  duty  is  to  perpetuate,  by  every  means  in  his 
power,  the  peace  now  happily  established  among 
the  nations,  that  the  intimate  union  of  their  gov- 
ernments is  the  surest  pledge  of  its  durability, 
and  that  France  can  not  rcnuiin  a  stranger  to  a 
svstem  the  force  of  which  arises  from  an  entire 
unity  of  principles  and  actions,  his  Majesty  has 
received  with  cordiality  the  proposition  made  to 
him,  and  has,  in  consequence,  authorized  the 
undersigned  to  take  part  in  all  the  2  R^ponse  de 
deliberations  of  the  ministers  and  M-  Je  Riche- 
plenipotcntiaries,  in  the  view  of  j'^j*^  .^'J^^^^  ^^' 
maintaining  the  treaties  and  guar-  iijst.'  i.  435; 
antceing  the  mutual  rights  which  Cap.  v.  379, 
they  have  established."^  ^''"• 

It  soon  appeared  that  the  accession  of  France 
to  the  European   alliance  was   not  g- 

to  be  a  mere  formality.  In  a  few  Secret  Proto- 
days  after  a  secret  protocol  was  col.  Nov.  15, 
signed  by  the  ministers  of  all  the  ^''^ 
five  powers,  which  bore — "  1.  That  the  sove- 
reigns are  determined  never  to  deviate,  neither 
in  their  mutual  relations  nor  in  those  which 
unite  them  to  other  slates,  from  the  principles 
which  have  hitherto  united  them,  nnd  which 
form  a  bond  of  Christian  fraternity  which  the 
sovereigns  have  formed  among  each  other.  2. 
That  that  union,  which  is  only  the  more  close 
and  durable  that  it  is  founded  on  no  separate  in- 
terests or  momcnt.'iry  combination,  can  have  no 
other  object  but  the  maintenance  of  the  treaties, 
and  the  support  ol'thc  rights  established  by  them. 
3.  That  France,  associated  with  the  other  pow. 
ers  by  the  restoration  of  a  Government  at  onoft 


1S6 


ill  STORY   OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.    ♦'! 


)fi:iiiin;\ti'  aiul  ooiistiiiitidiial,  iMiijai;es  licncc-  in  like  manner,  deelareil  llial  they  can  pive  sat- 
foilh  to  ennciir  in  llie  niaintenanoe  anil  support  islaetory  assurances  on  the  pro<^iess  oi'  the  dc. 
1)1  !i  vYsieiu  which  has  ;,'ivcn  i)eaco  to  Kuiopc,  fensivo  preparations  on  the  other  countries  ad- 
and  can  alone  secure  its  duration.  4.  That  if,  joininjf  the  Frcncli  frontier.  Jn  these  eircum- 
to  attain  these  ends,  the  powers  which  have  con- 1  stances,  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the  four  pcwers 


'  Prolorol 
Nov.  15, 181S 
Ann.    Hist. 
4.'!G;    Cap.   v 
3&2,  383. 


currcd  in  the  present  act  should  deem  it  nec- 
essary to  establish  particular  reunions,  cither 
nmonjr  the  sovereigns  themselves  or  their  min- 
isters, to  treat  of  subjects  in  which  they  have 
a  common  interest,  the  tiir.o  and  place  of  such 
assemblages  shall  be  previously  arranged  by 
diplomatic  communication;  and  in  the  event  of 
such  rciuiions  having  for  their  object  the  con- 
dition of  other  states  in  Europe,  they  shall 
not  take  place  except  in  pursuance  of  a  formal 
invitation  to  those  by  whom  those 
states  are  directed,  and  under  an 
express  reservation  of  their  right  to 
participate  in  it  directly,  or  by  their 
plenipotentiaries.'" ' 
This  protocol  was  followed  by  another,  which 
eg.  was  of  a  more  practical  nature,  and 

Secret  milita-  went  directly  to  regulate  the  rail- 
1  )■  Prutorol.  iiary  arrangements  which  were  to 
be  adopted  in  the  event  of  a  fresh  revolutionary 
outbreak  in  France.  The  ministers  of  ihe  four 
great  powers  accordingly — on  the  urgent  solici- 
tation of  the  lesser  states  in  Germany,  who  were 
more  immediately  threatened  on  such  an  event 
— met  secretly,  without  the  concurrence  of 
France  or  the  Duke  de  Richelieu.  At  this  con- 
Cerence  it  was  agreed — •'  1.  That  all  the  en- 
<ja"cments  stipulated  by  the  Quadruple  Alliance 
of  20th  November,  1815,"  are  re- 
!  49"'*'  '^'  '"■  served  in  their  full  force  and  eli'ect 
with  reference  to  the  '•  foederis  ct 
belli  casus,'  as  it  was  foreseen  and  provided  for  by 
that  treaty.  2.  That  for  the  casus  fadcris,  such 
as  was  provided  for  in  the  second  paragraph  of 
the  said  treat}',  the  high  contracting  parties  to 
the  present  protocol,  in  pursuance  of  their  exist- 
ing engagements,  agree  to  concert,  in  such  an 
event,  in  particular  reunions,  either  among  the 
monarchs  in  person,  or  the  four  cabinets,  on  the 
most  etlectual  means  of  arresting  the  fatal  ef- 
fects of  a  new  revolutionary  overthrow  with  which 
France  may  be  threatened  ;  recollecting  always, 
that  the  progress  of  the  evils  which  have  so  long 
desolated  Europe  has  only  been  arrested  by  the 
I  Protocol  intimacy  of  the  union,  and  the  purity 
Nov  19,1818;  of  the  sentiments  which  unite  the 
Cap.  V.  3fe6,  four  sovereigns  for  the  happiness 
*^'-  of  the  world."  3 

In  pursuance  of  this  agreement,  it  was  pro- 
69.  vided  that  the  corps  d'armee,   stip- 

Military  ar-  ulated  by  the  treaty  of  Chaumont, 
rangements.  should  simultaneously  enter  upon 
the  campaign  the  day  when  the  allied  powers 
declared  that  the  casus  fasdcris  had  arisen.  The 
British  corps  was  to  assemble  at  '•  Brussels,  the 
Prussian  at  Cologne,  the  Austrian  at  Stuttgardt, 
the  Russian,  after  the  lapse  of  three  months,  on 
account  of  its  great  distance  at  Mayence.  The 
Duke  of  Wellington,  who  had  been  specially  di- 
rected by  the  government  of  Great  Britain,  and 
that  of  ihe  Netherlands,  to  overlook  and  report 
npon  the  fortifications  of  the  Low  Countries,  has 
declared  that  he  can  certify  that  the  quantity  of 
works  executed  has  been  immense;  and  that  a 
powerful  defensive  attitude  would  be  taken  in 
the  next  year,  should  circumstances  demand  it. 
The  plenipotentiaries  of  the  other  powers  have. 


have  considered  the  best  means  of  providing  for 
the  garrisoning  of  these  fortresses,  in  the  event 
of  a  war  breaking  out  and  hostilities  commenc- 
ing in  the  Low  Countries.  These  fortresses 
have  not  been  constructed  for  the  defense  of 
any  single  country,  but  for  the  geiieral  protec- 
tion of  Europe  ;  and  there  are  several  in  the  se- 
cond line  which  require  to  be  occupied  on  the 
Dutch  frontier.  It  has,  therefore,  been  agreed 
to  recommend  to  his  ]\Iajcsty  the  King  of  the 
Netherlands,  in  the  event  of  the  casus  fccdcrii 
being  declared,  that  the  fortresses  of  Ostend, 
Nicuport,  Ipres,  and  those  on  the  Scheldt,  with 
the  exception  of  the  citadels  of  Antwerp  and 
Tournay,  should  be  occupied  by  the  troops  of 
his  Britannic  Majesty,  and  the  citadels  of  lluy, 
Namur,  and  Dinant,  as  well  as  the  ,  gp^jpt  pj.„ 
strong  places  of  Charleroi,  Marien-  tocol.Nov.  20, 
burir,  and  Philippcville,  by  those  of  IS'18 ;  Cap.  v. 
his  Pru-ssian  Majesty."  1  387,389. 

It  was  not   surprising  that,   amidst  all    this 
seeming  cordiality  with  the  French  70. 

nation,  the  allied  powers  took  these  Secret  Royal- 
precautionarv  measures  against   a  '^t  Memoir 
'        •,,  •',.•         •      •."  presented  to 

possible  revolution  in  its  govern-  the  Allied  Sov- 
nient;  for,  in  truth,  they  were  in-  ereigns  at 
spired  with  very  serious  alarms  on  Aix-la-Cha- 
the  subject.  Although  the  new  J"'"'^- 
electoral  law  had  been  only  two  years  in  opera, 
tion,  the  results  obtained  from  the  two-filths  of 
the  Chamber  which  had  been  returned  under  it, 
were  sufficient  to  inspire  the  most  serious  ap- 
prehensions that,  when  the  whole  Assembly  was 
remodelled  after  the  same  fashion,  the  majority 
would  be  decidedly  hostile  to  the  Bourbon  dy- 
nasty. A  very  able  memoir  had  been  drawn  up 
by  the  Royalists  at  Paris,  and  secretly  transmit- 
ted to  the  sovereigns  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in 
which  the  Liberal  policy  of  M.  Decazcs  was 
violently  arraigned,  the  certain  overthrow  of 
the  monarchy  predicted  from  its  continuance,  and 
the  only  remedy  suggested  in  an  entire  change 
of  men  and  measures."*  Without  2  cap,  v.  348, 
giving  complete  credit  to  these  prog-  353;  Lac.  ii. 
nostieations,  which  were  evidently  ^29,  230. 
the  offspring  of  vehemently  excited  and  deeply 
chagrined  party  feelings,  the  allied  sovereigns 


*  "  La  revolution  etend  jusqu'aux  dernieres  classes  de  la 
nation  qu'elle  agite  partout  avec  violence,  les  principes  des- 
tructeurs  de  notre  monarchie  proposes  a  la  tribune  par  le» 
ministres  du  Roi ;  et  Ton  ne  veut  pour  exemple  <iue  le  dis- 
cours  du  Ministre  de  la  Guerre  sur  la  loi  du  recrutement, 
et  celui  du  Ministre  de  la  Police  sur  la  liberie  de  la  presse  ; 
des  ecrits  audacieux  sapent  tous  les  fondemens  de  I'ordre 
social,  et  les  lois  repressives  ne  font  obstacle  qu'aux 
ecrivains  qui  soutiennent  la  monarchie  et  la  legitimite  ;  les 
jugements  des  tribunaux  sont  livres  aux  diatribes  les  plus 
violentes  ;  tous  les  lien.s  de  I'etat  social  sont  relachcs  ;  le 
GouTernement  ne  parait  marcher  que  par  rimpuKsion  d'un 
pouvoir  qui  n'existe  plus,  et  par  la  presence  dos  forces 
etrangeres  ;  enfm,  tout  se  prepare  a  faire  la  guerre  a  I'Eu- 
rope.  Par  quels  moyens  peut-on  empecher  que  la  France, 
et  par  elle  I'Europe  entiere,  ne  viennent  encore  la  proie 
des  revolutionnaires  ?  Changer  le  systeme  du  gouverne 
ment  par  le  changement  complet  du  Ministere  qui  le  dinge 
Le  changement  du  Ministere  est  le  seul  moyen  salutaire. 
le  seul  veritablement  efficace,  et  en  meme  temps  qu'il  est 
le  seul  loyal  ct  admissible  pour  empecher  que  la  France  ne 
redevienne  encore  un  foyer  de  rfivolution,  qui  ne  tardfTail 
pas  a  embrasser  FEurope  entiere."— iUemo;rc  Secret  Pre- 
sente  aux  Souvtrains  a  Aii-la-Chapelle.  par  M.  le  Baron  Yer- 
mcuil.   C/LPETiaKE,  Histoiredc  la  Restauration,y.2iS  353 


iSlS.I 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


187 


saw  that  there  was  suffiuient  foundation  for  some 

of  them  to  rentier  it  advisable  to  make  arransre- 

ments  for  an  eventual  renewal  of  the  war. 

But  whatever   might   be   the   apprehensions 

which  the  allies  in  secret  entertain- 

Evacul'tion  <^'^. '".  '^S^^  ^°  }^f  .^^""^'^'X  "^  ""^ 
of  the  French  existing  order  ol  things  m  I' ranee, 
territory  by  there  was  no  want,  so  far  as  exter- 
N%*30^^  nal  appearances  went,  of  the  most 
entire  confidence  and  cordiality  be- 
tween them.  The  allied  sovereigns,  and  the  Em- 
peror Alexander  in  particular,  considered  it  a 
point  of  honor  to  carry  into  execution  all  the  ar- 
rangements for  the  evacuation  of  the  territory, 
with  the  same  scrupulous  good  faith  and  exact- 
ness with  which  the  French  government  had  dis- 
charged all  the  onerous  engagements  undertaken 
by  it  under  the  treaty  of  20th  November  1815. 
On  the  day  stipulated,  the  30th  November  1818, 
the  fortresses  occupied  by  the  Allies  were  every 
where  evacuated  by  their  troops,  and  handed 
over  to  the  French  corps  under  the  Duke  d'An- 
gouleme,  which  were  at  the  gates  to  occupy 
them.  With  speechless  delight  the  French 
troops  defiled  through  the  gates  of  their  ancient 
strongholds,  reoccupied  the  well  known  quarters, 
and  beheld,  amidst  thunders  of  artillery,  the  na- 
tional standard  again  hoisted  on  their  walls. 
The  most  scrupulous  good  faith  and  exactitude 
prevailed  in  all  the  arrangements,  and  the  utmost 
courtesy  and  politeness  between  the  officers  of 
the  retiring  and  the  entering  armies.  As  the 
allied  troops  had,  in  general,  conducted  them- 
selves exceedingly  well,  under  the  firm  and  ju- 
dicious direction  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and 
had  spent  large  sums  of  money  in  the  cities  which 
they  occupied,  their  withdrawal  was  a  matter  of 
regret  to  many ;  but  to  the  majority,  whatever 
regard  they  entertained  for  them  individually,  it 
was  a  subject  of  unspeakable  delight  to  see  the 
foreign  colors  lowered,  and  the  national  ones 
again  hoisted  on  their  citadels.  The  Duke  of 
Wellington,  previous  to  the  breaking  up  of  the 
army  of  occupation,  issued  a  touching  valedictory 
address  to  the  noble  army,  composed  of  so  many 
nations,  whom  he  had  commanded  for  three 
years  ;  and  retired  with  cheerfulness  into  the 
comparative  obscurity  of  English  life,  from  the 
1  Cap.  V.  407  proudest  situation  "above  all  Greek, 
409;  Lac.  ii!  above  all  Roman  fame,"  ever  held 
243, 245 ;  Ann  by  an  uncrowned  military  comraand- 
Hist.  i.  473.       gj.  i  #  ■' 


on  this  occa- 
sion. 


*  "  Le  Field-Marcchal  Due  de  Wellington  no  peut  prcn- 
ilre  conge  des  troupes  qu'il  a  eu  I'honncur  <le  commander, 
Kans  leur  exprimer  sa  gratitude  pour  la  bonne  conduite 
qui  Ics  a  fait  distingucr  pendant  le  temps  qu'ellcs  ont  6l6 
sous  ses  ordrcs.  If  y  a  pros  de  trois  ans  que  Ics  souver- 
ains  allies  ont  confie  au  Kitld-MarecUal  le  commande- 
ment  en  chefde  cctte  partic  delcurs  forces  quelescircon- 
Btances  avaient  rendu  neccssaire  de  laisscr  en  France. 
Si  les  mesures  que  lours  MM.  avaient  comrnandees  ont 
et6  executees  a  leur  satisfaction,  le  resultat  doit  6tro  nn- 
tierement  attribu6  a  la  conduite  prudenio  et  6clairco 
tenue  dans  les  circonstanccs  par  leurs  excellences  Ics 
GcnOraux  en  chef,  au  bon  txemplc  qu'ils  ont  donn6  aux 
autres  Gcneraux  et  ofliciers  lours  subordonnes,  aussi  bien 
qu'aux  efforts  de  ccux-ci  pour  les  seconder,  et  onfin  a  I'ex- 
cellcnte  discipline  qui  a  clu  constamment  observ6e  dans 
les  contin^enccs,  C'est  avec  regret  (ju'il  a  vu  arrivcr  l« 
moment  oil  la  dislocation  de  cette  armte  allait  mettre  fln 
a  ses  rapiiorts  publics  et  privcs  avoc  les  commandants  ct 
autres  olliciers  des  divers  corps.  Le  Fiold-Marcchal  no 
peut  assez  exprimer  combien  ces  rapports  lui  otaicnt 
agr6ablcs ;  il  prie  les  Gouvorneurs  en  chef  de  reccvoir 
et  de  transmcttre  aux  troupes  qui  sont  sous  leurs  ordre.s, 
('assurance  qu'il  ne  cessera  Jamais  de  prcn<lre  le  plus  vif 
intoret  a  ce  qui  les  concerne,  et  que  le  souvenir  des  troiii 


Justice  requires  that  the  course  f.f  tiiC  narra- 
rative  should  for  a  moment  be  sus- 
pended, to  reflect  on  the  condiict  of  ^oble'c^onduct 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  on  this  oc-  of  the  Dukeol 
casion.  As  commander-in-chief  of  Wellington 
the  allied  army  of  occupation,  his 
appointments  were  immense ;  his 
expenses  were  all  paid  ;  and  le  held  a  situation 
which  in  point  of  dignity  and  importance,  any 
conqueror  might  envy,  and  wliich  far  exceeded 
that  enjoyed  by  any  sovereign  prince.  He  was 
at  the  head  of  the  united  armit  s  of  Europe,  and 
he  held  in  fetters  the  realm  of  Napoleon.  Never- 
theless, so  far  was  he  from  endeavoring  to  pro- 
long a  situation  of  so  much  dignity  and  emolu- 
ment to  himself,  that  his  whole  elTorLs  were  di- 
rected to  its  abridgment ;  from  first  to  last,  he 
did  every  thing  in  his  power  to  induce  the  Allies 
to  shorten  the  stay  of  the  army  of  occupation; 
and  at  last  succeeded,  very  much  by  his  personal 
elforts,  in  lessening  it  by  two  years.  His  situa- 
tion as  commander-in-chief,  and  still  more,  his 
vast  personal  reputation,  rendered  him  in  a  man- 
ner the  final  arbiter  in  the  many  disputed  points 
which  arose  between  the  French  and  the  Allies 
regarding  the  pecuniary  indemnities ;  and  in 
that  capacity  his  decisions  were  not  only  regu  • 
lated  by  the  strictest  justice,  and  the  most  assid- 
uous attention  to  the  rights  of  the  parties,  but 
they  were  so  liberal  and  indulgent  toward  the 
vanquished  and  unfortunate,  that  they  have  ex- 
torted the  prai«-e  even  of  the  French  historians, 
the  most  envici\,s  of  his  great  reputation.*  In 
this  conduct  ue  iliscern  another  trait  of  that 
singleness  of  heart  ;iud  disinterestedness  of  dis- 
position which  formed  the  leading  features  of  that 
great  man's  character ;  and  a  memorable  proof 
how  completely  a  mind,  actuated  only,  and  on 
every  occasion,  by  a  sense  of  duty,  can  rise  su» 
perior  to  the  most  powerful  influence  ai.d  great- 
est temptations  of  this  world.  The  author  has 
a  melancholy  pleasure  in  recording  this  tribute 
to  the  greatest  man  of  the  age,  now  no  more ; 
and  when  there  remains   only  to   his   country 

annees  durant  lesquelles  il  a  eto  a  leur  tete,  lui  sera  tou- 
jours  Cher."— G.  Murray,  le  General  en  chef  do  I'Elsl 
Major  de  rArmce  AUice." — Annaks  llistoriqucs,  i.  4:J7, 
438. 

*  "  On  n'a  point  en  general  rendu  assez.  do  justice  au 
Due  de  Wellington,  pour  la  maniere  large  ct  loyale  dtmv 
il  protegea  los  interuls  de  la  France  dans  toutes  les  nego- 
tiations avec  I'elranger.  Je  ne  parte  pasd'abord  de  I'im 
mense  service  rendu  par  S.  S.  dans  la  fixation  des  cr6- 
ances  otrangeres.  LcDuc  de  Wellington  se  montra  ar 
bitre  desintoresso,  et  la  posterity  doit  reconnaitre,  j< 
I'honneur  de  M.  de  Richelieu,  qu'il  sortit  pauvre  d'une  po 
sition  oii  I'oubli  de  quelques  devoirs  austcrcs  do  la  con 
science  aurait  pu  croiT  pour  lui  la  plus  colossale  des  for- 
tunes. Le  Due  de  Wollington  fut  tres-favorable  a  la 
Franco  dans  tout  cc  qui  touchait  I'evacuation  du  Icrritoiro. 
Sa  position  do  Gonoralissirne  de  I'armoe  de  I'occupatioii 
donnait  un  grand  poids  a  son  avis  sur  cctio  question  ;  il 
fut  chaquo  fois  consultb,  et  chaquo  fois  egalement  il  re- 
pondait  par  des  paroles  6lev6es  qui  faisaiont  honneur  a 
son  caraclere.  Le  Due  de  Wellington,  par  In  cessation 
do  I'occupation  armijc,  avail  k  pordre  uiic  grande  posi- 
tion en  France,  cello  do  (Jenoralissimc  des  Allius,  ce 
quilefaisaiten  quolijuo  sorto  mombro  du  Gouvernement ; 
il  avail  a  sacrilier  un  Iraitcment  immense  ;  de  plus,  le 
noblo  Lord  connaissait  I'opinion  dc  Lord  Castlcreagh,  et 
d'nne  griindo  jjartie  des  mombros  de  I'aristocralie  An- 
glnise,  sur  la  ii6c('Nsit6  dc  I'occujintion  armoo.  Tous  ccs 
inlorets  ne  rarroteront  point  ;  il  fnl  d'avis  que  cetic  inea- 
ure  de  precaution  devnit  cesser,  car  la  France  avail  non 
sculemcnt  accompli  Ics  paicmens  stipules,  mais  son  Gouv- 
vernement  semblait  olVrir  le  caractero  d'ordre,  et  de  dwrie  : 
cette  opinion  fut  tres-iiuissante  dans  le  conj/rcs  d'Aix  !•- 
Chapellc."— CArEKiauE,  Histoire  dc  la  Rcstaurction,  * 
351,  357. 


!S» 


HISTORY  OK  r.ruoFK. 


[Chap.   Vl. 


the  priilo  of  his  dccJs  ami  the  oxninpk'  of  his  vir- 
tues* 

It  was  while  cnpaiinl  in  those  crroat  niul 
hoiu'lioiMit  (looils,  wiiich  canu-  with 
Aitom',;rc.las-  S"^'''  poeuliar  praoo  ami  lustre 
sassinatioiiof  Irnin  llic  eoiiqiioror  ol  Waterloo, 
ine  Duke  ol"  thm  (he  hand  ol  an  assassin  had  all 
UdUngion      ,,j„  ^,,j  j.,,^,rj  ,,i^  (..jrecr.     On  the 

mil  I-elirnary,  when  the  Duke  was 
at  Paris,  netively  enfra<red  in  endeavorinij  to 
rediK-e  the  enormous  peeuniary  iiuleninities 
oiaimed  iVom  the  French,  and  the  diminution  of 
whieh  was  indispensable  to  any  arrangemejit 
which  miL'ht  shorten  the  period  of  the  oeeupa- 
tion  of  their  territory,  an  attempt  was  made  to 
assassinate  him.  At  one  in  the  mornintr,  as  he 
was  stepping  out  of  his  carriafje  at  the  door  of 
his  hotel,  a  pistol  was  suddenly  discharged  at 
him,  thou<Th  happily  it  missed  the  object.  The 
assassin,  who  was  seen  by  the  servant  behind 
the  carriage,  glided  off  in  the  obscurity,  and 
escaped  in  the  dark ;  but  a  man  of  the  name  of 
Cantillon,  and  another  of  the  name  of  JNIarenit, 
both  old  soldiers,  were  afterward  arrested,  and 
brought  to  trial.  But  the  evidence  was  deemed 
insulTieient,  and  they  were  both  acquitted.  The 
calm  attitude  of  Wellington  was  not  in  the 
siichtest  degree  affected  by  this  circumstance; 
he  continued  his  diplomatic  labors  as  if  nothing 
had  occurred  ;  and  felt  only  great  gratification 
from  the  marked  interest  which  the  attempt  ex- 
cited over  all  Europe.  Although  the  jury  did 
not  deem  the  evidence  against  Cantillon  suffi- 
cient, yet  there  can  be  no  doubt  of 
'Lac.  u.  238;  j  j  ^yjit-i  f^,,.  Kapoleon,  in  his  tes- 
Monitcur,  ^         '      i  '  i  r  i 

Feb.  13. 1818;  lament  made  not  long  alterward, 
Antonmiar-  left  him  a  legacy  of  10,000  francs 
chi's Dernicrs  (£.(00),  expressly  in  consequence 
Napoleon.  °'  "'^  havm^  attempted  to  murder 
the  Duke  of  Wellington — a  step  as 
characteristic  of  the  revengeful  nature  of  his 
Italian  disposition,  as  the  noble  conduct  of  the 
Duke,  in  striving  at  the  ver\'  time  to  alleviate 
the  burdens  of  France,  was  of  his  more  elevated 
character.!  The  contrast  between  the  two  was 
the  more  remarkable,  that  the  Duke  had,  during 
the  advance  to  Paris  after  the  bat- 
-  Muffling,  tie  of  Waterloo,  strenuously  re- 
Fcldzug  von  sisted,  and  succeeded  in  averting  a 
ho^'z.  '^Gnei-  P'"cposal  of  Blucher's  that,  if  taken, 
Ben au  to  Wei-  Napoleon  should  be  instantly  exe- 
lington.  cuted  as  a  pirate,  the  enemy  of  man- 

kind." 
After  the  conclusion  of  the  congress  of  Aix- 
la-Chapelle,   the    Emperor  Alexander  adopted 
che  resolution  of  paying  a  visit  as  a  private  in- 

*  Written  on  ISth  September,  1652,  the  day  after  the 
intelligence  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  death  was  re- 
ceived in  Scotland. 

t "  Je  legue  10,000  francs  au  sous  officier  Cantillon,  qui 
a  essuye  un  proces  comme  prevenu  d'avoir  voulu  assas- 
siner  Lord  Wellington,  ce  dont  il  a  ete  declare  innocent. 
Cantillon  avail  autant  le  droit  d'assassiner  cet  oligarque 
q'le  celui-ci  de  m'cnvoyer  perirsurle  rocher  de  St.  Ilelene. 
Wellington,  qui  a  propose  cet  attentat,  cherchait  a  le 
justillcr  sur  I'inturet  de  la  Grande  Bretagne.  Cantillon, 
81  vraimcnt  il  cut  assassine  le  Lord,  se  serait  convert  et 
aurait  cte  justifi(':  par  les  memes  motifs,  Tinteret  de  la 
France  de  se  defaire  d'un  General  qui  d'ailleurs  avail 
viole  la  capitulation  de  Paris,  et  par  la  s'etail  rendu  re- 
sponsabledu  sang  du  martyr  Ney,  Labedoyere,  &c.,  el  du 
crime  d'avoir  d(-pouiIle  les  Musees  centre  le  le.xle  des 
Traitts." — A  rt.  5,  Codvnl  au  Testament  de  Napoleon,  .\pril 
24,  1620.-  -AntoM-Maecui,  Demiers  Moments  de  yapoleon, 
ii  233. 


dividual  to  Louis  XVIII.  at  Paris.     IIo  arrived 
nccorUinglv,  nmt  remaineil  but  one  ». 

dav;  and  the  King  has  told  us,  in  Visit  ofAlpx- 
aii  elegant  memoir,  given  entire  in  niidertoLou;» 
Lamartine"s  y/i.s/o/y  f)/"///p /i(s/ora-  ^J^'^j*'  „'' 
/i(»i,  that^hat  day  was  the  happiest 
of  his  life.  The  French  monarch  had  felt  the 
utmost  soliciiude  for  the  evacuation  of  the  terri- 
torv,  which  he  justly  regarded  as  the  great 
work,  and  only  secure  inauguration  of  his  reign  ; 
and  when  it  was  finally  arranged,  he  said  to  the 
Duke  de  Richelieu — "I  have  lived  enough:  I 
have  seen  the  day  when  no  standard  but  that  of 
France  waves  over  the  French  citadels."  The 
joy  which  he  felt  at  this  great  deliverance  height- 
ened the  satisfaction  he  experienced  at  receiving 
the  monarch  whom  he,  with  reason,  regarded  as 
his  chief  deliverer.  Alexander  opened  his  mind  to 
him  without  reserve.  "  Your  Majesty,"  said  he, 
"  has  conducted  your  affairs  with  great  wisdom. 
I  approve  of  your  ordinance  of  5th  September. 
It  had  become  indispensable  to  get  quit  of  a 
Chamber  which  dragged  you  back.  See  what 
1  have  done  for  Poland  !  Shall  I  be  deceived  in 
my  fond  desire  to  reconcile  the  two  great  prin- 
ciples of  Peace  and  Liberty  ?  The  fermentation 
in  Germany  is  alarming,  but  it  is  owing  to  the 
imprudent  attempts  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria 
and  the  King  of  Prussia  to  recede  from  the 
promises  they  have  made  to  their  people.  Let 
us  have  no  Revolutionists  or  Jacobins,  but 
Christian  freedom."  He  was  made  acquaint- 
ed with  M.  Decazes,  whom  he  commended 
in  the  highest  terms  to  the  king.  The  Grand- 
Duke  Constantine  arrived  after  the  departure  of 
the  Czar,  and  was  entirely  absorbed  with  mili- 
tary  ideas.  At  one  of  the  reviews  he  had  pre- 
sented to  him  a  private  in  the  1st  regiment  of 
grenadiers-a-eheval  who  had  wounded  him  in 
single  combat  during  the  war  in  Russia.  He 
paid  him  the  highest  compliments,  and  oflered 
to  take  him  into  his  service — an  of- 
fer which  the  grenadier  had  the  pat-  '^sp-  '^  463, 
riotism  and  the  good  sense  to  de-  les'igl"*  ^' 
cline.'* 

The  approach  of  the  annual  renewal  of  a  fifth 
of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  threw  75 

France,  as  usual,  into  an  agony  of  Elections  of 
excitement,  and  awakened  on  all  ^^'8. 
sides  the  most  violent  passions.  It  was  worse 
than  annual  parliaments  would  be  in  the  ordi- 
nary state  of  the  British  constitution;  for  the 
parties  were  so  nearly  balanced  that  it  was  gen- 
erally felt  that  a  few  votes  either  way  wouf. 
cast  the  balance  decisively  in  favor  of  one  or 


*  "  Un  dea  moments  les  plus  heureux  de  ma  Tie  a  et6 
celui  qui  a  suivi  la  visite  de  I'Empereur  de  Russie.  Sans 
parlnr  de  la  grace  extreme  qu'il  a  mise  a  venir  me  voir, 
et  a  retracer  ainsi,  mais  bien  moUemenl,  ce  que  la  plus 
basse  flallerie  fit  faire  au  Due  de  la  Feuillade  a  regard  do 
Louis  XIV.,  il  etait  difficile  de  ne  pas  etre  salisfait  de  .son 
entrelien.  Non  seulement  il  etait  entre  dans  toutes  mea 
pensees,  mais  il  les  avail  dites  avanl  que  j'ensse  eu  le 
temps  de  les  emettre.  II  avail  hautemenl  appronve  le 
systeme  de  gouvernement,  el  la  ligne  de  conduite  que  je 
suis,  depuis  que  je  me  euis  determine  a  rendre  I'ordin- 
nance  du  5  Sept.  1816.  (Je  ne  puis  m'empecher  de  ro 
marquer  que  c'etait  le  moment  des  elections  de  Paris  et 
que  I'Empereur  partit  persuade  que  Benjamin  Constant 
serait  elu.)  Enfin,  ce  Prince  m'avail  fail  I'elogc  de  mcs 
ministres,  et  parliculierement  du  Comte  Decazes,  pour 
lequel  je  ne  crains  point  d'avoir  uiie  amitie  fondee  sur 
les  qualites  a  la  fois  les  plus  aolides  et  les  jilus  aimables 
el  sur  un  attachement,  dont  il  faut  etre  I'objet  pour  e» 
sentir  tout  le  prix." — Memoires  de  Louis  XVIII..  Doc 
ibis.    LjiMARTinE.  Histoire  de  la  Restaura'.ion,  vi.  163 


1818. 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


189 


other  party.  Thus  the  whole  ellbrts  of  party,  | 
the  whole  declumatior.s  of  the  journal.^,  the 
whole  anxieties  of  the  people,  were  concentrated 
on  the  limited  number  of  elections  in  which  the 
struggle  was  to  be  maintained.  As  the  contest 
drew  near,  the  weakness  of  the  Royalist  party, 
and  the  progressive  growth  of  the  Liberal,  be- 
came manifest.  One  journal  only,  the  Conserva- 
teur,  supported  the  white  flag,  while  dozens 
poured  forth  daily  declamations  on  the  popular 
side.  Few  of  the  Royalists  presented  themselves 
as  candidates  for  the  vacant  seats;  when  they 
did  so,  it  was  as  martyrs  rather  than  with  the 
step  of  conquerors.  So  completely  were  they 
depressed,  that  the  contest  scarce  any  where 
took  place  between  them  and  the  JNIinisterialists ; 
it  lay  between  the  latter  and  the  extreme  Dem- 
ocrats, and  in  most  cases  terminated  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  latter.  M.  Lafayette  was  re- 
turned for  la  Sarthe ;  M.  Manuel,  a  popular 
leader,  for  la  Vendee;  and  IM.  Benjamin  Con- 
stant, after  having  run  the  Ministerial  candidate 
very  hard  in  Paris,  was  returned  as  another 
deputy  for  la  Sarthe.  As  these  districts  were 
known  to  be  Royalist,  these  returns  spread  great 
dismay  in  the  Tuileries,  and  first  suggested  a 
serious  doubt  as  to  whether  the  new  electoral 
law  rendered  the  returns  a  true  index  of  general 
opinion.  It  was  evident  it  did  not,  for  it  threw 
them  entirely  into  the  hands  of  one  single  class, 
the  small  proprietors,  who  supported  the  Revolu- 
tion, because  they  had  been  enriched  by  its 
spoils.  The  Royalists  did  not  disguise  their 
satisfaction  at  these  results,  and  the  verification 
of  all  their  predictions.  "We  foretold  it  all," 
they  exclaimed;  "one  or  two  more  of  the  an- 
nual renewals,  and  a  convention  all  complete 
will  emerge  from  the  new  electoral  law."  Even 
1  Lac.  ii.  216,  the  Government  shared  in  some 
253;  Cap.  vi.  degree   these   apprehensions. i     "I 

i'  n-  \  P"**®  see  with  pain,"  said  the  Duke  de 
de  Richelieu      „.   ,     ,.        i<,i     .,i      ,  r    i     «• 

to  M.  Deca-  Richelieu,  "that the  lawol  elections 
tea,  Dec.  17,  is  excluding  all  the  Royalists  from 
1818.  Ibid,  i^hg  Chamber.  I  fear  we  have  gone 
too  far  to  the  other  side ;  I  would  rather  have 
Royalist  exaltation  than  Jacobinism.  In  the 
name  of  Heaven,  look  out  for  a  remedy.  I  see 
with  terror  the  men  of  the  Hundred  days  re- 
turning ;  they  have  destroyed  our  position  in 
Europe:  for  God's  sake  let  us  avoid  revolu- 
tions." 

The  difficulties  of  Government  were  much 
70.  augmented  in  the  close  of  the  year 

Financial  cri-  by  a  severe  monetary  crisis,  the 
8i».  Dec,  1818.  natural  result  of  the  great  financial 
arrangements  concluded  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and 
the  immense  sums  which  the  contractors  for  the 
loans  borrowed  by  the  French  Government  had 
to  raise  to  make  good  their  engagements.  The 
unavoidable  effect  of  these  circumstances  was 
grievously  aggravated  at  this  period  by  the 
known  determination  of  the  English  Govern- 
ment, in  the  next  session  of  Parliament,  to  put 
a  period  to  the  paper  credit,  and  resort  to  the 
system  of  cash  payments.  As  this  restricted 
credit  and  limited  accommodation  took  place  in 
both  countries,  at  the  very  time  when  the  aid 
of  paper  currency  was  most  rcfpiired,  the  con- 
sequence was  a  general  run  uj)on  the  Bank  of 
Franco  for  cash,  and  an  immediate  and  most 
serious  contraction  of  its  discounts.  A  severe 
naonctarv  crisis,    wiih  all    its   al!\nning   con"<e- 


quences,  quickly  followed  ;  and  so  great  .  id  the 
pressure  soon  become,  that  the  funds  at  Paris 
fell  10  per  cent,  and,  in  the  middle  of  November, 
credit  was  almost  annihilated  in  that  capital. 
In  this  extremity,  the  Duke  de  Richelieu,  on  the 
advice  of  Messrs.  Hope  and  Baring,  made  a 
proposal  to  the  allied  powers  to  prolong  to 
eighteen  months  the  heavy  payments  which  were 
to  be  made  in  nine  months,  according  to  the 
convention  of  9th  October  preceding.  The  min- 
isters  of  the  allied  powers  at  Aix-la-Chapelle 
had  several  conferences  on  this  subject,  and  it 
was  no  easy  matter  to  corae  to  an  understand- 
ing, for  they  themselves,  especially  Prussia  and 
Austria,  were  nearly  as  much  pressed  for  money 
as  the  Bank  of  France.  At  length  an  arrange- 
ment, drawn  up  by  Prince  Metternich,  was 
agreed  to,  by  which  the  period  of  payment  was 
prolonged  to  eighteen  months,  5  per  cent  inierest 
being  stipulated  for  the  postponed  season,  and  a 
certain  proportion  of  the  payments  were  to  be 
received  in  bills  drawn  upon  places  out  of  France. 
By  this  means,  aided  by  the  strenuous  eflbrts  of 
the  Government  and  Bank  of  France,  the  crisis 
was  surmounted,  without  any  suspension  of  pay- 
ments ;  but  it  had  been  so  severe,  and  requi<-<^d 
such  exertions  to  meet  it,  that  it  broke  down 
the  health  of  the  able  finance  minister,  31.  Coi- 
vetto,  who  solicited  and  obtained  leave  to  retire. 

He  was  succeeded  by  M.  Roy,  who  ,  _ 

,11  ,•    ,       r^,        ,  r  *  Convention, 

had  been  one  ol  the  Chamber  oi  Nov.19,1818; 

Deputies  during  the  Hundred  Days,  Ann  Hist  i. 

and   who  augmented    the    already  ^^^-i^il'  9^^' 
1        ,■       ■    a  r.i      T  -1      vi.22.33;Lac 

preponderating  mfluence  01  the  Lib-  jj  246  247. 

cral  party  in  the  Cabinet.' 

The  known  result  of  the  last  elections,  and 
the  certain  majority  which  it  was  77, 

foreseen  the  Liberals  would  have  in  Difficulties  of 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  rendered  the  Duke  de 
the  situation  of  the  Duke  de  Rich-  jj^j.  jq  {gig. 
elieu  very  difficult.  He  had  given 
a  somewhat  reluctant  consent  to  the  coup  cVitat 
of  5th  September,  1S16,  which  shook  the  confi- 
dence the  Royalists  had  hitherto  reposed  in  him; 
and  now  he  was  threatened  with  a  hostile  ma- 
jority in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  composed 
of  the  very  persons  whom  that  measure  had 
brought  into  the  legislature.  Threatened  thus 
with  a  hostile  vote  in  the  Lower  House,  Riche- 
lieu had  no  resource  but  to  strengthen  himself 
in  the  Upper;  and  at  his  instigation,  a  party 
composing  a  majority  of  the  Peers  was  lormed, 
prepared  to  stand  by  the  king  in  any  emergency 
that  might  occur.  At  the  same  time,  court 
conferences  were  held  with  M.  de  Villcle,  M. 
Mole,  and  the  other  Royalist  chiefs,  who  prom- 
ised a  frank  and  loyal  adhesion,  provided  only 
the  Electoral  Law  was  changed;  but  that  was 
insisted  on  as  an  indisponsalile  preliminary  to 
any  arrangement.  M.  de  Richelieu  was  not 
averse  to  such  a  modilieatign ;  and  it  was  agreed, 
in  the  preparatory  scrutiny  of  votes,  to  ascertain 
how  the  numbers  of  the  Centre  and  Right  united 
together  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  would 
stand.  As,  however,  it  was  felt  that  a  crisis 
was  approaching,  and  that  it  would  require  all 
the  inllucncc  and  address  of  the  Duke  de  Richo- 
lieu  and  his  ministry  to  surmount  it,  the  opening 
of  the  session  was  postponed  to  the  lOth  De- 
cember, in  order  to  give  time  for  any  t  l^c.  ii.  254. 
arrangements  which  might  be  Ibund  257;  (op  vi. 
necessary  to  meet  il.^  ^''  •*'' 


I'JC 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.  VI. 


As  usual  in  such  cnscs,  the  approaehinpr  con-  ' 
fiict  in  the  Lcijislature  wasjiicccdoil 
Divisions  in  ''.^  a  divisidn  in  the  Cabini-t.  Some 
i.ie  Cabinet,  of  the  ministers,  amonir  whom  were 
and  brenK-up  the  Dukc  de  Riehelieu,  INIM.  Laine, 
"ry^''Dec"'l2.  '^'o''"-  a"^  Pasquier,  were  inclined 
to  po  into  the  terms  proposed  by 
llic  Royalists,  and  modify  the  Electoral  Law; 
hut  the  majority,  headed  by  M.  Dccazes  and 
Marshal  Guuvion  St.  Cyr,  deemed  any  chanpe 
of  policy  unnecessary  and  hazardous,  and  de- 
cided otherwise.  The  opening  speech  of  the 
king  at  the  commencement  of  the  session,  on 
December  10th,  which  committed  neither  party, 
was  arrrecd  to  without  a  division  in  the  Cabinet; 
but  two  days  afterward,  various  conflicts  took 
place  there  between  the  two  parties,  and  it  soon 
became  evident  that  their  united  operation  was 
no  longer  to  be  relied  on.  When  the  king,  who 
had  hitherto  been  in  a  great  measure  ignorant 
of  those  ministerial  divisions,  perceived  to  what 
a  length  they  had  gone,  and  that  a  separation 
had  become  unavoidable,  he  prepared,  though 
with  great  regret  at  losing  'M.  Decazes,  to  sup- 
port the  premier,  to  whom  his  entire  confidence 
iiad  been  given,  whose  ideas  on  every  subject 
entirely  coincided  with  his  own,  and  whose  wis- 
dom had  guided  him  in  safety  through  the  peril- 
ous period  of  the  occupation  of  the  territory. 
The  anxiety  which  he  felt,  at  the  prospect  of  a 
break-up  of  the  Cabinet,  however,  brought  on  a 
fit  of  the  gout,  which  for  some  days  prevented 
him  from  attending  the  state  councils ;  and  he 
was  in  the  very  worst  crisis  of  the  malady,  when 
a  meeting  was  held  to  consider  whether  any 
modification  should  be  introduced  into  the  Elect- 
oral Law.  The  votes  in  the  Chamber  for  the 
president  had  shown  a  majority  of  101  to  91, 
formed  by  the  Centre  Right  and  Right  against 
the  Liberals  of  all  shades.  Encouraged  by  this 
favorable  result,  the  Duke  de  Richelieu  sup- 
ported the  proposed  modification ;  but  at  the 
close  of  the  conference,  the  king  rose  and  said — 
"Let  us  plant  our  standard  on  the  ordonnance 
of  the  /ith  September  :  let  us  continue  to  follow 
the  line  we  have  hitherto  followed ;  but  let  us 
at  the  same  time  extend  a  hand  to  the  right  as 
well  as  the  left,  and  say  with  Caesar,  '  He  who 
is  not  with  me  is  against  me.'  "  The  majority 
was  of  the  same  opinion,  and  the  Cabinet  coun- 
cil broke  up  withoat  having  come  to  any  formal 
determination  on  the  subject ;  but  though  the 
king  hoped  the  division  was  healed,  it  had  in 
reality  become  incurable,  and  next  day  he  was 
thunderstruck  by  receiving  letters  of  resignation 
'  Memoire  de  from  the  Duke  de  Richelieu,  MM. 
Louis  XVIII.;  Laine,  Mole  and  Pasquier,  which 
IKs"  Cap  vi  ^^ere  soon  followed  by  one  from  M. 
45,  55;  Lac.  Decazes,  who  felt  he  could  no  longer 
ii.  235,  257.  remain  in  a  cabinet  from  which  so 
many  of  his  old  colleagues  had  seceded.'* 


*  '•  Votre  Majeste  peut  imaginer  dans  quelle  penible 
eitaation  rn'a  laisse  Tentretien  d'hier,  et  tout  ce  que  j'ai 
aouffert  en  voyant  le  chagrin  que  je  causais  a  votre  Ma- 
jeste. Je  connais  trop  bien  men  insuffisance  dans  des 
circonstanccs  aussi  diffieiles,  et  pour  un  genre  d'affaires 
auquel  it  est  impossible  d'etre  moins  propre  que  je  ne  le 
8uV,  pour  que  je  ne  repete  pas,  Sire,  ce  que  j'ai  eu  I'hon- 
neur  de  vous  dire  hier.  Ma  mission  a.  ete  tinie  au  nio- 
■icnt  ou  les  grandes  affaires  avec  les  etrangers  ont  ete 
tenninees  ;  celles  de  Tinterieur  auesi  bien  que  la  conduite 
des  Chambres  me  sont  tout  a  fait  etrangeres,  et  je  n'y  ai 
Di  aptitude  ni  capacite.  II  est  de  mon  devoir  de  dire  a 
TOtre  Majeste  dans  toute  la  sincerite  de  mon  cffiur,  qu'en 
me  retenant  ellefail  le  plus  grand  tort  a  ses  affaires  et  au 


Had  a  thunderbolt  fallen  on  the  king,  he  could 
not  have  been  thrown  into  greater  -g 

consternation  than  he  was  by  the  Formation  cl 
receipt  of  these  resignations.  It  "'«  "''w  Min- 
equaled  that  experienced  on  the  re-  "'"^^'  ^'^'^•*'-- 
turn  of  Napoleon,  for  then  the  kingdom  only  was 
lost;  but  now,  though  the  kingdom  remained, 
the  only  means  of  governing  it  had  disappeared. 
Richelieu  had  made  it  a  condition  of  his  retain- 
ing office,  that  M.  Decazes  should  be  sent  on  a 
foreign  embassy  to  St.  Petersburg  or  Naples — a 
stipulation  which  sufficiently  revealed  the  real 
cause  of  the  break-up  of  the  ministry.  At  the 
earnest  request  of  the  king,  however,  and  moved 
by  the  delicate  situation  of  Madame  Decazes. 
who  was  in  her  fourth  month  of  pregnancy,  he 
agreed  so  far  to  modify  his  demands  as  to  re- 
main at  the  head  of  the  ministry  if  Decazes  were 
removed  only  to  Italy.  He  endeavored  to  form 
a  ministry  resting  on  the  Centre  Right  and  Right 
of  the  Chamber,  and  from  which  AI.  Decazes 
was  to  be  excluded ;  but  all  his  proposed  ar- 
rangements proved  inefTeetual.  The  Electoral 
Law  proved  an  invincible  barrier  to  any  united 
administration.  Finding  he  could  not  form  a 
ministry,  M.  de  Richelieu  simply  resigned  ;  and 
the  king,  driven  thus  to  throw  himself  without, 
reserve  into  the  arms  of  the  Liberals,  sent,  by 
the  advice  of  the  Duke  de  Richelieu,  for  M. 
Decazes  accoidingly,  and  by  his  advice  a  min- 
istry purely  Liberal  was  formed  after  the  follow- 
ing manner:  General  Dessoles — a  Liberal,  but 
who  had  done  great  service  to  the  Bourbons  at 
the  Restoration — was  President  of  the  Council 
and  Premier ;  M.  de  Serres,  Keeper  of  the  Seals ; 
Decazes,  Minister  of  the  Interior ;  Baron  Portal, 
the  Navy;  Baron  Louis,  the  Finance:  Gouvion 
St.  Cyr,  Minister-at-War.  These  changes  ren- 
dered the  ministry  entirely  and  exclusively  Lib- 
eral.' Thus  fell  the  ministry  of  the  i  cap.  vj.  42 
Duke  de  Richelieu — the  victim  of  71 ;  Memoires 
the  measure  it  had  adopted  to  con-  i%?J?'^\ 
ciliate  its  opponents  and  of  the  hos-  ^j  j^j'  j^ 
tile  party  which  it  had  introduced  Lac.  ii.' 264  ' 
into  power.  267. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  new  ministry  was 
to  propose  a  national  recompense  to 
the  Duke  de  Richelieu,  whose  great  Recompense 
public  services,   during  the    three  voted  to  tne 
years  he  had  held  the  reigns  of  pow-  Cuke  de  Rich- 
er, well  entitled  him  to  some  distin-  !!!!'ht"i:'!!' 
guished  mark  of  the  public  gratitude. 


clined  by  him. 


pays,  et  que  ce  sentiment  qu'elle  avail  la  bonte  d'appeler 
hier  modestie,  n'est  que  le  resultat  d'une  connaissance 
plus  approfondie  de  moi-meme :  penser  autrement  ne 
serait  pour  moi  qu'une  miserable  presomption.  Votre 
Majeste  sail  si  j'estime  et  aime  M.  Decazes :  mes  semi 
mens  sont  et  seront  toujours  les  memes.  Mais  d"un  cote, 
outrage  sans  raison  par  un  parti  dont  les  imprudences 
ont  cause  tant  de  maux,  il  lui  est  impossible  de  so  rap 
procher  de  lui ;  de  I'autre,  il  est  pousse  vers  un  cote  dont 
les  doctrines  nous  menacentdavantage,tant  qu'il  ne  sera 
pas  fixe.  Ilors  de  France  par  des  fonctions  eminentes, 
tous  les  hommes  opposes  au  Ministere  le  considerent 
comme  le  but  de  leurs  esperances,  et  il  devicndra,  mal- 
gre  lui  sans  doute,  un  obstacle  a  la  consolidation  du 
Gouvernement.  Je  crois  ce  sacrifice  necessaire  si  je  dois 
rester  au  Gouvernement.  L'ambassade  de  Naples  ou  de 
Petersbourg,  et  un  depart  annonce  et  execute  dans  une 
semaine,  tels  sont,  s'iivant  moi,  les  preliminaires  indis- 
pensables.  je  ne  dis  pas  au  succes,  mais  a  la  marehe  d» 
["administration.  Apres  avoir  e.xprime  ma  pensee,  sou 
frez.  Sire,  que  je  me  jette  encore  aux  pieds  de  voire  Ma 
jeste,  pour  lui  demander  avec  les  pl«s  vives  instances  dc 
m'accorder  ma  liberty." — Due  de  Richelieu  au  Rot  Lnui. 
XVni.,  Dec.  23,  1818.  Lamarti.ve,  Histoire  de  la  Rff 
taUTation,\\.  163,  165. 


1819.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


19» 


while  his  private  disinterestedness  had  left  him 
without  fortune  at  its  close.  The  subject  was 
introduced  in  the  Chamber  of  Peers  by  the  Mar- 
quis de  Laili,  and  seconded  by  General  Des- 
solles  :  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  by  i\I.  De- 
cazes.  No  sooner,  however,  did  the  fallen  min- 
ister hear  what  was  in  ag;itation  than  he  ad- 
dressed a  noble  letter  to  both  Houses,  in  which 
lie  declined  any  public  recompense,  upon  the 
crround  that  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  add 
to  the  public  burdens  at  a  time  when  so  many 
heavy  oblij^at  ions  already  weighed  upon  France.* 
Notwithstanding  this  generous  refusal,  the  pro- 
ject was  persisted  in,  and  General  Dessolles, 
who  was  now  created  a  marquis,  after  a  brilliant 
picture  of  the  great  services  of  the  Duke  de 
Richelieu,  proposed  that  an  entailed  estate  of 
50,000  francs  (£2000)  a  year  taken  from  the  do- 
mains of  the  Crown,  should  be  settled  to  descend 
to  his  heirs  male  with  the  peerage.  Notwith- 
standing the  great  and  acknowledged  services 
of  the  duke,  the  proposal  was  seriously  combated 
in  both  Houses  ;  the  opposition  being  chiefly  rest- 
ed on  the  magnitude  of  the  public  burdens,  and 
the  illegality  of  alienating  any  portion  of  the 
royal  domains  settled  on  the  Crown  by  the  law 
of  1814.  It  was  carried,  however,  by  large  ma- 
jorities in  both  Houses  ;  the  numbers  in  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  being  124  to  85 — in  the 
Peers,  83  to  45.  The  duke,  however,  persisted 
in  his  disinterested  refusal ;  he  accepted  only  the 
honor,  and  conveyed  the  property  to  an  hospital 
at  Bordeaux.  When  he  did  so,  he  had  no  fortune 
whatever  either  in  land  or  money;  and  his  sis- 
ters procured  for  him  a  slender  competence  of 
8000  francs  (£320)  a  year  only,  by  selling  the 
diamonds  presented  to  him,  according  to  diplo- 
matic usage,  on  signing  the  many  treaties  to 
which  his  name  was  attached.  Such  conduct 
makes  us  proud  of  our  species,  and  may  well  in- 
duce  oblivion  of  the  many  baser  acts  which  his"- 
tory  is  constrained  to  record.  Certainly  if,  as 
the  Scripture  says,  the  love  of  money  is  the 
'  Lac.  vi.  267  root  of  all  evil,  disinterestedness 
270 ;  Cap.  vi.  in  regard  of  it  is  the  index  of  all 
100,  115.  gooji 

The  decisive  change  in  the  Government  soon 
gj  appeared  in  the  system  of  adminis- 

Measurea  of  tration  pursued  both  in  civil  and 
the  new  Min-  military  aflairs.  The  finst  caro  of 
isters.  ^^   Decazes,  as  Minister  of  the  In- 

terior, was  to  erase  from  the  list  of  proscribed 
persons  nearly  all  the  names  v^hicli  still  stood  on 
it.  The  king  entered  cordially  into  all  these 
njeasurcs.  "They  have  sudercd  much,"  said 
he,  "  but  they  should  ascribe  it  less  to  me  than 
to  circumstances ;  but  when  we  do  resolve  on 
acts  of  grace,  let  them  be  complete."'  So  fully 
was  this  benevolent  intention  carried  into  eflect, 
that  the  arrears  of  pay  during  the  period  of  their 
exile  were  given  to  the  odicers  restored.  Mar- 
shal Soult  received  some  hundred  thousand  francs 
in  this  way.     At  the  War-Ofncc,  Marshal  Gou- 

*  "  Si  (Ian.s  le  cours  de  nion  ministcrc,  j'ai  eu  le  bon- 
heur  de  rciidrc  des  services  a  la  France,  et  dans  ces  der- 
niers  tettips  de  concourir  a  rafTranchiHsemciit  dc  8on  ter- 
ritoire,  rnon  ame  n'est  pas  moins  attristi'c  de  savoir  ina 
palrie  accablte  de  dettes  enorines ;  trop  de  calamitd-a  I'onl 
frapp6e,  trop  de  eitoycns  sont  tombos  dans  le  mallicur;  et 
il  y  a  Irop  de  pertcs  a  reparer,  pour  ijuc  jc  puissc  voir 
B'felever  ma  fortune  en  dc  lelles  conjonclures.  L'estime  de 
mon  pays,  la  borite  dn  Roi,  le  ltinoi(;naKc  de  ma  con- 
•cience  me  suflisent," — Due  de  RichcLiru  mix  Chambres, 
Iza.  27.  IVV3.     Monittur,  Jan.  28. 


vion  St.  Cyr  pursued  with  more  vigor  than  ever 
his  system  of  oblivion  and  fusion.  Not  merely 
the  subordinate  officers,  but  the  superior  ones  and 
geneuils — among  the  rest,  General  Foy,  and 
others  who  had  been  attached  to  the  fortunes  of 
Napoleon  during  the  Empire  and  the  Hundred 
Days — received  permission  to  return.  To  such 
a  length  was  this  system  carried,  that  at  last  an 
ordinance  opened  to  the  officers  and  sub-ollicers 
of  the  army  the  entry  into  the  Royal  Guard  of 
the  King  and  the  Count  d'Artois.  This  excited, 
as  well  it  might,  the  loudest  complaints  among 
the  Royalists ;  but  the  system  was  nevertheless 
pursued  with  vigor  and  perseverance,  and  in  a 
short  time  a  majority  of  the  officers  in  both  serv- 
ices was  composed  of  men  known  to  be  partial 
to  the  Liberal  or  Napoleon  party.  A  still  more 
venement  clamor  was  raised  in  the  Royalist  camp 
b}'  an  ordinance  which  gave  certain  colonels  in 
the  Guard  rank  and  position  in  the  army  as  mar- 
shals of  the  camp — a  measure  it  was  said,  ob- 
viously intended  to  remove  from  the 
royal  family  the  few  faithful  defend-  ga^^L^aJJ;  f^ 
ers  which  still  remained  to  them.*         ' 

The  same  system  was  pursued  with  oqnail, 
unflinching  determination  in  the  civil 
service  of  the  State.  The  prefects.  General  nm 
the  sub-prefects,  were  all  chosen  motion  of  the 
from  the  Liberal  party;  even  the  Liberals  in 
Council  of  State  was  remodelled,  so  J^| /•■''"  """''■ 
as  to  give  a  majority  to  that  party. 
Among  the  many  eminent  men  of  that  siile  who 
thus  obtained  admission  into  the  Council  of  Stale. 
were  MM.  Simeon,  Royer-Collard,  Portalis, 
Mounier,  and  Camille-Jourdan,  who  were  placed 
in  the  legislative  section  of  that  body;  while  the 
deliberative,  a  still  more  important  section,  con- 
tained MM.  Cuvier,  Degrando,  Bercnger,  Ua- 
mond,  the  Prince  de  Broglie,  Gen.  JNIatliieu  Du- 
mas, Guizot,  Barante,  and  a  great  many  olhers, 
all  Liberals  of  the  first  rank,  station,  and  ability. 
In  a  word,  the  choice  of  Government  in  filling 
up  appointments  realized  the  fine  saying  of  Louis 
XVIII. — "  Whoever  is  faithful  to  me  now  has 
ever  been  so."  To  such  a  length  was  this  svs- 
tem  carried  in  subordinate  odicers,  that  one  ol 
the  royal  courts  in  the  south  of  France,  thai  of 
Nimes,  was  eomjiosed  entirely  of  the  magistrates 
who  had  held  ofiice  during  the  Hundred  Diivs — 
the  Royalists  who  had  succeeded  them  being 
entirely  excluded.  In  a  word,  the  Government 
threw  themselves  every  where,  and  without  re- 
serve, into  the  arms  of  the  Liberal  party,  hoping 
that  they  would  thus  found  the  mon-  2  (j^„  yj  (i.i 
arehy  upon  the  allections  or  interests  91;  Lae.  ii. 
of  the  majority  of  the  nation.'  270,271. 

No  measure  of  moment  was  brought  forward 
by   the    new   ministers   from   their  53 

appointment  on  the  2Hih  December  Movement 
till  the  beginning  of  Febrnai-y,  and  "Kain.st  the 
the  Parisians,  imjiaticnt  of  delay,  and  f^^;*;',?p^i;^" 
thirsting  for  excitement,  were  begin- 
ning to  complain  that  the  Liberal  ministry  were 
doing  nothing  ;   but,  ero  long,  they  had  ample 
subject  for  meditation  from  what  occurred  in  tho 
Chamber  of  Pecis.     The  lioyalists  had  there  a 
decided  majority;  and  they  were  so  convinced 
that  the  Kleetorai  Law  would  terminate  in  the  de- 
struction of  the  monarchy,  and  before  many  years 
had  elapsed  would  ellect  it,  that  they  resolved, 
at  all  hazards,  to  attempt  its^modifieaticn.     Tho 
g"cat  object  was  to  neutralize  in  some  way  tin* 


19; 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPK 


[Chap.  VI. 


'  Hist,  of  Eu- 
rope, c.  xxiv. 
>D  48-51.  Lac. 
ii.STl;  Cap.vi. 
115. 1-21;  Ann. 
Ilist.  ii.  31. 32. 


majority  of  fniall  proprietors  of  the  national  do- 
fitains,  who,  at  present,  by  tlio  Electoral  Law, 
had  the  means  of  returniiiij  a  majoriiy  of  iho 
Chanilierof  Dejiiities,  of  persons  aiiacheil  to  the 
forliincs  of  tlio  Revolution.  The  ))erson  selected 
lo  commence  the  movement  was  .^I.  Bartheiemy, 
the  veteran  diplomatist,  who,  elected,  contrary 
to  his  wishes,  a  member  of  the  Directory,  had 
i>een  seized  on  occasion  of  the  revolution  of  11th 
Fructidor,  in  1797,  by  his  democratic  coliearjues, 
and  transported  to  the  burning  deserts  of  Sina- 
mari,  from  whence  his  escape  seemed  little  short 
of  a  miracle.  He  was  now  old  and 
infirm,  but  still  in  the  full  posses- 
sion of  his  faculties;  and  being  a 
liviniT  monument  of  the  excesses  of 
the  Revolution,  he  seemed  a  fitting 
person  to  arrest  its  march.' 
"It  is  now  two  v'cars,"  said  the  veteran  ora- 
gl  tor,    "since    a   change   was  intro- 

Argument  of  duced  into  our  infant  institutions 
M.  Barthel6-  by  a  change  in  the  law  of  election, 
clia'ng^e  in  the  '^^^  advantages  anticipated  from 
law  of  elec-  it  were  maintained  with  so  much 
tion.  Feb. 20,  warmth,  the  inconveniences  fore- 
seen  were  supported  by  reasons  so 
plausible,  that  there  was  ample  room  for  differ- 
ence of  opinion  on  the  subject.  The  course  of 
our  discussions  rendered  that  incertitude  so  nat- 
ural, that  it  was  in  some  degree  shared  by  the 
orators  of  Government  themselves;  and,  in  the 
last  debate,  they  declared  that  the  new  law  was 
only  an  experiment,  which  would  be  open  to  re- 
vision if  it  .should  prove  unsuccessful.  That 
declaration  fixed  many  of  those  who  had  hitherto 
h'esitated ;  and  I  am  not  ashamed  to  confess 
myself  one  of  those  who  was  induced  by  it  to 
vote  in  favor  of  the  proposed  law.  Two  years 
have  since  elapsed,  two  elections  have  taken 
place  under  it,  and  twice  the  Government  has 
been  thrown  into  an  agony  of  apprehension  from 
its  results.  I  feel  it,  therefore,  a  duty  to  solicit 
the  redemption  of  a  pledge  which  determined 
my  vote.  I  demand  that  the  Chamber  of  Peers 
should  adopt  a  resolution  to  petition  the  King  to 
bring  forward  the  project  of  a  law  which  may 
2  Ann.  Hist,  introduce  into  the  organization  of 
ii^33:_Lac,  ii.  the  electoral  colleges  the  requisite 
2,1,2,2.  modifications."' 

To  this  it  was  replied  on  the  part  of  the  Min- 
gj  istry  by  Decazes  and  Lally  Tollen- 

Answer  on  dal :  "Great  stress  has  been  laid 
the  part  of  the  on  certain  promises  said  to  have 
fiis '*'*"^'  ^^^"  made  by  the  JNIinistry  when  the 
law  of  elections  was  under  discus- 
sion. No  minister,  in  bringing  forward  such  a 
law,  could  promise  any  thing  but  that  it  should 
be  literally  carried  into  etVect;  and,  in  fact, 
nothing  more  was  promised  by  the  ministers  of 
that  period.  The  Government  is  now  persuad- 
ed that  it  can  not  so  well  discharge  its  duty  as 
by  repelling  with  all  its  strength  a  proposition 
which  it,  with  sincerity,  regards  as  the  most 
dangerous  that  can  emanate  from  this  Assembly. 
This  fundamental  law,  the  principal  spring  of 
government,  the  faults  or  merits  of  which  must 
have  so  decisive  an  influence  on  our  destinies, 
was  adopted,  after  a  warm  and  long  discussion 
— by  a  small  majority  it  is  true,  but  one  as  large 
as  could  be  expected  on  such  a  subject  in  the 
circumstances.  The  result  has  fully  answered 
cur  expectat'  ms.     From  thn  Rhine  to  the  Pyre- 


nees all  is  now  trttiiqv  )  and  contented  :  will  any 

man  venture   to  predict  that  the  same  wil.  be 

the  case  to-morrow  if  this  proposition  is  adopted 

by  the  Assemby?     From  the  agitation  already 

arising  in  its  bosom  we  may  augur  i  ^^^^    jjj^.j^ 

the  commotion  which  the  proposal  ii.  34;   Mom 

will  soon  awaken  over  the  whole  of  '«""■,  Feb.  27 

France." »  ^^''•'• 

These  words  proved  prophetic  of  the  efiecl 

produced  over  France  by  the  intro-  gg. 

duction    of   this    measure.     Leave  The   proposi- 

was  given  to  bring  in  the  proposi-  ''.°'l  "*  j'"""  . 
.■       I  •     •         rcn.     CO     ^T        ried,  and  vast 

tion  by  a  majority  ol  SO  to  53.     Im-  sensation 

mediately  the  most  violent  agitation  throughout 
commenced  in  every  part  of  France,  France, 
much  exceeding  any  thing  which  had  been  wit- 
nessed since  the  Restoration.  The  people  are 
possessed  of  an  instinct  which  seldom  errs  as  to 
the  probable  effect  upon  their  2»i»ic(/(0^e  interest 
of  any  measures  that  are  brought  forward,  or 
the  influence  they  may  acquire  over  the  govern 
ment  :  it  is  in  regard  to  their  ultimate  effects— 
which  require  foresight  and  reflection,  to  be  ap- 
pVeciated — that  they  are  so  generally  deficient. 
The  agitation  was  universal,  and  reached  far 
beyond  the  limited  class  to  which  the  right  of 
voting  was  at  present  extended.  The  whole 
body  of  holders  of  the  national  domains  took  the 
alarm.  Conscience  made  cowards  of  them  all; 
they  felt  the  same  dread  of  being  dispossessed 
of  their  ill-gotten  gains  that  the  holder  of  stolen 
goods  does  when  a  police-ofiicer  enters  the 
house.  Hundreds  of  petitions  were  prepared  in 
every  part  of  the  country,  and  eagerly  signed 
by  hundreds  and  thousands,  praying  the  king  to 
make  no  change  in  the  Electoral  Law;  and,  ior 
the  first  time  since  the  extinction  of  the  fervor 
of  the  Revolution  by  the  carnage  of  the  Conven- 
tion, France,  from  the  Pyrenees  to  j  Lac.  ii.  120, 
Bayonne,  was  convulsed  by  demo-  Cap.  vi.  121, 
cratic  passions.^  ^^' 

This  open  declaration  of  the  Chamber  of  Peers, 
by  so  large  a  majority,  against  the  g7. 

Electoral  Law,   was  rendered  the  Measures  of 

more  serious,  from  the  weight  and  ^^^,  ,F^\^^^''' 
.    _  ^    ,  ,  ?      1  and  the  Libe- 

influence  ot  the  members  ol  whom  rals  In  the 
the  majority  was  composed,  which  Chamber  of 
embraced  the  most  respectable  and  I'eputies. 
enlightened  of  the  peerage.  The  king  was  very 
much  struck  with  this  circumstance  ;  he  said 
that,  in  the  estimation  of  the  best  defenders  of 
his  throne,  it  was  no  longer  a  question  of  parly, 
but  of  the  dynasty  and  the  monarchy.  M.  De- 
cazes had  great  difficulty  in  persuading  him  that 
it  was  necessary  to  persist  in  the  support  of  the 
Electoral  Law;  which,  however,  he  at  length 
agreed  to  do,  as  the  Cabinet,  by  a  great  major- 
ity, thought  it  should  be  made  a  condition  of  its 
existence.  ^L  Lafitte,  in  the  Lower  House, 
made  a  motion  for  the  deputies  to  present  an 
address  to  the  king,  praying  him  to  make  no 
change  in  the  Electoral  Law  ;  and  although  this 
proposal  was  negatived  on  the  objection  in  point 
of  form,  that  the  matter  had  not  yet  come  in 
regular  course  before  them,  yet  it  served  to  sup- 
port the  majority  of  the  Cabinet  in  3  c>p.  ▼!.  128, 
their  resolution  to  permit  no  change  129;  Ann. 
in  the  existing  law.^  Hist,  ii  60. 

The  discussion  on  the  merits  of  the  question 
came  on  in  the  Peers  on  the  26lh  February,  when 
it  was  argued  by  JM.AI.  de  Bartheiemy,  ile  Fon- 
tanes.  and  de  Castellane  :   "  We  have  support  ci 


8J9.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


19-j 


(he  law  of  election,  because  welhoutrlit  that  little 
gg  was  to  be  ap|)rehended  I'rom  adem- 

Vrgument    in  ocracy  of   eighty    thousand    elect- 
support  of  M.  ors  in   a  country  possessing  twen- 

'',''/il!flf'"^'^    ty-seven    millions    of   inhabitants ; 

proposal.  ■'  .  I       ■      1       ' 

but  experience  has  undeceived  us. 

The  opponents  of  the  law  have  better  than  our- 
selves perceived  its  real  tendency.  What  is  the 
end  which  we  should  pursue? — to  strengthen 
power  by  giving  it  the  support  of  the  nation.  If 
hiitory  proves  that  the  ministers  of  kings  are  in 
general  more  inclined  to  support  the  rights  of 
the  crown  than  those  of  the  people,  those  who 
are  now  in  power  are  free  frum  that  reproach. 
But  have  they  always  been  equally  confident  in 
the  merits  of  the  law,  to  the  maintenance  of 
M  hich  they  now  attach  their  political  existence  ? 
Have  they  had  no  misgivings  as  to  its  demo- 
cratic tendency  ?  Is  it  not  equally  open  to  abuse 
un  the  other  side,  should  a  ministry  arrive  at 
power  sufficiently  unscrupulous  to  make  use  of 
its  powers  in  that  respect?  What  is  so  easy  as 
to  multiply  patents,  and  bestow  them  on  persons 
in  the  interest  of  the  Crown  ?  To  eschew  these 
evils,  we  must  recur  to  the  great  territorial  aris- 
tocracy. There  once  was  a  man  who  terrified 
Europe  by  his  ambition  ;  however  we  may  re- 
gard that  man,  no  one  can  deny  to  him  the 
knowledge  of  the  science  of  povv-er.  One  day 
he  was  preparing  in  the  Council  of  State  the 
Electoral  Colleges,  and  I  (M.  de  Fontanes)  was 
present.  Some  of  his  confidential  counselors 
suggested  to  him  that  his  plan  was  not  without 
danger  :  for  several  of  the  great  properties  still 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  former  proprietors, 
and  that  sooner  or  later  the  choice  of  the  six 
hundred  most  considerable  in  each  college,  in 
whom  the  franchise  was  vested,  would  bring  in 
the  partisans  of  the  ancient  monarchy.  Napo- 
leon was  no  ways  staggered  by  this  observation  ; 
his  answer  was  as  follows,  '  These  men,'  said 
he,  '  are  great  proprietors — they  do  not  wish, 
therefore,  that  the  soil  should  tremble — their 
interest  is  mine.'  Have  the  great  proprietors 
any  influence  under  the  present  Electoral  Law  ? 
None  whatever;  for  thev  are  outvoted  twenty 
to  one  by  the  small  proprietors,  who,  having 
nearly  all  been  enriched  by  the  Revolution,  arc 
attached  to  its  fortunes. 

"  What  clearly  proves  that  there  is  something 
fundamentally  wamg  about  the  pru- 

wOntiiiucd.  ^^"'^  ^'^^'^'  '^  ''"•  '^'-'i  '''•''  although 
there  are  120,000  electors  in  France, 
never  more  than  80.000  have  taken  part  in  any 
election.  This  is  an  evil  of  the  very  first  mag- 
nitude, which  loudly  calls  for  a  remedy.  II',  in 
the  infancy  of  our  institutions,  and  when  the 
electoral  franchise  was  by  many  to  be  exercised 
for  the  first  time,  so  great  a  number  of  electors 
have  not  come  forward,  what  may  be  anticipated 
in  ordinary  times?  Is  it  not  evident  that  the 
number  of  electors  will  constantly  diminish  ;  and 
as  the  law  provides  that,  in  such  an  event,  the 
Electoral  Colleges  are  to  meet  two  or  three 
limes  in  the  year,  a  burden  will  be  imjiosod  on 
llio  electors  exceeding  in  weight  that  of  their 
whole  contributions  to  the  state.  The  ellect  of 
this  will  be  a  progressive  diminution  in  the  num- 
ber of  electors,  till  they  become  quite  illusory, 
and  amenable  to  every  species  of  influence  or 
.•orriiption. 

''  There  is  nnnihcr  .'onsidcration  not  less  im- 
Vol.  I  -  N 


portant.  In  the  laudable  intention  of  cncoura"' 
ing  commerce  and  industry,  patents 
(franchises  derived  from  income-tax),  con^nug,} 
have  been  assimilated  and  put  on  the 
same  footing  as  those  resting  on  direct  taxes 
from  land.  But  that  extension,  already  sulTi- 
ciently  great,  has  become  altogether  monstrous, 
from  the  circumstance  that,  as  this  tax  is  paid 
monthly,  it  is  held  that  the  payment  of  one  in- 
stallment— that  is,  one-twelfth  of  three  hundred 
francs — confers  the  franchise.  Thus  the  right 
of  y-oting  is  aec|uired  by  the  payment  once  onlv 
of  a  tax  of  twenty-five  francs.  Is  not  this  ii 
manifest  violation  of  the  act — a  departure  alike 
from  its  letter  and  its  spirit?  The  introduction 
of  such  a  body  of  disqualified  electors  Uito  the 
register  of  voters,  is  an  act  of  manifest  .njuslice 
to  the  holders  of  land.  The  latter,  however,  in 
every  age  and  country,  have  constituted  the 
strength  of  nations.  They  it  is  who  arc  the 
guanlians  at  once  of  our  morals  and  institutions. 
In  intrusting  to  them  the  enjoyment  of  political 
rights,  our  legislators  have  done  no  violence  to 
natural  justice ;  because  civilization  renders  prop- 
erty always  accessible  to  the  persevering  etlbrts 
of  industry,  and  it  is  the  sure  recompense  of  labor 
and  economy. 

"  Finally,  there  is  an  important  defect  in  our 
Electoral  Law,  which  requires  amend- 
ment. The  power  of  naming  supple-  concludeJ 
mentary  members,  in  the  event  of  those 
named  in  the  first  instance  failing,  has  been  omit- 
ted :  although  it  was  in  an  especial  manner  re- 
quired under  the  new  Electoral  Law,  which  so 
greatly  restricted  the  number  of  deputies.  As 
matters  at  present  stand,  it  is  not  death  or 
serious  disease  disqualifying  the  deputy,  which 
renders  necessary  a  new  election;  the  same  fol- 
lows from  a  double  return  of  the  same  individual 
for  difl'erent  places — an  event  which  has  very 
frequently  occurred  in  recent  times.  This  ren- 
ders fresh  elections  necessary,  and  perpetuates 
the  excitement,  turmoil,  and  intrigue  consequent 
on  them.  Even  now,  from  this  cause,  the  Ciiam- 
ber  is  incomplete  ;  and  it  has  been  so  ever  since 
the  commencement  of  the  session.  The  neces- 
sity of  these  new  elections   not  only  entails  a 

great  additional  expense  and  trou-  ,   .        „. 
r,  ,,         I     .  1    .  '  Ann.  Ilist. 

ble  on    the    electors,   but  perpctu-  ji.   37    39. 

ates  an  agitation,  which,  in  every  Moniteur,Fel« 
point  of  view,  it  is  desirable  to  ?T' ',!!''■' il^'*!' 
avoid.'"  m.l29,l3f. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  contended  by  the 
Mar(iuis  Dessulles,  the  Premier,  M.  ^^ 

Languinan,  and  M.  de  Larochcfou-  Arsunient  of 
cauld  :  ''  To  attack  the  Law  of  tlie  MinisUT.s 
Elections  is  to  attack  the  charter  "i  ""=  oi\u=t 
— to  menace  our  liberties — to  com- 
mence the  counter  revolution.  That  in  the  ex- 
ecution of  that  law  there  may  bo  some  errors 
negligences,  and  abuses,  is  very  pos.sible,  ami 
obtains  in  this  as  in  all  earthly  things.  Tht» 
remedy  for  them,  however,  is  in  an  ordinance  uf 
the  King,  or  a  circular  of  the  Ministers,  not  a 
change  of  the  law.  The  Law  of  Election  is 
generally  considered  as  good,  and  the  best  guar- 
antee of  our  liberties.  The  peojile  are  attached 
to  it  as  the  chief  safeguard  given  them  by  tho 
charter.  To  propose  to  touch  it  now,  is  to  sow 
the  seeds  of  alarm;  to  attack  the  majority  of 
the  citizens  in  that  which  they  cherish  the  most . 
to  assai'  immediately  the  sentiments  wliicb  ire 


i54 


iH  STORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.   H 


most  deeply  soateil  in  their  niTeclions  ;  to  exi'.^so 
Kninc-c  to  the  anxieties,  the  passions,  and  the 
BJi'taliun,  wliieh  we  are  nil  so  anxious  to  avoid; 
to  east  anew  a  liiehraiul  into  the  nation;  and 
(.JihI  onlv  knows  when  the  eon(laf,'ralion  thus 
raised  will  bo  extinguished.  'I'he  Law  of  Elec- 
tion is  our  second  cliarter;  and  the  attack  on  it 
tmist  lio  combated  by  facts  rather  than  argu- 
ments. 

••  After  four  years  of  secret  notes  addressed 
to  the  allied  powers;  after  the  criminal, 
Continued.  ''"'  ■'^''"  unpunished  intrifjue  of  Aix- 
la-Chapelle  against  ourcharter;  after 
liie  aiicnipt  in  December  last  to  renew  the  evils 
which  the  King  averted  by  the  ordinance  of  5th 
September,  1S16,  a  nebulous  point  has  again 
I'ormcd  in  the  heavens — the  forerunner  of  a 
dreadful  tempest — and  the  cloud  has  first  ap- 
peared in  the  House  of  Peers.  That  house  was 
instituted  to  calm  the  pa-'^sions,  to  avert  storms, 
to  establish  harmony  between  the  powers  ;  and 
it  is  now  in  its  name  that  vague  innovations  are 
proposed — the  more  alarming,  that  they  are  un- 
certain— the  more  to  be  deprecated,  that  they 
are  unnecessary.  Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves  : 
a  great  faction,  now  very  apparent,  without  the 
Chamber — the  faction  of  privileges,  of  abuses, 
of  sinecures,  of  prodigalities,  of  the  oligarchy — 
agitates  and  disturbs  us,  in  the  hope  ol' subvert- 
ing the  charter,  which  thej*  have  long  under- 
mined, or  of  reducing  its  etrects  to  unmeaning 
ceremonies.  The  object  of  that  league  is  to 
overturn  the  existing  jNIinistry,  which  enjoys  the 
confidence  at  once  of  the  king  and  the  nation, 
and  which  is  distinguished  alike  by  patriotism 
and  unanimity.  They  would  replace  them  by 
the  most  extravagant  of  the  opposite  faction,  in 
order  by  their  aid  to  annihilate  the  Electoral 
Law,  which  has  cost  two  years  of  labor,  and  is 
€0  dear  to  the  immense  majority  of  Frenchmen. 
They  would  re-establish  the  double  steps  of  elec- 
tion, so  favorable  to  aristocracy,  and  restore  the 
elections  to  those  little  places  where  their  influ- 
ence is  predominant :  an  abuse  so  wisely  pro- 
vided against  by  the  existing  law.  In  a  word, 
this  i«  the  first  act  of  the  counter  revolution 
against  the  charter. 

"  Already  you  see  the  effects  of  the  proposi- 
tion which  has  been  entertained  by 
Concluded.  ^^^  Chamber.  You  see  it  in  the  stag- 
nation of  industry,  the  decline  of  con- 
fidence, the  indignation  of  the  public,  which  ex- 
hales in  the  thousands  of  petitions  which  encum- 
ber your  table,  to  one  of  which  is  attached  three 
lliousand  signatures.  If  the  proposition  is  not 
withdrawn,  the  result  will  be  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  peers,  who  were  excluded  without 
judgment  in  1815  ;  a  fatal  step,  but  indispens- 
able  to  bring  back  the  House  of  Peers  into  a 
state  of  harmony  with  the  other  branches  of  the 
government.  It  is  already  too  numerous  com- 
pared to  the  limited  number  of  the  other  Chamber. 
Is  it  in  consequence  to  be  dissolved,  and  a  more 
numerous  one  convoked  ?  If  this  step  is  not 
Adopted,  it  will  be  necessary  to  change  the  Minis- 
try, and  seek  their  sueeeesors  among  those  who 
will  be  willing  to  acoept  the  new  measures. 
What  these  mea-^ures  are,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
foresee.  New  elections  in  the  interest  of  the 
oligarchy ;  the  re-establishment  of  a  packed 
Chamber,  the  entire  ruin  of  a  representative 
government ;  exceptional  measures,  which  will 


be  first  tolerated,  then  execrated  ;  universal  di.s- 
CGPfent,  national  excitement,  civil  war,  foreign 
invasion;  dangers  from  all  sides  to  the  throne, 
the  altar,  the  public  liberty,  the  dynastv,  the  ex- 
isting  peers,   and   all   other   peers;  in  fine,   an 
absolute  despotism  or  liberty — a  third  time,  and 
too  dearly,  purchased.  Do  you  wish  to  count  us  ? 
It  is  not  in  this  assembly  you  must  do  so — it  is 
in  the  midst  of  thirty  millions  of  Frenchmen  you 
must  commence  your  calculation.     There  is  but 
one  way  to  avoid  these  dangers;  it  is  by  reject- 
ing or  withdrawing  the  proposition  submitted  to 
the  Chamber.     It  is  the  unanimous  opinion  of 
the  novernment  to  resist  any  change  in  the  Law 
of  Elections.  The  results  of  the  pro-  i  Monitcur, 
posal.  even  to  make  such  a  change  March  2«, 
have  been  sufficient  to  prove  its  dan-  l,}^  •  .A"", 
ger,  and  to  render  it  the  first  duty  ^g.  cap.  vi 
of  the  Government  firmly  to  oppose  129, 133:  Lac 
it."  I  ii  281,283. 

Notwithstanding  these  denunciations  the  ma 
jority  of  the  peers  remained  firm  in  g^ 

their  resolution;  and  M.  Barthele-  Adoption  of 
my's  proposition  was  adopted  by  a  M-  Banheie- 
raajority  of  45 — the  numbers  beinjr  I"^'^  proposi 
98  to  53.  bo  elated  were  the  Roy-  feat  of  Minis 
alists  with  this  victory  that  they  tersonthefix- 
proceeded  immediately  to  another  ingofthe 
1   _        .     »•  ■     ..  .u     /-•  financial  year 

demonstration  agauist  the  Govern-  •' 

ment  of  a  much  more  doubtful  kind.  It  had  been 
determined  by  the  ^Ministers,  and  agreed  to  by 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  to  make  a  change  in 
the  financial  year.  To  accomplish  this,  there 
was  but  one  method  that  appeared  practicable, 
and  that  was  to  vote  the  supplies  at  once  for 
eighteen  months.  This,  however,  was  a  violation 
of  the  charter,  which  declared  that  the  supplies 
were  to  be  voted  for  one  year  only;  and  on  this 
ground  it  had  been  strongly  opposed  in  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies.  "  When  Bonaparte,"'  said 
M.  de  Yillele  in  that  Chamber,  "  came  , ,  ,  . 
to  disperse  the  National  Assembly, 
they  invoked  their  rights  as  established  by  the 
constitution.  He  answered,  '  You  have  violated 
them.'  Dread  a  similar  answer.  Dread  it 
whether  your  blindness  brings  you  to  see  a  tri- 
umphant democracy  demand  the  overthrow  of 
the  throne,  and  the  dissolution  of  the  Chamber  of 
Peers — or  a  new  soldier  tries  to  consecrate  in 
this  hall  a  violation  of  the  principle  of  legitimacy." 
The  expedience  of  the  case  being  on  the  other 

side,  however,  the  Chamber  of  De-  ,  .        „.  . 
.'         ,  1     ,        ,  1    ^  -^  ^  Ann.   Hist, 

puties  adopted  the  change;  but  it  li.ss  59;Mon- 
was  at  once  rejected  in  the  House  iteur,  Marcli 
of  Peers,  by  a  majority  of  39 — the  ?.»  i^^ii-^'^ 
numbers  being  93  to  54.'  '      ' 

These  repeated  defeats  convinced  the  Govern- 
ment that  the  time  had  now  arrived  gg 
when  it  was  necessary  to  take  a  de-  Measures  of 
cisive  step.     M.   Dessolles  laid  a  the  Govem- 
memoir  before  the  King,  in  which  ™^°'- 
the  state  of  the  ease  was  clearly  set  forth,  and  the 
courses  which  might  be  adopted  were  pointed 
out.*     It  was  evident  that  it  had  become  un- 


*  "Lea  deux  Chambres  vont  etre  en  complete  dissi- 
dence  sur  une  question  fondamentale,  celle  qui  constituj 
le  corps  electoral,  principe  democratique  de  la  Consiitu 
tion.  Les  deputes  veulent  maintenir  le  systeme  electo- 
ral, les  Pairs  yeulent  le  modifier.  Dans  cette  position, 
le  Minietere  da  votre  Majeste  partageant  I'opinion  de  la 
Chamtre  Elective,  il  ne  reste  au  Roi  qu"un  parti  a  prendre, 
c'est  on  de  dic-soudre  la  Chambre  elective  et  de  composer 
nn  Minicrere  dans  le  sein  de  la  majorite  de  la  Pairie,  on 
de  Koutenir  le  .Ministre  el  la  Charnbre  des  Peputes  et  d# 


1819.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


I'Jt 


avoidable  either  to  dissolve  the  Chamber  of  De- 
puties, and  form  a  new  Ministry  in  harmonj'  with 
the  opinions  of  the  majority  of  the  Peers,  or  to 
overcome  the  majority  in  the  Peers  by  a  great 
creation  in  that  Assembly.  It  was  at  first  pro- 
posed simply  to  repeal  the  ordinance  of  15th 
Aagust,  1815,  which  excluded  from  the  House 
the  peers  who  had  taken  an  active  part  in  favor 
of  Napoleon  during  the  Hundred  Days  ;  but  the 
King  objected  to  this.  "I  wish,"  said  Louis, 
"  that  they  should  hold  their  seats  from  my  single 
will,  and  that  they  should  feel  grateful  for  it." 
It  was  agreed,  in  consequence,  to  make  a  great 
creation  of  peers  ;  and  next  morning  the  columns 
of  the  Monitr.ur  revealed  to  the  astonished  Paris- 
ians the  names  of  sixty-three  persons  ;  all  of  the 
Liberal  party,  or  attached  to  the  Liberal  party, 
I  Moniteur,  who  were  advanced  to  the  peerage.^ 
March  8, 1819;  Among  them  were  six  of  Napoleon's 
Ann.  Hist.  ii.  marshals — viz.,  the  Dukes  of  Albu- 
I3r'  nif  ^'     '^^'^^'  Cornegliano,  and  Dantzio,  the 

'       '  Prince  of  Echmuhl,  INIarshal  Jour- 

dan,  and  the  Duke  of  Treviso ;  and  man}'  names 
known  to  fame — in  particular,  Rapp,  Latour 
iMaubourg,  Reille,  Dubreton,  Maurice  Mathieu, 
Claperede,  Admiral  Tonguet,  and  several  others. 

The  victory  of  the  Liberals  was  now  complete. 
&y  the  coup  d'etat  of  September  5, 
Great  major-  1816,  they  had  revolutionized  the 
ity  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  ;  by  that  of 
Chamber  of  March  5,  1819,  they  had  overcome 
Stnisters.  ^'»«  resistance  of  the  Chamber  of 
Peers.  The  king  had  thrown  him- 
self into  their  arms ;  the  magistracy  was  filled 
with  their  adherents,  the  army  guided  by  their 
generals,  the  press  by  their  supporters.  The 
whole  powers  of  the  state  were  wielded  by  their 
adherents.  An  astonishing  revolution  !  to  have 
been  effected  in  so  short  a  time,  in  a  country  in 
which  the  tide  had  set  so  violently  the  other 
way  during  the  year  1815;  but  by  no  means 
without  a  parallel,  both  in  the  previous  and  sub- 
sequent history  of  that  volatile  and  easily  excit- 
ed people,  and  not  without  parallels  among 
their  more  sober  neighbors  on  this  side  of  the 
Channel.  Nothing  remained  for  the  Govern- 
ment to  consolidate  its  power  but  to  demon- 
strate its  ascendency  in  the  Chamber  of  Depu- 
«ies ;  and  here  the  effects  of  the  decisive  blow 
struck  in  the  Peers  at  once  appeared,  for,  on  a 
1  ;^nn_  Hist,  division  on  the  Electoral  Law  in 
ii.  82;  Moni-  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  Ministers 
teur,  Mar.  22,  -^-ere  supported  by  a  majority  of  5G 
lal'J.  _jl^g  numbers  being  150  to  91. * 

Although  not  five  years  had  elapsed  since  the 
98.  second  restoration  of  the  Bourbons, 

Great  and  yet  decisive  events,  frauirht  with 
IruIt8"^or'ihe  ^^^^  '^^'^  of  futurity,  had  during  that 
changes  al-  time  taken  place  both  in  Franco 
ready  made  in  and  England.  It  is  a  mistake  to 
France.  suppose  that  important  events  preg- 

nant with  lasting  consequences  produce  their 
elfects  in  every  instance  immediately.  This  is, 
without  doubt,  sometimes  the  case  ;  and  of  the 
reality  of  such  sudden  results  the  French  Revo- 
lution affords  ample  evidence.     But,  in  general, 

hriser  ropposition  qui  s'est  formic  dans  la  Chambre  des 
fairs.  Et  je  nc  dissimulc  pas  a  voire  Majesty  que  ce  der- 
nier parti  est  le  plus  populaire,  ct  que  dans  les  circon- 
Htances  actuellefs,  c'cst  Ic  scul  qui  puisse  ramcjier  la  calme 
dans  Ics  esprits." — Mimoire  tlu  Marqui-i  Dcsnollcs  au  Roi, 
Mars  2,  181 'J.  Capefioii-,  lliitoire  li-  la  Jirstauralion, 
•I.  J35. 


the  lasting  effects  of  the  ,,(eatest  political 
chan<Tes  are  only  developed  afier  a  considerable 
period,  and  when  they  have  had  time  to  work,  as 
it  were,  through  all  the  strata  of  society.  The 
great  political  alterations  made  in  France  during 
this  period,  the  coup  d'etat  changing  the  Elect- 
oral Law,  the  new  ordinances  for  the  regulation 
of  the  army,  the  great  democratic  creations  of 
peers,  rendered  a  revolution  inevitable,  but  inevi- 
table at  a  future  period.  The  first  fixed  the  re- 
presentation upon  a  uniform  and  democratic  basis 
of  small  proprietors  and  moderate  intelligence, 
disfranchising  practically  the  higher  education 
and  larger  properties  of  the  kingdom,  by  throw- 
ing them  into  a  minority  ;  the  second  deprived 
Government  of  the  support,  in  any  crisis  which 
might  arise,  of  a  faithful  and  intrepid  army,  and 
rendered  it  next  to  certain  that,  in  the  decisive 
moment,  it  would  side  with  the  enemies  of  the 
monarchy ;  the  third  severed  from  the  throne 
any  aid  it  might  receive  from  a  body  of  peers 
whose  interests  were  identified  with  its  preser- 
vation. In  like  manner,  the  new  monetary  sys- 
tem adopted  in  England,  in  1819,  had  rendered 
an  entire  change  of  government  and  alteration 
of  policy  inevitable  at  no  distant  period ;  for  it  had 
laid  the  foundation  of  such  a  prodigious  altera- 
tion of  prices  as  could  not  fail  to  change  the  ruling 
class  in  the  country,  and,  by  the  general  suller- 
ing  with  which  it  must  be  attended,  shake  even 
the  stability  and  loyalty  of  the  British  character. 
It  is  worthy  of  observation  how  early  the 
French  nation,  after  they  had  at- 
tained the  blessing,  had  shown  -,  ^^\ 
themselves  unfitted,  either  from  xups  d'etat  m 
character  or  circumstances,  for  the  France  since 
enjoyment  of  constitutional  govern-  J?*®  Restora- 
ment.  Only  five  years  had  elaps- 
ed since  it  was  for  the  first  time  established 
in  France  by  the  overthrow  of  Napoleon,  and 
scarcely  a  year  had  passed  which  was  not 
marked"  by  some  coup  d'etat,  or  violent  infringe- 
ment, by  the  sovereign,  of  the  constitution. 
The  restoration  of  the  Bourbons  in  1815  was 
immediately  attended  by  the  creation  of  sixty 
peers  on  the  Royalist  side,  and  the  expulsion  of 
as  many  from  the  Democratic  ;  this  was  follow- 
ed, within  four  years,  by  the  creation  of  as 
many  on  the  Liberal.  The  whole  history  of 
England  prior  to  1S32  could  only  present  one 
instance  of  a  similar  creation,  anil  that  was  of 
tiecl»e  peers  only,  in  1713,  to  carry  through  (he 
infamous  project  of  impeaching  the  Duke  of 
Marlborough.  It  was  threatened  to  bo  repeat- 
ed, indeed,  during  the  heat  of  the  Reform  con- 
test ;  but  the  wise  advice  of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton prevented  such  an  irretrievable  wound  being 
inllicted  on  the  constitution.  The  French  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies  was  fir.'^t  entirely  remodeled, 
and  133  new  members  added  to  its  numbers,  by 
a  simple  royal  ordinance  in  1815  ;  and  again 
changed — the  added  members  being  t;iken 
away,  and  the  sulfrage  established  on  a  uniforir. 
and  highly  democratic  basis — by  another  royal 
ordinance,  issued,  by  the  sole  authority  of  tiic 
king,  the  following  year.  Changes,  alternately 
on  the  one  side  or  the  other,  greater  than  were 
accomplished  in  England  by  the  whole  legisla- 
ture in  two  centuries,  were  carried  into  execu- 
tion in  France  in  the  very  outset  of  its  eonstitu- 
tional  career,  by  the  sole  authority  of  the  king, 
in  two  years. 


li-e 


HISTORY    OF    K  UK  OPE. 


I  Chap. 


What  ib  suW  more  rcmarkaWe,  and  at  first 
l,Ki  sifjlit  seems  almost  unaccountable, 

Tho  coups  every  one  of  those  violent  stretches 
iTeiai  v, ere  ii\\  of  regal  power  was  done  in  tho  in- 
lar  side  ^^^  terest,  and  to  frratify  tho  passions,  of 
the  majority  at  the  moment.  Tho 
Royalist  creation  of  peers  in  1S15,  the  Democratic 
addition  of  sixty  to  their  numbers  in  1S19,  the 
addition  of  133  members  to  the  Chamber  of  De- 
puties in  tho  first  of  these  years,  their  with- 
drawal, and  the  change  of  the  Electoral  Law  by 
the  coup  d'etat  of  September  5,  1S16,  were 
all  done  to  conciliate  the  feelinjrs,  and  in  obe- 
dience to  the  fierce  demand,  of  the  majority. 
That  these  repeated  infringements  of  the  con- 
.stitution  in  so  short  a  time,  and  in  obedience 
to  whatever  was  the  prevailing  cry  of  the  mo- 
ment, would  prove  utterly  fatal  to  the  stability 
of  the  new  institutions,  and  subversive  of  the 
growth  of  any  thing  like  real  freedom  in  the 
land,  was  indeed  certain,  and  has  been  abun- 
dantly proved  by  the  event.  But  the  remark- 
able thing  is,  that,  such  as  they  were,  and  fraught 
with  these  consequences,  they  were  all  loudly 
demanded  by  the  majority ;  and  the  power  of 
the  Crown  was  exerted  only  to  pacify  the  de- 
mands, which  in  truth  it  bad  not  the  means  of 
resisting 

A  little  reflection,  however,  will  at  once  show 
101.  how  it  happens  that,  in  periods  of 

Causes  of  this  crisis  and  violent  public  excite- 
peculiarity.  ment,  the  people  so  frequently  de- 
mand, and  the  government  concede,  what  is 
certain  in  the  end  to  prove  fatal  to  the  interests 
of  both.  It  is  that  both  are  governed  by  pres- 
ent feelings  or  convenience,  and  neither  is  ca- 
pable of  either  carrying  their  views  into  futu- 
rity, or,  if  they  could  do  so,  of  incurring  present 
risk  or  obloquy  to  avert  the  perils  with  which 
these  views  are  fraught.  Neither  can  make 
'•the  past  or  the  future  predominate  over  the 
present."     The  one  party  demand  what  appears 


at  tho  time  to  them  to  be  a  most  desirable  oh 
ject ;  the  other  concedes  what  they  are  proLablv 
reluctant  to  grant,  but  which  is  yielded  to  avoid 
tho  risk  of  present  ccjUision.  Thus  the  power 
of  the  Crown  is  exerted  to  forward  the  advance.s 
of  democracy  ;  and  the  influence  of  democrnnv 
is  directed  to  forward  changes  which,  by  de- 
stroying all  intermediate  influences,  are  in  truth 
paving  the  way  for  future  despotism.  Tranquil- 
lity  and  peace  are  generally  purchased  at  the 
moment  by  such  concessions  ;  but  this  advan- 
tage is  gained  at  the  expense  of  future  safety; 
the  danger  is  transferred  from  the  streets  to  the 
legislature — from  the  turbulence  of  mobs  to 
Acts  of  Parliament.  The  danger  in  such  a  case 
is,  not  so  much  that  the  Government  will  be 
overturned  in  a  well-concerted  urban  tumult,  as 
that,  with  the  consent  of  all  branches  of  the  le- 
gislature, and  the  cordial  support  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  people,  measures  in  the  end  de- 
structive of  the  nation,  and  subversive  of  its  lib- 
erties, will  be  adopted.  Whoever  has  attentive- 
ly considered  the  situation  of  a  country  in  which 
a  mere  numerical  majority  has  reallj^,  and  not 
in  form  merely,  acquired  the  direction,  will  see 
that  this  is  the  greatest  social  danger  which 
threatens  society;  and  as  it  arises  from  the  most 
prevailing  weakness  of  human  nature — that  of 
sacrificing  the  future  to  the  present — it  is  tho 
one  which  is  least  likely  to  be  obviated  by  any 
efforts  of  human  wisdom.  Possibly  it  is  one  of 
the  appointed  means  by  which  communities 
make  their  exit  from  the  world ;  and  as  nations, 
like  single  men,  were  not  destined  for  immor- 
tality, but  intended,  at  the  appointed  season,  to 
make  way  for  their  successoi-s  on  this  transitory 
scene,  so  it  is  by  the  growth  of  popular  pas- 
sions, which  tend  to  shorten  their  duration,  that 
the  way  is  prepared  for  their  removal  from  the 
theatre  of  existence,  and  the  gates  of  the  tomb 
opened  to  the  most  j>owerful  and  renowned  of 
human  societies. 


1814.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


107 


CHAPTER  YII. 

SPAIN   AND   ITALY    FROM   THE   PEACE    OF    1814    TO    THE   RETOLUTION    OF    1820. 


Differing  from  each  other  in  climate,  na- 
tional character,  and  descent,  there 
Analo'Tv  of  '*  ^  striking,  it  may  be  a  portentous, 
i!ie  early  resemblance  in  their  history  and  po- 
liistory  of  litical  destinies  between  Spain  and 
Ent'laiid"^    Great  Britain.      Both  were  inhab- 

°  '  ited  originally  by  a.  hardy  race,  di- 
vided into  various  tribes,  which  maintained  an 
obstinate  conflict  with  the  invaders,  and  were 
finally  subdued  only  after  nearly  a  century's 
hai'assing  warfare  with  the  Legions.  Both,  on 
the  fall  of  the  Empire,  were  overrun  by  suc- 
cessive swarms  of  barbarians,  with  whom  they 
kept  up  for  centuries  an  indomitable  warfare, 
and  from  whose  intermingled  blood  their  de- 
scendants have  now  sprung.  The  Visigoths  to 
Spain  were  what  the  Anglo-Saxons  were  to 
Britain ;  and  the  Danes  in  the  one  country 
came  in  place  of  the  Moors  in  the  other.  The 
rocks  of  Asturias  in  the  first  were  the  refuge  of 
independence,  as  the  mountains  of  Wales  and 
the  Grampian  Hills  were  in  the  last.  .  Both 
■were  trained,  in  those  long-continued  strug- 
gles, to  the  hardihood,  daring,  and  persever- 
ance requisite  for  the  accomplishment  of  great 
things  in  the  scene  of  ti'ouble.  In  both  tlie 
elements  of  freedom  were  laid  broad  and  deep 
in  this  energetic  and  intrepid  spirit;  and  it  was 
hard  for  long  to  say  which  was  destined  to  be 
the  ark  of  liberty  for  the  world.  The  ardent 
disposition  of  both  sought  a  vent  in  maritime 
adventure,  the  situation  of  both  was  eminently 
favorable  for  commercial  pursuits,  and  both  be- 
came great  naval  powers.  Both  founded  colo- 
nial empires  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  of 
surpassing  magnitude  and  splendor,  and  both 
found  for  long  in  these  colonies  the  surest  foun- 
dations of  their  prosperity,  the  most  prolific 
sources  of  their  riches.  When  the  colonies  re- 
volted from  Spain  in  1810,  the  trade,  both  ex- 
port and  import,  which  she  maintained  with 
them,  was  exactly  equal  to  that  which,  thirty 
}'ears  afterward,  England  carried  on  with  its 
colonial  dependencies.  Happy  if  the  parallels 
^hall  go  no  fartiier,  and  the  fnture  historian 
i-hall  not  have  to  point  to  the  severance  of  her 
colonies  as  the  commencement  of  ruin  to  Great 
Britain,  as  the  revolt  of  South  America,  beyond 
all  qui'stion,  has  been  to  the  Spanish  monarch v- 

Historians  have  re|)(-ated  to  siitiety  tJiat  tlie 

^  decline  of  ."^paiii,  which  has  now  con- 

The  (-olo-      tinned  witiiont  inf  erru[)tion  for  ncar- 

nies  were      ly  two  centuries,  is  to  lie  ascribed  to 

nniasource  the  drain  which  these  great  colonics 

To  Spam.''"'"''  P'""^'^"'  "P"n  •''«  strength  of  tiie  par- 
ent slate.  They  sccnKMl  to  lliink 
that  the  mother  country  is  like  a  vast  reservoir 
filled  with  vigor,  health,  and  strength,  and  that 
whatever  of  tliese  was  communicated  to  the  co- 
lonial ofTsiioots,  was  so  mucli  witlulrawn  from 
the  parent  state.  Tliere  never  was  a  more  er- 
roneous oi)inioii.  No  country  ever  yet  was 
weakened  by  colonial  dependencies;  tlieir  es- 


tablishment, like  the  swarming  of  bees,  is  an 
indication  of  overflowing  numbers  and  super- 
abundant activity  in  the  original  hive.  As 
their  departure  springs  from  past  strength,  so 
it  averts  future  weakness.  It  saves  the  state 
from  the  worst  of  all  evils — a  redundant  pop- 
ulation constantly  on  the  verge  of  sedition  from 
suffering — and  converts  those  who  would  be 
paupers  or  criminals  at  home,  into  active  and 
useful  members  of  society,  who  encourage  the 
industry  of  the  parent  state  as  much  b^^  their 
consumption  as  they  would  have  oppressed  it 
by  their  poverty. 

Every  emigrant  who  is  now  landed  on  the 
shores  of  Australia,  converts  a  pau- 
per, whose  maintenance  would  have  Co;o,Jies 
cost  Great  Britain  £14  a  year,  into  are  always 
a  consumer  who  purchases  £8  year-  a  benefit  lo 
ly  of  its  manufactures.  Rome  and  '''''  Paren' 
Athens,  so  far  from  being  weakened, 
were  immeasurably  strengthened  by  their  colo- 
nies: those  flourishing  settlements  which  sur- 
rounded the  Mediterranean  Sea  were  the  brill- 
iant girdle  which,  as  much  as  the  arms  of  the 
Legions,  contributed  to  the  strength  of  the  Em- 
pire; and  England  would  never  have  emerged 
victorious  from  her  immortal  conflict  for  Euro- 
pean freedom,  if  she  had  not  found  in  her  colo- 
nial trade  the  means  of  maintaining  the  contest, 
when  shut  out  from  the  markets  of  the  Conti- 
nental states.  If  it  were  permitted  to  follow 
fanciful  analogies  between  the  body  politic  and 
the  human  frame,  it  would  be  safer  to  say  that 
the  prolific  parent  of  many  colonies  is  like  the 
happy  mother  of  a  numerous  offspring,  who  ex- 
hibits, even  in  mature  years,  no  symj)toms  of 
decline,  and  preserves  the  freshness  and  charms 
of  youth  for  a  much  longer  period  than  she 
who  has  never  undergone  the  healthful  labors 
of  parturition. 

There  is  no  reason,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
why  colonies  should  exhaust  the  4 
mother  country;  on  the  contrary.  Support 
the  tendency  is  just  the  reverse,  which  col- 
They  take  'from  the  parent  state  ""o.^JJio 
what  it  is  an  advantage  for  it  to  ihcr  coun- 
lose,  and  give  it  what  it  is  bene-  "■>'• 
ficial  for  it  to  receive.  They  take  ofl"  its  sur- 
])lus  hands  and  m(>uths,  aiul  therebj'  lighten 
the  labor  market,  and  give  an  inq)ulse  to  the 
principle  of  jxipuiation  ;  while  tliey  provide  (he 
means  of  subsistence  for  thosc^  who  rcMuain  at 
home,  by  oj)ening  a  vast  and  rapidly  increas- 
ing market  for  its  manufactures.  A  colony  for 
long  is  always  agricultural  or  mining  only. 
Manufactures,  at  least  of  the  finer  sort,  can 
never  spring  uj)  in  it  for  a  very  long  period. 
An  old  state,  in  wliirh  manufactiircs  and  the 
arts  have  long  flonrislicd,  will  nowhcn^  find 
such  a  certain  and  growing  vent  for  its  fabrics 
as  in  its  colonial  settlements;  while  they  Avill 
never  find  so  sure  and  stead}'  a  mai-ket  for 
their  rude  produce  as  in  the  wants  of  it,3  in- 


138 


HISTORY    OF    EUROl'E. 


[CiiAr.  VIT. 


Iinliitant^  Similnrity  of  tustis  ami  Imbits  ren- 
iliMs  tho  fabrics  aiul  productions  of  tho  parent 
state  more  accoptablo  to  tlie  young  one  than 
those  of  foreign  lanils.  The  certainty  of  not 
having  theirsupplies  of  necessaries  inlerruptetl, 
is  an  inaj>precial>le  advantage  to  tlie  mother 
couutrv.  Tlieir  iileiitit y  of  interest  perpetuates 
tlic  union  which  absohite  dependence  on  one 
part  l»ad  nl  first  commenced.  Tlie  connection 
between  a  parent  slate  liberally  and  wisely 
governed,  and  its  colonies,  is  founded  on  the 
surest  of  all  foundations — a  real  reciprocity  of 
advantages;  and,  as  such,  may  long  prove  dura- 
ble to  the  great  benefit  of  both,  and  retain  the 
infant  state  in  the  bonds  of  allegiance,  after  the 
time  lias  arrived  when  it  might  aspire  to  the 
lienors  of  separate  dominion. 

To  preserve,  however,   this  connection  be- 
5.  tween  the  mother  country  and  her 

VVtiat  the  robust  colonies,  a  wise  and  liberal 
eolonia]  system  of  government  is  indispens- 
The' parent  able.  If  such  be  not  adopted,  they 
state  will,  when  they  have  attained  ma- 

sliould  be.  jority,  inevitably  break  off  on  the 
first  serious  difficulties  of  the  parent  state. 
Nothing  can  permanently  retain  them  in  their 
allegiance  but  a  real  reciprocity  of  advantages, 
and  the  practical  enjoyment  of  the  powers  of 
self-government  by  the  colonies.  The  reason 
is,  tliat  the  rule  of  the  distant  old  state,  if  unaided 
by  colonial  representation,  direct  or  indirect, 
never  can  be  founded  upon  an  adequate  know- 
ledge of  the  necessities,  or  attention  to  the  in- 
terests, of  the  youthful  settlement.  It  will 
always  be  directed  by  the  ideas,  and  calculated 
for  the  advantage  of  the  society  with  which  it 
is  surrounded — generally  the  very  reverse,  in 
the  first  instance  at  least,  of  what  the  young 
state  requires.  The  true  colonial  policy,  which 
can  alone  insure  a  lasting  connection  between 
the  mother  country  and  her  transmarine  de- 
scendants, requires  the  most  difficult  of  all  sacri- 
fices on  the  part  of  the  former — that  of  her  es- 
tablished prejudices  and  selfish  interests.  Yet 
it  is  the  sacrifice  of  her  immediate  advantages 
only;  for  never  will  the  interests  of  the  old 
state,  in  the  end,  be  so  promoted  as  by  the  most 
liberal  and  enlarged  policy  towards  its  distant 
offspring.  "What  that  policy  should  be,  has 
been  written  in  charactei's  of  fire  on  the  tablets 
of  history.  It  should  be  the  exact  reverse  of 
that  which  lost  England  North,  and  Spain, 
South  America.  It  should  be  the  government 
of  the  colonies,  not  for  the  interest  of  the  mother 
country,  but  for  the  advantage  of  themselves — 
an  administration  which  should  make  them  feel 
that  they  would  lose  rather  than  gain  by  a 
severance  of  the  connection.  Rule  the  colonies 
as  you  would  wish  them  to  rule  you,  if  the  seat 
of  government  were  in  the  colony,  and  you 
were  the  distant  settlement,  and  it  will  be  long 
indeed  before  they  will  desire  to  become  inde- 
pendent. This  is,  perhaps,  the  last  lesson  of 
wisdom  which  will  be  learned  by  the  rulers  of 
mankind  ;  yet  is  it  the  very  first  precept  of  the 
religion  which  they  all  profess;  and  the  whole 
secret  of  colonial,  as  indeed  of  all  other  govern- 
ments, is  to  do  to  others  as  we  would  they 
should  do  unto  us. 

There  is  no  idea  more  erroneous  than  that 
which  is  entertained  by  manj'  in  this  country, 
that  it  is  for  the  interest  of  the  old  state  to  sever 


the  connection  with  tho  colonies  when  they 
have  arrived  at  a  certain  degree  of  g 
strength;  because  by  so  doing,  as  it  Inevitable 
is  said,  you  retain  the  advantages  of  '"ss  to  the 
mercaniile  intercourse,  and  get  quit  siate"rrom 
of  the  burden  of  providing  for  defense,  the  separa- 
Expcrience  has  proved  that  this  opin-  tion  of  the 
ion  is  of  all  others  the  most  fallacious;  '"'o'l'^s- 
because  the  very  first  thing  which  a  colony 
docs  when  it  becomes  independent,  is  to  levy 
heavy  ini|iort  duties  on  the  manufactures  of  the 
mother  country,  in  order  to  encourage  its  own, 
and  thus  the  benefit  of  its  vising  market  is  at 
first  abridged,  and  at  length  lost  to  the  parent 
state.  The  United  States  of  America,  accord- 
ingly, have  imposed  an  import  duty  of  30  per 
cent,  on  all  imports  whatever;  and  the  conse- 
quence is,  that  our  average  exports  to  them  are 
not  now  so  great  as  thc}^  were  forty  years  ago, 
when  their  inhabitants  were  little  more  than  a 
fourth  of  what  they  now  are;  and  while  our 
colonies  consume,  some  £2  10s.,  some  £2,  some 
£6  or  £8  a  head  of  our  manufactures,  our  eman- 
cipated  offspring  in  North  America  do  not,  on 
an  average  of  3'ears,  consume  125.  worth.*  To 
the  shipping  of  the  parent  state  the  change  is 
still  more  disastrous,  for,  instead  of  being  all  on 
the  side  of  one  country,  it  becomes  divided  into 
two,  of  which  the  younger  rapidl}"  grows  on  its 
older  rival.  Witness  the  British  trade  to  her 
North  American  colonies,  with  2,600,000  of 
inhabitants,  which  employs  1,200,000  tons  of 
British  shipping;  while  that  with  the  United 
States,  with  their  24,000,000,  employs  only 
1,400,000.  the  remainder,  about  double  that 
amount,  having  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Americans  theniselves.f  And  while  Spain,  while 
she  possessed  her  colonies,'  carried  ,  g^g  ^^f^ 
on  a  traffic  with  them  equal  to  what  c.  iv.  ^  lO'l 
England  has  since  attained  with  her  where  the 
settlements  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  ^^^^^^  "« 
and  fleets  capable  for  long  of  main-  Hmnboldt'e 
taining  an  equal  conflict  with  the  Nouvelle 
mistress  of  the  seas,  since  she  lost  them  E^pagne. 
her  foreign  trade  has  sunk  to  nothing,  and  her 
fleet,  the  successor  of  the  invincible  Armada,  has 


*  Exports  from  Great  Britain  in  1S51  to 

PopuIaUo».      ^-^7^' 

Australia i:2,807,356         500,000  £5  16 

British  NorthAmer..     3,813,707      2,600,000  1  10 

West  Indies 2,201.032         970,000  2  10 

South  Africa 752,000         450,000  115 

United  States  of  Amer.  14,362,000    24,000,000  0  12 
— Parliameiitary  Paper,  Nov.  29,  1852. 

t  Shipping  of  Great  Britain  with 

British  Tons.     Population.       For.  Tons. 
Brit.  N.  Amer.— 1849..   1,280,000      2,400,000  — 

United  States,       "    .  .   1,482,707    23,000,000      2,658,326 
— Porter's  Progress  of  the  Action,  1851,  p.  392. 

The  p-eat  amount  of  the  British  tonnage  to  the  United 
States  of  late  years  has  been  mainly  owing  to  the  pro- 
digious emigration— on  an  average,  250,000  souls— from 
Great  Britain  to  that  country.  Before  this  began,  oiur 
tonnage  with  America  stood  thus  : 


British  to 

British  to 

Ameriea 

Exports  to 

Eiports  to 

U.  States. 

N.Am.  Col. 

Tons. 

U.  States. 

Canada. 

£.              £. 

1842 

152,833 

541,451 

319,524    3,528,807    2,333,525 

1843 

200,781 

771,905 

396.189    5.013.510    1,751,211 

1844 

206,183 

789,410 

338.781    7,938,079  |  3,070.861 

1845 

223,676 

1,090,224 

444,442    7,142,839  ,  3,555,950 

— PoRTER'.s  Pari.  Tables,  vi  43  ;  vii.  43  ;  iii.  50,  52,  518 
—years  1839,  1640,  1641. 


ISi-j.]  HISTORY    0 

(l.vii'.JIc'd  to  two  ships  of  the  line  and  three 
iVigates.* 

Although  the  prosperity  of  the  Spanish  colo- 
nies had  become  such  tliat  they  con- 
Tvrannical  taiued,  when  the  Revolution  severed 
rule  of  old  them  fromoldSpain,  nineteenmillions 
Spain  over  of  inhabitants,  and  carried  on  an  ex- 
hcr  colo-  portaud  import  trade  with  it  of  above 
£16,000,000  sterling  in  all,  yet  this 
had  arisen  chiefly  from  the  bounty  of  nature 
and  the  resources  of  wealth  which  they  them- 
selves enjoyed,  and  in  no  degree  from  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  parent  state.  Its  administra- 
toiu  had  been  illiberal,  selfish,  and  oppressive 
in  the  verj'  highest  degree.  It  was  founded 
mainly  on  three  bases — 1.  The  establishment 
of  the  Romish  faith  in  its  most  bigoted  form, 
and  the  absolute  exclusion  and  refusal  even  of 
toleration  to  every  other  species  of  worship; 
2.  The  exclusive  enjoyment  of  all  offices  of ' 
trust  and  emolument  in  the  colonies,  and  espe- 
cially the  working  and  direction  of  the  mines 
of  gold  and  silver,  by  persons  aiipointed  by 
the  Spanish  government  at  Madrid ;  3.  The 
entire  monopoly  of  the  whole  trade  with  the 
colonies  to  the  merchants  and  shipping  of  the 
mother  countr}',  especially  those  of  Cadiz  and 
Corunna,  whom  its  immense  profits  had  long 
elevated  to  the  rank  of  merchant  princes.  Here 
the  radical  selfishness  and  shortsighted  views 
of  human  nature  appeared  in  their  full  deform- 
ity ;  and  accordingly,  as  these  were  the  evils 
which  depressed  the  energies  and  cramped  the 
efforts  of  the  colonies,  the  prevailing  feeling 
which  produced  the  revolution,  and  the  war- 
cry  which  animated  its  supporters,  were  for  the 
opposite  eet  of  immunities.  Liberation  fi'om 
Itomish  tyranny,  self-government,  and  free  trade 
Avith  all  the  world,  were  inscribed  on  the  ban- 
ners of  Bolivar  and  San  Martin,  and  in  the  end 
proved  victorious  in  the  conflict.  Happy  if 
they  had  known  to  improve  their  victory  by 
moderation,  and  exercise  the  powers  it  had 
won  with  judgment,  and  if  the  liberated  states 
had  not  fallen  under  a  succession  of  tyrants  of 
their  own  creation,  so  numerous  that  history 
lias  not  attempted  to  record  their  succession, 
and  so  savage  that  it  recoils  from  the  portrait 
of  their  deeds. 

Although,  too,  the  trade  which  Spain  carried 
g.  oil  with  her  colonies  was  so  immense 

The  trade  anterior  to  the  revolution  in  Spanish 
of  Spain  America,  yet  we  should  widely  err  if 
with  lor-  ^'''^  imagined  that  it  consisted  of  the 
cigii  manu-  manufactures  raised  or  worked  uj)  in 
lactures.  Spain  itself;  on  the  contrary,  it  con- 
sisted almost  entirely  of  the  manufactured  arti- 
cles produced  in  Holland,  Flanders,  (iermany, 
and  England,  brougiit  l>y  their  merchants  to 
the  vast  wareiiouses  of  Cadiz  and  Corunna, 
and  transported  thence  beyond  the  Atlantic. 
The  goveriiinent  of  Madrid  was  entirely  swayed 
in  these  matters  by  the  merchants  of  these  great 

*  hnports  and  exports  of  Spain  to  her  coloiiieB  in  1809  : 

Exports 59,200,000  piastres,  orn5,200,000 

Imports 68,500,000  pia.stres,  or  XlT, 150,000 

— IlUMnoLDT,  NouvcUc  Espagne,  Iv.  153,  154.     See  also 
ante,  c.  iv.  107,  where  the  details  are  Riven. 
Exports  of  Great  liritaiii  lo  Ikt  whole  colonies  in 

1817 XH.'Jl'J.OOO     I        1H50 £18,517,000 

1848 IS.KiH.oOO  1851 19,'1UG,UU0 

1849 1j,0'JU,UOO     I 

— Pari.  Returns  of  these  years. 


F    EUROPE. 


199 


seaport  towns ;  and  their  interest  was  wound  up 
with  the  preservation  of  the  monopoly  of  the 
trade,  and  by  no  means  extended  to  the  produc- 
tion of  the  manufactures.  On  the  contrary,  they 
were  rather  interested  in  keeping  up  the  pur- 
chase of  the  articles  which  the  colonies  required 
from  foreign  states,  for  they  enjoyed  in  that  way 
in  some  degree  a  double  transit,  first  from  tiie 
seat  of  the  manufactures  in  Britain  or  Belgium 
to  Cadiz  and  Corunna,  and  again  from  thenco 
to  the  American  shores.  Spain,  notwithstand- 
ing the  efforts  of  the  Government  to  encourage 
them,  had  never  possessed  any  considerable 
manufactures;  and  even  if  the  merchants  en- 
gaged in  the  colonial  trade  had  wished  it,  they 
could  not  have  found  in  their  own  country  the 
articles  of  which  their  colonies  stood  in  need. 
Thus  the  traffic  with  those  colonies,  great  as  it 
was,  did  little  to  enrich  the  country  in  general. 
It  created  colossal  fortunes  in  the  merchants 
of  Cadiz  and  Corunna,  of  the  Havana  or  Buenos 
Ayres,  but  nothing  more — like  the  railway 
traffic  from  London  to  Liverpool  and  Manches- 
ter, which  does  much  for  the  wealth  of  these 
great  towns  at  either  end  of  the  line,  but  com- 
paratively little  for  the  intermediate  country 
along  the  sides  of  the  communication  between 
them.  The  causes  of  this  peculiarity  are  to  be 
found  in  the  peculiarities  of  its  phj-sical  circum- 
stances, national  character,  and  long-established 
policy,  which  have  deprived  old  Spain  of  nearly 
all  the  advantages  of  her  magnificent  colonies, 
and  afl'ord  the  true,  though  hitherto  unobserved, 
key  to  her  long  decline. 

1.  The  first  of  these  is  to  be  found  in  the 
national  character  and  temperament,         g 
the  real  source  from  which,  here  as  Wantofin- 
every  where  else,  more  even  than  its  dustry  in 
physical  or  political  circumstances,  '•I'i  "atlonal 
?,   *V     ,  1   1     i-        1  n  1    character, 

its  fortunes  and  destiny  have  flowed. 

The  races  whose  mingled  blood  have  formed 
the  heterogeneous  population  of  old  Spain, 
have  none  of  them,  excepting  the  Moors,  been 
remarkable  for  their  industrial  habits.  Tena- 
cious of  custom,  persevering  in  inclination,  re- 
pugnant to  change,  the  original  inhabitants  of 
the  countiy,  with  whom  the  Legions  maintained 
so  long  and  doubtful  a  conflict,  were,  like  all 
the  otiier  families  of  the  Celtic  race,  formidable 
enemies,  indomitaljle  guerrillas,  but  by  no  means 
either  laborious  husbandmen  or  industrious 
artisans.  The  Visigoths,  who  poured  through 
the  passes  of  the  I'yrenees,  and  overspread  the 
country  to  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  added  no- 
thing to  their  industrious  habits,  but  mucli  to 
their  warlike  f)ropensities:  from  them  sprang 
Pelayo  and  the  gallant  defenders  of  tiie  Astu- 
rian  hills,  but  not  either  the  cultivators  of  the 
fields  or  the  manufacturers  uf  the  towns;  from 
tliem  sprang  Pizarro  and  Cortes,  and  the  con- 
querors of  the  IV  ew  World,  but  neither  a  Penii 
or  a  Franklin,  nor  tlie  hai-dy  pioneers  of  civil- 
ization in  its  wastes.  The  Moors  alone,  who  at 
one  time  had  nearl3- wri-sted  all  Spain  from  the 
Christians,' and  established  themselves  for  a 
very  long  period  uw  the  banks  of  the  Cuadal- 
quivir,  were  animated  by  the  real  spirit  of  in- 
dustry, and  great  was  the  weallh  and  j)rosperily 
of  their  i)rovinces  to  the  south  of  the  Sierra 
Morena.  But  religious  bigotiy  tore  up  from 
the  state  this  source  of  wealth  ;  and  the  ijanisL- 
meat,  three  hundred   years  ago,  of  nearly  a 


100 


II  I  STORY    or   EL' HOPE. 


ClIAl'.  VII. 


million  of  its  most  imliistrioiis  and  oi\lorly 
»iiizon#.  di'privoil  Spain — as  a  similar  niensiii-f, 
ut  a  lalLT  juriod,  did  Franco — of  tlie  most  use- 
ful and  valuable  portion  of  its  iidiaKitants,  and 
witii  llu'in  of  tlie  most  important  advantages 
hlu>  could  have  derived  from  her  colonial  settle- 
ments. 

2.  The  physical  circumstances  and  pccnliari- 
!(,  ties   of  Spain,    and    the    pursuits  to 

Tti-'  pliysi-  which  its  inhabitants  were  for  the 
t.ii  i-irciiin-  most  part  of  necessitj'  driven,  were 
stuiu-es  oi  g,,^^.|,  ijj.  fjivored  nautical  and  com- 
vorvd  com-  Hit  reial,  as  much  as  they  obstructed 
im-rce,  l)ut  manufacturing  pursuits.  Placed  mid- 
not  niaiiu-  y^-^y  between  the  Old  and  the  Kew 
laciurcs.  ^vorld,  with  one  front  washed  by  the 
waves  of  the  Atlantic,  and  another  by  the  rip- 
]>le  of  the  ilcditerranean,  with  noble  and  de- 
fensible harbors  forming  the  access  to  both,  she 
t-njoyed  the  greatest  ]>ossible  advantages  for 
foreign  commerce;  and  accordingly,  even  in 
tiie  da3's  of  Solomon,  the  merchants  of  Tarshish 
rivaled  those  of  Tyre  in  conducting  the  traffic 
of  the  then  known  world.  But  she  had  little 
natural  advantages  for  interior  traffic  or  manu- 
factures. The  mountainous  nature  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  country  rendered  internal  inter- 
eoui-se  difficult;  the  entire  want  of  roads,  save 
the  great  chaussees  from  Madrid  to  Bayonne, 
t'adiz,  Barcelona,  Badajos,  and  Valencia,  made 
it  hnpossible.  What  little  traffic  there  was  off 
these  roads,  was  all  carried  on  on  the  backs  of 
mules.  Having  little  or  no  coal,  and  few  of  the 
forests  which  in  France  supply  in  some  degree 
its  want,  she  had  none  of  the  advantages  for 
manufacturing  industry  which  that  invaluable 
mineral  has  furnished  to  northern  Europe,  en- 
abling the  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain  to  reap 
the  whole  advantages  of  their  own  colonies,  and 
great  part  of  those  of  Spain,  by  supplying  the 
former  directlj-,  and  thelatter  by  the  merchants 
of  Cadiz  and  L'orunna,  or  the  contraband  trade 
in  the  West  Indies,  with  the  greater  part  of  the 
manufactured  articles  which  they  required, 
llcnce  it  was  that  the  Spanish  merchants  sought 
the  materials  of  their  traffic  in  Belgium  or  Lan- 
cashire, and  that  the  manufacturers  of  Flanders 
and  England,  not  Spain,  reaped  the  principal 
advantages  arising  from  the  growth  of  its  colo- 
nial dominion. 

3.  If  the   physical   circumstances   of  Spain 
11.         were  such  as  almost  to  preclude  the 

possibility  of  manufacturing  industry 
arising  among  its  inhabitants,  its  his- 
tory had  still  more  clearly  marked 
their  character  and  occupations. 
Their  annals  for  five  centuries   are 


Entct  of 
itie  long- 
continued 
liostility 
witd  the 
Moors. 


nothing  but  a  continual  conflict  with  the  Moors. 
These  ruthless  invaders,  as  formidable  and  de- 
vastating in  war  as  thej'  were  industrious  and 
orderly  in  peace,  spread  gradually  from  the 
rock  of  Gibraltar  to  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees. 
They  were  at  last  expelled,  but  it  Avas  only 
after  five  hundred  years  of  almost  incessant 
combats.  The^e  combats  were  not,  for  a  verj' 
long  period,  the  battles  of  great  armies  against 
each  other,  but  the  ceaseless  conflicts  of  small 
forces  or  guerrilla  bands,  among  whom  success 
and  defeat  alternated,  and  to  whom  at  length 
the  predominance  was  given  to  Sf)ain  only  by 
the  perseverance  and  energy  of  the  Spanish 
character.     It  was  the  wars  of  the  Ueptareliy 


or  of  the  Anglo  Saxons  with  the  Danes,  con- 
tinued, Jiot  till  the  reign  of  Alfred,  but  to  that 
of  Henry  VII.  Incalculable  was  the  effect  of 
this  long-continued  and  absorbing  hostility  upon 
the  bent  and  disposition  of  the  Spanish  nund. 
As  much  as  eight  centuries  of  unbroken  peace, 
during  which  the  southern  counties  of  England 
have  never  seen  the  fires  of  an  enemy's  camp, 
have  formed  the  English,  have  the  five  centu- 
ries of  Moorish  warfare  stamped  their  impress 
on  the  Spanish  character.  Engrossing  everj' 
thought,  animating  every  desire,  directing 
every  passion  in  the  country ;  uniting  the 
fervor  of  the  Crusader  to  the  ardor  of  chivalry, 
the  glow  of  patriotism  to  the  thirst  for  con- 
quest; penetrating  every  valle}',  ascending 
every  mountain  in  the  Peninsula,  they  have 
stamped  a  durable  and  indelible  character  on 
the  Spanish  nation.  They  made  it  a  race  of 
shepherds  and  warriors,  but  not  of  husbandmen 
and  artisans.  In  the  Cid  we  ma}'  discern  the 
perfection  of  this  character,  when  it  was  di- 
rected to  the  highest  objects  and  refined  by 
the  most  generous  sentiments;  in  the  indolent 
hidalgo,  who  spent  his  life  in  lounging  under 
the  arcades  of  baragossa  or  in  the  cofi'ee-houses 
of  Madrid,  the  opposite  extreme,  when  it  had 
become  debased  b}'  the  inactivity  and  degraded 
by  the  selfishness  of  pacific  life. 

4.  These  circumstances  would  have  render- 
ed it  a  very  difficult  matter,  if  not  an  12. 
irapossibilit}-,  for  the  manufacturers  of  Impolitic 
Spain,  had  any  such  sprung  up,  to  spafn^f^ 
have  maintained  their  ground  against  regard  to 
those  of  northern  Europe,  even  in  the  nioney. 
supj)ly  of  their  own  colonies.  But,  in  addition 
to  this,  there  was  a  very  curious  and  decisive 
circumstance,  which  must  at  once  have  proved 
fatal  to  the  manufacturers  of  vSpain,  even  if  they 
had  begun  to  arise.  This  was  the  possession  of 
the  mines  of  Mexico  and  Potosi  b}'  the  Govern- 
ment, and  the  policy,  in  regard  to  the  pi'ccious 
metals,  pursued  with  determined  perseverance 
by  the  cabinet  of  Madrid.  This  was  the  policy 
of  favoring  the  importation  and  prohibiting  the 
exportation  of  the  precious  metals,  in  the  belief 
that  it  was  the  only  way  to  keep  their  wealth 
to  themselves.  The  effect  of  this  policy  is  thus 
described  by  the  father  of  political  economj^ : 
"  That  degradation  in  the  value  of  gold  or  silver, 
which  is  the  effect  of  the  increased  fertilit}-  of 
the  mines  which  produce  those  metals,  or  the 
discovery  of  new  ones,  operates  equall}',  or 
nearly  so,  over  the  whole  commercial  world ; 
but  that  which,  being  the  effect  either  of  the 
peculiar  situation  or  political  institutions  of  a 
p»articular  country,  takes  place  onl^  in  that 
country,  is  a  matter  of  very  great  consequence, 
which,  far  from  tending  to  make  an}'  body 
really  richer,  tends  to  make  every  body  really 
poorer.  The  rise  in  the  money-price  of  all 
commodities,  which  is  in  this  case  peculiar  to 
that  eountrj-,  tends  to  discourage,  more  or  less, 
ever}-  sort  of  industry  which  is  carried  on  with- 
in it,  and  to  enable  foreign  nations,  by  furnish- 
ing almost  all  sorts  of  goods  for  a  smaller 
quantity  of  silver  than  its  workmen  can  afford 
to  do,  to  undersell  them  not  only  in  the  foreign, 
but  even  in  the  home  market.  Spain  by  taxing, 
and  Portugal  by  proliibitir.g,  the  exjjortation 
of  gold  and  silver,  load  that  cxpoilatioa  wilh 
the  price  of  smuggling,  and  raise  the  value  of 


1814.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


20: 


those  metals  in  those  countries  much  above 
wliat  it  is  in  otlier  countries.  The  cheapness 
of  gold  and  silver,  or,  what  is  the  same  tiling, 
the  dearness  of  all  commodities,  discourages 
both  the  agriculture  and  manufactures  of  Spain 
and  Portugal,  and  enables  foreign   nations   to 


in  the  seclusion  of  the  country,  an<I  h.ariug  no- 
thing to  gain  by  political  change,  v/ere  enthu- 
siastically attached  to  the  throne,  and  devotedly 
submissive  to  the  mandates  of  the  clergy.  Ir 
the  Basque  Provinces  alone,  where  import.^ii* 
political  privileges  had  from  time  immeniori.^* 


supply  them  with  many  sorts  of  rude,  and  with    been  enjoyed  by  the  peasantry,  their  loyal  feel 


luiost  all  sorts  of  manufactured  produce,  for  a 
'Wealth of  smaller  quantity  of  gold  and  silver 
Nations,  b.  than  they  themselves  can  either  raise 
iv.  c.  5.        Qj.  make  them  for  at  home."  ' 

5.  The  religion  which  obtains  a  lasting  place 
,-  in  a  country  is  often  to  be  regarded 

Important  as  an  etlect  rather  than  a  cause.  It 
ett'ect  of  the  is  the  consequence  of  a  predisposition 
rtornish  jj^  ^.jj^  general  mind  which  leads  to 
the  embracing  of  doctrines  or  forms 
which  fall  in  with  its  propensities.  We  are  apt 
to  say  that  the  Scotch  are  energetic  and  perse- 
vering because  they  are  Protestants,  tlio  Irish 
volatile  and  indolent  because  t.hey  are  Roman 
C'atholic  ;  forgetting  that  the  adoption  of  these 
different  creeds  by  these  different  nations  was 
with  both  a  voluntary  act,  and  that  it  bespoke 
rather  than  created  the  national  character. 
Had  the  English  been  of  the  turn  of  mind  of  the 
Spaniards,  tliey  never  would  have  become  Prot- 
estants ;  had  the  Spaniards  been  of  the  English, 
they  never  would  have  remained  Catholic.  But 
admitting  that  it  is  in  the  distinctive  character 
of  Race  that  we  are  to  look  for  the  remote  cause 
of  the  peculiar  modification  of  faith  which  is  to 
be  durably  prevalent  in  a  nation,  it  is  not  the 
less  certain  that  the  reaction  which  it  exerts 
upon  its  character  and  destiny  is  great  and  last- 
ing. The  fires  of  the  Inquisition  were  not  fed 
with  human  victims  for  three  centuries  in  Spain, 
■without  producing  durable  and  indelible  effects 
upon  the  national  character  and  destiny.  In- 
dependence of  mind,  vigor  of  thought,  emanci- 
pation from  superstition,  were  impossible  in  a 
people  thus  shackled  in  opinion ;  adherence  to 
the  faith  which  imposed  the  shackles  was  not 
to  be  expected  among  tiie  educated  few,  who 
had  emerged  from  its  restraints.  Thus  the 
Spanish  nation,  like  evei'y  other  old  state  in 
which  the  Romish  faith  is  established,  was  di- 
vided in  matters  of  religion  into  two  classes, 
widely  different  in  point  of  numbers,  but  more 
nearly  balanced  in  point  of  political  influence 
and  power.  On  the  one  side  were  a  few  hun- 
dred thousand  citizens  in  Madrid,  Cadiz,  Co- 
ninna,  and  Barcelona,  rich,  comparatively  edu- 
cated, free-thinking,  and  engaged  in  the  pursuit 
of  pleasure;  on  the  other,  twelve  millions  of 
peasants  in  the  country,  har<lv,  intrepid,  and  ab- 
Btcmious,  indifferent  to  political  [)rivileges,  but 
devotedly  attached  to  the  faitii  of  their  fatliers, 
and  blindly  following  tiie  injunctions  of  their 
priests,  and  the  mandates  of  the  See  of  Rome. 

6.  From   these   circumstances   arose   an    im- 
j4  portant  difference  between  the  views 

DiflTorciice    of  the  citizens  of  the  towns  and  tiie 

of  the  iniiabitantsof  the  country  in  political 

towns  and  ♦1.,,,    i,t  1     1     •  Vn     '  i- 

country  in  t.liouglit  and  desires.  llie  former, 
respect  of  placed  within  reacii  of  jiolitical  ad- 
poijtical  vancement,  were  animated,  for  the 
opinion.  rnost  part,  by  an  ardent  desire  for 
freedom,  and  an  emancipation  from  the  fetters 
on  thought  and  expression,  wiiich  iiad  so  long 
been  imposed  by  tiie  tyranny  of  the  ])riest,s  and 
the  lx)rtures  of  the  Inquisition ;  the  latter,  living 


ngs  were  mingled,  as  in  England,  with  attacli 
mcnt  to  their  constitutional  rights;  in  the  otlui 
provinces  of  Spain,  they  were  founded  on  tluil 
entire  abandonment.  "  V^iva  el  Rey  apostolico ! ' 
was  tiie  cry  whicli  expressed  at  once  their  feel' 
ings  and  their  wishes.  From  the  small  num- 
ber of  considerable  towns  in  the  Peninsula,  the 
largest  of  which  had  not  two  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants,  while  the  generality  had  not  more 
than  thirty  or  forty  thousand,  the  democratic 
section  of  the  community  was  not  a  twentieth 
part  of  the  immense  mass  of  the  rural  popula- 
tion. But  from  their  position  in  the  great  towns 
and  fortresses  of  the  kingdom,  and  their  being 
in  possession  of  nearly  tlie  whole  of  its  availa- 
ble wealth  and  energetic  talent,  they  had  great 
advantages  in  the  event  of  a  serious  conflict 
arising ;  and  it  was  hard  to  saj",  in  the  event' of 
civil  war,  to  which  side  victory  would  incline. 

7.  The  apparent  inequality  of  parties,  from  the 
immense  preponderance  of  numbers  15. 

on  the  country  side,  was  more  than  Disposition 
compensated  by  the  temper  and  feel-  °'  "'"^  army, 
ings  of  the  Army.  This  body,  formidable  and  im- 
portant in  all  countries,  was  more  especially  so 
from  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  Spain,  which 
had  just  emerged,  on  the  accession  of  Ferdinand, 
from  a  desperate  war  of  six  j'cars'  duration,  in 
the  course  of  which  nearly  all  the  active  energy 
of  the  country  had  been  enrolled  in  the  ranks 
of  war,  and  the  troops  had  at  last,  under  tlio 
guidance  of  Wellington,  acquired  a  tolerable 
degree  of  consistency.  These  men,  and  still 
more  their  ofiicers,  were  for  tlie  most  part  dem- 
ocratic. During  the  long  contest  in  the  prov- 
inces, the  generals  had  enjoyed  nearly  unlimited 
power  in  tiieir  separate  commands,  and  they  did 
not  relish  the  thouglit  of  returning  from  tlie 
rank  of  independent  j)rinces  to  subordinate  com- 
mand. All  of  them  had  been  brouglit  in  con- 
tact with  the  English,  numbers  of  them,  in  a 
friendly  way  as  prisoners,  with  the  French 
troops;  and  from  botli  tiiey  had  itnbibod  the 
free  spirit  and  independent  tlioiights  by  whicli 
both  were  characterized,  (ircat,  indeed,  v.as 
the  contrast  between  their  extensive  informa- 
tion and  general  knowledge  of  the  world,  and 
tiie  narrow  ideas  of  tiie  spiiitual  militia  wiio 
iiad  liiliierto  been  tlieir  sole  instructors.  The 
contrast  was  rendered  tlie  more  striking,  from 
tiie  l)riiliant  career  which  iiad  attended  at  first 
tlie  arms  of  France,  then  those  of  England,  when 
compared  with  the  almost  uniform  defeats 
wideii  their  own  had  sustained.  Hence  the 
armies  of  Spain,  as  indeed  those  of  all  the  Con- 
tinental motiiirchies,  retired  from  tiic  conflict 
deeply  imbued  with  democratic  princijiles  ;  and 
the  ofiicers,  especially,  were  generally  mqiressed 
with  tiie  belief  tiiat  nothing  but  tlie  establish- 
ment of  tiiese  was  wanting  to  open  a  iKiundless 
career  of  j)rospcrity  to  their  country,  of  promo- 
tion and  el(!V!ition  to  themselves. 

8.  But  if  the  army  was  an  important,  it  might 
be  a  decisive  ally  to  tlie  democratic  in. 
j)arty  in  the  towns,  the  royalists  in  TheChurcli 


£03 


11  ISTOllY    UF    KU  ROPE. 


[Chap.  VII. 


the  country  \u\d  a  force  for  thoir  support  oqunlly 
minuToii-s  o<iimlly  /.onions,  niul  sUll  botter  dis- 
cipliiu'il  luiil  ilooilc  to  tlioir  cliiofs.  Tlie  Ciiiucii 
was  iiiianiiuous  in  favor  of  the  crown,  and  the 
ostabli.-ihinont  of  arbitrary  power:  an  unerring 
instinct  loKl  thcni  that"  tVeedoin  of  thought 
would  inevitably  load  to  freedom  of  action,  and 
the  termination  "of  thoir  long-established  domin- 
ion. Thoir  nundiers  were  inimenso,  their  pos- 
sessions extensive.  A  hundred  thousand  jiriosts, 
doomed  to  celibacy  in  a  country  sulforing  under 
the  want  of  hands,  and  capable  of  maintaining, 
with  ease  and  comfort,  at  least  double  its  num- 
ber of  inhabitants,  were  ditfused  over  its  whole 
extent,  and  in  all  the  rural  districts,  at  least, 
exercised  an  unlimited  sway  over  the  minds  of 
their  flocks.  Essentially  obedient  to  the  voice 
of  their  spiritual  chiefs,  which  was  every  where 
governed  by  the  commands  issuing  from  the 
conclave  of  "the  Vatican,  the  eflorts  of  this  im- 
mense body  of  spiritual  militia  were  entirely 
devoted  to  one  object — the  re-establishment  of 
despotic  power,  in  its  most  unmitigated  form, 
over  the  whole  Peninsula.  The  policy  of  the 
coiirt  of  Rome  was  directed  to  this  object  in 
Spain  and  Portugal,  from  the  same  motive  which 
led  it  to  support  the  democratic  propensities  of 
the  Romish  Church  in  Ireland.  In  both  cases, 
regardless  of  the  real  welfare  of  the  people  of 
their  persuasion,  they  were  governed  by  one 
motive — the  furtherance  of  the  power  and  ex- 
tension of  the  influence  of  their  own  establish- 
ment In  the  Pcninsida,  this  was  to  be  done 
by  aiding  despotic  power  against  democratic 
infidelity  ;  in  the  British  Islands,  by  supporting 
democratic  ambition  against  heretical  power. 
But  when  the  vast  influence  and  wide-spread 
possessions  of  the  clergj-  are  taken  into  consid- 
eration, and  the  absolute  direction  which  they 
had  of  the  minds  and  opinions  of  their  followers 
in  all  the  rural  districts  and  many  of  the  towns, 
it  was  a  most  formidable  enemy  with  which  the 
republicans  had  to  contend,  and  it  was  doubtful 
whether,  in  a  protracted  struggle,  victory  might 
not  incline  to  the  side  which  it  espoused. 

9.  This  influence  and  importance,  in  a  polit- 
1".  ical  point  of  view,  of  the  clergy,  was 
State ofthe  the  more  important,  from,  generally 
peasantry,  ppg^j^j^g^  tl^g  comfortable  and  pros- 
perous condition  of  the  peasantry',  and  their 
entire  submission  to  the  voice  of  their  pastors. 
If  the  clergy  were  a  zealous  and  admirably 
trained  phalanx  of  officers  for  the  church  mili- 
tant, the  peasantry  composed  an  incomparable 
body  of  private  soldiers.  Sober,  abstemious, 
regular,  and  yet  ardent  and  capable  of  great 
things,  the  Spanish  peasant  is  the  one  in  Europe, 
with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  the  Polish,  who 
most  readily  forms  a  good  soldier,  and  is  most 
easily  induced  to  undertake  his  duties.  The 
five  centuries  of  incessant  warfare,  with  the 
Moors  had  nurtured  this  tendency ;  the  be- 
nignity of  the  climate,  and  absence  of  artificial 
wants  among  the  peasantry,  have  rendered  it 
easy  of  retention.  The  Castilian  or  Catalonian 
loses  little  by  leaving  his  home  and  joining  a 
guerrilla  band  in  the  mountains ;  his  fare  remains 
the  same,  his  habits  are  little  diff"erent,  the 
Bphere  of  his  achievements  is  much  extended. 
The  roving  adventurous  life  of  partisan  warfare, 
with  its  hairbreadth  escapes  and  occasional  tri- 
umphs, suits  his  taste  and  rouses  his  ambition. 


Unlike  the  pea.sant  of  Northern  r.uroj)e,  the 
Spanish  cultivator  is  never  worn  down  by  the 
labors,  or  depressed  by  the   limited  ideas,  of 
daily  toil,      lilessed  M'ilh  a  benignant  climate, 
tilling  a  fruitful  soil,  or  wandering  over  vast 
downs  after  inunonse  flocks,  he  can  satisfy  his 
few  wants  with  a  comjiaratively  small  amount 
of  actual  labor.     The  greater  part  of  his  life  is 
spent  in  doing  nothing,  or  in  such  exercises  as 
nourish  rather  than  depress  his  warlike  disposi- 
tion.     "The  Spaniards,"  says  Chateaubriand, 
"are  Christian  Arabs:   they  imite  the  savage 
and  the  religious  character.    The  mingled  blood 
ofthe  Cantabrian,  the  Carthaginian,  the  Roman, 
the  ^'andal,  and  the  Moor,  which  flows  iu  their 
veins,  flows  not  as  other  blood.     They  are  at 
once   active,  indolent,   and   grave."      "  Every 
grave  nation,"  says  Montesquieu,  in  discoursing 
of  them,  "is  indolent;    for  those  who  do  not 
labor  consider  themselves  as  masters  of  those 
who  do.     In  that  country  liberty  is  injured  by 
independence.     Of  wdiat  value  are  civil  priv- 
ileges to  a  man  who,  like  the  Bedouin,  armed 
with  a  lance  and  followed  by  his  sheep,  has  no 
need  of  food  bej'ond  a  few  acorn,  figs,  or  olives  V 
The  dolce  far  nicnte  is  as  dear  to  the  Spaniard 
as  to  the  iidiabitantsof  the  Ausonian  fields;  but 
the  precious  hours  of  i  est  are  not  .'pent  in  list- 
less inactivity:  thej'  are  cheered  by  the  recital 
of  the  ballads,  or  the  recounting  of  the  stories 
which  recall  the  glories,  the  dangers,  the  ad- 
ventures of  war.     There  was  scarcely  one  at 
this  time  who  had  not  his  musket  su.^pended 
over  his  hearth,  which  had  been  used  in  the 
guerrilla  warfare  with  the  French,  and  his  tale 
to  recount  of  the  indignities  endured,  or  the 
vengeance  taken,  or  the  surprises  achieved,  in 
the  conflict  with  those  ruthless  invaders.     Mu- 
tual benefits  and  dependence,  and  a  long  series 
of  kind  actions  and  good  deeds,  performed  by 
the  parochial  cle7-gy  to  their  flocks,  had  endeared 
them  to  the  whole  rural  population  ;'   j  chatcaub. 
and  it  was  easy  to  see  that  if  anj^  congr.  de 
civil  waifare  ensued  they  would  take  Verone,  i. 
the  side,   whichever  it  was,  which  ^^'  ^^• 
was  espoused  by  their  spiritual  directors. 

10.  So  great  was  the  influence  of  the  clergy, 
and  £0  loyal  the  feelings  of  the  peas-  jg. 
antrj-,  that  they  would  in  all  proba-  State  ofthe 
bility  have  enabled  the  king  to  re-  ^'>b'l'ty. 
sist  all  the  efibrts  of  the  malcontents,  had  there 
been  anybody  of  efiicient  and  united  landed  pro- 
prietors in  the  country.  But  none  such  existed 
in  Spain.  Generally  speaking,  the  clergy  were 
the  sole  leaders  of  the  people.  There  were 
many  nobles  in  Spain,  and  they  were  inferior 
to  none  in  the  world  in  pride  and  aristocratic 
pretension  ;  but  they  had  neither  political 
power  nor  rural  influence.  Nearly  all  ab- 
sentees, residingthewholeyear  round  in  Madrid, 
they  had  none  of  that  sway  over  the  minds  of 
their  tenantry  which  is  enjoyed  by  landed  pro- 
prietors  who'have  attached  them  by  a  scries  of 
kind  acts  duiing  many  generations:  intrusted 
with  no  political  power,  they  had  no  weight  in 
national  deliberations,  or  authority  in  the  af. 
fairs  of  Government.  The  grandees  of  Spain, 
who  cherished  the  purity  of  their  descent  as 
carefully  as  the  Arabs  do  the  pedigree  of  their 
steeds,  and  who  would  admit  of,  and  indeed 
could  contract,  no  marriage  where  sixteen 
quarlerjngs  could  not  be  counted  on  both  sides. 


ISU.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


203 


liiul  incurred  tlie  penalty  prescribed  by  nature 
for  sueli  overweening  pride  and  selfishness. 
They  had  become  a  worn-out  and  degenerate 
race,  considerably  below  the  usual  stature  of 
the  human  frame,  and  lamentably  inferior  in 
vigor,  courage,  and  intelligence.  Not  one  great 
man  arose  during  the  whole  of  the  protracted 
Peninsular  war:  few  of  the  generals  who  did 
distinguish  themselves  belonged  to  the  class  of 
grandees.  Nevertheless,  this  selfish  faineant 
race  possessed  a  great  part  of  the  landed  proper- 
ty in  the  kingdom,  and  by  the  operation  of  the 
strict  entails  under  which  it  was  nearly  all 
lield,  and  the  constant  intermarriage  of  the  no- 
bility among  each  other,  it  was  every  day  run- 
ring  more  and  more  into  a  few  hands.  The 
greater  part  of  the  remaining  landed  property 
was  in  the  hands  of  incorporations,  municipal- 
ities, or  the  Church ;  so  that  there  was  perhaps 
no  country  in  the  world  which,  from  its  political 
situation,  stood  so  much  in  need  of  an  eflieient 


many  acts  alien  to  the  old  Castilian  honor,  and 
discreditable  to  subsequent  admiiiiatrations. 

12.  While  so  many  circumstances  tended  to 
prognosticate  future  and  tierce  dis- 
sension in  the  Spanish  peninsula,  the  constitu- 
enormous  defects  of  the  Constitution  tionoi'1812: 
of  1812,  which  was  the  ruling  form  'luw  u  was 
of  government    at  the  time   of  the  '"™'^'^- 
restoration,  rendered  it  imminent  and  unavoid- 
able.    The    circumstances    under    whicli    that 
constitution  was  framed  have  been  already  ex- 
plained, and  the  calamitous  influence  they  ex- 
ercised  on  the  deliberations   and   temper   of 
the  Spanish  Constituent  Assembly.*  ,  ,r-  , 
That  Assembly — convoked  in  1811,  Europe, 
at  the  most  disastrous  period  of  the  17b9-i8i5, 
contest  with  France,  and  when  tiie  ^" '"J.  *'^ 
Imperial  armies  occupied  the  whole  *"  ' 
country  excep  t  afew  moxmtain  provinces  and 
fortresses  on  the  sea-coast — so  far  from  present' 
ing  a  faithful  representation  of  the  feelings  of 


body  of  rural  proprietors,  and  j^et  was  so  en-  i  the  majority  of  the  nation,  presented  the  very 
"      ''■•■■       <•  ■■  reverse.     Galicia  and  Asturias  alone — evacua- 

ted by  Ney  at  the  time  of  the  advance  of  Wel- 
lington to  Talavera — witli  the  seaport  towns 
of  Valencia,  Cadiz,  and  Alicante,  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  Spaniards:  the  whole  remainder 
of  the  country  was  occupied  by  the  French  ; 
and,  of  course,  the  election  of  members  for  the 
Cortes  was  imjjossible  from  the  provinces  they 
were  masters  of.     Thus  the  Cortes  was  returned 
only  by  the  teiports  of  Cadiz,  Valencia,  and 
Alicante,  and  the  mountaineers  of  Galicia  and 
Asturias;    and  us  they  were  not  a      ^ 
tenth  part  of  tlie  entire  inhabitants  u '^,'"^'^"°.; 
01  ihe  country,^  the  remaunng  mem-  la  Guerre 
bers  were  all  selected  by  the  people  of  do  la  Revo- 
those  provinces  tJien  in  Cadiz — that  is,  i^n^nji'!" 
by  the  most  democratic  portion  of  tlie  Aiarti^na'c 
community,     in    tliis    extraoi'diiiary  Sur  I'E.s- ' 

and  unconstitudonal  device,  i)erhai)s  J??*-'""'  '■^''' 

•  1    1  1  1      ii       •  i         '      95 :  llist.  of 

unavoidable  under  the  circumstances,   Europe 

the  real  germ  of  the  whole  subse-  1789-181.5, 
quent  calamities  ofSfiain,  and  of  the  '^■^^''-  ^* 
south  of  Europe,  is  to  be  found.  ' 

As  might  have  been  expected,  from  its  con- 
struction by  the  representatives  of  „. 
little  more  than  the  democratic  rab-  itscMreme 
ble  of  three  seaport  towns,  the  Con-  democratic 
stitution  of  1812,  formed  by  the  Cor-  'i'"'l';iicy. 
tcs  at  Cadiz,  was  republican  in  the  extreme. 
It    preserved    the    shadow    of    moiiareliy,   but 


tirely  destitute  of  it 

11.  It  was  scarcely  possible  that  a  monarchy 

jg  so  situated,  distracted  by  such  pas- 

Hu?e  gap     sions,  and  divided  by  so  many  op- 

in  the  reve-  posite  interests,  could  long  escape  the 

Tili'^i ,1°"!,p  convulsions  of  civil  war:  but  it  was 
tlie  loss  of  ,     ,  ■  . 

the  South  accelerated,  and  the  means  oi  avert- 
Americaa  ing  it  were  taken  away,  by  the  pe- 
colonies.  culiar  circumstances  in  which,  on  the 
restoration  of  Ferdinan  1  in  1814  to  the  throne 
of  his  ancestors,  the  Fi.vances  of  the  country 
stood.  From  the  causes  which  have  been  men- 
tioned, the  industry  and  resources  of  old  Spain 
had  declined  to  such  a  degree,  that  little  reve- 
nue was  to  be  derived  from  taxation  at  home ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  tiie  gold  and  silver 
mines  in  the  hands  of  Government  in  the  colo- 
nies had  become  so  prolific  that  the  chief  reve- 
nue of  the  state  had  long  been  derived  froni 
its  transmarine  possessions,  and  the  princijial 
attention  of  Government  was  fixed  on  their 
maintenance.  The  income  derived  Ijy  Spain 
from  her  colonies,  anterior  to  the  Revolution, 
amounted  to  38,000,000  piastres,  or  £9,500,000 
— fully  a  half  of  the  whole  revenue,  at  that 
period,  of  the  Spanish  crown.  It  is  true, 
about  £7,500,000  of  this  sum  was  absorbed  in 
expenses  connected  with  the  colonies  them- 
selves, leaving  only  £2,OiJO,OUO  available  to  the 
royal  treasury  at  Madrid ;  but  still  it  was  by 


this  vast  colonial  expenditure,   and  the  ostab-  i  nothing  more.     It  did  not  establish  a  "throne 


lishment  it  enabled  the  king  to  keep  up,  that 
nearly  the  whole  power  and  influence  of  Gov- 
ernment was  maintained.  It  was  the  gold  of 
Mexico  and  Peru  tiiat  paid  the  armies  and  civil 
servants,  and  ufiheld  nearly  the  entire  sway  of 
the  court  of  Madrid.  Now,  however,  this 
source  of  influence  was  gone.  The  revolution 
in  South  America  had  cut  off  fully  a  half  of 
the  whole  revenue  of  Spain;  ancl  how  was 
revolution  to  bo  combated  without  armies, 
themselves  tiie  creatures  of  tl 

had  been  lost?'  'i'his  is  tlio  true 
cause  of  the  ceaseless  embarrass- 
ments of  finance,  which  have  ever 
since  distinguished  the  Sjianish  gov- 
ernment ;  wiiich  led  them,  ns  will 
the  sequel,  to  hazard  revolution  at 
homo  in  the  desperate  attempt  \o  extinguish  it 
in  the  colonics,  and  has  since  led  them  into  so 


'  Humboldt, 
Nouvello 
E^paltlle, 
111.  :ifll,jv, 
153,154. 

appear 


surrounded  with  rci>ublican  institutions,"  but 
a  repubiio  surrounded  by  the  (/host  of  monarch- 
ieal  institutions.  The  Legislature  consisted  of 
a  single  Chamber,  elected  by  universal  sull'rage  ; 
there  was  to  bo  a  representative  for  every 
70,000  inhabitants  in  old  Spain  ;  and  the  Amer- 
ican colonies  were  also  admitted  on  similar 
terms  to  t),  considerable  sliai'o  in  the  represen- 
tation. Every  man  aged  25,  and  who  had  re- 
sided seven  years  in  the  province,  had  a  vote 
wealtli  which  for  tiio  representation  of  Ids  deiiartment  in  tlio 
Cortes.  The  king  liad  a  veto  only  twice  on  any 
legislative  measure:  if  proposed  to  him  a  tiiird 
time  by  the  legislature,  he  was  eimslraineil  to 
pass  the  measure,  wlialover  it  was.  'i'liere  w.'ia 
no  House  of  Peers,  or  cheek  of  anj-  kind  on  tho 
single  Chamber  of  the  Cortes,  elected,  as  it 
was,  by  universal  suffrage;  and  the  king's 
ministers,    by    becoming  such,   ij)So  facto  lost 


204 


II  1  STORY    OF   EV  HOPE 


tlieir  sents  in  the  National  Assembly'.  Tlio 
Cortes  was  to  bo  re-eloi-tod  ovoiy  two  years; 
and  no  nioniber  who  liad  once  sat  could  bo 
again  returned  to  its  bosom.  The  kinj;  had 
the  appointniont  of  civil  and  niilitarv  officers, 
but  only  out  of  a  li^t  furnished  to  hini  by  the 
Cortes,  who  could  alone  nuiko  roirulations  for 
the  tjovernment  of  the  arm}-.  The  judges  in 
nil  the  civil  courts  were  to  be  appointed  by  the 
Cortes.  Tiie  kinij  could  declare  peace  or  war, 
and  conclude  treaties  in  the  first  instance;  but 
his  measures  in  those  particulars  required,  for 
their  validitv,  the  ratitieation  of  the  Cortes. 
Finallv,  to  aid  him  in  the  goveriunent  of  the 
kingdom,  he  was  empowered  to  appoint  a 
jirivy  council  of  forty  members,  but  only  out 
1  chatcaub.  ^^  a  l'*t  of  a  hundred  and  twenty 
Conpresde  furnished  to  him  by  the  Cortes.  In 
oi^'o-"^'  '■  ^''^"^  manner  all  diplomatic,  ministe- 
Torenc^  iv.  i'''^''  ^^^'•^  ecclesiastical  appointments 
328,  341 ;  were  to  be  made  out  of  a  list  of  three. 
History  of  presented  to  him  by  the  same  body ; 
IxN^T'^S  ^^'^'  ^°  perpetuate  its  power,  a  per- 
2j ;  ton-'  nianent  committee  was  appointed, 
siitution  of  which  exercised,  during  the  intervals 

^^■•^'0^^'  of  its  sessions,  nearly  the  whole 
cliives  Di-  e   ^i.         3    ■   ■  ^    ^■ 

plom.  iii.  powers  of  the  administration  in- 
i.  159.  trusted  to  the  entire  bod\-.' 

This  constitution  was  so  thoroughly  demo- 
22  cratic  in  all  its  parts,  that  it  could  not 

Utter  iin-  by  possibility  coexist  with  a  mon- 
suitable-  archical  government  in  any  country 
''*^^*t°u-''^  of  the  earth.  Biennial  parliaments, 
tion  to  the  universal  suffrage,  the  exclusion  of 
generality  the  king's  ministers  from  the  legis- 
of  Spain.  lature,  a  single  chamber,  the  practi- 
cal appointment  to  all  offices,  civil  and  military, 
by  a  Cortes  thus  popularly  elected,  and  the 
eternal  succession  of  new  and  inexperienced  per- 
sons into  the  legislature,  by  the  self-denying  or- 
dinances which  they  had  passed,  were  amply 
sufficient  to  have  overturned  society  in  Great 
Britain — long  as  its  people  bad  been  trained  to 
popular  institutions — in  six  months.  What, 
then,  was  to  be  expected  when  such  a  constitu- 
tion was  suddenly  imposed  on  a  country  inured 
to  political  nullity  by  centuries  of  absolute  gov- 
ernment— by  a  so-styled  National  Assembly, 
elected,  during  the  whirl  of  the  French  war,  al- 
most entirely  by  the  populace  of  Cadiz,  when 
crowded  to  'suffocation  by  all  the  most  ardent 
spirits  in  the  Peninsula  refluent  within  its  walls 
from  the  effects  of  the  French  invasion  ?  It  was 
impossible  to  imagine  a  constitution  more  at 
variance  with  the  ancient  institutions-,  or  repug- 
nant to  the  present  feelings  of  nineteen-twenti- 
eths  of  the  Spanish  people.  It  was  like  a  con- 
stitution for  Great  Britain  formed  by  a  parlia- 
ment elected  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  Tower 
Hamlets,  Marylebone,  and  Manchester,  with  a 
few  returned  from  the  mountains  of  Cumberland 
and  Wales.  But,  unfortunately,  in  proportion 
to  its  utter  unsuitableness  for  the  entire  inhab- 
itants of  the  Peninsula,  and  the  abhorrence  of 
the  vast  majority  of  the  people  to  its  provisions, 
it  was  the  object  of  impassioned  attachment  on 
the  part  of  the  democratic  populace  in  the  cap- 
ital and  a  few  seaport  towns.  It  was  so  for 
a  verv  obvious  reason:  it  promised,  if  estab- 
lished in  a  lasting  way,  to  put  the  whole  power 
and  patronage  of  the  state  at  their  disposal. 
Therein  the  seeds  of  a  lasting  division  of  opin 


[ClI.M'.  VII. 

ion,  and  of  a  frightful  civil  war  at  no  distant 
period  in  the  Peninsula,  in  which  it  might  bo 
expected  tiiat  1'2,0(IO,OUU  bold,  hardy,  and  loyal 
]>easants,  scattered  over  the  whole  country, 
would  bo  arrayed  on  one  side;  while  50U,UO(( 
ardent  and  ontluisiastic  democrats  concentrated 
in  the  capital  and  chief  fortresses,  and  having 
the  command  of  the  army,  were  in  arms  on  the 
other. 

The  proceedings  of  the  Cortes,  and  the  dem- 
ocratic   character    of    the   measures         23. 
thev  were  pursuing,  was  well  known  Universal 
to  the  Duke  of  AVollington,  and  dis-  ""Popular- 

1    1      1  •  -^1     1  •  4     1  ity  o(  the 

cerned  by  him  with  his  wonted  sa-  fortes  and 

gacity.  He  repeatedly  warned  the  constitu- 
governraent  of  Great  Britain,  that  ''on- 
while  the  spirit  of  the  nation  was  anti-Gallican, 
not  democratic,  that  of  the  Cortes  and  its  nar- 
row body  of  constituents  was  democratic,  not 
anti-Gallican  ;  and  that  it  would  be  their  wis- 
dom, without  sanctioning  in  any  shape,  or  in- 
terfering at  all  with  the  proceedings  at  Cadi/, 
to  turn  their  attention  exclusively  to  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  French  from  the  Peninsula.* 
They  did  so,  and  with  what  effect  need  be  told 


*  "  The  natural  course  of  all  popular  assemblies — of 
the  Spanish  Cortes  among  others— is  to  adopt  democratic 
principles,  and  to  vest  all  the  powers  of  the  state  in  their 
own  body  ;  and  this  Assembly  must  take  care  that  they  do 
not  run  in  this  tempting  course,  as  the  wishes  of  the  nation 
are  decidedly  for  a  monarchy.  By  a  monarchy  alone  it 
can  be  governed  ;  and  their  inclination  to  any  other  lorm 
of  government,  and  their  assumption  of  the  power  and 
patronage  of  the  state  into  their  own  hands,  would  imme- 
diately deprive  them  of  the  confidence  of  the  peojile,  and 
render  them  a  worse  government,  and  more  impotent,  be- 
cause more  numerous,  than  the  Central  Junta." — Wel- 
lington to  II.  Wellesley,  Nov.  4,  IblO ;  Glkvvood, 
iv.  559. 

"  The  Cortes  are  unpopular  every  where,  and,  in  my 
opinion,  deservedly  so.  Nothing  can  be  more  cruel,  ab- 
surd, and  impolitic  than  those  decrees  respecting  the  per- 
sons who  have  served  the  enemy.  It  is  extraordinary 
that  the  revolution  has  not  produced  one  man  with  any 
knowledge  of  the  real  situation  of  the  country.  It  appears 
as  if  they  were  all  drunk,  thinking  and  speaking  of  any 
other  subject  than  Spain."— Wellington  to  11.  Wel- 
lesley, Nov.  1,  1812;  GuBwooD,  ix.  524. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  state  of  confusion  in 
which  affairs  are  at  Cadiz.  The  greatest  objection  I  have  to 
the  new  constitution  is,  that  in  a  country  in  which  almost 
the  whole  property  consists  in  land— and  these  are  the 
largest  landed  proprietors  which  exist  in  Europe — no 
measure  has  been  adopted,  and  no  barrier  provided,  to 
guard  landed  property  from  the  encroachments,  injustice, 
and  violence  to  which  it  is  at  all  times  liable,  particularly 
in  the  progress  of  revolutions.  Such  a  guard  can  only  be 
afforded  by  the  establishment  of  an  assembly  of  the  great 
landed  proprietors — like  our  House  of  Lords,  having  con- 
current power  with  the  Cortes  ;  and  you  may  depend  upon 
it  there  is  no  man  in  Spain,  be  his  property  ever  so  small, 
who  is  not  interested  in  the  establishment  of  such  an  as- 
sembly. Unhappily,  in  legislative  assemblies,  the  most 
tyrannical  and  unjust  measures  are  the  most  popular.  1 
tremble  for  a  country  such  as  Spain,  in  which  there  is  no 
barrier  fonthe  preservation  of  private  property,  excepting 
the  justice  of  a  legislative  assembly  possessing  supreme 
power.  It  is  impossible  to  calculate  upon  the  plans  of 
such  an  assembly  :  they  have  no  check  w  hatever,  and 
they  are  governed  by  the  most  ignorant  and  licentious  of 
all  licentious  presses— that  of  Cadiz.  I  believe  they  mean 
to  attack  the  royal  and  feudal  tenths,  the  tithes  of  th3 
Church,  under  pretense  of  encouraging  agriculture  ;  and 
finding  the  supplies  from  these  sources  not  so  extensive 
as  they  expected,  they  will  seize  the  estates  of  the  grand- 
ees. Our  character  is  involved  in  a  greater  degree  than 
we  are  aware  of  in  the  deinorratical  transaciioiis  of  the 
Cortes,  in  the  opinion  of  all  moderate,  well-thinking  Span- 
iards, and,  I  am  afraid,  with  the  rest  of  Europe.  It  is 
quite  impossible  such  a  system  can  last :  what'I  regret  is, 
that  1  am  the  person  who  maintains  it.  If  the  king  should 
return,  he  mil  overturn  the  whole  fabric,  if  he  has  any 
spirit ;  but  the  gentlemen  at  Cadiz  are  .so  completely  maa- 
tcrs,  that  I  fear  there  must  be  another  convulsion."— 
Wellington  toDoN  Diego  de  la  Vega,  Jan.  29,  1813; 
GURWOOD,  X.  Gl,  65,  247  ;  xi.  91. 


ISU.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


10.  17 

Martignac, 
yj,  100  ; 
Ann.  Reg. 
1812,67, 
(iS. 


ti)  none;  but  though  Spain  marclied  under  liis 
iruiJance  in  the  career  of  conquest,  and,  to  ex- 
ternal appearance,  was  enveloped  in  a  halo  of 
glory,  the  working  of  the  democratic  constitu- 
tion was  not  the  less  felt,  and  it  had  become 
beyond  measure  repugnant  to  the  vast  majority 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Peninsula.  AYhat 
chiefly  excited  their  indignation  was  the  self- 
ishness and  rapacity  of  the  half-starving  em- 
ployes, who,  issuing  from  Cadiz,  overspread  the 
country  in  every  direction,  like  an  army  of  lo- 
custs, and  ate  up  the  fruits  of  their  industry,  by 
exactions  of  every  description,  from  the  suffer- 
ing inhabitants.  The  general  abhorrence  in 
which  these  rapacious  employes  were  held,  re- 
calls the  similar  indignation  excited  in  Flanders 
liy  the  Jacobin  commissioners  sent  down  there 
by  Danton,  when  the  country  was  overrun  bj' 
■'  Hist,  of  the  republican  armies  in  1792.'  It 
Europe,  will  be  SO  to  the  end  of  the  world,  in 
c.  X.  <)  55.  all  govei'nments,  monarchical  and 
republican,  where  the  executive  and  legislative 
T-h  ,  „.  >,  functions  are  united  in  one  person  or 
Longres  de  assembly;  tor  then  there  is  no  pos- 
Verone,  i.  sible  check  upon  the  misdeeds  of 
either.  The  only  security  which  can 
be  relied  upon  is  to  be  found  in  their 
separation  and  mutual  jealousy,  for 
then  they  act  as  a  check  upon  each 
other.^ 

The  proceedings  of  the  Cortes,  and  the  repub- 
2^  lican  spirit  with  which  they  were  an- 

Influenceof  imated,  acted  in  a  still  more  import- 
the  Cortes  ant  way  upon  the  destinies  of  the  New 
TmlTa  ^^^^'^"^  tlia'i  those  of  the  Old.  The 
deputies  from  the  Transatlantic  prov- 
inces, to  whom,  in  a  liberal  and  worthy  spirit, 
the  gates  of  the  national  representation  at  Cadiz 
had  been  opened,  came  to  the  hall  of  the  Cortes, 
ill  the  Isle  of  Leon,  with  feelings  wound  up  to 
the  higliest  pitch,  from  the  wrongs  they  had  so 
long  endured  from  tlie  selfish  and  monopolizing 
policy  of  the  mother  country,  and  the  free  and 
independent  spirit  which  the  breaking  out  of  the 
revolution  in  the  Caraccas  and  elsewhere  had 
excited  in  her  transmarine  possessions.  They 
found  themselvesjih  a  highly  democratic  and 
vehemently  e.Kcited  .assembly,  in  which  tiie 
noble  name  of  liberty  was  continually  heard, 
in  wliich  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  was 
openl}'  announced,  the  whole  fabric  of  the  new 
constitution  was  made  to  rest  on  that  founda- 
tion, and  in  which  the  most  enthusiastic  pre- 
dictions were  constantly  uttered  as  to  the  future 
regeneration  and  happiness  of  mankind  from 
tlie  influence  of  tliese  principles.  They  return- 
ed to  South  America,  under  the  restriction 
which  had  been  ado])ted  of  cacli  Cortes  to  two 
years'  sitting,  before  tliese  flattering  predictions 
had  been  brouglit  to  the  test  of  experience,  or 
any  thing  had  occurred  to  reveal  their  fallacious 
■J  comte  de  character.^  They  instantly  spread 
Trcquil-  among  their  con.stituents  the  flatter- 
iiiont,  de  ing  doctrines  and  hopes  with  which 
tiie  halls  of  the  Cortes  had  resound- 
ed in  Europe.  Incalculable  was  the 
influ('ncc  of  this  circumstance  upon 
the  future  destinies  of  South  Ajikt- 
ica,  and,  through  it,  of  the  whole  civilized  world. 
To  this,  in  a  great  degree,  is  to  be  ascribed  the 
wide-spread  and  desperate  resolution  of  the  vast 
majority  of  the  inhabitants  in   the  rcvolution- 


I'Anglc 
tcrre  et 
Lord  Pal 
nicrston, 
ii.  205. 


ary  contest  in  viiose  magnificent  seltlemeiit-:; 
their  frightful  desolation  by  the  horrors  of  a 
war  worse  than  civil ;  and  their  final  severance, 
by  the  insidious  aid  of  Great  Britain,  from  the 
Spanish  crown. 

In  all  the  particulars  which  have  been  men- 
tioned,  Portugal  was  in   the  same 
situation   as  Spain ;  but  in  two  re-  situation 
spects  the  situation  of  that  country  of  Porta- 
was  more  favorable  for  innovation,  gal:  effect 
and  her  people  were  more  ripe  for  ^[o'.^f  l^f 
revolt  than  in  the  Spanish  provinces,  the  seat  of 
The  royal  family  having,  during  the  govern- 
first  alarm  of  the  French  invasion,  5an"ei!o^'° 
migrated  to  Brazil,  and  dread  of  the 
terrors  of  a  sea  voj-age  having  prevented  the 
aged  monarch   from   returning,  he  had  come 
to  fix  his  permanent  residence  on  the  beautiful 
shores  of  Rio  Janeiro.     A  separation  of  the  two 
countries  had  thus  taken  place;  and  the  gov- 
ernment at  Lisbon,  during  the  Avhole  war,  had 
been  conducted  by  means  of  a  council  of  regency, 
the  members  of  which  were  by  no  means  nun 
either  of  vigor  or  cajiacity,  and  wliich  was  f:ir 
from   commanding  the  respect,  or  having  ac- 
quired the  afl'ections,  of  the  countrj'.     While 
the  weight  and  influence  of  Government  had 
been  thus  sensibly  weakened,  the  political  cir- 
cumstances of  Portugal,  and  the  events  of  the 
war,  had  in  an  extraordinary  manner  dift'used 
liberal  ideas  and  the  sjiirit   of  independence 
through  a  considerable  part  of  the  people. 

Closely  united,  both  by  political  treaties  and 
commercial  intercourse,  with  Great 
Britain,  for  above  a  century  Portugal  jj^  gp,',grai 
had  become,  in  its  maritime  districts  adoption  of 
at  least,  almost  an  English  colony.  English 
English  influence  was  predominant  j^fg'i''''  ""'' 
at  Lisbon:  English  commerce  had 
enriched  Oporto:  the  English  market  for  port 
had  covered  the  slopes  of  Ti'as-os-lMontcs  with 
smiling  vinej'ards.  In  addition  to  this,  the 
events  of  the  late  war  had  spread,  in  an  extra- 
ordinary degree,  both  adniiiation  of  the  En- 
glish institutions,  and  confidence  in  the  En- 
glish character,  through  the  entire  population. 
Thirty  thousand  Portuguese  troops  liad  been 
taken  into  British  pay:  they  had  felt  the  in- 
tegrity of  British  admini.'^t  ration :  they  had 
been  led  to  victory  by  Brilisii  oflicers.  Unliko 
the  native  nobles  \vlio  had  held  tlie  same  situ- 
ations, they  had  seen  them  ever  the  first  in  the 
enemy's  fire — the  last  in  acts  of  domestic  cor- 
ruption. Immense  had  been  the  influence  of 
this  juxtaposition.  Standing  side  by  side  with 
him  in  battle,  they  had  learned  to  respect  the 
English  soldier  in  war,  to  admire  the  institu- 
tions which  had  liaineil  him  in  ]icace.  liven 
the  hatred  in  wliich  they  had  been  bred  of  tho 
heretic,  yielded  to  the  evidence  of  tlieir  senses, 
which  iiad  t.-iught  them  his  virtues.  In  daily 
intercourse  with  the  British  soldiers,  tliey  had 
learned  to  api)reeiatc  the  liberty  which  had 
nurtured  them;  they  had  come  to  envy  their 
inde])endence  of  thought,  and  imitate  their  free- 
dom of  language.  The  mercantile  classes  in 
Jjisboii  and  Ojioito,  almost  entirely  supported 
by  British  capital,  and  fed  by  British  coiiiiiiercc, 
were  still  more  strongly  impressed  with  tho 
merits  of  the  political  institutions,  from  inter- 
course with  a  nation  governed  by  whiih  they 
had  derived  such  sii'nal  benefits.     Thus  a  free 


206 


lU^TuUY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Cii.vr.  VII. 


spirit,  nn«l  tho  thirst  for  liberal  institutions, 
wiis  botli  stroniier  nnd  more  witle-sj^rciul  in 
Portugal  tlian  in  the  ailjoininc:  provinces  of 
Spain;  and  it  was  easy  tu  foresee  that,  if  any 
cireunistanees  impelled  the  latter  country  into 
the  eareer  of  revolution,  the  former  would  be 
the  tirst  to  follow  tlie  example. 

Fi.umx.KXD  Yll.,  -whom  the  battle  of  Leipsic 
Q-  and  conquest  of  France  had  restored 
Character  to  the  tlirone  of  his  ancestors,  was 
or  Finlj-  not  by  nature  a  bad,  or  by  disposition 
iiand  vil.  jj  cruel  man;  and  yet  he  did  many 
wicked  and  unjiardonable  deeds,  and  has,  be- 
yond almost  any  other  of  his  contemporar}^ 
princes,  been  the  object  of  impassioned  invec- 
tive on  the  part  of  the  liberal  press  in  Europe. 
Placed  in  the  very  front  rank  of  the  league  of 
princc-s  ruling  a  countr}'  in  which  the  vast 
majority  were  decidedly  monarchical — a  small 
minority  vehementh-  democratic — brought,  the 
first  of  all  the  monarchs  of  Europe,  in  contact 
with  the  revolutionary  spirit  by  which  they 
were  all  destined  to  be  so  violently  shaken,  it 
was  scarcely  possible  it  could  be  otherwise. 
But  the  character  of  Ferdinand  was,  perhaps, 
the  most  unfortunate  that  could  have  been 
found  to  tread  the  path  environed  with  dangers 
which  lav'  before  him.  lie  had  neither  the 
courage  and  energy  requisite  for  a  despotic, 
nor  the  prudence  and  foresight  essential  in  a 
constitutional  sovereign :  he  had  neither  the 
courage  which  commands  respect,  the  generos- 
ity which  wins  affection,  nor  the  wisdom  which 
averts  catastrophe.  Indolence  was  his  great 
characteristic  ;  a  facility  of  being  led,  his  chief 
defect.  Incapable  of  taking  a  decided  line  for 
himself,  he  j-ielded  easily  and  willingly  to  the 
representations  of  those  around  him,  and  ex- 
hibited in  his  conduct  those  vacillations  of 
policy  which  indicated  the  alternate  ascendency' 
of  the  opposite  parties  by  which  he  was  sur- 
rounded. His  inclination,  without  doubt,  was 
strongly  in  favor  of  despotic  power;  but  he 
had  great  powers  of  dissimulation,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  deceiving  Talleyrand  himself,  as  well 
as  the  liberal  ministers  subsequently  imposed 
upon  him  by  the  Cortes,  as  to  his  real  inten- 
tions. Supple,  accommodating,  and  irresolute, 
he  had  learnt  h^'pocrisy  in  the  same  school 
'  Marti-T-  ^s  the  modern  Greek  has  learned  it 
nac,  lou,  from  the  Turk — the  school  of  suffer- 
106.  iiigi 

The  treaty  of  Yalengay,  as  narrated  in  a 
28,  former  work,*  restored  Ferdinand 
Ferdi-'  VII.  to  liberty,  and  here-entered  the 
nand's  ar-  kingdom  of  his  fathers  on  the  20th 
Splin,'"and  iiai"cl>.  1814,  just  ten  days  before  the 
ireatment  Allies  entered  Paris.  This  treaty 
**  the  had  been  concluded  with  Napoleon 

Cortes.  while  the  monarch  was  still  in  cap- 
tivity, and  it  was  a  fundamental  condition  of  it 
that  he  should  cause  the  English  to  evacuate 
Spain.  The  subsequent  fall  of  the  Emperor, 
however,  rendered  this  stipulation  of  no  effect : 
and,  after  having  been  received  with  royal 
honors  by  the  garrisons,  both  French  and 
Spanish,  in  Catalonia,  the  monarch  proceeded 
by  easy  journeys  to  Valencia,  where  he  resided 
during  the  whole  of  April.  The  reason  of  this 
long  sojourn  in  a  provincial  town  was  soon  ap- 
parent.    He  was  there  joined  by  the  Duke  del 

*  History  «f  Europe,  17ty-lfcl3,  chap.  Ixxxvij.  t)  71. 


I  Infantado,  and  the  leading  grandees  of  the 
kingdom,  as  well  as  many  of  the  chief  prelates. 
I  Meanwhile  the  Cortes,  who  had  testitied  the 
!  greatest  joy  at  the  deliverance  of  the  king,  re- 
fused to  ratify  the  Treaty  of  Yalengay,  as  hav- 
ing been  concluded  without  their  consent — con- 
tinued resident  at  Madrid,  without  advancing 
to  meet  their  sovereign — and  soon  began  to 
evince  their  imperious  disposition,  and  to  show 
in  whom  they  imderstood  the  real  sovereignty 
to  reside.  At  the  moment  when  Ferdinand  re- 
entered his  kingdom,  they  published  of  their 
own  autliority  a  decree,  in  which  the}' enjoined 
him  to  adopt,  without  delaj-,  the  Constitution 
of  1812,  and  to  take  the  oath  of  fidelity  toward 
it.  Until  he  did  so,  he  was  enjoined  not  to 
adopt  the  title,  or  exercise  the  power,  of  King 
of  Spain  ;  and  they  even  went  so  far  as  to  pre- 
scribe the  itinerary  he  was  to  follow 

on  his  route  to  the  capital,  the  towns  l-l^^'lT'^'Lv 
1  i  ^1  1  1  .1  March    20, 

he  was  to  pass  through,  and  tlie  ex-  1^)4.  ^ar- 

pressions  he  was  to  use  in  answer  to  tignac,  107; 

the  addresses  he  was  expected  to  re-  ;^,""-  Jl.^^- 

ceive.     It  IS  not  surprising  that  he  gg    '     ' 

turned  aside  from  such  taskmasters.' 

Scarcely  had  the  monarch  set  his  foot  in  Spain 
when  he  received  the  most  unequivo- 
cal proofs  of  the  detestation  in  which  xjniversal 
the  constitution  was  generally  held,  unpopular- 
and  the  universal  hatred  at  the  sub-  ■'.>  °'  ""^ 
ordinate  agents  to  whom  the  Cortes 
had  intrusted  the  practical  administration  of 
government.  From  the  frontier  of  Catalonia, 
to  Valencia — in  the  fortresses,  the  towns,  the 
villages,  the  fields — it  was  one  continual  clamor 
against  the  Cortes:  "Viva  el  Ty-ej •A$soluto," 
was  the  universal  crj*.  The  King  was  literally 
besieged  with  petitions,  addresses,  and  memo- 
rials, in  which  he  was  supplicated,  in  the  most 
earnest  terms,  to  annul  all  that  had  been  done 
during  his  captivity,  and  to  reign  as  his  ances- 
tors had  done  before  him.  Ihe  constitution 
was  represented — and  with  truth — as  the  woik 
of  a  mere  revolutionary  junta  in  Cadiz,  in  a 
great  measure  self-elected,  and  never  convoked 
either  f:  om  the  whole  country  or  according  to 
the  ancient  constitution  of  the  kingdom.  There 
was  not  a  municipality  which  did  not  hold  this 
language  as  bo  passed  through  their  walls ;  i.ot 
a  village  w-hich  did  not  present  to  him  a  peti- 
tion, signed  by  the  most  respectable  inhabitants, 
to  the  same  ett'ect.  The  generals,  the  arm}-,  the 
garrisons,  besieged  him  with  addresses  of  the 
same  description.  The  minority  of  the  Cortes, 
consisting  of  sixty -nine  members,  presented  a 
supplication  beseeching  the  king  to  annul  the 
whole  proceedings  of  their  body,  and  ^  ^lartjir- 
to  reign  as  his  fathers  had  done,  nac,  l!?8, 
From  one  end  of  the  kingdom  to  the  lu^;  Ann. 
other  but  one  voice  was  heard,  that  g^^f'^^jfa.'" 
of  reprobation  of  the  Cortes  and  the  tea'ub. Con- 
constitution,  and  prayers  to  the  king  grcs  de 
to  resume  the  unfettered  functions  of  ^J^"""?*^'  '• 
royalty.*  '  .  -'. 

Impelled  in  this  manner  by  the  unanimous 
voice  of  the  nation,  not  less  than  his         ,. 
own  secret  inclination,  to  annul  the  Decree  of 
constitution,  and  grasp  anew  the  seep-  Valencia, 
tre  of  his  ancestors,  Ferdinand  ven-  J'^J  4. 
tured  on  the  decisive  act.     On  the  4th 
May,  1814,  appeared  the  famous  decree  of  Valen- 
cia, which  at  once  annulled  the  whole  acts  of  the 


1814.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


207 


Cortes,  and  restored  absolute  government  over 
the  whole  of  Spain.  In  it  the  king,  after  re- 
capitulating briefly  the  principal  events  which 
had  occurred  in  the  Peninsula  since  his  treach- 
erous seizure  and  captivity  by  Napoleon  in 
1808,  declared  that  he  had,  by  a  decree  of  5th 
Jlay  in  that  j"eai",  convoked  the  Cortes ;  but  the 
French  invasion  prevented  it  from  being  assem- 
bled, and  compelled  the  several  provinces  to 
elect  juntas,  and  severally  provide  for  their 
own  defense.  "An  extraordinary  Cortes,"  said 
the  monarch,  "was  subsequently  convoked  in 
the  island  of  Leon,  when  nearly  the  whole 
country  was  in  the  hands  of  the  French,  con- 
sisting of  57  jjroprietors,  lO-i  deputies,  and  47 
supplementary  members,*  without  either  the 
nobles  or  the  clergy  being  summoned  to  their 
deliberations,  and  convoked  in  a  manner  wholly 
illegal  and  without  a  precedent,  even  in  the 
most  critical  and  stormy  days  of  the  monarchy. 
The  first  step  of  this  illegal  assembly  was  to 
usurp  the  whole  powers  of  sovereignty  on  the 
verj^  first  day  of  their  installation,  and  to  strip 
me  of  nearly  my  whole  prerogatives;  and  their 
next,  to  impose  on  Spain  the  most  arbitrary 
laws,  and  compel  it  to  receive  a  new  constitu- 
tion, unsanctioned  either  by  the  provinces,  the 
provincial  juntas,  or  the  Indies.  By  this  con- 
stitution was  established,  not  any  thing  resem- 
bling the  ancient  constitution,  but  a  republican 
form  of  government,  presided  over  by  a  chief 
magistrate,  deprived  alike  of  consideration  and 
power,  and  framed  entirely  on  the  principle 
and  form  of  the  democratic  French  constitution 
of  1791.  Force  alone  compelled  the  members 
to  swear  to  the  constitution :  the  Bishop  of 
Orense  refused  to  take  the  oath,  and  Spain  knows 
what  was  the  fate  of  that  respectable  prelate. 
"Nothing  has  consoled  me  amidst  so  many 
„.  calamities,  but  the  innumerable  proofs 

King'sdec-  ^f  the  loyalty  of  my  faithful  sub- 
larationin  jeets,  who  longed  for  my  arrival,  in 
lVm[om  *^°  ^^°^^  ^^^^^  ^^  might  terminate  the 
and  proi'n-  oppression  under  wliich  they  groan- 
isc  to  con-  ed,  and  restore  the  true  happiness  of 
vokealegal  the  country.  I  promise — I  swear  to 
"^  ^^'  yo^>  true  and  loyal  Spaniards — that 
your  hopes  shall  not  be  deceived.  Your  sover- 
eign places  his  chief  glory  in  being  the  chief  of 
a  heroic  nation,  which,  by  its  immortal  ex- 
l>loits,  has  won  the  admiration  of  the  whole 
world,  and  at  the  same  time  preserved  its  own 
liberty  and  liouor.  I  detent,  /  abhor  despotism  : 
it  can  never  be  reconciled  neither  with  civiliza- 
tion, or  tiic  lights  of  the  other  nations  in  Eu- 
rope. The  kings  never  have  been  despots  in 
Spain  ;  neither  the  sovereign  nor  the  constitu- 
tion of  th.jcoMMtrv  liave  ever  authorized  despot- 
ism, aUliougli  unhappily  it  has  sometimes  been 
practiced,  as  it  has  been  in  all  ages  by  fallible 
mortals.  Abuses  have  existed  in  Spain,  not 
because  it  had  no  constitution,  but  from  the 
fault  of  per.sons  or  circumstances.  To  guard 
against  such  abuses  in  future,  ko  far  as  liuman 
prudence  can  go,  while  preserving  Die  honor 
and  rights  of  royalty  (for  it  has  its  own  as  well 
as  the  people  have  theirs,  which  are  cfpially 
inviolable),  I  will  (rent  with  the  deputies  of  Spain 
and  the  IndieH  in  a  Cnrteit  legally  aHHemblcd,  com- 
posed of  f  lu!  one  and  the  other,  as  soon  as  I  can 


*  Mciiihcrs  (ho.scn  in  the  IhIo  of  Leon,  to  represent  the 
oroviuccs  in  tlic  hands  of  the  rrench. 


convoke  them,  after  having  re-established  the 
wise  customs  of  the  nation,  established  with  the 
consent  of  the  kings  our  august  predecessors. 
Thus  shall  be  established,  in  a  solid  and  legiti- 
mate manner,  all  that  can  tend  to  the  good  of 
my  kingdoms,  in  order  that  my  subjects  may 
live  happy  and  tranquil  under  the  protection 
of  our  religion  and  our  sovereign,  the  oidv 
foundation  for  the  happiness  of  a  king  and  a 
kingdom  which  are  rightly  styled  Catholic. 
No  time  shall  be  lost  in  taking  the  projjer  jncan- 
ures  for  the  assembly  of  the  Cortes,  which  I 
trust  will  insure  the  happiness  of  my  subjects 
in  both  hemispheres."  The  decree  concluded 
with  declaring  the  resolution  of  the  king  not  to 
accept  the  constitution  ;  to  annul  all  the  acts 
of  the  Cortes;  and  declaring  all  persons  guilty 
of  high  treason,  and  punishable  with  ,  pg^rce 
death,  who  should  attempt  by  word,  May  4, 
deed,  or  incitement,  to  establish  the  lbM;Arch. 
constitution,  or  resist  the  execution  of  R'^)?,'"'  '"• 
the  present  decree.' 

JS'o  words  can  describe  the  universal  trans- 
port with  which  this  decree  was  re- 
ceived, or  the  loyal  enthusiasm  which  universal 
the  prospect  of  the  re-establishment  transpons 
of  the  ancient  constitution  and  cus-  in  Spain  at 
toms  of  the  monarchy  excited  in  the  ""s decree, 
nation.  Ine  joy  was  universal:  it  king'.s  re- 
resembled  that  of  the  English  when  turn  to 
they  awoke  from  the  tj-ranny  of  the  .J^'^'^jo' 
long  Parliament  and  Cromwell  to  the  ^^ 
bright  morning  of  the  Restoration.  The  journey 
of  Ferdinand  from  Valencia  to  Madrid  was  the 
exact  counterpart  of  that  of  Charles  II.  from 
Dover  to  London,  a  hundred  and  fii'ty-thiee 
years  before.  It  was  a  continual  triuujph.  in 
vain  the  Cortes  assumed  a  menacing  aspect, 
and,  in  a  tumultuous  and  stormy  meeting, 
adopted  the  most  violent  resolutions  to  rctiot 
the  royal  authority,  and  to  declare  traitor.*, 
and  pnmish  as  such,  all  who  should  aid  the  king 
in  his  criminal  designs.  Physical  force  was 
awanting  to  su])port  their  resistance.  'I he 
troops  which  they  sent  out  to  with.-tand  the 
royal  cortege  were  the  first  to  array  themselves 
in  its  ranks,  amidst  loud  ciieers  and  cries  of 
"Viva  el  Rey  A-ssolutol"  Every  where  the 
pillar  of  the  constitution  was  overthrown  and 
broken:  enthusiastic  crowds,  wherever  he  pass- 
ed on  the  journey  to  Madrid,  saluted  the  return- 
ing monarch  ;  and  the  Cortes,  deserted  by  all, 
even  their  own  ushers,  in  utter  dismay  fled 
across  New  Castile  toward  Cadiz,  h^ome  re- 
mained, and  were  thrown  into  prison.  It  was 
on  the  13th  May  that  the  king,  su..  ■■"  MartiR- 

rounded  by  a  loyal  and  enthusiastic  "'""'  "'•'• 

1       r-  1  1  1     1  ii      I'l ;  Ann. 

crowd,  wiucli,  as  lie  appi'oached  the  ]{,,,,  j^j.j 

capital,  was  swelled  to  above  a  liun-  7(1,  71 ; 
dred  thousand  jiersons.  and  amidst  the  *'"iteau- 
universal  and  heartfelt  acclamations  congrcsde 
of  his  subjects,  entered  Madrid,  atid  Veronei  i. 
rcascended  the  throne  of  his  fathers".  27.  a«. 

Thus  fell  (he  work  of  the  Cortes — the  Con- 
stitution of  1812,   (he  victim  of  its 
own    violence,    folly,    and    injustice,   ncfllrtions 
llnripy  if  it  ha<l  never  been  rc;vi vcd,  on  tlii.s 
and  become,  in  consequence  of  that  ''^<'"'.  "'"' 
very     violence     and    injustice,     the  cou"^;;'""'' 
watchward     of    the     revolutionary  which  Iny 
party  all  over  the  world!     Hitherto  "P«"  '"  "w 
the  j)rocccding8  of  Ihc  king  had  been  '^'"^'' 


203 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Cn.u-.  VIL 


oiitiivly  ju#tijt.b,£  muJ  i\.cli  as  must  conimnnJ 
the  nssciit  oi"  nil  t!u.  l.-iwiuls,  not  only  of  order, 
but  ot"  froinloni,  tliroiijiliout  the  worKl.  Tlio 
const  it  111  ion  which  hiul  boi-u  ovcrtlirowii  ■vvns 
not  only  an  obioot  of  luirror  to  the  va^t  inajority 
of  the  nation,  but  had  bciu  iaiposeJ  upon  it  by 
a  small  minority,  wlioso  ideas  uud  designs  were 
not  less  threatening  to  the  interests  than  rejnig- 
uant  to  the  habits  of  the  people.  It  was  the 
work  of  a  self-eloetod  knot  of  revolutionists  at 
Cadiz,  whose  objoet  was  to  secure  to  ihcmselves 
the  real  government  of  the  country,  strip  the 
(.'rowu  of  all  its  prerogatives,  and  divide  the 
whole  oflices  and  patronage  of  the  country 
among  themselves.  The  king  had  pledged  his 
roval  word  that  he  would  without  delay  assem- 
ble the  Cortes,  convoked  according  to  the  an- 
cient laws  and  customs  of  the  counti'y,  and 
with  their  aid  commence  the  formation  of 
laws  and  the  rcformntion  of  abuses,  which 
might  secure  the  happiness  of  his  subjects  in 
boili  hemispheres.  It  was  a  matter  of  little 
difficulty  in  Spain,  whatever  it  might  be  else- 
w  here,  to  effect  such  a  reformation  ;  for  its  an- 
cient constitutions  contained  all  the  elements 
'Chateaub.  ^^  ^'^^^  freedom,  and  its  inhabitants 
Con^res  de  could  tread  the  path  of  improvement 
Veruiic,  i.  Jq  the  securest  of  all  ways,  without 
'  deviating  into  that  of  innovation.'* 

But  Ferdinand  did  not  do  this,  and  thence 
34  have  arisen  boundless  calamities  to 

Ferdinand's  his  country,  lasting  opprobrium  to 
despotic  himself.  He  resumed  the  sceptre  of 
Re^siab^-'  ^''^  ancestors  and  reigned  as  an  abso- 
lishment  of  lute  monarch  ;  but  he  forgot  all  the 
tlie  inquisi-  promises,  so  solemulj'  made,  to  reign 
tion.  ^^.^^Yx  the  aid  of  a  Cortes  assembled 

according  to  the  ancient  laws  and  customs  of 
the  realm.  He  fell  immediately  under  the  direc- 
tion of  a  camarilla  composed  of  priests  and 
nobles,  who  incessantly  represented  to  him  that 
there  could  in  Spain  be  no  constitutional  gov- 
ernment, and  that  the  only  way  to  secure  either 
the  stability  of  the  throne  or  the  welfare  of  the 
kingdom,  was  to  restore  every  thing  to  the  con- 
dition in  which  it  was  before  the  Revolution. 
He  was  not  slow  in  following  their  advice,  tis- 
regarding  a  patriotic  and  moderate  address  from 
the  University  of  Salamanca,  in  which  he  was 
prayed  to  follow  up  the  gracious  intentions  pro- 
fessed in  the  declaration" from  Valencia,  of  con- 
voking a  Cortes,  and  establishing  with  their  con- 
currence the  laws  which  were  to  govern  the 
kingdom,  he  re-established  by  a  decree  from 
July  "1  ^^^^rid  the  Inquisition,  and  as  a  natural 
consequence  recalled  the  Pope's  nuncio, 
who  had  left  the  country  on  its  abolition  b}'  the 


*  U  is  a  curious  and  instructive  circumstance  how  it 
was  that  the  ancient  elements  of  freedom  were  lost  in 
Spain;  Chateaubriand  thus  explains  it:  "Les  premieres 
auxqucUes  les  deputes  du  Tiers  assisterent,  furent  cellos 
de  Leon  en  1188:  cette  date  prouve  que  les  Espagnols 
marchaienl  a  la  tete  des  peuples  libres.  Peu  a  peu  les 
bourgeois  fatigues  laissaient  le  souverain  payer  leurs 
mandataires,  el  designer  les  villes  aptes  a  la  deputation. 
Vouze  cites  seulement  en  obtinrent  le  droit.  Charles  V. 
tj'ran,  naturellement  ligue  avec  son  coUegue  cet  autre 
tyran,  le  peuple,  tleva  les  villes  representees  a  vingt  ; 
mais  en  meme  temps,  dans  la  reunion  de  Tolede,  en  \525, 
il  retrancha  pour  toujours  des  Cortes  le  Clerge  et  la  No- 
blesse. Les  rois,  debarrasses  du  joug  des  Cortes,  furent 
contraints  de  s'en  imposer  d'autres.  Des  conseils  ou  des 
conseillersdirigeaientlamonarchie." — Chateaubriand, 
Congres  de  Vernne,  torn,  19.  Sec  also  Historia  d' Espaha, 
viii.  471.     Madrul.  1851. 


Cortes.     The  use  of  torture,  however,  in  all  the 

civil  tribunals,  was  i)rohibiled  by  a  de-    ,         „ 
..  \  ■  '  ■   ,    .      Aug.    J. 

cree  soon  alter;  ami  in  a  memorial  to 

the  l'ui)e  by  tln^  Spanish  government  it  was  pro- 
posed to  aboli>h  It  also  in  the  dungeons  ol  the 
Incjuisition,  and  various  regulations  were  sub- 
mitted for  mitigating  the  severity  of  that  terri- 
ble tribunal.  These  proposals  were  carried  into 
eft'ect ;  and  thereafter  its  proceedings  were  con- 
fined to  a  sp.ccics  of  police  surveillance 
over  ojiinions,  to  check  the  progress  of  j),!""^)'^ 
heresy,  but  without  the  frightful  tor-  73  ;  yiou'i- 
tures  which  had  characterized  its  se-  teur,  Aug. 
eret,  or  the  A  utos-da-fi  which  had  for-  J^^j']**  ^^' 
ever  disgraced  its  public  proceedings.' 

The  open  assumption  of  absolute  power  by 
the  Government,  tlie  delay  in  con-  35 
voking  the  Cortes,  and,  above  all,  the  Discontent 
ro-establishment  of  the  Inquisition,  '"  various 
excited  the  utmost  alarm  in  the  liberal  l"'^'"'^''^- 
party  throughout  Spain,  and  spread  great  dis- 
satisfaction  even  among  the  officers  of  the  army, 
by  whose  support  alone  they  could  be  carried 
into  effect  bymptoms  of  disturbance  soon  ap- 
peared in  various  quarters;  for  in  Spain  the 
habits  of  tne  people  are  so  independent,  and 
danger  or  life  are  so  little  regarded,  that  from  dis- 
satisfaction to  bostilitj",  as  with  the  Bedouins,  is 
but  a  step.  The  roads  in  the  whole  of  Estie- 
madura,  the  Castiles,  Andalusia,  Aragon,  and 
Catalonia,  weie  so  infested  by  bands  of  guer- 
rillas, who,  loi.g  inured  to  violence  and  rapine, 
had  now  becoi;je  mere  robbers  and  bandits,  that 
the  captains-general  of  those  provinces  weie 
enjoined  to  takd  the  most  effectual  measures  for 
their  suppression;  but  they  had  no  adequate 
armed  force  at  their  disposal  to  effect  that  object. 
A  proclamation  by  ihe  governor  of  An-  .  ,^  - 
daiusia  revealed  the  existence  of  more  °' 
serious  disturbances,  having  a  decided  political 
tendency,  and  threatened  every  person  ^\ho 
should  be  found  either  speaking  or  acting  against 
Ferdinand  YII.  with  death,  within  three  days, 
by  the  sentence  of  a  court-Uiartiul.  A  great 
number  of  arrests  took  place  soon  ai'ter  in  Ma- 
drid— ninety  persons  were  apprehended  in  a 
single  night ;  and  so  numerous  aid  the  prisoners 
soon  become  that  the  ordinary  plates  ^ 
of  confinement  would  not  contain  ibi""";..""' 
them,  and  the  spacious  convent  of  San  75;  .Men'o- 
Francisco  Avas  converted  into  a  vast  riasdeiEs- 
state  prison,  to  embrace  the  increas-  [°j^6*'j||y' 
ing  multitude.^ 

These  proceedings  excited  the  greatest  con- 
sternation   among  the  liberals,   and         ,g 
great  numbeisofpersons  who  deemed  Revolt  of 
themselves  compromised  fled  across  Mma  in 
the  Pyrenees  into  France.      Among  ^J'^'"'.!'^"' 
the  rest,  the  famous  Esroz  t  Min  a,  who 
had  gained  such  great  celebrity  as  a  partisac 
chief  in  Kavarre  in  the  war  with  >.'apoleon,  fell 
under  the  suspicion  of  the  Government,  wlu 
sent  him  an  order,  on  the  IGth  September,  to  fix 
his  residence  at  Pampeluna,  and  place  the  troops 
he  had  formerly  commanded  under  the  orders 
of  the  Captain-general  of  Aragon.     Regarding 
this  injunction,  as  it  certainly  was,  as  a  decided 
measure  of  hostility,  this  daring  chief,  at-  the 
head  of  the  1st  Regiment  of  Volunteers,   ap- 
proached that  fortress  in  the  night  of  the  llO'.h. 
Thev  were  provided  with  scaling-ladders,  and 
acted  in  concert  with  the  4ih  Reffimcr.t,  then  in 


1814.] 


HISTORY    OF  EUROPE. 


209 


garrison  in  the  city,  by  whom  Mina  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  fortress,  and  with  the  officers  of 
which  he  spent  a  part  of  the  night  on  the  ram- 
parts, expecting  a  movement  in  his  favor.  Al- 
tiiough  the  greater  part  of  the  officers,  how- 
ever, had  been  engaged  in  the  conspiracy,  the 
private  soldiers  nearly  all  remained  faithful; 
and  in  Mina's  own  regiment  of  volunteers  the\- 
sent  information  to  the  governor  of  Aragon  of 
what  was  in  agitation,  and  warned  him  to  be 
on  his  guard.  The  consequence  was,  that  the 
attempt  proved  abortive  ;  Mina  himself  with 
J  difficulty  made  his  escape,  liis  troops 

del  "espoz^  nearl}'  all  deserted  him,  and  he  deem- 
y  Mina,  ii.  ed  himself  fortunate  in  being  able  to 
168,  169;  retire  to  France  by  Puente  la  Rej'na 
q"""^"'''  — thus  seeking  refuge  among  tlie  ene- 
1814 ;  Ann.  mies  whom  he  had  so  strenuously  com- 
Rcg^_lril4,  bated,  from  the  king  he  had  so  power- 
7J,  "<•  fu'dy  aided  in  putting  on  the  throne.' 
This  abortive  insurrection,  as  is  ever  tiie  ease 
in  such  circumstances,  strengthened 
r-„»h  ,,  the  hands  and  increased  the  rigor  of 
biirary  de-  the  monarch.  It  soon  appeared  that 
creeofFcr-  the  restoration  of  the  absolute  gov- 
dinand._  ernment,and  the  chief  privilegesof  the 
nobles,  had  been  resolved  on  by  the 
camarilla  which  ruled  the  State.  Already,  on 
loth  September,  a  decree  had  been  issued  re- 
storing the  feudal  and  seignorial  privileges  of 
the  nobles,  which  had  been  abolished  by  a  de- 
cree of  the  Cortes  on  6th  August,  1811  ;  and 
thi.s  was  soon  followed  up  by  the  still  more 
decisive  step  of  reinvesting  the  council  of  the 
Mesta  with  its  old  and  ruinous  right  of  permit- 
ting its  Hocks  to  pasture  at  will  over  the  downs 
in  Leon,  Estremadura,  and  the  two  Castiles,  thus 
rendering  the  inclosure  of  the  land  or  the  im- 
provement of  the  soil  impracticable.  On  14th 
October,  on  occasion  of  the  king's  going  to  the 
theatre  of  Madrid,  an  amnesty  for  State  otfenders 
was  published,  which  professed  to  be  general, 
but  contained  so  many  exceptions  that  it  in 

reality  was  little  more  tlian  nominal ; 

and  tiie  resolution  of  the  Government 
to  extinguish  any  thing  like  free  discussion  in  the 
kingdom  was  evinced  by  the  king  in  person  ar- 
resting and  committing  to  prison  M.  de  Macanaj', 
the  Minister  of  Justice  and  of  the  Interior.  Soon 
after,  the  state  prisoners  at  Madrid  were  sen- 
Dec.  17.  tenced,  some  to  ten,  some  to  six,  and 
2  Monitcur,  some  to  two  years  of  tlie  galley's,  or 
Nov.  It,  ofimprisonment in  sti-oiig castles;  and 
25  IblT-  *'"'*y  in'^luded  the  editors  of,  or  con- 
Ann.  Keg.  tributors  to,  the  Jicdacta  General,  and 
1811,  77,  princii)al  liberal  journals  published 
'"•  at  Madrid.^- 

Open  war  was  now  proclaimed  by  the  Span- 
39.  ish  Government  against  the  liberals 
Further  of  all  grades,  and,  unhappil}',  tlie  vio- 
violentpro-  le^ce  ^f  ti,e  Government  kept  pace 
the  kin",  With  the  increasing  desire  ot  the  in- 
and  Porli-  habitants  of  the  great  towns  for  con- 
cr's  revolt,  stitutional  privileges.  As  it  lind  now 
become  a  matter  of  imminent  danger  to  liazanl 
such  opinions  in  public,  tlie  liberal  leaders  had 
recourse  to  the  usual  resource  of  n  zealous  and 
determined  party  under  such  cireumHlaiice.s. 
ISecret  societies  were  formed  under  the  direction 
of  the  chiefs  of  their  party,  and  the  ancient  and 
venerable  order  of  freemasons  was  laid  hold  of 
as  a  cover  for  designs  against  the  Government. 
Vol.  I.— 0 


Nov. 


The  Inquisition,  in  consequence,  issued  a  pro- 
clamation denouncing  these  societies;  ..  .  , 
and  ere  long  it  appeared  that  there  was 
too  much  foundation  for  their  apprehensions. 
On  18th  September,  General  Porlier,  who  liad 
greatly  signalized  himself  in  the  Peninsula, 
assembled  the  troops  stationed  at  St.  Lucia 
without  the  gates  of  Corunna  at  night,  and  sud- 
denly entering  the  city,  the  sentinels  of  whi<-h 
had  been  gained,  put  the  Captain-general  (  f 
Galicia,  the  governor  of  the  town,  and  a  f>  \v 
other  persons,  under  arrest.  Iso  sooner  w.is 
this  done  than  he  issued  a  proclamation,  in 
which  he  proposed  the  reassembling  of  the 
Cortes,  and  dismissal  of  the  Ministers;  and  an- 
other, purporting  to  be  from  the  ,  MonUeur, 
Provincial  Junta  of  Galicia,  rmder  scpt.  29, 
the  "presidency  of  General  Porlier,  1613;  Ann. 
General-commandant  of  the  Interior  ^..S-  ^^^^' 
of  the  Kingdom."' 

In  taking  these  bold  steps,  which  at  once 
committed  him  with  the  Government,  3g_ 
the  principal  reliance  of  Porlier  was  Its  failure 
on  a  bod^'  of  grenadiers  and  light  ^^^  '"^ 
infantry  stationed  at  St.  lago,  which  ^^^ '' 
he  had  reason  to  believe  would  join  him.  Being 
informed,  however,  that  they  hesitated,  and 
that  his  presence  might  probably  determir.e 
them,  he  set  out  in  haste  from  Corunna  at  the 
head  of  eight  hundred  men  and  four  guns,  and 
arrived  at  a  village  within  four  leagues  of  St. 
lago,  where  he  halted  to  rest  his  men,  who 
were  much  fatigued  by  their  march.  While 
there,  some  emissaries  from  the  convent  of  St. 
lago  introduced  thdmselves  in  disguise  among 
his  men,  and  urged  them  to  arrest  their  general 
by  the  promises  of  ample  rewards  in  case  of 
success.  These  promises  proved  successful . 
Porlier  and  his  officers  were  suddenly  sur- 
rounded and  seized  by  their  own  men,  while 
reposing  in  a  cabaret  in  the  heat  of  the  day 
after  their  march ;  and  the  general,  q^^  3 
being  taken  back  to  Corunna,  was  con- 
demned by  a  court-martial  to  be  hanged,  which 
sentence  was  immediately  carried  into  execu- 
tion, lie  wrote,  on  the  eve  of  his  death,  a 
pathetic  letter  to  his  wife,  with  a  handkerchief 
steeped  in  his  tears,  in  which  he  exhorted  her 
not  to  afflict  herself  on  account  of  the  species 
of  death  to  which  he  was  sentenced,  since  it 
was  dishonorable  only  to  the  wicked,  but  glori- 
ous to  the  virtuous.  He  met  his  fate  with 
dignity  and  resolution.  Then  began  the  days 
of  tragedy  in  Spain,  which  ere  long  led  to  such 
frightful  reprisals  on  both  sides,  and  for  many 
long  years  deluged  the  Peninsula  wiih  blood: 
the  unhappy  bequest  of  the  in.sanc  liberals, 
who  established  a  constitution  ut-  ;M„„itpur 
terly  repugnant  to  the  vast  niajorily  Od.  lo, 
f)f  the  people,  but  eminently  allrae-  1815;  Ann. 
live  to  the  anhnt  and  generous  f^f  ''*'*' 
among  the  educated  classes.^ 

In   the  end    of  August,   one  Sjianish    arm\-, 
under  Castanos,  crossed  the  frontier  .. 

near  Perpignan  ;  and  another,  uiuhjr  invasion  of 
the  Conde   d'Abisbal,   tlie   Biilassoa,   France 
witli  the  professed  design  of  aiding  iiii'l  retreat 
Louis  XVJII.  in  liis  contest  with  tlie  spai'iiarda. 
partisans  of  Napoleon.     As  that  con-  Fmsli  ty- 
testhad  been  already  decided  by  the  rannical 
battle  of  Waterloo  and  the  presence  U;"^^^"'  ""' 
of  a  nii'.lion  of  t!ie  allied  troops  iu 


•210 


11  ISTOU  V    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.  VII. 


Franco,  it  niny  rontlilv  bo  imniriiKHl  tlmt  tho 
prosoiK'o  of  tho  Spaiusli  niixiliarios  was  any 
tliini;  but  dosirabb',  and  ai'i-ortlingly  tho  Diiko 
d'Aniroiilonio,  n:*  alroadv  nioiitionod,  hastoiiod 
to  tho  Spaiiish  l»oad-<iuartor.s  wlioro  lio  liad  an 
intorviow  with  C'astancs,  whuin  l»o  pnvailod  on 
to  rotiro;  and  his  rotroat  on  tho  oastern  was 
soon  after  followod  by  that  of  tlie  Condo 
Sept.  4.  d'Abisbal  on  the  western  frontier.' 
'  Ame,  c.  The  j^eoplo  both  in  ranipeluna  and 
ill.  «  2'J.  Coruiuia  had  taken  no  part  in  tiio 
attempts  of  Mina  and  Porlier;  tlie  latter  liad 
been  publicly  thanked  by  the  king  for  their 
conduct  on  tho  occasion.  It  was  hoped,  there- 
fore, that  no  measures  of  severity  would  follow 
the  suppression  of  these  insurrections;  and  the 
dismissal,  soon  after  the  death  of  Porlier,  of 
several  of  the  ministers  most  inclined  to  arbi- 
trary measures,  led  to  a  general  hope  that  a 
more  moderate  system  was  about  to  be  adopted, 
and  that  possibly  a  Cortes  convoked  according 
to  the  ancient  customs  might  be  assembled. 
But  these  hopes  were  soon  blasted  ;  and  before 
the  end  of  the  year  the  determination  of  the 
king  to  act  upon  the  most  arbitrary  principles 
was  evinced  in  the  most  unequivocal  manner. 
The  trial  of  the  liberals  who  had  been  arrested 
in  Madrid,  among  whom  were  included  several 
of  the  ministers  of  state,  and  most  distinguished 
members  of  the  late  Cortes,  began  in  November; 
but  after  long  proceedings,  and  a  transference 
of  the  cases  from  one  tribunal  to  another, 
which  it  was  thought  might  be  more  subserv- 
ient to  the  roj-al  will,  the  judges  of  the  last 
reported  that  the  evidence  against  the  accused 
was  not  such  as  to  bring  them  within  the  laws 
against  traitors  or  persons  exciting  tumults  and 
disturbances,  which  alone  authorized  severe 
punishments.  Upon  receiving  this  report  the 
king  ordered  the  proceedings  to  be  brought  to 
him,  and  pronounced  sentences  of  the  severest 
kind,  and  entirely  illegal,  on  thirty-two  of  the 
leading  liberals  in  Spain,  which  he  signed  with 
bis  own  hand.  Among  these  was  one  of  ten 
years'  service,  as  a  common  soldier,  in  a  regi- 
ment stationed  at  Ceuta,  on  the  celebrated 
Senor  Arguelles,  whose  eloquence  had  so  often 
resounded  through  the  halls  of  the  Cortes ;  and 
one  of  eight  years  of  service  i/i  chains,  in  a  regi- 
2  Ann.  Reg.  ment  stationed  at  Gomera,  on  Sefior 
1615, 118,  Garcia  Herreros,  formerly  Minister 
^'^-  of  Grace  and  Justice !  ^ 

Notwithstanding  these  severities,  the  situa- 
41.  tion  of  the  king  was  very  hazardous 
Change  of  at  Madrid,  and  secret  information 
ministers,  g^Q^  after  reached  him,  which  con- 
at  Madrid,  vinced  him  that  a  change  in  the  53-5- 
Jan.  26,  tem  of  government  had  become  in- 
1616.  dispensable.    The  extreme  penury  of 

the  treasury,  from  the  loss  of  nearly  all  the  re- 
sources derived  from  South  America,  and  the 
distracted  state  of  society  in  Spain  after  the  six 
years'  dreadful  war  of  which  the  Peninsula  had 
been  the  theatre,  rendered  it  impossible  to 
maintain  the  national  armaments  on  any  thing 
like  an  adequate  scale ;  and  if  it  had  been 
practicable,  it  was  doubtful  whether  the  danger 
of  convulsion  would  not  be  thereby  increased, 
since  the  whole  revolts  came  from  the  army, 
and  had  been  organized  by  its  leading  officers. 
The  precarious  condition  of  the  royal  authority 
was  the  more  strongly  felt,  that  the  clergy. 


though  possessed  of  unbounded  influence  over 
their  llocks,  and  invaluable  allies  in  a  protracts 
ed  .struggle,  had  no  armed  force  at  tiicir  com- 
mand to  meet  the  rebellious  bands  of  the  sol- 
diery, whom  the  liberal  leaders  had  shown 
they  could  so  easily  array  against  the  Govern- 
ment. The  weight  of  these  considerations  ere 
long  appeared  in  a  partial  change  of  the  min- 
istry. To  the  surprise  of  all,  there  appeared 
in  the  Madrid  Gazette  of  28th  January, 
1810,  a  decree  appointing  the  celebrat-  ^"'  "  ' 
ed  and  enlightened  Don  Pedro  de  Ccvallos  to 
his  former  office  of  First  Secretary  of  State, 
and  admitting  that  his  dismissal,  on  the  resump- 
tion by  the  king  of  the  roj-al  authority,  had 
been  founded  on  erroneous  information.*  By 
the  same  decree,  the  cognizance  of  state  offenses 
was  taken  from  the  extraordinary  tribunals,  by 
which  they  had  hitherto  been  tried,  and  re- 
mitted to  the  ordinary  tribunals.  This  was  a 
great  step  toward  a  more  just  system  of  admin- 
istration ;  and  the  changed  policy  of  the  Court 
was  at  the  same  time  evinced  by  the  conferring 
of  honors  and  offices  on  the  ministers  who  had 
formed  the  cabinet  of  Don  Pedro  de  Cevallos, 
thoBgh  they  were  not  reinstated  in  the  min- 
istry. These  advances  toward  a  liberal  gov- 
ernment, however,  had  no  efl'ect  in  checking 
the  conspiracies,  for  one  was  soon  after  dis- 
covered at  Madrid,  chiefly  among  ^  . 
half-pay  officers,  who  had  flocked  peb^'s  *"'"' 
there  in  great  numbers — which,  how-  ibi6 ;  Ann. 

ever,  was  supi)ressed   without   any  '^^g.  ifcie, 

•      ,   ^  ■*■  "^    1014  11(1 

commotion.'  ^-^'  ^"^"• 

It  soon  appeared,  also,  that  if  the  liberals 
were  determined  on  continuing  their        42. 
conspiracies,  the  king  was  not  less  set  Restoration 
on  rushing  headlong  into  the  most  "'  ^^'^  •'^^' 
arbitrary  measures. ,    A  severe  de-  other  des- 
eree  against  all  persons  bearing  arms  potic  meas- 
after  nightfall  was  issued  on  20tli  """^s. 
March,  and  another  on  4th  December.     The 
discovery  of  the   conspiracy  at  Madrid  was 
made  the  pretense  for  innumerable  arrests  in 
every  town,  and  almost  every  village,  in  the 
kingdom,  of  persons  who  w^ere  found  meeting 
after  ten  at  night ;  and  the  utmost  terror  was 
struck  into  the  persons  apprehended,  and  their 
relations,  by  the  information  that,  on  the  19lh 
July,  the  State  prisoners  at  Ceuta,  who 
embraced  most  of  the  members  of  the       ^ 
late  Cortes,  had  been  removed  at  dead  of  night, 
put  in  irons,  and  hurried  on  board  a  zebecque, 
which  set  sail  with  them  on  an  unknown  desti- 
nation.    In  fact,  they  were  conveyed  to  Port 
Mahon  in  Minorca,  whei'e  it  was  thought  they 
would  be  more  secure.     And  about  the  j  , .  p, 
same  time  a  decree  appeared  which  re-       ■' 
vealed,  in  a  still  more  decisive  manner,  the 
determination  of  Government  permanently  to 
destroy  freedom  of  thought.    Kot  content  with 
enthralling  the  present,  they  aimed  at  throw- 
ing their   chains   over  the  future ;  and  a  de- 
cree issued  in  July,  re-establishing  the  order 


*  "  Considering  as  unfounded  the  motives  which  in- 
duced nie  to  order  your  discharge  from  the  office  of  my 
First  Secretary  of  State  and  of  the  Cabinet,  and  being 
highly  satisfied  with  the  zeal,  exactitude,  and  afiec- 
lion  with  which,  in  the  cruelest  times,  you  have  served 
rnyself  and  the  State,  I  reinstate  you  in  the  use  and  ex- 
ercise of  your  office,  of  which  you  will  immediately 
take  charge."  —  Decree,  26th  January,  1616.  — Madrid 
Gazette. 


ISlC] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


211 


of  the  Jesuits,  restoring  to  them  their  posses- 
1  pepree  sioiis  in  so  far  as  they  had  not  been 
July  24, '  alienated,  and  intrusting  them  with 
1816;  Mon-  the  entire  direction  of  education, 
'/^"sie^""  ^^'•^  °^^^*^  ^°*^  female,  threatened 
Ann  Reg.  to  throw  the  same  chains  perman- 
1816, 130°  enti}'  over  the  souls  of  the  peo- 
^3'-  ple.i 

An  event  occurred  in  the  autumn  of  this  year, 
43  which  was  fondly  looked  forward  to 

Double        by  the  persecuted  liberals  as  a  har- 
marriages     bingcr  of  rest,  and  that  was  a  double 
of  the  royal  ^jjig^  Qf  ^he  royal  families  of  Spain 
families  of         3  r,     .         1     i'      i  •         j       \         ■ 
Spain  and    and  Portugal,    terdmand,  who,  smce 

Portugal,  the  loss  of  his  young  and  captivating 
Sept.  28.  consort  in  1808,  had  been  a  widower, 
now  resolved  to  afford  a  chance  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  direct  line  of  succession,  by 
entering  into  a  second  marriage,  and,  by  the 
advice  of  his  Council,  he  determined  on  making 
proposals  to  his  niece,  the  Infanta  Maria  Isabel 
Francisca,  second  daughter  of  the  King  of  Por- 
tugal. At  the  same  time,  proposals  were  made 
for  an  alliance  between  Don  C.\rlos,  the  King's 
younger  brother,  and  the  heir-presumptive  to 
the  throne,  for  whom  so  adventurous  a  fate  was 
reserved,  and  the  Infanta  Maria  Francisca  de 
Acis,  third  daughter  of  the  same  sovereign. 
Both  proposals  were  accepted  ;  and  as  the  prin- 
cesses were  at  Rio  Janerio,  where  the  royal 
family  of  Portugal  had  been  since  their  flight 
thither  in  1808,  when  Portugal  was  first  over- 
run by  the  French,  the  Duque  del  Infantado  was 
sent  with  a  splendid  retinue  to  Cadiz,  to  receive 
the  princesses  on  their  landing  from  Brazil. 
The  marriages  were  both  celebrated  with  great 

„„    pomp  at  Madrid  on  the  28th  Septem- 
Sept.  28.  {,       '       J  .,  •  .  ^     ^ 

^  ber ;  and  on  this  occasion  an  amnesty, 

which  professed  to  be  general,  was  published. 
It  contained,  however,  so  many  exceptions  as 
practically  left  it  in  the  power  of  Government 
to  continue,  with  scarce  any  limitation,  the 
oppression  of  the  liberals,  for  it  excluded  all 
persons  charged  with  the  following  crimes 
■ — "Lese  majesty,  divine  and  human  treason, 
homicide  of  priests,  blasphemy,  coining  false 
money,  exporting  prohibited  articles,  resisting 
2  Decree  ^-'^^  officers  of  justice,  and  mal-admin- 
Sept.  2S,  istration  in  the  exercise  of  the  royal 
1816;  Mon-  powers."  There  were  few  crimes  con- 
5  1816  •  nected  with  the  State  which  migh't 
Ann.  Reg.  not,  with  the  aid  of  a  little  straining, 
1816, 130,  be  brought  within  some  one  of  these 
exceptions." 
An  event  connected  with  the  Peninsula  oc- 
44.  curred  in  tlie  close  of  the  preceding 
Creation  of  year,  and  was  heard  of  in  Europe  in 
the  king-  tj,;,^  strongly  illustrative  of  the  vast 
Brazil.  consefpicnees  which  wore  to  follow 

Dec.  23,  to  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  eartli 
1815.  from    the    events    following   on    the 

French  Revolution.  On  December  28,  181/5, 
the  Prince-Regent  of  Portugal,  who  had  never, 
since  the  migration  of  the  royal  family,  quittcid 
the  shores  of  Jirazil,  issued  a  decree,  in  which, 
after  enumerating  the  vast  extent  and  bound- 
less capabilities  of  his  dominions  in  the  New 
World,  and  the  benefits  which  would  rcstilt 
from  the  entire  tinion  of  the  dominions  of  the 
house  of  Portugal  in  both  hetnispherfs,  he  de- 
clared that  the  colony  of  Brazil  should  thence- 
forward be  elevated  to  the  ra.vk  of  a  kingooji  ; 


and  directed  that,  in  future,  Portugal,  the  two 
Algarves,   and  Brazil,   shall  form   one   united 
kingdom,  under  the  title  of  the  "United  King- 
dom of  Portugal,  Brazil,  and  the  two  Algarves." 
Thus  was  monarchy,  for  the  first  time,  erected 
by  the  European  race  in  the  Xew  World — an 
event  of  the  more  importance  that  the  immense 
territories  of  the  house  of  Braganzain  the  New 
World,  embracing  above  four  times  the  area 
of  Old  France,  were  placed  alongside  of  the 
newly  emancipated  republics,  broken  off  from 
the   dominions  of  Spain   in    the   same  hemis- 
phere; and  thus  an  opportunity  was  aftbrded 
of  demonstrating,   by  actual   experiment,    the 
compai-ative  influence  of   the  mon-  i  Decree, 
arehical  and  republican  forms  of  gov-  Dec.  28, 
erntuent  on  the  welfare  of  the  species  ."^'^  •  p  °J^ 
under  the  climate  of  South  America,  ]c  ibje 
and  with  the  Iberian  or  Celtic  family  Ann.  Reg. 
of  mankind.'  '^16,  131. 

The  year  1817  commenced  with  an  insurrec- 
tion of  a  more  serious  character  than 
had  yet  occurred   in  the  Peninsula,  ingur^ec- 
Unlike  the  preceding,  it  began,  not  tion  in 
with  the  soldiers,  but  the  citizens.    A  Valencia, 
trifling  tax  on  coals  excited  a  tumult  in  jg"^  ''•• 
Valencia  on  the  17th  January,  which 
ere  long  assumed  the  character  of  an  insurrec- 
tion. At  first  the  populace  Avere  successful ;  and 
during  the  whole  of  the  17th  the  city  was,  with 
the  exception  of  the  barracks,  in  their  posses- 
sion.    They  immediately  proclaimed  the  Con- 
stitution of  1812;  but  their  triumph  was  of 
short  duration.    General  Elio,  who  commanded 
the  garrison,  concentrated  his  forces;  the  troops 
continued  faithful ;  the  respectable  inhabitants 
remained  in  their  houses,  and  took  no  part  in 
the  insurrection;    and    the  populace,  meeting 
with  no  other  support  than  what  they  could  de- 
rive from  their  own  numbers,  were  at  length 
defeated,  but  not  before  much  blood  had  been 
shed,  and  General  Elio  himself  wounded.     He 
immediately  published    a   severe    decree,    de- 
nouncing the  penalty  of  death  against  all  per- 
sons, except  those  privileged  as  cavaliers  to  carry 
arms,  found  with  weapons  in  the  dark,  and  au- 

thorizinsr  the  patrol  to  fire  upon  them.  ,,     ,  „ 
„,,  .  "         '     r  11  11  1  March  2. 

llus  was  soon  followed  by  a  decree 

prohibiting  the  importation  of  a  great  variety 
of  books  into  Sjiain,  among  which  the  works 
of  Voltaire,  Gibbon,  and  Robertson,  Benjamin 
Constant,  and  a  great  many  others,  are  specially 
mentioned  as  "  false  in  politics,  and  to  the  hie- 
rarchical order,  subversive  of  the  power  of  the 

church,  and  tending  to  schism  and  , ,,     ., 

,.    .    '        ,       ^.        fe    ,  .  .        ,      ^Monitcur, 

religious  toleration,  anil  pernicious  to  pg),  2 

the  state."  It  was  easy  to  see  what  1817  ;  Ann. 
influence  liad  been  predominant  in  IV^/.o''' 
the  jireparation  of  this  decree."  '' 

Ere  long  another  conspiracy  broke  out  in 
Barcelona  of  a  very  extensive  charac-  .p^ 

ter,    in    which    (ienerals    Lacy   and  Abortive 
Milans,  who  had  distinguished  them-  conspirary 
selves  so  much  in  the  late  war,  were  j"  ''""■'''■" 
implicated,      liu-  obji'ct  of  the  con-  ,|,.ath  of 
spirators,  as  of  all  I  Ik;  preceding  ones,   (lenorul 
was  the  re-estaiilishment  of  the  Con-  Lacy, 
stitution  of  1 8 1 2,  and  tlie  convoking  of  the  Cortes. 
It  was  to  have  broken  out  on  the  night  of  April 
6,  and  a  great  number  of  officers,  be-    .     ..  , 
sides  a  considerable  part  of  the  bat- 
talion of  the  light  infantry  of  Tarragona,  were 


212 


IIISTOIIY    OF   EUR  OPE. 


[ClIAI-.  VII. 


etiitniriHl  on  tlio  siilo  of  the  coiispinitors.  Cas- 
tiifios,  tlio  oaplain-iienoral  of  llio  |irovinco,  how- 
evor,  ivi'i'ivi'd  iiitolliiii'iioe  of  tlu'  plot,  ami 
arro.-toil  Laoy  aiul  throo  luinJroil  otticors  wlio 
wei-f  implioatoil  iii  his  designs,  lie  was  innue- 
tliatoh"  tried  by  a  court-martial,  and  sentenced 
, ,,  ,'-  ,  to  be  shot.'  IJeiniisent  over,  however, 
proi-lainu-  ti>  Minorca,  to  liave  the  sentence  car- 
i:o!i,  .\|inl  riod  into  execution,  as  it  was  deemed 
10.  K-IT  ;  „„j;.if,>  to  attempt  it  in  Spain,  he  at- 
Mav  7.  tempted,  wlien  on  the  beaeli  ot  tliai 

I?!':,  Ann.  island,  and  attended  only  by  a  .<leii- 
'^<^?-  y^l'i  der  escort  of  prisoners,  to  make  his 
ll'J,  120.  pj^.„p^,  Xiie  soldiers  pursued  him, 
and  in  endeavoring  to  defend  himself  he  was, 
fortunately  for  himself,  accidentally  killed. 
A  very  important  papal  bull  was  issued  in 
4-  the  same  moiitii,  regarding  the  j)rop- 
Papal  bull  erty  of  the  church  in  Spain.  Such 
regardiii':  1,^1  become  the  penury  of  the  ro3al 
bmion"bv"  t^'casury,  in  consec^uence  of  the  loss 
tiiespanish  of  the  South  American  colonies,  and 
Ctiurch  the  cessation  of  industry  in  Spain 
April  16.  during  the  dreadful  war  of  which,  for 
6i.x  years,  it  had  been  the  theatre,  that  it  had 
become  absolutely  necessary  to  have  recourse 
to  some  extraordinary  resources,  and  the  church, 
as  tlie  body  which  was  most  tractable  and  capa- 
ble of  bearing  such  a  burden,  was  selected  to 
make  up  the  deficiencj-.  A  negotiation  in  con- 
sequence was  opened  with  the  court  of  Rome, 
to  which  the  necessity  of  the  case  was  fully  re- 
presented, and  the  consequence  was,  that  on  the 
IGth  April  a  papal  bull  was  issued,  which,  on 
the  narrative  of  the  '"enormous  expenses  at 
which  we  have  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  an 
extremely  glorious  victory  gained,  as  well  for 
religion  as  the  monarchy,  authorized  Ferdinand 
to  exact  annually,  during  six  years,  the  sum  of 
30,000,000  reals  ^£300,000)  from  the  estates  of 
the  church,  as  well  regular  as  secular."  This  was 
an  immense  relief  to  the  treasury,  but,  great  as  it 
appears,  it  was  not  more  than  sufficient  to  fill 

, ,,    .         up  the  annual  deficit  which  had  been 

2  Moniteur,  j.      n     •  ■        •        ^i, 

April  29       constantly  increasing  smce  the  restor- 

l^i7;Ann.  ation.  Such  as  it  was,  however,  it 
lof^'io^^"'  ^^'^  ^'^  incalculable  calamities,  both 
'  '  to  the  nation  and  the  monarchy.^ 

The  King  of  Spain  had  certain  claims  on  the 
43  part  of  the  Infanta,  Queen  of  Etruria, 
Treaty  re-  on  the  states  of  Parma,  Placentia, 
garding  the  Guastalla,  which  had  been  made  the 
Et^iTr^a"'^  subject  of  anxious  claim  and  negotia- 
tion at  the  Congress  of  Vienna  in  181 5, 
and  subsequently  wdth  the  allied  powers.  Such 
were  the  difficulties  with  which  the  question 
was  involved  that  it  led  to  a  very  protracted 
negotiation,  which  was  not  brought  to  a  con- 
clusion till  this  year,  when  a  treaty  was  con- 
eluded,  by  which,  on  the  one  hand,  Spain  w'as 
admitted  into  the  European  alliance  and  the 
treaties  signed  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna ;  and, 
on  the  other,  the  reversion  of  the  duchies  of 
Parma,  Placentia,  and  Guastalla  was  secured  to 
the  Infant  Don  Carlos  Louis,  the  Infanta's  son; 
'  Treaty,  find  until  that  reversion  opened,  the 
May  5,  states  of  Lucca  were  assigned  to  her 
te^n3''sur'  P^iij^sty  the  Queen  of  Etruria.  It  is 
vii.  122;  ill  virtue  of  this  treaty  that  the  pres- 
Ann.  Reg.  ent  Duke  of  Parma,  who  married  the 
1617, 121.  daughter  of  the  Duke  de  Berri,  now 
enjoys  the  duchy  of  Parma.  ^ 


In  the  close  of  this  year  the  negotiations,  so 
long  and  anxiously  conducted  on  the         49. 
]>art  of  the  Pritisli  government,   for  Treaty  for 
tlic  sui>prossion   of  llio  slave  trade,  ""-■ '"'"ii!'- 

,'    '  1    .       .  4-     1       •  'lO'l  Of  tilt! 

wore    Lirouglit   to  a   successlul    issue  Riave trade, 
with  Spain.     Py  it  tlie  King  of  Si)ain  Dec.  20, 
prohibited,   absolutely  and   immedi-  1^'"- 
ately,  all  purchase  of  negroes  in  Africa  north  of 
the  line,  and  denounced  ten  years'  transporta- 
tion against  whoever  should  infringe  the  pres- 
ent decree.     Leave  was  to  be  given,  however, 
to  ]iurchase  slaves  south  of  the  line,  to  such  as 
might  appl}-  for  a  license  to  that  cfl'ect,  until  the 
30th  May,  1820,  wluiii  it  was  to  cease  absolutely 
and  for  ever  in  the  Spanish  dominions  in  every 
jiart  of  the  world.     Foreign  vessels  trading  to 
Spanish  ports  were  to  be  subject  to  the  samo 
regulations,  in  every  respect,  as  the  Spanish. 
This  decree  was  only  extorted  from  Spain  with 
great  difficulty  by  the  British  government,  by 
the  engagement,  as  already  mentioned,  on  their 
part,  to  pay  to  Spain  £4u0,000  for  the  aboli- 
tion, on  20th  Feb.  1818,  which  was  punctually 
done.^     It  is  a  singular  circumstance, 
as  creditable  to  the  English  as  it  was  iv''^r4*5  *^' 
discreditable  to  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment, that  the  one  consented  to  give  and  the 
other  to  receive  so  considerable  a  sum  for  an 
act  called  for  by'every  consideration  of  human- 
ity and  justice.2     It  will  appear  in  2  pg^ree 
the  sequel  how  entirely  both  parties  Dec.  26, ' 
to  this  treaty  departed  from  the  ob-  isn  ;  Mo- 
jectithad  in  view,  and  how  the  one,  5'']lJ[i'!'^"' 
by  its  fiscal  policy,  restored  the  .slave  I'ari,  Deb. 
trade  to  a  frightful  extent,  and  the  xxxvii.  07, 
other,  by  repeated  evasions,  contin-  qgji'^'jJ' 
ued  to  practice  it  until  it   arose   to  g^gg  pg^ 
the  enormous  amount  of  from  fifty  1817;  Ann. 
to  seventy  thousand  slaves  annually  ^^s-  lf>l'> 
sent  into  Cuba  alone. 

The  internal  situation  of  Spain  had  not  sen- 
sibly ameliorated  during   the  j'cars        50. 
the  transactions  of  which  have  been  Miserable 
now   briefly   enumerated.     The   In-  |.""!^°'^. 
quisition  had  spread  its  leaden  arms  army  and 
over  the  kingdom,  and  crushed  any  navy, 
approach  to  independent  thought:    the  sever- 
ance  of  South  America  had  dried  up  the  princi- 
pal sources  of  its  material  industry.    The  armj-, 
in   great   part   without   pay,    always  long  iu 
arrears,  was  with  difficulty  lield  to  its  standards, 
and  the  effective  strength  of  the  regiments  ex- 
hibited a  very  different  return  from  the  rolls  on 
paper.     So  great  had  the  dilapidation  of  the 
military  force  of  the  kingdom  become,  from  the 
penury  of  the  Exchequer,  and  discontent  and 
desertion  of  the  troops,  that  by  a  decree  on 
June   1,   its  organization  was  entirely  j 

changed,  and  they  were  divided  into 
forty-seven  regiments  of  common  and  light  in- 
fantry, twenty-two  regiments  of  cavalry,  five 
thousand  artillery,  two  regiments  of  guards:  iu 
all,  seventy  thousand  men,  to  which  were  to  be 
added  forty-three  regiments  of  provincial  militia, 
which  mustered  about  thirty  thousand  combat- 
ants. As  to  the  navy,  it  had  fallen  into  such  a 
state  of  decay,  that  the  power  which,  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty  jears  before,  had  fitted  out  the 
invincible  Armada,  and  planted  such  magnificent 
colonics  in  the  Indies,  and  even  in  later  times 
had  all  but  rivaled  the  jtower  of  England  upon 
the  seas,  was  unable  to  lit  out  a  fleet  to  trans- 


181S.  1 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


:i3 


j>ort  the  military  succors  wliicli  were  so  loudly 
c.illed  for  to  the'Xew  World.  In  this  extremity 
the  Government,  with  the  money  extorted  the 
preceding  year  from  the  priests,  bought  a  sguad- 
ro7i  of  old  worn-out  line-of-battle  ships  from 
Russia,  to  which  Alexander,  out  of  pure  gener- 
osity, added  three  frigates  in  a  present.  Such, 
however,  was  their  state  of  decay  that  they  took 
live  months  to  make  the  voj'age  from  Cronstadt 
to  Cadiz,  and  had  to  put  into  Plymouth  to 
'Ann  His-  refit.^  At  length  the  squadron  arrived 
torique,  i.  at  Cadiz,  on  '21st  February,  and  two 
301, 302.  thousand  men  were  embarked  on 
board  of  it  for  Lima. 

The  extreme  penury  of  the  finances,  in  conse- 
5j  qiience  of  the  loss  of  the  mines  of 

Extreme  South  America  to  the  Government, 
penury  of  jvnd  its  commerce  to  the  country,  was 
es  orspam.  ^^^^  cause  of  this  woeful  state  of  de- 
Decree,  crepitude — a  memorable  proof  of  the 
April  3,  straits  to  which  even  the  greatest 
^^"^'  naval  power  may  be  reduced  by  the 

severance  of  its  colonies.  The  government  vras 
overwhelmed  with  demands  for  payment  of 
debts  by  foreign  countries,  when  by  no  possible 
contrivance  could  they  raise  money  to  pay 
their  own  armaments.  The  most  pressing  part 
of  the  debt  consisted  of  1,500,000,000  reals 
(£14,500,000),  composed  of  vales,  a  species  of 
assignats  issued  in  former  times  by  the  treasury. 
The  Cortes  had  provided  for  the  payment  of 
the  interest  of  this  debt  by  assignation  of  the 
property  of  the  Inquisition ;  but  as  the  restora- 
tion of  the  property  of  that  body  left  nothing 
for  the  creditors,  the  minister  of  finance,  by  a 
decree  on  3d  April,  reduced  the  debts  to  a  third 
of  their  amount,  and  made  provision  for  the 
interest  of  that  third  from  the  estates  of  the 
j^  Church.  By  another  decree,  Corunna, 

Santander,  Cadiz,  and  Alicante  were 
declared  free  ports — a  vain  attempt  to  restoi'e 
the  commerce  to  which  the  loss  of  the  colonies 
had  brought  total  ruin.  A  manifesto  was  pre- 
pared, and  submitted  in  the  end  of  the 
''  ■  ■  year  to  the  Congress  of  Aix  la  Chapelle, 
to  be  addressed  to  the  revolted  colonies,  which 
promised  them  an  amnesty  for  the  past,  refor- 

1  A^  Ti-  .    mation  of  abuses,  and  a  certain  degree 

2  An.  Ilist.       c  r         ^  c  Ti  ^ 

i.  306,  310;  01  ireedomof  commerce.     It  was  ap- 
Ann.  Reg.    proved  of  and  published,  but  proved 
1818, 129,     of  j^Q  avail  with  men  resolutely  set 
upon  asserting  their  independence.^ 
An  event  occurred  in  the  close  of  this  year, 
52.         which,  in  its  final  results,  was  attend- 
Deaih  of      ed  with  most  important  effects  upon 
Queen  |jq|.j,  kingdoms  of  the  Peninsula.     On 

Maria  isa-    „-.,      .'^       ,  ,,  „ 

bella  of  26th  December,  tlio  young  Qucon 
Spain.  Maria    Isabella,     mIio     had     arrived 

Dec.  20.  from  Brazil  in  tlie  autumn  of  1817, 
to  share  the  fortunes  of  the  King  of  Spain,  and 
who  was  very  near  her  time,  was  puildcniy 
oeized  with  convulsions,  and  expired  in  twenty 
minutes.  The  infant  was  delivered  after  the 
mother's  death  by  the  Ctesarean  o])eration,  but 
it  expired,  after  being  baptized,  in  a  ft;w  niin-  | 
utes  after  its  mother.  Being  a  female,  it  could 
not  have  succeeded  by  the  existing  law,  sanction- 
ed by  all  the  powers  of  Europe  at  the  treaty 
•■•An.  Ili.st.  of  Utrecht,  to  the  crown  of  Spain  ;^ 
i.  310.  Ijut,  this  bereavement,  by  leaving  the 

king  to  marry  again,  which,  as  will  appear  in 
the  sequel,  lie  actually  did,  was  attended  with 


j  consequences  of  the  last  moment  to  the  Pcikp.- 
sula,  and  of  general  interest  to  the  whole  o\ 
Europe.  This  death  was  almost  immediately 
followed  by  that  of  the  old  King,  Charles  1\  ., 
who  had  been  forced  to  resign  the  crown  at 
Baj-onne   in    1808,  who   expired   at  ^  .. 

Naples  on  20th  January,  1819,  a  few  3gi  ^s^  .' 
weeks  after  his  Queen,  Louisa  Maria  Moniteur, 
Theresa  of  Parma,  had  died  on  the  Jan-  29, 
road  to  that  place.'  ^^''*- 

MeanAvhile  the  preparations   for  the  grand 
expedition  to  South  America,  which        53. 
had  been  so  long  in  preparation,  went  Disastrous 
on  without  intermission  ;  although  the  ^^^^  e.\re- 
fate  which  befell  the  advanced  guard  dition  to 
of  two  frigates,   with  two  thousand  Lima, 
men,  dispatched  in  the  preceding  j-ear,  was  rot 
such  as  to  afford  very  encouraging  hopes  of  its 
ultimate  success.     The  soldiers  and  crew   on 
board  one  of  the  frigates  mutinied,  threw  the 
officers  overboard,  and  sailed  into  Buenos  Aj^res, 
where  they  were  received  with  open  arms  by 
the  insurgents,  whom  they  immediately  joined. 
The  other  was  captured  off  the  coast"  of  I'eru 
by  the  insurgent  squadron,  and  eight  thousand 
muskets  which  it  had  on  board  were  immedi- 
ately appropriated  to  their  use.     Undeterred 
by  these  disasters,  however,  the  Government 
continued  their  preparations  for  the  grand  ex- 
pedition with  the  utmost  activity;  and  by  the 
middle  of  January  fifteen  thousand  ^ 
men  were  collected  in  the   Isle  of   1819179: 
Leon,  and  six  ships  of  the  line,  in  a  Ann.  Hist, 
tolerable  state  of  equipment  for  the  '•  ^R  ^l.l . 
voyage.^  "■     -'   ^ 

The  disorganized  state  of  all  parts  of  Spain, 
however,  still  continued,  and  the  re- 
peated revolts  which  broke  out,  cspe-  pre&^h  rc- 
cially  among  the  soldiery,  might  have  volt  at  Va- 
warned  the  Government  that  a  serious  lencia, 
disaster  was  impending  over  the  mon-  which  is 

1  1  ..1     f  ^1  i.  i   suppressed 

archy,  and  that  the  great  armament  jau;  21. 

in  the  Isle  of  Leon  was  not  likely 
to  sail  without  making  its  strength  felt  by 
the  Government.  On  the  21st  January  a  fresh 
conspiracy  was  discovered  by  General  Elio  in 
Valencia,  the  object  of  which  was  to  assassinate 
him  and  his  principal  officers,  and  iunncdiately 
proclaim  the  Constitution  of  1812.  At  its  he;ul 
was  Colonel  Vidal,  who  made  a  vigorous  de- 
fense against  the  soldiers  sent  to  arrest  hini, 
and  was  only  made  prisoner  after  he  liad  been 
run  through  the  body.  He  himself  was  hanged, 
and  his  associates,  \o  the  number  of  twelve, 
shot  from  behind,  the  punishment  reserved  for 
traitors.  This  event  had  a  melancholy  cflVct 
upon  the  fate  of  the  prisoners  at  Barcelona,  who 
had  been  implicated  in  (Jcnoral  Lacy's  revolt 
in  the  ])rec<'ding  year.  They  wore  condemned 
to  death  to  the  number  of  Heventecn,  and  ex- 
ecuted withotit  mercy.  Disturbances  at  the 
same  time  broke  out  la  New  Castile,  Estrema- 
diira,  and  Andalusia,  the  roads  of  which  were 
infested  by  bands  of  old  gnci-rillas,  who  fornu'd 
themselves  into  bands  of  robiicrs,  amount iiig  ti) 
three  hundred  tmcii.  But.  all  these  disorders 
were  ere  lont^  thr<iwn  into  the  shade  by  the 
great  revolt  which  broke  out  among  „  . 
the  troops  in  the  Isle  oi  l.,eon,  which  jj  .(^^4  -j^j . 
was  alten(le<l  with  the  most  impor-  Ann.  Wvf,. 
tant  consequences  on  both  hcniis-  j^''-'i  ''**« 
phores.' 


214 


11  1  STORY    OF   KUROl'E. 


Such  hnd  been  the  penury  of  the  oxclicquor, 
niul  the  stiito  oi"  ililiipiiliition  into 
Causfs  of  'Nvhioh  tlio  once  niniinitioont  ai-seniil:* 
ilio  Tiyoli  nnd  ilockyftrils  of  Omiiz  liad  fallen, 
111  (lie  Islo  ti„jt  tlio  fitting-out  of  the  expedition, 
oi  eon.  nf(^,r  two  years'  incessant  prepara- 
tion, was  still  inconii>lete.  Two  ships  of  the 
lino  and  a  frigate  were  dispatched  on  11th  May, 
to  clear  the  coasts  of  America  of  the  insurgent 
eoi-saii-s  who  infested  them ;  but  one  of  those — 
the  Alexander — was  obliged,  a  few  days  after, 
to  return  to  Cadiz  to  refit.  During  the  long 
delay  occasioned  by  these  difliculties,  the  troops 
collected  for  the  expedition,  -which  by  tlie  end 
of  May  amounted  to  twenty-two  thousand  men 
— a  force  perfectly  capable  of  eflfecting  the  sub- 
jugation of  South  America,  had  it  arrived  in 
safety  at  its  destination — were  left  concentrated 
and  inactive  in  the  island  of  Leon.  Dtiring  the 
leisure  and  monotony  of  a  barrack  life  they  had 
leisure  to  confer  together,  to  compare  the  past 
and  present  condition  of  their  country,  and 
ruminate  on  the  probable  fate  which  awaited 
themselves  if  they  engaged  in  the  warfare  of 
South  America.  A  large  number  of  veterans, 
who  had  served  under  Murillo  in  those  disas- 
trous campaigns,  not  a  few  of  whom  were  in 
the  public  hospitals  suftering  under  severe  mu- 
tilations, gave  the  most  dismal  accounts  of  the 
dreadful  nature  of  the  warfare  on  which  they 
were  about  to  be  sent,  the  ferocious  enemies 
with  which  they  had  to  contend — the  English 
veterans  trained  imder  "Wellington,  who  formed 
so  large  a  part  of  the  insurgent  forces — the  in- 
terminable deserts  they  had  to  cross,  the  pesti- 
lential gales,  so  fatal  to  European  constitutions, 
with  which  the  country  was  infested,  and  the 
frightful  warfare,  where  quarter  was  neither 
asked  nor  given  on  either  side,  which  awaited 
them  on  their  arrival.  A  proclamation  of  the 
king,  issued  on  4tli  January,  in  which 
it  was  announced  that  no  quarter  would 
be  given  to  any  soldiers  of  foreign  nations  found 
combating  in  the  insurgent  ranks, 
ii^3g4^3'&5  rather  increased  than  diminished 
Ann.  Reg.'  these  alarms,  by  proving  the  reality 
1S19, 179 ;  of  one  of  the  many,  and  not  the  least 
f'l?8^179'  formidable,  of  the  dangers  wliich 
'  '  '  '  '  were  represented  as  awaiting  them.' 
To  these  considerations,  already  sufficiently 
5g  powerful,  were  added  the  efforts  of 

Efforts  of  the  merchants  and  revolutionists  of 
the  Cadiz  Cadiz,  who  spared  neither  their  tal- 
hberals  to  gjjj.g  jj^p  their  riches  to  induce  the 
promo  e  1  .  ^ggg^j^g^  troops  to  abandon  their 
duty  and  revolt  against  the  Government.  They 
painted  to  them  in  the  most  gloomy  colors  the 
disastrous  state  of  the  country,  with  its  colonies 
lost,  its  trade  ruined,  its  exchequer  bankrupt, 
its  noblest  patriots  in  captivity  or  in  chains,  its 
bravest  generals  shot,  its  liberties  destroyed, 
the  Inquisition  restored,  the  public  education  in 
the  hands  of  the  Jesuits,  an  inconsistent  cama- 
rilla, fluctuating  in  every  thing  except  evil, 
ruling  alike  the  monarch  and  the  country. 
They  professed  the  utmost  respect  for  the 
king,  and  the  firmest  determination  to  protect 
his  person  and  just  authority  :  the  only  object 
■was  to  displace  a  ministry,  the  worst  enemy 
he  had  in  his  dominions,  and  restore  the  Cortes, 
the  only  security  for  their  prosperitj*  and  just 
administration.      To    these   considerations,    in 


[Cn.vp.  YII. 

themselves  suilieicntly  just  and  powerful,  was 
added  the  gold  of  the  Cadiz  merchants,  who 
hojied,  by  frustrating  tlic  expedition,  to  suc- 
ceed in  re-establishing  i)cace  with  the  colonies, 
and  regaining  the  lucrative  commerce  they  had 
so  long  enjoyed  with  them.  The  result  was, 
that,  before  the  time  arrived  when  the  expedi- 
tion could  by  possibility  set  sail,  the  whole 
army  was  imbued  with  revolution-  i  Martig- 
ary  ideas,  and  only  awaited  the  sig-  nac,  i.  178, 

nal   of  a   leader   to   declare  openly  !,''•* '..A,"!!- 
•      4.1/.  i  1    '  i   Ills  \i.3b7, 

against  ti>e  Government,  and    avert  ^^f^.  ^^„ 

the    much    dreaded    departure    for  Reg'.  ibiQ, 

South  America.'  '"'•'• 

The  CoxDE  d'Abisb.al,  formerly  General 
O'Donnell,  of  Irish  extraction,  who 
had  distinguished  himself  in  Catalo-  insu^!' 
nia  during  the  late  war,  was  at  the  rcciion  at 
head  of  the  expedition.  He  was  a  Cadiz, 
man  of  a  bold  and  enterprising  char-  •'">''• 
actcr,  and  possessed  of  such  powers  of  dissimu- 
lation that  those  most  entirely,  as  they  thought, 
in  his  confidence,  were  not  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree aware  of  what  he  really  intended.  He 
had  at  first  entered  cordially  into  the  designs 
of  the  conspirators,  and  their  principal  hopes  of 
success  were  founded  on  his  heading  the  enter- 
prise. For  a  long  time  he  adopted  the  views 
of  the  disaffected,  and  from  the  knowledge 
which  they  had  of  this,  he  gained  unlimited 
influence  over  the  minds  of  the  soldiers.  But 
when  the  decisive  moment  arrived,  the  deep 
dissimulation  of  the  man  became  apparent. 
In  the  night  of  the  7th  Julv,  when  the  con- 
spiracy was  on  the  point  of  breaking  out,  the 
Conde  d'Abisbal  assembled  the  garrison  of 
Cadiz,  six  thousand  strong,  which  was  entirely 
at  his  devotion,  and  witliout  revealing  to  them 
•v^hat  he  intended  to  do,  informed  them  that  he 
was  about  to  lead  them  on  a  short  ex'pedition, 
of  which  the  success  was  certain,  and  which 
would  entitle  them  to  the  highest  rewards 
from  their  sovereign  and  country ;  but  he  re- 
quired them  to  bind  themselves  by  an  oath  to 
obey  his  orders,  whatever  they  were.  The 
soldiers,  ignorant  of  his  design,  but  having  con- 
fidence in  his  intention,  at  once  took 
the  oath,  and  as  soon  as  this  was  ii.3"8'3t.'^! 
done  he  led  them  into  the  camp  Ann.  Reg.' 
"  des  Yictoires,"  where  seven  thou-  1^19,179; 
sand  men,  destined  to  be  first  em-  ,.'^go^"|f 
barked,  were  assembled.^ 

These  troops  were  ordered  to  assemble  in 
parade  order,  and  no  sooner  was  this         sg, 
done   than   d'Abisbal   stationed   his  The  con- 
men  round  them  in  such  positions  as  spiracy  is 
torender  escape  impossible,  and  then,  nested  hy 
ordering  the  soldiers  to  load  their  d'Abisbal. 
muskets  and  the  artillerjmen  their  ^^^i'  ^■ 
pieces,  he  summoned   the   men  to  lay  down 
their  arms,  and  deliver  up  the  officers  contained 
in  a  list  which  he  had  prepared.     Resistance 
was  impossible,  as  the  men  who  were  surround- 
ed had  no  ammunition,  and  they  were  com- 
pelled to  submit.     A  hundred  and  twenty-three 
officers,    comprising   the   chiefs   of  the   army, 
were  put  under  arrest,  a  part  of  the  troops 
sent  out  of  the  camp,  and  dispersed  through 
villages  of  Andalusia,  and  three  thousand  com- 
pelled to  embark  and  set  sail  the}'  knew  not 
whither.     In   fact,  their  destination  was   the 
Havana,    where    they    arrived    iu    safety    six 


1819.] 

weeks  afterward.  Having  by  tliese  extraor- 
dinary means  gained  tliis  great  success,  suc- 
ceeded in  arresting  his  comrades,  and  crushing 
a  conspiracy  of  whicli  he  himself  had  been  tlic 
chief,  D'Abisbal  hastened  to  Madrid,  where  he 
took  credit  to  himself  for  having  at  once  de- 
feated a  dangerous  conspiracy,  and  compelled 
a  mutinous  body  of  soldiers  to  obey  orders,' 
andproceedon  their  destination.  He 
riacT'fso ;  '"^as  received  with  the  greatest  dis- 
Ann.  ilist.'  tinction  at  Court,  decorated  with  the 
389 ;  Ann.    great  ribbon  of  the  order  of  Charles 

179°"l80^^'    ^^^■''   ^^'^   '^'^   second  in   command, 
'      '      General  Saarsfield,  who  had  power- 
fully seconded  him  in  his  enterprise,  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general. 

But  these   flattering   appearances   were   of 

59.  short  duration,  and  the  discovery  of 
D'Abisbal  the  conspiracy  proved  entirely  fatal 
is  deprived  ^q  ^j^g  expedition,  with  tlie  exception 
mand  of  ^^  ^^^  three  thousand  who,  in  the 
the  expedi-  first  stupor  of  astonishment,  had  been 
tion.  hurried  on  board,  and  sent  off  to  the 
Havana.  The  Government  had  become,  with 
reason,  so  distrustful  of  the  troops  that  they 
no  longer  ventured  to  keep  them  together,  or 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Cadiz;  and  sinister 
rumors  ere  long  reached  Madrid  as  to  the  share 
which  the  Conde  d'Abisbal  had  had,  as  well  as 
his  second  in  command,  in  the  conspiracy. 
The  consequence  was  that  they  were  both 
called  to  the  capital,  under  pretense  of  giving 
personal  information  on  so  dangerous  an  affair; 
and  while  there  they  were  deprived  of  their 
commands,  and  the  direction  of  the  expedition 
intrusted  to  the  Conde  de  Calderon,  a  veteran 
of  seventy  years  of  age.  D'Abisbal  was  too 
powerful  a  man,  however,  to  be  brought  to 
judgment;  and,  to  the  surprise  of  every  one, 
this  scene  of  dissimulation  and  hypocrisy  on 
both  sides  was  brought  to  a  close  by  a  decree, 
A  ^  f.  which,  after  reciting  the  great  serv- 
2  Ann.  His.  i^^s  ^^^  had  rendered  to  his  country, 
ii.  389, 390;  appointed  him  Captain-general  of 
*^'^8i'^"^°'   -A^''^*!!"*'^  President  of  the  Audience 

of  Seville,  and  Governor  of  Cadiz.^ 
But  although  every  thing  was  thus  smootli  on 

60.  the  surface,  D'Abisbal  was  far  from 
Additional  having  really  regained  the  confidence 
measures  ^f  t|,g  Government,  and  thev  were 
of  seventy    ,    -i     ,1  .    ,  .  *  , 

on  the  part  daily  tlirown  into  greater  constorna- 

ofttieGov-  tion  by  the  discoveries  made  as  to 
ernmeut.  tlig  extent  of  the  conspirac}^  and  flic 
share  which  the  new  captain-general  had  had  in 
fomenting  it.  Great  numbers  of  officers  were 
arrested ;  but  the  Government  did  not  venture 
on  the  hazardous  step  of  bringing  them  to  jus- 
tice. They  took  the  opportunit}-,  however,  of 
acting  with  extreme  severity  in  other  quarter.s. 
Ten  officers  who  had  been  arrested  for  their  ac- 
cession to  Porlier'a  conspiracy  in  Galicia  in 
1815,  and  had  remained  in  prison  ever  since, 
were  ordered  to  be  executed  par  contumace, 
twenty  were  sent  to  the  galleys,  and  twenty- 
five  iinj)risoned  for  various  periods?.  Additional 
levies  of  troops  were  ordered  in  Galicia  and 
Catalonia,  the  mountaineers  of  whicli  provinces 
were  deemed  attached  to  the  royal  cause. 
General  Elio  adojited  the  most  rigorous  mcns- 
tire.s,  and  even  made  use  of  torture,  to  discover 
the  traces  of  a  conspiracy  which  was  suspected 
to  exist  in  Valencia,  and  to  implicate  a  large 


HISTORY   OF  EUROPE. 


215 


number  of  the  most  respectable  citizens-,  and 
every  effort  was  made  to  prevent  the  introduc- 
tion of  French  books  across  the  Pyrenees,  by 
which  it  was  suspected  the  minds  of  the  soldiers 
and  people  had  been  chiefly  corrupted.  But 
these  measures  of  precaution  proved  ineffec- 
tual :  the  importation  of  foreign  revolutionary 
books  continued,  and  the  concentration  of' 
the  troops  in  the  great  towns,  where  the 
principal  danger  was  apprehended,  ^  „. 
left  the  provinces  open  to  the  incur-  jj  3y']  3^2 .' 
sions  of  armed  bands  which  infested  Ann.  keg.' 
the  roads,  and,  in  some  instances,  '^l^>  1*''^' 
openly  proclaimed  the  constitution.' 

Still,  however,  the  preparations  for  the  ex- 
pedition continued  at  Cadiz;  but  in  gj 
the  course  of  the  autumn  a  fresh  dif-  Yellow  fe- 
ficulty  arose,  which  proved  insur-  ver  at  Ca- 
mountable.  Intheendof  July,  adan-  ^I-  ^"°' 
gerous  epidemic  broke  out  at  Cadiz, 
which  soon  spread  from  the  hospitals  to  the 
crews  of  the  ships,  and  the  troops  in  garrison, 
or  in  the  adjoining  camps  in  the  Isle  of  Leon ; 
and  though  the  punishment  of  the  galleys  was, 
in  the  first  instance,  threatened  to  the  physician 
who  gave  it  its  true  appellation,  on  the  20th  of 
August  a  proclamation  of  the  commander  ad  in- 
terim of  the  expedition,  Don  Blaise-Foumas,  an- 
nounced the  true  character  of  the  disease,  wliicli 
was  the  yellow  fever,  though  it  was  disguised 
under  the  name  of  the  (i/plnis  iterodis.  In  spile 
of  all  the  precautions  which  could  be  taken,  the 
progress  of  the  malady  was  very  rapid,  espe- 
cially among  the  indigent  and  crowded  popula- 
tion of  that  great  seaport.  Ten  thousand  were 
soon  seized  with  the  disorder — the  hospitals 
were  full — the  deaths  I'ose  to  a  hundred  a  day ; 
and  the  soldiers,  seized  with  a  sudden  panic, 
mutinied  against  their  officers,  burst  through 
the  barriers  of  the  quarantine  which  had  been 
established  round  the  island  of  Leon,  and, 
spreading  to  the  number  of  nine  thousand  over 
the  adjoining  villages  of  Andalusia,  carried  the 
seeds  of  real  contagion  and  the  terrors  of  imag- 
inary danger  wherever  they  went.  So  far  did 
the  alarm  s^pread  that  the  most  rigorous  meas- 
ures were  adopted,  to  prevent  any  communica- 
tion between  Andalusia  and  New  Castile ;  a 
sanitary  junta  of  eighty  persons  was  established 
at  Madrid  to  prevent  the  contagion  spreading 
to  the  capital ;  and  a  decree  published,  de- 
nouncing tlij  punishment  of  death  2  An.  Hist, 
against  any  person  who  should  enter  ii.  391, 392, 
the  capital,  without  a  certificate  of  Ann.  Reg. 
health,  from  the  infected  province.^         ' 

While  these  events,  fraught  with  incalculable, 
and  then  unforeseen,  conpe(pi('nce3  to  ^g 
both  hemispheres,  wore  in  progress  SaleofFlo 
in  Spain,  its  Government  was  actively  ri'la  ''>  tbe 
engaged  in  diplomatic  negotiations  of  p'JL'^'^o'!""'' 
the  most  important  character.  The 
extreme  penury  of  the  exchequer  compelled 
them  to  liave  recourse  to  every  imaginable  de- 
vice to  rcjilenish  it:  one  thought  of  was  the 
sale  of  tlie  Floridas  to  tlic  Americans,  whicli 
was  elfccfed,  under  color  of  determining  (he 
limits  of  the  two  counlries,  by  a  treaty  signed 
at  "Washington  on  22d  February.  By  this  treaty 
the  Americans  acquired  the  whole  territories 
known  liythe  name  of  the  Floridas,  between  thu 
Mississip|)i  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico — a  territory 
of  vast  extent,  and  in  great  part  of  surpassing 


21o 


HISTORY    OF  EUROTE. 


fortility.  The  price,  (.lisi^uisinl  uiuler  tlio  iiiiino 
of  dijcluirgiiig  claims  on  the  Simiiish  (iovcrii- 
iiu'tit.  was  to  he  5,U00.0O0  »ioUars  (£1, 200,0*10). 
Si>inc  ^lilHciiltics  arose  about  tiie  ratilicatiou  of 
this  treaty  hy  tlic  Spanisli  ijoverniucnt,  on  tiie 
groiuul  of  a  prcilatory  cxpe*lition,  alleged  by  the 
>paniarvls  to  have  been  oonniveil  at  by  the 
American  government,  into  the  pi'ovinco  of 
Texas.  At  length,  however,  these  (.liliicultics 
Were  ailjusted,  and  the  cession  took  place.  Thus 
v.hile  8pain,  in  the  last  stage  of  decrcptitutle, 
was  losing  some  of  its  colonics  b}^  domestic 
revolt,  and  others  b}'  sales  to  foreign  states,  the 
creat  and  rising  republic  of  America  was  ac- 
(piiring  the  fragments  of  its  once  boundless  do- 
minions, and  spreading  its  mighty  arms  into 
further  provinces,  the  scene  of  war  and  appro- 
priation in  future  times.  One  of  the  most  in- 
'  Treaty  tercsting  things  iu  history'  is  the  un- 
Fcb.  ii'  broken  succession  of  events  which 
1819;  Mes-  obtains  iu  human  affairs,  and  the 
sage  to  manner  in  which  the  occurrences, 
Congress,  ^^      j.  ■    ■   ^       e 

Dec.  7  apparently  trivial,  ot   one  age,   are 

lS19;Ann.  linked  iu  indissoluble  connection 
Hist.  ii.  with  changes  the  most  important  in 
"   ''      ■      another.' 

Anxious,  if  possible,  to  continue  the  direct  line 
P3  of  succession,  the  king,  after  the  death 
Marriage  of  his  former  queen,  did  not  long  re- 
of  the  king,  main  a  widower.  On  12th  of  August 
Aug.  12.  jj  pi-oclamation  announced  to  the  as- 
tonished inhabitants  of  Madrid  that  the  king 
had  .solicited  in  marriage  the  hand  of  the  Prin- 
cess Maria  Josephine  Amelia,  niece  of  the  Elector 
of  Saxonv,  and  been  accepted.  The  marriage 
was  solemnized  by  prox^-  at  Dresden  on  the 
same  day,  and  the  young  queen  set  out  imme- 
diately lor  Spain.  She  arrived  at  the  Bidassoa 
on  2d  October,  and  at  Madrid  on  the  19th  of  the 
same  month,  when  she  made  her  public  entry 
into  Madrid  on  the  daj'  following,  amidst  the 
discharges  of  artiller\-,  rolling  of  drums,  clang 
of  trumpets,  and  every  demonstration  of  public 
joy.     But  it  was  of  bad  augury  for  the  married 

Oct  19  *^°"P^®  ^^^^^  *'^^  ^'*^''y  *^^y  Ijtfore  an  edict 
had  been  published,  denouncing  the  pen- 
alty of  death  against  any  one  coming  in  from 
the  infected  districts  in  the  south.  An  amnesty 
was  published  on  occasion  of  the  marriage ;  but 

2  *„  TTiot  as,  like  the  former,  it  excluded  all 
*  An.  liist.       '  ^      .  ,         ...     ,     rt. 

ii.3<J3,  .396;  persons  charged  with  political  olien- 
Ann.  Reg.  ses,  it  had  no  effect  in  allaying  the 
1619,  ibl.     anxiety  of  the  public  mind.= 

But  the  time  had  now  arrived  when  an  entire 

revolution  was  to  take  place  in  the 
Revolution  affairs  of  the  Peninsula,  and  those 
attempted  changes  were  to  commence  which 
by  Riego.  have  changed  the  dynasty  on  the 
1620.'''^  ''    throne,  altered  the  constitution  of  the 

country,and  tinallyseveredher  Amer- 
ican colonies  from  Spain.  The  malcontents  in  the 
army,  so  far  from  being  deterred  by  the  manner 
in  which  the  former  conspiracy  had  been  baffled 
by  the  douVjle  and  treacherous  dealing  of  the 
Conde  d'Abisbal,  continued  their  designs,  and, 
distrusting  now  the  chiefs  of  the  armj',  chose 
their  leaders  among  the  subordinate  officers. 
Every  thing  was  speedily  arranged,  and  with 
the  concurrence  of  nearly  the  whole  officers  of 
the  army.  The  day  of  rising  was  repeatedly 
adjourned,  and  at  length  definitely  fixed  for  the 
1st  January,  1820.      At  its  bead  was  FvIego, 


[Cii.vr.  VII. 

whose  groat  nchieveiiienfs  and  nielaucholy  fate 
haverendered  his  name  iiiiperisliabie  in  hi.storv.* 
C)n  that  day  he  assembled  a  battalion  in  the 
village  of  I. as  fabezas  where  it  was  (quartered, 
harangued  it,  jiroclaiiued  amidst  loud  shouts  the 
Constitution  of  1812,  and  marching  on  Arcos, 
where  the  head-quarters  were  established,  dis- 
armed and  made  jirisoners  General  Calderon 
and  his  whole  statf;  and  then,  moving  upon 
San  Fernando,  etfected  a  junction  with  ljiiuoG.\, 
who  was  at  the  head  of  another  battalion  also 
iu  revolt.  The  two  chiefs,  emboldened  by  their 
success,  and  having  hitherto  experienced  no  re- 
sistance, advanced  to  the  gates  of  Cadiz,  within 
the  walls  of  which  they  had  numerous  parti- 
sans,' upon  whom  they  reckoned  for  i  Martig- 
co-operation  and  admission  within  it.  nac,  i.  183; 
But  here  they  experienced  a  check,  -^""v,]^"^'- 

riM  X  -111  -1     111-   iob, 

llie  gates  remained  closed  against  sy^.  ^^^^ 
them — the  governor  of  the  fortress  Reg.  1820, 
denounced  them  as  rebels — the  ex-  ^22,  223. 
pected  co-operation  from  within  did  not  make 
its  appearance,  and  the  two  chiefs  were  obliged 
to  remain  encamped  outside,  surrounded  with 
all  the  precautions  of  a  hostile  enemy. 

The  intelligence  of  this  revolt  excited  the 
greatest  alarm  at  Madrid,  and  the 
Government  at  first  deemed  their  vigorous 
cause  hopeless.  The  next  day,  how-  mea.sures 
ever,  brought  more  consoling  ac-  adopted 
counts — that  Cadiz  remained  faithful, 
and  a  majority  of  the  troops  might 
still  be  relied  on  to  act  against  the  insurgents. 
Recovering  from  their  panic,  the  Government 
took  the  most  vigorous  measures  to  crush  the 
insurrection.  General  FrejTc  was  dispatched 
from  Madrid  at  the  head  of  thirteen  thousand 
men  hastily  collected  from  all  quarters,  iipon 
whom  it  was  thought  reliance  could  be  placed, 
and  he  rapidly  reached  the  Isle  of  Leon,  where 
the  insurgent  troops,  to  the  number  of  ten 
thousand,  lay  intrenched.  A  part  of  them,  how- 
ever, joined  the  insurgents,  the  force  of  whom 
was  thus  raised  to  ten  thousand  men.  By  the 
approach  of  the  royalist  army,  however,  they 
found  themselves  in  a  very  critical  situation, 
placed  between  the  fortress  of  Cadiz  on  the 
one  side  and  the  troops  from  Madrid  on  the 
other,  and  in  a  manner  besieged  themselves 
in  the  lines  of  the  besiegers.     They  publishedj- 


ainst  the 
insurgents. 


*  "  Raphael  y  Nunez  del  Riego  was  born  in  1785  al 
Tuna,  a  village  of  Asturias.  His  father,  a  Hidalgo  with- 
out fortune,  placed  him  in  the  Gardes-du-Corps,  which, 
ever  since  the  scandalous  elevation  of  the  Prince  of  Peace, 
by  the  favor  of  the  Queen,  from  its  ranks,  had  been  con- 
sidered as  the  surest  road  to  fortune  in  Spain.  He  was  in 
that  corps  on  occasion  of  the  French  invasion  of  that 
country  in  1808  :  and  when  it  was  disbanded  by  the  seizure 
of  the  royal  family,  he  entered  a  guerrilla  band,  and  was 
afterward  promoted  to  the  rank  of  an  officer  in  the  regi- 
ment of  Asturias.  He  was  ere  long  made  prisoner,  and 
employed  the  years  of  his  captivity  in  France  in  completing 
his  education,  which  he  did  chiefly  by  reading  the  works 
of  a  liberal  tendency  in  that  country.  On  the  peace  of  1614 
he  was  liberated,  returned  to  Madrid,  and  received  the  ap- 
pointment of  Lieut.  Colonel  in  the  2d  battalion  of  the  Regi- 
ment of  Asturias.  That  regiment  formed  part  of  the  army 
under  the  Conde  d'Abisbal,  destined  to  act  against  South 
America ;  and  it  was  thus  that  Riego  was  brought  to  de- 
struction and  ruin." — Bwgraphie  I'niverseltc,  ixxi.x.  114, 

115  (RlRGO). 

t  '•  Notre  Espagne  touchait  a  sa  destruction,  et  votro 
ruine  aurait  entraine  celle  de  la  Patrie  :  vous  eliez  destines 
a  la  mort,  plutot  pour  delivrer  le  Gouvernement  de  reiTroi 
que  votre  courage  lui  impose,  que  pour  laire  la  conqueta 
des  colonies,  devenue  impossible.  En  attendant  vos  famil- 
ies restaient  dans  I'esclavage  le  plus  honteux.  sous  un 
Gouvernement  arbitraire  et  tyrannique,  qui  dispose  a  son 


1820.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


217 


I'l-oclaraations  and  addresses  in  profusion,  but 
1  Marti"-  without  obtaining  any  material  aeces- 
nac  i.  f84,  sion  of  strength  beyond  what  had  at 
185;  Ann.  first  joined  them  ;'  and  the  defection 
^'st.  111.  jjn(j  disquietude  began  to  creep  over 
Ann.  Reg.  them  which  invariably  pervade  an  in- 
1  rlQ,  222°  surgent  array  when  decisive  success 
-•^-  does  not  at  once  crown  their  efforts. 

Unable  to  endure  this  protracted  state  of 
suspense,  and  fearful  of  its  effect  on 
Capture  of  the  minds  of  the  soldiers,  Eiego  di- 
the  arse-  rected  an  attack  on  the  arsenal  of 
nil,  and  ^jj^  Caraccas,  an  important  station 
f.f''Ril'"o"  on  an  island  in  the  bay  of  Cadiz, 
into  the  in-  which  was  taken  by  a  detachment 
terior.  under  the  command  of  Quiroga.     By 

Jan.  12.  ^jjjg  gyccggg^  a  large  quantity  of  arms 
and  ammunition  fell  into  their  hands,  as  well 
as  a  seventy-four  gun  ship  laden  with  powder; 
and  they  rescued  from  the  dungeons  of  that 
place  a  number  of  liberals  in  confinement. 
Several  attacks  were  afterward  made  on  the 
dykes  which  led  from  the  opposite  sides  of  tlie 
bay  to  Cadiz,  but  they  all  failed  before  the 
formidable  fortifications  by  which  tliey  were 
defended;  and  though  several  emeictes  were  at- 
tempted in  the  fortress,  they  all  failed  of  suc- 
cess. Meanwhile  Freyre's  troops  were  drawn 
round  them  on  the  outside,  and  effectually  cut 
them  off  from  all  communication  with  the 
mainland  of  Andalusia  ;  and  tlio  troops  became 
discouraged  from  a  perception  of  their  isolated 
position,  and  the  long  inactivity  to  -which  they 
had  been  exposed.  To  relieve  it,  and  endeavor 
to  rouse  the  population  in  their  rear,  Quiroga, 
who  had  been  invested  with  tlie  supreme  com- 
mand, detached  Riego  with  a  movable  column 
of  fifteen  hundred  men  into  the  interior  of 
the  province.  Tliey  set  out  on  27th 
January,  and  without  difficulty  passed 
the  river  near  Chictana,  and  reached  Algesiraz 
,  in  safety,  where  they  proclaimed  the 

constitution  amidst  the  loud  acclama- 
tions of  a  prodigious  concourse  of  inhabitants. 
After  remaining  five  days,  however,  in  that 
town,  lie  found  that  shouts  and  huzzas  were  all 
that  the  inhabitants  were  disposed  to  afford ; 
and  leaving  their  inhospitable  streets,  he  di- 
rected his  march  to  Malaga,  which  he  reached, 
after  several  combats,  ami  entered  on  the  18th 

„  „  .    .  February,  and  immediatelv  proclaim- 

2  Relation  ■,    ,,      •'        ,.,    ,.            i>  l       i»i          i 

del'Etpc-  ^^   ^"^  constitution.      But    altliougli 

ditim  de  his  little   corpi    had    been    received 

Riego,  19,  -with  acclamations  wherever  he  went, 

UnW  '"^  ^^  ^^"^  ^^^^  with  no  real   assistance; 

Ixxix.  118,  the  people  clicered,   but  did  not  join 

119;  Ann.  tliem;  and,  to  use  the  words  of  Riego's 

nl-^'nny  ald-dc-camp,  "All    applauded:    none 

JJd,  JJ7.  ,    ,,  ,        '  .12  * 

followed  them.  ^ 

gre  das  propricitcs,  de  I'cxistcnce,  ct  do  la  lihertf:  des  mal- 
heureiix  Espagnols.  Cc  Oouverncment  duvail  dctruircia 
nation,  et  finir  par  se  dctniiro  lui-inome  ;  il  n'est  pas  pos- 
sible de  la  soulTrir  plus  lon(,'tf!inps.— Violent  ct  I'aible  a  la 
fois,  il  nc  pent  inspiror  quo  I'indignation  ou  Ic  mcpris  ;  ct 
pour  que  la  I'atrie  Hoit  tumrcuse,  Ic  Gouverncment  doit 
inspirer  la  confiance,  rarnrmr,  et  Ic  respect.  Soldats! 
nous  allons  employer  pour  noire  hien,  «'t  pourcehii  dcnos 
freres,  les  armes  qui  ont  assure;  I'indcpcndanccde  la  nation 
contre  Ic  pouvoir  de  Hiionaparte  :  PuntiTprise  est  facile,  tt 
glorieuscl  Existe-t-il  un  solilat  Espajjnol  qui  puisse  s'y 
opposer  ?  Non  I  dans  les  ranps  nuuw  de  rcux  que  le 
Gouverncment  B'efTorce  de  rassembler,  vous  trouvcrez  des 
freres  qui  s'uniront  a  vous;  et  si  quclqucs-uns  assez  vils 
osaient  tourner  leurs  armcs  contre  vous,  qu'ils  perissnnt 
comma  des   satellites  de  la  tyrannic,  indigncs  du  nom 


Meanwhile  his  associate,  Quiroga,   was  tlio 
victim  of  the  most  cruel  anxieties.         gy 
Weakened  by  the  detachment  of  the  Its  defeat 
force  under  Riego,  and  besieged  in  and  failure, 
his   intrenched   camp   before   Cadiz,   he   daily 
found  his  situation  more  critical,  and  his  soldiers 
evinced  unequivocal  symptoms  of  discourage- 
ment from  the  inactivity  in  whicli  tliey  had 
been  retained  since  their  revolt,  and  the  want 
of  any  succor  from  the  troops  with  which  they 
were  surrounded.      He  sent,  in   consequence, 
orders  to  Riego  to  return  to  the  lines  in  the 
island  of  Leon,  but  it  had  become  no  longer 
possible  for  him  to  do  so.     Riego  was  closely 
followed  by  a  light  colunm  under  the  orders  of 
O'Donnell ;  and  finding  that  the  population  of 
the  country  were  not  inclined  to  join  him,  and 
that  his  corps  was  daily  diminishing  by  deser- 
tion, he  evacuated  Malaga,  and  bent  his  steps 
toward  the  Cordilleras,  with  a  view 
to  throwing  himself  into  the  Sierra-  \^^^^  "• 
Morena.      He    crossed    the   Guadal-  ^e  rcxpe- 
quiver  by  the  bridge  of  Cordova,  and  dition  de 
directing  his  steps  toward  the  hills,  ^'^^'}!^^' 
at  length  reached  Bien-Venida  on  the  univ.  '°°' 
11th  March  with  only  three  hundred  ixxix.  119; 
followers,    destitute  of  every  thing,  Ann.  Hist, 
and  in  the  last  stage  of  exhaustion  4Q0      ' 
and  discouragement.' 

The  intelligence  of  the  disasters  of  Riego, 
which  reached  the  Isle  of  Leon  in 
spite  of  all  the  precautions  which  the  perifoiis 
generals  of  the  revolutionary  army  position  of 
there  could  take  to  intercept  it,  com-  Quiroga  in 
pleted    the    discouragement    of    the  J^"  '^''^  °^ 
troops    of  the    revolutionary    army 
there  assembled.     Mutually  fearful  of  defection, 
Quiroga  and  General  Frej're  had  long  ceased  to 
combat  each  other,  but  by  proclamations  and 
invitations  to   the   soldiers   on  either  side  to 
abandon    their    colors    and   range    themselves 
under  the  banners  of  their  opponents.     But  in 
this  wordy  warfare  the  royalists  had  the  ad- 
vantage; the  words  of  honor  and  lo3alty  did 
not  resound   in  vain  in  Spanish  ears,  and  al- 
though defection  was  experienced  on  both  sides, 
it  was    soon   apparent   that   the  balance  was 
decidedly  against  the  liberal  host.     Tlicir  num- 
bers were  at  last  reduced  to  four  thousand  men  ; 
while  their  opponents,  under  Froyre,  independ- 
ent  of  the  garrison   of  Cadiz,    were  ^  ^^„  jj^^j 
three    times   that  number;   and  tiiis  iii.  401, 
little  band  was  bo  discouraged  as  to  -"(S ; 
be    incapable   of  attempting  any  of  /^x^'^^^i'ly^' 
those   bold  steps  wliicli  alone,  in  a  iVo-  Mar- 
protracted  war  of  rebellion,  can  rein-  tignac,  i. 
state  a  failing  cause.'  ^'''''  "''*• 

But  while  the  cause  of  the  revolution  seemed 
to  be  thus  sinking,  and  to  have  be- 
come wcll-nigi)  luqu'Iess  in  tlie  soutli,  insurrcc- 
tlie  flame  burst  forth  simultaneously  tmn  at  Co- 
in several  other  quarters,  and  at  funna,  and 
1  il  •  1  1  <i  1  1  i>  •  1  in^uvarre. 
length  involved  tlie  wJiolc  leiiinsuia 

in  conflagration.  TIic  blow  struck  at  Cadiz 
resounded  tlirough  the  whole  of  Spain.  Every 
wliere  tiie  movement  was  c/infined  to  the  ofiicers 
of  tlie  army  and  a  few  citizens  in  thts  seaport 
towns;  but  in  them  it  took  j)lace  so  simultane- 
ously as  to  reveal  tlie  existence  of  n  vast  con- 


d'Espncnols."— Antonio  QuinooA,  Chirral-cn-chrf  de 
r Amirc  Rationale,  5  Jan.  1820.  Annuairc  Hislorique,  iil. 
390,391. 


MS 


HISTORY    OF    i:  I'll  OPE. 


[CiiAi-.  YII. 


sj>inioy,  dirootoil  l>v  ft  oontrnl  niitliority  wliirh 
_       „      (.■inhraoi'il  tlu>  wliolo  I'oninsula.     On  tlio 

lilst  I'oliniary,  tlie  Any  nl'tt-r  VniieeaA 
the  new  (.'aptain-mMurnl  of  (^alioia,  liiul  arrivid 
al  t'orunua,  an  iiisurroction  brukc  out  among 
the  ortu'ors  of  tliat  fortress,  who  surprised  A'ane- 
paz,  wlion  disarmed  and  inea|ial>le  of  making 
any  resistance;  and  on  his  refusal  to  place  iiini- 
self  at  the  head  of  the  movement,  made  liim  a 
prisoner,  and  conducted  him  with  all  his  stall 
to  the  I'ort  of  St,  Antonio,  where  they  were 
placed  in  continement.  The  constitution  of 
1812  was  immediately  proclaimed,  the  gates 
closed,  the  drawbridges  raised,  and  the  revolu- 
tion effected  in  an  hour,  without  any  resistance. 
A  provisional  junta  Avas  established ;  the  prisons 
were  broken  open,  and  their  inmates  liberated  ; 
a  sergeant  named  Chacon,  who  had  denounced 
Porlier,  massacred,  and  his  widow,  sobbing  with 
grief,  carried  in  triumph  amidst  revolution- 
ary shouts  through  the  streets.  The  insur- 
rection spread  to  Ferrol,  -where  the  military 

revolted,  and  proclaimed  the  constitu- 

Feb!  24.  *'°"  ^^  *'^^  -"^!  ^"^S°  declared  on  the 
24th  ;  Pontevedra  on  the  26th  ;  and  at 
the  end  of  a  week,  with  the  exception  of  St. 
lago,  where  the  troops  remained  steady,  the 
whole  of  Galicia  had  hoisted  the  standard  of 
_  the    constitution.       Saragossa    shortlj" 

after  followed  the  example,  and  there 
the  insurrection  assumed  a  more  serious  as- 
j)ect  by  being  under  the  direction  of  Don  Mar- 
tin de  Garay,  the  former  Finance  Minister, 
who  had  been  disgraced.  Mina,  at  the  same 
Feb  25  tiroe.  reappeared  on  the  frontiers 
»  An.  Hist,  of  Is'avarrc,  which  he  entered  w  ith 
iii.  402,        a  few   followers.      He    immediately 

1^'  '  TT  •  proclaimed  the  constitution,  and 
Biog.Univ.  {    .       .   •      1  ,  ij-  J 

Ixxix.  120 ;  being  jomed  by  some  soldiers,  made 
Memorias  himself  master  of  the  important  can- 
del  General  jjQQ  foundry  at  Aizzabal,  and  lent 
Mma^  u.  to  the  cause  of  insurrection  the  aid 
255,  259;  of  a  name  which  still  spoke  to  the 
Martignac,  hearts  of  the  patriotic   throughout 

The  intelligence  of  these  repeated  and  gene- 
-0  ral  defections  excited  the  utmost  eon- 

Revolution  sternation  in  the  Coui't  of  Madrid ; 
at  Madrid :  and  the  conduct  of  the  King  and  Cab- 
aceep'ts^he  ^^^^  evinced  that  vacillation  which, 
constitu-  as  it  is  the  invariable  mark  of  weak- 
tion;  ness  in  presence  of  danger,  so  it  is 

March  7.  ^j^g  usual  precursor  of  the  greatest 
public  calamities.  At  first  the  most  vigorous 
measures  were  resolved  on.  General  Elio  was 
recalled  from  Valencia  to  organize  the  means 
of  defense  in  the  capital,  and  a  corps  hastily 
assembled  to  move  against  the  insurgents  in 
Galicia,  of  which  the  Conde  d'Abisbal  was  ap- 
pointed commander.  But  vain  are  all  attempts 
of  government  to  make  head  against  treason 
when  their  own  officers  and  soldiers  are  the 
traitors.  Unknown  to  them,  the  Conde  d'Abis- 
bal had  already  concerted  with  the  chiefs  of 
the  conspiracy  at  Madrid,  and  with  his  brother, 
Alexander  O'Donnoll,  who  commanded  a  regi- 
ment stationed  at  Ocana,  the  f>lan  of  a  general 
insurrection,  which  was  to  embrace  all  the 
troops  in  Old  and  New  Castile,  and  compel  the 
king  to  accept  the  constitution.  In  pursu- 
ance of  this  plan,  the  Conde  left  Madrid 
aiarch  J.    ^^  ^j^^,  gj  ^j.  j^jarch,  to  take  the  com- 


mand of  the  troops  destined  to  act  against 
(ialicia;  but,  like  Key  in  1815,  instead  of  doing 
so,  he  no  sooiur  tirrived  at  Ocana,  nine  leagues 
from  Madrid,  where  his  brother's  regiment  was 
stationi'd,  which  had  been  prepared  for  the 
outbreak,  than  he  harangued  the  troops,  ])ro- 
claimcd  the  constitution,  threw  the  magistrates 
into  prison,  and  formed  a  Provisional  Junta, 
subordinate  to  that  of  Galicia.  The  news  of 
this  defection  at  once  brought  matters  to  a 
crisis  in  Madrid.  A  general  disquietude,  which 
the  police  were  no  longer  able  to  restrain,  ap- 
peared among  the  lower  orders  in  the  capital. 
Many  attempts  were  made  to  raise  again  the 
pillar  of  the  constitution ;  the  regular  troops 
deserted  by  companies  to  the  side  of  the  popu- 
lace, and  the  barracks  became  the  scene  of 
mutinous  transport  and  revolutionary  enthu- 
siasm. The  Puerto  del  Sol,  since  so  famous  in 
revolution,  was  filled  with  tumultuous  mobs 
loudly  demanding  the  constitution.  Symptoms 
of  disaffection  even  appeared  among  the  Guards, 
and  the  officers  of  that  chosen  corps  were 
among  the  first  to  attempt  the  raising  tlie  pillar 
of  the  constitution.  In  this  extremity  the  cabi- 
net sat  permanently ;  and  at  length,  seeing  that 
no  means  of  resistance  remained,  they  resolved, 
on  the  advice  of  General  Ballasteros,  who  was 
inclined  to  liberal  opinions,  to  jield.  On  the 
7th  March,  the  Madrid  Gazette  contained  a  de- 
cree convoking  the  Cortes,  and  declaring  the 
king's  resolution  to  do  every  thing  which  the 
good  and  wishes  of  his  people  demanded,  "  who 
hav»  given  me  so  many  proofs  of  their  loy- 
alty."' This  was  followed  the  next 
day  by  a  decree  declaring  that,  "  to  ^^^  ^Qg 
avoid  the  delays  which  might  arise  409,410; 
in  the  execution  of  the  decree  pro-  Biog.  Univ. 
nounced  yesterday  for  the  immediate  MariiVnac 
convocation  of  the  Cortes,  and  the  i.  jgo,  isi,-' 
general  will  of  the  people  (la  voluntad  Mem.  del 
general  del  pueblo)  being  pronounced,  - '^273^^279' 
I  have  resolved  to  swear  to  the  con- 
stitution promulgated  by  the  general  and  extra- 
ordinary Cortes  in  1812." 

Thus  fell  the  despotic  government  of  Fer- 
dinand YII.  in  Spain,  the  work  of  the  -.j 
nobles  and  the  priests  overthrown  by  Reflections 
the  army  and  the  populace.  If  little  on  this  rev- 
was  to  be  expected  of  a  government  °'""°"- 
framed  by  the  first,  still  less  was  to  be  augured 
of  its  overthrow  by  the  last.  Stained  in  its 
origin  with  treachery  in  the  army,  and  treason 
by  the  officers  even  in  the  highest  commands, 
the  movement  was  brought  about,  and  rendered 
for  the  time  inevitable,  by  the  revolt  of  the  sol- 
diery, and  their  abandonment  of  the  oaths  they 
had  taken,  and  the  sovereign  under  whose  ban- 
ners they  were  enrolled.  History  can  find  no 
apology  for  such  conduct.  The  first  duty  of  all 
persons  in  authoritv,  whether  civil  or  military, 
is  to  discharge  the  functions  intrusted  to  them, 
and  defend  their  sovereign  with  the  powers 
which  he  has  committed  to  their  administra- 
tion.  If  that  sovereign  has  become  despotic, 
and  violated  the  rights  of  his  subjects,  that  may 
be  a  good  reason  for  throwing  up  their  offices, 
and  in  extreme  cases,  where  no  other  remedy  is 
practicable,  joining  the  ranks  of  the  insurgents, 
but  it  is  never  for'deserting  a  trust  while  still 
holding  it.  Even  the  splendid  abilities  of  Marl- 
borough, and  the  glorious  career  of  Xey,  have 


1820.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


219 


ii;>>  boL'ii  able  to  wipe  out  the  stain  affixed  by 
stiL-h  treachery  on  their  memory.  Many  hon- 
orable and  noble  men  have  suffered  death  for 
)ii.;h  treason,  and  their  descendants  have  gloried, 
aad  shall  glorj^,  in  their  fate;  but  none  ever 
jiointed  with  exultation  to  success  gained  by 
lireach  of  trust.  We  might  well  despair  of  the 
fortunes  of  the  human  race  if  the  fair  fabric  of 
freedom  was  to  be  reared  on  such  a  founda- 
tion. 

Such  as  it  was,  however,  the  overthrow  of 

-2  the  Spanish  monarchy  was  too  im- 

Rapid  ad-    portant  an  event  not  to  rouse  to  the 

vances  of    very  highest  degree  the  spirit  of  rev- 

the  revolu-  olutionarv  ambition,  not  only  in 
lion  ^  " 

Spain,  but  over  all  Europe.   Its  effects 

are  still  felt  in  both  hemispheres.  Being  the 
lirst  instance  in  which  democracy  had  gained  a 
decided  victory  since  its  terrible  overthrow  in 
1814  and  1815,  it  made  a  prodigious  sensation, 
and  every  where  excited  the  hopes  and  re- 
vived the  expectations  which  had  ushered  in 
the  French  Revolution.  The  march  of  events 
at  Madrid  was  as  rapid  as  the  most  ardent  par- 
tisans of  innovation  could  desire.  A  Supreme 
Junta  was  immediately  formed,  to  whom  the 
king,  two  days  after  his  proclamation  of  the 
7th,  took  the  oath  to  observe  the 
■  ^^^  '  constitution.  The  nobles  and  magis- 
trates, obedient  to  the  royal  will,  followed  his 
( xample.  In  the  midst  of  the  ringing  of 
bells,  the  discharge  of  artillery,  and  the  cheers 
of  the  multitude,  the  guards,  the  soldiers,  and 
all  the  civic  authorities,  took  the  oath,  in  the 
s'juare  of  the  Pardo,  to  the  constitution.  The 
whole  prisoners  confined  for  state  offenses 
were  liberated,  and  paraded  through  the  streets 
aniidst  the  shouts  of  the  populace;  many  of 
1  An.  Hist,  them  soon  passed  from  their  cells 
iii.  411 ;  to  the  cabinet.  In  the  evening  a 
^89?)  aaf  general  illumination  terminated  the 
226 ;'  Mar-  ^^^^  day  of  the  revolution,  which 
tignac,  i.      hitherto  had  been  one  of  unmingled 

2U-2,  2U3.         joy.l 

I>ut  the  march  of  revolution  is  not  always 

73.         on  flowers ;  the  thorns  soon  began  to 

Reception    show  themselves.     Some  days  before 

oi  tlie  revo-  jjjg  constitution  was  accepted  at  Mad- 

Jiiircelona     ^"'^  ^y  the  king,  it  had  been  pro- 

Vuieiic-ia,     claimed  at  Saragossa  and  at  Pampe- 

and  Cadiz,    luna,  where  Mina  had  already  of  his 

own  authority  supplanted  Espelata,  the  royal 

governor.      At   Barcelona  the   garrison   com- 

1.  .«   pelled  Castanos  to  do  tlie  same,  and 
March  10.  '^  liiiii  ^  ^ 

soon  removed  that  sturdy  veteran  to 

make  v,-ay  for  General  Villa-Campa,  then  in 
exile  at  Arons.  He  returned,  ere  long,  liber- 
ated all  the  [lolitical  prisoners,  and  i>uriic(l 
the  office  of  the  Inquisition  airiidst  general 
transports.  At  Valencia,  General  Klio,  who 
had  taken  so  decided  a  part  against  the  for- 
mer attempts  at  revolution,  was  only  saved 
from  death  at  the  hands  of  the  populace  by 
being  humanely  thrown  into  prison  ;  at  (Jran- 
iida,  General  Kguia  was  (li.splaoed  1)V  tlie  stu- 
dents, and  (Janipo- Verde  installed  in  his  stead. 
The  revolution  at  Madrid  was  an  uncxjiect- 
ed  godsend  to  Ricgo,  who  received  it  when 
wandering,  almost  alone,  and  destitute  of 
every  thing,  in  the  solitudes  of  the  Sierra 
Morena.  From  the  depths  of  miser}'  and  des- 
pair he   was  suddenly  elevated  to  fame  and 


fortune,  and  brought  back  to  Cordova,  where 
he  joined  in  proclaiming  the  con-  i  ^^  \\\ai. 
stitution  with  General  O'Donnell,  iii.  412,413; 
and  those  who  had  latelj'  pursued  A""-  |^^S; 
him  with  such  unrelenting  severity,  ]jio„'  y'^jy 
and  soon  after  made  a  triumphal  en-  ixxix.  120, 
try  into  Seville.'  l~'- 

A  deplorable  catastrophe  at  Cadiz  first  inter- 
rupted these  transports,  and  revealed  ^^ 
an  alarming  division  of  opinion  even  Massacre 
among  the  military,  by  whom  the  at  Cadiz, 
revolution  had  been  effected.  On  ^^'^I^}^  ^' 
the  9th  March  the  people  in  Cadiz, 
accompanied  by  a  part  of  the  militaiy,  flocked 
to  the  square  of  San  Antonio,  and  General 
Freyre,  seeing  no  other  way  of  extrieating  him- 
self from  his  difficulties,  published  a  proclama- 
tion, in  which  he  engaged,  on  the  following 
day,  at  ten  o'clock,  in  the  same  place,  to  an- 
nounce the  acceptance  of  the  constitution.  The 
people,  who  looked  upon  this  as  a  certain  step 
to  the  pacification  of  the  colonies,  and  tlie  re- 
covery of  the  lucrative  commerce  they  had  so 
long  enjoyed  with  South  America,  were  in 
transports,  and  flocked  on  the  day  following, 
at  the  appointed  hour,  to  the  Place  San  Anto- 
nio. But  a  dreadful  fate  awaited  them.  In  the 
midst  of  the  general  joy,  when  the  square  was 
crowded  with  joyous  multitudes,  when  every 
window  was  hung  with  tapestry,  or  filled  with 
elegantly  dressed  females,  and  flags  waved  in 
every  direction,  bearing  liberal  devices,  a  dis- 
charge of  iTni?kc'try  was  suddenly  heard  in  one 
of  the  adjoiaing  .'streets,  and  immediately  a 
disordered  crowd,  with  haggard  countenances 
and  cries  of  horror,  were  seen  flying  into  the 
square,  closely  pursued  by  the  military.  It  was 
the  soldiers  of  the  regiments  of  the  Guides  and 
del  Leallad  (of  Fidelity),  which,  issuing  from 
their  barracks,  had,  without  any  orders,  and 
by  a  spontaneous  movement,  coinincnced  a  fire 
on  the  people.  Instantly,  as  if  by  magic,  the 
square  was  deserted  ;  the  multitude,  in  the  ut- 
most consternation,  dispersed  on  every  side, 
and  took  refuge  in  houses  or  the  casemonls  of 
the  fortifications,  closely  pursued  by  the  sol- 
diers, who  massacred  them  without  mercy,  and 
abandoned  themselves  to  all  the  atrocities  usual 
in  a  town  taken  by  assault.  The  deputies  of 
the  Isle  of  Leon,  who  were  in  an  especial  man- 
ner the  objects  of  indignation  to  the  soldiers, 
were  only  saved  from  destruction  by  being 
transported  to  Fort  Saint  Sebastian,  where  they 
were  kept  during  three  days,  crowded  in  the 
casements,  and  almost  starving.  On  the  follow- 
ing day  the  same  scenes  of  disorder  were  renew- 
ed ;  the  soldiers  issued  fi-om  tiicir  barracks, 
and  systematically  began  the  work  of  j)liiiider 
and  extortion ;  and  before  onler 
was  restored,  the  killed  amounted  j^  "i^  4i5''. 
to  four  hundred  and  sixty,  includ-  Aim.  Keg.' 
ing  thirty-six  women  and  seventeen  lb20,  220; 
children,  and  the  wounded  to  above  f  ."('g'^'""''' 
a  thousand.^ 

While  these  frightful  scenes  were  inaugura- 
ting the  revolution  at  Cadiz,  the  new         -^ 
ministry   was    formed,   and    entered  New  min- 
upon  its  functions  at  Madrid.    It  was  ^^^''y  »' 
composed,  as  might  be  ex))ected,  of  '^"'J"''- 
the  leading  men  of  the  liberal  ])art  y,  several  of 
whom  passed  from  a  dungeon  to  the  palace  of 
the  Govcrimiciit.    It  contained,  however,  many 


220 


II  iSTor.  Y    OF    V.V  UOPE. 


[<• 


VII. 


oniiiiont  iinnios,  which  hnve  lU'iniirod  a  lusting 
phu'L'  in  the  rolls  of  fiimo.  Sii'ior  Aritiu'llos, 
wiioso  clo(jut'iico  in  the  t'ornior  Cortos  liml  ac- 
qiiiivil  for  him  the  siirnaiiie  of  "the  ]>ivine," 
was  Minister  of  the  Interior;  Don  IJarcias  lier- 
reras,  one  of  the  most  violent  orators  on  the 
liberal  side,  was  aj^pointeil  Minister  of  Justice  ; 
Canira  Arguelles  was  Jlinister  of  the  Finances; 
the  Manjuis  Las  Amarillas,  of  AVar  ;  Perez  tie 
Castro  and  Don  .hiaii  .labat,  were  ajipointed 
J  to    the   Exterior    and    the    Marine.' 

j„"  "|ki  ^'ly'.  Though  the  new  ministers  had  all 
Ann.  Kfg. '  been  leading  orators  on  the  liberal 
1!?2(),  227 ;    side  in  the  Cortes,  and  luanj'  of  them 

1  2U-l^"o5'  ''"^^  suffered  persecution  and  impris- 

onment from  the  king,  yet,  with  the 
acquisition  of  office,  they  felt,  as  is  generally 
the  case,  its  dithculties  and  responsibilities. 
They  endeavored,  so  far  as  in  their  power,  to 
moderate  the  general  fervor  which  had  elevat- 
ed themselves  to  office ;  but  their  views  were 
by  no  means  shared  by  their  impatient  follow- 
ers, and  it  was  soon  apparent  that  their  reign 
was  not  destined  to  be  of  very  long  duration. 
The  first  measures  of  the  new  Government 

betraj'cd  the  external  pressure  to 
First  moa-  '^^'I^t'li  they  were  subjected,  and  the 
suresoiihc  extreme  division  of  opinion  which 
new  gov-  prevailed  in  the  country  on  the  recent 
March"26     changes.     A  decree  was  issued  on  the 

26th    March,    declaring   that   every 

Spaniard  who  should  refuse  to  swear  to  the 

new  constitution,  or  who,  in  taking  it,  should 

qualify  it  with  mental  reservation,  should,  if  a 

layman,  be  deprived  of  all  honors,  distinctions, 

and  offices  ;  if  an  ecclesiastic,  his  property  was 

to  be  sequestrated.      Another  decree  allowed 

the  Jurmncntados  or  Afrancesados,  as  they  were 

called,  or  Spaniards  who  had  sworn  fealty  to 

Joseph  Bonaparte,  and  who  were  estimated  at 

six  thousand,  to  return  to  Spain;  but  another, 

after  they  had  in  great  part  returned, 

^        ■  compelled  them  to  remain  in  Biscay  or 

Navarre,  provinces  under  the  government  of 

Miua,  their  implacable  enemy.     A  third  placed 

.        the  sixty-nine  members  of  the  former 

^^^  ~  '  Cortes,  who  had  signed  the  petition  to 

the  king  to  resume  the  powers  of  an  absolute 

monarch,  under  surveillance  of  the  police  in 

certain  convents,  till  the  pleasure  of  the  new 

2  Marti"-  Cortes  was  taken  on  their  fate.  It 
nac,  i.  205,  augured  ill  of  the  cause  of  freedom 
209;  Ann.  when  its  inauguration  was  signalized 
Hist.  iii.      ijy    measures    of    such     oppressive 

character  or  revengeful  severitj*.^ 

The  Cortes  was  convoked  for  the  9th  July; 

ly-         but  in  the  mean  time  the  real  powers 

Establish-    of  government  resided,    not  in  the 

ment  of        King's  Ministers,  but  in  the  Supreme 

Madrid"       Junta  which  sat  alongside  of  them 

and  other     '^  Madrid.     That  body,  elected  by 

revolution-  the  populace  in  the  first  fervor  of 

ary  mea-  the  Kevolution,  was  composed  of 
sure  8 

persons  of  the  most  violent  character, 

and  as  they  foresaw  that  their  tenure  of  power 
would  be  of  short  duration,  as  it  would  be  su- 
perseded by  the  meeting  of  the  Cortes,  their 
principal  care  was  to  organize  the  means  of 
controlling  that  body,  and  subjecting  it  to  the 
domination  of  the  democrats  in  the  capital.  It 
•was  under  the  influence  of  this  body  that  the 
severe  decrees  which  have  been  mentioned  had 


bo(  II  i>r.ssed.  Xothiug  could  be  done  without 
their  sanction — nothing  could  willistaiul  their 
control.  In  imitation  of  the  Jacobins  and  the 
tJirondists  at  I'aris,  they  established  clubs  in 
the  capital  and  in  the  principal  towns  through- 
out the  provinces,  in  whicli  the  measures"  of 
Government  were  daily  canvassed,  and  the 
most  violent  language  constantly  used  to  keep 
up  the  fervor  of  the  public  mind.  Alany  of 
them  acquired  a  fatal  celebrity  in  the  future 
history  of  the  revolution.  At  the  same  time, 
all  restrictions  on  the  press  being  removed,  a 

liostof  journals  sTirang up  in  the  cap-  , ,,    .. 
•  .    ,        f.   ,       ■    i'    -.i"    *  1      ,1        '      'Martipnac, 
ital,  wnicli  vied  with  each  other  in  i.  20fi,  207; 
the  propagation  of  the  most  violent  Ann.  Hist, 
revolutionary  sentiments.'  '"•  '^^'^• 

The  measures  of  the  Government  soon  gave 
tokens  of  their  influence.  Swift  as  73 
had  in  1789  been  the  march  of  rev-  Lepisiative 
olution  in  France,  swifter  still  was  ""-asures. 
now  its  advance  in  Spain.  Before  the  Cortes 
had  even  assembled,  the  junta  and  clubs  of 
Madrid  had  dictated  decrees  to  the  nominal 
Government,  which  had  eff"ectually  secured  the 
supremacy  of  the  democratic  party.  Some  of 
them  were  worthy  of  unqualified  admiration; 
others  were  of  the  most  perilous  tendencj-. 
Among  the  first,  were  decrees  abolishing  . 
the  Jesuits  and  the  Inquisition,  and  all  ^ 
monuments  and  emblems  which  bore  reference 
to  them,  and  establishing  an  entire  freedom  of  the 
press.  In  the  last  category  must  be  placed  the 
decrees  which  followed,  abolishing  all  . 
exclusive  privileges,  and  investing  in  ^pjjj  34" 
the  nation  all  seignorial  jurisdictions; 
the  institution  of  national  guards,  with  their 
officers  chosen  bj'  the  election  of  the  privates, 
agreeably  to  the  constitution  of  1812;  and  one, 
declaring  that  the  taking  of  all  monastic  vows 
should  be  suspended  until  the  meeting  of  the 
Cortes,  and  that,  in  the  mean  time,  no  alienation 
of  any  part  of  the  monastic  property  should  be 
valid.  The  last  enactment  was  of  the  most 
sinister  augury,  the  more  especially  as  the  ne- 
cessities of  the  exchequer  had  been  noways  di- 
minished by  the  recent  convulsions,  and  the 
property  of  the  church  in  Spain  was  estimated 
at  eighteen  thousand  millions  of  reals.  Mean- 
while honors,  gratuities,  and  pensions  were 
showered  on  the  generals  and  officers  of  the 
army  in  the  island  of  Leon,  which  had  made 
the  revolution  ;  and  all  idea  of  prosecuting  the 
expedition  to  South  America  having  been 
abandoned,  an  invitation  was  sent  to  the  in- 
surgent states  to  send  deputies,  in  terms  of 
the  constitution,  to  the  Cortes;  and  ^ 
in  the  mean  time  thirty  Suppliants,  jjj  "20  421  j 
or  substitutes,  were  chosen  among  Martignac,' 
the  South  Americans  resident  in  the  '•  211,  212, 
Peninsula.''  ^^^• 

The  elections  were  conducted  with  great 
regularity,  and  the  Cortes  met  on  . 
the  9tli  Jul}-.  Elected  by  universal  Meeting  of 
suffrage  during  the  first  fervor  of  the  the  Cortes : 
revolution,  its  members  presented  its  compo- 
that  strange  assemblage,  and  exclu- 
sion of  various  important  classes,  which  inva- 
riably result  from  a  uniform  and  single  system 
of  suffrage.  Not  a  single  grandee  of  Spain 
was  elected ;  very  few  of  the  noblesse  or  land- 
holders; only  three  bishops.  Advocates,  at- 
torneys, factors,  merchants,  generals  and  mili- 


1820.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


221 


t.irv  officers,  who  had  risen  to  eminence  bj' 
tlie  revolution,  and  were  ardently  attached  to 
its  fortunes,  constituted  a  decided  majority. 
(Generals  Quiroga  and  O'Dah',  and  the  other 
cliiefs  of  tlie  army  of  Leon,  were  amongst  its 
ranks:  Iliego  was  only  absent,  because,  having 
been  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  army 
in  the  Isle  of  Leon,  he  could  not  be  spared 
from  its  ranks.  The  conservative  partj',  or  the 
one  attached  to  old  institutions,  was  almost 
unrepresented.  Navarre,  and  a  few  remote 
and  obscure  parts  of  New  Castile,  had  alone 
returned  members  in  that  interest,  and  their 
number  was  so  small  that  they  had  no  weight 
in  the  assembly,  and  from  the  very  outset  were 
,  „  .^  stigmatized  by  the  name  of  Serviles.'^ 
nric,  i.  224,  Universal  suffrage  had  done  its  work: 
225;  Ann.  it  had  established,  as  it  invariably 
His.  iii.422.  does,  class  government  of  the  very 
vvorst  kind,  that  of  an  ignorant  and  irrespon- 
sible majoritj\ 

Disorders  meanwhile  had  broken  out  in  the 
^Q         provinces,  which  sufficientlj-  demon- 
Di.sorders     strated  that,  however  popular  in  the 
ill  the  great  and  seaport  towns,  the  revolu- 

jirj\mces.  ^ioDjjpy  regime  was  any  thing  but 
jigreeable  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  country.    At 

Saragossa  a  disturbance  arose,  in  the  at- 
.>lay  14.  tenipt  of  five  or  six  hundred  peasants  to 
tluow  down  the  pillar  of  the  constitution, 
which  was  only  put  down  by  General  Haxo, 
with  two  regiments  of  infantry  and  cavalry, 
and  a  battery  of  artillery,  with  the  loss  of 
twenty  lives,  and  triple  that  number  wounded. 
The  consequences  were  serious.  The  Marquis 
Alazan,  governor  of  the  province,  brother  of 
tlie  famous  Palafox,  was  deprived  of  his  com- 
mand, which  was  bestowed  on  Riego,  his  wife 
was  arrested,  and  sixty  monks  were  thrown  uito 
prison  to  await  their  trial  before  a  military  com- 
Jun    15    mission.     Shortly  after  an  insurrection 

broke  out  in  the  mountains  of  Galieia, 
near  the  confines  of  the  Portuguese  province  of 
Entre  Douro  e  Minho.  A  junta,  styled  "  the 
apostolical,"  was  elected,  with  the  device  "  Re- 
ligion and  the  King."  Crowds  of  peasants 
flocked  round  the  sacred  standard.  The  royal- 
ists passed  the  Minho,  and  advanced  toward 
St.  lago,  where  they  hoped  to  be  joined  by  nu- 
j  .  _  merous  partisans.  Their  nxnnber  soon 
amounted  to  three  thousand ;  but  they 
•were  worsted  in  several  encounters  with  the 
regulars  near  Zuy  on  the  Minho,  and  at  length 
dispersed.  Among  the  papers  of  their  chiefs, 
which  were  seized,  were  letter.s  which  proved 
that  they  were  in  correspondence  with  secret 
roj'aiist  committees  in  Aragon,  Au- 

'^^,1,  ^}!,f  dalusia,  Old  Castile,  and  the  capital 
111.  424,425.  -^     ,ci  ^ 

itself.* 

On  the  night  before  the  assembling  of  (he 

81.         Cortes,   an   event  liappened  of  evil 

Murder  of   augury  as  to  its   future  career.     A 

oneoithe     p^rt  of  the  body-guard  attached  to 

guard  and    l'^"^^^!  principles  broke  into  the  royal 

reward  of     palace,    under    jiretext,    which    was 

the  mur-       wholly  unfounded,  tliat  a  number  of 

crcns.         Serviles  had  assembled  there  to  offer 

the  king  their  services,  and  murdered  a  faithful 

officer  who  withstood  tlieir  entrance.     So  far 

there  was  nothing  remarkable;  such  tragedies 

nrealmost  invariably  the  acconipanimentof  civil 

disicusion.     liut  what  followed  provctl  the  im- 


potence of  the  law ;  and  that  the  majority,  as 
in  America,  had  now  become  so  powerful  that 
no  crime  committed  in  their  interest  could  be 
brought  to  punishment.  The  fact  of  the  murder 
was  notoi'ious,  it  had  been  committed  by  the 
assassins  with  their  official  scarfs  on  ;  the  per- 
sons implicated  in  it  were  well  known ;  but  so 
far  from  being  punished,  they  were 
all  acquitted  on  a  mock  trial,  and  I'^oflja"' 
inmiediately  promoted.'  •   ~  ,   -  . 

The  session  of  the  Cortes  was  opened  with 
great  pomp  by  the  king  on  the  9th  go_ 
July,  in  presence  of  the  queen  and  Opening  of 
whole  corps  diplomatique.  Thesover-  the  Cortes, 
eign  again  took  the  oath  to  the  Arch-  "  ■' 
bishop  of  Seville,  the  first  President  of  tha 
Cortes,  who  addressed  his  Majesty  in  a  speech 
which  terminated  with  these  words:  "The 
most  virtuous  of  nations  will  forgive  its  injuries, 
pardon  the  outrages  it  has  received,  establish 
its  constitutional  government,  and  preserve  in 
all  its  purity  its  holy  religion.  The  distrust, 
the  seeds  of  discord,  the  fears,  the  odious  su.spi- 
eions,  which  the  jierfidious  have  so  long  sought 
to  inspire  in  the  best  of  kings,  will  cease,  and 
all  will  unite  around  his  throne  by  a  fraternal 
alliance,  which  will  secure  the  public  peace, 
produce  abundance,  and  prove  the  source  of 
every  social  blessing."  The  king  pronounced 
a  speech  which  re-echoed  these  warm  anticipa- 
tiolis  and  benevolent  intentions.  It  will  appear 
in  the  sequel  how,  on  either  side, 
these  promises  were  fulfilled  and  ^- ■'^";o{;''^'' 
these  anticipations  realized.^ 

One  of  the  most  important  public  documents 
presented  to  the  Cortes  was  a  report  g, 
on  the  state  of  the  army,  which  gave  Report  on 
a  graphic  picture  of  its  deplorable  the  state  ol 
condition,  and  revealed  the  main  j"r  ^VI'^' 
cause  of  the  revolutionary  spirit  with 
which  it  was  animated.  The  minister  reported 
that,  including  the  guard,  its  entire  effective 
strength  was  only  53,70.5  men,  in  lieu  of  87,000, 
its  strength  on  paper;  and  7085  cavalry 
mounted.  The  whole  was  in  the  most  de- 
plorable state  of  nudity  and  destitution.  The 
clothing  of  the  infantry  for  tlie  most  part  /laJ 
not  been  renewed  since  1814;  only  seven  regi- 
ments of  cavalry  were  dressed  in  any  thing 
like  homogeneous  uniform ;  various  dresses 
clothed  the  remainder,  all  worn  out.  The 
artillery  Avas  crazy  and  broken  down,  (ho 
arsenals  empty.  The  entire  cost  of  the  army 
was  352,007,000  reals  (£3,500,000),  being  more 
tiian  half  the  revenue  of  the  monarchy,  and 
j'ct  every  branch  of  the  ecrvico  was  deo|)ly  in 
arrear  of  (heir  pay.  No  less  than  88,O0(i,00O 
reals  (£380,000)  was  due  1o  (he  cavalry,  and 
£150,000  to  the  infantry.  The  report  announced 
(hat  the  constitution  had  been  accepted  at 
Puerto  Rico,  St.  Domingo,  and  Cuba,  but  (hat 
the  war,  "fomented  by  the  stranger,"  still 
lingered  on  the  continent  of  America,  to  which, 
since  1815,  forty-two  thousand  men  had  been 
dispatched  from  Old  Spain.  Here  is  the  secret 
of  ihu  Spanish  revolution;  it  is  to  be  found  in 
tlie  destitution  of  the  exeiicquer,  and  ruin  of 
the  external  commerce  of  the  kingdom,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  South  American  revolution. 
Had  tiic  trade  of  Cadiz  and  Corunna  been  as 
fiourishing  as  it  was  prior  to  1810,  and  (he 
Spanisli   troops   been   paid,  clothed,  fetl,   ai;d 


HISTORY    0¥    EUROrE. 


[CiiAi'.  vir. 


Knlireil,  like  the  English  eoUlicr,  there  ■would 
have  betu  no  revohition;  the  kiiiir,  villi  the 
general  eonsent  of  the  nation,  wouUl  have 
reiirned  like  his  fatliers,  and  Kiepo,  unknown 
nnd  puiltless,  would  have  died  a  natural  death. 
Tlie  majority  of  the  fortes  was  composed  of 
f^  the  liberals  of  181'2,  whom  six  subse- 

Majoriiy  of  quent  years  of  the  galleys,  imprison- 
Uio  Corifs :  mont,  or  exile,  had  confirmed  iu  their 
its  leaders,  principles,  and  inspired  with  an  ar- 
dent thirst  of  vengeance  against  their  op- 
pressors. It  was  no  wonder  it  was  so ;  the 
royal  government  now  experienced  the  retribu- 
tion due  for  its  severities,  and  had  leisure  to 
lament  the  failure  to  act  in  that  magnanimous 
spirit  which,  by  forgiving  error,  might  have 
caused  it  to  be  abjured.  But  although  the 
composition  of  the  majority  was  such  as  pre- 
saged violent  and  destructive  measures  at  no 
distant  period,  its  leaders  were  men  of  enlarged 
views  and  great  capacity,  whose  statesmanlike 
wisdom  at  first  imposed  a  considerable  check 
upon  its  excesses.  In  the  front  rank  of  the 
leaders  must  be  placed  Martinez  de  la  Rosa,  a 
man  of  great  ability  and  uncommon  oratorical 
powers ;  and  C.\latr.\ta,  an  orator  less  brilliant, 
but  more  argumentative,  and  a  statesman  more 
experienced  in  public  affairs.  The  Marquis 
ToREXo  also,  a  nobleman  of  the  most  enlarged 
views,  who  had  studied  with  advantage,  and 
learned  the  action  of  representative  govern- 
ments by  traveling  in  foreign  countries,  lent 
the  aid  of  his  extensive  knowledge  and  pro- 
found reflection.  If  any  thing  could  warrant 
the  hope  of  a  prudent  iise  of  power  in  a  body 
constituted  as  the  Cortes  was,  it  was  its  being 
directed  by  such  men.  But  there  were  others 
of  a  difYerent  stamp,  whose  influence  ere  long 
increased,  and  at  length  became  irresistible 
from  the  combined  influence  of  the  clubs  and 
the  press.  Among  these  were  soon  remarked 
Gasco,  Philippe  Navarro,  Romoro,  Alpuente, 
and  Moreno,  the  Jacobins  of  the  revolution. 
,  jijjrtic-  Their  party  at  first  did  not  number 
nac,  i.  225,  above  a  sixth  of  the  whole  Cortes ; 
226 ;  Ann.  but,  as  is  too  often  the  case  in  such 
iow^'ke'i'      circumstances,   they  in  the  end  ac- 


quired its  entire  direction.' 


428,  429. 

The  first^measures  of  the  Cortes,  though  not 

g5         of  a  violent  or  sanguinary  character, 

Suppres-      were  nevertheless   obviously  calcu- 

sionoithe    lated  to  increase  the  democratic  in- 

^nH"m!.'^=     fluence  and  action  in  the  countrj'. 

<ill(l  lllcaS"  _  -  •ill*' 

ures  re-  The  Afrancesados,  who  awaited  their 
gardingen-  fate  in  Biscay  in  deep  distress,  were 
tails.  restored  to  their  property,  but  not  to 

their  offices,  pensions,  or  honors;  the  sixty- 
g  2j  nine  of  the  old  Cortes  were  included  in 
the  amnesty,  but,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Marquis  of  Mattaflorida,  declared  inca- 
pable of  holding  any  election  or  public  office. 
The  decree  of  the  former  Cortes  and  of  the  king 
against  the  Jesuits  was  adopted,  with  certain 
modifications.  An  important  law  was  also 
passed  restricting  the  entails,  which  had  so 
long  operated  to  the  prejudice  of  Spanish  agri- 
culture. They  were  prohibited  in  future  abso- 
lutely in  landed  estates,  and  permitted  only  in 
payments  out  of  land,  as  right  of  superiority, 
or  of  the  manor,  to  the  extent  of  20,000  ducats 
for  grandees,  40,000  for  persons  enjoy-  q^^  j,. 
ing  title,  and  20,000  for  private  individ- 


uals. No  entail  was  admitted  below  COOO  ducats. 
These  were  steps,  and  important  ones,  in  iho 
right  direction  ;  and  if  the  leaders  of  i  ^^  jjj^,_ 
the  revohition  had  limited  themselves  iii.430,4:i2, 
to  sucii  practical  reforms,  they  would  '^^^  >  Mar- 
have  deserved  well  of  their  country  2ld'*23l' 
and  of  the  human  race.' 

But  in  the  midst  of  these  beneficent  labors,] 
the  dreadful  evil  of  embarrassment  of         go. 
the  finances  still  made  itself  felt,  and  Financial 
with   increasing   severity,  from   the  '"'^"sua-s. 
cessation  of  speculation  and  confidence  whiclij 
had  arisen  from  the  revolution.     The  loss  of  tiioj 
revenue  derived  directly  from  South  Americaj 
by  the  produce  of  the  mines,  and  indirectl}'  byj 
the   stoppage   of  the    commercial   intercourse! 
with  the  revolted  colonies,  rendered  abortive! 
all  attempts  to  pay  the  interest  of  the  debt  and! 
carry  on   the  current  expenses  of  the  nation] 
from  its  domestic  resources.*     In  this  extremity  j 
the  Spanish  Cortes  did  what  the  Constituent] 
Assembly  had  done  before  them ;  they    y^.^  , 
suppressed  all  the  monasteries  except 
eight,   and  confiscated   their  property  to  the] 
service    of  the   state;    the   monks   and   nuns, I 
61,000  in  number,  turned  out,  received  sniall^ 
pensions  varying  from  100  to  400  ducats  (£20 
to  £80).     Already  the  clubs  had  be-  q^.^  j^ 
come  so  formidable  that  a  decree  was 
passed  closing  their  sittings,  which  remained  a 
dead  letter.     Tithes  were  abolished,  both  in 
the  hands  of  the  clergy  and  lay  proprietors, 
but  the  half  of  them  was  kept  up  as  a  direct  con- 
tribution for  the  service  of  the  state. ^  2  An.  Hist. 
Even  after  all  these  extraordinary  iii.  440, 
revolutionary    resources    had    been  443;  Rap- 
taken  into  the  exchequer,  the  budget  (jomte  To- 
exhibited    a    deficit    of    172,000,000  reno;  Mar- 
of  reals  (£1,720,000),  being  about  a  tignac_,  i. 
fourth  of  the  annual  revenue,-}-  which       ' 
was  provided   for   by   a   loan  of  £2,000,000, 
negotiated  with  Lafitte  and  the  bankers  on  the 
liberal  side  in  Paris. 

But  meanwhile  the  Government,  the  creature 
of  military  revolution,  was  subjected 
to  the  u:  ual  demands  and  insults  eon-  Tnmuit  at 
sequent  on  such  an  ©rigin.      They  Madrid, 
found  ere  long  that  the  praetorian  and  dis- 
guards  in  the  Isle  of  Leon  were  as  im-  ^J|g^  °^ 
perious,  and  as  difficult  of  manage- 
ment, as  their  predecessors  in  the  camp  whicl 
have  overawed  the  masters  of  the  world.     In- 
cessant were  the  eftbrts  made  by  Riego,  who  had 
now  the  command  of  that  force,  to  keep  alive 
the  spirit  of  revolution  among  the  troops ;  but 
as  it  rather  declined,  and  rumors  of  an  intention 
to  separate  the  army  began  to  reach  the  Isle  of 
Leon,  Riego  hastened  to  Madrid,  to  support  by 


*  Acording  to  a  report  presented  to  the  Cortes  by  the 
Commission  of  Finance,  on  22d  October,  the  National 
Debt  consisted  of— 

Reals.  Francs.  £■ 

142,220,572,391      or      3,839,580,000      or      140,000,000 
The  whole  revenues  of  Spain  were  not  equal  to  the  dis- 
charge of  the  interest  of  this  debt  annually.— Rapport, 
Oct.  22,  1850.     Annuaire  Historique,  iii.  440. 
t  The  budget  proposed  by  the  Cortes  exhibited — 
From  all  sources...  530.394,271  reals,  or  £5,304,000 
An  expenditure  of. .  702,807,000  7,028,000 


Deficit  172,408,033 


£1,724,000 


which  was  provided  for  by  a  loan  of  200,000,000  reals,  or 
X'2,000,COO.  -Ann.  Hist.  iii.  443. 


1820.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


223 


liis  presence  tlie  revolutionary  clubs  against  the 
Government,  which  was  susjiected  of  leaning  to 
moderate  ideas.     He  arrived  there  in  the  end 

t,   _^  29    of  August,  and  for  a  week  was  the  ob- 
'■  "'     '  ject  of  general  adulation.    He  was  sur- 

rounded by  the  club  Lorrenzini,  by  the  influ- 
ence of  which  the  minister-at-war  was  removed, 
and  succeeded  by  Don  Gastano  Valdes.  In  the 
middle  of  it  he  visited  the  theatre, 
where  an  audience  from  the  clubs,  ve- 
Jiemently  excited,  called  for  a  party  air,  the 
Tragala  Perro,  which  had  been  composed  in 
hatred  of  the  noblesse  during  the  fervor  at  Cadiz; 
and  Riego  himself,  standing  up  surrounded  by 
his  whole  staff,  joined  in  the  chorus.  This  open 
insult  to  the  nobility  and  the  Government  led 
to  a  fearful  tumult  in  the  theatre,  in  the  course 
of  which  Riego  openly  resisted  the  police  and 
other  authorities;  and  next  day  the  clubs  were 
all  in  a  tumult,  and  the  banners  so  well  known 
in  the  French  Revolution  were  seen  in  the  great 
square — "  The  Constitution  or  Death."  The 
Government,  however,  was  not  deterred.  The 
troops  remained  faithful  to  their  duty :  large 
bodies,  with  artillery  loaded  with  grape-shot, 
were  stationed  around  the  square  of  the  Puerto 
del  Sol,  where  the  mobs  were  assembled ;  and 
the  revolutionists,  seeing  themselves  mastered, 
were  compelled  to  submit.  On  the  fol- 
^^  '  ■  lowing  day  a  decree  of  the  Cortes  put 
the  clubs  under  a  strict  surveillance,  closed  the 
Lorrenzini,  and  Riego  was  deprived  of  his  com- 
mand in  Galicia,  and  sent  into  exile  at  Oviedo. 
At  the  same  time  the  army  in  the  Isle  of  Leon 
was  broken  up ;  but  to  keep  the  troops  in  good 
humor,  and  insure  obedience  to  the  decree,  large 
gratuities  and  pensions  were  voted  to  the  troops, 
'  Martiff-  according  to  their  rank  and  periods  of 
nac,  i.  234,  service.  Riego  asid  Quiroga  for  their 
mo ;  Ann.  share  got  a  pension  of  84,000  reals 
^''l',*''-  each  (£840),  equivalent  to  about 
"'  £1500  in  Great  Britain.' 

This  vigorous  step  was  attended  by  an  im- 
88.  mediate  schism  in  the  popular  part}'. 
Closing  of  Arguelles  and  Quiroga,  who  had  been 
thesession,  foremost  in  resisting  the  clubs,  were 
lure  with  soon  denounced  as  traitors  and  apos- 
the  king.  tates ;  and  Riego,  for  a  short  time, 
Nov.  It).  ^c^^  t_lje  rallying-cry  of  the  seditious 
in  the  provinces.  If  this  victory  had  been  fol- 
lowed up  with  vigor  and  perseverance,  the 
downward  progress  of  the  revolution  might  have 
lieen  arrested,  and  Spain  saved  unutterable  ca- 
lamities, liut  it  was  not  so:  the  press  con- 
tinued as  violent  as  ever;  tiic  clubs  resumed 
their  ascendant,  and  the  progress  of  anarchy 
became  unrestrained.  The  Cortes  had  passed 
tlie  decree,  despoiling  the  religious  hou.ses  for 
the  advantage  of  the  state,  already  mentioned, 
and  it  was  brought  to  the  king  to  adliibit  his 
signature  in  terms  of  the  constitution,  which  de- 
clared that  necessary  for  it  to  become  a  law. 
Instead  of  doing  so,  he  wrote  at  tlie  bottom  the 
words  prescribed  for  his  refusal.  He  was  ])er- 
fectly  entitled  to  do  so,  as  much  as  the  Cortes 
was  to  present  to  him  the  project  of  tlie  law. 
It  was  on  the  tliird  presenting  only  in  successive 
sessions  that  he  was  constrained  to  accept.  But 
it  is  not  in  the  nature  of  democracy  to  admit 
of  any  compromise,  or  tolerate  any  bridle,  how 
gentle  soever,  in  its  career.  The  clubs  were  in- 
stantly in  motion ;  the  cry  of  a  counter-revolu- 


tion was  heard.  Frightful  crowds  of  the  lowest 
of  the  populace,  yelling  and  vociferating  ven- 
geance in  the  most  violent  manner,  })araded  the 
streets,  and  converged  toward  the  arsenal  which 
contained  all  the  arms  and  ammunition.  Tlie 
report  spread  that  the  troops  would  not  act 
against  the  insurgents ;  that  the  life  of  the  king 
was  in  danger.  Intimidated  and  overawed,  the 
ministers  counseled  submission,  and  renewed 
their  intreaties  to  the  king  to  sanction  the  law. 
He  long  resisted ;  but  overcome  at  last  by  the 
increasing  danger,  and  their  assurance  ,  Mgni"- 
that  the  troops  could  not  be  relied  nac,  i.  '246, 
on,  he  affixed  his  signature,  and  ini-  248;  Ann. 
mdiately  after  set  out  from  Madrid  Jl'f '44V 
for  the  Escurial.'  ' 

The  victory  thus  gained  over  the  king  was  not 
attended  by  the  advantages  which 
had  been  anticipated.  In  some  places  Reception 
in  and  around  the  great  towns,  as  oithe  de- 
Valencia  and  Barcelona,  the  people  cree  against 
broke  in  tumultuous  crowds  into  the  Jjj'^siiaiii*"' 
monasteries,  forcibly  expelled  the 
monks  and  nuns,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that 
the  heads  of  the  houses  were  rescued  from  their 
hands.  At  Valencia,  the  archbishop,  besieged 
by  a  furious  mob  in  his  palace,  on  account  of 
an  anathema  which  he  had  fulminated  against 
the  sale  of  the  ecclesiastical  estates,  was  only 
rescued  from  death  by  being  embarked  in  the 
night  for  Barcelona,  where,  on  lauding,  he  en- 
countered similar  dangers.  But  in  the  rural 
districts,  especially  Galicia,  Leon,  Navarre,  As- 
turias,  Old  Castile,  and  Aragon,  the  decree 
against  the  priests  met  with  a  very  dilferent  re- 
ception, and  was  found  to  be  incapable  of  exe- 
cution. Transported  with  indignation  at  the 
thoughts  of  the  hospitable  doors,  where  they 
had  so  often  been  fed  in  adversity,  being  closed 
against  them,  and  their  reverend  inmates  being 
turned  adrift  upon  the  world  without  house  or 
home  to  shelter  them,  the  people  rose  in  crowds 
and  forcibly  prevented  the  execution  of  the  de- 
cree. Between  the  resistance  of  the  people  in 
some  districts,  and  the  cupidity  of  tlioir  own 
agents  in  others,  the  treasury  derived  scarcely 
any  aid  froiu  this  great  measure  of  spoliation. 
It  was  exactly  the  same  in  Franco  in  178'J;  it 
will  be  so  in  similar  circumstances  to  the 
end  of  the  world.  AVlien  Government  takes 
the  lead  in  iniquity,  it  soon  finds  it  impos- 
sible to  restrain  "the  extortions  of  inferior 
agents:  it  is  like  a  woman  Avho  2  An.  Ilisi. 
has  deviated  from  virtue  attempt-  iii.  444,415; 
ing  to  control  the  manners  of  her  Mariignac, 
11112  i.  24H,  201. 

household.^  ' 

]\Ieanwliilc  the  king,  shut  up  in  the  Escurial, 
refused  to  be  present  at  the  closing  of  90. 
the  session  of  the  Cortes,  which  term-  Illegal  ap- 
inated  on  the  9th  November;  and  in  {^"'('.'[.'"''"I'l 
secret  meditated  an  attempt  to  extri-  car'vajal 
cate  himself  from  the  meslies  in  which  by  the  king, 
he  was  enveloped.  To  eficet  this,  the  Nov.  10. 
HU|)port  of  tlie  military  was  indispensable  ;  and 
willi  that  view  tlie  king,  of  his  own  autliority, 
and  without  the  concurrence  of  any  of  his  min- 
isters, which,  by  the  constitution,  was  required 
to  legalize  the  ap]>ointment,  promoted  General 
CarvMJal  to  the  situation  of  Cajitain-general  of 
New  Castile,  in  room  of  the  constitutional  Gen- 
eral Vigodet,  who  held  tiiat  important  com- 
mand.     A  warm  altercation  ensued  bctwceu 


•224 


HISTORY    OF    EUROTE. 


[CuAr.  VII. 


llio  two  ijonornls  wlion  tlio  onlor to ceilo  the  coiii- 
niniul  was  juoducotl,  wliicli  eiuloil  by  Vijrodet 
doi-lariiii;  ttiiit  ho  woiiM  retain  tho  ooininainl 
till  sTiporsiHUnl  by  a  iioiioral  Kirally  niiimiiilod. 
Tiio  iiitoUiiioiice  of  this  ra,-h  stej)  on  tho  |)art  of 
tlio  king  soon  transi)irotl :  tlio  clubs  iimiiedi- 
ntcly  mot  and  coninioiiood  a  warm  agitation ;  tlie 
connnitloo  of  tho  Cortos  mot,  and  dochirod  its 
sittings  {lormanont ;  the  ministers  wore  in  con- 
stant consultation;  and  in  the  clubs  and  agi- 
tated crowds  in  tho  streets,  it  was  openly  an- 
nounced that  a  counter-revolution  had  been  re- 
solved on,  and  that  dethronement  had  become 
now  indispensable.  Anxious  to  avoid  such  an 
extremity,  the  ministers  sent  in  their  collective 
resignation  to  the  king ;  and  the  permanent  com- 
mission of  the  Cortes,  and  municipality  of  jNIa- 
drid,  sent  deputations  to  the  Escurial,  with 
grave  and  severe  remonstrances  against  the  ille- 
gal step  which  had  been  taken.  The  irresolute 
and  inconsistent  character  of  the  king  imme- 
diately appeared.  Ko  sooner  were  the  ad- 
dresses read  than  he  declared  he  had  no  idea 
he  was  doing  an  unconstitutional  thing  in  the 
appointment  of  General  C'arvajal, 
i'ii"W447-  ^^'''^^  '^®  revoked  it;  that  he  would 
Martia'nac '  dismiss  the  Count  Miranda,  the  grand- 
i.  2537254  ;  master  of  his  household,  and  his  con- 
^"n  ^5^(f'  f^^s^^i")  T^^^  Victor  Paez,  and  within 
230  '  '  three  days  would  re-enter  his  cap- 
ital.' 

He  arrived,  according]}-,  on  the  21st,  accom- 
panied by  the  queen,  who  was  in  a 
Rrturti  of  ^'<^  •">'  feeble  state  of  health,  surround- 
the  king  to  e<.;  by  a  crowd  shouting  vociferous 
Madrid.        revolutionary  cries,  through  a  double 

'''  '  line  of  National  Guards,  and  amidst 
cries  of  "Viva  el  Constitution!"  Suddenly  a 
child  was  raised  up  above  the  crowd,  with  the 
book  of  the  constitution  in  its  hand,  which  it 
was  made  to  kiss  with  fervor.  A  thousand 
cries,  and  the  most  fearful  threats  of  vengeance, 
accompanied  the  incident ;  and  when  the  king 
inquired  what  it  was,  he  was  informed  it  was 
the  son  of  General  Lacy  come  to  demand  justice 
against  his  father's  murderers.  Overcome  with 
terror,  and  almost  stupefied  with  emotion,  the 
king,  with  feeble  steps  and  haggard  looks,  re- 
entered the  palace,  and  immediately  shut  him- 
self up  in  his  apartment.  The  most  sinister 
presentiments  were  felt.  Terror  froze  every 
heart.  The  striking  resemblance  of  the  proces- 
sion which  had  just  terminated  to  that  of 
Louis  XVI.  from  Versailles  to  Paris  in  1789, 
struck  every  mind ;  and  men  shud- 
hi^449^'^'  dered  to  think  how  short  an  inter- 
Manignac,  val  separated  that  melancholy  jour- 
i.  225, 227,  jiey  from  the  21st  January,  when 
f^o'  23^  ^^^  martyr  king  ascended  the  scaf- 
'       '     fold.* 

The  victory  of  the  revolutionists  was  now 
92.  complete,  and  they  were  not  slow  in 
Victory  of  impn-oving  it  to  the  utmost  advantage. 
ihe  Revo-  General  Kiego,  so  recently  in  dis- 
JutioiuBts.  gpg^jg^  was  appointed  Captain-general 
of  Aragon  ;  Velasco,  the  late  governor  of  Madrid, 
who  had  been  dismissed  from  his  office  for  his 
Bupineness  on  occasion  of  Riego's  riot  in  the 
theatre,  was  appointed  Governor  of  Seville ; 
Mina  was  made  Capitain-general  of  Galicia; 
Lopez  Bafios,  of  Xavarre;  l)on  Carlos  Espinosa, 
of  Old  Castile ;  Arco-Arguerro,  of  Estreniadura;  I 


the  Duque  del  Infant  ado.  President  of  the 
Council  of  Castile  ;  and  all  the  persons  of  mod- 
eration in  the  Government  were  sent  into  exile 
from  the  capital.  Tliese  wore  all  men,  not  only 
of  ap])roved  courage,  but  of  the  most  determined 
revolutionary'  princij)les.  The  whole  suboi'di- 
nate  ollicers,  civil  as  well  as  military,  were 
selected  tVom  the  same  part}' ;  so  that  the  entire 
authority  in  the  kingdom  had,  before  the  end 
of  the  year,  ])assed  into  the  hands  of  the  8U]>- 
poi'ters  of  the  new  order  of  things.  The  clubs 
resumed  their  former  activity,  and  increased  iti 
vigor  and  audacity  in  the  metropolis ;  and 
with  them  were  now  associated  a  still  moi-e 
dangerous  body  of  allies  in  the  secret  societies 
of  tile  provinces.  The  ancient  and  venerable 
institution  of  frecmafonry,  formed  for  the  pur- 
poses of  benevolence,  and  hitherto  unstained 
by  those  of  party,  was  now  perverted  to  a  dif- 
ferent object,  and  converted  into  a  i  Martig- 
huge  Jacobin  Society,  held  together  nac,  i.  259, 
by  secret  signs  and  oaths ;  and  along  ^^'.'  •  A""- 
with  it  was  associated  a  new  institu-  449  Ann. 
tion  of  a  still  more  dangerous  and  per-  Reg.  lb20, 
nieious  tendency.'  "3U,  232. 

This  was  a  society,  which  assumed  the  title 
oi  "  Franc- Commxmeros."  Their  prin-  93. 
ciples  were  those  of  the  Socialists,  New 
in  their  widest  acceptation ;  their  |°ecuU([n' 
maxims,  that  universal  equality  was  of  ijncU 
the  birthright  of  man,  and  that  no-  law. 
thing  had  hitherto  so  much  impeded  its  ostab- ' 
lishment  as  the  false  and  hj'pocritical  ideas  of 
philanthropy  and  moderation  by  which  the 
reign  of  despots  had  been  so  long  prolonged. 
In  pursuance  of  these  j)rinciples,  the}'  were 
bound  by  their  oath,  on  entering  the  societj', 
to  obey  all  mandates  they  received  from  its 
superior  officers,  *vhatever  they  were,  and 
however  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  state; 
and  they  engaged  "  to  judge,  condemn,  and 
execute  every  individual,  without  exception, 
including  the  king  or  his  successors,  who  might 
abuse  their  authority."  So  far  was  this  power 
of  self-judging  and  lynch  law  carried,  that  it 
led  to  serious  disturbances,  pjarticularly  in 
Asturias  and  Galicia,  in  the  end  of  jS'ovember 
and  December,  which  were  not  suppressed 
without  serious  bloodshed ;  while  in  Madrid 
the  agitation  was  so  violent  that  one  of  the 
clubs  was  shut  up  by  order  of  Government, 
while  the  whole  garrison  was  called  out  to  en- 
force the  order;  and  the  king,  trembling  for 
his  life,  no  longer  ventured  to  leave  his  own 
palace.  An  incident  soon  occurred  which 
showed  how  well-founded  his  apprehensions 
were,  and  gave  a  pitiable  proof  of  the  state  of 
degradation  to  which  the  royal  authority  was 
reduced.  The  king  at  length  went  out  in  his 
carriage,  which  was  speedily  surrounded  by  an 
insulting  mob,  which,  from  furious  cries,  pro- 
ceeded to  assail  the  royal  vehicle  and  guard.s 
with  showers  of  stones.  Indignant  at  such 
conduct,  the  guards  wheeled  about,  charged 
the  assailants,  wounded  several,  and  dispersed 
the  rest.  Instantly  a  furious  mob  got  up,  which 
surrounded  the  barrack  to  which  the  guard 
had  retired,  and  insisted  upon  the  obnoxious 
men  being  dehvered  up  to  them.  This  was 
done:  .they  were  thrown  into  prison  and  de- 
tained there  long,  though  their  conduct  was 
so  evidently   justifiable   that   they   were   not 


1820.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


225 


brought  to  trial  ;  and  the  king,  on  the  repre- 
sentation of  his  ministers  that  the 
sacrifice  couKl  no  kmger  be  averted, 
was  obliged  to  dismiss  his  whole 
guard,  and  confine  himself  to  his 
own  palace.' 


1  Martig- 
nac,  i.  264, 
26"  ;  Ann. 
Reg.  lii. 
450,451. 


94. 

Identity  of 
recent  his- 
tory of 
Spain  and 
Portugal. 

interests ; 


PouTL'GAL  evidently  was  intended  by  nature 
to  form  part  of  the  same  monarch}' 
as  Spain.  The  Pyrenees,  which  sep- 
arate them  both  from  all  the  rest  of 
Europe ;  the  ocean,  which  encircles 
both  their  shores,  and  opens  to  them 
the  same  commerce  and  maritime 
the  identity  of  soil  and  climate  which 
they  both  enjoy  in  the  old  hemisphere,  the 
vast  colonies  they  had  acquired  in  the  new,  the 
homogeneous  nature  of  the  races  and  nations 
from  which  they  were  both  descended,  and  the 
similarity  of  manners  and  institutions  which 
both,  ill  consequence,  had  established,  have 
caused  tlieir  history,  especially  in  recent  times, 
to  be  almost  identical.  The  tyranny  of  the 
Spanish  government,  the  patriotic  resistance 
of  the  heroic  house  of  Braganza,  even  entire 
centuries  of  jealousy  or  war,  have  not  been  able 
to  eradicate  these  seeds  of  union  so  plentifully 
sown  by  the  hand  of  nature.  Like  tlie  English 
and  Scotch,  they  yearned  to  each  other,  even 
wJien  severed  by  political  discord,  or  engaged 
in  open  hostility ;  liappy  it  like  them,  they  had 
been  reunited  in  one  family,  and  one  pacific 
sceptre  restored  peace  to  the  whole  provinces 
of  the  Peninsula. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  so  very  iiu- 
g.  portant  an  event  as  the  Spanish  Rev- 

Revoiiition  olution  of  1820,  overturning  as  it  did, 
at  Oporto,  by  military  revolt,  an  aged  throne, 
Aug.  23.  g^jjjj  establishing  a  nominal  monarchy 
and  real  democracy  in  its  stead,  was  to  fail  in 
exciting  a  corresponding  spirit,  especially  among 
the  military  in  the  sister  kingdom.  But,  in 
addition  to  this,  there  were  many  circumstances 
which  rendered  revolution  in  favor  of  a  consti- 
tutional form  of  government  more  natural — it 
might  almost  be  said  unavoidable — in  Portugal 
than  in  Spain.  Long  habits  of  commercial  in- 
tercourse, close  alliance  between  the  two  coun- 
tries, glorious  victories  in  wiiich  the  two  na- 
tions had  stood  side  by  side,  had  inspired  the 
Portuguese  with  an  ardent,  it  might  almost  be 
6aid  an  extravagant,  admiration  of  Briti.sii 
liberty  and  institutions.  They  iiad  seen  the 
probity  of  English  administration,  and  con- 
trasted it  with  the  eorru])tion3  of  tlicir  own: 
they  ascribed  it  all  to  the  intluence  of  English 
institutions,  and  thought  tlu^j'  woidd  exchange 
the  one  for  the  other,  by  adopting  a  repre- 
sentative form  of  government;  thev  had  seen 
the  valor  of  Briti.sh  soldier.^,  and  tliought  lib- 
ei-ty  would  in  like  manner  render  them  invin- 
cible. A  con.spiracy,  which  proved  abortive, 
headed  by  General  Freyre,  in  1817,  bad  alrea<ly 
given  proof  how  generally  fiiose  ideas  influ- 
enced the  army  ;  and  tliree  additional  years  of 
government  by  a  Regency  at  J-isboii,  witii- 
out  the  lustre  or  attractions  of  a  court  to 
enlist  the  selfish  fecling.s  on  the  side  of  loyaltj-, 
had  given  them  additional  strength,  and  ren- 
dered the  whole  jiopulation  of  tlie  seaports 
and  army  ripe  for  a  revolt.  The  consequence 
was,  that  wiion  it  broke  out,  on  the  night  of 
Vou  ].— P 


Aug.  23. 
1  An.  Hist. 
471, 

474  ; 

Ann.  Reg. 
Irt'JO,  232, 
233. 


the  23d  August,  it  met  with  scarcely  any  re- 
sistance. The  whole  military'  com- 
menced the  revolt ;  the  people  all 
joined  them;  a  junta,  consisting  of 
popular  leaders,  was  established,  and 
a  constitutional  government  proclaim- 
ed.' 

When  the  English,  retiring  from  their  long 
career  of  victoiy,  withdrew  from  95 
Portugal,  Marshal  Beresford,  who  Wiiich  is 
had  trained  their  army  and  led  it  followc-ii  hy 
to  victor\-,  was  left  at  its  head,  and  tjonatLis- 
about  a  hundred  English  officers,  bon. 
chiefly  on  the  stall"  or  in  command  ^"-'P'-  ^^- 
of  regiments,  remained  in  Portugal.  Awa  -o 
of  the  crisis  which  was  approaching,  Marsh.il 
Beresford  had,  in  April,  embarked  for  Rio  Ja- 
neiro, to  lay  in  person  before  the  king  a  repre- 
sentation of  the  discontents  of  the  country,  and 
the  absolute  necessity  of  making  a  large  aii<l 
immediate  remittance  to  discharge  the  pay  of 
the  troops,  which  had  fallen  very  much  into 
arrears.  Many  of  the  English  officers,  how- 
ever, were  at  Oporto  when  the  iusurreetio:i 
broke  out;  and  as  their  fidelitj-  to  their  oaths 
was  well  known,  they  were  imiuediately  arrest- 
ed and  put  into  confinement,  though  treated 
with  the  utmost  respect.  Meanwhile 
the  insurrection  spread  over  the  whole  •'^'^S-'''^- 
of  the  north  of  Portugal,  and  the  Conde  de 
Amarante,  who  had  endeavored  to  make  head 
against  it  in  the  province  of  Tras-os-Montos, 
was  deserted  by  his  troops,  who  joined  the  in- 
surgents, and  obliged  to  fly  into  Galicia.  The 
Regency  at  Lisbon,  on  tlie  29th  August,  pub- 
lished a  fierce  proclamation,  denouncing  the 
proceedings  at  Oporto,  and  declaring  their  res- 
olution to  subvert  them.  But  they  soon  liad  con- 
vincing proof  that  their  authority  rested  on  a 
sandy  foundation.  The  15th  Septeiuber,  the  an- 
niversary of  the  delivery  of  the  Portuguese  terri- 
tory from  Junot's  invasion  in  1808,  had  hitherto 
always  been  kept  as  a  day  of  great  national 
and  military  rejoicing  in  Portugal.  On  this 
occasion,  however,  the  Regency,  distrustful  of 
the  fidelity  of  their  troop.*,  forbade  aii}'  military 
disjjlay.  The  soldiers  had  been  ordered  to  be 
confined  to  their  barracks,  when,  at  four  in  the 
afternoon,  the  18th  regiment,  of  its  own  accord, 
marched  out,  headed  by  its(jflicei'.s,  and,  making 
straight  f()r  the  great  s(piare  of  the  city,  diew 
up  there  in  battle  array,  amidst  cries  of  "  ^'iva 
el  Constitution."  They  were  soon  joipcd  by 
the  lOtli  regiment  from  the  castle,  the  Jth  from 
the  Campod'Ourique,  the  cavalry,  the  artillery, 
and  ere  long  by  tiie  whole  of  the  garrison.  All, 
headed  by  tlieir  ofiicer.s,  and  in  full  marching 
order,  were  assembled  in  the  sipiare,  amidst 
cheers  from  the  soldiers  and  deafening  shouts 
fi'om  the  people.  No  resistance  was  any  where 
attenqited;  nothing  was  seen  but  unanimity,  no- 
thing beard  but  the  "  vivas"  of  the  soldiery,  and 
the  huzzas  of  the  multitude.  The  halls  of  the 
Regency  were  thi-own  o[)en.  and  a  new  set  of 
regents  appointed  by  tin;  leaders  of  the  re- 
volt by  acclamation;  and  haviiit;  ac-  ,  .  „ 
complislied  the  revolution,  llio  sol-  I821),  234, 
dicrs  returned  at  ten  at  night,  in  S-l-'i ;  Ann, 
parade  order,  to  their  barrack.s,  as  \i" 
from  a  day  of  ordinary  festivitv.' 

Universal  enthusiasm  ensued  for  some  day.s, 
and  Ihc  unanimity  of  the  people  proved  how 


IliHt.  ill. 
473,  47 


226 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[CuAP.  YII. 


general  antl  iloop-sonteil  li.id  boon  the  desire 
97  for  political  cliaiii;o  aiul  a  ropresen- 

Establish-  tativo  mnornnii  lit,  at  least  ainoiii;; 
mint  or  a  ,l,^>  ,uiiit.,rv  niul  the  citizens  of  the 
joint  r«'i;i-ii-   .  „,,  •  •  .       i-  n  i 

rv  Bi  Lis-     towns,     llic  ciitiio  couiitrv  lollowcci, 

iwn.  as  is  ponorally  llio  case  in  such  in- 

Oct.  e.  stances,  the  cxaniple  of  tlio  capital ; 
the  constitution  ^vas  every  where  proclaimed, 
and  the  former  persons  in  avithority  were  super- 
seded by  others  attached  to  the  new  order  of 
things.  On  the  1st  C)otober,  tlie  Ojiorto  Junta 
entered  the  capital,  and  immediately  frater- 
nized in  the  most  cordial  way  with  the  Junta 
already  elected  there.  The  British  officers  were 
every  where  dispossessed  of  their  eonmiands, 
and  put  under  surveillance,  but  treated  with 
equal  kindness  and  consideration.  After  a  de- 
bate, which  was  prolonged  for  several  days,  it 
was  decreed  that  the  two  Jimtas  should  be 
united  into  one  composed  of  two  sections — 
one  charged  with  the  ordinary  administra- 
tion, and  the  other  ■with  the  steps  necessary 
for  assembling  the  Cortes ;  and  Count  Pal- 
mella  was  dispatched  on  a  special  embassy  to 
Brazil,  to  lay  before  the  king  an  account  of 
,  ^^^  jjjgj  the  events  ■which  had  occurred,  and 
iii.  475,  476;  assure  bis  Majesty  of  the  continued 
Ann.  Reg.  loyaltv  of  the  Portuguese  to  the 
^■233-        roVal  family.' 

In  the  midst  of  these  events,  Marshal  Beres- 
99  ford  returned  from  Brazil  to  Lisbon, 

Return  of  in  the  Vengeur  of  74  guns,  charged 
Marshal  ^ith  a  message  from  the  king  to  the 
whols"^  '  former  junta.  Being  informed  by 
forced  to  a  fisherman,  as  he  approached  the 
RotoEng-  coast,  of  the  revolution,  and  subver- 
sion  of  the  former  authorities,  he 
made  no  attempt  to  force  his  ■way  in,  but  re- 
quested permission  to  land  as  a  private  indi- 
vidual, as  he  had  many  concerns  of  his  own  to 
arrange.  This,  however,  Avas  positively  re- 
fused :  he  was  forbid  on  any  account  to  ap- 
proach the  harbor;  the  guns  were  all  loaded, 
and  the  artillerymen  placed  beside  them  to  en- 
force obedience  to  the  mandate.  Beresford  ex- 
postulated in  the  warmest  manner,  but  in  vain ; 
and  as  the  agitation  in  the  city  became  exces- 
sive as  soon  as  his  return  was  known,  it  -was 
intimated  to  him  that  the  sooner  he  took  his 
departure  for  England  the  better.  During  all 
this  time  the  shores  ■were  strictly  guarded,  and 
no  precaution  omitted  ■which  could  prevent  any 
communication  with  the  Vengeur.  At  length 
Beresford,  finding  he  could  not  open  any  cor- 
respondence with  the  new  Junta,  sent  them  the 
money  he  had  received  at  Rio  Janeiro  for  the 
a  Ann  Ree  P^3  °^  ^^^  troops,  and  returned  to 
1620,  237 ;  England  in  the  Arabella  packet ; 
Ann.  Hist._  while  the  Vengeur  proceeded  on  its 
111.  426,  42/.  destination  up  the  Mediterranean.^ 

Such  ■was  the  return  which  the  Portuguese 
gg  nation  made  to  the  British  for  their 

Effect  of  liberation  from  French  thraldom,  and 
the  banish-  the  invaluable  aid  they  had  rendered 
British.  them  during  six  successive  campaigns 
for  the  maintenance  of  their  inde- 
pendence !  A  memorable,  but,  unhappily,  a  not 
unusual  instance  of  the  ingratitude  of  nations, 
and  the  immediate  disregard  of  the  most  im- 
portant services  ■wlien  they  are  no  longer  re- 
quired, or  when  oblivion  of  them  may  be  eon- 
venient  to  the  parties  who  have  been  benefited. 


Above  a  hundred  officers  accompanied  Marshal 
Beresford  to  Knglaiul  ;  and  the  effects  of  the 
absence  of  this  nucleus  of  regular  administra- 
tion soon  ajipeared  in  tlic  measures  of  CJovcrn- 
ment.  Tlie  two  Juntas  came  to  open  rupture 
in  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  the  Coites 
was  to  bo  convoked.  The  Lisbon  maintaii^ed 
it  should  be  done  according  to  the  ancient  fonn.; 
of  the  constitution  ;  but  this  was  vehemoiitly 
opposed  by  the  Oporto  Junta,  which  was  com- 
posed of  ardent  democrats,  who  asserted  that 
these  antiquated  forms  were  far  too  aristocrat- 
ical,  and  that  the  public  ■wishes  would  never  bo 
satisfied  with  any  thing  short  of  the  immediate 
adoption  of  the  Spanish  constitution.  Few  knew 
what  that  constitution  really  was;  but  it  instant- 
ly was  taken  up  as  a  rallj'ing-cry  by  the  ex- 
treme democratic  party.  Still  the  Junta  of 
Lisbon  held  out,  \ipon  which  Silviera,  who  was 
at  the  head  of  the  violent  revolutionists,  and 
had  great  influence  with  the  troops,  surround- 
ed the  Palace  of  the  Junta  ■with  a  body  of  sol- 
diers, who,  by  loud  shouts  and  threats,  instant- 
ly extorted  a  decree,  adopting  i?i  <&io  Nov.  II. 
the  Spanish  constitution,  and  ap-  ^Ann.  Ili.st. 
pointing  one  deputy  for  every  thirty  Ann.'^iieg^ ' 
thousand  inhabitants,  to  be  elected  i620,  i36, 
by  universal  suffrage.'  237. 

So  far  the  victory  of  the  revolutionists  ■was 
complete,  but  the  step  had  been  too  loo. 
violent;  neither  the  public  nor  the  Reaction, 
majority  of  the  army  were,  on  eon-  '*'"'  adop- 
sideration,  inclined  to  go  into  such  ^o^e  mod- 
violent  measures.  The  incorporations  eratemtas- 
{Gremioa)  and  magistrates  protested  ^^*^^- 
against  the  proceedings,  and  a  majority  of  the 
officers  in  the  army  came  round  to  the  same 
sentiments.  A  hundred  and  fifty  officers  in  the 
army,  and  nearly  all  the  civil  authorities,  re- 
signed their  situations.  The  consequences  were 
soon  felt.  On  the  I'Tth  November  a  general 
council  of  officers  ■was  held,  at  which  Colonel 
Castro  Sepulveda,  ■who  was  at  the  head  of  the 
moderate  party,  labored  so  assiduously  to  con- 
vince them  of  their  error,  that,  after  a  debate 
of  six  hours,  resolutions  "were  passed  to  the 
effect  that  the  state  of  public  opinion  in  the 
capital  required  that  those  ■who  had  resigned 
should  resume  their  situations;  that  the  elec- 
tion of  the  Cortes  shall  be  made  according  to 
the  Spanish  system,  but  no  other  part  of  the 
Spanish  constitution  adopted  till  the  Cortes 
had  met  and  considered  the  subject.  The  re- 
action ■was  now  complete :  upon  these  resolu- 
tions being  intimated  to  the  officers  of  the  late 
Government  ■who  had  resigned,  they  resumed 
their  functions.  Silviera  was,  with  "the  gener- 
al concurrence  of  the  people,  ordered  to  quit 
the  city  in  two  hours,  ■which  he  did,  amidst  loud 
acclaruations,  and  the  ascendency  of  the  mod- 
erate party  was  for  a  time  established.  But 
it  was  for  a  time  only.  The  fatal  step  had 
been  taken,  the  irrecoverable  concession  made. 
The  resolution  that  the  Cortes  should  be  elect- 
ed on  the  Spanish  principle,  which  was  a  single 
chamber  and  universal  suffrage,  and  s  Ann.  Hist, 
that  there  should  be  a  member  for  iii.  4fcl  ; 
every  thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  Ann.  Reg. 
necessarily  threw  the  power  into  the  ]^;  ffj^^jj, 
hands  ofthe  multitude,  and  precluded  de  Lisbon, 
the  possibility  ofany  thing  like  a  sta-  Nov.  16, 
bleorfree  constitution  being  formed.*  ^^^^^ 


1820.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


2-n 


Italy  \ras  not  long  m  catching  the  destruct- 
jQ,  ive  flame  which  had  been  kindled, 

Commence-  and  burned  so  fiercely,  in  the  Spanish 
mentofre-    peninsula.    The  career  of  reform  was 
Jorms  iti        begun  in  Piedmont  on  the  26th  Feb- 
^'  ruary,  1820,  by  a  decree  of  the  King 

of  Sardinia,  which  created  a  commission  com- 
posed of  the  most  eminent  statesmen  and  juris- 
consults, to  examine  the  existing  laws,  and 
consider  what  alterations  should  be  made  to 
bring  them  into  harmonj?  with  the  institutions 
of  other  countries  and  the  spirit  of  the  age; 
and  even  in  the  realm  of  Naples,  the  germ  of 
practical  improvement  had  begun  to  unfold 
itself  The  excessive  increase  of  tlie  land-tax, 
which  had  in  some  places  risen  to  thirty -three 
per  cent,  had  tended  to  augment  in  that  coun- 
try the  general  discontent,  whicli  in  the  inhab- 
tants  of  towns,  and  the  more  intelligent  of  those 
in  the  country,  had  centred  in  an  ardent  desire 
for  representative  institutions,  which  they  re- 
garded as  the  only  effectual  safeguard  against 
similar  abuses  in  time  to  come.  Tiie  govern- 
ment of  Murat,  and  the  society  of  the  French 
officers  during  eight  j^ears,  had  confirmed  these 
ideas,  and  augmented  the  importunity  for  these 
institutions.  This  desire  had  been  fanned  into 
a  perfect  passion  in  Sicil}'  by  the  experiment 
which  had  been  made  of  a  representative  gov- 
ernment of  that  country  by  the  English  during 
the  war,  which  was  in  the  highest  degree  pop- 
ular with  the  liberal  leaders.  But  it  had  been 
found  by  experience  to  be  so  alien  to  the  char- 
acter aud  wants  of  the  rural  inhabitants,  that 
it  fell  to  the  ground  of  its  own  accord  after 
the  withdrawal  of  the  English  troops  on  the 
peace;  and  the  only  trace  of  the  constitu- 
'  Colletta,  tional  regime  which  remained  was 
Historia di  the  ominous  word  " uno  budgetto"  a 
i7o?i°i'b.i;;     moncy  account,  which  had  been  im- 

179U,  Ib25,  i     1    /•  ^1     .      ^    ,,  .        1,.        .    . 

ii. 330, 340;  ported  irom  their  Gothic  allies  into 
Ann.  Hist,  the  harmonious  tongue  of  the  Italian 
iii.  488.  ^      shores.' 

Ferdinand  the  king  had,  in  accordance  with 
102.  the  declared  wishes  of  the  most  intel- 
nreach  of  ligent  part  of  his  subjects,  announced 
promise  of  ^'''^  acceptance  by  the  Government 
a  consUtu-  of  a  constitutional  regime  during  the 
lion.  crisis  wliich  preceded  the  fall  of  Na- 

poleon and  conclusion  of  the  war.  Before  leav- 
J  I  25  ing  the  Sicilian  shores  to  reoccupy  the 
May  1815.  throne  of  his  fathers,  on  the  dethrone- 
ment of  Mtirat  in  1815,  he  had  issued 
a  proclamation,  in  which  he  announced  "  The 
people  will  be  the  sovereign,  and  the  monarch 
will  only  be  the  depositary  of  the  laws,  wliich 
shall  be  decreed  by  a  constitution  the  most  en- 
ergetic and  desirable."  Those  words  diffused 
universal  satisfaction,  and,  like  Lord  William 
Bentinck's  celebrated  proclamation  tothe(;en- 
oese  in  the  preceding  year,  were  regard*^!  with 
reason  as  a  jiledge  of  the  future  government 
under  which  they  were  to  live.*  But  it  soon 
appeared  that  these  promises,  like  those  of  the 
German  sovereigns  during  the  mortal  agony 
of  1813,  were  made  only  to  be  broken.     "Wliat- 


"  De'  ciiKjuc  (ijHli  del  re,  ncrilU  in  McHsina  dal  UO  al 
24  maggio  erario  i  Meiisi :  pace,  concordia,  obllo  dille  puN- 
sate  vicende  ;  vl  traluceva  la  moilesta  ronfcssione  do' 
proprl  torti ,  parlavasi  di  legKi  tbndamentali  dello  Htalo,  di 
liberta  civile,  di  forinali  BuarenliKic  ;  e  co.si  vi  slavu  adum- 
orata  la  costitii/.ione  Kcii/.a  proflerirsene  11  noinc."— Col- 
letta, Ilistortu  di  Aajiuli,  11.  201. 


ever  the  individual  wislies  of  Feidinand  may 
have  been,  he  was  overruled  by  a  supeiior 
influence  which  he  had  no  means  of  lAnn.  Rcc. 
withstanding.  By  a  secret  article  1820,  23b; 
of  the  treaty  between  Austria  and  ^"n-  ^''^t. 
Naples,  concluded  in  1815,  it  was  (joUetta.'  ii 
expressly  stipulated  that  "  his  Nea-  330.  342'; 
politan  niaiestv  should  not  introduce  Treaty, 
■      \  ■  i  •     ■   1       Nov   24 

in    his   government    any    principles   igjs-  j>g. 

irreconcilable  with  those  adoped  by  ceullDiplo- 

his  Imperial  majesty  in  the  govern-  matique, 

ment  of  his  Italian  provinces."'  "'■  ^'■^'^■ 

The  hands  of  the  King  of  Naples  were  thus  tied 

by  an  overwhelming  power,   which 

he  had  not  the  means,  even  if  he  had  procressive 

possessed  the  inclination,   to  resist,  but 'slight 

All  that  could  be  done  was  to  intro-  reforms 

duee  local  reforms,  and  correct  in  a  already  m- 

.    .     J  111  1  troduced. 

certain  degree  local  abuses ;  and  some 

steps  toward  a  representative  government  had 
already  been  taken  in  this  way.  Provincial 
and  municipal  assemblies  had  been  authorized, 
which  had  commenced  some  reforms  and  sug- 
gested others,  and  were  in  progress  of  collect- 
ing information  from  practical  men  as  to  the 
real  wants  and  requirements  of  the  country. 
But  these  slow  and  progressive  advances  by 
no  means  suited  the  impatience  of  the  ardent 
Italian  people,  and  least  of  all,  of  that  energetic 
and  enthusiastic  portion  of  them  who 
were  enrolled  in  the  Secuet  Socie-  ,"j  33g'^3!f2' 
TIES  which  already  overspread  that  Ann.  hist.' 
beautiful  peninsula,  and  have  ever  "'•  468 ; 
since  exercised  so  important  an  influ-  ,ti!!'  ~.a^' 
ence  on  its  destinies.^ 

Secret  societies  banded  together  for  some 
common  purpose  are  the  natural  re-  .q^ 
sources  of  the  weak  againstthe  strong,  origin  of 
of  the  oppressed  against  the  oppres-  secret  socl- 
sors.  It  is  the  boast,  and  in  many  "^''• 
respects  the  well-founded  boast,  of  free  nations, 
that  by  removing  the  necessity  Avhich  lias  pro- 
duced it,  they  alone  have  succeeded  in  eradi- 
cating this  dreadful  evil  from  the  social  system. 
AVhere  men  are  permitted  to  combine  open- 
ly, and  the  constitution  affords  a  legitimate 
channel  of  complaint,  the  necessity  of  secret 
associations  is  removed,  and  with  that  removal 
their  frequency  is  much  abated.  Yet  it  is  not 
altogether  removed:  the  desire  to  compass 
even  legitimate  ends  by  unlawful  means  some- 
times perpetuates  such  societies  when  the 
necessity  for  them  no  longer  exists;  and  the 
llibbonism  of  Ireland  and  trades-unions  of 
England  remain  a  standing  reproof  against  free 
institutions,  and  a  lasting  proof  that  the  enjoy- 
ment of  even  a  latitudinarian  amount  of  liberty 
sometimes  affords  no  guarantee  against  the  de- 
sire to  abuse  its  iiowers.  In  Italy,  howevci-, 
at  this  time,  the  despotic  nature  of  the  institu- 
tions had  given  such  societies  a  greater  excuse 
— if  any  thing  can  ever  excuse  the  banding 
together  of  men  by  secret  means  and  guilty 
acts,  to  overturn  existing  constitutions. 

The  CARnoNAUi  of  Italy  arose  in  a  very  diifer- 
ent  interest  from  that  to  wliieli  their         jpr, 
association  was  ultimately  directed.  Tlirir()rif:in 
They  were  fuiinded,  or  jicrhajw  taken  and  prc- 
advantage  of,  by  (iueen  Caroline,  on   ^'"""  '"^' 
occasion  of  the   French   invasion  of 
Naples  in  1808  ;  and  it  was  by  their  means  tliat 
the  resistance  was  organized  in  the  Abruzzi  aud 


2-2S 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[CUAV.   VII. 


Calabria,  wliicli  so  long  coiintoil>alanccil  tlio 
repulilioan  inrtucnoeiii  tliosoutlurii  parts  of  the 
rciiinsiila.  Subsequently  tlioy  were  made  use 
of  by  Murat  at  tlie  time  i>f  liie  ilownfall  i>f  Na- 
jioleon,  to  j>roinote  his  views  for  the  foiniation 
uf  a  great  kingilom  in  Italy,  which  should  be 
free  from  Tramontane  intluence,  and  restore 
unity.  indeiHMidenee,  jirosperity,  and  glory  to 
the  ilescendunts  of  the  former  masters  of  the 
world.  Ining  directed  now  to  a  definite  prac- 
tieable  object,  which  had  long  occupied  the 
Italian  mind,  which  had  been  the  dream  of 
its  poets,  the  aspiration  of  its  jiatriots — whicli 
it  was  hoped  would  rescue  it  from  the  effects 
of  the  "fatal  gift  of  beauty"  under  which  it 
had  so  long  labored,  and  terminate  a  servitude 
which  clung  to  it  conquering  or  conquered* — 
this  association  now  rapidU"  increased  in  num- 
bers, influence,  and  the  hardihood  of  its  pro- 
jects. It  continued  to  grow  rapidly  during 
the  five  years  which  succeeded  the  fall  of  IS'a- 
polcoii  and  re-establishment  of  the  Bourbon 
dynasty  in  Naples;  and  as  the  desires  of  peace 
had  come  in  place  of  the  passions  of  war,  it  had 
grown  up  so  as  to  embrace  considerable  por- 
tions of  the  members,  and  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  the  talent  and  energy  of  the  State.  It 
had  comparatively  few  partisans  in  the  rural 
districts,  among  which  ancient  influences  still 
retained  their  ascendency ;  but  in  the 
towns,  among  the  incorporations,  the 
universities,  the  scholars,  the  army, 
and  the  artists,  it  had  nearly  spread 
universally  ;  and  it  might  with  truth 
be  said,  that  among  the  642,000  per- 
sons who  in  Italy  were  said  to  be  en- 
rolled in  its  ranks,  were  to  be  found 
nearly  the  whole  genius,  intelligence, 
and  patriotisni  of  the  land.^ 
Governed  both  by  princes  of  the  house  of 
jQg  Bourbon,  and  intimatelj*  connected 
Commence-  for  centuries  by  political  alliance, 
mentofihe  intermarriage  of  families,  and  simi- 
flvTl'i^n"  laritv  of  manners,  Naples  had  for 
long  been  influenced  in  a  great  de- 
gree by  the  political  events  of  Spain.  Upon  a 
I>eople  so.  situated,  actuated  by  such  desires, 
and  of  so  excitable  a  temperament,  the  exam- 
ple of  the  Spanish  revolution  operated  imme- 
diately, and  with  universal  force.  The  Carbo- 
nari over  the  whole  Peninsula  were  speedily  in 
motion,  to  effect  the  same  liberation  for  it  as 
had  already  been  achieved  without  serious 
effusion  of  blood  in  Spain  ;  and  as  it  was  known 
that  the  Franc-Communeros  of  that  countrv^  had 
I>layed  an  important  part  in  its  revolution,  san- 
guine hopes  were  entertained  that  they  might 
be  equal!}-  successful  in  their  patriotic  efforts. 
Their  great  reliance  was  on  the  arm}',  many 
of  the  higher  oflicers  of  which  were  already 
enrolled  in  their  ranks,  and  which  it  was  hoped 
Avould  be  generally  influenced  by  the  example  , 
and  rewards  obtained  by  the  insurrectionary  ! 
host  in  the  island  of  Leon.  These  hopes  were 
rot  disappointed;  on  the  2d  July,  Morelli  and 
Menichini — the  one  a  simple  lieutenant  in  the  j 
army,  the  other  a  priest  in  the  town  of  Nola,  j 
but  who  both  held  important  situations  in  the  i 
,  .  .  society  of  the  Carbonari — assembled  the 
soldiers  of  the  former's  troop,  raised  the 

'  "  Vincitrice  o  vinta  sempre  asserva."  i 


'  Colletta, 
ii.  340, 345; 
Idem, 
Cinque 
Jours  de 
I'llistoire 
da  Naples, 
a8,35;  Ann. 
Ilist.  iii. 
4t8,  ii.  298, 
2tf9. 


'  cry  of  "Cod,  the  King,  and  the  Constitution;" 
J  fraternized    with    the    National    Guard,    wlio 
'  joined  in  the  same  sentiments;  and  witli  their 
united  force  inarched  upon  Avellino,  the  thief 
town  of  the  province,  in  the  hojie  of  inducing 
its  inhabitants  to  join  their  cause.     This  was 
not    long    in    being    effected.       Coiicilii,   who 
commaiulod   the  militia   of  that  town,  joiiied 
the  popular  cause;  Jlorelli  and  he  proclaimed 
the  Constitution   amidst  unanimous 
shouts,  and  Concilii  was,  by  accla-  iVolktta 
ination,    declared    the   head  of  the  ij.  346, 347; 
patriotic  force  and  the  Kieco  of  Na-  Ann.  Hist, 
'iggi  ^  iii.4b9.4y0. 

The  news  of  the  insurrection  at  Nola,  fol- 
lowed as  it  was  immediately  by  the 
defection  of  the  garrison  of  Avellino,  Defection 
threw  tlie  court  of  Naples  into  the  ofGencral 
utmost  consternation,  and  General  r«"pe  and 
Campana,  who  had  the  command  at  of^^ies"" 
Salerno,  received  orders  to  march 
without  delay  on  the  latter  town,  while  all  the 
disposable  force  at  Naples  "was  ordei-ed  to  ad- 
vance in  support.  But  vain  are  all  attempts 
to  extinguish  revolt  by  soldiers  who  themselves 
are  tainted  with  the  spirit  of  insuirection.  Gen- 
eral Carascosa,  who  commanded  the  troops 
which  came  tip  from  Naples,  was  no  sooner  in 
presence  of  the  insurgents  w  ho  were  marching 
on  Salerno,  than  he  found  his  men  so  shaken 
that  he  was  constrained  to  retire,  to  prevent 
them  from  openly  joining  their  ranks.  Ihe  rev- 
olutionists advanced  accordingU'  to  Salerno, 
which  they  occupied  in  force;  and  the  intelli- 
gence of  their  approach  e.xcited  such  a  fer- 
ment in  Naples  that  it  soon  became  evident  that 
the  maintenance  of  the  government  had  become 
impossible.  A  large  bodj-  of  the  principal  tfE- 
cers  in  the  garrison  waited  on  Genkkal  Pepe, 
and  entreated  him  to  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  insurrection,  assuring  him  of  the  ftip- 
port  of  the  entire  ainiy.  He  yielded  willi- 
out  difliculty  to  their  entreaties;  and  taking 
the  command  of  a  regiment  of  horse  in  Na])les 
which  had  declared  for  the  constitutional  cause, 
he  set  out  amidst  loud  cheers  for  the  head- 
quarters of  the  insurgents,  whom  he  j  colletta 
joined  at  Salerno,  where  he  was  ji.  348,  349 ; 
immediatelv  saluted  bv  acclamation  Ann.  Hist. 
General-in-chief.^'  '  iii.  490, 492. 

Ever}'  day  now  brought  intelligence  of  fresh 
defections.  The  whole  regiments  in 
the  garrison  of  Naples  declared  for  The  king 
the  constitution,  and  every  post  an-  yields,  and 
nounced  the  junction  of  some  new  swears  to 
garrison  to  the  cause  of  the  insur-  Jufjon"^"' 
gents.  Numerous  crowds  constantly 
surrounded  the  jialace,  and  with  loud  cries  and 
threats  demanded  the  instant  proclamation  of 
the  constitution.  The  students,  the  professors, 
the  municipality,  the  whole  intelligent  classes, 
loudly  supported  the  demand ;  and  the  king, 
without  guards  or  support  of  any  kind,  moral 
or  physical,  found  himself  constrained  to  yield 
to  their  demands.  Anxious  to  gain  time,  ho 
consented,  after  some  negotiation,  to  resign  his 
authority  into  the  hands  of  his  son,  the  Duke 
of  Calabria,  whom  he  declared  his  Vicar-gen- 
eral, with  the  unlimited  authority  of  "Alter 
effo."  The  prince  immediately  issued  a  pro- 
clamation declaring  his  acceptance  of  the  Span- 
ish Constitution,  under  certain  conditions;  but 


1820.] 


HISTORY    OF    EL  ROPE. 


'J  2  9 


the  silence  of  the  kiugs^ill  excited  the  alarm  of 
the  popular  party,  and  at  length  his  niajestv 
liimself  issued  a  proclamation,  in  which 
•'"'^  '■  he  ratified  the  promise  made  b}-  his 
son,  and  engaged  to  accept  the  Spanish  Consti- 
tution, imder  the  reservation  of  such  alterations 
as  the  national  representation  legally  convoked 
might  find  it  necessary  to  adopt*  The  prince, 
at  the  same  time,  issued  a  decree  declaring  his 
unconditional  acceptance  of  the  Spanish  Con- 
stitution as  promulgated  by  His  Most  Catholic 
Majesty  on  the  7th  March  ;  and  the  king  two 
days  after  solemnly  took  the  oath  in  presence 
of  all  the  civil  and  military  authorities  of  the 
kingdom. f  The  whole  authority  in  the  king- 
dom immediately  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
revolutionists.  General  Pepe  was  declared 
Commander-in-chief  instead  of  the  Austrian 
General  Nugent,  who  was  dismissed.  General 
Felangiers  was  appointed  Governor  of  Na- 
jdes;  the  ministry  was  entirely  changed,  and 
a  new  one,  composed  of  ardent  liberals,  ap- 
})ointed ;  a  junta  of  fifteen  persons  nominated 
to  control  the  Government,  and  the  whole 
appointments  solemnly  confirmed  by  the  king. 
Great  popular  rejoicings  and  a  general  illumi- 
nation testified  the  universal  joy  at  these  rapid 
changes;  but  it  augured  ill  for  the  stability 
1  coUetta  '^^  the  new  order  of  things,  or  its 
ii.  368, 371;  adaptation  to  the  people  by  whom 
Ann.  Hist,  jt  was  adopted,  that  they  had  to 
495-  Ann  *^"^  '"  Spain  for  a  cop;/  of  the  Con- 
Re"''.  1B20.  stitution  to  which  they  had  all  sworn 
240.  fealty.  1 

While  military  treason  was  thus  overturn- 
IQ.j  ing  monarchy  in  Naples,  and  blast- 

Causes  ing  tlie  growth  of  freedom,  by  es- 
which  pre-  tablishing  a  constitution  utterly  at 
pared  revo-  variance  with  the  habits,  capacities, 
lution  in  .  .      r  n  t        •     -t       J 

Sicily.  or  mterests  ol  the  great  majority  oi 

the  people,  and  not  understood  by 
ten  in  a  million  of  the  inhabitants,  the  progress 
of  insurrection  was  still  more  rapid  in  Sicily, 
where,  as  already  mentioned,  a  constitutional 
July  14  nioii^i'chy  had  been  established  by  the 
English  during  their  occupation  in  the 
latter  yeavs  of  the  war,  and  the  people,  gen- 
erally   speaking,    were    more    practically    ac- 


*  "  La  costituzione  del  regno  delle  Due  .Sicilie  sara  la 
stessa  adottata  per  il  regno  delle  Spagne  nell'  anno  1H12, 
e  sanzionata  da  S.  M.  Cattolica  ncl  inar/.o  di  questo  anno  ; 
Balve  le  rnodificazioni  che  la  rapprescntanza  na/.ionale. 
co.stituzionalrnente  convocata,  credera  di  proporci  per 
adattarla  alle  circostanzc  particolari  det  reali  dominii." 
Francesco,  Vicario.  July  6,  lb2U. — Colletta,  Utoria 
di  Napoli,  ii.  301. 

t  The  oath  taken  by  the  Prince  Vicar-general  was  as 
followH  :  "  In  quunto  alia  costituzionc  di  .Spagna,  okki 
ancora  noHtra,  lo  giuro  (e  alzo  la  voce  piu  diqui'l  che  iin- 
j-orlava  1'  es.ierc  udito)  di  scrbarla  illesa,  ed  all'  uopo  di- 
I'enderla  col  sangue." — Colletta,  ii.  308,  309. 

The  oath  of  the  kinK,  taken  on  the  13tli  in  presence  of 
all  the  authorities  of  the  kingdom,  was  still  more  solemn  : 
"  '  lo  Ferdinando  IJorhone,  per  la  grazia  di  IJio  c  per  la 
costituzione  della  monarchia  napolelana,  re,  col  noinc  di 
Kerdinando  I.  del  regno  delle  Due  Sicilie,  giuro  in  nome 
di  Dio  c  sopra  i  SantiEvangeli  che  difcndero  e  conservercV 

(seguivano  le  hasi  della  costituzionc :  poi  di- 

ceva).  '  Se  operassi  contra  il  mio  giuarmento,  c  contra 
qualunquc  articolo  di  csso,  noii  dovro  cssere  ubhidito  ;  cd 
c^ni  operazioiie  con  cui  vi  contravvenissi,  sara  nulla  c 
di  nessun  valore.  Cosi  fucendo,  Iddio  mi  ajuti  e  mi  pro- 
tegga  ;  altrimcnti,  me  ne  dimandi  conto.'  II  prolTerito 
giuramento  era  scritto.  Fiiiito  di  leggerlo,  il  re  alzo  il 
capo  al  cielo,  fisso  gli  occhi  alia  croce  e  spontaneo  disse  : 
'Onnipotcntc  Iddio  che  collo  sguardo  infliiito  leggi  nell' 
anima  c  nell'  avvenire,  se  io  menlisco  o  se  dovro  inancare 
al  giuramento,  tu  in  questo  istante  dirigi  sul  mio  capo  i 
fulmini  della  tua  vendetlu.'  "—Colletta,  ii.  37U,  371. 


quainted  with  the  working  of  a  free  constiti!- 
tion.  The  English  institutions  had  been  abol- 
ished when  they  withdrew  from  the  kingdom 
— unlike  the  Code  Napoleon,  which,  founded 
on  the  matured  wisdom  of  the  Roman  law, 
every  where  survived  the  fall  of  his  dynasty. 
The  government,  however,  had  established 
municipal  councils,  elected  by  the  more  re- 
spectable classes,  declared  any  additional  im- 
posts illegal  without  the  consent  of  the  States- 
General  of  the  realm,  and  issued  some  salutary 
decrees  for  the  limitation  of  the  excessive  evils 
of  entails.  But  these  practical  reforms  did  not 
in  the  least  answer  the  wishes  of  the  Sicilian 
revolutionists,  who,  even  more  than  the  Neapo- 
litans, sighed  for  the  establishment  of  rei>re- 
sentative  institutions,  and  ardently  desired  in- 
stantly to  separate  from  Naples,  and  get  the 
command  of  the  country  by  adopting  the 
Spanish  Constitution.  The  first  news  of  the 
revolution  at  Naples  excited  a  great  sensation  ; 
and  this  was  fanned  into  a  perfect  tumult  when 
the  official  intelligence  arrived  on  the  j^j  j^ 
14th  of  the  acceptance  of  the  constitu- 
tion by  the  king.  They  had  no  thought,  how- 
ever, of  remaining  subject  to  his  government. 
In  the  Sicilian  mind,  as  in  the  Irish,  personal 
freedom  and  revolution  are  inseparably  con- 
nected with  insular  independence;  i  colletta, 
and  the  first  impulse  of  patriotism  ii.37(i, 377; 
ever  has  been  to  detach  themselves  ^""g"'*'' 
from  the  dominant  power  which  has  498;  Ann. 
ruled,  and,  as  they  think,  oppressed  Reg.  Ib20, 
them.i  '•^•*'- 

The  following  day,  July  15,  happened  to  be 
the  great  national  festival  of  the  jjg 
Sicilians — that  of  St.  Rosalie — when,  Revolution 
even  in  ordinary  times,  all  business  in  Palermo. 
is  suspended,  and  the  whole  inhab-  "  ^ 
itants  devote  themselves  to  festivity  and  joy. 
It  was  held  on  this  occasion  with  more  than 
wonted  splendor  and  animation  at  Palermo,  the 
capital  of  the  island.  Early  in  the  morning, 
the  committees  of  the  Carbonari  were  in  ac- 
tivity, the  bands  of  the  revolutionists  in  motion  ; 
cries  of  "Viva  la  Costituzionc  S])agnuola! — 
Viva  ITndepenza!"  were  universal;  and  the 
inhabitants  even  of  an  opposite  way  of  tliiiik- 
ing  were  compelled  to  adopt  cockades  of  the 
national  color  (yellow),  with  the  Sicilian  eagle  ; 
and  a  trifling  incident  having  excited  their  I'c- 
sentment  against  General  Church,  an  English- 
man, who  still  retained  the  command  of  the 
place,  lie  was  attacked,  and  his  house  pillaged. 
General  NastHi,  who  comman<led  the  Neajuili- 
tan  troop.s  in  the  ishmd,  in  vain  endeavored, 
by  yielding  to  the  moveiiuiit,  to  moderate  its 
excesses.  The  populace,  having  once  tasted  of 
the  pleasures  of  |iillage,  and  become  excited  by 
the  passions  of  revolution,  becanio  whollj'  un- 
governable, and  proceeded  to  the  most  deplo.-- 
able  excesses.  They  advaMC('(l  in  tumuli uoi.s 
bodies  to  tin;  three  forts  of  La  Saiicta,  Caslclhi- 
mare,  and  Palermo  Realo,  which  commaiuh  d 
the  city;  and  as  the  troops,  having  received 
no  orders  liow  to  act,  made  scarcely  any  re- 
sistance;, the  populace  made  lliein-  j  f^olletia 
selves  masters  of  the  forts  and  the  ii.37«, 37'.!; 
whole  aiv'^enals  they  contained,  from   Ann.  llisl- 

which  tlu'V   aimed   themselves,  and  '.''• '''''i' „ 
,.    ,    ;  1  •     !•       Ann.  Keg. 

immediately    commencea    an    indis-  is20, 241. 
criminate  pillage." 


230 


HISTORY    OV    KUROTE. 


Alarrmnl  at  llie  consoqnenoos  of  the  movo- 
11,  luont  thov  Inul  in  the  first  instnnoo 

FriKhiiul  oiicourncjeti,  >iaselli  ami  the  nobles 
massacre  iiow  eniieavored  to  restrain  the  ox- 
in  riiUriiio.  (.^,j(s^^3  „f  the  iioiiulnee.  They  ap- 
pointed  a  junta  of  hfteen  pei"sons 
arnioil  witli  full  powei-s  to  restore  order;  and 
then  having  rallied  the  troops,  succeeded,  on 
the  following  day,  in  regaining  possession  of 
the  forts  whieh  had  been  lost  on  the  preceding. 
But  the  revolutionists,  now  infuriated  by  wine, 
and  rendered  desperate  by  the  loss  of  the  forts, 
proceeded  to  the  prisons,  which  liad  been  with 
difficulty  defended  on  the  preceding  day,  broke 
open  the  doors,  burst  through  the  barriers,  and, 
amidst  frightful  yells  on  both  sides,  liberated 
eight  hundred  galley-slaves,  who  instantly 
joined  their  ranks.  Encouraged  by  this  great 
reinforcenietit,  tliey  proceeded,  amidst  revolu- 
tionary cries  and  shouts  of  triumph,  to  assail 
tlic  troops  which  were  concentrated  on  the 
riazza  del  Castello,  to  the  number  of  seven- 
teen hundred.  Assailed  on  all  sides  by  a  high- 
Ij-  excited  multitude  twenty  thousand  strong, 
armed  witii  the  weapons  they  had  won  on  the 
preceding  day,  and  led  on  by  a  fanatic  monk 
named  Vagleia,  the  troops  were  soon  broken, 
and  immediatel}'  a  frightful  massacre  ensued. 
Prince  Catolica,  who  had,  in  the  first  instance, 
declared  in  favor  of  the  cause  of  independence, 
but  subsequently  united  with  the  troops  to 
coerce  the  excesses  of  the  people,  was  iidiu- 
inanly  massacred,  his  head  put  on  a  pike  in  the 
centre  of  the  city,  and  his  four  quarters  exposed 
in  four  of  its  piineipal  streets.  Prince  Aci  and 
Colonel  Sanzas,  who  had  resisted  the  seizure  of 
the  artillery  in  the  forts,  shared  the  same  fate; 
and  General  Naselli,  who  was  besieged  in  the 
governor's  palace,  with  great  difficulty  made 
his  escape  by  a  back  way  with  a  hundred  sol- 
diers, and,  reaching  the  harbor,  set  sail  in  the 
utmost  consternation  for  IS'aples.  Kearly  the 
whole  remainder  of  the  troops,  fifteen  hund- 
red in  number,  were  put  to  death ;  the  whole 
Keapolitans  in  Palermo,  to  the  number  of  six 
thousand,  were  thrown  into  prison ;  a  new  junta, 
1  An.  Hist,  composed  of  the  most  ardent  revolu- 
iii.  500,  tionists,  was  appointed  by  the  popu- 
if  ? '  thot'  ^^^^  >  ^^^  during  the  remainder  of  the 
iU-  Col-'  '^^y  ^^*^  following  night  the  town  was 
fctia,  ii.  abandoned  to  pillage,  and  all  the  hor- 
37s,  379.  rors  of  a  fortress  taken  by  assault.' 
The  first  care  of  the  new  junta,  as  is  generally 
]]2  the  case  in  such  instances,  after  the 
First  meas-  victory  has  been  gained,  was  to  coerce 
uresoftUe  the  excesses  of  the  unruly  allies  by 
new  junta,    ^j^^^^  j^  j^^^^  ^^^^   achieved.      The 

galley-slaves  were  with  some  difficulty  persuad- 
ed to  give  up  their  arms,  a  general  amnesty  for 
all  offenses  was  proclaimed,  and  they  all  re- 
ceived a  free  pardon  upon  condition  of  leaving 
the  city;  the  whole  murdei*  and  robbei'ies  of 
the  preceding  day  were  hushed  up,  and  their 
perpetrators  declared  to  have  deserved  well  of 
their  country  ;  the  most  prominent  of  them  re- 
ceived golden  medals;  the  monk  Yagleia,  was 
declared  a  colonel  in  the  national  army,  and  the 
Piazza  del  Castello,  where  the  troops  had  been 
massacred,  was  directed  to  be  called  "Piazza 
della  Yittoria."  More  efficient  means  were 
taken  to  assert  the  national  independence,  and 
restore  the  order  which  had  been  so  fearfully 


[Cn.M-.  YII. 


disturbed.     A  national  guard  was  establislied, 

and  soon  acquired  in  I'alermo  a  tolerable  degree 

of  eflicieney  ;  circulars  were  sent  to  the  other 

towns  in  tlie  island,  inviting  them  to 

join  the  patriots  in  its  capital,  and  a  jg2(r'24r^ 

deputation  of  eight  persons  was  sent  Ann!  Hist. 

to  ^'ajdes  to  arrange  the  terms  of  an  '"•  501  ; 

accommodation,  on  the  footing  of  the  V-l.   5>'^f'.  " 

,.  .     ,  •    ,  1  ,..■••11  "'"i  •'="• 

political  independence  of  bicily.' 

But  the  republicans  of  Naples  were  by  no 
means  inclined  to  these  sentiments; 
and  tlie  revolutionists  of  tSicily  soon  pajiure  of 
found,  as  those  of  Ireland  had  done  in  the  nugo- 
the  days  of  Cromwell,  that  whatever  nations 
changes  the  elevation  of  the  people  to  j^ai'igg 
power  may  produce  in  the  measures 
of  government,  it  makes  none  in  the  ambition 
by  w  hich  it  is  animated,  and  that  a  deniocratie 
rule    is   even  more  hard   to  shake  olf   than  a 
monarchical.  So  far  from  being  inclined  to  agree 
to  a  separation  of  the  two  governments,   the 
popular  leaders  at  Naples  were  determined  to 
uphold  the  union,  and  animated  with  the  most 
intense  desire  to  take  vengeance  on  the  Sicilians 
for  the  frightful  atrocities  with  wliich  the  revo- 
lution had  commenced.     When  the  deputation 
from  Sicily  approached,  it  was  only  allowed  to 
come  to  Procida,  an  island  in  the  Bay  of  Kaples ; 
and  the  first  question  asked,  was  w  hether  they 
recognized  King  Ferdinand,  w'hich  having  been 
answered   in   the   affirmative,  the  negotiation 
commenced ;  but  it  soon   broke   off  upon   dis- 
covering that  the  sine  rjud  no7i  of  the  Sicilian 
deputies  was  a  separate  parliament  and  constitu- 
tion for  themselves.  "  Repeal  of  the  Union"  was 
their  watchword,  which  was  answered  in  equal- 
ly loud  terms  from  the  Parthenopeian  shores, 
'■  Unity  and  Indivisibility  of  the  Constitution." 
So  far  from  acquiescing  in  the  demand  for  a 
separation,   the   Neapolitan   govern-  2  CoUetta, 
ment  made  the  most  vigorous  yjre-  ii.3b4,3b5; 
parations  for  asserting  their  suprera-  A.""-  J^'^'- 
acy  by  force,  and  reducing  the  san-  503  Ann. 
guinar}-  and  rebellious  Sicilians  to  en-  Reg.  ibSO, 
tire  subjection.  =<  241,242. 

In    the    beginning    of   September,    General 
Floridan  Pepe,  brother  to  the  general-        ji4_ 
issimo  at  Naples,  landed  at  Slalazzo  Suppres- 
in  Sicily,  four  leagues  from  Palermo,  ?'°"  °^  "^^ 
at  the  head  of  four  thousand  men  ;  |"o*'n"inTa- 
and  though  he  met  with  some  opposi-  lermo. 
tion  he  easily  overcame  it,  and  in  a  *^'^'-  ^• 
few    days  appeared   before   the   gates   of  tlie 
capital.     Its  inhabitants  were  nearly  reduced 
to  their  own  resources,  for  the  other  boroughs 
in  the  island,  horror-struck,  and  terrified  at  the 
frightful  excesses  of  which  Palermo  had  been 
the  theatre,  hung   back,   and    had  forwarded 
none  of  the  required  contingents  for  tlie  sujiport 
of  the  cause  of  separation  in  that  city.     The 
guerrillas  which  infested  his  flanks,  composed 
almost  entirely  of  the  liberated  galley-slaves, 
who  dreaded  the  reimposition  of  their  fetters, 
having  been  cleared  away,   the  attack  on  the 
forces  of  Palermo  began  in  good  earnest  on  th*s 
3d    and   4th    of  September.     They    ^t   g 
first  attempted  to  keep  the  field,  but 
their  raw  levies  proved  no  match  for  the  regu- 
lar troops  of  Naples.     Defeated  with   serious 
loss  in   several    encounters,   their  forces   were 
soon  shut  up  in   Palermo  ;   and   the  jiriiH-ii^al 
towns  in  the  island  having  sent  in  their  auhe- 


1 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


Sept.  25. 


1820.] 

sion  to  General  Pcpe,  and  the  regular  troops  in 
the  garrisons,  which  .still  held  out  for  the  royal 
cause,  having  joined  their  forces  to  his,  the 
junta  of  Palermo  became  convinced  that  the 
contest  was  hopeless,  and  were  disposed  to  lend 
an  ear  to  an  accommodation.  To  facilitate  and 
enforce  it,  Pepe  moved  forward  on  the 
25th  of  September  to  the  very  gates  of 
the  city.  lie  then  renewed  his  propositions ; 
but  the  violent  party^  in  the  city  had  now  re- 
gained tlie  ascendancj^,  and  dispossessed  their 
own  junta;  the  Hag  of  truce  was  fired  on,  and 
the  people  seemed  prepared  for  a  desperate  re- 
si.stance.  But  it  was  seeming  only.  On  the 
next  day  the  Neapolitan  forces  succeed- 
^P  ■  •  ■  eJ  in  penetrating  into  the  city  by  the 
royal  park,  and  the  Neapolitan  flotilla  in  the 
roads  drew  near,  and  prepared  to  second  Pepe 
9-  ^y  ^  general  bombardment.  The  most 
"''  ■  '"  furious  republicans,  now  convinced 
that  further  resistance  was  hopeless,  and  could 
end  only  in  the  destruction  of  themselves  and 
their  city,  listened  to  terms  of  accommoda- 
tion. Pepe  humanely  acceded  to  their  oifer  of 
submission,  and,  to  save  the  city  from  the 
horrors  of  an  assault,  withdrew  his  troops  from 
the  posts  they  had  won  within  its  walls.  The 
populace,  seeing  the  troops  withdraw,  ascribed 
it  to  fear,  and  recommenced  hostilities  ;  but  the 
retribution  was  immediate  and  terrible.  On 
the  27 ill  the  bombardment  commenced,  and 
with  the  most  dreadful  etfect.  The  town  was 
soon  on  fire  in  several  places,  and  the  infuriated 
mob,  passing  from  one  extreme  to  another,  ere 
long  craved  peace  in  the  most  abject  terms. 
I  colietta,  A  capitulation  was  concluded  on  the 
ii.  383, 3s7;  5th,  and  General  Pepe  was  put  in 
A.nn-^Hist.  possession  of  the  forts.  The  Nea- 
505  •  Ann.  poUtan  constitution  was  proclaimed, 
Reg.  l»-20.  a  new  junta  named,  and  the  Prince  of 
241,  242.  Palermo  appointed  to  its  head.^ 
Hitherto  every  thing  had  succeeded  to  a  wish 
JJ5  with  the  Neapolitans,  but  they  soon 
Renewal  of  found  that  great  difficulties  remained 
hostihties.  behind.  The  question  of  separation 
was  not  yet  decided  ;  the  second  article  of  the 
capitulation  liad  provided  that  that  difficult 
matter  should  be  decided  by  a  majority  of  votes 
in  the  Sicilian  parliaiaent  legally  convoked. 
This  article,  as  well  it  niigiit,  was  extremely  ill 

„  .  ,^    received  at   Najjlcs ;    the  capitulation 

Oct.  15.  II    1     *    1      ■       1     '        i       1 

was  annulled,  as  having  been  entered 

into  by  General  Pepe  without  any  authority  to 

leave  the  question  of  separation  unsettled.     lie 

was  dismissed  from  his  command,  which   ■\vas 

conferred   on  General  Colietta.     He  was   soon 

reinforced  by  six  thousand  trooj)s  from  Calabria 

with   the   aid    of   which   he  reduced    Palermo 

to  entire  subjection,  disarmed  the  inhabitants 

and   imposed   on   the   city   a   I,cavy    military 

contribution,  wiiich  had  a  surprising  eff'ect  in 

cooling  their  revolutionary  ardor.     Hostilities 

immediately  ceased  through  the  wliolo  i.sland, 

'  An.  Hist.  an<l  the  Sicilians  soon  found,  to  their 

JJL^"*'         '*"**'•  '•''"t  tlioy  had  gained  little  by 
506;  Ann.      fl,„;«      i  r  i  ,     ,,    •' 

Reg.  1820,  1      change    of  masters,   and    that 

242;  Col-'  their  revolutionary  rulers  at  Naples 
•«"•*•*'■  were  more  difficult  to  deal  with  than 
'  ■  theirformcrfeebletnonarchhadbeen.' 
By  the  Spanish  ("onstitution,  now  adojited  as 
that  of  Naples,  there  was  to  be  one  deputy  for 
every  thirty  tliousand  inhabitants,  which  gave 


231 


seventy-four  deputies  for  Naples,  and  twenty- 
four  for  Sicily ;    the  inhabitants  of 
the   former  being   5,052,000,   of  the  Meeting  of 
latter  1,681,000.     The  electors  were  tlie  Neapo- 
anxiously  adjured  in  a  proclamation  litan  par- 
te choose  wise  and  patriotic  repre-  'jJ.?J,Keri 
sentatives — a  vain   recommendation 
in  a  country  recently  convulsed  by  the  passions 
and  torn  by  the  desires  of  a  revolution.     The 
deputies  were  such  as  in  these  circumstances  usu- 
ally acquire  an  ascendency — violent  democrats, 
village  attorneys,  revolutionary  leaders  of  the 
army,  a  few  professors  and  literary  men,  and 
some  renegade  priests.     The  report  of  the  Min- 
ister of  Foreign  Affairs  announced  that  all  the 
great  powers  had  refused  to  recognize  the  revo- 
lutionary changes  at  Naples ;  that  of  the  Min- 
ister of  the  Interior  signalized  the  numerous 
abuses  which  had  prevailed  in  the  internal  ad- 
ministration of  the  kingdom,  and  which  it  was 
proposed  to  remedy,  and  recommended  the  sale 
<i  a   large  part  of  the  national   domains  to 
meet  the  deficiencies  of  the  exchequer;  that  of 
the  Minister  at  War,  the  measures  which  were 
in  progress  for  providing  for  its  external  de- 
fense.     This   consisted  in  a  regular   army  of 
52,000  men,  movable,  national  guards  219,000 
strong,  and  an  immovable  one  of  400,000  men. 
But  these  forces  existed  on  paper  only,  notwith- 
standing all  the  efforts  of  the  Carbonari  ;^  the 
recruiting  went  on  extremely  slow;  i  coUetta, 
disorder    and    corruption    pervaded  iii.  399, 
every  branch  of  the  public  adminis-  ^l*;'  •  ^}}^- 
tration  ;    and,  distrustful  of  all  the  5^5  507'- 
vaunted  means  of  national  defense,  Ann.  Reg. 
all  eyes  were  already  turned  to  the  ^^^^'  242- 
congress  of  the  allied  powers  at  Troppau,  where 
it  was  evident  the  real  destiny  of  the  revolution 
would  be  determined. 

The  Roman  States  were  too  near,  and  too 
closely  connected  with  the  Neapoli-  jj- 
tan,  not  to  participate  in  their  pas-  insurrec- 
sions,  and  in  some  degree  share  their  '>""  of 
destinies.  Disturbances  aecordint'ly  '','f,,?* '??' 
took  place  at  an  early  period  in  the  civita 
pontifical  dominions;  but  they  began  Vecchia. 
in  a  very  peculiar  class,  whose  efforts  ^'^l""  '^■ 
for  liberation  proved  of  as  little  value  as  their 
assistance  was  discreditable  to  the  lil)eral  cause. 
On  the  night  of  the  4th  September  a  revolt 
broke  out  in  the  great  depot  of  galley-slaves  at 
Civita  Vecchia,  Avhere  si.\teen  hundred  convicts 
of  the  worst  description  were  confined.  At 
seven  in  the  evening  a  low  murmur  was  heard 
in  tlie  principal  depot,  and  immediately  a  gen- 
eral insurrection  commenced.  The  irons  were 
broken,  and  by  slicer  strength  and  the  weight 
of  numbers  the  barri(>rs  were  burst  through, 
and  the  infuriated  multitude  rushed  with  fright- 
ful cries  into  the  outer  parts  of  the  inclosure. 
The  troops  arrived,  and  the  galley-slaves  imme- 
diately invited  them  to  fraternize  with  them, 
callintr  out  "  Long  live  the  republic !  Join  witli 
us,  aixl  to-morrow  wc  shall  establish  a  re])ub- 
lie  ill  Civita  \'('cehia,  and  all  will  be  rigid." 
But  the  troops  w(M'o  not  coiivinc(Ml  tliat  all 
would  be  right  with  the  aid  of  such  allies;  they 
did  their  duty:  several  vollej-s  fired  at  point- 
blank  distance  spread  terror  among  their  ranks, 
and  at  length,  at  seven  next  iiiorniiig,  tlie  insur- 
rection was  stipprassed,  though  not  without  con- 
siderable bloodshed.     This  outbreak  was  con- 


11  ISTDK  Y    OF   EUROPE. 


[CiiAr.  VII. 


nocte<,l  witli  a  much  inoi  o  (■diisiilornhle  oon,«jiir- 
iicv  ill  Koiiu'  aiul  Hoiu'Vciiluiii,  wliiili,  althmiirli 

>  .\n.  R.-R.  ^''l'r»"«-'**^'J  '»  '•'>•  ^^■"I'itiil  bv  tlio  vigi- 
It'jti,  243;  laiice  of  the  police,  suceeeiled  in  tlic 
loiutia.  II.  hitter  town,  iind  for  a  time  severed  it 
3\n>,  40t».      f,.^„„  ,j,j,  lo^.^.leJiinstieal  States.' 

A  more  serious  insurieetion  soon  after  ensued 
jm  in    I'lKiiMoxT,   whieli,   from  its  close 

OoininVnce-  vieiiiity  to  I'"raiieo,  the  long  service 
iiKiit  oiilie  of  its  troops  witli  the  armies  of  that 
'.^\'''\'i""'  power,  and  the  martial  spirit  of  its 
ii'iont'!  inhabitants,  has  always  been  more 

January  11,  swift  to  share  in  the  revolutionary 
l'^"'il-  spirit,  and  more  sturdy  in  maiutnin- 

ii.g  it,  than  any  other  of  the  Italian  states.    Like 

>  [lain  and  Portugal,  the  desire  for  free  and  reprc- 
teiitative  institutions  had  there  come  to  animate 
the  breasts  of  the  officers  in  the  army,  and  nearly 
the  wholeof  the  educated  and  intelligent  classes 
of  the  people.  The  Carbonari  numbered  not 
only  the  whole  of  the  ardent  and  enthusiastic, 
but  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  intelligence 
and  patriotism  in  the  state.  Unhappil}',  their 
information  and  experience  were  not  equal  to 
their  vigor  and  spirit,  and  by  at  once  embracing 
the  t?panish  Constitution  they  entangled  them- 
selves in  all  the  evils  and  difficulties  with  which 
that  absurd  and  perilous  system  was  environed. 

On  the  11th  January  some  young  stu- 
dents  appeared  at  the  theatre  of  Anden- 
nes,  in  the  district  of  Kovarrais,  wearing  the  red 
cap  of  liberty,  and  by  the  violence  of  their  eon- 
duct  occasioned  a  tumult,  which  was  only  sup- 
pressed next  day  by  four  companies  of 
Jan.  1-.  j^jjg  guards  from  Turin,  which  were 
marched  from  that  capital  under  the  command  of 
its  govenor.  But  though  suppressed  on  this  occa- 
sion, the  revolutionary  spirit  was  far  from  being 
extinct,  and  it  soon  broke  out  under  more  serious 
circumstances,  and  in  a  far  more  influential  class. 
In  the  end  of  February,  on  the  representation  of 
the  Austrian  minister  that  they  were  engaged  in 
a  conspiracy  to  chase  the  Imperialists  from  Italy, 
several  noblemen,  leaders  of  the  liberal  cause, 
were  arrested  in  Piedmont,  and  conducted  to 
the  citadel  of  Finistrelles.  This  was  the  signal 
for  a  general  movement,  which  it  appears  was 
embraced  by  the  highest  officers  in  the  army, 
and  principal  nobles  in  the  state,  to  whose  con- 
spiracy for  the  establishment  of  a  constitutional 
government  the  Prince  of  Carignan,  the  heir-ap- 
=  I.e  Revo-  parentto  the  throne,  was  no  stranger.^ 
lution  Pied-  lie  at  first  engaged  to  co-operate  in 
montain  ^j^gij.  designs,  but  soon  after,  despair- 
par  le  .  .  °ii  iij 
ComteSan-  mg  of  success,  he  drew  back,  and  coun- 
tone  de  seled  the  abandonment,  or  at  least 
r""'^  postponement,  of  the  undertaking. 
24;  Ann.'  "^^  ^^^^  conspirators  were  too  far 
Ilisi.  iv.  advanced  to  recede,  and  the  advance 
335,  336.  of  the  Austrians  toward  Naples  con- 
vinced them  that  not  a  moment  was  to  be  lost 
if  the}'  were  ever  to  strike  a  blow  for  the  inde- 
pendence of  Italj'. 

On  the  morning  of  the  4th  March  symptoms 
119.  of  revolt  appeared  in  some  regiments 
stationed  on  and  near  Verulli,  but 
the  consjiirators  fiailed  in  their  ob- 
ject then,  from  the  majority  of  the 
troops  holding  out  for  the  royal  cause. 
But  on  the  10th  the  constitution  of 
Spain  was  openly  proclaimed  at  Alessandria,  by 
Count  Parma  and  Colonel  Regis,  who  permitted 


Revolt  in 
Alessan- 
dria and 
Turin. 
March  10 
and  11. 


such  of  tile  troops  as  were  opposed  to  the  niove- 
mont  to  return  to  their  homes,  whicii  a  great 
number  of  them,  including  nearly  all  the  mount- 
aineers from  Savoy,  accordingly  did.  ^Vith  the 
aid  of  sucii  as  remained,  however,  and  a  body 
of  ardent  students,  the  leaders  got  j>ossessioii 
of  the  citadel  of  that  imjiortant  fortress,  and 
immediately  hoisted  the  Italian  tricolor  flag — 
green,  red,  and  lilue.  No  sooner  was  the  in- 
telligence of  this  important  success  received  in 
Turin  than  the  whole  Carbonari  and  conspira- 
tors were  in  motion.  Cries  of  "  \'iva  il  Re!" 
and  "Viva  la  Costituzionel"  were  heard  on  all 
sides  from  a  motley  crowd  of  soldiers  and  stu- 
dents who  surrounded  the  royal  troops,  who 
were  not  permitted  to  act  against  thcni,  and 
probably  would  not  have  done  so  if  ordered. 
Fmboldened  by  this  inaction,  and  hearing  every 
hour  of  some  fresh  insurrection  of  the  troops  in 
the  vicinit}',  the  conspirators,  on  the  ^i-^^^.]^  yi 
following  day,  ventured  on  still  more 
decisive  measures,  which  proved  entirely  suc- 
cessful. Captain  Lesio,  setting  out  early  from 
Turin,  raised  the  regiment  of  light  horse  at 
Pignerol,  who  moved  toward  the  heights  of 
Carmagnuola,    shouting    "Death    to   the  Aux- 

trians !" '^     Their   arrival   at  Turin,   ,  ,„  tt„, 
.   .      ,  ,  .        •    .   11-  '   ■  An-  'list, 

joined  to  the  alarming  intelhgenee  iv.  358; 

received  of  similar  insurrections  in  Ann.  Reg. 
other  quarters,  decided  the  govei-nor  ''^"'^''  '■^''''■ 
of  the  capital,  the  Chevalier  di  Varas,  to  evacu- 
ate the  town  ■with  the  few  troops  which  still 
adhered  to  the  royal  cause.  This  was  imme- 
diately done ;  the  citadel  and  forts  were  taken 
possession  of  by  the  liberals,  and  the  Spanish 
Constitution  proclaimed  amidst  the  combined 
shouts  of  the  military  and  people. 

On  receiving  intelligence  of  this  alarming  and 
successful  insurrection,  the  king,  who 
was  at  the  chateau  of  Monte-Calveri,  The  king 
in    the    neighborhood,    hastened    to  yields,  and 
Turin,   and   a  cabinet    council   was  accepts  the 
hurriedly  assembled  to  consider  what  {^j^",**'""' 
should  be  done  in  the  circumstances. 
At  first  it  was  intended  bj^  the  monarch  to  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  guards  and  march 
upon  Alessandria,  which  was  regarded  as  the 
head-quarters  of  the  insurrection ;  and  a  pro- 
clamation was  issued   denying  the  statements 
which  had  been  spread  abroad  that  Austria 
had   demanded   the   disbanding   of  the   Pied- 
montese  troops  and  the  occupation  of  llie  fort- 
resses.    But  the  accounts  which  rapidly  arrived 
from  all  quarters  of  the  general  defection  of  the 
troops,  rendered  this  a  hopeless  undertaking. 
The  guards  themselves  were  not  to  be  relit  d 
on.     Crowds,  which  there  was  no  means  of 
dispersing,  collected  on  all  sides,  exclaiming, 
"Yiva   la    Costituzionel"     The   militar}'   sent 
against  them  joined  in  the  shouts,  or  remained 
passive  spectators  of  the  tumult.     In  this  ex- 
tremity a  fresh  council  was  held  of  the  king's 
ministers,  and  it  was  there  proposed  to  proclaim 
the  constitution  of  France  as  a  sort  of  mtzzo- 
termine    between    monarchy    and    a    republic 
But  matters  had  gone  too  far  to  ad-  ^ 
mitnow  of  such  a  compromise.^  While  uj^,   [^ 
the  council  was  sitting  in  the  palace,  33S,  340; 
and  a  vast  crowd,  with  the  military  Ann.  Reg. 
in  their  front,  filled  the  great  square  23^.'      '' 
a<ljaceiit,  three  guns  were  heard  from 
the  citadel,  which  announced  that  it  had  fallen 


1S21.] 

into  the  hands  of  the  conspirators;  and  soon 
the  tricolor  flag,  hoisted  on  the  ramparts,  amidst 
loud  cheers  from  all  parts  of  the  city,  announced 
that  the  triumph  of  the  insurgents  was  complete. 
Upon   receiving  this  stunning   intelligence, 

the  king  dispatched  the  Prince  of 
Resi^na-  Carignan  to  the  citadel  to  ascertain 
i.on  of  the  the  objects  and  demands  of  the  con- 
king, and  spirators.  He  found  an  immense 
oRh^"'*'  crowd  on  the  glacis,  shouting  "  Viva 
Prince  of  il  Re — Viva  la  Costituzione  di  Spag- 
Carignan  na!"  and  the  troops  in  dense  masses 
andme"''  ^^  ^^®  ramparts  responding  to  the 
Spanish  cries.  The  Prince  was  received  by 
Constita-  the  garrison  with  the  honors  of  war, 
M°"  h  P     ^^^  every  demonstration  of  respect; 

but  the  demand  was  universal  for  the 
Spanish  Constitution.  "  Our  hearts,"  said  they, 
"  are  faithful  to  tlie  king,  but  we  must  extricate 
him  from  his  fatal  councils:  war  with  Austria, 
and  the  constitution  of  Spain — that  is  what  the 
situation  of  the  country  and  the  people  re- 
quire." With  this  answer  the  prince  returned 
to  the  palace,  where  a  long  conference  took 
place  between  the  princes  of  the  royal  family 
and  the  cabinet.  It  was  animated  in  the  ex- 
treme, and  continued  through  the  wliole  night. 
The  king  was  firm ;  resolved  not  to  be  unfaith- 
ful to  his  engagements  with  his  allies  or  the 
cause  of  royalty',  he  took  the  resolution  to 
abdicate  in  favor  of  the  next  heir,  who  was 
less  implicated  in  the  one,  and  might  feel  less 
reluctant  to  forego  the  rights  of  the  other. 
This  determination  was  immediately  acted 
upon.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  13th,  the 
royal  family,  under  a  large  escort,  set  out  from 
Turin  for  Mice,  and  a  proclamation  was  issued 
by  the  Prince  of  Carignan,  declaring  that  he 
had  been  appointed  regent  of  the  realm.  The 
1  hpyoIu.  change  of  government  was  immedi- 
tion  Pied-  ately  notified  to  the  foreign  minis- 
montain,      ters,  the  regent  installed  in  full  sov- 

A*'  '■'ii   .    ereigntv,    and    the    constitution    of 
Ann.  Hist.  ..•-,•        i        ■  j  ,       •  , 

iv.  341,        Spam  proclamied  amidst  universal  ac- 

343,  Ann.  clamation,  without  the  vast  majority 
m/  239^^'  l^"*^^^''"?  what  they  had  adopted  or 
'  ■  were  shouting  about.' 
Such  was  the  Kevolutioii  of  1820,  in  the 
Spanish  and  Italian  peninsulas,  and 
General  wliich  more  or  less  extended  its  in- 
character  fluence  over  all  Europe.  Commenc- 
of  the  rev-  ing  witli  military  treason,  it  ended 
ontt''0^  with  robber}-,  massacre,  and  tlie  in- 
surrection of  galley-slaves.  Notiiing 
durable  or  beneficial  was  to  be  expected  from 
such  a  commencement,  "non  tali  auxilio  nee 
defensoribus  istis."  It  was  charactci'ized,  ac- 
cordingly, throughout,  by  impassioned  concep- 
tion and  ephemeral  existence :  violent  cliange, 
disregard  of  former  usage,  inattention  to  na- 
tional character,  oblivion  of  the  ^«>/fr«/ national 
interests.  Designed  and  carried  into  execution 
by  an  active  and  energetic,  but  limited  and 
special  class  of  the  people,  it  exhibited,  in  all 
the  countries  where  it  was  establisiied,  tlie  well- 
known  features  of  class  legi.slation  ;  and  by  the 
cstablisliment  of  class  representation  of  tlie  very 
worst  kind — universal  suffrage — it  insured  at 
no  distant  period  its  own  downfall.  It  will 
appear  in  the  sequel  how  sudden  and  violent 
the  reaction  was,  how  (piickly  the  newly-raised 
fabric  yielded  to  the  aroused  indignation  of 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


233 


mankind,  and  how  galling,  and  he.'ivy,  and  last- 
ing were  tlie  chains  of  servitude  which,  from 
the  failure  of  this  ill-judged  attempt  at  libera- 
tion, were  imposed  upon  the  people. 

In  truth,  all  revolutions  which,  hke  that  of 
Spain,  and  its  imitations  in  Portugal,  ,„, 
IS'aples,  Sicily,  and  Piedmont,  are  what 
brought  about  by  a  single  and  limit-  caused  theit 
ed  class  of  society,  involve  in  tliem-  speedyovei- 
selves  the  principles  of  their  own 
speedy  destruction.  They  may  be  propped  rp 
for  a  time  by  the  aid  of  foreign  powers  polii- 
ically  interested  in  the  establishment  of  sucli 
institutions ;  but  even  with  such  external  aid 
they  can  not  long  endure ;  without  it,  they  at 
once  full  to  the  ground.  The  reason  is,  that 
the  constitution  which  they  establish,  being 
founded  on  the  principle  of  opposition  to  all 
tiiat  has  preceded  it,  the  growth  of  centuries, 
is  soon  found  to  be  wholly  unsuited  to  the 
national  disposition  and  necessities ;  and  hav- 
ing been  brought  about  by  the  efforts  of  a 
single  class,  it  is  calculated  only  for  its  inter- 
ests, and  proves  destructive  to  those  of  all  the 
other  classes.  There  was  no  need  of  the  bay- 
onets of  Austria  or  France  to  overturn  the 
revolutions  of  the  two  peninsulas.  Left  to 
themselves,  they  would  speedily  have  perished 
from  their  experienced  unsuitableness  to  the 
circumstances  of  the  countries.  The  only  rev- 
olutions which  ever  have  or  ever  can  terminate 
in  durable  institutions,  are  those  which,  brought 
about,  like  that  of  Great  Britain  in  1CS8,  by 
an  unbearable  tyranny  which  has  for  a  time 
united  all  classes  for  its  overthrow,  are  limited 
to  the  change  requisite  to  guard  against  the 
recurrence  of  that  tyranny,  avoid  the  fatal  evil 
of  class  legislation,  the  invariable  result  of  class 
revolution,  and  make  no  further  change  in  the 
institutions  or  government  of  the  state,  the 
growth  of  centuries,  and  the  creation  of  the 
national  wants,  than  is  necessary  to  secure 
their  unimpaired  continuance. 

What,  it  is  often  asked,  are  Ihe  military  to 
do  when  called  on  by  the  government  124. 
to  act  against  insurgents  demanding  What 
a  change  in  the  national  institutions?  s''o.ul''  'he 
Are  they  to  imbrue  their  hands  in  ^^^  ^y^  ^^^ 
the  blood  of  their  fellow-citizens,  cir.-um- 
guilty  of  no  other  offense  but  that  «tancfs? 
of  striving  to  obtain  the  first  of  human  bless- 
ings, that  of  civil  libui'ty  ?  The  answer  is,  "  Cer- 
tainly," if  they  would  secure  its  acquisition  for 
tiiemsclves  and  their  children.  Freedom  has 
been  often  won  by  tiie  gradual  pressure  of  j)a- 
cific  classes  on  the  government;  it  never  yet 
was  secured  by  tiie  violent  insurrection  of 
armed  men.  To  be  durable,  it  niunt  be  gradu- 
ally established  :  its  builders  must  be  tiie  pacific 
citizens,  not  the  armed  soldiers:  it  never  yet 
was  won  by  the  sudden  revolt  of  the  militaiy. 
The  only  etfeet  of  tiie  success  of  such  an  insur- 
rection IS  an  increase  in  the  strength  ami  means 
of  o]>j)ressioii  in  the  ruling  power — t Ik;  substi- 
tution of  tlie  vigor  of  military  for  liic  h'eblencss 
of  monarchical,  or  tiie  infatuation  of  i)riestly 
government.  Hiego  and  Pcpe  were  tiie  real 
murderers  of  freedom  in  the  Spanisii  and  Italian 
peninsulas,  for  they  overtui-ned  the  national 
constitution  to  establish  military  rule,  and 
blasted  tiie  cause  of  liberty  by  the  excesses 
wliieh  came  to  be  commitled  in  its  name. 


234 


IIISTOUY    or    EUUOPE. 


[CUAP.  VIII. 


CHAPTER  YIII. 

RUSSIA    AND  rOLAXn,   FROM   THE  PEACE   OF    1815   TO   TUE   ACCESSION   OF  NICHOLAS   Df    1825. 


Great  as  have  heon  the  chnnpcs,  mnrvclous 
I  the  events,  of  reeent  times,  in   all 

Vast  growth  eoiintries,  the  most  wonderful  have 
and  cxti'iit  oeeurretl  in  ditferent  and  distant 
or  Russia,  p.ji-ts  of  tlie  world,  where  tliev  ex- 
and  Uriiish  ceed  every  thing  not  only  witness- 
India  in  re-  ed  by  contemporaries,  but  recorded 
cent  times,  ^^y  iiigjory  of  former  periods.  Wo 
are  too  near  them  to  measure  their  propor- 
tions with  the  eye;  future  times,  which  hear 
of  them  at  a  distance  with  the  car,  or  are  wit- 
nesses, after  the  lapse  of  ages,  of  their  effects, 
will  more  correctly  estimate  their  relative 
magnitude  and  importance.  The  simultaneous 
growth  of  the  Russian  power  in  Europe  and 
Asia,  of  the  United  States  in  America,  and  of 
the  Riitish  empire  in  India  and  Australia,  stand 
forth  pre-eminent  in  this  age  of  wonders.  Great 
changes  in  human  affairs — the  overthrow  of 
aged,  the  ri^e  of  youthful  empires — the  realiza- 
tion of  the  dreams  of  the  Crusaders — the  dwin- 
dling away  of  the  Mohammedan  faith,  the 
boundless  extension  of  the  Christian — the  res- 
toration of  a  European  and  civilized  empire  on 
the  shores  of  the  Euxine — vast  transplantations 
of  mankind  to  the  East  and  the  West — the  roll- 
ing back  of  the  tide  of  civilization  to  the  land 
of  its  birth — the  peopling  of  a  new  world  with 
the  race  of  Japhet — are  obviously  connected 
with,  or  the  direct  consequence  of,  these  events. 
The  effects  they  have  produced  will  always  be 
regarded  as  a  decisive  turning-point  in  the  an- 
nals of  mankind;  not  less  memorable  than  the 
overthrow  of  the  Roman  Empire — not  less  pro- 
lific of  consequences  than  the  Reformation  in 
Europe,  and  the  discovery  of  America.  iS'or 
liave  the  gifts  of  Providence  been  wanting  to 
aid  in  the  mighty  movement,  and  carry  it  out 
in  accordance  with  the  welfare  and  happiness 
of  mankind.  If  to  the  age  of  Columbus  it  gave 
the  compass  and  the  art  of  printing,  to  that 
succeeding  Napoleon  it  gave  steam  navigation, 
railway  communication,  and  the  electric  tele- 
graph ;  and  if  the  activity  of  the  former  period 
was  stimulated  by  the  grant  to  man  of  the  silver 
mines  of  Potosi  and  Mexico,  tlie  enterprize  of 
the  latter  was  still  more  powerfully  aroused  by 
the  discovery  of  the  gold-laden  fields  of  Califor- 
nia and  Australia. 

Vast  and  powerful  as  the  Russian  empire  was 
when  its  children,  in  emulation  of 
Increase  of  thoseofXumantium, applied  the  torch 
Russia  by  to  the  palaces  of  Moscow,  or  carried 
the  treaties  their  victorious  arms  to  the  heights 
1815.^*  ^"^  of  Montmartre  and  the  banks  of  the 
Seine,  it  had  not  then  attained  half 
the  influence  and  importance  which  it  has  since 
acquired.  The  victory  of  Alexander  doubled  his 
power — the  overthrow  of  Napoleon  halved  his 
enemies.  Independent  of  the  immense  increase 
of  influence  and  importance,  which  necessari- 
ly and  immediately  resulted  from  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  vast  ariuaLuent  which  1,'apoleon  had 


marshaled  for  its  destruction,  and  the  proud 
pre-eminence  conceded  to  it  in  the  diplomatic 
negotiations  of  Vienna,  the  jdiysical  resources 
and  territorial  extent  of  Russia  had  been  enor- 
mously augmented  during,  and  by  the  results 
of,  the  struggle.  It  was  hard  to  say  whether 
it  had  prospered  most  from  victory  or  defeat. 
The  carnage  of  Eylau,  the  overthrow  of  Tilsit, 
led  only  to  the  incorporation  of  Finland  w-ith 
its  vast  dominions,  the  acquisition  of  a  con- 
siderable territory  from  its  ally  Prussia,  the 
consolidation  of  its  power  in  the  Caucasus  and 
Georgia,  and  the  iucorporsition  of  ^Vallaehia 
and  Moldavia,  and  extension  of  its  southern 
frontier  to  the  Danube.  And  although,  during 
the  first  agonies  of  the  French  invasion,  these 
valuable  provinces  Tvere  in  part  abandoned, 
and  the  Pruth  was  fixed  on  as  the  boundary 
in  the  mean  time  of  the  empire,  yet  it  was  at 
the  time  evident,  what  the  event  has  since 
abundantly  proved,  that  this  unwonted  retire- 
ment of  the  Russian  eagle  was  for  a  time  only; 
and  that  their  march  toward  Constantinople, 
conquering  and  to  conquer,  was  destined  to  be 
not  permanently  arrested. 

But  the  great  and  lasting  acquisition  of  Russia, 
from  the  results  of  the  w^ar,  was  that  3. 

oftheGRAXD-DUCHY  OF  Warsaw.    This  Important 

important  territory,  which  brings  the  acquisition 
„  i    .  ,        ^     '  '.,,  .  °  olKussiain 

Russian  outposts  within  a  eompara-  the  grand- 
tively  short  distance  of  both  Vienna  duchy  of 
and  Berlin,  and  renders  the  influence  Warsaw, 
of  its  diplomacy  irresistible  in  eastern  Europe, 
was  virtually  annexed  to  Russia  by  the  treaty 
of  Vienna  in  1815;  for  although,  by  the  stren- 
uous efforts  of  Lord  Castlereagh  and  M.  Talley- 
rand, its  immediate  incorporation  with  the  do- 
minions of  the  Czar  was  prevented,  yet  this  was 
done  only  by  its  establishment  as  a  state  nom- 
inally independent,  but  really  part  of  his  vast 
territories.  The  grand-duchy  of  Warsaw  was 
erected  into  a  separate  state,  but  the  Emperor 
Alexander  was  at  its  head;  his  brother,  the 
Grand  Duke  Constantine,  was  his  viceroy,  and 
Russian  influence  was  predominant  in  its  coun- 
cils. A  constitutional  monarchy,  and  the  fonu 
at  least  of  representative  institutions,  were,  by 
the  strenuous  efforts  of  France  and  England, 
established  at  Warsaw;  but  it  was  the  form 
onl}-.  National  habits  and  character  proved 
stronger,  as  is  ever  the  case,  than  diplomatic 
changes;  freedom  was  found  to  be  unavailing 
to  a  nation  when  it  was  conferred,  not  by  do- 
mestic effort,  but  by  foreign  intervention  ;  and 
the  prosperity  communicated  to  the  Poles  by 
the  vigor  of  Russian  rule,  and  the  organization  of 
Russian  power,  proved  only  an  addition  to  the 
strength  of  Russia,  when,  after  an  unsuccessful 
and  ill-judged  revolt,  the  grand-duchy  was  for- 
mally incorporated  with  her  dominions. 

The  grand-duchy  of  Warsaw,  which  the 
treat\^  of  Vienna  in  this  manner  handed  over 
to  Russia,  contained,  in  184G,  4,865.0U0  inhab- 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


1815.] 

itants;  it  extends  over  47,000  square  geograph- 
.  ical  miles  (about  half  more  than  Ire- 

Statisticsof  land),  the  people  being  thinly  scat- 
ihe  grand-  tered  over  it,  at  the  rate  of  100  to  the 
duchy  of  ^jjg  square  mile  ;  and  the  land  under 
cultivation  •within  its  limits  amounts 
to  5,444,000  dessiatines,  or  14,000,000  English 
acres,  being  at  the  rate  only  of  1.12  dessiatine 
(three  acres)  to  each  inhabitant.*  As  the  soil 
is  generally  rich,  every  where  level,  and  for  the 
most  part  capable  of  yielding  the  finest  wheaten 
crops,  it  is  evident  that  the  inhabitants  might 
be  five  times  their  present  amount,  not  only 
without  any  diminution,  but  with  a  great  and 
durable  increase  in  their  comfort  and  well-being, 
jiut  the  character  of  the  Poles,  like  that  of  the 
Celts,  ardent,  enthusiastic,  and  daring,  but  gay, 
\olatile,  and  insouciant,  had  rendered  these  gifts 
of  nature  of  little  avail,  and  retained  the  nation 
iu  a  state  of  internal  poverty  and  external  weak- 
ness, Mhen  the  means' of  attaining  the  reverse 
of  both  were  within  their  power.  Great  part 
of  tiie  country  was  overshadowed  by  dark  for- 
ests of  fir;  vast  swamps  extended  along  the 
margin  of  the  rivers,  and  formed  morasses  and 
1  Tfi'ob.  lakes  in  the  interior,  which  chilled 
Etudes  sur  the  atmosphere  around;  and  even 
hi  Kussie,  -where  cultivation  had  crept  into  the 
1.  Ill,  118 ;      •,  ,  •.  •  1   *        1  1 

llaxthau-  Wilderness,  it  was  in  such  a  rude  and 
sen,  Stat,  imperfect  manner  as  bespoke  rather 
de  la  Riis-  the  weakness  of  savage  than  the 
«ie,  1.  __/.    pQ-^^.gpg  Qf  civilized  man.' 

The  new  kingdom  of  Poland,  on  the  throne 

5.  of  which  the  Emperor  of  Russia  was 

Establish-    placed,  was  proclaimed  at  Warsaw  on 

kin"dom  of  ^''^  ^*^^^  '^"°®'  ^^^^-  ^^  consisted  of 
Poland.  t'^6  grand-duchy  of  Warsaw,  as  it  ex- 
June  20,  isted  iu  the  time  of  Napoleon,  with 
l'**^-  the  exception  of  the  city  and  little 

territory  of  Cracow,  which  was  erected  into  a 
separate  republic,  the  salt  mines  of  Wicleiza, 
which  were  ceded  to  Austria,  and  the  grand- 
duchy  of  Posen,  which  was  set  apart  to  Prussia, 
titill  the  portion  left  for  Russia  was  very  great, 
and  formed  an  immense  addition  to  its  already 
colossal  strength ;  for  it  brought  its  dominions 
almost  into  the  centre  of  Europe,  and  left  the 
ca])itals  of  Austria  and  Prussia  within  ten  days' 
march  of  its  frontiers,  without  a  fortified  town 
or  defensible  frontier  between.  It  added,  too, 
the  military  strength  of  a  warlike  race,  cele- 
brated in  every  age  for  their  heroic  exploits,  to 
the  Russian  standards — men  whom  Napoleon 
lias  characterized  as  those  of  all  Europe  who 
most  readily  become  soldiers.  They  formed  at 
this  time  a  willing  and  valuable  addition  to  the 
Muscovite  legions,  for  the  Poles  clung  to  this 
little  kingdom,  as  a  nucleus  from  which  might 
arise  the  restoration  of  tlieir  lost  nationality; 
and  the  benevolent  dispositions  and  known  j)ar- 
tiaiity  for  Poland  of  the  Emperor  Alexander  in- 
spired the  warmest  hopes  that  this  long-wished- 
for  result  might  take  place.  The  strength  and 
vigor  which  were  ere  long  communicated  to  the 
new  kingdom  by  the  Russian  administration, 
caused  the  country  rapidly  to  prosper  in  the 
most  remarkable  manner  in  all  its  material  in- 
terests;  while  tlie  shadow,  at  least,  of  repre- 


235 


*  ThB  Ru.ssian  dessiatine,  liy  which  nil  their  land  i.s 
measured,  contains  .'21  atves  nearly,  the  acre  being  .37  of 
a  dcss:atinu. 


sentative  institutions,  which  was  obtained  for 
it  by  the  efforts  of  Lord  Castlereagh  i  Malte 
at  the   Congress  of  Vienna,   flatter-  Brun.Geog. 
ed    the    secret    hope   that,    with   its  Fji'^'jO'''^ 
lost  nationality,  the  much-loved  lib-  uuiv.  des 
erties  of  Poland  might  one  day  be  Ilonimes 
restored.'  Viv.  ii.227. 

The  Grand  Duke  Coxstantine,  who  was 
placed  as  viceroy  at  the  head  of  the 
government  of  this  infant  kingdom,  Bjocraphy 
was  one  of  those  strange  and  bizarre  oi  the 
characters  which  occur  but  seldom  in  <Jrand  ^ 
history,  and  can  be  produced  only  by  ^tant'^jiJe""' 
a  temporary,  and,  in  some  degree,  for- 
tuitous blending  of  the  dispositions  of  various 
races,  and  the  feelings  produced  by  different 
states  of  societ}-.  The  second  son  of  the  Em. 
peror  Paul  I.  and  the  celebrated  Empress  Cath- 
erine, he  was  born  on  the  8th  May,  1770,  and 
christened  Constantine,  from  the  design  of  that 
aspiring  potentate  to  place  him  on  the  throne 
of  Constantinople,  and  restore  the  Byzantine 
empire,  as  an  appanage  of  the  imperial  house 
of  Russia.  He  was  married  on  2Cth  February, 
1796,  to  a  princess  of  the  house  of  Saxe-Coburg ; 
but  the  marriage  proved  unfortunate,  and  was 
soon  followed  by  a  separation.  The  savage 
manners  and  despotic  inclinations  of  the  Grand 
Duke  were  speedily  felt  as  insupportable  by  a 
princess  accustomed  to  the  polished  and  con- 
siderate manners  of  European  society.*  He 
soon  after  entered  on  the  career  of  arms,  and  in 
it  from  the  very  first  he  greatly  distinguished 
himself.  His  liiL-t  essay  in  real  warfare  was  in 
1799,  under  Suwanoff,  on  the  banks  of  the  Po, 
where  his  daring  character  and  headlong  valor 
were  very  conspicuous.  Subsequently  he  joined 
the  allied  army,  at  the  head  of  his  splendid  reg- 
iment of  cuirassiers,  in  the  plains  of  Moravia  in 
1805;  and  by  tlie  glorious  charges,  in  which 
he  defeated  tiie  best  regiments  of  the  imperial 
guard,  and  captured  an  eagle,  had  all  but 
changed  the  face  of  Europe  on  the  field  of  Aus- 
terlitz.^  Subsequently  he  arrested  2  nist.  of 
the  triumphant  march  of  Napoleon  at  Europe,  c. 
Eylau,  and  iieai'ly  closed  his  career  ^l-  M  130, 
amidst  the  snows  of  Poland.  He 
went  through  the  whole  campaigns  of  1812, 
ISlo,  and  1814  in  Russia,  Germany,  and  France, 
and  attended  the  victorious  march  of  his  coun- 
trymen from  Moscow  to  Paris. f  He  did  not 
accom})any  them  to  London,  but  attended  the 
Congress  of  Vienna,  from  whence  he  3  niog.  des 
proceeded  to  take  possession  of  his  llo'";,  ^'v. 
new  kingdom  in  .luiie,  181.').^  "•  "'■ 

His  character  and  habits  but  ill-qualified  him 
for  the  task.  IJorn  on  the  confines  7. 
of  Europe  and  Asia,  inheriting  the  Ilis  char- 
Tartar  blood,  warmed  by  the  fSlavo-  ""^"''"■ 
nian  temperament,  his  Oriental  character  liad 
never  yielded  to  the  manners  or  civilization  of 
Europe.  He  was  an  emblem  of  the  nations  of 
which  he  was  so  nearly  the  head:  refineniei.t 
had  never  penetrated  the  interior — Ihe  deli- 
cacy and  graces  of  i)olished  manners  were  on 
Ihe  surface  only.     Ilis  countenance,  which  was 

*  The  author  has  been  infonncul  by  a  lady,  to  whom  the 
Orand  Duchess  herself  recounted  it,  that,  in  noiiic  oI' his 
fits  of  passion,  he  used  In  make  her  rise  durjii};  tlie  iii^ht, 
and  lie  across  the  Ibresliohl  iilllii'  door  oltheir  iipiirlriii'iit ' 

t  The  author  nut  hiiii  rrc(jui'iilly  then^  111  IM  I,  :iiiil  tbo 
chief  traits  in  this  description  are  talieii  from  hi.s  ov.  11  ob- 
servation. 


236 


II I s TO  11 Y  OF  i:f  norr. 


[Chap.  VIII. 


etronply  dinractoriziHl  bv  tlio  Turtar  fentiiros, 
ami  sovoroiv  iiuirkod  by  tlio  stnalljiux,  was  ill- 
favoroil  aiul  untrainlv;  but  his  inaiiiiors  woi'c 
|H>lislioil  ill  sooietv,  niul  no  tuie,  when  so  in- 
cliiicii,  oouKl  be  iiioro  winiiiiit;  nml  nttractivc. 
lint  the  real  disposition  was  widoly  dirteront; 
lie  had  nothiiiii  mild  or  pontle  in  his  leinpcia- 
nient.  lie  livalod  Kiohartl  Ou'iir-de-Lion  in  his 
valor  in  the  field,  but  he  sni-passed  hiui  also  in 
the  vehenienee  with  which  lie  ruled  the  cabinet, 
and  the  acts  of  tyranny  by  which  both  his 
public  administration  and  private  life  were 
characterized.  Violent, capricious,  and  irritable, 
he  could  never  brook  contradiction,  and  when  in- 
flamed by  passion,  indulged  his  vehement  dis- 
position by  frightful  and  disgraceful  acts  of 
cruelty.  He  was  an  imtamcd  savage,  armed 
with  the  power  and  animated  by  the  imperious 
disposition  of  an  Eastern  sultan,  imperfectly 
vailed  over  by  the  chivalrous  manners  of  modern 
Europe.  Yet  was  the  savage  not  destitute  of 
generous  sentiments;  he  could  occasionally  do 
noble  things ;  and  though  the  discipline  he  main- 
tained in  his  troops  was  extremely  severe,  yet 
it  was  redeemed,  and  their  affections  won,  by 
frequent  acts  of  kindness.  The  close  of  his  pub- 
lie  career  was  very  remarkable,  and  afforded 
a  memorable  proof  of  what  is  the  real  van- 
quisher of  the  savage  dispositions  of  man,  and 
how  love  can  melt  even  the  most  ferocious  bo- 
soms. 8uch  was  the  influence  which  a  Polish 
lad}"  of  charming  and  fascinating  manners  ac- 
quired over  him,  that  he  sacrificed  for  her  the 
most  splendid  prospects  which  the  world  could 
ofl'er;  and  it  will  appear  in  the  sequel  that 
1  pio„  jjgg  "all  for  love,  or  the  world  well  lost," 
IIom.''viv.  was,  to  the  astonishment  of  Europe, 
ii.  227,228;  realized  by  an  Oriental  prince,  the 
knowledge  ^^^^  ^°  ^^^  greatest  empire  in  Chris- 
tendom.' 
As  might  have  been  expected  from  a  prince 
S.  of  such  a  character  and  habits,  his 

His  first  chief  attention  was  concentrated  on 
w^nis'tra^-'^'  '"''^  army.  On  the  11th  December, 
tion,  and  1815,  when  the  annexation  of  Poland 
training  of  to  the  Russian  crown  was  seriously 
tile  army,  contested  in  the  Congress  of  Vienna, 
Constantine  addressed  to  it  an  animated  pro- 
clamation, in  which  he  recounted  with  truth 
and  deserved  pride  their  glorious  deeds  in  arms, 
their  fidelity  in  misfortune,  their  inextinguish- 
able love  of  their  country,  and  called  on  them 
to  rally  round  the  emperor  as  its  only  bulwark.* 


*  '■  Reunissez-vous  autour  de  voire  drapeau  ;  armez  vos 
bras  pour  defendre  voire  Patrie,  et  pour  mainlenir  son 
existence  politique.  Pendant  que  I'Einpereur  Alexandre 
prepare  Iheureux  avenir  de  voire  pays,  rnonlrez-vous 
preisa  .soutenir  ses  nobles elTorts.  Les  memes  chefs  qui, 
depuis  vingl  ans,  vous  onl  conduits  sur  le  chemin  de  la 
gloire,  sauront  vous  ramener  I'Empereur  apprecier  voire 
vaicur.  Au  milieu  du  desaslre  d'une  guerre  funeste,  il  a 
vu  voire  honneur  survivre  a  des  evenemenls  qui  ne  d6- 
pendaienl  pas  de  vous.  De  hauls  fails  d'armes  vous  ont 
distingues  dans  une  lutte  dont  le  but  souvent  vous  etail 
ctranger  ;  a  present  que  vos  efforts  ne  seront  consacres 
qu'  a  la  Patrie,  vous  serez  invincibles.  Soldats  et  guerriers 
de  touies  les  arrnes,  donnez  les  premiers  fexernple  de 
I'ordre  qui  doit  regner  chez  tous  vos  compatriotes.  De- 
vouemenl  sans  bornes  envers  I'Empereur,  qui  ne  veut  que 
le  bien  de  voire  Palrie,  amour  pour  son  auguste  personiie, 
obeissance,  concorde :  voila  le  moyen  d'assurer  la  pros- 
perile  de  voire  pays,  qui  se  trouve  sous  la  puissanle 
Egide  de  I'Empereur.  C'est  par  la  que  vous  arriverez  a 
I'heureuse  situation,  que  d'auires  peuvent  vous  proiriellre, 
mais  que  lui  seul  peut  vous  procurer.  Sa  puissance  et 
ses  vertus  vous  en  sonl  garanl." — Biographic  des  Hommes 
Vivantx,  ii.  229. 


On  the  '24;h  of  the  .'■ame  month  ho  pre-  ^ 

■  11.  1  .  •         1- ,  1     o        1.      Dec.  24. 

sided  at  a  solenin  iiieitiiig  ot  thehenate, 

at  which  the  new  constitution  was  read,  and 
]iroclaimed  with  great  solemnity.  The  pros- 
pect of  the  restoration  of  their  countrj',  of  its 
resuming  its  place  in  the  family  of  Europe,  the 
known  affection  with  which  the  emperor  re- 
garded Poland,  and  the  generous  deeds  toward 
it  by  which  his  reign  had  already  been  signal- 
ized, the  hope  ()f  the  restoration  of  their  liber- 
ties by  means  of  the  constitution  which  had 
been  promulgated,  difl'used  a  universal  enchant- 
ment, and  for  a  brief  season  made  the  I'oles 
forget  the  long-continued  misfortunes  i  Bio„  ^es 
of  which  their  country  had  been  the  IIoiii? Viv. 
theatre. »  »•  228. 

Great  material  prosperity  followed  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Polish  and  Russian  crowns,  g 
and  vast  advantage  to  both  countries.  Great  ad- 
Tbe  veiy  cessation  of  the  jealousy  and  vantage  lo 
hostility  which  had  so  long  subsisted  from'iis 
between  them,  and  the  opening  of  union  with 
the  vast  market  of  Mu.?covy  to  Polish  Russia, 
industr}',  was  of  itself  an  immense  advantage. 
Add  to  this  the  termination  of  the  long  anarchy 
of  Polish  democracy,  and  the  substitution  oV 
the  steady  rule  of  a  regular  government,  which, 
however  despotic,  was  strong,  uniform,  and  con- 
sistent, for  the  ceaseless  dissensions  and  sense- 
less jealousies  of  their  stormy  national  assem- 
blies. Warsaw,  which,  in  1797,  contained  only 
66,572  inhabitants,  and  at  the  accession  of 
Alexander  less  than  80,000,  rapidly  increased 
in  splendor  and  opulence,  and  in  1842  number- 
ed 140,000  souls.  The  industry  of  the  country 
made  sensible  progress  with  the  preservation 
of  peace,  and  the  steady  market  opened  for 
agricultural  produce  both  in  the  warehouses 
of  Dantzie  and  in  the  consumption  of  the  capital. 
Its  revenue  had  augmented  before  1830  by  more 
than  a  third,  and  the  seeds  even  of  manufactur- 
ing prosperity  had  begun  to  germinate  on  its 
soil.  The  entire  kingdom,  Avhieh  in  1815  could 
number  only  a  hundred  weaving  looms,  had 
come,  in  1830,  to  contain  six  thousand,  which 
manufactured  annually  seven  million  yards  of 
cloth.  All  other  rude  fabrics  had  advanced  in 
a  similar  proportion;  but  capital  was  still 
chiefly  accumulated  in  the  hands  of  the  Jews, 
who  amounted  in  Warsaw  alone  to  twenty- 
seven  thousand,  and  were  to  be  found  at  the 
head  of  nearly  all  the  industrial  establishments 
in  the  kingdom.  Kor  was  public  instruction 
neglected ;  on  the  contrary,  it  was  extended  in 
the  most  remarkable  manner  during  the  pacific 
rule  of  the  Russian  emperor.  Schools  of  every 
description  had  been  established  at  Warsaw, 
and  in  various  parts  of  the  kingdom,  which 
were  crowded  by  the  ardent  youth  of  that  im- 
passioned land.  The  scholars,  who  were  only 
a  few  hundreds  in  1815,  had  risen  in  s  Malte 
the  capital  alone  in  1830  to  3700,  and  Brun, 
over  the  whole  kingdom  to  35,000,  ^^°^f  ^,. 
whichwasin  the  proportion  of  1  to  130  528.  530- 
souls,  while  in  the  neighboring  realm  Tegobor- 
of  Russia  it  was  only  1  to  280.'  ^'^''  '•  ^-2- 

But  as  it  was  to  the  military  force  of  this 
new  kingdom  that  the  attention  of 
the  viceroy  and  the  government  was  Great  in- 
chiefly  directed,  so  it  was  there  that  crease  of 
the  most  rapid  changes  and  the  most  its  niiliiarj 
extraordinary   progress   took  place,  ^"'^"o'  '• 


1815.J 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


23"; 


It  would  pass  for  incredible,  were  it  not  attested 
by  undoubted  evidence,  and  accounted  for  b}' 
the  singular  aptitude  of  the  Poles  for  military 
instruction,  and  the  extraordinary  skill  of  the 
Russians  in  military  organization.  The  Polish 
arnij',  though  it  never  exceeded  forty  thousand 
men — less  tlian  one  in  a  hundred  of  the  entire 
j)()pnlation — soon  became,  under  the  tuition  of 
Constantine,  one  of  the  most  formidable  in 
Europe,  from  its  incomparable  state  of  disci- 
])line  and  equipment.  The  viceroy  was  ex- 
tremelj^  anxious  on  this  subject,  and  rigorous 
to  a  fault  in  exacting  the  most  ceaseless  atten- 
tion to  the  smallest  minutiffi  of  dress  and  disci- 
pline. Though  second  to  none  in  the  hardi- 
hood with  which  he  headed  his  chivalrous 
guards  in  a  charge,  it  was  on  the  trifling  splen- 
<ior  of  pacific  display  that  he  was  chiefly  set. 
lie  often  said,  after  seeing  his  guards  defile  be- 
liim,  "  What  a  pity  it  is  to  go  to  war! — it  dirties 
their  dress;  it  spoils  soldiers."  To  such  a  de- 
gree of  perfection  did  he  bring  them  in  these 
respects,  that  when,  in  October,  1816,  the  Em- 
jteror  Alexander  passed  them  in  review  at 
AVarsaw,  he  was  so  struck  with  their  martial 
air,  exact  discipline,  and  splendid  appearance, 
that  he  embraced  his  brother  several  times  in 
their  presence.  But  they  were  not  mere  carpet 
knights  who  thus  charmed  the  greatest  milita- 
ry monarch  in  the  world  by  their  appearance: 
none  showed,  when  the  hour  of  trial  arrived, 
that  they  were  more  equal  to  the  duties  and 
penetrated  with  the  spirit  of  real  soldiers. 
When  the  disastrous  revolt  of  1830  arrived, 
and  the  little  kingdom  of  Poland  strove  to  de- 
tach itself  from  its  colossal  neighbor,  its  for- 
tresses of  Modlia  and  Zamose  were  iu  such  a 
state  of  defense,  and  its  army  so  efiicient,  that 
for  ten  months  it  maintained  a  doubtful  conflict 
with  its  gigantic  foe,  and  in  the  end  was  only 
subdued  by  the  aid  of  Prussia' — a 
memorable  instance  of  devoted  though 
mistaken  patriotism,  and  of  the  glori- 
ous destiny  which  awaited  Poland,  if 
its  sons  had  had  the  sense  to  establish 
a  stable  government,  and  their  heroic 
courage  and  military  spirit  had  not  been  ren- 
dered nugatory  by  the  insane  divisions  and 
democratic  selfishness  of  former  times. 

The  powers  of  Avestern  Europe  acted  natu- 
rally and  in  a  liberal  spirit  in  stipu- 
lating, for  the  fragment  of  the  Polish 
nation  embraced  in  the  new  kingdom, 
constitutional  privileges  and  a  repre- 
sentative government,  and  the  Em- 
peror Alexander  not  less  so  ia  con- 
ceding them.  But  they  proved  worse  than 
useless  in  practice;  and  their  entire  failure 
adds  another  to  the  numerous  instances  wiiich 
history  aff'ords  of  the  extreme  danger  of  trans- 
])lanting  institutions  suitable  to  one  race  and 
state  of  society  to  men  inheriting  a  dill'erent 
blood,  and  in  a  different  stage  of  puHtical  exist- 
ence. JS'ot  less  stormy  and  uniuiinagcable  by 
ordinary  means,  or  any  appeals  to  reason,  than 
their  ancient  diets,  wiieie  eighty  thousand 
horsemen  discussed  the  afl'airs  of  utate  in  the 
plains  of  Volo,  the  new  Assembly  united  to  it 
the  selfishness,  interested  motives,  and  corrup- 
tion which  are  the  gangrenes  of  the  represent- 
a;ivf  system,  even  in  the  most  highly-advanced 
and  polished  societies.     Tiiey  \\v\c  seldom  co;i- 


'  Diog.  des 
Horn.  Viv. 

ii,  228  ,• 
Malte 
IJnin,  vi. 
5:iJ,  530. 


Failure  of 
llie  repre- 
sentative 
system  in 
I'olanil. 


voked,  and,  when  assembled,  more  than  once 
abruptly  dissolved.  Poland  flourished  under 
the  Russian  rule  prior  to  the  calamitous  revolt 
in  1830,  not  in  consequence  of  her  represent- 
atives, but  ill  spite  of  them.  IS'o  salutary  or 
useful  measures  are  to  be  traced  to  their  influ- 
ence; and  they  drew  forth  from  no  common 
man,  the  Emperor  Kicholas,  the  following,  it  is 
to  be  feared,  as  applied  to  that  people,  just 
condemnation :  "  I  understand  a  republic ;  it  is 
a  clear  and  sincere  government,  or  at  least  it 
may  be  so:  I  understand  an  absolute  govern- 
ment, since  I  am  the  chief  of  such  an  order  of 
things;  but  I  do  not  understand  a  represent, 
ative  monarchy.  It  is  the  government  of  false- 
hood, fraud,  and  corruption:  I  would  retreat 
to  the  wall  of  China  rather  than  adopt  it.  I 
have  been  a  representative  monarch ;  and  the 
world  knows  what  it  has  cost  me  declining  to 
submit  to  the  exigencies  of  that  infamous  gov- 
ernment. I  disdained  the  usual  means  of  man- 
aging such  assemblies :  I  would  neither  purchase 
votes  nor  corrupt  consciences,  nor  seduce  some 
to  corrupt  others.  I  disdained  such  methods, 
as  not  less  degrading  to  those  who  yield  to, 
than  disgraceful  to  him  who  employs  them, 
and  I  have  paid  dear  for  my  sincerity ;  but  God 
be  praised,  1  have  done,  and  forever,  w' ith  that 
form  of  government."  Thirty  years  ago,  these 
words  would  have  passed  for  the  violent  de- 
clamation of  a  despotic  prince,  abusing  any 
institutions  which    put   a  restraint   upon   his 

own   power;    but   time   has   since  ,  ,    ,, 

■  if,.  ,  1  Le  Marquis 

then  taught  us  many  lessons:  we  do  Custnie 

have  seen  the  representative  sys-  La  Russie  en 
tem  w^orkiug   in    France,   Ireland,   l^^'^i  "■  '^'^> 
and  some  parts  of  England.'  '' 

Strengthened  by  this  great  accession  of 
power  and  territory,  which  brought  j,, 
their  advanced  posts  into  the  heart  Gr?at  in- 
of  Europe,  within  a  hundred  and  fluency  of 
eighty  miles  both  of  Vienna  and  ^"^sia. 
Berlin,  Russia  now  assumed  the  place  which 
she  has  ever  since  maintained  as  the  undisputed 
arbiter  of  eastern  Europe.  Happy  if  she  does 
not  also  become  the  mistress  of  the  west,  and 
the  endless  divisions  of  its  aspiring  inhabitants 
are  not  in  the  end  extinguished  by  the  unity 
of  her  advancing  power.  Great  as  are  the 
physical  resources  of  Russia,  and  rapidly  as 
they  have  recently  increased  her  influence,  the 
prestige  of  her  name,  the  dread  of  her  strength, 
have  increased  in  a  still  greater  proportion. 
Men  looked  with  a  sort  of  superstitious  awe  on 
an  empire  which  had  never  receded  for  c(Mitii- 
ries — which,  secured  in  rear  by  the  snows  of  the 
polar  circle,  had  stretched  its  mighty  arms  almost 
to  the  torrid  zone;  which  numbered  the  A' i.i- 
tula,  the  Amour,  the  Danube,  and  the  Euphra- 
tes among  its  frontier  streams,  and  already 
boasted  of  possessing  a  seventh  of  the  lial)it;il)lo 
globe  within  its  dominions.  Kor  had  the  evenl.s 
of  recent  times  weakened  this  undefined  im- 
pression; Napoleon's  words  had  proved  true, 
that  Russia  was  backed  "by  two  invincible 
allies,  time  and  space:"  foreign  assault  was 
hopeless  against  a  state  which  had  repelled  the 
invasion  of  five  hundred  thousand  men;  and 
no  empire,  how  strong  soever,  seemed  capable 
of  witlistanding  a  power  wliicli,  beginning  its 
career  of  viclorv  Avilh  the  burning  of  .Moscow, 
had  teriidf.nli'd  it  by  llic  cfiplure  of  Paris. 


>ss 


IIISTOIIY    OF   EUROPE. 


[ClIAF.  Vlll. 


Wlint  hns  nupmontoJ  in  tlic  most  ronuukablo 
ili'iiroo  this  riuiral  iiithu'iu'o,  is  tlio 
Groai  wis-  l*riiJ«-''i<-"e  niul  wisdom  witii  wiiioli  it 
doin  or"  Us  lias  been  exercisoil.  Kover  iinpolled 
cxitTiuU  by  seiisi'loss  ninbition  on  the  j)iirt  of 
f^"'^i-  its  rulers,  or  frnntie  passions  amoncj 
its  people,  the  policy  of  IJiissia  fur  two  centuries 
has  been  eniinently  luodorato  and  judicious. 
Its  rulers  are  constantly  actuated  by  the  lust 
of  conijuesl,  but  tlicy  never  precipitate  the 
moment  of  attack;  conscious  of  their  own 
strength,  they  await  calmly  the  moment  of 
action,  and  tiicn  a[>pear  with  decisive  effect. 
Like  a  great  man  in  the  conduct  of  life,  they 
are  never  impelled  by  the  thirst  for  immediate 
display  which  is  the  torment  and  bane  of  little 
minds,  but  are  satisfied  to  appear  when  circum- 
stances call  them  forth,  aware  that  no  efibrt 
will  then  be  required  to  prove  their  superiority. 
Their  conquests,  how  great  soever,  seem  all  to 
liave  been  the  result  of  necessity;  constantly, 
in  reality,  aggressive,  they  have  almost  always 
appeared,  in  serious  warfare,  on  the  defensive. 
Ihe  conquest  of  Finland  in  1808,  the  result  of 
the  treaty  of  Tilsit,  is  the  only  one  for  the  last 
century  in  which  its  cabinet  was  avowedly 
and  ostensibly  the  aggressors.  While  this  pru- 
dent policy  disarms  their  neighbors,  and  in- 
duces them  to  rely  on  the  supposed  modera- 
tion and  magnanimity  of  the  government,  it 
adds  immensely  to  their  own  strength  when  the 
moment  of  action  has  arrived.  Every  interval 
of  peace  is  attended  by  a  rapid  growth  of  their 
internal  resources,  and  its  apparent  leisure  is 
sedulously  improved  by  the  government  in 
preparing  the  means  of  future  conquest.  'So 
senseless  cry  for  economy,  no  "  ignorant  impa- 
tience of  taxation,"  paralyzes  their  strength  on 
the  termination  of  hostilities,  and  makes  them 
lose  in  peace  the  whole  fruits  of  conquest  in 
war.  Alike  in  peace  as  in  war,  at  home  and 
abroad,  their  strength  is  constantly  rolling  on  ; 
like  a  dark  thunder-cloud,  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  men,  ready  for  instant  action,  con- 
stantly overhang  in  Poland  eastern  Europe; 
and  every  state  within  reach  of  their  hostility 
is  too  happy  to  avert  it  by  submission.  When 
the  storm  broke  on  Hungary  in  1849,  it  at  once 
extinguished  the  confiagratiou  which  had  set 
Europe  in  flames.* 

The  secret  of  this  astonishing  influence  of 
14.  Russia  in  European  politics,  is  not 
Their  unity  merely  her  physical  resources  and 
of  purpose,  rapid  growth,  great  as  it  will  imme- 
diately appear  both  are,  but  the  unity  of  piur- 
£ose  by  which  the  whole  nation  is  animated, 
ike  that  of  individuals  in  private  life,  this  is 
the  great  secret  of  national  success ;  it  is  not  so 
much  superiority  in  means,  as  their  persevering 
direction  to  one  object,  which  is  the  spring  to 
which  in  both  it  is  mainly  to  be  ascribed.  The 
ceaseless  direction  of  Roman  energy  to  foreign 
conquest  gave  Rome  the  empire  of  the  world ; 
that  of  the  French  to  the  thirst  for  glory  and 

f)rinciple  of  honor,  conferred  on  them  the  lead 
n  continental  Europe;  that  of  the  English  to 
foreign  commerce  and  domestic  industry,  placed 
in  their  hands  the  sceptre  of  the  waves.  Not 
less  persevering  than  any  of  these  nations,  and 

*  The  Russian  army  which  invaded  Hungary  in  1649 
was  lfi],eOO  strong. — George y's  Memoirs o/ the  War  in 
Hungari/,  ij.  149. 


exclusively  directed  to  one  object,  rivaling  the 
ancient  masters  of  the  world  in  the  thirst  for 
dominion,  and  the  modern  English  in  the  vigor 
with  which  it  is  sought,  the  whole  Russians, 
from  the  einj>eror  on  the  throne  to  the  serf  in 
the  cottage,  arc  inspired  with  the  belief  that 
their  mission  is  to  conquer  the  world,  and  their 
destiny  to  cil'cct  it.  Commerce  is  in  little  es- 
teem among  them;  its  most  lucrative  branches 
are  in  the  hands  of  the  Germans,  who  over- 
spread its  towns  as  the  .lews  do  those  of  Poland. 
Agriculture,  abandoned  to  the  serfs,  is  regarded 
only  as  the  means  of  raising  a  rude  subsistence 
for  the  cultivators,  and  realizing  a  fixed  revenue 
for  the  proprietor.  Literature  is  in  its  infancy, 
law  considered  as  an  inferior  line;  but  war  is 
cultivated  with  the  utmost  assiduity,  and  va^t 
schools,  where  all  subjects  connected  with  it 
are  taught  in  the  most  approved  manner  and 
with  the  latest  improvements,  are  constantly 
attended  by  two  hundred  thousand  of  the  best 
young  men  in  the  empire.  The  ablest  among 
them  are  selected  for  the  diplomatic  service, 
and  hence  the  great  talent  by  which  that  pro- 
fession in  Russia  is  ever  distinguished;  but  the 
whole  remainder  are  turned  into  the  army, 
Avhere  they  find  themselves  at  the  head  of  igno- 
rant but  bold  and  hardy  men,  not  less  inflamed 
than  themselves  with  the  thirst  for  foreign  con- 
quest— not  less  impressed  with  the  idea  that  to 
them  is  destined  the  sceptre  of  the  world. 

The  physical  circumstances  of  Russia  are  such 
as  to  justify,  in  a  great  degree,  these  ,5 
anticipations.  Its  population  in  Eu-  statistics 
rope  consisted  in  1850  of  62,088,000  of  the  em- 
souls,  and  in  Asia  of  4,638,000  more;  ?'■"«:  its 
in  all,  67,247,000,  and  including  the  P^P'^'^*"""- 
army,  68,000,000.  It  is  now  (1853)  not  less 
than  70,000,000.  Cf  this  immense  mass  no  less 
than  60,500,000  are  the  inhabitants  of  the 
eountiy,  and  engaged  in  cultivation,  and  only 
5,388,000  the  indwellers  in  towns,  and  engaged 
in  their  industrial  pursuits,  the  remainder  being 
nomad.s,  or  in  the  army.  This  enormous  pro- 
portion of  the  cultivators  to  the  other  classes 
of  society — tiuelve  to  one — at  once  indicates  the 
rude  and  infantine  state  of  civilization  of  the 
immense  majority  of  the  inhabitants,  and  de- 
monstrates in  the  clearest  manner  the  utter 
groundlessness  of  those  apprehensions  regard- 
ing the  increasing  difficulty  of  raising  subsist- 
ence for  the  increasing  numbers  of  mankind 
in  the  later  stages  of  society,  which  in  the  early 
part  of  this  century  took  such  general  hold  of 
the  minds  of  men.  For  while,  in  the  immense 
and  fertile  plains  of  Russia,  twelve  cultivators 
only  raise  food  for  themselves  and  their  families 
and  one  inhabitant  of  towns,  and  perhaps  an 
equal  number  of  consumers  in  foreign  states — 
that  is,  six  cultivators  feed  themselves  and  one 
other  member  of  society — in  Great  Britain,  by  the 
census  of  1841,  the  number  of  persons  engaged 
in  the  cultivation  ofthe  soil  was  to  the  remaining 
classes  of  society  as  one  to  seven  nearlj- ;  and 
yet  the  nation  was  self-supporting.  In  other 
words,  the  power  of  labor  in  raising  food  was 
a.ho\Q  forty  times  greater,  in  proportion  to  the 
population  in  the  old  and  densely -peopled, 
than  the  young  and  thinly-peopled  state.  The 
same  truth  has  been  exemplified  in  America, 
where,  by  the  census  of  1841,  the  cultivators 
over  the  whole  E'nion  are  to  the  other  classes 


1815.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


239 


borski,  i. 
130,  132, 
193. 


of  society  as  four,  and  beyond  the  Alleghany 
iKoepper's  Mountains  as  e/^r/fi  <o  o«e  ;  facts  which 
Population  demonstrate  that  so  far  from  popula- 
de  la  Rus-  tion,  as  Mr.  Malthus  supposes,  press- 
72 -^Tego-'  i"S  ifi  the  later  stages  of  society  on 
subsistence,  subsistence  is  daily  ac- 
quiring a  greater  and  more  decisive 
ascendency  over  population.^* 
The  rapidity  with  which  this  immense  body 
16.  of  men  increases  in  numbers  is  as  im- 
Great  ra-  portant  in  a  political  point  of  view 
pidityofin-  ^s  it  is  formidable  to  the  rest  of  Eu- 
the^Rus-  rope.  The  annual  present  addition 
sian  popu-  to  the  population  has  been  from  18-40 
lation.  to  1850,  as  one  to  a  hundred,  and  that 

notwithstanding  the  fearful  ravages  of  the 
cholera,  which  in  184:7  caused  a  decrease  of 
2116,000. f  This  average  increase  will  cause  a 
duplication  of  the  population  in  seventy  j-ears, 
being  as  nearly  as  possible  the  rate  of  increase 
in  the  British  empire  for  thirty  years  prior  to 
1846;  since  that  time  the  prodigious  drain  of 
the  emigration,  which  has  now  reached  the  cnoi*- 
mous  amount  of  365,000  a  year,  has  occasioned 
an  annual  decline,  probably  only  temporary, 
of  from  200,000  to  250,000.  It  is  greater  than 
that  of  any  other  state  in  Europe,  Prussia  alone 
excepted,  whicli  is  increasing  at  such  a  rate  as 
to  double  in  fifty-two  years ;  but  far  from 
equaling  that  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
•which  for  two  centuries  has  regularly  doubled 

*  By  the  census  of  1840,  the  proportion  of  cultivators 
to  all  other  classes  in  the  United  States  of  America  stood 
thus: 

Agricultural 3,717,756 

All  other  classes 1,078,660 

Or  about  31  to  1.  Beyond  the  Alleghany  Mountains  they 
were  : 

Agricultural 2,092,255 

All  other  classes.   287,751 

Or  about  8  to  1  in  the  basin  of  the  Mississippi,  the  garden 
of  the  world.  On  the  other  hand,  in  Great  Britain,  by  the 
census  of  1831  and  1841,  the  families  respectively  engaged 
in  agriculture  and  other  pursuits  stood  thus  : 

1831.  1841. 

Great  Dritnin  niul  Irelaud. 

Agricultural 961,134  3,343,974 

All  other  pursuits..   2,453,041  23,482,115 

Or  7  to  1  in  the  latter  period  only.  And  yet,  down  to  tliis 
period,  the  nation  was,  to  all  practical  purposes,  self-sup- 
porting— the  importation  of  wheat  having  been  for  forty 
years  back  not  only  trilling  but  declining,  and  in  some 
yea.rs  nothing  at  all.  Average  of  wheat  imported 
yearly  : 


ATKUACES. 

SINGLE    YEARS. 

Veara. 

Quarters. 

Ve.ir». 

(itiarters. 

Voars. 

Qunrters. 

1800  to  1810 
1810  to  1820 
1820  to  1830 
1830  to  1835 

000,408 
458,578 
534,992 
398,507 

1808 
1815 
1819 
1820 
1H21 
1822 

122,133 

31,270 
2 

1833 
1831 
183.-) 

IH30 
1837 

82,341 
04,303 

28,483 

24,870 

214,087 

—  Vide  Porteh's  Progress  of  the  Nation,  3d  edition,  139, 
140 ;  History  of  Europe,  cliap.  xc.  34  ;  and  American 
Census,  1840. 


Populntion. 
.  50,231,000 
.  50,626,000 
.  50,940,000 
.  51,782,000 
.  .52,754,000 
.  53,509,000 
.  54,092,000 
.  54,630,000 
Tegodorski,  i.  88 


1S40. 

1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847. 


:i<-<.«sr,fl,irlh« 
over  ilenlliB. 

In  100. 

.    393,000    .... 

..     .8 

.   344,000   .... 

..     .6 

.   842,000   .... 

..   1.7 

.    972,000   .... 

..    1.9 

.   755,000  .... 

..    1.4 

.    583,000   .... 

..   1.1 

.   538,000   .... 

..   1 

.  S9G,000  deer. 

(cholera). . 

..     .5 

its  inhabitants  every  twenty-four  years,  aided, 

it  is  true,  by  a  vast  immigration  '  Tegob.  i.  88, 

from  Europe,  which  has  latterly  ^-'  '■*■'■  ^^°^P' 

. , '  ,     -v  per.  Mem.  sur 

risen  to  the  enormous  amount  oi  {^  Population 

550,000  a  year'.  de  Russie. 

But  the  formidable  nature  of  this  increase, 
which,  if  it  remains  unchecked,  will 
bring   Russia,   in   seventy  years,    to  Great  room 
have   140,000,000  of  inhabitants,  or  for  future 
about  half  of  the  whole  population  of   increase  ip 
Europe  at  this  time,  which  is  esti-  tam"'"''"' 
mated  at  280,000,000,  arises  from  the 
vast  and  almost  boundless  room  whicli  exists  in 
its  immense  possessions  for  future  augmenta- 
tion.    Such  is  the  extent  of  its  territory,  that, 
great  as  its  population  is,  it  is  at  the  rate  less 
than  30  the  square  mile  for  Russia  in  Europe, 
while  in  Great  Britain  it  is  at  the  rate  of  220, 
and  in  France  of  171.     If  Russia  in  Europe  were 
peopled  at  the  rate  of  Great  Britain  and  li'eland, 
it  would  contain  500,000,000  souls — a  number 
by  no  means  impossible,  if  the  vast  extent  of 
waste  land  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  and 
the  mountains  of  Cumberland  and  Wales,  not 
less  sterile  than  the  fir  forests  of  the  north  of 
Russia,  is  taken  into  account.*     Its  entire  sujier- 
ficies  is  2,120,000  square  geographical  miles, 
while   that   of  Great  Britain   and   Ireland   is 
120,340;  that  of  France,  207,252;  that  of  Aus- 
tria, 257,830;  that  of  Prussia,  107,958;  2  schnitz- 
facts  which,  even  more  than  its  present  ler,  Russie, 
number  of  inhabitants,  demonstrate  p°'°""^'  ^^ 
the  prodigious  capabilities  which  it  03^ .  Tego- 
contains,  and  the  destinies  to  which  borski,  1. 
it  is  ultimately  called. ^  '■>^<  9^- 

What  renders  a  people,  advancing  at  such  a 
rate,  and  possessed  of  such  resources,  jg 
in  a  peculiar  manner  formidable,  is  Unity  of 
the  unity  of  purpose  and  feeling  by  feeling  in 
which  the  whole  of  the  immense  mass  empire"'''' 
is  animated.  It  is  a  common  opinion 
in  western  Europe  that  a  people  inhabiting  so 
vast  and  varied  a  territory  can  not  by  jMissibil- 
ity  remain  united,  and  that  Russia  broken  up, 
as  it  must  ere  long  be,  into  a  number  of  svpn 
rate  dominions,  will  cease  to  be  formidable  to 
the  other  powers  of  Europe.  There  never  was 
a  greater  mistake.  To  reason  thus  is  to  fall 
into  the  usual  error  of  supposing  that  all  man 
kind  are  placed  in  the  same  circumstances,  and 
actuated  by  the  same  desires.  Tliero  have 
been  many  insurrections  and  revolts  in  Russia, 
but  none  which  ever  pointed  in  the  most  remote 
dagrec  either  to  a  change  in  the  form  of  govern- 
ment, or  to  a  separation  of  one  part  of  the 
country  from  the  otiier.  It  is  in  its  I'olish  con- 
quests alone  that  this  passion  has  been  felt. 
Even  when  the  Russians  liave  appeared  in  re- 
volt, as  they  have  often  done,  it  was  ever  in 
obedience  to  the  imj^ulse  of  loyalty :  the}-  com- 
bated the  CV.ar  in  the  name  of  another  Czar, 


'  Populntion  in        Proportion  to  an 

isr.l.  mill- i-oug. 

British  Isles 27,435,315  220 

France 3.'i,0HO,m)0  171 

Prussia 10,570,000  1.50 

Austria 38,280,000  1 18 

Russia  in  Europe 62,000,000  30 

— Teoodohski,  i.  99. 

The  population  of  Oreat  Britain  and  Ireland,  however, 
was  only  27,435,315  by  tlus  census  of  \K>\,  but  that  was 
in  conHcciucnre  of  the  Irish  famine,  1840,  and  cmigrjition 
ever  since,  so  that  the  rate  for  it  must  be  taken  at  what  il 
was  in  1845. 


240 


HISTORY    OF    EUUOPE. 


[Chap.  VIII. 


not  knowiiicj  wluoh  wns  tlio  riirlit  t>ui\  as  tlic 
Scotoli  llighlaiul.'rs  dill  tho  llimuvoi-iiui  I'aiuily 
ill  tlio  namo  of  tho  Stviarts.  Tlie  principle  vl' 
colu'sioii  is  much  stroii<;or  in  Russia  tlian  it 
is  in  the  IJritish  doiniiiiniis,  iuliiiitcly  more  so 
tliaii  ill  tho  United  States  of  America.  En- 
ehinJ  and  France  may  be  subjutiated,  or  broken 
into  separate  states,  before  the  integrity  of 
Russia  is  tlireatcned ;  an<l  many  rival  repub- 
lics will  be  contending  for  the  superiority  on 
the  Transatlantic  plains,  while  Muscovites  are 
still  shinibering  in  conscious  strength  and  pa- 
tient exiH'ctation  under  the  sceptre  of  the  Czar. 
The  cause  of  this  remarkable,  and,  to  the 
jg  other  states  of  Europe,  most  formida- 

Rcason  of  ble  unity  of  feeling  in  the  Russian 
this  unity,  dominions  is  to  be  found,  in  the  fii'st 
Their  Asi-  pijjpp  jjg  ti,(^t;  of  all  ci'cat  national 
atic  habits  i  ,'.  . ,.  ....  ''.  .  ,  , 
and  relig-  peculiarities  is,  in  the  original  cliarac- 
ious  feel-  ter  and  disposition  of  the  race.  The 
ings.  Russians  are  not,  it  is  true,  encamped 

on  the  plains  of  Scythia  as  the  Turks  have 
been  for  four  centuries  on  those  of  the  Byzan- 
tine Empire ;  they  have  taken  root  in  the  soil, 
they  constitute  its  entire  inhabitants,  and  ai'e 
nosv  devotedly  attached  to  it  by  the  possession 
of  its  surface  and  the  labors  of  agriculture. 
But  they  are  not  on  that  account  less  Oriental 
in  their  ideas,  feelings,  and  habits;  on  the  con- 
trary, it  is  that  very  circumstance,  joined  to 
their  agricultural  pursuits,  which  renders  them 
so  formidable.  They  unite  the  devotion  and 
singleness  of  purpose  of  Asia  to  the  industry 
aiiii  material  resources  of  Europe.  It  is  incor- 
rect to  say  ti:at  the  Russians,  like  the  inhabit- 
ants of  England  or  France,  are  generally  loyal, 
and  only  occasionally  seized  with  the  disturb- 
ing passions  of  revolution  or  religion.  They 
are  loyal  at  all  times,  and  in  all  places,  and 
under  all  circumstances.  Tliey  can  never  be 
brought  to  combat  the  Czar  but  in  the  name 
of  the  Czar.  Devotion  to  the  throne  is  so 
interwoven  with  the  inmost  feelings  of  their 
heai'ts  that  it  has  become  part  and  parcel  of 
their  very  being;  it  is  as  universal  as  the  be- 
lief in  God  or  a  future  state  is  in  other  coun- 
tries. Xo  disturbing  or  rival  passions  interfere 
with  the  unity  of  this  feeling,  which  is  sublime 
from  its  universality,  and  respectable  from  its 
disinterestedness.  The  Czar  is  at  once  their 
temporal  sovereign,  their  supreme  chief,  whose 
will  is  law  in  all  temporal  affairs,  and  the  head 
of  their  church,  under  the  agis  of  whose  pro- 
tection the}- alone  hope  for  entrance  into  paradise 
in  the  world  to  come.  The  Patriarch  of  Constan- 
tinople is,  properly  speaking,  the  head  of  the 
Greek  Church,  but  he  is  a  foreigner,  and  at  a 
distance;  the  real  ecclesiastical  authorit}-  re- 
sides in  the  Czar,  who  appoints  all  the  bishops  ; 
iTovo<=n„o  and  his  brows  are  surrounded,  in 
Histoire  de  their  eyes,  at  once  with  the  diadem 
Kussie,  V.  of  the  sultaa  and  the  tiara  of  the 
^^'  9"-         pontiff.  1 

This  unity  of  feeling — the  result  of  the  coin- 
2Q  bination,  in  the  same  people,  of  the 

Unity  of  in-  Asiatic  principle  of  passive  obedience 
terestinthe  in  temporal,  and  the  Roman  Catholic 
empire.  qj^^  qJ  unity  of  belief  in  religious  con- 
cerns— has  been  much  enhanced  in  Russia  bj' 
the  entire  identity  of  material  interests  over 
every  part  of  tlie  empire.  Other  nations  are 
partly  agricultural,  partly  manufacturing,  part- 


Iv  commercial ;  and  experience  has  proved  that 
not  till'  least  serious  causes  of  inleriial  di\  isioii 
are  to  be  traced  to  the  varied  and  contlicting 
interests  of  these  dilferent  classes  of  society. 
Hut  in  Russia  no  such  cause  of  division  exists. 
Tiie  empire  is,  speaking  in  general  terms,  wholly 
agricultural.  Its  seaports  are  only  emporiums 
for  the  sale  of  its  rude  produce;  its  merchants, 
its  grain  and  hemp  faelois;  its  manufacturer.s, 
tiie  clolheis  of  its  rural  population;  its  nobles, 
the  persons  enriched  by  their  labors.  So  in- 
considerable is  the  urban  po])ulation — only  a 
twelfth  of  the  rural — that  it  can  secure  no  sort 
of  influence  in  the  state ;  and  such  as  it  is,  its 
most  lucrative  professions  are  chiefly  in  the 
hands  of  foreigners.  St.  Petersburg  itself  has, 
including  the  garrison,  which  is  never  less  than 
G(»,000  men,  only  470,000  inhabitants;  but  for 
the  court,  it  w^ould  soon  sink  below  100,000; 
Moscow,  349,000 — neither  greater  than  Man- 
chester or  Gla.sgow  at  this  moment.*  If  this 
extremely  small  proportion  of  the  urban  to  the 
rural  population  is  prejudicial  to  the  national 
wealth,  by  depriving  the  state  of  the  great  hives 
of  industry  which  in  other  states  are  the  nur- 
series of  capital,  it  is  eminently  favorable  to 
the  unity  of  feeling  which  pervades  the  empire. 
The  Russians  have  the  two  strongest  bonds  of 
cohesion  which  can  exist  in  a  state — identity  of 
religious  belief,  and  unity  of  temporal  intereste. 
The  Empress  Catherine  took  some  steps  to- 
ward introducing  schools  into  her  gi. 
vast  dominions;  and  great  establish-  General  in- 
ments  for  the  young  of  both  sexes  suflieiency 
excite  the  admiration  of  travelers  s^'ooig  ,o 
both  at  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow,  produce 
But  she  did  so,  only  that  her  vanity  enliKtitcn- 
might  be  gratified  by  the  praise  of  ""-'"'■ 
the  philosophers  of  western  Europe;  for  she  at 
the  same  time  wrote  to  one  of  her  favorites 
that  if  they  were  general  through  the  empire, 
neither  he  nor  she  would  long  remain  where 
they  then  were.f  Catherine  was  right;  the 
unbounded  authority  of  the  Czar,  both  as  the 
temporal  sovereign  of  the  state  and  the  head 
of  the  church,  is  based  on  the  general  ignorance 
which  prevails.  Before  the  light  of  knowledge 
the  vast  fabric  would  insensibly  melt  away, 
but  with  it  would  disappear  at  the  same  time 
the  internal  solidity  and  external  strength  of 
the  emjiire.  The  Emperor  Alexander  did  much 
to  establish  schools  in  his  dominions;  but  as 
they  were  all  either  in  the  hands  of  the  sove- 
reign or  the  Church,  they  did  little  to  enlighten 
the  general  mind,  save  in  the  military  art,  in 
which  they  kept  it  on  a  level  with,  if  not  supe- 
rior to,  any  country  of  Europe.  Tlie  schools, 
other  than  the  government  ones,  which  are 
mere  military  academies,  being  entirely  in  the 


Population  in  1840  of- 


Rigga 59,900 

Cronstadt  54,747 

Wilna   54,490 

Toula 54,735 

Kiev 47,424 

Woronije 43,bLU 


St.  Petersburg  ....  470,202 

Moscow 349,068 

Warsaw 140,474 

Odessa 60,055 

Astrakan 45,938 

Kazan 44,304 

— TEG0B0RSKI,i.  122,123. 

t  "  Mon  Cher  Prince,— Ne  vous  plaigncz  pas  de  ce  quo 
les  Russes  n'ont  pas  le  desirde  s'instruire.  Si  j'in.stitue 
des  ecoles,  ce  n'est  pas  pour  nous  ;  c'est  pour  I'Europe. 
ou  il  faut  maintenir  notre  rang  dans  I'opinion  ;  mais  du 
jour  ou  nos  paysans  voudraient  s'eclairer,  ni  vous  ni  moi 
nous  ne  re.sterions  a  nos  places  " — Catherine,  Impera- 
trice,  au  Gonerneur  de  Moscow,  8  June  1772  ;  di  C  ustine, 
La  Russie  en  1839,  ii.  115. 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


1815.] 

hands  of  the  clergy,  who  are  themselves,  -witli 
some  bright  exceptions,  tho  most  uninformed  of 
the  community,  little  is  to  be  expected  for  the 
training  of  the  general  mind  from  the  spread  of 
education,  as  it  is  at  present  constituted. 

There  is  no  nation  in  the  world  more  pro- 
foundly impressed  with  religious  feel- 
„.  ^^-  ^  ings  than  the  Russians,  and  yet  there 
is  none  to  Avhioh  the  Gospel  has  less 
been  preached.  The  Bible  is  to  them  a  sealed 
book,  for  not  one  in  a  hundred  can  read ;  preach- 
ing is  unknown,  for  it  wouhl  not  be  under- 
stood ;  form  is  all  in  all.  Repeated  genuflexions 
at  passing  the  image  of  a  saint,  invariable  cross- 
ing themselves  before  eating,  and  attendance  at 
church  to  witness  a  few  ceremonies  around  the 
altar  on  Sunday,  form,  in  general,  the  wiiole 
of  their  devotional  practices.  In  truth,  the 
vast  majority  of  the  people  are  in  so  backward 
a  state  as  to  civilization,  that  they  could  neither 
understand  doctrines  nor  apprehend  precepts 
apart  from  the  influence  of  the  senses.  Like 
all  rude  nations,  they  are  deeply  impressed 
witli  religious  feelings:  but  it  is  the  religion 
whicli  enters  by  the  eye  rather  than  the  ear, 
and  is  nourished  by  visible  objects,  not  abstract 
ideas.  Paintings  of  Scriptural  subjects  are  to 
be  seen  in  all  directions,  and  are  the  objects  of 
the  most  superstitious  devotion  to  the  entire 
people ;  for  tliey  think  that  the  prohibition  in 
the  Conmiandments  is  oidy  against  graven,  not 
painted  images ;  and  that,  provided  only  the 
surface  is  flat,  it  is  lawful  to  fall  down  and 
worship  it.  The  clergy  are  a  very  numerous 
body  in  the  empire — they  amounted,  in  1829, 
to  243,000 ;  and  being  allowed  to  marrj-,  their 
children  are  still  more  numerous,  and  having 
nearly  all  received  the  elements  of  education, 
they  constitute  the  chief  class  from  whom  the 
numerous  civil  employes  of  government  are 
drawn.*  They  are  little  elevated,  either  in 
instruction,  station,  or  circumstances,  above 
the  peasants  by  whom  they  are  surrounded, 
whose  virtues  and  vices  they  in  general  share ; 
but  among  the  higher  prelates,  appointed  by 
the  emperor,  are  to  be  found  men,  as  in  the 
1  Custino's  elevated  diplomatic  circles,  second  to 
Russia,  i:i.  none  in  the  world  in  piety  and  zeal, 
2<G,  2,'j.      and  learning.' 

Titles  and  estates  are  hereditary  in  Russia, 
23  but  not  rank — a  curious  distinction. 

Rank  in  little  understood  in  western  luirope, 
Russia:  the  where  they  are  invariably  united,  but 
c  mill.  highly  cluiracteristic  of  its  social  sys- 
tem, and  important  in  its  social  ami  .political 
efl'ects  on  the  iidiabitants.  It  is  tliis  distinction 
wiiit'h  has  crushed  tiie  feudal  system  in  that 
country,  and  placed  society  on  an  entii-ely 
different  basis — lialf  European,  lialf  .i\Biatic — 
from  any  of  tiic  other  states  founded  by  tiie 

*  Ttic  clfrL'y  arc  thus  diviiled,  whicli  shows  liow  vast 
R  pri'|iori(lcraiici;  itie  Greek  Church  enjoys — viz. 

(;r<;i;k  (  liurch 2'2.'),n00 

United  Greeks 7,()0() 

Roman  Catholics (>,()()() 

Mahommedan 0,1)00 

Reformed 400 


241 


243,000 
Tht^  whole  arc  married,  or  capaljlc  of  being  so,  except 
the  Roman  Catholic  priests.  Tho  entire  persons  beloiiK- 
ins  to  the  clerpy  and  their  families,  formine  the  cUr/nj 
clans,  amounted,  in  1829,  to  900,000,  and  arc  now  aljuve 
a  m.llion  of  soi.U.— Mai.te  Hiiun,  vi.  414. 
Vol.   I  —  I 


conquerors  who  overthrew  the  Roman  empire. 
Peter  the  Great  was  the  author  of  the  system 
wliich  is  called  the  ll-hinn,  and  by  its  estab- 
lishment he  eft'ected  a  greater  revolution  in  the 
destinies  of  the  empire  tiian  by  the  destruction 
of  the  Strelitzes.  The  whole  people  were  by 
this  strange  but  vigorous  lawgiver  divided  into 
fourteen  classes,  corresponding  to  the  grades 
in  the  armv,  and  something  analogous  to  the 
centuries  into  which,  for  the  purposes  of  ta.\.,- 
tion  and  election,  the  Romans,  in  the  days  <-.i 
the  Republic,  were  divided.  Each  of  these 
classes  has  certain  privileges  peculiar  to  itself, 
which  are  not  enjoyed  by  the  one  below  i  : 
the  lowest  class,  which  is  iiumediately  above 
the  serfs,  is  invested  with  the  single  privilege 
of  not  being  beaten  except  by  judicial  author- 
ity; and  to  insure  the  enjoyment  of  this  privi- 
lege, and  prevent  strangers  from  in  ignorance 
invading  it,  every  person  in  that  class  is  obliged 
to  have  his  nxiinber  placarded  above  his  doo;-. 
All  the  inferior  employes  of  government,  and 
persons  charged  with  subaltern  duties  in  the 
administration,  belong  to  this  class.  Every 
person  who  becomes  a  soldier  acquires  its  priv- 
ileges when  he  puts  off  his  uniform  and  obtains 
his  discharge.  As  to  the  serfs,  they  ,  custj^g 
are  left  in  the  condition  that  our  ii.  311,312, 
peasants  were  by  Magna  Charta —  Malt.Brun, 
ail}'  one  may  beat  them  at  pleasure.'  ^'■''13,41/ 
This  singular  organization  of  societ}',  which 
pervades  all  ranks  in  Russia,  from  24 
the  Czar  downward,  augments  to  Great  power 
a  most  enormous  degree  the  power  given  by  the 
of  the  sovereign,  for  it  places  the  ^'^"i"'^- 
personal  rank  and  privileges  of  every  individ- 
ual in  the  realm  at  his  disposal.  By  a  stroke 
of  the  pen  the  Czar  can  degrade  every  individ- 
ual in  the  eiupire,  wliatever  liis  descent,  or  iam- 
il}',  or  titles  may  be,  from  his  rank,  deprive 
liim  of  all  the  privileges  belonging  to  it,  and 
cast  him  down  to  the  very  lowest  class  iiinne- 
diately  above  the  serfs.  With  equal  facility  he 
can  elevate  any  person  to  a  class  in  Avhich  he 
was  neither  born,  nor  to  which  lie  is  entitled 
by  any  distinction  or  services  rendered  to  the 
state,  and  thus  place  him  in  a  rank  superior  to 
anj%  even  the  very  highest  noble  in  the  land. 
The  rank  thus  conferred  is  jiersonal  only;  it 
does  not  descend  with  the  liolder's  titles  or  es- 
tates to  liis  lieirs;  it  is  given  by  the  sovereign, 
lield  of,  and  may  at  any  moment  be  resumed 
by  liim.  An  awful  examjile  of  tlie  exercise  of 
this  power  by  the  Czar  is  sometimes  given, 
who,  in  flagrant  cases,  degrades  a  colonel  at 
the  licad  of  his  regiment,  or  a  civil  governor 
in  the  seat  of  his  authority — lias  him  flogged 
in  prcs(^ncc  of  those  so  recently  subjected  to  his 
autiiority,  and  instantly  sent  off  in  one  of  the 
cars  provided  for  convicts  to  Siberia.  It  is 
these  terrible  instances  of  severe,  but,  in  so 
despotic  a  state,  necessary  justice,  often  falling 
like  a  flash  of  lightning  on  the  highest  func- 
tionaries, and  in  the  most  unforeseen  manner, 
wliich  inspires  so  universal  a  dread  of  the  pow- 
er of  the  Czar,  and  causes  liis  mandates  to  be 
obeyed  like  the  laws  of  the  Almighty  or  tiie 
decrees  of  fate,  which  moi-lals  must  accept  and 
submit  to  in  ti'cmbling  silence.  It  has  given 
rise  to  llie  common  opinion  that  rank  in  Russia 
is  military  only,  and  depends  on  the  jiosilion 
held  in  the  army.     This  is  in  app;'arance  true 


S42 


HISTORY    OF    EUROrE. 


but  not  really  so;  for  in  no  country  nrc  civil 
pnuliitious  more  rtinily  cstiiblished  or  scru- 
pulously obsorvoil  tiinu  \:\  Russia.  Tlicy  are 
rt6rf<i.«rof  the  steps  in  military  rank,  and  con- 
fer the  same  rii;hts,  but  they  <lo  not  confer 
steps  in  the  army  ;  hence  a  hair-ilresser  or  tail- 
or sometimes  has  the  rank  of  a  nnijor-general, 
but  he  couhl  not  conunand  a  company.  At 
tiie  head  of  the  Teliinn  was  long  placed  Field- 

,  ,.  „  nuirshal    raskewiteh,  the  conqueror 

'  Malte  ....  1    1.   I       1  1 

nruii,  vi.      ot  I'ersia  and  loland,  and  governor 

4e9, -Jfi;      of  Warsaw;  at  its  foot  the  whole 
V"/'ii5'  "    1'*^'*^'"''^"*  ^^'^  couriers  in  the   em- 
'■'  pire.^ 

This  organization  oi  society  betrays  its  East- 
25.  era  origin:  it  recalls  the  castes  of 
Cast'e  of  Egypt  and  llindostan,  with  this  dif- 
ihe  nobles,  f^rence,  that  the  rank  is  personal,  and 
entirely  dependent  on  the  emperor's  will — not 
hereditary,  as  with  them,  and  naturally  de- 
scending, "like  the  color  of  the  skin,  from  parent 
to  child.  As  such,  it  confers  an  influence  on 
the  sovereign  unknown  even  on  the  banks  of 
the  ^'ile  or  the  Ganges.  The  class  of  nobles  is 
very  numerous;  it  embraced  in  1829  no  less 
than  389,542  individuals.  It  need  hardly  be 
said  that  a  great  portion  of  this  class  are  desti- 
tute of  projierty;  but  such  as  are  so,  for  the 
most  part  find  a  refuge  in  the  ample  ranks  of 
the  army.  !f  ome  of  them  are  possessed  of  enor- 
mous fortunes,  and  when  not  trained  to  civil  or 
military  duties  in  the  diplomatic  or  military 
line,  they  for  the  most  part  spend  their  lives  in 
St.  Petersburg  or  Moscow,  where  a  great  pro- 
portion of  them,  even  to  the  most  advanced 
age,  are  engaged  in  an  incessant  round  of  prof- 
ligacy and  pleasure.  It  exceeds  any  thing  wit- 
nessed, at  least  on  the  surface,  either  in  Paris 
or  London ;  for  passion,  relieved  from  the  press- 
ure of  public  opinion,  and  too  distant  to  fall 
under  the  coercion  of  the  emperors,  riots  with- 
out control,  and  to  a  degree  which  would  not 
be  tolerated  in  the  societies  of  western  Europe. 
Democratic  desires,  with  all  their  inconven- 
iences, have  this  good  effect,  that  they  provide 
for  the  decorum  of  society,  and  check  those 
gross  iustances  of  license  wliieli  at  once  degrade 
and  corrupt  it.  They  render  every  man  a  spy 
on  his  neighbor,  and  the  espionage  of  no  arbi- 
trary sovereign  is  so  willingly  and  effectually 
J  .  exercised ;  for  though  no  man  likes 
iii  337,"^'  to  have  a  restraint  imposed  on  his 
361 ;  Malte  own  passions,  every  one  is  willing  to 
Drun,  vi.  jj^ve  it  fastened  upon  those  of  his 
neighbor.^ 
The  trading  or  bourgeois  class,  which  com- 
poses several  ranks  of  the  Tchinn, 
Ofthe'  Js  made  up  in  Russia,  so  far  as  the 
bourgeois  higher  persons  in  it  arc  concerned, 
and  trad-  foj.  ^\^q  jj^ost  part,  of  foreigners.  The 
ingcla-sses.  portion  of  it  drawn  from  the  nation 
is  composed  of  persons  entirely  emancipated,  or 
of  those  who,  still  serfs,  and  not  attached  to  the 
soil,  and  have  commuted  their  obligation  of 
personal  service  into  the  payment  of  a  certain 
annual  sum  called  the  obrok,  generally  ten  or 
twelve  rubles  a  year  (£1  12s.  6d.  or  £1  18s.). 
This  latter  class  is  very  numerous;  it  contains 
no  less  than  14,000,000  of  souls,  including  the 
families  of  the  semi-emancipated  serfs.  They 
can  not,  however,  leave  their  trade  or  force 
the  purcliase  of  their  freedom  on  their  master 


[Chap.  VIII. 

against  his  consent,  and  the  obrok  is  generally 
raised  as  their  supposed  gains  augment.  This 
is  perhaps  the  very  best  way  in  which  the 
step,  alwaj's  difiieult,  sometimes  dangerous,  can 
be  made  from  slavery  to  freedom,  because  it 
makes  the  gaining  of  the  habits  of  imnislry  pre- 
cede the  cessation  of  its  compulsion,  and  I'enuers 
man  capable  of  being  free  before  he  becomes  so. 
The  peasants  on  tiie  domains  of  the  Crown, 
though  engaged  in  the  labors  of  agriculture,  are 
substantially  in  the  same  situation  ;  they  j)ay 
their  obrok  or  capitation-tax,  and  enjoy  the 
whole  remaining  fruits  of  the  soil  they  have 
cultivated,  or  of  the  manual  labor.  Their  num- 
ber is  very  great;  it  amounts  to  no  less  than 
7,938,000  individuals  of  the  male  sex.  The 
trading  classes  are  all  arranged  in  separate 
guilds  or  corporations,  in  which  they  enjoy  con- 
siderable privileges — in  particular,  those  of  be- 
ing exempt  from  personal  chastisement,  and  the 
obligation  to  serve  in  the  army,  and  to  paj'  the 
capitation-tax,  and  having  courts  of  their  own 
where  their  matters  in  dispute  are  determ- 
ined, as  in  the  Saxon  courts  of  the  Heptarchy, 
b}'  a  jury  of  their  peers.  This  arrangement  of 
the  trading  classes  in  separate  guilds  or  frater- 
nities, enjoying  certain  yirivileges,  and  bound 
together  by  community  of  interest,  is  the  very 
best  that  human  wisdom  ever  devised  to  im- 
prove the  condition  and  habits  of  the  industri- 
ous classes,  because  it  tends  to  establish  an  aris- 
tocracy among  them,  which  at  once  elevates 
their  caste  and  protects  their  labor,  and  tends 
to  prevent  that  greatest  of  all  social  evils,  equal- 
ity among  the  poor ;  which,  as  it  dc-  i  Malte 
stroys  their  influence,  inevitabl}'  ends  Brun,  vi. 
in  the  equality  of  despotism.^  412,415. 

The  last  class  in  Russia  is  that  of  the  SEura 
or  peasants,  the  property  of  their  mas-         „- 
ters,  who  are  by  the  law  attached  to  The  serfs: 
the  soil,  and,  for  the  most  part,  engag-  their  nuiu- 
ed  in  the  labors  of  agriculture.   Their  "^^J^l^^^^^ 
number  is  immense :  they  amounted 
in  Russia  in  Europe  alone  to  10,865,993  males 
in   1834,  and  in   1848  they  had  increased  to 
11,938,000,  being  as  nearly  as  possible  one-half 
of  the  entire  population  engaged  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  soil.*    It  is  a  total  mistake,  however, 
to  suppose  that  this  immense  body  of  men  are 
slaves  in  our  sense  of  the  word — that  is,  in  the 
state  in  which  the  negroes  till  reeentlj'  were 
in  the  West  India  islands,  or  as  they  still  are 
in  the  Southern  States  of  "America.     They  are 
the  property,  indeed,  of  their  masters ;  they  are 
sold  with. the  estate,  and  can  not  leave  it  with- 
out his  consent ;  and  the  property  in  them,  as 
in  the  W'est  Indies  till  of  late,  constitutes  the 
chief  part  of  its  value.^     But  thej-  enjoy  several 
important  immunities,  which  go  far  2  schnitz- 
to  assuage  the  bitterness  of  servitude,  ler,  ii.  272 ; 
and  render  it  doubtful  whether,  in  Jj^'^gi"''' 
the  existing  state  of  Russian  society,  3f,o ;  xego- 
the\'  could  be  so  well  off  under  any  borski,  i. 
other  circumstances.  ^^b  312. 


Peasants  in  Russia  slaves  in  1848 11,838,182 

Free  peasants,  viz. : 
Free  peasants  and  Odnovostry.  2,395,070 

Crown  peasants 9.209,200 

Crown  colonists 150,000 

Newly  emancipated 146,550 

11,900,620 

— Tegodobski,  i.  3-0. 


ISlj.] 


II I  S  T  0  i:  Y    OF   EUROPE 


243 


Thej  are  sold  witli  the  estate,  but  they  can  not, 
■without  their  own  consent,  be  sold 
Privileges  without  it — a  privilege  of  iuealcu- 
and  advan-  lable  value,  for  it  prevents  the  separa- 
tages  tliey  tion  of  husband  and  wife,  parent  and 
'^"■'°^'  child,  and  the  teai-iug  up  of  the  slave 

from  the  home  of  his  fathers,  which  constitutes 
tlie  last  drop  in  the  cup  of  his  bitterness.  By  a 
ukase  of  the  Emperor  Paul  in  1707,  who,  in  this 
instance  at  least,  proved  himself  a  real  father 
to  his  people,  every  slave  or  peasant  subject  to 
forced  labor  on  his  master's  account,  is  per- 
mitted during  three  days  in  the  Aveek  to  work 
on  his  own.  13y  a  ukase  of  the  present  emperor, 
slaves  are  even  permitted  to  hold  small  pieces 
of  land  on  their  own  account,  though  in  their 
master's  name ;  and  if  he  attempts  to  interfere 
with  their  enjoyment  of  tlie  fruits,  he  is  liable 
to  be  restrained  by  an  order  from  the  governor 
of  the  province.  In  addition  to  this,  the  master 
is  obliged  to  maintain  the  slave  in  sickness  or 
old  age — an  obligation  which  is  always  and 
willingly  discharged,  for  a  ver^'  sufficient  reason, 
that  the  great  extent  of  waste  land  in  his  pos- 
session,  or  surplus  produce  in  his  hands,  in  gen- 
eral enables  the  master  to  discharge  the  duty 
without  feeling  it  as  a  burden.^  It 
results  from  these  circumstances  that 


'  Schnitz- 
Icr,  i.  21(5, 


326,  3-29  ; 
Studiea 
Haxthau- 
sen  liber 
Russlaiid 
i.  174. 


'2-20 ;  Tego-  the  condition  of  the  serf  is,  generally 
borski,  i.  speaking,  so  far  as  rude  comfort  goes, 
equal  or  superior  to  that  of  any  peas- 
antry in  Europe,  and  that  even  the 
best-conditioned  cultivators  in  its 
western  states  would  find  something 
to  envy  in  the  constant  food  and  se- 
cure position  of  a  Russian  serf* 

There  is  a  very  curious  institution,  almost 
29  universal  among  the  serfs  of  Russia, 
The  Tie-  which  betraj's  their  Eastern  origin, 
glo :  its  ad-  and  has  done  more  than  any  other 
and'eviis  circumstance  to  mitigate  the  severity 
of  slavery  among  them.  It  savors  of 
the  village  system  so  firmly  rooted  in  all  the 
northern  parts  of  Ilindostan,  and  recalls  the 
days  when  the  whole  lands  of  Palestine  were 
allotted  afresh  eveiy  half  century  to  the  Jews 
in  ancient  times.  It  is  called  the  Ticglo,  and 
consists  in  this :  All  the  peasants  of  Russia  or  of 
Spain  live  in  villages;  isolated  cottages,  the 
glory  and  mark  of  English  and  Swiss  freedom, 
are  unknown.  Each  village  has  a  certain  por- 
tion of  land  allotted  to  it  by  the  emperor,  if  tlie 
lands  hold  of  the  Crown,  or  by  their  lord,  if  of 
a  subject,  and  which  they  labor  on  their  own 
account  for  the  subsistence  of  themselves  and 


*  The  Marquis  Custlne,  any  thing  but  u  ( iilosisiof  Uus- 
sian  institutions  and  manners,  gives  tlio  Ibllowniir  :i(<(iunt 
ol'the  appearance  olttie  old  serfs,  released  Irinri  l.ilior  lor 
life,  sitting  at  the  doors  of  their  cottages:  "Je  ne  puis 
m'empecher  de  trouver  un  grand  charine  ;i  I'ignorance, 
loraque  j'en  vols  le  fruit  dans  la  physlonomie  celeste  des 
vicux  paysans  russes.  Ces  patriarches  modernes  se  rc- 
posent  noblement  au  declin  dc  leur  vie:  travailleurs  ex- 
empts de  la  corvee,  ils  se  debarrassent  de  leur  fardeau 
vers  la  Jin  du  jour  et  s'appuyeiit  avcc  dignite  sur  lo  seuil 
de  la  chaumicre  qij'ils  ont  rebatie  plusieurs  fois,  car  sous 
CO  rude  cliinat  la  maison  de  rhoinnic  ne  dure  pas  autarit 
que  sa  vie.  Quand  je  ne  rajiporti-r.-us  de  inon  voyage  en 
Kussie,  que  le  souvenir  dc  cch  vicillards  sans  remords,  ap- 
puyes  contre  les  portes  sans  serrures,  je  ne  regrcllerias 
pas  la  peine  (|ue  j'ai  prise  pour  venir  voir  des  creatures  si 
diflerentcs  de  tous  les  autres  paysans  du  monde.  l.a.  no- 
blesse de  la  chaumicre  m'insjiire  toujours  un  profond  re- 
spect."— De  Custine,  Voyage  en  Uusme,  iv.  10.  Would 
the  inmates  of  our  workhouses  present  an  equally  agree- 
able spectacle  ? 


their  families.     Another  portion  of  tiie  estate  is 

cultivated  by  the  serfs,  under  the  corvee,  on  t  heir 

master's  account.     As  the  waste  land  in  general 

bearssogreataportion  to  that  under  cultivation, 

both  portions  are  very  extensive,  and  there  is 

room  and  to  spare  for  future  increase.'   r  fiaxthau- 

The  land  allotted  to  the  peasants  is  sen.  Stud. 

not  divided  into  separate  portions  as  "'"^f  ^"®^" 
•i.  1J1     •     1^      13       1  •  land,  i.lGU, 

it  would  be  in  England,  where,  in  some  i;g  .  •j.g.  ' 

places,  "  each  rood  has  its  man,"  but  gob.  i.  3-28, 
is  all  put  at  the  disposal  of  the  entire  "^^l- 
village  community,  -which,  in  its  turn,  becomes 
responsible  for  the  whole  charges  and  obliga- 
tions incumbent  on  its  members. 

A  certain  number  of  the  elders  of  the  village 
make  the  partition  of  the  lands  among  jq 
all  the  householders,  and  it  is  gener-  Way  in 
ally  done  with  great  care  and  circum-  which  it  is 
spection,  according  to  the  necessities  "tarried  into 
and  capabilities  of  each  inhabitant. 
The  lot  awarded  to  each  is  in  proportion  to  the 
numbers  which  he  has  to  feed,  and  the  arms  he 
can  bring  to  aid  in  the  cultivation  of  its  furrows. 
When  a  sou  marries  during  the  lifetime  of  his 
father,  he  applies  for  and  obtains  a  separate 
portion  for  himself,  which  he  labors  on  his  own 
account,  and  which  is  augmented  in  proportion 
as  his  family  increases.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
it  declines,  his  lot  is  proportionally  contracted  ; 
and  if  he  dies  without  children,  it  is  given  to 
some  other  by  the  little  senate  of  the  village. 
Inequality  in  the  richness  of  the  soil,  or  dirti- 
culties  in  its  cultivation,  are  carefully  weighed 
and  compensated  by  the  grant  of  a  larger  or 
smaller  portion  of  ground.  If  the  land  at  tha 
disposal  of  the  community  exceeds  the  wants  of 
its  inhabitants,  the  surplus  is  divided  among 
such  of  her  peasants  as  have  the  largest  stock 
of  cattle  and  implements  of  husbandly,  who  are 
projjortionally  burdened  with  a  share  of  the 
charges  of  the  community.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  the  land  falls  short,  a  portion  of  the  commu- 
nity hives  oif  like  a  swarm  of  bees,  and  settles 
in  some  government  or  province  where  there  is 
enough,  and  where  they  are  alwa3'S  sure  of  a 
cordial  welcome,  for  they  bring  with  them  in- 
dustry, wealth,  and  cullivation.  So  firml}-  is 
this  system  established  in  Russia — as,  indeed, 
it  is  generally  in  the  East — and  so  suitable  is  it 
to  the  circumstances  of  the  people,  tliat,  al- 
though it  has  many  inconveniences,  and  checks 
the  improvement  of  agriculture  by  the  sort  of 
commimity  of  land  which  it  establishes,  and  its 
frequent  rcjiartition,  the  peasants  resolutely  re- 
sist any  attempt  at  its  removal  and  limitation, 
and  cling  to  it  as  tiie  great  charter  wliich  se- 
cures to  them  all  the  means  of  living  and  bring- 
ing up  their  children.  In  some  instances  it  has 
been  given  up,  and  the  land  permancntlj-  al- 
lotted to  each  iniiabitant ;  but  tlicy  have  almost 
alwa3-s  recurred  to  the  old  system,  as  the  only 
one  fitted  to  their  circumstances.  It  is  so:  it  al- 
most realizes  the  aspirations  of  the  Socialists  of 
Paris,  as  it  did  those  of  the  Spartans;  and  it  is 
a  curious  circumstance,  indicating  how  extremes 
meet,  that  the  nearest  ni)proximation  2  nuxthnu- 
that  ever  has  been  made  in  modern  sen,  i.  104, 
Europe  to  tlie  visions  of  the  Conimu-  178;  Te- 
nists,  is  amidst  the  serfs,  and  under  the  ^I^j'  '•  ^^^' 
Czar  of  Russia." 

A  very  simple  reason  ciiains  the  peasants  in 
the  greater  part  of  Russia  to  the  conditions  of 


244 


HISTORY    OF    EU  ROPE. 


feudal  scrvifuJe:    it  ia  nocessity.     Shivery  is 
tlio  ooiulition  of  exi>tenoe.     Writers 
,    31.         i„  Kiitrliiml   are,  for  the  most  nart, 
I  ontrast  of     ,  ■   ,  ■  i     i  ,i  •         i  •      .    i  ,. 

Eiiglusli        strangely  nusleil  on  tins  subjeet  by 

«mi  Kiis-  what  tliey  see  arouiul  them.  They 
sKini-ulti  holiolil  their  own  fanners  living  in 
valors.  comfort,  often  rising  to  afiluenee,  eaeh 
on  his  own  possession,  and  they  ask  why  should 
not  a  similar  state  of  things  arise  in  Ru.ssia? 
They  hirgel  that  the  English  farmer  has  a 
county  hank  near  him,  to  furnish  him  with  the 
means  of  impiovement;  a  canal  or  a  railway 
at  his  door,  to  transport  his  produce  to  market 
— an  unfailing  vent  in  numerous  great  towns 
for  its  disposal ;  am[)lo  means  of  j)urehasing 
the  most  approved  implements,  and  learning 
the  best  methods  of  cultivation  in  the  publica- 
tions to  which  he  has  acces.s.  In  all  these  re- 
spects the  situation  of  the  Russian  peasant  is 
not  analogous,  but  a  contrast.  Situated  in  the 
midst  of  a  vast  and  thinly-peopled  wilderness, 
lie  is  fortunate  if  he  is  only  three  or  four  hun- 
dred miles  from  any  seaport,  thirty  or  fortj* 
miles  from  any  considerable  town.  Canals  or 
railwajs  there  ai'e  none ;  banks  are  unknown, 
and  if  established,  he  has  no  security  to  offer 
for  advances;  his  capital  is  confined  to  the  ax 
which  he  carries  on  his  shoulder,  aud  the 
plow  which  he  steers  with  his  hands.  In- 
stead of  the  mild  climate  which  enables  country 
labor  to  go  on,  country'  animals  to  pasture  in 
the  open  fields,  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
winter,  he  is  doomed  to  inactivity  during  eight 
months  in  the  year  by  three  or  four  feet  of 
snow  upon  the  ground,  and  compelled  to  make 
the  most  of  a  brief  summer  to  gather  stock  to 
live  on  during  a  long  and  dreary  winter.  How 
are  animals  to  be  fed,  the  wages  of  freemen 
paid,  markets  found,  or  freemeu  to  exist,  under 
such  circun^.stances  ?  Withdraw  the  capital  of 
the  landowners;  throw  the  slaves  upon  their 
own  resources,  or  the  imaginary  wages  of  la- 
bor in  the  present  state  of  society,  aud  the  hu- 
man race  would  perish,  in  a  great  part  of  Rus- 
sia, as  fast  as,  from  the  want  of  some  similar- 
ly protective  s^'stem,  it  has  recently  melted 
1  iiaxthau-  away  in  Ireland.  The  first  winter 
sen,  i.  178,  would  gather  many  millions  to  their 
1^"-  fathers.  1 

M.  Haxthausen,  whose  very  interesting  work 
32.  has  thrown  such  light  on  the  rural 
Opinion  of  economy  and  agricultural  population 
M.  Ihixt-  of  Russia,  has  enumerated  three  par- 
tlie  serfs  ticulars  in  which  the  peasants  of  that 
and  iheir  country  differ  from  those  of  western 
enfran-  Europe,  and  which  render  any  gen- 
c  isement  ^^.^i  ^^^  compulsory  enfranchisement 
of  the  serfs  extremely  perilous,  if  not  impos- 
sible. 1.  The  mass  of  disposable  capital  avail- 
able to  carry  on  cultivation  by  means  of  free 
laborers,  paid  by  day's  wages,  bears  no  sort  of 
proportion  either  to  the  wants  of  the  inhabit- 
ants or  the  immense  extent  of  arable  land  which 
requires  to  be  cultivated.  2.  In  a  great  part 
of  the  empire  the  existing  value  of  the  product 
of  the  soil,  if  sold,  so  far  from  enabling  the 
cultivators  to  pay  any  rent,  would  not  even 
cover  the  expenses  of  cultivation.  3.  In  the 
remoter  provinces,  or  where  seaports  are  dis- 
tant and  money  scarce,  the  only  possible  mode 
of  paying  a  rent  is  by  rendering  forced  labor 
legal,  for  there  are  no  means  of  turning  the 


[CuAi-.  viir. 

rude  produce  into  monc}'.  A  similar  necessity 
has  been  fell  in  similar  circumstances  in  otiier 
countries.  Witness  the  services  in  kind,  and 
obligations  to  render  rent  in  labor,  formerly 
universal,  still  known  in  the  remoter  parts  of 
Scotland.  Accordingly,  it  has  been  often  found 
in  Russia  that  peasants  whom  the  proprietors, 
from  motives  of  humanity,  or  in  imitation  of 
the  emperor,  have  put  under  the  obrok  system, 
and  who  enjoy  the  entire  fruits  of  their  labor 
after  paying  a  certain  annual  sum,  are  much 
less  at  their  ease  than  the  old  serfs,  and  they  in 
general  leave  the  cultivation  of  their  fields  to 
seek  a  less  laborious  existence  in  towns.  In 
many  instances,  such  has  been  their  suffering 
from  having  incurred  the  destitution  of  free- 
dom, that  they  have  returned  to  their  mas- 
ters, and  requested  to  be  again  made  serfs.  In 
general,  it  has  been  observed  that  emancipa- 
tion has  not  succeeded,  except  in  circumstances 
where  easy  modes  of  earning  subsistence  in 
other  ways  exist ;  and  hence  M.  Haxthausen 
judiciously  concludes  that  the  libera-  ,  jiaxthau- 
tion  of  the  serfs  should  never  be  sen.  i.  174, 
made  a  general  or  compulsory  mea-  '"8 ; 
sure  in  Russia,  but  should  be  left  to  the  J.^2°2-'l 
wants  and  interests  of  each  locality.' 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  fi'om  this,  however, 
that  slavery  in  Russia  is  not  both  a 
very  great  social  evil,  and  eminently  EvUsofthe 
dangerous  to  the  rest  of  Europe,  and  Russian 
that  he  would  not  be  the  best  friend  serf  sys- 
of  both  who  could  devise  and  estab-  ^'^'"' 
lish  a  method  for  its  gradual  and  safe  abolition. 
Probably  that  method  is  to  be  found  only  in 
the  progressive  rise  of  towns  and  spread  of 
manufactures,  which,  by  rendering  the  obrok 
sj'stem  more  general,  should  give  the  slaves  the 
means  of  purchasing  and  the  masters  the  desire 
of  selling  freedom  to  them.  It  is  not  easy  to 
see,  however,  how  this  safe  and  wise  method, 
which  is  analogous  to  the  way  in  which  it  im- 
perceptibly died  out  in  the  states  of  western 
Europe,  is  to  spread  generally  in  a  countr\"  of 
such  enormous  extent  as  Icussia,  possessing 
eighteen  times  the  area  of  Britain  and  Ireland, 
in  Europe  alone,  intersected  by  few  rivers,  and 
for  the  most  part  so  far  distant  from  the  sea- 
coast.  Its  inhabitants  seem  chained  by  their 
ph^'sical  circumstances  to  the  system  of  com- 
pulsory labor  for  an  indefinite  course  of  years. 
This  system  provides  amplj',  and  better  than 
any  other  under  such  circumstances  could,  for 
their  subsistence,  and  the  gratification  of  the 
animal  wants  of  life;  but  it  provides  for  no- 
thing more.  Ko  gradation  of  rank  can  exist 
among  the  laboring  classes  while  it  continues ; 
all  are  equally  well  fed,  and  equally  ill  civil- 
ized. The  spread  of  knowledge,  the  extrica- 
tion of  genius,  the  growth  of  artificial  wants, 
are  alike  impossible.  If  this  state  of  matters 
is  a  great  evil  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  empire, 
what  is  it  to  the  rest  of  Europe,  when  it  pro- 
motes the  growth  of  a  population  of  sixty  mil- 
lions, doubling  every  seventy  years,  and  all 
nearly  equally  supplied  with  the  physical,  aud 
destitute  of  the  intellectual  food  of  man  ?  Per- 
haps the  only  safeguard  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  such  a  colossus,  directed  in  politics 
and  war  with  consummate  ability,  is  to  be 
found  in  the  growth  of  a  similar  colossus,  simi- 
larly- directed,  on  the  other  side;  and  it  would 


1815.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


143 


be  a  curious  object  for  the  contemplation  of 
philosophy  in  future  times,  if  the  barbarism  of 
infant  could  be  stopped  only  by  that  of  aged 
civilization,  and  the  ambition  of  the  Czar,  head- 
ing the  strength  of  the  desert,  was  first  checked 
by  the  ambition  of  the  emperor  leading  forth 
the  forces  induced  by  the  Communist  doctrines 
of  Paris. 

Marquis  Custine  says,  that  in  Russia  we  are 
34.  perpetually  reminded  of  two  things 
Foreign  — the  absence  of  the  Sun  and  the 
conquest  presence  of  Power.  Both  are  equal- 
upon  Rus^-  ly  important  alike  in  their  social  and 
sia  by  its  external  effects  ;  perhaps  the  last  is 
climate.  ^\^q  necessary  consequence  of  the  first. 
A  very  simple  reason  makes,  and  ever  must 
make,  the  Russians  desirous  above  all  things 
of  escaping  out  of  their  own  country  ;  it  is  the 
severity  of  its  climate.  Those  who  live  in  a 
country  where  the  snow  covers  the  ground  for 
eight  months  in  the  j'ear,  and  the  long  nights 
of  winter  are  illuminated  only  by  the  cold 
light  of  the  aurora  borealis,  long  with  inex- 
pressible ardor  for  the  genial  warmth  and  sun- 
ny hills  of  the  south,  where  the  skies  are  ever 
blue,  the  sun  ever  shines,  and  nature  teems 
with  the  luxuriance  of  tropical  vegetation. 
The  shores  of  the  Bosphorus,  the  Golden  Horn, 
the  dome  of  St.  Sophia,  are  not  only  the  secret 
dream  of  ambition  to  every  Russian,  but  the  un- 
doubted object  of  their  expectation.  "  I  do  not 
wish  Constantinople,"  said  Nicholas;  "my  em- 
pire is  already  too  large;  but  I  know  that  I  or 
my  successors  must  have  it :  you  might  as  well 
arrest  a  stream  in  its  descent  from  a  mountain, 
as  the  Russians  in  their  advance  to  the  Helles- 
pont."' The  habits  which  necessity- 
ler  u"247  given  to  them,  permanently  fit, 

'  '  "  and  ever  must  fit  them  for  foreign 
conquest.  Their  life  is  a  continual  conflict 
with  the  severity  of  nature ;  actual  warfare, 
as  to  the  Roman  soldiers,  is  felt  chiefly  as  a  re- 
laxation from  tiie  rude  but  invigorating  disci- 
pline of  peace.  What  are  the  hardships  of  a 
campaign  to  men  who  never  know  the  luxury' 
of  beds,  whose  food  is  black  bread  and  water, 
who  sleep  ever  on  the  hard  bench  or  cold 
ground,  and  know  no  pleasure  save  the  simple 
ones  of  nature,  and  the  exciting  ones  of  con- 
quest? When  the  north  ceases  to  communi- 
cate vigor  to  the  frame,  hardihood  to  the 
habits,  and  ambition  to  the  soul,  Russia  will 
cease  to  be  a  conquering  country,  but  not  till 
then. 

The  presence  of  Power  is  not  loss  univer- 
sally felt  in  Russia  than  tlie  absence 
Fear  i^he  ^^  ''"^  '''"'•  "'  '^  ""''  "lercly  tiiat  the 
univerHal  Czar  is  despotic,  tliat  his  will  consti- 
principle  of  tiitcs  law,  and  that  he  is  tlic  master 
fn  Ru"L"a!"  witliout  control  of  the  lives,  liberties, 
and  fortunes  of  all  his  subjects — the 
same  system  is  cont.inued,  as  is  always  the  case 
in  such  circumstances,  through  every  inferior 
grade  in  societ}-.  What  the  cnipcror  is  in  his 
council  or  his  palac<!,  every  inferior  ])refect  or 
governor  is  within  the  limits  of  his  territory', 
over  his  vast  dominions.  Despotism  is  the  gen- 
eral system,  force  tlie  constant  weapon  of  au- 
tljority,  fear  the  universal  basis  of  government. 
Gross  acts  of  maladministration,  indee<l,  are 
often  made  the  subject  of  immediate  and  terri- 
ble punishment;  the  efforts  of  government  are 


unceasing  to  find  them  out,  and  the  justice  of 
the  Czar  implacable  when  they  are  clearly 
established.  But  it  may  easily  be  conceived 
that  in  a  country  of  such  enormous  extent, 
where  the  machine  of  government  is  so  com- 
plicated, and  no  free  press  exists  to  signalize 
its  abuses,  these  instances  are  the  exception, 
not  the  rule.  Power  is,  in  general,  undetected 
in  its  abuses,  or  supported  in  its  measures.  So 
universal  is  the  dread  of  authorit}'  in  Russia, 
that  it  has  moulded  the  national  character,  de- 
termined the  national  tastes,  and  even  formed 
the  national  manners.  Obedience  is  universal, 
from  the  Empress  on  the  throne  to  the  hum- 
blest serf  in  his  log-house.  All  do  not  what 
they  like,  or  what  they  woidd  have  themselves 
chosen,  but  what  they  are  ordered  and  expect- 
ed to  do.  Dissimulation  is  universal :  if  they 
are  not  happy,  they  pretend  to  be  so,  to  avoid 
the  reality  of  sorrow  which  awaits  expressed 
discontent.  The  present  Empress — a  woman 
of  high  spirit  and  the  most  captivating  man- 
ners— is  sinking  under  the  incessant  labor  of 
amusing  and  being  amused  ;  the  fortunes  even 
of  the  greatest  nobles  or  highest  functionaries 
are  wasting  away  under  the  enoi-mous  expenses 
imposed  on  or  expected  of  them  by  the  court. 
All  must  exert  themselves  incessantly,  and  to 
the  uttermost,  to  keep  up  with  the  i  custine 
demand  of  authority,  or  conceal  the  vols,  i.,  u., 
cnnul  or  discontent  which,  in  reality,  a"^  '.''■) 
is  preying  upon  their  bosoms.'  passim. 

Clark,  the  celebrated  English  traveler,  sa^'s 
that  there  is  not  a  second  in  Russia,  „(. 
during  the  day  or  night,  that  a  blow  General  use 
is  not  descending  on  the  back  or  of  corporeal 
shoulders  of  some  Russian  peasant.  chastise- 
Notwithstanding  a  considerable  soft- 
ening of  manners  since  the  time  when  the  de- 
scription was  given,  it  is  still  precisely  apjilica- 
ble.  Corporeal  chastisement  of  their  slaves  is 
permitted  to  masters,  without  anj'  other  au- 
thority but  their  own  ;  and,  except  in  the 
classes  in  the  Tchinn,  who  are  exempt  from 
that  penalty,  it  is  the  great  engine  of  authority 
with  all  intrusted  with  judicial  power.  The 
punishment  of  death  is  abolished  by  law  in  all 
cases  except  high  treason ;  but  such  is  the 
severity  of  the  corporeal  inflictions  authorized, 
that  it  would  be  a  mercy  if  it  was  restored. 
When  a  man  receives  a  sentence  of  above  a 
hundred  strokes  with  the  knout,  the  execution- 
er understands  what  is  meant;  by  striking  at  a 
vital  place,  he  in  mercy  dispatches  him  at  the 
third  or  fourth.  The  police  ofliccrs  lay  hold 
of  disorderly  persons  or  malefactors  in  the 
streets,  and  beat  them,  without  the  formality 
of  a  trial,  in  the  severest  manner,  without  their 
cries  exciting  any  attention  among  those  wlio 
witness  it,  wjio,  glad  that  tlie  tempest  has  not 
fallen  on  their  shoulders,  (juietly  pass  by  with- 
out either  observation  or  surprise.  The  nobles 
and  higher  classes  of  tlie  Teliinn  arc  exempt 
from  such  chastisenUMit ;  but  Siberia  is  con- 
stantly hanging  over  their  lieads,  the  most 
cfFectual  of  all  bastinadoes  to  the  mind  ;  and 
the  prisons  resound  with  the  cries  of  those 
upon  whom  the  jiunishrncnt  of  flogging  for 
crime,  or  at  the  instance  of  their  masters,  is 
inflicted.  The  frightful  screams  of  the  suf- 
ferers under  these  inflictions  leave  the  most 
melancholy  improssioa  on  the  minds  of  such 


211) 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[ClIAP.  VIII. 


m  Imvo  hoaiil  tliom  ;  tlioy  rociill  the  horrors 
1  Cusiiiic,  i>f  sliiviTV  luiioni;  tho  boast  oil  ropub- 
iv.2Sl,•J^J.  lioaii  insritiitions  of  Aiiiorioii.* 

It  is  this  constant  roourroiice  to  force,  and 

,.  the  frequency  and  severity  of  cor- 

Chararter  Poreal  punisliiuents  in  lUissia,  which 
which  has   imprinted    at   once    its  regidar 

iliose  cir-  metliodieal  aspect  on  the  march  of 
have  mi-  povernnient,  and  their  supple  cnarac- 
primcil  on  tor  and  extraordinary  powers  of  dis- 
ihe  Rus-  sinudation  on  tlie  people.  Like  a 
8ian3.  -woll-disciplined  regiment,   in   which 

tlie  lash  is  the  constant  object  of  appreliension, 
cvciy  thing  goes  on  silently  and  smoothly  in 
Russia.  Jsothing  retards  or  checks  the  inaeldne 
of  government;  riots  or  disturbances  of  any 
sort  are  unknown ;  resistance  is  never  thought 
of,  or,  if  attempted,  is  speedily  suppressed  by 
tlie  strong  arm  of  power.  The  country  re- 
sembles rather  a  vast  army  obeying  the  direc- 
tions and  coerced  by  the  authority  of  a  single 
gcneral-in-chicf,  than  a  great  communitj'  actu- 
ated by  separate  interests  and  impelled  b}- 
various  passions.  As  a  necessary  consequence 
of  this  irresistible  force  of  power  and  necessity 
of  submission,  the  character  of  the  Russians 
has  been  modified  in  a  most  essential  degree. 
Originality  or  independence  of  thought  is  in  a 
great  degree  unknown ;  where  these  qualities 
e.vist,  as  doubtless  they  must  in  many  breasts, 
the}'  are  carefully  concealed,  as  the  most  dan- 
gerous qualities  which  the  possessor  can  dis- 
cover. Like  the  Greeks  under  the  Mussulman 
yoke,  the  Russians  have  become  perfect  adepts 
in  all  the  arts  by  which  talent  eludes  the  force 
of  authority,  and  astuteness  escapes  the  dis- 
coveries of  pov.-er.  They  are  admirably  skilled 
in  the  use  of  flattery,  and,  like  all  persons 
initiated  in  that  dangerous  art,  passionately 
desirous  of  praise  themselves.  The  Americans 
do  not  exceed  them  in  their  thirst  for  national, 
the  French  in  their  passion  for  individual  praise 
— the  certain  proof  in  both  of  the  secret  con- 
sciousness of  very  serious  defects.  Those  who 
feel  none,  do  not  desire  the  balm.  They  are 
most  skillful  imitators;  and  their  powers  of 
dissimulation  are  universally  admitted  to  ex- 
ceed those  of  the  most  accomplished  courtiers 
or  skillful  diplomatists  in  western  Europe. 
It  was  not  thus  in  former  da3's :  this   dis- 

gg  simulation  and  address  is  a  contrast 
Causes  to  the  manliness  and  simplicity  of 
which  have  early  times.  The  Slave  originally, 
character'^  like  a  rude  and  barbarous  savage, 
was  bold,  intrepid,  and  outspoken, 
pitiless  to  his  enemies,  but  simple,  kind,  and 
guileless  to  his  friends;  and  such  is  still  the 
character  of  the  Cossacks,  and  of  those  distant 
tribes  which  have  not  felt  the  crushing  influ- 
ence of  the  central  government.  The  princi- 
ples of  freedom  had  strongly  taken  root  among 
them,  and  at  a  time  when  all  the  nations  of 
western  Europe  were  sunk  in  slavery,  a  re- 
public flourished  in  Novgorod  the  Great,  which 
i-ivaled  for  centuries  the  energy,  as  in  its  fall  it 
equaled  the  heroism,  of  the  republics  of  Greece 
and  Rome.  It  was  the  dreadful  irruption  of 
Lati  and  the  Tartar  hordes  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  who  overran  the  whole  eastern  and 
southern  countries  of  the  empire,  and  for  three 
long  centuries  kept  them  in  a  state  of  cruel 
servitude,  which  induced  this  disposition  upon 


them  ;  thev  assumed  the  character  because  tlu-v 
were  subjoctod  to  tlie  lot  of  slaves.  l)iiriirg 
those  disastrous  centuries  tlie  Poles  joined  their 
arms  to  the  Tartars;  and  the  Muscovite.*,  as- 
sailed on  all  sides,  and  driven  to  tlicir  last 
fastnesses,  were  fain  to  avoid  utter  destruction 
by  the  most  abject  submission.  Ivan  IV.  first 
extricated  them  from  this  dreadful  yoke;  he 
won  fortlicm  Kazan,  Astraean,  and  the  bound- 
less realms  of  Siberia,  but  it  was  only  to  sub- 
ject them  to  a  tyranny  almost  as  terrible  as 
that  from  which  they  had  escaped,  and  wliich 
won  for  him  the  lasting  surname  of  the  Terrible. 
Severe  as  it  was,  his  yoke  was  cheerfully  borne 
for  half  a  century,  because  it  averted  tlie  still 
more  dreadful  oppression  of  the  Tartars;  and 
when  Peter  the  Great,  a  century  alter,  sought 
to  gain  for  them  a  place  in  the  European  famiij', 
he  found  the  Muscovites  prepared  to  submit  to 
any  mandates,  and  ready  to  be  moulded  by  any 
will  which  assumed  their  direction.  Let  us 
not  boast  of  the  independent  character  and 
fearless  disposition  of  the  English  peasantry, 
but  rather  thank  the  Almighty,  who,  in  the 
encircling  ocean,  has  given  them  a  barrier 
against  their  enemies.  Had  the  circumstances 
of  both  been  different — had  the  Russians  been 
located  in  Yorkshire,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  on 
the  banks  of  the  Volga — who  will  j  Karam- 
affirm  that  the  character  of  the  two  sin,  Uis- 
nations,  despite  the  all  but  indelible  toire  de 
influence  of  race,  would  not  have  f47^4'4^^' 
been  exchanged? '  *  ' 

The  Emperor  Nicholas  has  often  said  that 
"its  distances  are  the  scourge  of  ^^ 
Russia;"  and  considered  with  refer-  Great  ef- 
ence  to  the  march  of  civilization,  it  feet  of  the 
is  obvious  that  the  observation  is  distances 
well  founded.  It  is  difficult,  indeed, 
to  conceive  how  civilization  can  spread  gen- 
erally in  a  country  of  such  enormous  extent, 
possessing  such  slender  means,  natural  or  arti- 
ficial, of  internal  communication,  with  so  few 
seaports,  and  these  few,  for  the  most  part, 
blocked  up  half  the  year  with  ice.  At  the 
accession  of  Peter  the  Great,  Russia  pjossessed 
only  one  seaport  (Archangel),  on  the  "White 
Sea;  and  it  was  the  pressing  want  of  a  great 
harbor  to  connect  it  with  the  commerce  and 
ideas  of  western  Europe  which  made  him  lavish 
such  sums,  and  waste  such  an  enormous  amount 
of  human  life,  in  the  construction  of  St.  Peters- 
burg. The  same  want  is  still  felt  with  un- 
mitigated severit}-  in  the  interior.  Civilization 
meets  with  grievous  impediments  in  a  country 
entirel}'  flat,  without  minerals  or  coal  to  stimu- 
late manufactures,  covered  with  snow  half  the 
year,  in  great  part  shaded  hj  forests,  with  few 
navicable  rivers,  and  still  fewer  canals  or  rail 


*  "  L'orgueil  national  s'aneantit  parnii  les  Russes  :  its 
eurent  recours  aux  artiiices  qui  suppleent  a  la  force  chez 
les  hommes  condamnes  a  une  obcissance  servile  ;  habiles 
a  tromper  les  Tartares,  ils  devinrent  aussi,  plus  savants 
dans  Tart  de  se  tromper  inutuellement ;  achetant  des  bar 
bares  leur  securite  personntlle,  ils  furent  plus  avides 
d'argent  et  inoins  sensibles  aux  injures  et  a  la  honte  ;  ex- 
I)oses  sans  cesse  a  I'insolence  des  tyrans  etrangers,  il  se 
pourrait  que  le  caractere  actuel  des  Russes  consenat 
quelques-unes  des  taches  dont  l"a  souille  la  barbarie  des 
Mongols.  Le  soutien  des  boyards  ayant  disparu,  il  fallait 
obeir  au  souverain  sous  peine  d'etre  regarde  coinmc 
traitre  ou  comme  rebelle :  et  il  n'existe  plus  aucune  voie 
legitime  de  s'opposer  a  ses  volonles,  <n  un  iiuit  on  vit 
naitre  rautocratis."— Karamsin,  Histnrc  dt  liux^iu;  v. 
44  ;  vi.  331. 


1815.] 

roads,  distant  from  any  harbor,  and  necessarily 
chained  by  physical  necessity,  over  great  part 
of  its  extent,  to  rude  agricultural  labor  during 
tlie  whole  year.  The  situation  of  the  basin  of 
the  Mississippi,  of  surpassing  fertility,  and  inter- 
sected in  every  part  by  a  vast  net-work  of 
navigable  rivers,  which  descend  from  the  Alle- 
ghanies  on  the  one  side  and  the  Rock}'  Mount- 
ains on  the  other,  is  not  a  parallel  but  a  con- 
trast to  that  of  Muscovy ;  and  if  we  would 
rightly  appreciate  the  advantages  which  Great 
Britain  has  derived,  and  Ireland  might  have  de- 
rived, from  its  insular  situation,  compact  prov- 
inces, numerous  harbors,  and  mineral  riches,  we 
liave  only  to  contemplate  what  Russia  has  suf- 
fered from  the  want  of  them. 

It  results  necessarily  from  these  circum- 
40.  stances,  that  as  much  as  Russia 
Civiiiza-  abounds  to  overflowing  in  the  ele- 
tion  de-  ments  of  physical,  is  she  weak  in  the 
iirelj''on  materials  of  intellectual  strength: 
the  higher  and  that  if  a  great  destiny  awaits 
ranks.  jig,.^  ^s  it  plaiidy  does,  it  is  to  be 
found  in  the  conquest  of  the  bodies,  not  the 
subjugation  of  the  souls  of  men.  Civilization 
depends  entirely  on  and  flows  from  the  higher 
ranks;  there  is  none  of  the  ascending  pressure 
from  below  which  constitutes  so  important  an 
element  in  the  society  of  western  Europe.  In 
the  very  highest  ranks  it  exists  in  the  most 
refined  and  captivating  form,  and  one  of  the 
many  contrasts  which  strike  a  stranger  most  in 
that  extraordinarj'  country,  is  the  strange  con- 
trasts which  exist  between  the  manners,  habits, 
and  tastes  of  the  nobility  and  those  of  the  great 
body  of  the  people.  After  traversing  hundreds 
of  leagues  over  a  country  imperfectly  culti- 
vated, overrun  by  forests  or  swamps,  and  tilled 
in  the  places  which  the  plow  has  reached  by 
ignorant  serfs,  the  astonished  traveler  finds  him- 
eelf  suddenly  landed  in  an  enchanted  palace, 
where  the  last  refinements  of  Europern  civiliza- 
tion are  to  be  met  with,  where  the  finest  copies 
of  the  Greek  statues  adorn  marble  halls  of  sur- 
passing magnificence,  where  the  choicest  gems 
of  Titian  or  Ra[)hael  enchant  the  ej^e,  in  draw- 
ing-rooms enriched  with  all  the  luxury  of 
Ormolu  and  Sevres,  and  beautiful  women, 
arraj'ed  in  the  last  Parisian  fashion,  alternately 
fascinate  the  mind  by  conversation  on  the  most 
celebrated  novels  or  operas  of  the  day,  or  charm 
the  senses  by  the  finest  melodies  of  Mozart  or 
Beethoven.  It  is  this  strange  and  startling 
combination  of  rudeness  with  refinement,  of 
coarseness  with  elegance  of  taste,  of  barbarity 
with  the  last  delicacies  of  civilization,  in  one 
class,  with  the  first  attem[)ts  at  improvement 
in  those  beneath  it,  which  strikes  tlie  traveler 
at  every  step  in  Itussia.  ]>i<lerot  long  ago  said 
tliat  "  the  ilussians  were  I'otten  before  thev 
were  ripe;"  but  it  wouM  be  more  just  to  say 
that  they  arc  ripe  in  one  class  before  they  ai-e 
even  beginning  to  form  fruit  in  those  below  it. 
The  Russians  are  essentially  an  imitative  peo- 
^j  pie,  and  they  have  carried  talent  in 

SirotiRimi-  this  respect  to  a  length  unequaled 
tative  turn  in  any  other  age  or  country  of  the 
-L'i'''^"'"  ^^^«rld.      Their  manners,  their  fash- 

olallS^  .  J 1       *  1*1  •  1      • 

ions,  their  arts,  tlieir  luxuries,  their 
architecture,  tlieir  painting,  are  all  copied  from 
tho.^c  of  western  Europe.  Like  the  inhabitants 
of  all  northern  countries,  they  are  passionately 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


2r, 


fond  of  traveling,  for  this  plain  reason,  that 
they  seek  in  foreign  countries  gratifications 
they  can  not  find  in  their  own.  They  make 
good  use  of  the  opportunities  they  thus  enjoy: 
they  are  well  known  as  the  most  lavish  patrons 
of  art  both  in  France  and  Italy,  and  they  carry 
back  with  them  to  their  deserts  not  only  the 
finest  specimens  of  ancient  statuary  or  modern 
painting,  but  the  most  refined  taste  for  their 
beauties,  and  correct  appreciation  of  their  ex- 
cellences. Their  architecture,  in  all  but  the 
very  oldest  structures  of  the  empire,  is  all 
copied  from  the  Greek  or  Roman;  it  is  the 
Parthenon  of  Athens,  the  Pantheon  of  Rome, 
at  every  step.  In  the  Kremlin  alone,  and  some 
of  the  oldest  structures  of  ^lijni  and  great  Nov- 
gorod, is  to  be  seen  the  ancient  and  native  ema- 
nations of  Russian  genius  before  it  was  crushed 
by  the  barbarism  of  the  Tartars,  or  nipped  in 
the  bud  by  the  imitative  passion  of  Peter  the 
Great.  The  e^-e  of  the  traveler  is  fascinated 
by  these  long  lines  of  pillared  scenery  inter- 
spersed with  monuments  and  obelisks;  but 
after  a  time  it  palls  on  the  senses,  from  its  very 
richness  and  uniformity :  it  is  felt  to  be  an  ex- 
otic unsuited  to  the  climate,  and  which  cannot 
take  root  in  the  soil;  and  the  imagination  sighs 
for  the  original  architecture  of  the  English 
cathedrals  and  the  iloorish  Alhambra,  which 
mark  the  native-born  conceptions  of  the  Gothic 
and  Arabian  conquerors  of  the  woi'ld. 

But  if  western  Europe  has  little  to  fear  from 
the  rivalry  of  Russian  art  or  the  ^g 
flights  of  Russian  genius,  it  is  otlier-  Military 
wise  with  the  imitation  of  the  Mili-  strength  of 
T.\RY  Art,  which  has  been  carried  to  ""s^"*- 
the  very  highest  point  in  the  Muscovite  armies. 
The  army  consisted  in  1840  of  72  regiments  of 
infantry,  24  of  light  cavalry,  90  batteries  of 
foot  and  12  of  horse  artillery.  Each  regiment 
consists  of  Y  battalions  of  1000  men  each ;  so 
that  the  infantry  alone,  if  complete,  would  con- 
tain above  500,000  men.  The  guards,  which 
are  composed  of  the  elite  of  the  whole  male 
populaticm  of  the  empire,  consist  of  12  regi- 
ments of  infantry,  12  of  cavalry,  12  batteries 
of  foot  and  4  of  liorse  artillcrj',  which  are  al- 
ways kept  complete.  Besides  this,  there  are 
24  regiments  of  heavy  reserve  cavalry,  and  12 
batteries  of  reserve  horse  artillery,  and  the 
corps  of  the  Caucasus,  Orenburg,  Siberia,  Fin- 
land, and  the  interior,  which  contain  IdO  bat- 
talions of  1000  men  each,  40  regiments  of  eav- 
alr}',  and  C6  batteries  of  cannon.  Besides  these 
immense  forces,  the  emperor  has  at  his  disposal 
104  regiments  of  Cossacks,  each  containing  800 
warriors,  of  whom  50  come  from  the  steppes 
of  the  Don,  ami  are  superior  to  any  troojjs  in 
the  world  for  the  service  of  light  cavalry.  If 
these  immense  forces  were  all  cimiph^tts  they 
would  contain  above  8<i(i,<>(M)  infantry,  250,000 
horses,  and  100,000  artillerymen.  But  the 
ranks  are  very  far,  indeed,  iVom  being  com- 
plete; and  in  no  country  in  the  world  is  the 
difl'erenco  so  great  l)etween  the  numerical  force 
of  an  army  on  paper  and  its  e/Tective  muster  in 
the  field.  Tlu;  reason  is,  that  numerous  oflicers 
in  every  grade  have  an  interest  in  reju'esenting 
tiu!  force  as  greater  than  it  really  is;  as  they 
draw  \>ny  anil  rations  for  the  wliolo,  and  ap- 
proj)riate  such  as  is  allotted  to  the  non-exist- 
uig  to  themselves.     Still,   after  making  every 


24S 


HISTORY   OF  EUROPE. 


[CH.\r.  viir. 


alNnvniioo  for  thc.<o  tjro.it  tlofu'ioiu'ies,  it  is  nol 
j;oiiii:  t"o  far  to  nssort  tlmt  liii.^.-iin,  wlioii  Ium- 
utivni^tli  is  fvilly  oalleil  forth,  oouKl  in-oducc 
40(i,<.Hii»  iiifaiitrv,  100,(Kt(»  ciivnlry,  itiul  5(),(iO(i 
,  y,rm(,n,  artilli'rymoii  for  servioo  boyoiul  Iut 
VoyaKi'.s.  1.'  own  froiitioi",  tlioiigli  the  distances 
l.si,  iMi;  of  tlio  c'nii>iro  aro  so  j^roat  tliat  il 
!'"' j'J'"^""'  ^votiKl  ro(iuire  more  tliaii  a  yoar  to 
l.'Huloiuler-  I'l'iiig  even  tlio  lialf  of  tlii.s  iiniiioiiso 
ry.  Uiissiii,  force  to  bear  on  any  point  in  Ein'oiJc 
II.  1JU,16>J.    Q,.  Asia.'* 

A  very  curious  ami  intcrestint^  part  of  the 
43  institutions  of  Russia  is  to  be  found 

The  military  in  the  Mii.iT.vuv  Colo.mes,  wlueli  are 
colonics.  establislicd  in  several  of  the  soutli- 
orn  jirovincos  of  tlie  empire.  They  owe  tlieir 
origin  to  the  Emperor  Alexander,  who,  bein^ 
(Struck  with  the  protection  which  similar  cstab- 
lisiiments  on  the  frontiers  of  Transylvania  had 
long  afforded  to  the  Austrians  and  Hungarians 
in  warding  off  the  predatory  incursions  of  the 
Mussulman  horse,  resolved  in  1817  to  found 
colonies  of  the  same  sort  in  several  parts  of  his 
dominion.s.  The  system  was  extended  and  im- 
proved, under  the  able  guidance  of  General  de 
Witt,  in  the  southern  provinces  in  1821.  Sev- 
eral divisions  of  veterans,  regular  cavalrj-,  were 
colonized  in  this  manner,  and  a  floating  popu- 
lation of  seventy  thousand  wandering  tribes 
settled  on  certain  districts  allotted  to  them. 
The  principle  of  these  establishments  is,  that 
an  immense  tract  of  arable  and  pasture  land  is 
divided  among  a  certain  number  of  leading 
colonists,  who  are  married,  and  for  the  most 
part  have  families,  each  of  whom  holds  his 
lands,  like  the  military  tenants  of  former  days 
in  Europe,  under  the  obligation  of  maintaining 
constantly  a  horseman  and  horses  completely 
equipped,  and  providing  for  his  maintenance. 
In  return,  he  is  entitled  to  the  labor  of  the 
cavalier,  when  not  actually  in  the  field.  In  ad- 
dition to  these  horsemen,  who  are  constantly 
ready  for  service,  there  are  a  much  greater 
number  of  substitutes,  or  suppleans,  as  they 
are  called,  who  also  are  trained  to  the  use  of 
arms,  and  being  all  expert  horsemen,  are  ready 
at  a  moment's  warning  to  take  the  principal's 
place  if  he  is  killed  or  disabled  for  active  serv- 
ice. All  the  children  of  the  colony  are  trained 
to  military'  service,  and  are  bound  to  serve,  if 
required,  twenty-two  years,  after  which  they 

*  Ru.ssiAN  Army,  August,  1853: 


Men. 

Guns. 

Horses. 

00,296 
47,178 
59,178 
59,178 
59.178 
59,178 
59,178 
59.178 
33,979 

J16 
112 
112 
112 
112 
112 
112 
112 
96 

996 

176 
16 
24 
24 

240 

1,236 

17,100 
8,900 
8,800 
8,800 
8,800 
9,400 
6,800 
8,600 

35,760 

1st  corps 

2d  do 

3d   do 

4th  do 

5th  do 

fithdo 

Reserve  Horse 

Active 

Caucasian 

Finland 

496,621 

99,160 

133,508 
13,680 
21,000 
29,100 

190,468 

16,168 
1,300 
10,460 
10,000 

Orenburg 

Siberia 

37,868 

693,309 

137,028 

-United  Service  Journal,  Aug.  It53,  4y0. 


obtain  their  disclini-ge  and  a  grant  of  land  to 
tluiuselves.     The   whole    are  subjected   to  the 
most  I'igoi'ous  military  discipline,  and  regula- 
ted by  a  code  of  laws  entirely  for  themselves. 
At  first  the  children  were  brought  up  some- 
what  after  the  Spartan  fashion,  being  taken 
from  their  parents  at  the  early  age  of  eight 
years,   and    bred    exclusively   at    the   military 
schools;'   but  this  was  found  to  be  i  Maite 
attended  witii  so  mai)y  evils  that  the  Brun,  vi. 
system  was  essentially  modified  bv  41o,  411; 
■  1.-  Ill-Ill        ManiioMt, 

various   regulations    establislied    by  voyam-.s  i 

the  Emperor  Isicholas  between  1829  193,  215'; 
andl8ol.  At  present  the  military  col-  Schnitzler. 
onies  form  a  sort  of  permanent  cantonment  of  a 
part  of  the  army,  and  they  can,  at  a  moment's 
warning,  liirnish  100,000  .'^oldicrs,  fully  drilled 
and  e(piipped,  capable  of  being  raised  by  the 
suppleans  and  principal  colonists  to  250,000  men. 
The  Coss.\cKs,  so  well  known  during  the  war 
with  Napoleon,  form  another  sort  of  44 
military  colony  on  a  still  greater  scale.  The  Cos- 
Their  lands  are  of  immense  extent,  em-  sacks. 
bracing  fifty-seven  thousand  square  geograph- 
ical miles — about  two-thirds  of  the  entire  area 
of  Great  Britain,  and  incomparably  more  level 
and  fertile.  They  are  all  held  under  the  obli- 
gation of  furnishing,  when  required,  the  whole 
male  population  of  the  country  capable  of  bear- 
ing arms  for  the  service  of  the  emperor.  They 
constantly  furnish  100,000  men,  distributed  in 
1 64  regiments,  to  the  imperial  forces.  So  strong, 
liowever,  is  the  military  spirit  among  them, 
and  so  thoroughly  are  they  all  trained  from  in- 
fancy to  the  duties  of  horsemanship,  that  if 
summoned  to  his  standard,  they  could  easily 
furnish  double  this  force,  either  for  tlie  defense 
of  the  country  or  the  purposes  of  aggressive 
warfare.  Glory,  plunder,  wine,  and  women, 
form  irresistible  attractions,  which  impel  the 
the  entire  nation  into  the  career  of  conquest. 
It  is  their  immense  bodies  of  liorse,  more  near- 
ly resembling  the  hordes  of  Timour  or  Genghis 
Khan  than  the  regular  armies  of  western  Eu- 
rope, which  constitute  the  real  strength  of  the 
Czar;  and  as  their  predatory  and  roving  habits 
never  decline,  and  can  not  do  so  from  ^  Brf  mner 
the  nature  of  the  eounti-j-  which  the}-  Russia,  ii.' 
inhabit,  while  their  nuuibeis  are  con-  432,  440  ; 

stantly  and  rapidly  increasing,  it  is  IX^T-j^'' 
/  i-  1      -^  r        -J   11     *i         Poland,  ,4, 

easy  to  foresee  hoAv  lormidable  tliey  75  ;  Malte 

must  ere  long  become  to  the  liberties  Erun,  vi. 
of  the  other  states  of  Christendom.  =   ^^2,  403. 

What  renders  the  Russian  armies  the  more 
formidable    is^  the   extreme   ability 
Avith  which  they  are  trained,  disci-  ^j,g  ajj^jr. 
plined,  and  commanded.     Whatever  able  disci- 
may  be  thoueht  of  the  inferiority,  in  plme  and 
an  intellectual  point  of  view,  of  a  na-  XieTrmy. 
tion   where  only  1   in  280  is  at  the 
entire  schools  of  the  state  of  any  description, 
the  same  can  not  be  said  of  their  n.ilitaiT  ti  ain- 
ing,  which  is  conducted  on  the  most  approved 
system,  and  in  the  most  efficient  manner.     All 
the  improvements  in   arms,    tactics,  accoutre- 
ments,  evolutions,   or  discipline,   which  expe- 
rience or  science  has  suggested  to  the  other  na- 
tions of  Europe,  are,  with  the  rapidity  of  the 
electric  telegraph,  transmitted  to  Russia,  and 
taught  in  the  military  schools  which  train  ita 
youth  for  their  duties  in  the  field,  or  adopted  in 
Its  vast  arrays.     The  Russian  army,  according- 


1815.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


249 


Iv,  exhibits  a  combination  of  physical  strength 
and  intellectual  power — of  the  energy  of  tlie 
desert  and  the  resources  of  civilization,  of  the 
unity  of  despotism  and  the  vigor  of  democracy 
— which  no  other  country  in  modern  times  can 
exhibit,  and  to  find  a  parallel  to  which  we  must 
go  back  to  the  Roman  legions  in  the  days  of 
Trajan  or  Severus.  The  ranks  of  the  infantry 
are  recruited  by  a  compulsory  lev}-,  generally, 
in  time  of  peace,  of  five  in  a  thousand — of  war, 
of  two  or  tliree  in  a  hundred;  but  the  cavalry, 
in  a  country  abounding  so  much  in  nomad 
tribes,  and  wliere,  in  many  vast  districts,  the 
whole  mule  population  nearly  live  on  horse- 
back, is  in  great  part  made  up  by  voluntary 
enrollment ;  and  as  the  whole  rising  talent  of 
the  empire  is  drawn  into  the  military  or  diplo- 
matic lines,  it  may  easily  be  conceived  what  a 
formidable  body,  under  such  direction,  the  mili- 
tary force  of  tlie  empire  must  become.  Every 
soldier  is  entitled  to  his  discharge  after  twenty- 
two  years'  service  in  the  line,  or  twenty  in  the 
guards ;  and  he  leaves  the  ranks  a  freeman,  if 
before  he  was  a  serf — a  privilege  which  goes  far 
to  diminish  the  hardship  of  tlie  compulsory  levy 
on  the  rural  population.  The  weakness  of  the 
army  consists  in  tlie  want  of  integrity  in  its 
inferior  officers,  which  is  as  con- 
Brun  vi  spicuous  in  general  as  the  honor  and 
412,413;  patriotism  of  its  generals  and  com- 
Brcinner,  manders:  the  necessary  consequence 
Schnitzler  "'^  ^'^'^  want  of  a  class  of  gentry  from 
which  they  can  alone  be  drawn." 
The  nav}%  like  the  army  in  Russia,  is  main- 
4fi  tained  by  a  compulsory  levy,  which 
Russian  amounts  in  time  of  peace  to  33,000  men. 
navy.  The  fleet  consists  of  thirty  ships  of  the 
line  and  twenty-two  frigates  in  the  Baltic,  and 
of  sixteen  sail  of  the  line  and  twelve  frigates  in 
the  Black  Sea,  carrying  in  all  6000  guns.  These 
large  forces  give  the  Czar,  in  a  manner,  the 
command  of  those  two  inland  seas,  which  can 
not  be  regarded  in  any  other  light  but  as  vast 
Russian  lakes.  But  as  the  sailors  who  man  them 
are  accustomed  only  to  navigate  a  sea  shut  up 
with  ice  during  half  the  year,  or  to  plow  the 
comparatively  placid  waters  of  the  Euxine,  they 
could  never  contend  in  the  open  sea  with  those 
who  have  been  trained  in  the  storms  of  the  (ier- 
man  Ocean,  or  braved  the  perils  of  the  Atlantic. 
Still,  as  the  Russian  sailors,  like  their  soldiers, 
s^re  individually  bravo,  and  stand  to  their  guns, 
as  well  as  jioint  them,  as  steadily  as  any  I'jiglish- 
nian,  they  may  eventually  prove  formidable 
even  to  the  colossal  maritime  strength  of  En- 
gland ;  the  more  especially  when  it  is  recollect- 
ed that  Cronstadt  is  within  a  fortnight's  sail  of 
tiic  mouth  of  the  Thames;  that  the  fleet  is  con- 
stantly kei)t  manned  and  afloat  in  summer,  by 
the  compulsory  levy;  that  thirty  thousand  sol- 
diers are  habitually  put  on  Ijoard  those  in  the 
Baltic,  to  accustom  the  crews  to  tlu'ir  conve^'- 
ance  to  distant  quarters;  and  that  the  interests 
a  M  \  ^^  Great  Britain   and  Russia  in  the 

Brun  vi.  ^f^^^  so  frequently  come  into  col- 
410;'Brcm.  lision,  that  several  times  during  the 
ii.  375, 376,  J.^st  thirty  years  they  liavc  been  on 
ii*^  176  '  *^'"^  *^^'^  "'^'^  rupture,  once  with  France 
and  Russia  united  against  England.^ 
The  revenue  of  Russia,  though  not  considcr- 
nble  compared  with  that  of  France  or  England, 
is  perfectly  adequate   to  the  maintenance  of 


its  vast  establishments,  from  the  high  value 
of  monej'  and  low  rate  of  pay  of  47 
nearly  all  the  public  functionaries,  Revenue  of 
civil  and  military,  in  the  empire.  Russia. 
It  amounts  to  460,000,000  paper  roubles,  or 
500,000,000  francs  (£20,000,000),  and  is  raised 
chiefly  by,  1st,  A  capitation-tax  of  four  fiancs 
(os.  6d.)  on  every  male  inhabitant,  that  of  serfs 
being  paid  by  their  masters;  2d,  A  tax  on  the 
capital  of  merchants,  ascertained  bj'  their  own 
disclosure,  checked  by  judicial  authority  ;  3d, 
The  revenues  of  the  Crown  domains,  with  the 
obrok  paid  by  the  emancipated  serfs,  who  are 
very  numerous ;  4th,  The  custom-house  duties 
by  sea  and  land,  which,  on  articles  of  foreign 
manufacture,  are  for  the  most  part  veiy  heavy ; 
5th,  The  stamp-duties,  which  on  sales  of  herit- 
able property  amount  to  an  ad  valorem  duty  of 
5  per  cent. ;  6th,  A  duty  on  spirituous  liquors 
and  salt;  Tth,  The  imperial  duties  on  the  mines 
of  gold  and  platina,  which  are  daily  becom- 
ing more  productive,  from  the  great  quantities 
of  these  valuable  metals,  now  amounting  to 
£3,000,000  annually,  which  are  worked  out  in 
the  Ural  and  Atlas  mountains.  It  can  not  be 
said  that  any  of  these  taxes  are  peculiai'ly 
oppressive,  or  such  as  weigh  on  the  indus- 
try or  capital  of  the  nation ;  but  they  pro- 
duce, when  taken  together,  a  sum  wliich  is  very 
large  in  a  country  where  the  value  of  money 
is  so  high,  and  the  standard  of  comfort  so  low, 
that  the  common  soldiers  are  deemed  to  be 
adequately  remunerated  by  a  pay  which,  after 
the  deductions  for  rations  and  other  1  schnitzler 
necessaries  are  made,  leaves  them  ii.STG,  2So! 
scarcely  a  halfpenny  a  day  to  them-  Maltc,  Brun, 
selves.'*     .  .  VI.  400,408. 

As  the  distances  in  Russia  are  so  prodigious 
that  it  takes  at  least  a  year  and  a  43 
half  to  gather  up  its  mighty  strength,  Positlon.s  of 
the  princi]ial  armies  are  permanent-  t'l^'  prim^i- 
ly  disposed  in  positions  where  they  ''^'  "'■""^s- 
may  be  comparatively  near  the  probable  scene 
of  military  operations,  and  best  favor  the  de- 
signs of  the  diplomatic  body.  The  first  army, 
112,000  strong,  is  composed  of  three  coi-ps,  and 
stationed  in  Poland  and  the  adjacent  frontiers 
of  Russia:  it  is  intended  to  overawe  the  dis- 
contented in  the  former  country,  and  hang  like 
a  thunder-cloud  on  the  rear  of  Austi'ia  and 
Prussia.  The  second  army,  also  11 2,000 strong, 
is  cantoned  in  the  southci-n  provinces  of  the 
emjiiro,  between  Odessa  and  the  Danube  :  it  is 
destined  to  intimidate  the  Tui'ks,  and  give 
weight  to  the  ceaseless  diplomatic  enci'oach- 
meiits  <^f  Russia  at  Constantinople.  The  third, 
which  musters  120,000  combiitaiits,  is  stationed 
as  a  reserve  at  Moscow,  Smolensko,  and  in  the 
central  provinces  of  the  enq)iro  :  it  is  intended 
to  reinforce  cither  of  the  great  armies  on  the 
frontier  which  may  require  to  be  supported. 


*  The  KinpiTor  NicliolaM,  Hincr  his  nrcrssion  l<>  the 
throne",  lias  laborrd  aHsidiioiisIy  to  iliniiiiish  ihc  imhlio  cx- 
pciiscM  and  check  the  Crunils  continually  pracliceil  in  the 
dislrihution  of  the  nalKinal  nvenne.  In  Ins  own  Ikminc- 
hold  and  RuarilH  he  has  elliited  a  rediiclion,  with  no 
diminution  ol  splc-ndor,  of  no  less  than  (iT ,500,000  paper 
ruliles.  The  expenses  of  the  kilclieu  and  cellar  were  re- 
duced at  once  Ironi  000  paper  rubles  to  '.'00  a  day.  Ily 
Kiunlar  ecorionncs  in  eV(Ty  lieparlineut  he  w;is  iTiahled  10 
carry  on  the  cosily  war  in  Turkey  and  ItiisHia,  in  IS'27 
and  Ih'JH,  without  any  sensihle  increase?  to  the  pulilic  deht. 
In  lH:tO  It  amounted  in  all  to  I,:i00,000,000  Iraiics,  or 
X'52,000,000.— ScH.MTZLEl!,  llist.  Int.,  li.  Ib4-lh(i. 


S.'.O 


IIISTOllY    OF   EUROPE. 


niul  i<  n.lvniiccil  ncnror  to  Iho  seoiio  <>f  lu-tivo 
opiTiuiiMis  tlu'  nionu'iit  that  hostilitii-s  oom- 
iiuMioo.  Ill  lulilitioii  to  tliis,  llnMV  mo  lu-vi-r 
K'ss  tlinii  00,000  inon,  iiu-liuliiitj  the  i;uarils,  iit 
St.  IVtei-sburg,  nnd  40,000  on  tlio  Caucasus,  or 
in  tlio  province  of  (Jeori^ia  to  the  south  of  it. 
Tlieso  ininieiise  forces  may  all  bo  reuiKred  dis- 
posable without  weakenins;  any  garrison  or 
military  ftatii>n  in  the  interior.  They  are, 
I  jjjg,  J,-  however,  so  far  separated  from  each 
Europi-,  c.  other  tiiat  it  requires  a  long  time  to 
.xcv.<)-jfi ;  coneentrato  them  on  any  one  point, 
il'isto'ro'^^'^'  **'*  P'''^^!"^'*^  the  imjiosing  array  of 
Int.  lie  la  100, OHO  warriors,  Avhom  Alexander, 
Ilussie,  ii.  ill  1815,  reviewed  on  the  plains  of 
3,  4.  Vertus  in  Champagne.' 

lilontesquievi  long  ago  said  that  honor  is  the 
4y  principle  of  a  monarchy,  and  virtue 

General  of  a  republic.  Both  are  true,  in  a 
corruption  certain  sense,  of  society  generally, 
111  Russia,  ^ijo^jgii  not  of  every  iudiVidual  of 
which  it  is  composed;  for  though  few  are 
willing  to  practice  these  virtues  themselves, 
vet  all  are  ready  to  exact  them  of  their  neigh- 
bors. Public  opinion  inclines  to  the  right  side, 
because  it  is  founded  on  our  judgment  of  others; 
private  acts  often  to  the  wrong,  because  they 
are  prompted  by  our  own  inclinations.  If  we 
are  to  form  our  opinion  from  the  example  of 
Russia,  Ave  should  be  foreed  to  conclude  that 
the  principle  of  despotism  is  Corruption.  This 
arises  from  the  selfish  desire  of  gain  in  individ- 
uals being  unchecked  by  the  opinion  of  those 
who,  as  they  do  not  participate  in,  are  not 
biased  by  it;  and  from  the  immensity  of  the 
empire,  and  the  innumerable  number  of  func- 
tionaries employed,  rendering  all  the  vigilance 
of  the  emperor  and  of  the  higher  officers  of 
state  inadequate  to  check  the  general  abuses 
which  prevail.  Doubtless  there  are  many  men 
in  the  highest  situations,  both  civil  and  military, 
in  Russia,  who  are  as  pure  and  honorable  as 
any  in  the  world ;  but  they  are  the  exceptions, 
not  the  rule.  Generally  speaking,  and  as  a 
national  characteristic,  the  functionaries  in 
Russia  are  corrupt.  The  taking  of  bribes  is 
general;  justice  is  too  often  venal;  the  chiefs 
of  the  police,  on  the  most  moderate  salaries, 
soon  accumulate  large  fortunes;  and  even  ele- 
vated functionaries  are  often  not  proof  against 
the  seductions  of  a  handsome  woman,  or  a 
magnificent  Cashmere  shawl  for  their  wives  or 
daughters.*  The  Emperor  Alexander,  in  a  mo- 
ment of  irritation  at  some  great  dilapidations 
sschniiz-  '^l"*^^!  h*^  1^^*^  discovered  in  the  naval 
ler,  Ilis-  stores,  said,  "If  they  knew  where  to 
loire  lnt.de  hide  them,  they  would  steal  my  ships 
'^^^^."«^ie,  of  the  line;  if  they  could  draV  my 
162.   '  teeth  without  waking  me,  they  would 

extract  them  during  the  night."  ^ 

No  words  can  convey  an  idea  of  the  extent 


*  On  the  accession  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas  in  1826,  it 
was  discovered  that  in  sixteen  governments  of  Russia 
out  of  no  less  than  2749  ukases,  or  decrees  of  the  Senate, 
passed,  1621  had  remained  unexecuted  ;  in  the  single  gov- 
ernment of  Kourok  6(10  lay  buried  and  unknown  in  the 
public  archives.  In  the  same  year  there  were  2,850,000 
causes  in  dependence  in  the  dilferent  tribunals  of  the  em- 
pire, and  127,000  persons  under  arrest.  The  Senate  de- 
cides annually  40,000  causes  on  an  average;  in  1S25  the 
number  was  60,000 ;  which  sufficiently  proves  that  the 
vast  majority  must  have  been  decided  in  absence,  or  with- 
out any  considcmtion. — Schnitzler,  Htstoire  Int.  de  la 
Russie,  ii.  171,  175,  170. 


[Cll.VV.  VIII. 

to   w;hich   this  svsleiii  of  pillage,  liolii  tm   tiie 
public  and    on    fiidividuals,   jirevails  ^o 

on  the  ]mvi  oftho.se  intrusted  with   Ennrinous 
power  in   llussia;    those  practically  ubiises 
acquainted  with  the  administration  ^'^jj''''  I"'o- 
of  affairs  in  Great  liritain  may  a]i- 
proach  to  a  conception  of  its  magnitude,  from 
the  strenuous  eftorts  constantly  making  to  in- 
troduce the  same  system  into  the  IJritish  do- 
minions, when  the  vigilant  eye  of  PaiHanient 
and  Government  is  for  any  considerable  time 
averted.     It  is  the  great  cause  of  the  unexpected 
reverses  or   trifiing   successes   which   have  so 
often  attended  the  Russian  arms  on  the  first 
breaking  out  of  fresh  liostilities.     Ho  universal 
and  systematic  had  been  the  fraud  of  the  whole 
functionaries  connected  with  the  armies,  that 
they  are  often  found,  when  they  take  the  field, 
to  be  little  more  than  half  the  strength  which 
was  represented  on  paper,  and  on  which  the 
cabinet  relied  in  commencing  the  canijniign. 
When  Nicholas  declared  war  against  Turkey 
in  1827,  he  relied  on  Wittgenstein's   army   in 
the  south  being,  as  the  returns  showed,  120,000 
strong;  but  it  was  never  able  to  bring  60,000 
sabres  and  bayonets  into  the  field:  and  Avhen 
the  army  approached  the  Danube,  he  found,  to 
his  utter  dismay,  that  the  wood  for  ,  gpimitj. 
the  bridges,  which  were  represented  ler,  Hist, 
as  alread}'  thrown  over  the  Danube,  '"i-  de  la 
was  not  even  cut   in  the  forests  of   Jl'^'^i't!;  "' 

...  Ib4,  IBS. 

Bessarabia.' 

Sometimes,  indeed,  the  enormous  abuses  that 
are  going  on  are  revealed  to  tiie  ^^j 
emperor,  and  then  the  stroke  of  jus-  striking  in- 
tice  falls  like  a  thunderbolt  from  stances  of 
heaven  on  the  head  of  the  culprit;  J.'"'\iQ°'^' 
but  these  examples  are  so  rare  in 
comparison  with  the  enormous  number  of  di- 
lapidations which  are  going  on  in  eveiy  direc- 
tion, tiiat  they  produce  no  lasting  impression. 
Like  the  terrible  railway  accidents  which  fre- 
quently occur  in  England,  or  steamboat  explo- 
sions in  America,  they  produce  general  con- 
sternation for  a  few  days,  but  are  soon  forgotten. 
Occasionally,  too,  the  malversation  is  found  to 
involve  such  elevated  functionaries,  that  the 
tracing  of  guilt  or  its  punishment  are  alike  im- 
possible. At  a  review  in  April,  1826,  soon  after 
his  aecession  to  the  throne,  four  men,  dressed 
as  peasants,  with  great  difficulty  succeeded  in 
penetrating  to  the  Emperor  Kicholas,  near  his 
magnificent  palace  of  Tsarcko-Sclo,  and  re- 
vealed to  him  an  enormous  system  of  dilapida- 
tion of  the  public  naval  stores  which  was  going 
on  at  Cronstadt,  where  cordage,  anchors,  and 
sails  belonging  to  the  Crown  were  publicl}'  ex- 
posed at  the  bazaar,  and  purchased  at  a  low 
price  by  foreigners.  Nicholas  instantlj"  ordered 
an  officer  with  three  hundred  men  to  surround 
the  bazaar ;  and  upon  doing  so,  ample  proofs 
of  the  truth  of  the  charges  were  discovered. 
Orders  were  given  to  prosecute  the  delinquents 
with  the  utmost  rigor,  and  the  imperial  seal 
was  put  on  the  dilapidated  stores;  but  the 
culprits  were  persons  of  great  consideration ; 
in  the  night  of  the  21st  of  June  following,  a 
bright  light  was  seen  from  St.  Petersburg  to 
illuminate  the  western  sky,  and  in  the  morn- 
ing it  was  cautiously  Avhispered  that  the  bazaar 
had  been  totally  consumed  by  fire,  and  with  it 
the  whole  evidence  of  the  guilt  of  the  accused 


1815.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


251 


The  Gazette  oi  St.  Petersburg  made  no  mention 
,  schnifz-  "f  fl'*^  fraui],  or  oi"  the  conflagration 
ler,  ii.  ISO,  by  which  its  punishment  had  been 
182.  prevented.' 

As  a  set  olf  to  this  inherent  vice  and  conse- 
,,  quent  weakness  in  the  Russian  em- 
Emii'ration  P'''6>  there  is  one  most  important 
in  Russia  source  of  strength  wiiich  is  everj- 
is  all  inter-  (jjjy  contrasting  more  strongly  with 
"^  ■  the  opposite  cause  of  decline  opera- 

ting in  western  Europe.  Emigration  among 
them  is  very  general:  in  no  country  in  the 
world  is  a  larger  proportion  of  the  population 
more  able  n-ud  prepared,  on  the  sligiitest  mo- 
tive, to  locate  themselves  in  fresh  habitations. 
Armed  with  his  hatchet  on  his  shoulder — his 
invariable  auxiliary — the  Muscovite  peasant  is 
often  inclined  to  leave  his  log-house  and  his 
fields,  and  carve  out  for  himself  fresh  ones  in 
some  distant  or  more  fertile  forest.  Followed 
bj'  his  flocks,  his  mares,  and  his  herds,  the  Cos- 
sack or  the  dweller  on  the  steppes  is  ever  ready 
to  exchange  the  pasture  of  his  fathers  for  that 
of  other  lands.  But  there  is  this  vital  differ- 
ence between  these  migrations  and  the  emigra- 
tion of  western  Europe — they  are  internal  only ; 
they  do  not  diminish,  they  augment  the  strength 
of  the  state.  From  the  British  islands,  at  this 
time,  an  annual  stream  of  350,000  emigrants, 
nearly  all  in  the  prime  of  life,  issues,  of  whom 
two-thirds  settle  in  the  wilds  of  America;*  and 
from  Germany  the  fe\or  of  moving  has,  since 
tlie  revolution  of  1848,  become  so  violent  that 
100,000  annually  leave  the  Fatherland.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  such  prodigious  drains, 
springing  out  of  the  passions  and  necessities  of 
civilization,  can  not  go  on  for  any  length  of 
time  witiiout  seriously  weakening  the  strength 
and  lessening  the  population  of  western  Europe. 
But  the  very  reverse  of  all  this  obtains  in  Rus- 
sia, for  there  the  movement  is  all  within ;  what 
is  lost  to  one  part  of  the  empire  is  gained  to 
another,  and  a  rate  of  increase  approaching  the 
Transatlantic  appears,  not  in  a  distant  hemi- 
sphere, but  on  the  plains  of  the  Ukraine  and 
tlie  banks  of  the  Volga.  Nor  will  it  for  long 
be  otherwise,  for  tlie  remote  situation  of  the 
Russian  peasants  renders  them  ignorant  of  other 
countries,  and  aver.se  to  the  sea;  while  their 
poverty  precludes  them  from  moving,  except 
with  tlieir  hatchets  to  a  neighboring  forest,  or 
their  herds  to  an  adjoining  steppe. 

To  tills  it  must  be  added  tliat  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  free-trade  system  into  Great  Britain 
has  already  given  a  very  great  impulse  to 
agiicultui'al  industry  in  Russia,  where  it  is 
advancing  as  rajiidly  as  it  is  declining  in  the 
i5ritish  Ishinds.    As  this  change  has  arisen  from 


\enr 


*  Emigration  from  the  Uritish  I.sles. 

N.imticr  of        EjcfM  of  nirlln    Toliil  Annual 
Kmigrnnti.  over  IJimhri.  UtTrviiKo. 

1850 2»l),4b4   ....   210,()()()   4(I.4M 

1851 3.15,906   ....  240,000   ....     05,900 

1852 308,704   ....  250,000  ....   1)8,704 

Total  in  three  years,  985,214  ....  730,01)0  ....  255,214 
—  Emigration  Ri-port,  Marrh  lf-53.  Thn  nnniinl  inrrense 
of  the  tiirttis  over  the  dcallis  is  about  230,000;  ho  tlial, 
wiu-n  the  eniii;ration  is  tak(^n  into  view,  there  is  an  annual 
cleeline  of  120,000  or  130,000  in  ihe  entire  population 
This  appeared  in  Ihe  census  of  lh51.  Though  thn  great 
cnili;ralion  had  only  recenlly  begun,  it  showed  u  decline 
in  (ireat  lirltain  and  lrc|;tnd,  taken  toKi'lhcr,  of  000,(100 
souls  since  1845;  in  Ireland,  taken  singly,  of  2, 000,000.— 
See  Census  1851,  and  ante,  c.  1,  ^  58. 


the  necessary  effect  of  the  wealth,  civilization, 
and  advanced  years   of  the  British         53_ 
empire,  so  there  is  no  chance  of  its  Great  im- 
undergoina:   any   alteration,    and    it  pulse  to  ag- 

,   °  •'  1        i  •  ncultural 

must  come  every  day  to  evince  a  industry  in 
more  powerful  influence  on  the  re-  Russia 
lative  strength  and  fortunes  of  the  '"rom  free 
two  empires.  Even  before  the  free-  "■'''^'^• 
trade  system  had  been  two  j'ears  established  in 
Great  Britain,  it  had,  despite  the  rude  sj-stem 
of  agriculture  there  prevalent,  nearly  doubled 
the  exportation  of  grain  from  tlie  harbors  of 
Russia,*  and  tripled  its  value,  wliile  it  has 
caused  the  production  of  cereal  crops  in  the 
British  Islands  to  decline  4,000,000  of  quarters. 
The  eft'ect  of  such  a  continued  and  increasing 
augmentation  on  the  one  side,  and  decline  on 
the  other,  can  not  fail  ere  long  to  exercise  a 
powerful  influence  on  the  fortunes  and  relative 
strength  of  the  two  empires ;  and  when  it  is 
recollected  that  the  increase  is  given  to  a  young 
and  rising,  and  the  drain  taken  from  an  old  and 
stationary  state,  it  may  easily  be  foreseen  how 
important  in  a  short  time  the  difference  must 
become. 

What,  then,  is  the  destiny  of  Russia? — for  a 
destiny,  and  that  a  great  one,  she  54 
evidently  ha.s.  Her  rapid  growth  what  is 
and  ceaseless  progress  through  all  the  t''.*^  destiny- 
mutations  of  fortune  in  the  adjoining  °'  ""ssia  ' 
states  clearly  bespeak  not  onlj'  consummate 
wisdom  of  i,e:ioral  internal  direction,  but  the 
evolutions  oi'  n  mighty  design.!  She  is  prob- 
ably not  iiiieiuie  I  to  shine  in  the  career  of 
civilization.  Her  sons  will  not,  at  least  for 
long,  rival  the  arts  of  Italy  or  the  chivalry  of 
France,  the  intellect  of  England  or  the  imagi- 
nation of  Germany.  There  will  be  no  Shak- 
speares  or  Miltons,  no  Raciiies  or  Corneilles,  no 
Tassos  or  Raphaels,  no  Schillers  or  Goethes, 
amidst  the  co.jiitless  millions  of  her  boundless 

*  Export.ation  on  an  Average  of   Three  Years, 
OF  Wheat,  Barley,  and  Oats  from  Ku.s.sia. 

Years.  Tchetworts.        Value  in  Rubles.  'S,I,'"l'in''' 

1821-02  ....  3,398,127  . .  1 1,913,200  . .  ri/JTCOuO 
1827-29....  7,4N),0I2  ..  24,191,500..  4,031,500 
1830-32  ....  11,324,831  ..  39,407,400..  0,500,000 
1833-35....  2,244,206..  10,357,900..  1,722,900 
1830-38....    7,540,299..     31,873,200..     5,312,200 

1839-41 8,804.304   ..     47.753,900   ..      7,958,900 

1842-44....     8,085,907..     411,131,400..      0,089,000 
tl845-47  ....  14,349,980  ..   115,483,700  ..    19,202,100 
— Tegodor.ski,  i.  350. 

Captain  Larcom  has  reported  that  the  wheat  produce  of 
Ireland  has  declined  1,500,000  (|iiarl('rs  since  1845;  and 
tlio  return  of  sales  in  tlic  market  towns  of  England  indi- 
cates a  diniinislied  production  of  wheat  alone  in  Ureat 
Britain  ol  at  least  2,500,000  (juarters  more. 

f   Free  trade  in  ICn^lanJ. 

t  Table  snowiNo  the  increase  of  Ru.ssia  since 
1402. 

Eilont  in  Sij.  rnpulntion 

Epochs.                               (iirni.  Milei,  Approxi- 

10  lu  an  I'.uif.  mate. 

Under  Ivan  III.,  in  1402 18,200..  6,000,000 

At  his  death,  in  1505 37,137..  10,000,000 

At  the  deatliof  Ivan  ly.,  in  1584..    25,105  ..  12,000,000 
(Conquest  of  Kazan,   Astracun, 
Siberia.) 

At  the  death  of  Michael  I.,  in  1045  254,301   ..  12,500,000 
At  the  accession  of  I'cter  the  Great, 

in  1089   203,900  . .  15,000,000 

At  his  death,  in  1725 273,815  . .  20,000,000 

At  tho  accession  of  Catlierino  II., 

in  1703 319,538  . .  25,000,000 

At  lier  death,  in  1790 331.810  ..  30,000,000 

At  ihcdeath  of  Ali>\ander,in  1825  .307,494  ..  53,000,000 

Under  Nicholas,  In  lN-29 373,0(M)  . .  55,000,000 

Under  Nidiolas,  in  1852 376,000  . .  70,000,000 

— Malte  Bru.v,  vi.  380. 


iiisToi:  Y  OF  i:r  hope. 


[CiiAi-.  YIII. 


tonitory  ;  l>ut  tliorc  niny  he — tliere  will  he — 
nil  AKxaiuK-r,  an  Attila,  n  Tiniur.  Litenituro, 
f;i-k'iK't',  tlio  arts,  are  tlio  olllorft^oenoo  of  civil- 
ization; but  in  tin*  mural,  not  less  tlnin  in  the 
physical  worhl,  flHt)rescence  is  suceecilod  by 
decline,  the  riciies  of  the  harvest  border  on  the 
decay  of  autumn.  There  is  a  winter  in  nations 
as  well  as  in  se;u<ons  ;  the  vulture  and  the  eayle 
are  required  to  cleanse  the  moral  not  less  than 
tl  e  phvsical  world.  If  the  glories  of  civiliza- 
tijii  are  denied  to  Russia,  she  is  saved  from  its 
corrupt  ion  ;  if  she  does  not  exhibit  the  beauties 
of  summer,  she  is  not  stained  by  its  consequent 
decay,  llnrdened  by  sutl'ering,  inured  to  pri- 
vation, compelled  to  struggle  eternally  with 
the  severities  of  climate,  the  difficulties  of  space, 
the  energy  of  the  human  character  is  preserved 
entire  amidst  her  ice  and  snows.  From  thence, 
ns  from  the  glaciers  of  the  Alps,  the  destroying 
but  purifying  streams  descend  upoii  the  plenty 
of  the  vales  beneath.  Russia  will  evidently 
conquer  Turkey,  and  plant  hex'  eagles  on  the 
dome  of  St  Sophia;  she  will  do  what  the 
Crusaders  failed  in  doing — she  will  rescue  the 
Holy  Shrines  from  the  hands  of  the  Infidels. 
But  that,  though  an  important  part,  is  not  the 
whole  of  her  destiny.  Still,  when  the  Cross  is 
seen  triumphant  over  the  wide  expanse  of  the 
Lower  Empire,  will  her  millions  remain  in  their 
snowy  deserts,  invigorated  by  necessity,  hard- 
ened by  suffering,  panting  for  conquest.  She 
is  never  destined  to  be  civilized,  save  for  the 
purposes  of  war ;  but  she  is  destined  to  do 
what  intellect  and  peace  can  never  do.  Scythia 
will  forever  remain  what  it  has  been  from  the 
earliest  times — the  stoeeuouse  of  x.\tio.\s,  the 

SCOUHGE   OF    VICIOUS   CIVILIZATION. 

It  has  been  well  observed,  that  the  great  dif- 
55  ficulty  in  Russia  is,  that  it  contains, 

TwodifTer-  in  a.  manner,  iico  different  people ;  the 
em  people  one  on  a  level  with  the  most  highly 
in  Russia,  civilized  states  of  Europe,  the  other, 
at  the  utmost,  only  fashioned  to  civilization  by 
the  police.  The  Marquis  Custine  says,  "  it  con- 
tains a  society  half  barbarous,  but  restrained  in 
order  l)y  fear ;"  and  though  that  is  by  no  means 
true  of  the  first  people,  it  is  strictly  so  of  the 
liist.  The  interests,  feelings,  and  desires  of  these 
two  different  people  are  irreconcilable;  an  im- 
passable abyss  separates  them.  That  which  the 
first  desires  with  the  most  passionate  ardor,  is 
a  matter  of  indiff'erence  or  unintelligible  to  the 
other.  The  highh--educated  classes,  acquainted 
with  the  society,  familiar  with  the  literature, 
impregnated  with  the  ideas  of  western  Europe, 
often  sigh  for  its  institutions,  its  excitements,  its 
freedom.  The  immense  mass  of  the  peasantrj-, 
the  great  majority  of  the  trading  classes,  repel 
6uch  ideas  as  repugnant  to  their  feelings,  at 
variance  with  their  habits,  subversive  of  their 
faith.  The  first  long  for  parliaments,  elections, 
constitutional  government,  a  national  litera- 
ture, a  free  press;  the  latter  are  satisfied  to  go 
on  as  their  fathers  did  before  them,  with  their 
Czar,  their  bishops,  their  popes — obeying  every 
mandate  of  government  as  a  decree  of  the  Most 
High  ;  desiring,  knowing  nothing  beyond  their 
village,  their  fields,  their  steppe.  For  which  of 
these  diff'erent  people  is  the  Emperor  to  legis- 
late? for  the  enlightened  few  or  the  ignorant 
many ;  for  the  three  hundi'ed  thousand  travel- 


ed and  higlily-p<>li>h('d  ^11)10?,  or  the  seventyj 
milliiiiis  of  simple  and  unlettered  peasants?    Vctj 
must  institutit'iis  of  some  kind  be  established,' 
legislation  of  some  sort  go  on;  and  the  great 
difficulty  in  Russia  is,  that  the  one  class  in  sc-J 
cret  desires  what  the  other  in  sincer-  i  schniiz- 
it}'  abominates,  and  what  would  be  icr,  ii.  44, 
beneficial  to  the  former  would  prove  4* ;  Cus- 
utter  ruin  to  the  latter.'  ""*•  '"-^^ 

This  great  difficulty,  liy  far  the  most  serious^ 
which  exists  in  Russian  society,  was  jj, 

much  aggravated  after  the  terniina-  Liberal 
tion  of  the  war  by  the  feelings  with  ideas  with 

which  the  rfficcrs  of  the  army  re-  '''''''^''  '*"' 
i  If         .1      ^11       e  ^\    •  •'  troops  re- 

turned from  tiie  neids  oi  tlieir  con-  turned  from 
quest  and  their  fame.  In  the  hard-  France  and 
fought  campaigns  of  Germany  and  t;«-'''ni!»ny- 
France  they  had  stood  side  by  side  with  tlie  ar- 
dent youth  of  the  Teutonic  universities,  whose 
feelings  had  been  warmed  \>y  the  fervor  of  the 
Tugendbund,  whose  imaginations  liad  been 
kindled  by  the  poetry  of  ICorner ;  at  the  cap- 
ture of  Paris  they  had  seen  the  world  in  trans- 1 
ports  at  the  magnanimous  words  of  the  Czar  in 
praise  of  liberal  institutions;  many  of  them  had 
shared  in  his  reception  in  London,  and  witness- 
ed the  marvelous  spectacle  of  a  free  people 
emerging  unscathed  from  a  contest,  from  which 
they  themselves  had  been  extricated  only  by 
committing  their  capital  to  the  flames.  Im- 
mense was  the  influence  which  these  circum- 
stances came  ere  long  to  exercise  on  the  highly- 
educated  youth  of  Russia,  speaking  French  and 
English  as  well  as  natives,  associating  with  the 
very  highest  society  of  these  nations,  and  con- 
trasting the  varied  excitements  and  intellectual 
pleasures  at  their  command,  with  the  stillness 
and  monotony,  save  from  physical  sensations, 
of  their  own  fettered  land.  They  saw  civiliza- 
tion on  its  bright  side  only :  they  had  basked 
in  its  sunshine,  they  had  not  felt  its  shade. 
They  returned  home,  as  so  many  travelers  do, 
to  the  cold  regions  of  the  north,  discontented 
with  their  own  country,  and  passionately  de- 
sirous of  a  change.  These  sentiments  were  dan- 
gerous; their  expression  might  consign  the  ut- 
terer  at  once  to  Siberia :  they  were  shrouded 
in  silence,  like  a  secret  passion  in  the  female 
heart  from  a  jealous  husband;  but  like  all  other 
emotions,  they  only  became  the  more  violent 
from  the  necessity  of  being  concealed,  „  „  .  ., 
and  came  in  many  noble  breasts  en-  j^.^  jj  45 
tirely  to  absorb  the  mind,  to  the  ex-  49 ;  Cus- 
clusion  of  all  objects  of  pacific  inter-  p"^;,*"' 
est  or  ambition.''  ' 

Ignorant  of  the  spread  of  passions  which  were 
destined  ere  long  to  cause  the  earth         57. 
to  quake  beneath  his  feet,  and  car-  First  steps 
ried    awav   by  the  intoxicating  in-  ofAlcxan- 
T  -"u  .u     1       ji  J     J     der,  on  his 

cense  which  the  loudl}'  expressed  ad-  return  to 

miration  of  the  world  had  lavished  Russia  in 
ujion  him  at  Paris,  the  Emperor  Alc.x-  '^''*- 
ander  returned  to  St.  Petersburg  in  1814,  after 
his  magnificent  reception  in  London,  with  a 
mind  set  rather  on  vast  projects  for  the  pacifi- 
cation of  the  world,  the  extirpation  of  war,  and 
the  spread  of  the  sway  of  the  Gospel  in  every 
land,  than  the  establishment  of  any  safe  or  prac- 
ticable reforms  in  his  own.  His  benevolence  was 
great,  his  heart  large,  his  imagination  warm ; 
but  his  practical  acquaintance  with  men  was 
small,  and  he  aimed  rather  at  reforming  man- 


1815.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


253 


ler,  i.  T3, 
7j  ;  Biog. 
Univ.  Ivi. 
180,  181, 
(Alexan- 
dre). 


kind  at  once  by  tlie  ukases  of  despotism,  than 
putting  matters  in  a  train  for  the  slow  and  al- 
most imperceptible  growth  of  real  improvement, 
Avorking  through  the  changed  habits  and  desires 
of  the  people.  He  re-entered  his  capital  after 
his  long  absence  on  the  24th  July,  and  his  ar- 
rival, after  such  marvelous  events  as  had  sig- 
nalized his  absence,  was  prepared  to  be  cele- 
brated by  extraordinary  demonstrations  of  joy. 
By  an  order  froni  the  Emperor  they  were  all 
'  Schnitz-  stopped.  "The  events,"  said  he  to  the 
governor  of  St.  Petersburg,  "  which 
have  terminated  the  bloody  wars  of 
Europe,  are  the  work  of  the  Most 
High ;  it  is  before  Him  alone  that  it 
behoves  us  to  prostrate  ourselves."  '■ 
He  refused  the  title  of  "  the  Blessed,"  which 
5g  the  Senate  had  decreed  should  be 

His  benefi-  conferred  upon  him.  His  first  care 
cent  nieas-  was  to  efface,  so  far  as  possible,  the 
"'^'^^'  traces  of  the  war;  his  next,  to  grant 

a  general  pardon  to  all  the  persons,  of  whom 
there  were  manj',  who  had,  during  its  continu- 
ance, been  drawn  into  traitorous  corresi>ond- 
cnce  with  the  enemj'.  He  remitted  the  capita- 
tion tax  to  the  peasants  in  the  provinces  which 
had  suffered  the  most  from  invasion,  and  open- 
ed at  Berlin  and  Konigsberg  banks,  whore  the 
notes  of  the  Bank  of  Russia  which  had  been 
given  in  payment  during  the  war  were  retired 
from  the  holders  at  the  current  rate  of  exchange. 
Soon  after,  he  concluded  a  peace  with  the  Sul- 
tan of  Persia,  by  which,  in  consideration  of  a 
very  large  district  of  country  ceded  to  Russia, 
he  promised  his  aid  in  supporting  the  son  Avhom 
the  Shah  might  design  for  liis  successor.  By 
this  treaty  the  Russians  acquired  the  whole  im- 
portant country  which  lies  between  the  Black 
Sea  and  the  Caspian,  and  became  masters  of 
s  Bioi'.  Univ.  ^1'*^  famous  gates  of  Derbend,  which 
Ivi.  uii,  8o  often  in  former  ages  had  opened 
le-2  (Alex-      totheTartarsanentranceintoSouth- 


andrej. 


em  Asia.^ 


A  full  account  has  already  been  given  of  the 
part  which  Russia  took  in  the  Con- 
Marriage  of  S''^®^  ^^  Vienna  and  the  acquisition 
Aiiixaiuicr's  of  Poland  in  a  former  work ;'  and  of 
Histcrtothe  the  magnanimous  sentiments  which 
Ori'n"e°'^  Alexander  displayed  at  the  Congress 
and  oTi'tie  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  this.*  Two  im- 
Orand  portant  alliances,  destined  to  inllu- 

IJuke  Nich-  cnce  materially  the  international  re- 
olas  to  the     ,    ..  e  t^  i     i     i 

I'rinccss  of  'ations  ot  Europe,  were  concluded 
Prussia.  during  this  period.  The  first  was 
^  lli.st.  of  the  marriage  of  his  sister,  the  (7  rand 
Europe,  Duchess  Ann,  to  the  Prince  of  C)range, 
lirb9--1815,  -which  took  place  when  he  visited 
5.1,^00.'   '       Brussels  and  the  field  of  Waterloo 

.  ,   .  in  September,  181.5;  the  second,  tlie 

♦  Ante,  e.  ,'    .  „ '.         '  '   . 

VI.  ^^fil  70.   conclusion  of  the  arrangements  for 
the  marriage  of  his  brother  Nicholas, 
who  lias  since  become  em|)eror,  to  Chailoltc, 
Princess  of  Prus.sia,  who  i.s  still  Empress  of  Jius- 
sia,   which  was   solemnizeil   some  years  after. 
From  thence  he  proceeded  to  Warsaw,  where  lie 
concluded  the  arrangements  for  the  es- 
1HI5.     '  tablishment  of  the  kingdom  of  I'olaml, 
and  left  General  Za3'oncIiek,  a  I'ole  by 
birth,  in  command  as  viceroy.     He  returned  to 
St.  Petersburg  on  Kith  December,  hav- 
ing, by  this  accpiisition  of  territory  and 
family  alliances,  extended  the  Russian 


.tuly  13 
lbl7. 


influence  in  a  direct  line,  and  without  any  break, 
over  the  whole  north  of  Europe,  from  j  j^^^^  ^^^ 
the  Niemen  to  the  Rhine.     Thus  was  1815,  un". 
the  Netherlands  restored  to  its  proper  Biog. Univ. 
position  and  rank  in  Continental  af-  „.'■  '^^  • 
fairs ;  instead  of  being  tlie  outwork  ot    Honimes 
France  against  Europe,  it  became  the  Vivantes, 
bulwark  of  Europe  against  France.'    '^  ^'*-- 

Consumed  with  the  desire  to  heal  the  wounds 
of  war,  and  convince  himself  with 
his  own  eyes  of  the  necessities  of  the  incessant 
districts  for  which  succor  was  peti-  travels  of 
tioned,  Alexander  gave  himself  only  a  Alexander 
few  months'  repose  at  St.  Petersburg.  [o°"g25*'^ 
His  life,  for  the  next  ten  j'cars  to  his 
death,  was  more  than  half  spent  in  traveling, 
and  flying  with  almost  incredible  rapidity  fVoiu 
one  part  of  his  vast  dominions  to  another.    The 
postillions,  urging  their  horses  to  the  utmost 
speed,   carried  him   over  the  rough   roads  of 
Russia  at  the  rate  of  seventeen  miles  an  hour: 
wrapt  in  his  cloak,  meditating  acts  of  justice, 
dreaming  of  projects  of  philanthropy,  the  Czar 
underwent,  for  days  and  nights  together,  with 
almost  incredible  patience,  the  exhausting  fa- 
tigue.    Hardly  was  his  departure  from  St.  Pe- 
tersburg beard  of,  when  the  thunder  of  artil- 
lery announced  his  arrival  at  Moscow,  Warsaw, 
or  Odessa.     But  although  Alexander  thus  wast- 
ed his  strength  and  passed  his  life  in  traversing 
his  dominions,  his  heart  was  elsewhere.     The 
great  events  of  Paris  had  got  possession  of  his 
imagination  ;  the  Holy  Alliance,  the  suggestions 
of  Madame  Krudener,  occupied  his  thoughts; 
and  he  dreamed  more  of  his  supjiosed  mission 
as  the  apostle  of  peace,  the  arbiter  of  Chris- 
tendom, than  of  his  duties  as  the  Czar  2  sctinitz- 
of  Russia,   the  supreme  disposer  of  ler,  i.  75 ; 
the  lives  and  liberties  of  sixty  uiill-  Biog. Univ. 
ions  of  men.^  '^'-  '^^■ 

The  heart  of  the  emperor,  however,  was  too 
warm,  his  disposition  too  benevolent, 
for  him  not  to  feel  keenly  the  suffer-  various 
ings  of  his  subject.-?,  ancl  engage   in  tieneficent 
any  measures  that  a]ipeared  praeti-  measures 
cable  for  their  relief.    Various  benefi-  i''t';<«t"««d 
cent  acts  Bignalized  tiie  pacific  years 
of  his  reign ;  but  they  were  such  as  went  to  re- 
lieve local  distress,  or  induce  local  advantage, 
rather  than  to  stimulate  the  springs  of  industry 
over  his  wliolc  empire,  or  remove  the  causes 
which  obstructed  civilization  over  its  vast  ex- 
tent.  In  August,!  816,  he  visited  Moscow, 
then  beginning  to  rise  from  its  ashes;  j Jjf;' "  ' 
and  in  a  touching  manifesto,  which  evi- 
dently came  fi'oni  tin;  heart,  testified  his  pro- 
found synqiathy  for  the  sufferings  induced  by 
its  imniortal  sacrifice.     At  tlie  same  time,  ho 
set  on  foot  or  aided   in   the  establishmeut  of 
many  valuable  undertakings  in  different  jjarts 
of  the  empire.     He  rebuilt,  at  a  cost  of  ICO.OOO 
rubles,  the  bridge  over  the  Neva;  he  took  tho 
most  eflieacious  measures  for  restoring  the  na- 
val forces  of  the  empire,  which  had   been  un- 
avoidabl}'  neglected  during  the  pressure  of  the 
war — several  Bhi])s  f)f  the  line  were  begun  botli 
at  (.Vonsfadt  and  Odessa;  no  less  than  1,500,000 
rubles  was  advanced  from  the  treasury  to  set 
on  foot  several  new  buil<lings  in  the  two  ca])i- 
fals;  the  completion  of  the  splendid  fa(;ade  of 
the  Admiralty  ;  the  building  of  a  normal  school 
for  the  training  of  teachers;  an  imperial  lyce- 


254 


H  isTo  11  V  OF  j;i:  110  riJ. 


[c'liAi-.  vi:l 


um,  in  wliioli  (ho  imperial  fouiulor  ever  look  a 
warm  interest ;  aiul  several  imiiortaiit  regula- 
lioiis  a(lo]ite*l  for  tlie  eiiooura^emeiit  of  ai;rieiil- 
tureaiul  the  estalilislimeiit  of  eoloiiies  in  desert 
distriets.     The  linaiiees  of  the  empire  eiigaixed 
his  speeial  and  anxious  attention,     liy 
fjl)':'"*''  a   ukase,    dated   If.tli  April,    1817.    he 
devoted  to  the  payment  of  the  dehts 
contracted  during  1812  and  1813,  -which  were 
still  in  tloatinp  assignats,  30,000,000  rubles  an- 
nually out  of  the  imperial  treasury,  and  a  like 
sum  out  of  the  hereditary  revenue  of  the  Crown. 
At  the  same  time  lie  advanced  oO,000,000  ru- 
liles  to  establish  a  bank  specially  destined  for 
the  support  of  commerce;    and   decreed    the 
"Council  of  Public  Credit,"  which,  by  its  con- 
stitution, presented  the  first  shadow  of  repre- 
sentative institutions.     Such  was  the  effect  of 
these  measures,  that  when  the  emperor  opened 
a  subscription  for  a  large  loan,  to  enable  him 
to  retire  a  proportion  of  the  floating,  and  re- 
duce  considerably  the  immense  mass  of  pa- 
per assignats  in  circulation,  at  an  advance  of 
85    rubles   paid   for    100,  inscribed   as   6  per 
cent,  stock,  30,000,000  was  subscribed  the  first 
I  Ann. Hist  ''^^J'  ^""^  before  the  end  of  the  year 
i.2;7,'27S;' 33/JOO,000  more — in  all,  63,000,000 
P.'°^,'5i"'*''  — which  enabled  the  Government  to 
""■       retire  a  similar  amount  of  assignats.'* 
Alexander  was  sincerely  and  deeply  inter- 
g2.         ested  in  the  prosperity  of  Poland,  to 
Ilis  arrival  which  he  was  attached,  not  only  by 
at  Warsaw  the  brilliant  additions  which  it  made 
in  lbl8.        ^g  ^|jg  splendor  and  influence  of  the 
empire,  but  by  the  more  tender  feelings  excited 
by  the  Polish  lady  to  whom  he  had  been  so 
long  and  deeply  attached.     The  suft'erings  of 
the  country  had  been  unparalleled,  from  the 
events  of  the  war,  and  the  enormous  exactions 
of  the  French  troops:  the  population  of  the 
grand-duchy  of  Warsaw,  which,  before  it  com- 
menced, had  been  3,300,000,  had  been  reduced 
at  its  close  to  2,600,000  souls.     The  country, 
however,  had  prospered  in  the  most  extraordi- 
nary degree  during  the  three  years  of  peace 
that  it  had  since  enjoyed:  new  colonists  had 
been  invited  and  settled  from  the  neighboring 
states  of  Germany ;  and  industry  had  flourished 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  state  was  now  able 
to  maintain,  without  difiiculty  or  contracting 
debt,  a  splendid  army  of  forty  thousand  men, 
which,  clothed  in  the  Polish  uniform,  and  com- 
manded by  Polish  officers,  and  following  the 
Polish  standards,  was  almost  worshiped  by  the 
people  as  the  germ  of  their  reviving  national- 
=  Ann. Hist.  ^^J-^    ^^^^  emperor  arrived, at  Wai-- 
i.  270,  271;  saw  On  the  13th  March,  and  imme- 
Biog.Univ.  diately  the  Polish  standard  was  hoist- 
^''       ■        ed  on  the  palace  amidst  the  thunder 
of  artillery  and  cheers  from  every  human  being 
in  the  cit}-. 


*  The  public  debt  of  Russia,  on  1st  Januarj',  1818,  stood 
thus: 

Foreign  (Dutch  loan) 99,600,000  florins. 

Bank  assignations 214,201,184  rubles. 

In  silver 3,344,000    do. 

In  gold 18,520    do. 

Rabies. 

Paid  off  in  1817— Capital. 13.863,000 

Interest 16,171,000 

—  Ann.  Historique,  i.  277. 


The  diet  opened  on  the  2l\h  of  March,  and 
the  speech   of  tlie    emperor,  which  pj 

Avas  listened  to  with  the  deepest  at-  AUxundcr's 
tention,  was  not  only  prophetic  of  '"'''"oraMo 
peace  and  haiipiiiess  to  Poland,  but  fi'Tniet" 
meiiKiralile  as  containing  evidence  March  2V, 
of  the  views  he  at  that  period  en-  l!^'**- 
tcrtaincd  for  the  regeneration  and  freedom  of 
mankind.  After  having  expatiated  on  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  constitutional  regime,  he  added, 
"  Witli  the  assistance  of  God,  I  hope  to  fxkiul 
its  mlutary  hijlucncc  to  all  the  conntii's  in- 
trusted to  my  care.  Prove  lo  the  contemporarj' 
kings  that  liberal  institutions,  which  they  pre- 
tend to  confound  with  the  disastrous  doctrines 
which  in  these  days  threaten  the  social  system 
with  a  frightful  catastrophe,  are  not  a  danger- 
ous illusion,  but  that,  reduced  in  good  faith  to 
practice,  and  directed  in  a  pure  s{)irit  toward 
conservative  ends  and  the  good  of  humanitv, 
they  are  perfectly  allied  to  "order,  and  tlie  heat 
security  for  tlie  IiappiHtas  of  nations."  Such 
were  the  sentiments  and  intentions  of  the  Czar, 
while  yet  influenced  bj-  the  illusions  of  1814, 
and  before  the  brilliant  and  benevolent  dream 
had  been  dissipated  by  the  military  (reason 
and  social  revolutions  of  southern  Eurojic  in 
1820.  When  such  words  came  from  such  lip*, 
and  every  thing  around  bespoke  order  and 
peace,  and  the  reviving  nationality  of  Poland, 
it  need  not  be  said  that  all  was  unanimit}-  and 
hope  in  the  Diet,  and  its  sittings  were 
closed,  after  a  short  session  of  thirty 
days,  without  a  dissenting  voice  on 
any  question  of  general  interest  hav- 
ing been  heard  in  the  assembly.' 

From  Warsaw,  which  he  left  on  the  SOth 
April,  the  emperor  proceeded  to  Odes- 
sa, after  traversing,  with  the  utmost  j 
rapidity,  the  fertile  plains  and  ver-  Aie.„ 
dant  turf  of  the  Ukraine,  where,  as  to  his 
their  poets  say,  the  "  sky  is  ever  blue,  southern 
the  air  clear,  and  storms  and  hurri-  I"'"^'"'^^^- 
canes  are  unknown."  In  Odessa  he  beheld, 
with  astonishment,  the  rapid  progress  and  ris- 
ing importance  of  a  city  which,  under  the  fos- 
tering care  of  government,  and  the  wise  direc- 
tion of  the  Duke  de  Kichelieu,  had  sprung  n]\ 
as  if  by  enchantment,  on  the  edge  of  the  wilder- 
ness, become  the  emporium  of  the  south,  and 
realized  all  that  the  genius  of  Virgil  had  fancied 
of  the  fsxbled  rise  of  Carthage  under  the  sceptre 
of  Dido.  lie  there  assisted  at  the  launching  of 
a  seventy-four,  laid  down  an  110-gun  ship,  and 
evinced  at  once  his  sympathy  with  the  suft'er- 
ings of  humanity,  by  erecting  a  monument  to 
the  celebrated  Howard,  who  had  died,  in  1790, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  that  city,  and  his  admi- 
ration of  his  virtues,  by  subscribing  to  the  erec- 
tion of  one  in  Paris  to  Malesherbes,  the  gener- 
ous and  intrepid  defender  of  Louis  XVI.  lie 
there  appointed  also  a  government  commission, 
specially  intrusted  with  the  duty  of  watching 
over  and  aiding  the  settlement  of  colonists  in 
Bessarabia  and  the  southern  provinces  of  the 
empire,  of  whom  vast  numbers  had  already 
begun  to  flock  from  the  neighboring  states; 
and,  passing  by  Moscow  to  the  north,  he  there 
met  the  King  of  Prussia,  with  whom  he  return- 
ed to  St.  Petersburg,  where  magnificent  rejoic- 
ings attended  the  union  of  the  two  sovereigns. 
Hardly  were  they  concluded  when  he  set  out 


1  An.  Hist, 
i.  270,  271, 
275  ;  Biog. 
Univ.  Ivi. 
165, 186. 


04. 

rney  of 
Alexandiir 


C5. 
Ilis  efforts 
for  the  en- 
Irancliise- 
iiient  of  the 
peasants. 


1818.] 

for  Aix-la-Cliapelle,  where  his  generous  inter- 
position, in  conjunction  with  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington, in  favor  of  Franco,  already  mentioned,^ 

1  Ante.  c.  ^''is  attended  with  such  happy  re- 
vi.  H  63,  suits;  and  from  thence  returned  to 
^'^-  St.  Petersburg,  and  concluded  an  al- 

2  An  Hist  niost  incessant  journey  of  two  tliou- 
i.  278, 279;  sand  leagues,  devoted,  without  a 
Biog.lliiiv.  ()ay's  intermission,  to  the  interests 
'"•^^•^        of  humanity.' 

Although  Alexander's  mind  was  not  of  the 
most  penetrating  character,  and  his 
practical  knowledge  of  mankind  was 
small,  his  intentions  were  all  of  the 
most  generous,  his  feelings  of  the 
most  philanthropic  kind.  He  had 
already,  by  several  ukases,  complet- 
ed the  enfranciiisement  of  the  peasants  on  the 
Crown  domains ;  and  at  Mittau,  on  his  way  to 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  he  had  assisted  at  averyinter- 
ing  ceremony — that  which  completed  by  a  sol- 
emn act,  the  entire  liberation  of  the  serfs  of 
Courland,  Esthonia,  and  Livonia,  the 
1818  '  provinces  of  the  empire  next  to  Ger- 
many, by  the  voluntary  act  of  the 
nobles,  who,  in  this  instance,  had  anticipated 
the  wishes  of  the  emperor.  He  had  also,  in  the 
same  year,  published  a  ukase,  which  accorded 
several  important  immunities  to  the  peasants 
of  Meriek,  whose  miserable  condition  had  forc- 
ibly arrested  his  attention  in  passing  through 
that  province  on  his  way  from  Warsaw  to  Odes- 
sa. He  opened  the  year  1819  by  a  still  more 
important  step,  because  it  was  one  of  general 
application,  and  of  vast  influence  on  the  social 
training  of  the  nation.  This  was  a  ukase  which 
extended  to  serfs  in  every  part  of  the  empire, 
and  to  whomsoever  pertaining,  the  right,  hith- 
erto confined  to  the  nobles  and  merchants,  of  es- 
tablishing themselves  as  manufacturers  in  any 
part  of  the  empire,  and  relieving  them  from  the 
capitation  tax  during  four  years.  At  the  same 
time  he  took  a  step,  and  a  very  material  one, 
in  favor  of  public  instruction,  by  completing 
the  organization  of  universities  at  Moscow, 
AVilna,  Alo,  St.  Petersburg,  Karkow,  and  Ka- 
zan ;  and  of  religious  freedom,  by  taking  the 
3  -.  Lutheran  and  Calvinist  clergy  and 
i.  279  2S0  flocks  under  the  imperial  protection, 
ii.  358;  and  establishing  in  the  capital  an 
"'"g""'^-  Episcopal  chair  for  the  clergy  of 
those  persuasions.^ 
The  finances  of  the  empire,  in  the  following 
0(5  year,  exhibited  tlie  elasticity  wiiich 
might  have  been  expected  from  tlic 
continuance  of  peace,  and  tlie  wise 
measures  for  the  reduction  of  tiie 
lebt  adopted  in  the  preceding  year. 
The  sinking  fund  had  witiidrawn  from  circu- 
lation 80,000,000  paper  rubles  (£4,000,000)  in 
the  preceding  j'car;  and  sjiecio,  to  tlie  number 
of  20,000,000  silver  rubles  (.£l,(iO0,00O),  had 
issued  from  the  mint  in  the  same  time — a 
quantity  greater  than  had  been  coined  during 
the  ten  preceding  years.  TIk- (lc])osits  and  dis- 
cotmts  at  tiio  bank  recently  established  exhib- 
ited a  large  and  rapid  increase.  Th(!  J^nncas- 
tcrian  system  of  instruction  was  extended  by 
the  eiTii)eror  even  to  Siberia,  and  normal  Rohools 
establislied  at  St.  Petersburg  to  train  Icacliers 
for  the  principal  towns,  from  which  alone  the 
light  of  knowledge  could  radiate  to  tlie  coun- 


H  I  STORY    OF   EUROPE. 


255 


Transac 
lions  or 
lol9. 

floati:i; 


try.  In  the  autumn  of  this  year  the  emperor 
visited  Archangel,  which  had  not  been  honored 
by  the  presence  of  the  sovereign  for  a  hundred 
and  seventeen  j-ears;  and  from  thence  he  issued 
a  decree,  authorizing  the  levy  of  tv.o  men  in 
every  five  hundred,  which  produced  a  hundred 
and  eightj-  thousand  soldiers — the  first  levy 
which  liad  taken  place  since  the  war.  At  the 
same  time,  measures  were  taken  for  colonizing 
the  army  cantoned  in  Bessarabia,  above  a  hun- 
dred thousand  strong;  and  steps  adopted  for 
establishing  the  army  on  the  Polish  frontier  in 
like  manner.  The  design  of  the  emperor,  which 
was  a  very  magnificent  one,  was  to  encircle  the 
empire  with  a  zone  of  military  colonies,  stretch- 
ing from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  Baltic,  where  the 
soldiers  might  acquire  dwellings,  and  pursue 
the  labors  of  agriculture,  like  the  Roman  le- 
gions, while  still  guarding  the  frontiers,  and 
connect  tliem  with  similar  establishments  of  a 
pastoral  kind  on  the  frontiers  of  Persia  and 
Tartar^-,  where  the  vigilance  of  the  Cossacks 
gujirded  from  insult  the  vast  steppes 
which  run  up  to  tlie  foot  of  the  Cau-  j'j '^^y^s^^y' 
casus.' 

The  j'car  1820  commenced  with  a  very  im- 
portant step — the  entire  cx]nilsion  of         ^~ 
the  Jesuits  from  Russia.      They  had  Expulsion 
already,  in  consequence  of  their  in-  ottlieJes- 
trigues,  been  btxnished  in  1815  from  ""®- 
St.   Petersburg  and  Moscow,  but  their  cflorts 
to  win  over  proselj-tes  to  their  persuasion  had 
since  that  time  been  so  incessant  and  harassing, 
that  they  were  now  finally  expelled  from  the 
whole  empire.*     Provision  was  made  for  their 
maintenance  in  the  mean  time,  and  every  pre- 
caution taken  to  render  the  measure  as  gentle 
in  its  operation  as  possible.     Certainly,  as  the 
Roman  Catholics,  like  most  other  sects,  regard 
theirs  as  the  only  true  faith,  and  all  others  as 
heresies,  it  can  be  no  matter  of  surprise,  still 
less  of  condemnation,  that  they  every  whore 
make  such  strenuous  efibrts  to  gain  proselytes 
and  reclaim  souls,  as  they  deem  it,  on  the  eve 
of  perdition,  to  the  bosom  of  the  Churcli.     But 
as  other  persuasions  are  equally  convinced  tiiat 
their  own   is  the   true  form  of  Avorship,  they 
can  not  be  surprised,  and  have  no  right  to  com- 
j)lain,  if  their  every  wiiere  aggressive  2  An.  Hist, 
attitude  is  met  by  a  corres|)anding  iii._29C, 
defensive  one;    and  if  these  states,  ??'.•  ^,''''^- 
witliout  seeking  to  convert  tliem  to  2y7;i;kase 
tlieir  faith,  seek  only  to  adopt  meas-  March  23, 
urcs  that  may  secure  their  own.*         I*'-"- 

The  time,  however,  had  now  arrived  when  tlie 
views  of  the  emperor,  heretofore  so  libei-al  and 
indulgent,  Avcre  to  tindergo  an  entire  change, 
wlu'ii  the  illusions  of  1811  were  to  he  dis- 
pelled, an<l  Russia,  instead  of  being,  as  it  had 
been  for  many  years,  at  the  head  of  the  movc- 


*  "  I,cs  JcKUilcs  (ni<>ii|iic  Hullisainrncnt  avertis  ])ar  Pani- 
inadversion  qu'ils  avaiciit  eiiroiiriic,  ne  chaiiccrrnt  pas 
neaniiioinH  do  condiiite.  II  I'lit  liiciilDt  roiistalC  par  le.s 
rapports  des  aiiloritcH  rivilcs  (prjjs  contiiuiaii'Mt  a  attirii 
dans  Icnr  coiriiiiiiMion  Ics  clcvcs  dii  rit  orthiidoxe,  plarca 
an  coUcRc  dc  Molwilnw  .i  Saratofct  dans  la  Sihcrie.  Le 
Monitcur  drs  ('nltcs  nc  nmmjna  point  do  Bigiialcr  ces 
transgressions  an  I'l're  (Jcnural  do  I'ordn;.  dus  I'annec 
1815.  VvH  Administrations  furcnt  inntiles.  Loin  dc 
s'abstenir,  a  rinstanre  do  roglise  doininantc,  dc  tout 
moyen  de  sednction  el  de  conversion,  les  .Icsuites  contin- 
uercnt  a  semcr  le  trouble  dans  les  colonies  du  rit  Prot- 
estant, et  NO  poudscrcnl  jusqu'a  la  violence  pour  sous. 
trairc  les  enfanis  .Inifs  a  leurs  parents." — Ukase,  20  M-nrs 
1820.     Anmiairc  Jlislornjue,  iii,  290,  297. 


256 


II  ISTOllY    OF    EUROPE. 


iiiont  pnrty  in  Europe,  wns  to  Itoconio  its  most 
,-ts.         ilocidod  oppoiuMit.     Alrondy  tlio  t'ln- 
Crf«i  poror  luui   dooii   wainod   liy   nnony- 

rhniiKos  in  minis  letters  lunl  viiiioiis  inysterimis 
n'r-rniiTul  <"^^i>ii»»ii>ii'!»t ions,  as  w  ell  as  hy  reixirts 
I'miii  ilio  from  the  seeret  pulieo,  ot'tlie  existence 
rt'voiiuion  of  i\  vast  conspiraev,  ^vIliell  emhraeed 
oriM'O.  several  of  the  leading'  oflieers  in  tlie 
nrmios  Imth  of  I'oland  and  tlio  Dnnnhe,  and 
nobles  of  the  hiuhest  rank  and  consideration 
in  !St  I'etersbiiru:.  The  object  of  tlie  con- 
spirators Avas  stated  to  be  to  dethrone  and 
murder  the  emperor,  imprison  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  imperial  family,  and  establish  a 
constitutional  monarchy  on  the  footing  of  those 
of  western  Europe.  For  long  the  emperor  gave 
no  credit  to  these  warnings ;  he  could  not  be- 
lieve that  an  army  which,  under  himself,  had 
done  such  great  things,  and  had  given  him  per- 
sonally such  proofs  of  entire  devotion,  could 
have  so  soon  become  implicated  in  a  traitorous 
l)roject  for  his  destruction.  But  the  military 
revolution  in  Spain,  Portugal,  and  Naples,  in 
the  early  part  of  the  year   1820,  opened   his 

1  schnitz-  ("ves  as  to  the  volcano  on  which  pos- 
!er,  ii.  4,  sibly  his  empire  might  be  resting ; 
??. '  ■*•"."•  and  the  events  in  Poland  ere  long  left 
300  302       no  doubt  that  the  danger  was  rapidly 

approaching  his  own  dominions.' 
The  Polish  Diet  opened  in  September,  and 
69.         the  emperor,  who  assisted  at  it  in 
Violent         person,  in   the  Polish   uniform,   and 
scene,  and    surrounded  with  Polish  officers,  was 
dissolution  •      J       -ii        ii      ■  ii        -i 

of  the  I'ol-    re<-eived  with  enthusiasm:   the  city 

ish  Diet,  w:is  illuminated  on  his  arrival,  and  at 
Sept.  28.  several  reviews  the  troops  of  the  na- 
tional army  evinced  the  most  loyal  feelings. 
The  exposition  of  the  minister  exhibited  the 
most  flattering  appearance ;  the  population 
had  increased  to  3,4138,000,  being  no  less  than 
a  million  since  the  termination  of  the  war ; 
agriculture,  manufactures,  the  finances,  were 
in  the  most  flourishing  state.  But  what  is  ma- 
terial prosperity,  beneficent  government,  to  a 
country  infested  with  the  fever  of  revolution  ? 
It  soon  appeared,  when  the  Diet  proceeded  to 
real  business,  with  what  species  of  spirit  they 
■were  animated.  On  a  proposition  to  amend 
the  criminal  law,  brought  forward  by  the  min- 
isters, a  violent  opposition  broke  forth  in  the 
chamber,  on  the  ground  that  the  proposed  mode 
of  trial  was  not  by  jury ;  and  it  was  reject- 
ed by  120  votes  to  3.  Another  proposal  of  gov- 
ernment, for  certain  changes  in  the  Senate,  was 
also  rejected  by  a  large  majority.  It  was  evident 
that  the  Diet  was  animated  with  the  wild  spirit 
of  Polish  equality,  not  merely  from  their  meas- 
ures, but  from  the  extreme  violence  of  the  lan- 
guage which  they  used,  and  that  they  would  be 
as  difficult  to  manage  as  the  old  comitia,  where 
any  member,  by  the  exercise  of  his  liberum  veto, 
might  paralyze  the  whole  proceedings.  Alex- 
ander was  profoundly  affected ;  he  saw  at  once 
the  depth  of  the  abyss  which  yawned  beneath 
his  feet,  if  these  ideas,  as  in  Spain  and  Naples, 
should  gain  possession  of  the  army,  the  main 

Erop  of  the  throne  in  his  despotic  realms;  and 
e  closed  the  Diet  with  a  speech,  in  which  his 

2  Ann.  Hist,  apprehensions  and  indignation  ex- 
iii.  3(14,  306.  haled  in  the  most  striking  manner.'* 

'  '•  Parvenus  au  terine  ou  s'arretent  aujourd'hui  les 
travaux  (jui  doivent  vous  conduire  par  degrcs  vers  ce  but 


[CiiAP.  YIII. 

This    incident    exercised    an    important    in- 
fluence on   the  afViiirs  of  Europe  in         -.q 
general,  for  the  emperor  at  this  pe-   Congress 
riod  was  on  his  way  to  the  Congress  ol'Trop- 
i)f  Tiioriwr,  where  the  recent  revohi-  ),'^",™'^'" 

,  ,  ■    ,  III-  •  ^I't   ID^U. 

tioii  III  tlie  Spaiiisli  and  Italian  penin- 
sulas, and  the  alarming  state  of  all'airs  in  France, 
were  to  be  taken  into  consideration.  As  tliis 
congress  was  called  chiefly  in  consequence  of 
the  suggestions  of  the  Eiiqieror  Alexander,  and 
was  the  flrst  practical  apjilicatioii  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Holy  Alliance  of  which  he  was 
the  author,  it  belongs  more  properly  to  the 
annals  of  Russia  than  (Jermany,  within  whose 
bounds  it  was  held.  The  Emperor  of  Austria, 
whose  terror  at  the  alarming  situation  of  Italy 
was  extreme,  arrived  there  on  the  18th  Octo- 
ber; the  Emperor  of  Russia  joined  him 
there  on  the  20th.  Indisjiosition  pre- 
vented the  King  of  Prussia  from  coming  till  the 
7tli  November,  but  he  was  represented  by  the 
hereditar}'  prince  his  ton.  Prince  Jletteinich 
and  M.  Gentz  on  the  part  of  Austria  ;  Count 
Nesselrode  and  Capo  d'lstria  on  that  of  Russia  ; 
Prince  Ilardenberg  and  Count  Bernstorf  on  that 
of  Prussia;  Count  Caraman,  the  I'rench  Embas- 
sador at  Vienna,  and  Sir  Charles  Stuart,  the  En- 
glish Embassador  there,  represented  the  several 
powers.  The  events  in  Italy  and  Spain  had 
excited  the  greatest  alarm  among  all  the  par- 
ties assembled,  and  the  most  vigorous  measures 
were  resolved  on ;  and  although  the  English 
government  did  not  take  an  active  ,  p^^^  jjj^j 
part  in  their  deliberations,  it  did  not  in.  512,513  \ 
formally  oppose  the  measures  resolv-  Biojr.  Liuv. 
ed  on.'  l'"'-  J^"- 

So  great  was  the  importance  of  the  topics 
discussed  at  the  Congress  of  Trop-         -j 
pau,  and  so  various  the  interests  of  Congress 
the  powers  there  assembled,  that  in  of  Trop- 

former  days  it  would  in  all  prob-  ^^^  \  ''^ 

,.,.,,•'     1    J   .  ,i  resolutions, 

ability  have  led  to  a  general  war. 

But  the  remembrance  of  past  strife  was  too  re- 
cent, the  terror  of  present  revolutions  too  great, 
to  permit  of  any  serious  divergence  of  opinion 
or  measures  taking  place.  From  the  very  out- 
set the  Emperor  Alexander,  whose  apprehen- 
sions were  now  fully  awakened,  declared  that 
he  was  prepared  to  second  with  all  liis  forces 
any  measures  which  the  Emperor  of  Austria 
might  deem  necessary  for  the  settlement  and 
pacification  of  Ital}-.  At  the  same  time  the 
march  of  the  Austrian  troops  toward  the  south 
of  Italy  continued  without  intermission,  and 
a   holograph   letter  was   dispatched  from  the 


important  de  developper  et  d'aflermir  vos  institutions  na- 
tionales,  vous  pouvez  facilemeiit  apprendre  de  conibien 
vous  en  etes  rapproches.  Interrogez  voire  conscience,  et 
vous  saurez  si  dans  le  cours  de  vos  discussions,  vous 
avez  rendu  a  la  Pologne  tous  les  services  qu'elle  atten- 
dait  de  votre  sagesse,  ou  si,  au  contraire,  entraines  par 
des  seductions  trop  communes  de  vos  jours,  et  inirnolant 
un  espoir  qu'  aurait  realise  une  prevoyante  contiance, 
vous  n'avez  pas  retarde  dans  son  progres  I'aurore  de  la 
restauration  de  voire  Patrie.  Cette  grave  responsahilite 
pesera  sur  vous.  Elle  est  la  siirete  necessaire  de  I'inde- 
pendance  de  vos  sufifrages.  lis  sont  libres,  mais  une  in- 
tention pure  doit  toujours  les  determiner.  La  mienne 
vous  est  conniie.  Vous  avez  ref  u  le  bien  pour  le  nial,  et 
la  Pologne  est  remontee  au  rang  des  etats.  Je  perseve- 
rerai  dans  mes  desseins^  son  egard,  quelle  <|Ue  soit 
I'opinion  qu'on  puisse  se  former  sur  la  niaiiiere  dont 
vous  venez  d'excuser  vos  prorogations." — Discnurs  de 
r EynpereuT  Altxandre  a  Varsnvie,  1/13  Octohre,  \bW,  a 
la  cloture  de  la  Viete  Folonaise.  Annuaire  Historique, 
ill.  file. 


1820.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


257 


assembled  sovereigns  to  the  King  of  Naples,  in- 
viting him  to  join  them  in  person  at  a  new 
congress,  to  be  held  at  Laybach  in 
'  Styria.  A  minister  sent  from  Naples 
on  the  part  of  the  revolutionary  government 
J  was  refused  admission ;  and  the  views 

iii.s^H.sTs;  of  the  assembled  monarohs  on  the 
Aper(;u  des  late  revolutions  were  announced  in 
resultats  several  semi-official  articles,  pub- 
cnceTde""  Wished  in  the  Vienna  papers,  which, 
Troppau,  even  more  than  their  official  iustru- 
ibid.  ill.  ments,  revealed  their  real  seuti- 
*^^"-  meats.'  * 

The  congress,  to  be  nearer  the  scene  of  action, 
was  soon  after  transferred  to  Lay- 
Consress  BACH,  where  the  Emperor  of  Austria 
of  Lay-  arrived  on  the  4th  Januar}',  and  the 
hach.  Jan.  Emperor  of  Russia  on  the  7th.  The 
'  '  ■  King  of  Prussia  was  hourly  expected ; 
and  the  King  of  Naples,  whom  the  revolution- 
ary government  established  in  his  dominions 
did  not  venture  to  detain  at  home,  came  on  the 
8th.  So  much  had  been  done  at  Troppau  in 
laying  down  principles,  that  nothing  remained 
for  Laybach  but  their  practical  application. 
The  principle  which  Alexander  adopted,  and 
which  met  with  the  concurrence  of  the  other 
sovereigns,  was  that  the  spirit  of  the  age  re- 
quired liberal  institutions,  and  a  gradual  ad- 
mission of  the  people  to  a  share  of  power;  but 
that  they  must  flow  from  the  sovereign's  free 
will,  not  be  forced  upon  him  by  his  subjects; 
and,  therefore,  that  no  compromise  whatever 
could  be  admitted  with  revolutionists  either  in 
the  Italian  or  Spanish  peninsulas.  In  conform- 
ity with  this  determination,  there  was 
^^^'  ^'  signed,  on  2d  February,  1821,  a  treaty, 
by  which  it  was  stipulated  that  the  allied  pow- 
ers should  in  no  way  recognize  the  revolution- 
ary government  in  Naples ;  and  that  the  royal 
authority  should  be  re-established  on  the  foot- 
ing on  which  it  stood  prior  to  the  insurrection 
of  the  army  on  5th  July,  1820.  To  carry  their 
resolution  into  effect,  it  was  agreed  that  an 
Austrian  araiy  should,  in  the  name  of  Austria, 
Russia,  and  Prussia,  be  put  at  the  disposition 
of  the  King  of  the  two  Sicilies;  that,  from  the 
moment  of  its  passing  the  Po,  its  whole  expenses 
should  be  at  the  charge  of  that  kingdom,  and 
that  the  Neapolitan  dominions  should  be  occu- 
pied by  the  Austrian  forces  during  three  years, 
in  the  same  manner,  and  on  the  same  conditions, 
as  France  had  been  by  the  army  under  the  Duke 
of  Wellington.  England  and  France  were  no 
parties  to  this  treaty,  but  neither  did  they  op- 
pose it,  or  enter  into  any  alliance  with  the 
revolutionary  states.     They  simply    remained 


*  "  Oti  a  acquis  la  conviction  qut-  cifltc  revolution,  pro- 
(luite  par  uni;  Hecte  egaroc  et  excculOL'  par  Avu  HoldatH  iii- 
iJisciplines,  suivie  il'uii  rcnvcrscment  violoiit  des  institu- 
tions legitimes,  et  de  Icur  rcmplacoincnt  par  un  syHteme 
d'arhitraire  et  d'anarcliie,  est  non-seuleinont  conlraire 
aux  principcs  d'ordre,  de  droit,  dc  morale,  et  de  vrai  bien- 
elre  des  peuples,  tels  iju'ils  sont  itablis  par  Ics  inoiiarques, 
mais  de  plus  incompatible  par  ses  resultats  inevitables 
avec  le  repos  et  la  securitc  des  autres  ctats  Italiens,  ei 
par  consequent  avec  la  conservation  de  la  paix  en  Europe. 
P<!n6tres  do  ces  verites,  les  lluuts  Monarcjues  ont  pris  la 
fermn  resolution  d'emptoijcr  lous  leurs  motjens  ulin  (|Ue 
I'Ctat  aetuel  des  cboses  dans  le  royaumcdes  Ueux-Sii-ili's, 
produit  par  la  r(^volte  et  la  force,  soit  dctruit,  mais  ce))en- 
ilant  S.  M.  le  Roi  sera  mis  dans  une  position  telle  qu'il 
pourra  determiner  la  constitution  future  de  ses  ^.tatsd'une 
inaniere  compatible  avec  sa  dijjnite,  les  iiilerets  de  son 
p'!Uple,  et  le  rSpos  des  ilals  voisiiis." — Ubstrvatiur  Au- 
Inchtin. 

Vou  I.— U 


neuter,  passive  spectators  of  a  matter  in  which 
they  were  too  remotely  interested  to  i  Treaty, 
be  called  on  practically  to  interfere,  Feb.  2, 
but  which  they  coidd  not  theoretic-  '^.-' •  ■^""• 
ally  approve.    Lord  Castlereagh  con-  ^45  '  Lord 
tented   himself  with   declaring  that  Castle- 
Great  Britain  could  take  no  part  in  ^y^?'*'^. 
such  transactions,  as  they  were  direct-  jg^'^'iff  ' 
Iv  opposed  to  the  fundamental  laws  1821 ;  IbiJ. 
of  his  country.'*  ii.  669. 

This  deserves  to  be  noted  as  a  turningpoi.t 
in  the  modern  history  of  Europe.    It 
marks  the  period  when  separate  views  Refleptj,,.,., 
and  interests  began  to  shake  the  liith-  on  the  div  - 
erto  flrmly  cetnented   fabric  of  the  sionamoi.ji 
Grand  AlHanee ;   and  Great  Britain  ^^^^^^'^ 
and  France,  for  the  lirst  time,  assumed 
a  part  together  at  variance  with  the  determinr.- 
tion  of  the  other  great  powers.     They  liad  not 
yet  come  into  actual  collision,  much  less  opea 
hostility  ;  but  their  views  had  become  so  differ- 
ent, that  it  required  not  the  gift  of  prophecy 
to  foresee  that  collision  was  imminent  at  no  dis- 
tant period.     This  was  the  more  remarkable, 
as  England  had  been,  during  the  whole  of  the 
revolutionary  war,  the  head  and  soul  of  the 
alliance  against  France,  and  strenuously  con- 
tended for  the  principle,  that  though  no  attempt 
should  be  made  to  force  a  govermuent  against 
their  will  on  the  French  people,  yet  a  coalition 
of  the  adjoining  powers  had  become  indispens- 
able to  prevent  them  from  forcing  their  insti- 
tutions upon  other  states.     The  allied  govern- 
ments commented  freely  on  this  great  change 
of  polic}',  and  observed  that  England  ^  t    ^     . 
was  very  conservative  as  long  as  the  de  Nessel- 
danger  was  at  her  own  door,  and  her  rode  au 
own  institutions  were  threatened  by  o,*"^k'',i'^^ 
the  contagion  of  French  principles ;°  ^g^„  jj,'„ 
but   that   she   became   very  liberal  sl.'iWl ; 

when  the  danger  was  removed  to  a  A""- 1''^'- 
1.  .       .    °       .  1.1  11.692,  693. 

more  distant  quarter,  and  the  coun- 


*  "  Le  systeme  des  mesures  proposees  scrait,  s'il  ctait 
I'objet  d'uue  reciprocite  d'action,  diaiiietralement  oppose 
aux  lois  fondamentales  dc  la  Grande- Dretagnc  ;  iriais  lors 
meme  que  cette  objection  decisive  n'existerait  pas,  le 
gouveriiemenl  Uritanniciue  n'cii  jugerait  pas  moins,  quo 
les  princijies  qui  servcnt  de  base  a  ces  mesures,  ne  peu- 
vciit  etre  ailmis  avec  qucUiuc  siirctc  conimc  systcmes  dc 
loi  cntre  les  nations.  Le  gouvcrncmcnt  du  roi  pense  quo 
I'adoption  de  ces  principes  sanetionnerait  inovitablement, 
et  pourrait  amener  par  ia  suite,  de  la  jiart  des  souveraiiis 
moins  bienveillants,  unc  intervention  dans  les  affaires  in- 
terieurcs  des  etats,  beaucoup  plus  frcquente  ct  plus 
etendue  que  celle  dont  il  est  persuade  que  les  augustcs 
per.soiinages  ont  I'intention  d'uscr,  ou,  qui  puisse  se  con- 
cilier  avec  I'interet  general,  ou  avec  J'autoritc  rcclle,  ct 
ladigiiite  des  souvcraiiis  inilr|i(ii(l!irils.  (Jiiant  a  i'airaire 
parliouliore  de  Naples,  li'  ^(JUvcrMciiii'iit  lirilannique  n'n 
lias  liesile,  des  le  commenrciiicMt,  a  cxpriiner  fortcinent 
son  improbation  de  la  inaniere  dont  celle  Revolution  sVst 
elfectuee,  et  des  circonstances  dont  elle  paraissait  avoir 
etc  accompagnec,  mais  en  meme  tc'inps,  il  declara  ex- 
pressement  aux  diflferentes  cours  alln  is,  qu'il  ne  croyait 
pas  devoir,  ni  meme  conseiller  iiiie  iuiirvrniion  de  la  part 
de  la  fIrande-Hretagnc.  II  adinil  loiiioiirs  que  d'autres 
etals  Europeens,  et  s|)erjalem(Mt  rAutriclie,  et  les  puis- 
sances Italiennes,  poiivaient  juger  (jue  les  circonstances 
etaient  dilferenles  relativcment  a  eux,  ct  il  declara  quo 
son  intention  n'elait  pas  de  prcjuger  la  (lucslion  en  cc  (lui 
pouvait  les  alfecter,  ni  irintervenir  dans  la  marclie  (jiie 
tels  etals  pourraient  jugcr  convenable  d'adopter  pour  leur 
propre  siirete ;  pourvu  toutefois,  qu'ils  fusscnt  disposes 
a  donner  toutes  les  assurances  raisonnables  que,  leurs 
vueh&n'etaient,  ni  dingoes  vers  des  objets  d'agrandisse- 
rnerit,  ni  vers  la  subversion  dn  sysleme  territorial  de  I'Eu- 
rope,  tcl  qu'il  a  clo  ('tabli  par  les  derniers  trailes." — 
CASTLEiiKAfiii.  Drpcrlii-  Cirrulaire,  ndrr.isce  mix  Minis- 
Ins  tif  S.  M.  Ilritntinii/ue  p'lur  Irs  cnurs  Etran^crcs,  I'J 
JaM.  Ii-:i.     Aii/i.  nisl)riqui\  ii.  CIS,  Cb'J. 


258 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


trio^  thrcfttonotl  were  Italy,  southern  Germany, 
or  FfniK'o  itself.* 

To  tix  tho  just  i>iinoi|>los,  niul  define  the 
limits  of  the  li^'ht  of  intervention,  is 
Limits  of  iin»iiiestionnlily  one  of  the  most  ditli- 
ilic  riijlit  of  cult  in'obleiiis  in  jmlities,  and  one 
inurvtu-  frnuirJit  with  the  most  momentous 
^'"'"  oonsequcnees.    If  the  right  is  carried 

out  to  its  full  extent,  incessant  Avarfarc  would, 
in  civilized  communities  in  ditferent  stages  of 
civilization,  be  the  inevitable  destiny  of  the 
species;  for  every  republican  state  would  seek 
to  revolutionize  its  neighbors,  and  every  des- 
potic one  to  surround  itself  with  a  girdle  of 
absolute  monarchies.  Each  party  loudly  in- 
vokes the  principle  of  non-intervention,  when 
its  opponents  are  acting  on  the  opposite  prin- 
ciple, and  as  certainly  follows  their  example, 
when  an  opportunity  occurs  for  establishing 
elsewhere  a  regime  conformable  to  its  own 
wishes  or  example.  Perhaps  it  is  impossible  to 
draw  the  line  more  fairly  than  by  saying,  that 
no  nation  has  a  right  to  interfere  in  the  internal 
concerns  of  another  nation,  unless  that  other 
is  adopting  measures  which  threaten  its  own 
peace  and  tranquillity:  in  a  word,  that  inter- 
vention is  pnly  justitiable  when  it  is  done  for 
the  purposes  of  self-defense.  Yet  is  this  a  very 
vague  and  unsatisfaetor}^  basis  on  which  to  rest 
the  principle ;  for  who  is  to  judge  when  inter- 
nal tranquillity  is  threatened,  and  external 
intervention  has  become  indispensable?  It  is 
much  to  be  feared  that  here,  as  elsewhere,  in 
the  transactions  of  independent  states,  which 
acknowledge  no  superior,  much  must  depend 
on  the  moderation  of  the  stronger;  and  that 
"  might  makes  right"  will  be  the  practice,  what- 
ever may  be  the  law  of  nations,  to  the  end  of 
the  world.  But  one  thing  is  clear,  that  it  is 
with  the  democratic  party  that  the  chief — in- 
deed, of  late  j'ears,  the  entire — blame  of  inter- 
vention rests.  The  monarchical  powers  have 
never  moved  since  1789  but  in  self-defense. 
Every  war  which  has  desolated  Europe  and 
afflicted  humanity  since  that  time  has  been 
provoked  by  the  propagandism  of  republican 
states ;  if  left  to  themselves,  the  absolute  mon- 
archs  would  have  been  too  happy  to  slumber 
on,  reposing  on  their  laurels,  weighed  down 
by  their  debt,  i-ecovering  from  their  fatigue. 

It  was  the  circumstance  of  the  three  powers 
which  had  signed  the  Holy  Alliance  appearing 
banded  together  to  crush  the  revolution  in 
Italy,  which  caused  that  Alliance  to  be  re- 


*  "  La  Revolution  de  Naples  a  donne  au  monde  un  ex- 
emple,  aussi  instructif  que  deplorable,  de  ce  que  les  na- 
tions ont  a  gagner,  lorsqu'  elles  cherchent  les  reformes 
politiques  dans  les  voies  de  la  rebellion.  Ourdie  en  secret 
par  une  secte,  dont  les  maximes  impies  attaquent  a  la 
fois  la  religion,  la  morale,  et  tous  les  liens  sociaux  ;  exe- 
futee  par  des  soldats  traitres  a  leurs  scrments  ;  consom- 
mee  par  la  violence,  et  les  menaces  dirigees  centre  le 
souverain  legitime,  cette  Revolution  n'a  produit  que  I'an- 
archie  et  la  disposition  rnilitaire  qu'elle  a  renforcee,  an  lieu 
de  I'aflaiblir,  en  crcant  un  regime  monstreux,  incapable 
de  ser\ir  de  base  a  un  gouvernement  quel  qu'il  soit,  in- 
compatible avec  tout  ordre  public,  et  avec  les  premiers 
besoins  de  la  societe.  Les  souverains  allies,  ne  pouvant, 
des  leprincipe  sc  tromper  sur  les  eflets  inevitables  de  ces 
funestes  attentats  ;  se  deciderent  sur-le-champ  a  ne  point 
admettre,  comme  legal,  tout  ce  que  la  revolution  et  I'usur- 
pation  avaient  pretendu  etablir  dans  le  Royaume  de  Na- 
ples ;  et  cette  mesure  fut  adoptee  par  la  presque  totalite 
des  gouvememenls  de  I'Europe." — Le  Comte  Nessel- 
KODE  au  Comte  de  Stackelberg,  .^TTiinssarfej/r  a  Na- 
ples, /.(ly&acA,  rj(31)Jan.  1S21.    Ann.  liistori'jue.n.e>93- 


[CuAP.  YIII. 

garded  as  a  league  of  sovereigns  against  the 
liberties  of  mankind,  and  to  become 
the  object  of  such  unmeasured   ob-  -^1,^, 
loquy    to    the    whole    liberal    party  share  had 
throughout  the  world.    There  never  Hie  Holy 
was  a  greater  mistake.     The  Holy  fj^'^"''"  '" 
Alliance    became    a    league,    and    it 
proved  a  most  efficient  one,  against  the  progress 
of  revolution  ;  but  it  was  not  so  at  first.    It  was 
forced  into  defensive  measures  by  the  aggres- 
sions of  its  political  antagonists  m  Spain  and 
Italj'.     Kot  one  shot  lias  been  fired  in  Europe, 
nor  one  sabre  drawn,  from  any  contest  which  it 
commenced,  though  many  have  been  so  from 
those  into  whicli  it  has  been  driven.     In  truth, 
this  celebrated  Alliance,  which  was  the  creation 
of  the  benevolent  dreams  of  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander, and  the  mystical  conceptions  of  Madame 
Krudener,  was,  as  already  explained,  a  philan- 
tliropic  effusion,  amiable  in  design,  but  unwise 
in  thought,  and  incapable  of  appli-  ,  y. ,    . 
cation  in  a  world  such  as  that  in  c.  iii.  ^51. 
which  we  are  placed.^ 

It  is  evident,  however,  that  it  was  impossible 
for  England  to  have  acted  otherwise 
than  as  she  did  on  this  occasion,  and  y^ttitude 
that  the  line  which  Lord  Castlereagh  taken  by 
took  was  such  as  alone  befitted  the  England  on 
minister  of  a  free  people.     Being  the  g^on""''* 
representative  of  a  country  which 
had  progressively  extorted  its  liberties  from  its 
sovereigns,  and  at  length  changed  the  dynasty 
on  the  throne  to  secure  them,  he  could  not  be 
a  party  to  a  league  professing  to  extinguish 
popular  resistance:  placed  at  a  distance  from 
the  theatre  of  danger,  the  plea  of  necessity 
could  not  be  advanced  to  justify  such  a  depart- 
ure from  principle.      He  took  the   only  line 
which,  on    such   an  occasion,  was  consistent 
with  his  situation,  and  dictated  by  a  due  re- 
gard to  the  national  interest; — he  abstained 
from  taking  any  part  in  the  contest,  and  con- 
tented   himself    with  protesting   against  any 
abuse  of  the  pretension  on  which  it  was  rested. 

The  contest  in  Italy  was  of  very  short  du- 
ration.     The  revolutionists  proved 
incapable   of   defending   themselves  -^yarde- 
against  an  Austrian  army,  little  more  ciared 
tiian    half  of   their    own    strength;  against  the 
they  were  formidable  only  to  their  [^^"'"'I'es" 
own   sovereign.      The    Minister    at  j-gj,  4 
War  announced  to  the  parliament  at 
IS'aples,  on  the  2d  January,  that  the  regular 
army  amounted  to  fifty-four  thousand  men,  and 
the  national  guards  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand more  ;  tliat  the  fortresses  were  fully  armed 
and  provisioned,  and  in  the  best  possible  state 
of  defense ;  and  that  every  thing  was  prepared 
for  the  most  vigorous  resistance.     But  already 
serious  divisions  had  broken  out  in  the  army, 
especially  between  the  guards  and  the  troops 
of  the  line  ;  and  dissensions  of  the  most  violent 
kind  had  arisen  between  the  leaders  of  the  re- 
volt,  especially  the   Cardinal  Ruffo   and   the 
chiefs  of  the  Carbonari.     The  consequence  was, 
that  when  the  moment  of  action  arrived,  scarce 
any  resistance  was  made.     On  8th  Feb-  ^^^^  g 
ruary  a  courier  from  Laybach  announced 
at  IS'aples  that  all  hope  of  accommodation  was 
at  an  end,  and  that  the  sovereigns  assembled 
there  would  in  no  shape  recognize  the  revolu- 
tionary authorities  at  Naples.     The  effect  of 


1821.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


259 


ward  Na- 
ples, Feb. 
24. 


this  announcement  was  terrible;  it  did  not 
rouse  resistance — it  overpowered  it  by  fear. 
In  vain  the  assembly  ordered  fifty  thousand  of 
the  national  guards  to  be  called  out,  and  moved 
to  the  frontier;  nothing  etticient  was  done — 
terror  froze  every  heart.  The  ministers  of  Rus- 
sia, Austria,  and  Prussia,  left  Naples  ;  tlie  pres- 
ence of  ten  French  and  eight  English  sail  of  the 
line  in  the  bay  rather  excited  alarm  than  in- 
spired confidence.  On  the  4th  Februar3%  Gen- 
eral Frimont  published  from  his  head-quarters 
at  Padua  a  proclamation,  announcing  tliat  his 
ai-my  was  about  to  cross  the  Po,  to  assist  in  the 

.  -^  „  ..  pacification  of  Italy;  and  on  the  fol- 
'  Coiletta,     }      .        J        J.I      i  "^  1      £i-i 

li.  419,         lowing  day  the  troops,  nearly  nity 

424  ;  Ann.    thousand  strong,  commenced  the  pas- 

i'i'q'i20       ®^S®  °^  '"''^''  ^'i^'^'"  ^*'  ^^'"^  points  be- 

'      ■      tween  Cremona  and  St.  Benedetto.' 

The  march  of  the  Austrian  army  met  with 

-g         60  little  opposition  that  the  events 

Unresisted    which  followed  could  not  be  called  a 

march  of     campaign.     When   they  arrived   at 

Ir^^A.",!"  Bologna,  the  troops  were  separated 
tnans  to-      •■'',  !•••      ^  e       v.-  \ 

into  two  divisions;    one  oi    which, 

under  the  command  of  Count  Wal- 
nioden,  crossed  the  Apennines,  and 
advanced,  by  Florence  and  Rome,  by  the  great 
road  to  Naples ;  while  the  other  moved  by  the 
left  to  the  sea-side,  and  reached  Ancona.  The 
first  corps  passed  Rome,  without  entering  it, 
on  February  28th ;  the  second  occupied  Ancona 
on  the  19th.  Meanwhile  the  preparations  of 
the  Neapolitans  were  very  extensive,  and  seem- 
ed to  presage  a  serious  resistance.  Tlieir  forces, 
too,  were  divided  into  two  corps;  the  first  of 
which,  forty  thousand  strong,  under  General 
Carascosa,  occupied  the  strong  position  of  St. 
Germans,  with  its  left  on  the  fortress  of  Gaeta, 
within  the  Neapolitan  territory;  while  the 
second,  under  General  Pepe,  of  thirty  tliousand, 
chiefly  militia,  was  opposed  to  the  corps  ad- 
vancing along  the  Adriatic,  and  charged  with 
the  defense  of  the  Abruzzi.  But  it  was  all  in 
vain.  Pepe,  finding  that  his  battalions  were 
disbanding,  and  his  troops  melting  away  before 
they  had  even  seen  the  enemy,  resolved  to 
hazard  an  attack  on  the  Austrians  at  Reidi. 
But  no  sooner  did  they  come  in  sight  of  Uic 
German  vanguard,  consisting  of  a  splendid 
regiment  of  Hungarian  cavalry,  than  a  sudden 
panic  seized  them.  The  new  levies  disbanded 
and  fled,  with  the  cry  of  "  Tradimento  ;  salvarsi 
eld  pud !"  The  contagion  spread  to  the  old 
troop.-?.  Soon  the  whole  army  was  a  mere  mob, 
every  one  trying  to  outrun  his  neighbor.  Can- 
non, ammunition,  standards,  were  alike  aban- 
doned. Pepe  himself  was  carried  away  by  the 
torrent,  and  the  Abruzzi  were  left  without  any 
a  Coiletta,  defense  but  the  impediments  arising 
il.  435  438 ;  from  the  wreck  of  the  army,  whose 
Ann.  Hist.  imj)Iem<;iits  of  war  strewed  ihc  roads 
IV. 322,325.  ^^,^.^  which  it  ha<l  fled.=« 

*  "  V'arillarono  Ic  nostrc  giovani  Imndc,  hI  ritirnronolc 
prime,  non  procederono  le  Heeomle,  Hi  fonfliHrrii  Ic  orili- 
nan/.e.  Ed  allora  avaiizo  prima  letilaitniiir-,  poHcia  incal- 
7.ando  i  passi,  od  alfiiie  in  corsa  un  Niipcrlin  rcirniinenlodi 
ravallcria  IJnRtieresc,  si  che  nell'  aHpilto  did  crcHcfntc 
pericolo  le  mili/.ie  civili,  nunve  alia  piierra,  trcpidarono, 
liigKirono,  BtraKcinarono  coll"  impclo  c  roll'  cKcinpio 
qualctie  compagnla  di  piii  vccchi  woldati,  si  ru|)|)ero  ^li 
ordinl,  si  udironolc  vori  di  Iradimcnto,  e  salvarsi  cht  jinii : 
ecomparvc  il  campo. — Proseciiirono  nrlla  Niirrcdente  nolle 
i  disordini  dcU'  esercito :  Antrodoco  fu  abliandonala  ;  il 
Gfcncral  Pepe  seguiva  i  ru).'giiivi.— Miserando  spcttacolo  1 


This  catastrophe  was  a  mortal  stroke  to  the 
insurrection;  for,  independent  of  the  79. 
moral  influence  of  such  a  discredit-  Subjuga- 
able  scene  succeeding  the  warm  ap-  "°"  "'  ^'^' 
peals  and  confident  predictions  of  the  return 'of 
revolutionists,  the  position  of  their  the  kinc. 
main  aniiy,  and  on  which  alone  they  March  12. 
could  rely  for  the  Jefense  of  Naples  at  St.  Ger- 
mans, under  Carascosa,  was  liable  to  be  turned 
by  the  Abruzzi,  and  was  no  longer  tenable.  The 
broken  remains  of  Pepe's  army  dispersed  in  the 
Apennines,  and  sought  shelter  in  its  fastnesses  ; 
some  made  their  appearance  in  Naples,  where 
they  excited  universal  consternation.  In  this 
extremity  the  parliament,  assembled  in  select 
committee,  supplicated  the  Prince  Vicar  to  me- 
diate between  them  and  the  king;  and,  above 
all,  to  arrest  the  march  of  the  Austrian  troops. 
But  it  was  all  in  vain.  The  Imperial  generals, 
seeing  their  advantage,  only  pressed  on  with 
the  more  vigor  on  the  disorderl}'  array  of  their 
opponents.  Walmoden  advanced  without  op- 
jjosition  through  the  Abruzzi.  Aquila  opened 
its  gates  on  the  10th  March,  its  castle 
on  the  12th;  and  Carascosa,  seeing  ^^larch  10. 
his  right  flank  turned  by  the  mountains,  gave 
orders  for  his  troops  to  retire  at  all  points  from 
the  position  they  occupied  on  the  Garigliones. 
This  was  the  signal  for  a  universal  dissolution 
of  the  force.  Infantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery, 
alike  disbanded  and  fled.  A  few  regiments  of 
the  royal  guard  alone  preserved  any  semblance 
of  military  array,  and  the  main  Austrian  army 
advanced  without  opposition  toward  Najiles, 
where  terror  was  at  its  height,  securities  of  all 
sorts  unsalable,  and  the  revolutionary  govern- 
ment powerless.  Finding  further  resistance 
hopeless,  Carascosa  made  the  Prince  Vicar, 
who  had  set  out  to  join  the  army,  return  to 

Naples;  and  on  the  20th  of  March  a    ,,     ,  „„ 
'■        •  e  1      4  -i-i-  1    March  20. 

susjjensiou  of  hostilities  was  agreed 

on,  the  condition  of  which  was  the  surrender 
of  Capua  and  Aversa  to  the  Imperial- 
ists.   This  was  followed  by  the  capit- 
ulation of  Naples  itself,  a  few  days  after,  on 
the  same  terms  as  that  of  Capua.     The  Austri- 
ans entered  on  the  following  day,  and    ., 
were  put  in  possession  of  the  forts ; 
while  Carascosa,  Pepe,  and  the  other  chiefs 
of  the  insurrection,  obtained  passports,  which 
were  willingly  granted  by  the  conquerors,  and 
escaped  from  the  scene  of  danger.     Sicily,  when 
the  revolution  had  a.'^sunied  so  virulent  a  form, 
submitted,  after  a  vain  attempt  at  re- 
sistance, shortly  after ;  and  the  king,   i  Loiieiia 
on  the  12th  Maj-,  amidst  general  ac-  ii.  444, 
clainations,rc-entered  his  capital,  now  455;  Ann. 
entirely   garrisoned,   and  under  the  3>>y'333' 
control  oi"  the  Austrian  troops.' 

It  Avas  during  these  events,  so  fatal  to  the 
cause  of  revolution  in  Naples,  that 

the  old  govcrnmont  was  overturned  .,    **"■     . 
i>-    1  i  1    il         ,       1      1      r  Movement 

in    Piedmont,    and    tlie    sfaiidar<l   ofoiiiiein- 
treason  hoisted  on  the  citadel  of  Tu-  siirjieiiis  in 
rin.     The  account  of  tlint, 
but  ill-timed  event,  which  look  place 
on  the  loth  March,  Jias  been  already  given,  as 

getlate  le  arriii  c  le  imsegne  ;  le  mncchinc  di  guerra,  fatio 
inciampo  al  fufigire,  rovcsciate,  Bpc'/./.ale  ;  gji  argini,  le 
trinccre,  opere  di  inoltc  nienti  c  di  moltc  braccia,  aperic, 
abbandonate  ;  ogni  ordine  Rcomposto  :  esercito  poro  in- 
nanzi  spaventoso  nl  ncmico,  oggi  vollo  in  ludtbrio."-^ 
CoLLETTA  (a  liberal  historian),  li.  437,438. 


March  23. 


ii)ortant  '!,''"''l'""'' 
'.  March  13. 


•260 


niSTOllY    OF   E  UK  OPE. 


[Chap.  Vlll. 


forniini;  the  Inst  in  the  cntnloijup  of  rcvolution- 
arv  triiiniphs  whioh  followinl  the  explosion  in 
Spniu.'  As  it  broke  out  at  the  very 
'i^"(»'n8  ^''"*''  ^^''^*'"  ^'"-^  iSeapolitan  armies 
were  ilissolving  at  the  sight  of  the 
Hungarian  Inissars,  and  only  ten  days  before 
Naples  opened  its  gates  to  the  victors,  it  was 
obviously  ft  hopeless  movement,  and  the  only 
wisdom  for  its  promoters  would  have  been  to 
have  extricated  themselves  as  quicth*  and 
speedily  as  they  could  fi-om  a  contest  now 
jdainly  become  for  the  time  hopeless.  But  the 
extreme  revolutionary  party,  deeming  them- 
selves too  far  committed  to  recede,  determ- 
ined on  tlie  most  desperate  measures. 
'  ■^''^^  -  ■  'War  was  resolved  on  by  the  leaders 
of  the  movement  at  Alessandria,  Avliich  had 
always  been  the  focus  of  the  insurrection,  and 
a  ministry  installed  to  carry  it  into  execution; 
but  the  Prince  Regent  escaped  in  the  night 
from  Turin,  with  some  regiments  of  troop.*, 
upon  whom  he  could  still  rely,  to  Novarra, 
wiicre  the  nucleus  of  a  royal  army  began  to 
be  formed,  from  whence,  two  daj^s 
^"  *  ■  after,  he  issued  a  declaration  re- 
nouncing the  office  of  Prince  Regent,  and  thus 
giving,  as  he  himself  said,  "now  and  forever, 
tlie  most  respectful  proof  of  obedience  to  the 
royal  aiithority."  This  made  all  persons  at 
Turin  who  were  still  under  the  guidance  of 
reason  aware  that  the  cause  of  revolution  was 
for  the  present  hopeless.  Symptoms  of  return- 
ing loyalty  appeared  in  the  army;  and  Count 
de  la  Tour,  who  was  secretly  inclined  to  the 
royalists,  resolved  to  retire  to  Alessandria, 
with  such  of  the  troops  as  he  could  rely  on,  to 
await  the  possible  return  of  better 
iv  346  349  times ;  and  orders  were  given  to  that 
'  ■  effect.' 
Meanwhile  the  allied  sovereigns  at  Laybach 
were  taking  the  most  vigorous  meas- 
Meetin"  of  "^^^  ^°  cnish  the  insurrection  in  Pied- 
the  Aufes,  mont.  The  Emperor  of  Austria  in- 
and  fresh  stantly  ordered  the  formation  of  a 
m^Genoa"  ^o^ps  of  observation  on  the  frontier 
of  that  kingdom,  drawn  from  the  gar- 
risons in  the  Lombard-Venetian  provinces ;  and 
the  Emperor  of  Russia  directed  the  assembling 
of  an  army  of  100,000  men,  taken  from  the  ar- 
mies of  the  South  and  Poland,  with  instructions 
to  march  direct  towards  Turin.  Requisitions 
were  made  to  the  Helvetic  cantons  to  take 
precautionary  measures  against  a  conflagra- 
tion which  threatened  to  embrace  the  whole  of 
Italy.  Before  this  resolution,  however,  could 
be  carried  into  effect,  intelligence  was  received 
that  the  queen's  regiment  of  dragoons  had  left 
Kovarra  amidst  cries  of  "Vive  la  Constitution!" 
M  h  91  "^^'^  news  60  elevated  the  spirits  of  the 
■  insurgents  that  the  orders  to  retire  to 
Alessandria  were  countermanded,  and  on  the 
following  day  they  issued  from  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment a  proclamation,  in  which,  after  de- 
claring that  the  king  was  a  captive  in  the  hands 
of  Austria,  and  that  the  Prince  A'icar  had  been 
deceived,  they  called  on  the  Piedmontese  to 
take  up  arms,  promising  them  "the  succor  of 
the  Lombards  and  the  support  of  France." 
This  appeal  had  little  effect;  the  intelligence 
of  the  unresisted  march  of  the  Austrians  to- 
ward Naples  froze  every  heart  in  the  capital. 
At  Genoa,  however,  the  popular  determination 


was  more  strongly  evinced.  A  proclamation 
of  the  governor,  calling  on  the  people 
to  abandon  the  constitution  and  sub-  "'»■■<="  24. 
mit  themselves  to  the  former  government,  led 
to  a  fresh  compiotion,  in  which  he  narrowly 
escaped  with  his  life,  and  which  was  only  ap- 
peased bv  the  appointment  of  a  junta  of  gov- 
ernment composed  of  the  most  decided  popular 
chiefs.  The  intelligence  of  this  fresh  insurrec- 
tion greatly  raised  the  spirit  of  the  leaders  at 
Turin,  and  the  preparations  for  war  ,  . 
m  tlie  capital  were  continued  with  jv.352  353. 
unabated  zeal  by  the  government.^ 

But  it  was  too  late:  the  fate  of  the  Piedmon- 
tese revolution  had  been  determined 
in  the  passes  of  the  Abruzzi.  Already,  increasing 
on  the  requisition  of  Charles  Felix,  difficulties 
the  deposed  king,   a  corps  of  Aus- of'he  in- 
trians,  fifteen  thousand  strong,  had  ^"'"S^"'^- 
been  assembled,  under  Count  Bubna,  on  the 
Ticino,  the  bridges  over  which  had  been  bro- 
ken down,  to  prevent  anj'  communication  with 
the  insurgents.      General  Latour,  meanwhile, 
the  governor  of  Turin,  seeing  the  cause  of  the 
revolution  hopeless,  and  wishing  to  avoid  the 
interference  of  foreigners,  was  taking  measures 
to  restore  the  royal  authority  there  without 
the  intervention  of  the  Austrians;  and  a  large 
part  of  the  army,  especially  the  ro3-al  carabin- 
eers, were  alread}'  disposed  to  second  him.   But 
his  designs  were  discovered  and  frustrated  by 
the  Minister  at  War,  a  staunch  revolutionist, 
who   caused  several  regiments   known  to   be 
most  attached  to  the  constitution  to  come  to 
Turin,  where  they  had  a  skirmish  with  the 
carabineers,  which  ended  in  two-thirds  of  the 
latter  body  leaving  the  capital  and  taking  the 
road  to  iS'ovarra,  where  eight  thousand  men 
were   already  assembled  round  the  2  comte 
royal  standard.^     The  knowledge  of  sta  Rosa, 
their  strength,  which  nearly  equaled  Evene- 
that  of  the  troops  on  the  other  side,  pj^'J^.o^" 
and  of  the  certain   support  of  the  147  ;  Ann. 
Austrians,  made  the  members  of  the  Hist.  iv. 
junta  lend  a  willing  ear  to  the  pro-  ^^'^'  ^^2. 
posals  of  the  Count  Mocenigo,  the  Russian  minis- 
ter, who  suggested,  in  the  name  of  the  emperor, 
a  submission  to  the  king  on  the  condition  of  a 
general  amnesty,  and  the  hope  of  a  constitution 
which  should  guarantee  the  interests  of  society. 

But,  as  often  happens  in  such  convulsions, 
the  ardor  of  the  extreme  and  enthu- 
siastic of  the  insurgents  defeated  all  Total  de- 
the  efforts  of  the  more  moderate  of  feat  of  the 
their  party,  and  left  to  the  Piedmon-  insurgents 
tese  the  exasperation  of  civil  war  and  April  8°"^ 
the  bitterness  of  foreign  subjugation. 
The  majoritv  of  the  junta  continued  to  hold 
out ;  and  their  eyes  were  not  opened  to  the 
declining  circumstances  of  their  cause  even  by 
the  disbanding  of  several  battalions  of  the  mili- 
tia, who,  instead  of  joining  the  general  rendez- 
vous at  Alessandria,  left  their  colors  and  re- 
turned home.  At  length,  seeing  no  prospect 
of  an  accommodation,  the  Count  de  la  Tour, 
who  had  joined  the  royal  army  at  Kovarra, 
and  was  at  its  head,  having  concerted  measures 
with  the  Austrian  general,  advanced  to  Ver- 
celli.  Here,  however,  he  was  met  by  a  con- 
siderable body  of  the  insurgents,  and  not  deem- 
ing himself  in  sufficient  strength  to  encounter 
them,  he  fell  back  to  Xovarra,  where  he  wai 


1S21.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


2G1 


joined,  on  the  ^tli  April,  by  tlie  Austrians,  who 
had  crossed  the  Ticino  at  Buffalora  and  IMor- 
tera.  Their  junction,  which  took  place 
April  8.  ^j.  ^^^  1^  ^jjg  morning  of  the  8th,  was 
unknown  to  the  insurgents,  who,  driving  the 
light  troops  of  the  royalists  before  them,  ap- 
peared, at  ten  in  the  morning,  in  front  of  the 
bastions  of  the  place,  anticipating  its  speedy 
capture,  and  an  easy  victory.  But  they  were 
soon  undeceived.  Suddenly  a  terrible  fire  of 
grape  and  musketry  opened  from  the  bastions; 
as  the  smoke  cleared  away,  the  Austrian  iini- 
form  and  schakos  were  seen  above  the  para- 
pets, and  the  insurgents  found  themselves  en- 
gaged with  the  combined  Austrian  and  Pied- 
montese  forces,  nearly  triple  their  own,  support- 
ed by  the  guns  of  the  place.  The  effect  of  this 
unexpected  apparition  was  immense  upon  tlie 
spirits  of  the  assailants,  who  immediately  fell 
back  toward  Vercelli.  The  retreat  was  con- 
ducted at  first  with  more  order  than  could 
have  been  expected,  as  far  as  the  bridge  of 
Agogna,  at  the  entrance  of  a  long  defile  formed 
by  the  chaussee,  where  it  traverses  the  marshes. 
There,  however,  the  rear-guard  was  charged 
vigorously  by  the  Austrian  horse,  and  thrown 
into  confusion;  the  disorder  rapidly  spread  to 
the  troops  engaged  in  the  defile,  who  were 
already  encumbered  with  their  artillery  and 
baggage-wagons;  and  ere  long  the  whole  dis- 
•  persed,  and  sought  their  homes,  leav- 
iv^355  356  ^^S  their  cannon,  baggage,  and  colors 
'  '  to  the  enemy.* 
This  affair  terminated  the  war,  although  it  had 
84.  cost  only  a  few  killed  and  wounded 
Submission    to  the  defeated  party;   so  swift  had 

^L  'and"  t^r-  ^^^^  *'^'^^^'  ^'S^^*  ^^^^  ^'^^>'  ^*^^  P^'^^" 
mination  of  oners  were  taken.  The  junta  at  Tu- 
the  war.  rin,  upon  hearing  of  this  defeat,  gave 
April  8.  orders  to  evacuate  the  capital,  and 
fall  back  to  Genoa,  where  they  declared  they 
would  defend  themselves  to  the  last  extremit}-. 
But  it  is  seldom,  save  in  a  single  city,  tliat  the 
cause  of  an  insurrection  can  be  maintained  after 
a  serious  defeat.  The  constitutionalists  melted 
away  on  all  sides;  every  one  hastened  to  show 
not  only  that  he  was  loyal  now,  but  had  been 
60  throughout,  and  in  tlie  worst  times.  Find- 
ing the  case  liopeless,  the  junta  surrendered 
Anril  9  their  powers,  on  the  day  following,  to 
a  committee  of  ten,  invested  witli  full 
power  to  treat.  They  immediately  sent  a  depu- 
tation to  General  la  Tour,  offering  him  the 
keys  of  the  capital,  and  entreating  that  it  should 
be  occupied  only  by  the  national  troops.  This 
was  agreed  to,  and  it  was  promised  that  the 
Austrians  should  not  advance  beyond  Vercelli. 
April  12  ^^^  ^^^^  12th,  General  la  Tour,  surround- 
ed by  a  brilliant  staff,  and  followed  only 
by  the  national  troop.s,  made  his  public  entrance 
into  Turin,  where  tlie  royal  authority  was  im- 
mediately re-established.  The  r(!vo!utionary 
journals  disappeared;  the  chilis  were  closed; 
and  the  public  funds,  which  had  lately  been  at 
69,  rose  to  77.  On  the  following  day,  the  Au.s- 
trian  troops  took  possession  of  Alessandria,  and 
other  fortresses  on  the  frontier;  and  as  the  old 
king,  Victor  Emmanuel,  persisted  in  his  reso- 
Anril  19  ^"tion  to  aljdioate  after  he  had  become 
a  free  agent,  and  his  sincerity  oould  no 
longer  ha  suspected,  his  brother-,  llie  Duke  de 
Genevois,  assumed  tli«  title,  and  l)eLMn  'o  ex- 


ercise the  powers  of  royalty.  A  commission 
was  appointed  to  examine  the  conduct  of  the 
chiefs  of  the  insurrection ;  the  leaders  had,  for 
the  most  part,  escaped  into  France ;  but  the 
eft'ects  of  forty-three  were  put  under  i  ^^„  u^gf 
sequestration,  and  themselves  exe-  iv.  357,  351), 
cuted,  happily  only  in  effig}'.'  370. 

The  violent  repression  of  the  revolution  in 
Italy,  b}'  the  Austrian  bayonets,  was        gj 
followed  by  a  great  variety  of  harsh  Violent  re- 
and  oppressive  measures  on  the  part  action  ia 
of  the  conquerors,  which  augured  ill    ^^^' 
for  the  peace  of  the  peninsula  in  future  times. 
A  general  disarmament  of  all  the  provinces  of 
the  Keapolitan  territories  where  Aus- 
trian soldiers  had  been  assassinated  was 
decreed,  and  enforced  by  domiciliary  visits ;  the 
whole  irregular  corps,  raised  since  5th  July, 
1820,  were  disbanded;  foreign  journals  loaded 
with  such  heavy  taxes  as  amounted  to  a  pro- 
hibition ;  and  the  most  rigorous  inquiry  made 
into  the  books,  many  of  them  highly  (langer- 
ous,  which  had  been  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
young  at  schools.     The  king,  on  his  re-  ,, 
turn,  published  a  decree,  engaging  to 
"stifle  all  personal  resentment,  and  make  the 
nation  forget,  in  years  of  prosperity,  the  disas- 
trous events  which  have  stained  the  last  days 
of  Neapolitan  history ;"  but  within  three  da^'s 
after,  measures  of  severity  began.    Four  courts- 
martial  were  constituted,  to  take  cognizance  of 
the  military  who  had  taken  part  in  the  revolts 
which  ended  in  the  revolution,  and  several  of 
the  leading  deputies  of  the  assembly  were  sent 
into  confinement  in  Austria.     By  a  decree  on 
July  1,  which  commented,  in  severe  but 
just  terms,  on  their  treacherous  conduct, 
the  army,  which  had  been  the  chief  instrument 
of  the  revolution,  was  disbanded,  and  reorgan- 
ized anew  on  a  different  footing.*    The  finances 
were  found  to  be  in  so  deplorable  a  condition, 
that  loans  to  the  amount  of  3,800,000  ducats 
(£850,000)  alone  enabled  the  king  to  provide 
for  inmiediate  necessities,  and  heavy  taxes  were 
levied  to  enable  him  to  carry  on  the  govern- 
ment.    Finally,  a  treaty  was  signed  on  28th 
October,  by  which  it  was  stipulated  that  the 
army  of  occupation  should  consist  of  2  coiictta 
forty-two    thousand   men,   including  ii.  451),  461, 
seven  thousand  cavalry,  besides  the  Treaty, 

troops  stationed  in  Sicilv;  and  that  iJo,    a.,^ 
.,       '      ,  ,  •      ■      ,1    ■'xr  ,■,         1^21  ;  Ann. 

it  should  remain  in  the  Neapolitan  Hist.  iv. 

territory  for  three  years,  entirely  at  3''0,  3G7, 

the  charge  of  its  iniiabitants.*  ''^'' 

ricdmont  did  not  fare  better,  after  the  dis- 


*  "L'armce  est  la  principale  caus  de  ccs  maux.  Fac- 
tieuse,  ou  entretenue  par  des  factions,  clic  noiis  a  alian- 
donnes  au  moment  du  danger;  et  nous  a  par  lii,  privcs 
des  moyens  de  prcvcnir  Ics  niallieureuscs  consequeucea 
d'une  revolution.  S'claiit  livree  a  uiii"  secte  (lui  delruit 
tous  les  liens  de  la  suliordination,  cl  de  robeissance, 
I'arnK^e,  apres  avoir  tralii  scs  devoirs  envers  nous,  8'e.«t 
vue  incapable  de  remplir  les  devoirs  (|UC  la  revolte  avail 
voulu  lui  ini|i()ser.  Kile  a  opOre  ellc-nit'ino  sn  destruc- 
tion, et  les  rbefs  (juVlle  s'ctail  donnes,  n'oiit  fait  que  pro- 
Hider  a  Na  dissolution  ;  cllc  n'od'rc  plus  aucunc  Bariintit! 
nocessairc  a  rexislenct  d'une  arniee  :  le  bien  de  nos  ulals 
exige  cependant  I'existenre  d'une  force  protectrice,  nous 
avouH  etc  obliges  de  la  dcmander  a  nos  Allies  ;  ils  I'ont 
mise  a  notrc  disposition.  Nous  devons  pourvoir  a  son 
cntretien,  mais  nous  nc  pouvons  pas  fairc  supporter  a  noa 
HUjcts,  le  pesant  fardeau  des  fraiB  d'une  armec  qui  n'existo 
plus,  parcc  qu'elle  n'a  pas  su  exister.  Ces  motifs  nous  onl 
dC'lerinines  a  dissoudre  I'armc'^e,  a  compter  du  24  Mars  de 
cette  annee." — Decrct,  1  Juillct,  1821.  Amiuuirc  Iltnto- 
rique,  iv.  304. 


lUSTOUY    OF    EUIIOPE. 


[Chap.  VIII. 


solution  of  tlie  revolutionary  forces,  tlinn  Naples 
p<5.  had  done.  The  prosecutions  against 
Reaction  in  the  principal  authors  of  the  revolt, 
ru-ilmoiit  \jotii  fivil  and  niilitarv,  were  conduct- 
ami  ireaty  i  •.■  •  i  •  i.  i  <• 
with  Aus-    cd  with  vigor,  and  great  nunil)ors  of 

iria.  persons  were  arrested,  or  deprived  of 

July  26.  their  eniploynionts.  Happily,  how- 
ever, as  the  whole  chiefs  of  the  conspiracy  had 
escaped  into  France,  there  were  no  capital  exe- 
cutions, except  among  a  few  of  the  most  guilty 
iii  the  army.  To  tranquiiize  the  fears  of  Aus- 
tria, and  give  stability  to  the  restored  order  of 
things  in  riedmont,  a  treaty  between  the  two 
T  I  •  Of  powers  was  concluded  on  the  2Gth  July, 
"  ^  *  ■  by  which  it  was  stipulated  that  an  im- 
perial force  of  twelve  thousand  men  should  con- 
tinue in  occupation,  until  September,  1822,  of 
Stradella,  Voghera,  Tortona,  Alessandria,  Va- 
lencia, Coni,  and  Vercelli.  Its  pay,  amounting 
to  600,000  francs  (£20,000)  a  month,  and  its 
maintenance,  extending  to  thirteen  thousand 
rations  daily,  Avas  to  be  wholly  at  the  charge 
of  the  Piedmontese  government.  A  general  am- 
nesty, disfigured  by  so  many  exceptions  as  to 

render  it  applicable  only  to  the  mass  of 
Oa''5^.^"  ^^^  insurgents,  was  published  on  30th 

September ;  and  a  few^  days  after,  a  very 
severe  decree  was  fulminated  against  the  secret 
societies,  which  had  brought  such  desolation  and 
„       j_   humiliation  on  Italy.     The  king  made 

his  public  entry  into  Turin  shortly  after, 
assumed  the  reins  of  government,  and  appoint- 
ed a  royalist  ministry;  but  every  one  felt  that 
it  was  a  truce  only,  not  a  peace,  which  had  been 
established  between  the  contending  parties,  and 
that  beneath  the  treacherous  surface  there  lurk- 
ed the  embers  of  a  conflagration  which  would 
»  Ann.  Hist,  break  out  with  additional  violence 
IV.  370,  379.  on  the  first  favorable  opportunity.' 

The  Emperor  Alexander  found,  on  his  return 
gy  to  St.  Petei-sburg  after  the  closing  of 

Revolt  in  a  the  Diet  of  Warsaw,  that  the  danger 
regiment  of  ]iad  reached  his  own  dominions,  and 
l^^'eters-  infected  even  the  guards  of  the  im- 
burg.  perial  palace.    During  his  absence  in 

Sept.  28,  Poland  a  serious  mutiny  occurred  in 
^°2"-  the  splendid  regiment  of  the  guards 

called  Semenoff,  which  had  been  established  by 
Peter  the  Great,  and  was  much  esteemed  b}- 
the  present  emperor.  It  was  occasioned  by  un- 
due severity  of  discii)line  on  the  part  of  the 
colonel,  who  was  a  Courlander  by  birth,  and 
enamored  of  the  German  mode  of  compelling 
obedience  by  the  baton.  The  regiment  openly 
refused  to  obey  orders,  broke  the  windows  of 
its  obnoxious  colonel,  and  was  only  reduced  to 
obedience  by  the  courage  and  sang  froid  of  the 
governor  of  St.  Petersburg,  General  Milarado- 
Avitch,  at  whose  venerated  voice  the  mutineers 
were  abashed,  and  retired  to  their  barracks. 
It  was  ordered  by  the  Czar  to  be  dissolved,  and 
the  officers  and  men  dispersed  through  other 
regiments,  and  the  most  guilty  delivered  over 
to  courts-martial.  The  St.  Petersburg  papers 
all  represented  this  mutiny  as  the  result  merel}' 
of  misgovemment  on  the  part  of  its  colonel, 
and  unconnected  with  political  events;  but  its 
succeeding  so  rapidly  the  military  revolutions 
in  Spain  and  Naples  led  to  an  opposite  opin- 
ion being  generally  entertained,  and  it  had  no 
6lJi;ht  ii.tiueiice  in  producing  the  vigorous  reso- 


utions  taken  at  the  congresses  of  Troppau  and 
Laybach  against  the  insurgents  in  the  south  of 
Europe.  This  impression  was  increased  by  the 
emperor  in  the  following  year,  after  his  annual 
journej'  to  the  soutlv^'rn  provinces,  after  the 
usual  great  reviews  of  the  arinj'  i  j^^^  jjjg, 
there,  returning  abruptly  to  St.  Pe-  iii.  3U6,  307, 
tersburg.'  '^'•304. 

In  truth,  Alexander  was  now  seriously  alarm- 
ed, and  the  suspicions  which  he  had  eg  ^H 
conceived  as  to  the  fidelity  of  his  Alexander  ^1 
troops,  and  the  dread  of  insurrec-  refuses  to  * 
tion,  not  only  embittered  all  the  re-  g"'j![I^_" ''"' 
maining  years  of  his  life,  but  mate- 
rially modified  his  external  policy.  This  ap- 
peared in  the  most  decisive  manner  in  his  con- 
.duct  in  regard  to  the  Greek  revolution,  which 
began  in  this  year,  and  which  will  form  the  in- 
teresting subject  of  a  subsequent  chapter  of 
this  History.  Every  thing  within  and  without 
eminently  favored  a  great  and  decisive  move- 
ment in  favor  of  the  Greeks,  on  whose  behalf^ 
as  co-religionists,  the  waime.st  sympathy  exist- 
ed among  all  classes  in  the  Piussian  empire.  Th© 
armj'  was  unanimous  in  favor  of  it,  and  at  a 
great  review  of  his  guards,  fifty  thousand  strong, 
in  September,  1821,  at  AVitepsk,  the  feelings  of 
the  soldiers  were  so  strong  on  the  subject  that, 
amidst  unbounded  demonstrations  of  enthusi- 
astic loj-altj',  they  could  not  be  prevented  from 
giving  vent  to  tlieir  warlike  ardor  in  favor  of 
their  Greek  brethren.  The  news  of  the  insur- 
rection of  Prince  Ipsilanti  in  Moldavia  reached 
the  emperor  at  Laybach,  and  such  was  the  con- 
sternation of  the  European  powers  at  the  revo- 
lutions of  Spain  and  Italy  at  that  period,  that 
no  serious  opposition  was  to  be  apprehended  to 
any  measures,  how  formidable  soever,  which  he 
might  have  proposed,  against  the  Turks,  or  even 
their  entire  expulsion  from  Europe.  But  that 
very  circumstance  determined  the  Czar,  in  op- 
position to  the  declared  wish  of  both  his  army 
and  people,  to  disavow  the  insurrection.  He  saw 
in  it,  not,  as  heretofore,  a  movement  in  favor  of 
the  Christian  faith,  or  an  eft'ort  for  religious  free- 
dom, but  a  revolutionary  outbreak,  similar  to 
those  of  Spain  and  Italy,  which  he  could  not 
countenance  without  departing  from  his  princi- 
ples, or  support  without  the  most  imminent  risk 
of  the  contagion  spreading  to  his  own  troops. 
He  returned  for  answer,  accordingly,  to  the  earn- 
est application  for  aid  from  the  insurgent  Greeks, 
"  Not  being  able  to  consider  the  enterprise  of 
Ipsilanti  as  any  thing  but  the  effect  of  the  ex- 
citement •which  characterizes  the  present  pe- 
riod, and  of  the  inexperience  and  levity  of  that 
young  man,  he  had  given  orders  to  the  Minister 
of  the  Interior  to  disapprove  of  it  formall}-." 
The  consequence  was  that  the  insurrection  was 
crushed,  and  a  great  number  of  the  j  ^^^  jjj^j 
heroic  youths  who  had  taken  up  iv.  303, 304 , 
arms  in  defense  of  their  faith  per-  Biog.  Univ. 
ished  under  the  sabres  of  the  Mus-  j^^'j  ^^^' 
sulmans.^* 


*  The  Emperor  Alexander,  in  a  highly-interesting  eon- 
versation  with  M.  de  Chateaubriand  at  A'erona  in  1&23, 
explained  the  views  on  this  important  subject  :  "  Je  suis 
bien  aise,"  said  he,  "  que  vous  soyez  venu  a  Verone,  afin 
de  rendre  temoignage  a  la  verite.  Auriez-vous  cm, 
comme  le  disent  nos  ennemis,  que  I'-AUiance  n'est  qu'un 
mot  qui  ne  sen  qu"  a  couvrir  des  ambitions  ?  Cela  flit  pu 
etre  vrai  dans  Tancicn  etat  des  ohoses  :  m:  is  il  s"agii  biiii 
aujourd'hui  de  quel.jues  inte.'Gis  piirncutiers,  quund  le 


1821.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


263 


This  year  the  ah'ead\'  gigantic  empire  of 
Russia  received  a  huge  addition  by 
Extension  ^^^'^  appropriation  of  a  vast  territory 
or  the  Rus-  opposite  Kaoitchatka,  on  the  north- 
eian  empire  -n'estern  coast  of  America.  Several 
AnTerica  settlements  of  the  Russians,  chiefly 
for  the  purpose  of  fisliing  and  the 
fur-trade,  had  ah-eady  been  made  oa  this  desert 
and  inhospitable  coast  from  the  opposite  shores 
of  Asia,  which,  in  the  immensity  of  tlie  wilder- 
ness, had  scarcely  been  noticed  even  by  the  Unit- 
ed States,  most  interested  in  preventing  them. 
They  were  for  the  most  part  made  on  the 
shores  which  had  been  discovered  b}'^  Captain 
Cook  and  Vancouver,  so  that,  on  the  footing 
of  priority  of  discovery,  the  best  claim  to  them 
belonged  to  Great  Britain.  But  England  al- 
ready possessed  an  enormous  territory,  amount- 
ing to  four  million  square  miles,  of  which  scarce 
a  tenth  was  capable  of  cultivation,  and  her  gov- 
ernment was  indifferent  to  the  settlement  of 
Russians  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific.  The  con- 
sequence was  that  they  were  allowed  quietly 
to  take  possession,  and  on  the  (1(3)  28th 
1821  '  September  the  Czar  issued  a  ukase  de- 
fining the  limits  of  the  Russian  territory 
in  America,  which  embraced  twice  as  much  as 
the  whole  realm  of  France.  The  ukase  also 
confined  to  Russian  subjects  the  right  of  fish- 
ing along  the  coast  from  Behring  Straits  to  the 
southern  cape  of  the  island  of  Oui-off,  and  for- 
bade all  foreign  vessels  to  fish  within  a  hun- 
dred miles  of  the  coast,  under  pain  of  confisca- 
tion of  their  cargo.  These  assumed  rights  have 
not  hitherto  been  called  in  question,  but  as  the 
Anglo-Saxons  in  America  are  as  aspiring  as  the 
Muscovites,  and  growing  even  more  rapidlj',  it 
1  Ukase,  is  not  likely  that  this  will  long  con- 
Sept.  28,  tinue  ;  and  it  is  not  impossible  that 
1821 ;  Ann.  ^jjg  ^^^^  great  races  which  appear  to 
304  305-  divide  the  world  are  destined  to  be 
Biog.  Univ.  first  brought  into  collision  on  the 
Ivi.  189.        shores  of  the  Pacific.' 

The  increasing  jealousy  of  the  Czar  at  liberal 
go.         opinions,  and  the  secret  societies  by 
Suppres-      which  it  was  attempted  to  propagate 
sionoffree-  them  in  his  dominions,  was  evinced 
masons'        .      .i  i  i 

and  other  ^^  "^^  same  year  by  a  decree  sup- 
secret  so-  pressing  the  order  of  Freemasons 
cieiies  throughout  the  whole  of  his  domin- 

ions.     In  spite,   however,   of  every 


Oct.  15. 


monde  civilise  est  en  peril.  II  ne  peut  plus  y  avoir  de 
Politique  Aiiglaise,  FrauQaise,  Pru.ssicinic,  Auiriohiciiiie. 
II  n'y  a  plus  qu'  une  politique  gonorale  qui  doit,  pour  Ic 
salut  dc  tous,  etre  adrnise  en  cominun  par  les  peuplcs  ct 
les  rois.  C'est  a  moi  de  me  moiitrer  le  premier  convaincu 
dcs  principes,  sur  lesquels  j'ai  Ibnde  rAlliance.  Une  oc- 
casion s'est  presentee,  le  soulevtinent  de  la  Grece.  Rien 
eans  doute  ne  paraissait  etre  plu°  duns  mes  intcrcts,  dans 
ceux  de  man  peuple,  dans  I'opinion  de  mon  pays  qu'  une 
guerre  rcljxieu.se  contrc  la  Turcjuie;  mais  j'ai  cru  remar- 
<iuer,  dans  les  troubles  du  I'clopoiie.se,  le  sinne  revolu- 
tionnaire  ,  dcs  lors  je  me  suis  abstenu.  yue  n'a-t-on  fait 
pour  rompre  I'Alliaiice  .'  '^n  a  chcrchc  tour  a  tour  a  me 
donncr  d«s  provocations  ;  on  a  blesser  mon  amour-propre  ; 
on  m'a  outrage  ouvertcment.  On  me  coniiaissait  bien 
mal,  si  Ton  a  cru  que  mcs  principes  nc  tcnaicnt  qu'  a  des 
vanites,  ou  pouvaient  cedcr  a  des  resscntiments.  Non,  je 
ne  me  separerai  jamais  dcsmonarqucs  auxcjuclsje  mo  sum 
uni.  II  doit  etre  permis  aux  Kois,  d'uvoir  des  alliances 
publiques,  pour  se  deTcndre  contre  les  societos  secretes. 
Qu|  cst-ce  qui  pourrait  me  tenter?  Qu'  ai-je  besoin  d'ac- 
croilre  mon  empire  ?  La  Providence  n'a  pas  mis  a  mes 
ordres  huit  cent  mille  soldals,  pour  satisfaire  mon  ambi- 
tion ;  mais  pour  proteger  la  religion,  la  tnorale,  la  justice  ; 
et  pour  faire  regncr  ces  principes  d'ordre,  sur  lesquels  re- 
pose la  soclelc  humaine."— Ciiatealbbiand,  Vungres 
de  Virone,  i.  221 ,  222. 


precaution  that  could  be  taken,  the  secret  so- 
cieties continued  and  multiplied ;  and  it  was 
ere  long  ascertained  that  they  embraced  not 
only  many  of  the  first  nobles  in  the  country, 
but,  what  was  far  more  dangerous,  several  of 
the  officers  high  in  the  armj',  and  even  in  the 
imperial  guard.  Obscure  intimations  of  the 
existence  of  a  vast  conspiracy  were  frequently 
sent  to  the  government,  but  not  in  so  distinct 
a  form  as  to  enable  them  to  act  upon  it 
until  1823,  when  a  ukase  was  issued,  j^^"^ 
denouncing,  under  the  severest  penal- 
ties, all  secret  societies,  especially  in  Poland  ; 
and  a  number  of  leaders  of  the  "  Patriotic  So- 
ciety," in  particular  Jukasinsky,  Dobrogoyski, 
Machynicki,  and  several  others,  chiefly  Poles, 
were  arrested,  and  sent  to  Siberia.  It  was 
hoped  at  the  time  that  the  danger  was  thus 
removed,  but  it  proved  just  the  reverse.  The 
seizure  of  these  chiefs  only  served  to  warn  the 
others  of  the  necessity  of  the  most  rigorous  se- 
crecy, and  gave  additional  proof,  as  it  seemed  to 
them,  of  the  necessity  for  a  forcible  reformation 
in  the  state.  The  secret  societies  rapidly  spread, 
especially  among  the  highest  in  rank,  the  first 
in  patriotic  spirit,  and  the  most  generous  in  feel- 
ing, both  in  the  civil  and  militarj'  service ;  a 
melancholy  state  of  things,  when  those  who 
should  be  the  guardians  of  order  are  leagued 
together  for  its  overthrow,  but  the  natural  re- 
sult of  a  state  of  society  such  as  then  existed 
in  Russia,  where  the  power  of  the  sovereign, 
entirely  despotic,  was  rested  on  the  blind  sub- 
mission of  the  vast  majority  of  the  i  Ann.  Hist 
nation,  and  a  longing  for  liberal  in-  vi.  381,383- 
stitutions  and  the  enjoyment  of  free-  P'°n'aQ  "'^' 
dom  existed  only  in  a  very  limited  schnitzler 
cii'cle  of  the  most  highly-educated  iiist.Int.de 
classes,  but  was  felt  there  in  the  ut-  'a  Russie, 
most  intensity.'  j.  90,  91. 

The  desponding  feelings  of  the  Czar,  occa- 
sioned by  the  discovery  that  his  ef-  9i_ 
forts  for  the  amelioration  of  his  coun-  General 
try  were  only  met  by  secret  societies  'ailurc  of 
banded  together  for  his  destruction,  ror'.s'pmi- 
was  much  aggravated  by  the  failure  anthropic 
of  some  of  liis  most  favorite  philan-  projects, 
tliropic  projects.  In  many  of  the  provinces 
in  which  the  j)oasants  had  received  from  the 
sovereign  or  their  lords  the  perilous  gift  of 
freedom,  they  had  sufi'ered  severely  from  the 
change.  Tiie  newly  enfranchised  peasants,  in 
many  places,  regretted  the  servitude  which  had 
secured  to  them  an  asylum  in  sickness  or  old 
age.  In  the  province  of  Witepsk,  where  the 
change  liad  been  carried  to  a  gi'cat  extent, 
they  refused  to  pay  the  capitation-ta.\  impo.?od 
on  them  in  lieu  of  their  bondage,  alleging 
that  they  liad  not  the  means  of  doing  go ;  and 
besieged  the  empress-dowager,  who  was  known 
to  adhere  to  old  ideas,  with  the  loudest  com 
plaints  on  the  "fatal  gift"  which  tliey  had  re- 
ceived. So  serious  did  the  disorders  become 
among  the  new  freemen,  that  they  were  only 
appeased  by  the  quartering  of  a  largo  military 
force  on  the  disturbed  districts.  Russia  suffer- 
ed even  more  than  the  other  countries  of  Eu- 
rope, in  tills  and  the  preceding  j-ear,  from  the 
dejircciation  of  prices,  wliich  fell  with  unmiti- 
gated severity  on  the  holders  of  the  immense 
stores  of  its  rude  produce.  Banks,  iiy  order 
of   the    emperor,    were   established    in    many 


2tVl 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Ckai-.  VIIT. 


places  to  roliovo  the  distresses  of  the  siir- 
chiirged  proprietors,   but  they  did   not  meet 

•  .  II  .  with  ireiieral  success ;  and  the  ad- 
>  Ann.  ilist.  ^  1   .     •     1     t 

vi.  310,301  ,  vanees  meant  to  stiiiiuhite  mdustry, 
Tejsoborski,  were  too  often  ajiplied  only  to  iVed 
li.  373.  luxury  or  minister  to  depravity.' 

The  external  transactions  of  Russia  in  regard 
^„  to  tiie  Ooiiirress  of  Verona,  the  Greek 

Pn-iidiViI       revolution,  and  the  Turkish  Avai',  will 
Howl  ai  St.    be  recounted  nioi-e  suitably  in   the 
I'ricrs-         chapters  which  relate  to  those  im- 
^^°'  portant  subjects,     liut  there   are   a 

few  internal  events  in  Russia  which  deserve 
notice  before  the  melancholy  period  when  Alex- 
ander jiaid  the  common  debt  of  mortality.  The 
first  of  these  was  the  dreadful  inundation  at 
St  retersburg,  in  November,  1824.  The  em- 
peror had  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  Orenburg, 
and  the  south-eastern  provinces  of  his  empire, 
to  his  jialace  at  Tzarskocelo  near  St.  Petersburg, 
when  a  terrible  liurrieane  arose,  which,  sweep- 
.  .  g  ing  overthewholeoftheBaltic, strewed 
its  shores  with  wrecks,  and  inflicted  the 
most  frightful  devastation  on  all  the  harbors 
with  which  it  is  studded.  But  the  catastrophe 
at  the  capital  was  so  frightful,  that  for  some 
hours  it  was  menaced  with  entire  de- 
li-r  '^IHst^  struction,  and  all  but  accomplished  a 
hit',  i.  85 ;  remarkable  propthecy,  made  to  Peter 
Ann.  Ilist.  the  Great  when  he  commenced  its  con- 
jli:  ^*^'''  struction,thatit  woidd  one  day  perish 
under  the  waves  of  the  Baltic.'* 
To  imderstand  how  this  happened,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  obtain  a  clear  idea  of  the 
Descrip-  local  circumstances  and  situation  of 
tion  of  the  St.  Petersburg.  When  Peter  selected 
situation  of  the  islands  at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
burj'^"^'^^"  ^^'^'^'  "wl^'cli,  descending  from  the 
vast  expanse  of  the  Lake  Ladoga, 
empties  itself  in  a  mighty  stream  into  the  Bal- 
tic, for  the  site  of  his  future  capital,  he  was 
influenced  entirely  by  the  suitableness  of  its 
situation  for  a  great  harbor,  of  which  he 
severely  felt  the  want,  as  Archangel,  on  the 
frozen  shores  of  the  "White  Sea,  was  the  only- 
port  at  that  period  'in  his  dominions.  Carried 
away  by  this  object,  which,  no  doubt,  was  a 
very  important  one,  he  entirely  overlooked 
the  probable  unhealthiness  of  the  situation, 
where  a  metropolis  rested  like  Venice  on 
marshy  islands,  the  highest  part  of  which  was 
only  elevated  a  few  feet  above  the  branches  of 
the  river  with  which  they  were  surrounded ; 
the  extreme  cold  which  must  ensue  in  winter 
I  An.  Hist  froiTi  the  close  proximity  of  enormous 
vii.  366  ;  ice-fields,^  and  the  probability  of  its 
Schnitzler,  being  exposed  to  the  greatest  danger 
'■     ■  from  a  sudden  rising  of  the  waters 

of  the  river  owing  to  a  high  wind  of  long  con- 
tinuance blowing  in  the  waters  of  the  Baltic, 


*  A  curious  incident,  hiffhly  characteristic  of  Peter,  oc- 
curred at  lliis  time.  "  When  the  foundation  of  his  new 
capital  was  commencing  on  the  desolate  islands  of  the 
Neva,  which  are  now  covered  by  the  fortress  of  Cronstadt 
and  the  superb  palaces  of  St.  Petersburg,  Peter  observed, 
by  accident,  a  tree  marked  at  a  considerable  height  from 
the  ground.  He  called  a  peasant  of  Finland,  who  was 
worliing  near,  and  asked  him  '  what  the  mark  was  for '' 
'It  is  the  highest  level,'  replied  the  peasant,  'which  the 
water  reached  in  the  inundation  of  1680.'  'You  lie!' 
cried  the  Czar  in  a  fury  ;  '  what  you  say  is  impossible  ;' 
and  seizing  a  hatchet,  fie  with  his  own  hands  cut  down 
the  tree,  hoi)ing  thereby  to  extinguish  alike  all  memory  of 
the  former  flood,  and  guard  against  the  recurrence  of  a 
similar  calamity."— Sch.sitzleb,  i.  65,  66. 


and  back  those  whicli  usually  flow  from  the 
Lake  Ladoga.  It  was  this  which  had  pic- 
viouslv  occurred  on  more  than  one  occasion, 
and  which  now  llircalened  the  capital  with 
destruction. 

Regardless  of  these  dangers,  and  of  the  en- 
ormous consumptiiin  of  liuinan  life 
which  took  place  during  the  building  continued 
of  the  city,  fi'om  the  unhealthiness  of 
the  situation,  which  is  said  to  have  amounted 
to  a  hundred  tlidiisand  persons,  the  Czar  drove 
on  the  work  with  the  impetuosity  which  foimcd 
so  loading  a  feature  in  his  character,  and  at 
length  the  basis  of  a  great  city  was  laid  amidst 
the  watery  waste.  On  the  spongy  soil  and  low 
swamps,  which  had  previously  encumbered  the 
course  of  the  Neva,  the  modern  eap>ital  arose. 
Vast  blocks  of  granite,  brought  from  the  adja- 
cent plains  of  Finland,  where  they  are  strewed 
in  huge  masses  over  the  surface,  faced  the 
quays;  palaces  were  erected,  of  more  fragile 
materials,  on  the  surface,  within  the  isles;  and 
the  Perspective  Newski  is  perhaps  now  the  most 
imposing  street  in  Europe,  from  the  beauty  of 
its  edifices  and  the  magnitude  of  its  dimensions. 
The  splendid  facade  of  the  Admiralty,  the 
Winter  Palace  of  the  emperor,  the  noble  Cathe- 
dral of  St.  Isaac — the  statue  of  Peter  the  Great, 
resting  on  a  single  block  of  granite  of  1800 
tons  weight — the  noble  pillar  of  Alexander, 
formed  of  a  single  stone  of  the  same  material, 
the  largest  in  the  world,  combined  in  a  single 
square,  now  overpower  the  imagination  of  the 
beholder  by  their  magnificence,  and  the  im- 
pression they  convey  of  the  power  of  the  sove- 
reign by  whose  energy  these  marvels  have  been 
made  to  spring  up  amidst  the  watery  wilder- 
ness. But  the  original  danger,  arising  from 
the  lowness  of  the  situation,  and  its  liability  to 
inundations,  still  continues.  Great  as  it  is,  the 
power  of  the  Czar  is  not  so  great  as  that  of  the 
Baltic  waves.  From  the  main  channel,  where 
the  Keva  majestically  flows  through  superb 
quays  of  granite,  surmounted  by  piles  of  pal- 
aces, branch  oft",  as  from  the  great  canal  at 
Venice,  numerous  smaller  streams,  forming  by 
their  intersection  so  many  isles,  some  covered 
with  streets,  and  forming  the  most  populous 
quarters;  others  adorned  by  beautiful  villas 
and  public  gardens,  the  recreation  of  the  citi- 
zens during  their  brief  but  brilliant  summer. 
But  these  canals  open  so  many  entrances  for 
the  floods  of  the  Neva  or  waves  of  the  Baltic 
to  penetrate  into  every  part  of  the  citj*.  Kone 
of  it  is  elevated  in  its  foundations  more  than  a 
few  feet  above  the  ordinary  level  of 
the  water,  and  the  spectator  shudders  ,.268  ' 
to  think  that  the  rise  of  the  flood,  269;  ' 
even  in  a  small  degree,  may  threaten  ?  ^'J,"'cJj'c'L' 
the  entire  city  with  destruction.'  •     >     -     • 

This  was   what  in  efi'ect  happened  at  this 
time.     On   several  former  occasions         95 
the   river  had    been  much  swollen:  Great inun- 
once,  immediately  before  the  birth  dation  of 
of  the  present  emperor,   it  was  ten  j,y,.„ 
feet  above  its  ordinary  level.      But  Nov.  19, 
this  was  as  nothing  compared  to  the  1^24. 
terrible  inundation   which   now    presaged  his 
death.     All  the   19th  of  November   the  wind 
blew  from  the  soutli  west  with  terrific  violence, 
and  brought  the  Baltic  waves  in  such  a  pro- 
digious mass  to  the  mouth  of  the  Neva  that  ita 


1824.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


265 


waters  were  made  to  regorge,  and  soon  the 
quays  were  overflowed,  and  the  lower  parts  of 
the  city  began  to  be  submerged.  This  at  first, 
however,  excited  very  little  attention,  as  such 
floods  were  not  uncommon  in  the  end  of 
iiutumn ;  but  the  alarm  soon  spread,  and  ter- 
i-or  was  depicted  in  every  visage,  when  it 
rapidly  ascended  and  spread  over  the  whole 
town.  By  half  past  ten  the  water  in  the  Per- 
spective ^'ewski  was  ten  feet  deep ;  in  the  high- 
est parts  of  the  city  it  was  five.  The  Neva  had 
risen  four  fathoms  above  its  ordinary  level,  and, 
worse  still,  it  was  continuing  to  rise.  The 
whole  inhabitants  crowded  to  the  upper  stories 
of  the  houses.  Despair  now  seized  on  every 
heart;  the  reality  of  the  danger  came  Iwme  to 
every  mind ;  the  awful  scenes  of  the  Deluge 
were  realized  in  the  very  centre  of  modei-n 
civilization.  At  Cronstadt  a  ship  of  the  line 
was  lifted  up  from  a  dry  dock,  and  floated  over 
the  adjacent  houses  into  the  great  square.  At 
eight  in  the  morning  the  cannon  of  alarm  began 
to  be  discharged.  The  terrible  warning,  re- 
peated every  minute,  so  unusual  amidst  the 
ordinary  stillness  of  the  capital,  proved  the 
terror  which  was  felt  by  government,  and  aug- 
mented the  general  consternation.  Ships  torn 
up  from  their  anchors;  boats  filled  with  trem- 
bling fugitives ;  stacks  of  corn  borne  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  waves  from  a  great  distance ;  cattle 
buffeting  with  the  torrent,  intermingled  with 
corpses  of  persons  drowned,  or  at  their  last 
gasp,  imploring  aid;  and  immense  quantities 
of  furniture,  and  movables  of  every  description, 
were  floated  on  to  the  most  intricate  and  se- 
cluded parts  of  the  city.  The  waters  continued 
to  rise  till  four  in  the  afternoon,  and  every  one 
imagined  that  all  who  could  not  save  them- 
selves in  boats  would  be  drowned.  The  rush 
was  dreadful,  accordingly,  into  every  vessel 
that  could  be  seized  on,  and  numbers  perished 
in  striving  to  get  on  board.  At  five  in  the 
evening  the  wind  fell,  and  the  water  sunk  as 
rapidly  as  it  had  risen,  and  by  the  next  morning 
the  Neva  had  returned  to  its  former  channel. 
The  total  loss  occasioned  by  the  wind  and  the 
inundation  was  estimated  at  100,000,000  rubles 
.  ■  (£4,000,000);  five  hundred  persons 
ler  i  86^'  pei'ished  in  the  waves,  and  twice  tiiat 
87 ';  Ann.  number,  sick  or  infirm,  were  drowned 
Hist.  vii.  in  their  houses.  Such  had  been  the 
cfaz'eite^c  ^'io'<^"ce  of  the  wind  and  flood,  tliat 
St.  Peters-  when  the  waters  subsided  they  were 
burg,  Nov.  found  to  liave  floated  from  their  place 
?!!'>?''  cannons  weighing  two  tons  and  a 
^^^'^-  half.' 

At  the  sight  of  this  terrible  calamity,  wliich 

gg  for  a  time  8ecme<l  to  bid  defiance  to 

NoblecliJir-  t''^  utmost  human  efforts,  tlie  Czar  in 

iiy  of  the     despair  stretched  forth  his  hands  to 

Vl\?T',\       Heaven,  and  ini])Iorcd  that  its  anger 

anil  nobles.       •   i  ^   /•  1 1  '  ■  •  •       ,     '^   , 

might  lall  uj)on  his  own  lu^ad,  and 

spare  hi.s  peoj)ie.  He  did  not,  however,  neg- 
lect all  human  means  of  mitigating  the  cahim- 
ity.  Throwing  himself  into  a  bark,  li'j  visited 
in  person  th<!  (quarters  most  threatened,  dis- 
tributed the  troops  in  the  way  most  likely  to 
be  serviceable,  and  exposed  himself  to  death 
repeatedly  in  order  to  save  liis  people.  All 
would  liiive  been  unavailing,  however,  and  the 
city  totally  destroyed,  if  the  wind  liad  not 
mercifully  abated,  and  the  waters  of  tlic  iS'eva 


found  their  usual  vent  into  tlic  Baltic.  Mu- 
nificent subscriptions  followed  the  calamity ; 
the  emperor  headed  the  list  with  fifty  thou- 
sand pounds.  The  most  solid  houses  were  im- 
pregnated with  salt,  and  in  a  manner  ruined  ; 
and  a  severe  frost  which  set  in  immediately 
after,  before  the  water  had  left  the  houses, 
augmented  the  general  suffering  by  filling  them 
with  large  blocks  of  ice.  Even  the  most  solid 
granite  was  exfoliated,  and  crumbled  away  be- 
fore spring,  from  the  eftects  of  the  frost  on  the 
humid  structures.  The  people  regarded  this 
calamity  as  a  judgment  of  Heaven  for  not 
having  assisted  their  Christian  brethren  during 
their  recent  and  frightful  persecutions  from 
the  Turks — the  emperor  as  a  pun-  ,  sclinitzler 
ishment  for  sins  of  which  he  was  j.  so,  gi  ; 
more  immediately  concerned  in  his  Ann.  Hist, 
domestic  relations.'  vii.386,  388. 

The  year  1824  was  marked  by  a  ukase  or- 
dering a  levy  of  two  in  five  hundred 
males    over  the   whole   empire  —  a  internal 
measure  which  brought  120,000  men  measures 
to  the  imperial  standards.     As  this  °''j*^^'*', 
measure  was  adopted  during  the  con-  J^ent^of  the 
test  in  Greece,  and  when  all  thought  boundaries 
was  turned  toward  the  liberation  of  oi  Russian 
its    inhabitants    from  the   Ottoman  ^III'^Tt'' 
yoke,  it  Avas  obeyed  with  alacrity,       °' 
and  even  enthusiasm.   The  persons  drawn  took 
their  departure  as  for  a  holy  war,  amidbt  the 
shouts  of  their  relations  and  neighbors ;  and 
from  them,  in  great  part,  were  formed  the  re- 
doubtable bands  which  in  a  few  years  carried 
the  Russian  eagles  to  Varna,  Erivan,  and  Adri- 
anople.     A  dangerous  revolt  in  the  same  year 
broke  out  in  the  province  of  Novgorod,  owing 
to  the  peasants  having  been  misled  into  the 
belief  that  the  emperor  had  given  them  their 
freedom,    and  that  it  was  withheld   by  their 
lords,  which  was  only  crushed  by  a  great  dis- 
play of  military  force  and  considerable  blood- 
shed.     It   was  the   more   alarming,  from   its 
being  ascertained  that  the  conspiracy  had  its 
roots  in  the  military  colonies  recently  estab- 
lished in  the  southern  provinces.     The  finan- 
cial measures  adopted  in  1820   and  1822,  for 
withdrawing  a  large  part  of  the  assignats  from 
circulation,  were  continued  with  vigor  and  suc- 
cess— a  circumstance  which,  of  course,  made  a 
progressive  rise  in  the  value  of  money,  and  fall 
in  that  of  produce,   and   added   much  to   tlie 
general  distress  felt  among  the  class  of  pro- 
ducers.    Already  the  ruble  was  worth  50  per 
cent,  more  than  it  had  been  a  few  years  before. 
A  treaty  was  signed  on  the  27lh  A])iil  between 
Russia  an(^  the  I'nited  States,    which  settled 
the  respective  limits  of  their  vast  possessions 
in  North  America:  the  line  of  demarcation  was 
fixed  at  64"  north  latitude;  all  to  the  north 
was  Russian,  all  to  the  soutli  American  ;  and 
the  reciprocal  right  was  secured  to  the  iidiab- 
itaiifs  of  both  countries,  of  fishing  a  .Sclinjt/.ler 
on  each  oth(;r's  coasts,  navigating  Hist.  int.  i. 
the    i'acitic,    and   disendiarking  on  'J- ;  'I'rniiy, 
places  not  occiipi('<i,  but  for  the  pur-   jfj^.i-   Ann 
pose  only  of  trade  with  the  inhab-    Hist!  vii. 
itants,  or  8U)(plies  for  themselves.^     S^^y,  044. 

When,  in  1703,  the  Empress  Catherine  deem- 
ed it  time  to  select  a  spouse  for  her  grandson, 
Alexander,  she  cast  her  eyes  on  the  family  of 
the  Grand  Duke  of  Baden,  wlio  at  that  time  had 


IIISTUUV    OF    EUllOTE. 


[CllAR  VIII. 


98. 
The  Ein- 
iirfss  of 
Kussiii : 
hiT  tiirlll, 
parriil.isii', 
iiiurria):c, 
and  cliar- 
Bcler. 

Onobcr  9, 
17U3. 


llirt'o  dnui;htcrs,  giftcil  with  nil  the  virtiie  niul 
i;rnco9,  and  iiuioli  «.it'  tlio  beauty  of 
ilii'ir  SOX.  Tliey  iiH  iimdo  splt-ndiJ 
nlliiineos.  Tiie  cKlost  bei-uiiio  (.^110011 
of  Swollen  ;  the  youngest,  (^iieen  of 
Biivaria;  the  seeoml,  Knipross  of  Uiis- 
sia.  Married  vu  lUh  Oclober,  17'.>:5, 
to  the  young  Alexander,  then  only 
sixteen  years  of  age,  vhen  she  was 
fifteen,  she  took,  aecording  to  .the 
Kussian  custom,  the  name  of  Elizabeth  Alex- 
ejiona  instead  of  her  own,  whieh  was  Louise- 
Marie-Auguste,  under  which  she  had  been 
baptized.  The  pair,  though  too  young  for  the 
serious  duties  of  their  station,  charmed  every 
eye  by  the  beauty  of  their  figures,  and  the 
aifabiiity  of  their  manners.  But  the  union, 
however  ushered  ia  by  splendid  prognostica- 
tions, proved  unfortunate:  it  shared  the  fate  of 
nearly  all  in  every  rank  which  are  formed  by 
jiarental  authority,  before  the  disposition  has 
declared  itself,  the  constitution  strengthened, 
or  the  tastes  formed.  The  }"oung  empress  was 
gifted  with  all  the  virtues  and  many  of  the 
graces  of  her  sex.  Her  countenance,  though 
not  regular,  was  lightened  by  a  sweet  expres- 
sion ;  her  hair,  which  she  wore  in  locks  over 
her  shoulders,  beautiful:  her  figure  was  ele- 
gant, and  her  motions  so  graceful  that  she 
seemed  to  realize  the  visions  of  the  poet,  which 
made  the  goddess  reveal  herself  by  her  step.* 
In  disposition  she  was  in  the  highest  degree 
amiable  and  exemplar}-,  self-denying,  generous, 
and  affectionate.  But  with  all  these  charms 
and  virtues  she  wanted  the  one  thing  needful 
for  a  man  of  a  thoughtful  and  superior  turn  of 
mind:  she  was  not  a  companion.  !She  had  little 
conversation,  few  ideas,  and  none  of  that  elasti- 
1  Schnitzler  c'ty  of  mind  which  is  necessary  for 
i.  96,  97 ;  the  charm  of  conversational  inter- 
Lagarde,  course.  Hence  even  the  earliest  years 
bouvcnirs  „.,    .  .  j      i-         r 

of  their  marriage  were  productive  01 

nolastingties;  they  seldom  met,  save 
in  public ;  and  the  death  of  their  two 
(;ongrls"de  *^"V  children,  both  of  whom  were 
Verone,  i.  daughters,  deprived  them  of  the  en- 
207.  during  bond  of  parental  love.' 

Ko  one  need  be  told  that  conjugal  fidelity  is 
of  all  others  the  virtue  most  difficult  to  prac- 
tice on  the  throne,  and  that  it  is  never  so  much 
60  as  to  sovereigns  of  the  most  energetic  and 
powerful  minds.  Ardent  in  one  thing,  they  are 
not  less  so  in  another:  of  few,  from  Julius  C'a?sar 
to  Henry  IV.,  can  it  be  said  that  they  are,  like 
Charles  XII., 

"  Unconquered  lords  of  pleasure  and  of  pain." 

Alexander  was  not  a  sensualist,  and  he  had 
99.  not  the  passion  for  meretricmus  va- 
Amours  of  riety,  which  so  often  in  high  rank 
the  Czar,  j^^g  disgraced  the  most  illustrious 
characters.  But  his  mind  was  ardent,  his  heart 
tender,  and  he  had  the  highest  enjoyment  in 
the  confidential  epanchementa  which,  rarely  felt 
by  any  save  with  those  of  the  opposite  sex, 
can  never  be  so  but  with  them — by  sovereigns 
whose  elevation  keeps  all  of  their  own  at  a 
distance.  Before  many  years  of  his  married 
life  had  passed,  Alexander  had  3ielded  to  these 
dispositions;  and  the  knowledge  of  his  infidel- 
ities completed  the  estrangement  of  the  illus- 

*  "Et  vera  incessu  patuit  Dea  " — Virgil. 


du  Congres 
de  Verone, 
i.  £&3 ;  Cha- 


trious  couple.  ''Cut  of  these  infidelities  arose," 
says  il.  de  Chateaubriand,  "a  fidelity  which 
continued  eleven  years."  Alexander,  howevei', 
sull'ered  in  his  turn  by  a  righteous  retribution 
the  pangs  of  jealousy.  The  object  of  his  attach- 
ment (a  married  I'olish  lady  of  rank)  had  all 
the  beauty,  fasciiuition,  and  conversational  tal. 
eut  which  have  rendered  her  countrywomen 
so  celebrated  over  Europe,  and  to  which  even 
the  intellectual  breast  of  Kapolcon  did  hom- 
age ;  but  she  had  also  the  spirit  of  coquetry 
and  thirst  for  admiration  which  has  so  often 
turned  the  passions  they  have  awakened  into 
a  consuming  fire.  Unfaithful  to  duty,  she  had 
proved  equally  so  to  love :  the  influence  of  the 
emperor  was,  after  a  long  constancy,  super- 
seded by  a  new  attachment ;  and  the  liaison 
between  them  was  already  broken,  when  a  do- 
mestic calamitj'  overwhelmed  him  with  afilic- 
tioii.  Meanwhile  the  empress,  who  had  left 
Kussia,  and  sought  solace  in  foreign  traveling, 
mourned  in  silence  and  dignified  retirement 
the  infidelity  of  her  husband — the  blasting  of 
her  hopes.  Yet  even  then,  under  a  calm  and 
serene  air,  and  the  cares  of  a  life  entirely  de- 
voted to  deeds  of  beneficence,  was  concealed 
a  heart  wasted  by  sorrow,  but  faith-  . 

ful  to  its  first  attachment.     "How  ^  ^-  ^^.^^' 
often,"  says  the  annalist,  "  was  she  Lagarde,' 
surprised   in    tears,    contemplating  ^]on&'"^3  de 
the  portrait  of  that  Alexander,  so  207^°°^' '" 
lovable,  yet  so  faithless  I" ' 

From  this  irregular  connection  had  sprung 
three    children,   two  of  which    had 
died    in    infancj'.      But    the    third,  Dg^jj  '^^ 
ilademoiselle  IS'.,  a  child  gifted  with  Aiexan- 
all   the   graces   and   charms   of  her  der's  nat- 
molher,   though    in  delicate  health,  jaughtcr 
still  lived,  and  bad  become  the  ob- 
ject of  the  most  passionate  afl'ection   to  her 
lather.     It  became  necessary  to  send  her  to 
Paris,  for  the  benefit  of  a  milder  climate  and 
the  best  medical  advice;  and  during  her  ab- 
sence, the  emperor,  a  solitary  hermit  in  his 
palace,   but   thirsting   for  the  enjoyments  of 
domestic  life,  sought  a  temporary  respite  to  his 
anxiety  in  frequenting  the  houses  of  some  high- 
ly respectable  families  in  middle  life,  for  the 
most  part  Germans,  to  whom  his  rank  was 
known,    but    where   he   insisted    upon    being 
treated  as  an  ordinary  guest.     There  he  often 
expressed   his  envy  at   the   happiness  which 
reigned  in  those  domestic  circles,  and  sighed 
to  think  that  the  Emperor  of  all  the  Russias 
was  com])elled  to  seek,  at  the  hearth  of  othei-s, 
that  felicity  which  his  grandeur  or  his  faults 
had  denied  him  at  his  own.     But  the  hand  of 
fate  was  upon  him:  he  was  to  be  pierced  to  the 
heart  through  the  fruit  of  his  own  irregulari- 
ties.    His  daughter,  who  was  now  seventeen, 
had  returned  from  France,  apparently  restored 
to  health,   and  in  all  the  bloom  of   ^  Selinitz- 
youth    and   beauty.      She    was    en-  ler,  i.  lol, 
gaged  to  be  married,  with  the  entire  102; 

consent  of  her  father :   the  magnifi-  ^f?'!"'^-, , 
J        J     i  T?     •       Lnoiseul 
cent  trousseau  was  ordered  at  raris,  coufficr, 
but  when  it  arrived  at  St.  Petersburg  iMem.  Illst. 
she  was  no  more.*    So  sudden  was  "^^J!  ^^0^0 
the  death  of  the  young /oict'e,  that  cha'teaub. ' 
it  occurred  when  the  emperor  was  Congres  de 
out  at  a  review  of  his  guards.     An  Veroue,  i. 
aid-de-camp,  with  a  melancholy  ex- 


1825.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


267 


pression,  approached,  and  requested  leave  to 
ppeak  to  him  in  private.     At  the  first  words 
lie  divined  the  whole:  a  mortal  paleness  over- 
spread his  visage,  and,  turning  up  his  eyes  to 
heaven,  he  struck  his  forehead  and  exclaimed, 
"I  receive  the  punishment  of  my  sins!" 
These  words  were  not  only  descriptive  of  the 
change  in  the  emperor's  mind  in  the 
Reemicilia-  latter  years  of  his  life,  but  tliey  pre- 
tion  of  ilie  saged,  and  truly,  an  important  eliange 
emperor       jq  ^Js  domestic  relations,  which  shed 
iTress'"'       ^  ^^y  ^^  happiness  over  his  last  mo- 
ments.    His  mind,  naturally  inclined 
to  deep  and  mj'stical  religious  emotions,  had 
been   much   aflected  by  tlie   dreadful   scenes 
wliich  he  had  witnessed  at  the  inundation  of 
bt.  Petersburg,  and  this  domestic  bereavement 
(•onij)leted  the  impression  that  he  was  suffering, 
by  the  justice  of  Heaven,  the  penalty  of  his 
transgressions.     Under  the  influence  of  these 
feelings,   he  returned  to  his  original  disposi- 
tions; and  that  mysterious  change  took  place 
in  his  mind,  which  so  often,  on  the  verge  of  the 
grave,  brings  us  back  to  the  impressions  of  our 
vouth.     He  again  sought  the  society  of  the 
empress,  who  had  returned  to  St.  Petersburg, 
was    attentive    to    her    smallest    wishes,    and 
.-ought  to  efface  the  recollection  of  former  neg- 
lect by  every  kindness  which  affection  could 
suggest.     The  change  was  not  lost  upon  that 
noble  princess,  who  still  nourished  in  her  in- 
most heart  her  first  attachment ;  and  the  recon- 
ciliation was  rendered  complete  by  the  gener- 
ous tears  which,  in  sympathy  with  her  lius- 
band's  sorrow,  she  shed  over  the  bier  of  her 
rival's   daughter.     But   she,    too,   was   in   an 
alarming  state  of  health ;  long  years  of  anxiety 
and  suffering  had  weakened  her  constitution, 
and  the  physicians  recommended  a  change,  and 
return  to  her  native  air.     But  the  empress  de- 
clared that  the  sovereign  must  not  die  else- 
where but  in  her  own  dominions,  and  she  re- 
fused to  leave  Russia.     They  upon  this  pro- 
posed the   Crimea;    but  Alexander  gave  the 
J  (reference  of  T.\g.\nrog.     The  emperor  fixed 
his  departure  for  the   1.3th  September,  1825, 
some  days  before  that  of  the  empress,  in  order 
to    prepare    every    thing    for    her    reception. 
Though  his  own  health  was  broken,  as  lie  had 
not   recovered    from    an    attack    of 
erysi[)ela3,  lie  resolved  upon  running 
the  risk  of  the  journey ;  an  expedi- 
tion of  some  thousand  miles  had  no 
terrors  for  one  the  half  of  wliose  life 
was  spent  in  traveling.' 
Sincerely  religi<ius   to   the   extent    even  of 
being  sujiei'stitious,  the  cmjieror  Iiad 
a  presentiment  that  this  j<nirnoy  was 
to  be  his  last,  and  that  he  was  about 
to  expire  besi<lo  the  empress,  amidst 
tlie  fiowcry  meads  and  balmy  air  of 
the  south.      Impressed  with  tiiis  idea, 
he  had  fixf'd  his  <le|iarture  (or  llie  1st 
September  (old  style,  Uitli),  the  day 
after  a  solemn  service  had  been  ecicbnted  in  tlio 
cathedral  of  Kazan,  on  the  translation  of  the 
boiiesof  the  great  I'rinee  Alexander  Newski  from 
tlie  place  of  his  sepulture  at  Vladimir  to  that 
holy  fjiiie  on  the  banks  of  tlie  Neva.     On  every 
departure  fi)r  a  long  jouriic}',  the  emperor  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  rejiairing  to  its  altar  to 
play;    but  on  this   occasion  he  directed  the 


'  Ma<ll!o. 
Chojseul 
(ioudier, 
384,  :i8t> ; 
ScliiitUlur, 
i.  105. 


in2. 
Solemn 
service  in 
tlie  eiitlie- 
(Iral  of 
Notre 
D.IKIC  (Ic 

Kazan. 
Sept.  13. 


metropolitan  bishop  in  secret  to  have  the  serv- 
ice for  the  dead  chanted  for  him  when  he  re- 
turned on  the  following  morning  at  four  o'clock. 
He  arrived  there,  accordingly,  next  daj-  at  that 
early  hour,  when  it  was  still  dark,  and  was  met 
by  the  priests  in  full  costume  as  for  the  burial 
service,  the  service  of  which  was  chanted  as 
he  approached.  He  drove  up  to  the  cathedral 
by  the  magnificent  street  of  Perspective  Newski 
in  a  simple  caleche  drawn  by  three  horses 
abreast,  without  a  single  servant,  and  reached 
the  gate  as  the  first  streaks  of  light  were  be- 
ginning to  appear  in  the  eastern  sky.  Wrap- 
ped in  his  military  cloak,  without  his  sword, 
and  bareheaded,  the  emjieror  alighted,  kissed 
the  cross  which  the  archbishop  presented  to 
him,  and  entered  the  cathedral  alone,  the  gates 
of  which  were  immediately  closed  after  him. 
The  praj-er  appointed  for  travelers  was  then 
chanted ;  the  Czar  knelt  at  the  gate  of  the 
rail  which  surrounded  the  altar,  and  received 
the  benediction  of  the  prelate,  who  placed  the 
sacred  volume  on  his  head,  and,  receiving  with 
pious  care  a  consecrated  cross  and  some  relic 
of  the  saint  in  his  bosom,  he  again  kissed  the 
emblem  of  salvation,  "  which  gives  i  ocrtel 
life,"*  and  departed  alone  and  unat-  Derniers 
tended,  save  by  the  priests,  who  con-  Jours  <l'Al- 
tinued  to  sing  till  he  was  beyond  the  54''[;u^^' 
gates  of  the  cathedral  the  chant,  Sc'linit'z.  i. 
"  God  save  thy  People." '  ^^^,  HO. 

The  a^chl.i^llop,  called  in  the  Greek  Church 
"the  Serapliini,"  requested  the  em- 
peror, while  his  traveling  carriage  jUs  depart, 
was  drawing  up,  to  honor  his  cell  ure  from 
with  a  visit,  which  he  at  once  agreed  ""^  cathe- 
to  do.  Arrived  at  this  retreat,  the  ' 
conversation  turned  on  the  Schimnik,  an  order 
of  peculiarly  austere  monks,  who  liad  their 
cells  in  the  vicinity.  The  emperor  expressed 
a  wish  to  see  one  of  them,  and  immediately  the 
archbishop  accompanied  him  to  their  chief  The 
emperor  there  found  only  a  small  apartment 
furnished  with  deal  boards,  covered  with  black 
cloth,  and  hung  with  the  same  funeral  garb. 
"  I  see  no  bed,"  said  the  emperor.  "  Here  it  is," 
said  the  monk ;  and,  drawing  aside  a  curtain, 
revealed  an  alcove,  in  which  was  a  coffin  cov- 
ered with  black  cloth,  and  surrounded  with  all 
the  lugubrious  habiliments  of  the  dead.  "  This," 
he  added,  "  is  my  bed  ;  it  will  ere  long  be  yours, 
and  that  of  all,  for  their  long  sleep."  The  em- 
peror was  silent,  and  mused  long.  Then  sud- 
denly starting  from  his  reverie,  as  if  recalled  to 
the  affaii's  of  this  world,  he  bade  them  all  atlieu 
with  the  words,  "  Pray  for  me  and  for  my  wife." 
He  ascended  his  open  calcche,  the  luir.-es  of 
which  bore  him  toward  the  south  with  their 
accustomed  rapidity,  and  was  soon  out  of  sight; 
but  he  was  still  uncovered  when  the  j  oertel  CO 
carriage  disappeared  in  the  obscure  04;  Scli'nitz! 
gray  of  the  morning.*  '■  HI)-  '14. 

AlexaiKler  made  the  journey  in  twelve  days; 
and  as  tliu  distance  was  above  fif-  jg^ 

teen  iiundred  miles,  and  ho  was  His  arrival 
obliged  to  stop  at  many  jilaces,  he  at'I'ugaiirog. 
must  have  gone  from  a  hundred  and  fifty  to 
two  hundred  miles  a  day.  Ho  was  fully  im- 
pressed with  the  idea  of  Ids  !  piiroaching  death 
the  whoh;  way,  and  often  a.'keil  the  eoaeiunan 


A  term  consecrated  in  tlie  Hussian  Church. 


868 


HISTORY    OV    EUROPE. 


[Chap.  VIII. 


"if  ho  liml  soon  the  ■wnndoring  star?"  "Yes, 
your  inajosty,"  ho  roplioil.  "I>o  vou  know 
what  it  urosagosf  Misfortuno  i\m\  doath:  but 
(lOil's  will  bo  done."  Arrivod  at  'raiiaiiiot;,  he 
ilovotod  sovoral  days  to  prcparini:  ovcry  thing 
for  tl»o  onipros.s  whioli  lio  did  witli  tiio  utmost 
solicitude  and  oare.  Slie  arrived  ten  days  after, 
and  they  remained  together  for  some  weeks, 
walking" and  driving  out  in  the  forenoon,  and 
conversing  alone  in  the  evening  with  the  utmost 
nfTeotion.  more  like  newly-married  persons  than 
those  who  had  so  long  been  severed.  The  cares 
of  empire,  however,  ere  long  tore  the  emperor 
from  this  charming  retreat;  and  on  the  urgent 
entreaty  of  Count"  Woronzoff,  governor  of  the 
Crimea,  lie  undertook  a  journey  in  that  prov- 
.,  ince.     lie  set  out  on  the  1st  November ; 

and  during  seventeen  days  that  the 
expedition  lasted,  alternately  admired  the  ro- 
mantic mountain  scenery  and  beautiful  sea 
views,  rivaling  those  of  the  Corniche  between 
Kice  and  Genoa,  which  the  route  presented. 
Nov  10  ^^  Ghirai,  however,  on  the  10th,  after 
dinner,  when  conversing  with  Sir  James 
"Wylio,  his  long-tried  and  faithful  medical  at- 
tendant, on  his  anxiety  about  the  empress, 
who  had  just  heard  of  the  death  of  the  King 
of  Bavaria,  her  brother-in-law,  he  mention- 
ed, as  if  accidentallj',  that  he  felt  his  stomach 
deranged,  and  that  for  several  nights  his 
sleep  had  been  disturbed.  Sir  James  felt  his 
pulse,  which  indicated  fever,  and  earnestly 
counseled  the  adoption  of  immediate  remedies. 
"I  have  no  need  of  you,"  replied  the  emperor, 
smiling,  "nor  of  your  Latin  pharmacopoeia — I 
know  how  to  treat  myself.  Besides,  my  trust 
is  in  God,  and  in  the  strength  of  my  constitu- 
'  Schnitz-  tion."  Notwitbstandingall  that  could 
ler,  i.  120,  be  said,  he  persisted  in  his  refusal  to 
124 ;  Ann.  take  medicine,  and  even  continued 
STs'sT-l"  '''^  journey,  and  exposed  himself  to 
s'ir'james  his  wonted  fatigue  on  horseback 
VVyUe,  37,  when  returning  along  the  pestilential 
*'•  shores  of  the  Putrid  Sea.' 

He  returned  to  Taganrog  on  the  llth,  being 
jQg         the  exact  "day  fixed  for  that  event 
Ilis  last  ill-  before   his   departure ;    but  already 
ness.  shivering  fits,  succeeded  by  cold  ones, 

Nov.  17.  ^jjg  well-known  symptoms  of  inter- 
mittent fever,  had  shown  themselves.  The  em- 
press, with  whom  he  shared  every  instant  that 
could  be  spared  from  the  cares  of  empire,  show- 
ed him  the  most  uni'cmitting  attention,  and  by 
the  earnest  entreaties  of  his  physician  he  was 
at  length  prevailed  on  to  take  some  of  the  usual 
remedies  prescribed  for  such  cases.  For  a  brief 
space  they  had  the  desired  effect ;  and  the  ad- 
vices sent  to  St.  Petersburg  of  the  august  pa- 
tient's convalescence  threw  the  people,  who  had 
been  seriously  alarmed  by  the  accounts  of  his 
illness,  into  a  delirium  of  joy.  But  these  hopes 
proved  fallacious.  On  the  25th  the  symptoms 
J  „.  suddenly  became  more  threatening.  = 

76  7'y  An.  Extreme  weakness  confined  him  to 
Hist.  viii.  his  couch,  and  alarming  dispatches 
374, 375 ;  from  General  Diebitch  and  Count 
i  '^la'-ZlsI'  Woronzoff  augmented  his  anxiety,  by 
revealing  the  existence  and  magni- 
tude of  the  vast  conspiracy  in  the  army,  which 
had  for  its  object  to  deprive  him  of  his  throne 
and  life.  "My  friend,"  said  he  to  Sir  James 
Wylie,  "what  a  frightful  design!     The  mon- 


8tei*s — the  ungrateful  !   when  I  had  no  thought 
but  for  their  happiness."* 

The  symptoms  now  daily  became  more  alarm- 
ing, and  the  fever  assumed  tlie  form  jqc 
of  the  bilious  or  gastric,  as  it  is  now  And  lUath. 
called,  and  at  last  showed  the  worst  ^"^-  '-*'■ 
features  of  the  typhus.  His  physicians  then, 
despairing  of  his  life,  got  Prince  Volkonsky  to 
suggest  the  last  duties  of  a  Christian.  "They 
have  spoken  to  me,  Wjdie,"  said  the  emperor, 
"of  the  communion;  has  it  really  come  to 
that?"  "Yes,"  said  that  faithful  counselor, 
with  tears  in  his  ej^cs ;  "  I  speak  to  you  no 
longer  as  a  phj'sician,  but  as  a  friend.  Your 
Majesty  has  not  a  moment  to  lose."  Kext  day 
tiie  emperor"  confessed,  and  with  the  empress, 
who  never  for  an  instant,  day  or  night,  left  his 
bedside,  received  the  last  communion.  "For- 
get the  emperor,"  said  he  to  the  confessor; 
"  speak  to  me  simply  as  a  dying  Christian." 
After  this  he  became  perfectly  docile.  "  Is  ever," 
said  he  to  the  empress,  "  have  I  felt  such  a  glow 
of  inward  satisfaction  as  at  this  moment;  I 
thank  you  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart."  The 
symptoms  of  erisypelas  in  his  leg  now  returned. 
"  I  will  die,"  said  he,  "  like  my  sister,"  alluding 
to  the  Grand  Duchess  of  Oldenburg,  who  had  re- 
fused Napoleon  at  Erfurth,  and  afterward  died 
of  that  complaint.  He  then  fell  into  a  deep 
sleep,  and  wakened  when  it  was  near  mid-day, 
and  the  sun  was  shining  brightly.  Causing  the 
windows  to  be  opened,  he  said,  looking  at  the 
blue  vault,  "What  a  beautiful  day !"  f  and  feel- 
ing the  arms  of  the  empress  around  him,  he 
said  tenderly,  pressing  her  hand,  "  My  love,  j^ou 
must  be  very  fatigued."  These  were  his  last 
words.  He  soon  after  fell  into  a  lethargic 
sleep,  which  lasted  several  hours,  from  which 
he  only  wakened  a  few  minutes  be- 
fore  he  breathed  his  last.  The  power  of 
speech  was  gone ;  but  he  made  a  sign  to  the 
empress  to  approach,  and  imprinted  a  last  and 
fervent  kiss  on  her  hand.  The  rattle  was  soon 
heard  in  his  throat.  She  closed  his  eyes  a  few 
minutes  after,  and,  placing  the  cross 
on  his  bosom,  embraced  his  lifeless  j  134  'I'se  ^' 
remains  for  the  last  time.  "Lord!"  Wyiie,  79,' 
said  she,  "  pardon  my  sins ;  it  has  82 ;  Ann. 
pleased  thy  omnipotent  power  to  "'*'•  '^''"• 
take  him  from  me."  '  | 


374,  375. 


*  "  Le  monarquedit  un  joura  M.  Wylie, 'Laissez-moi, 
je  sais  moi-meme,ce  qu'il  me  (aut :  du  repos,  de  la  soli- 
tude, de  la  tranquillite.'  Un  autre  jour,  il  lui  dit :  '  Mon 
ami,  ce  sont  mes  nerfs  qu'il  faut  soigner  ;  ils  sont  dans  un 
desordre  epouvantable.'  '  C'est  un  mal,'  lui  repliqua 
Wylie,  '  dont  les  rois  sont  plus  souvent  atteints  que  les 
partieuliers.'  '  Surtout  dans  les  temps  actuels,'  repliqua 
vivement  Alexandre  !  '  Ah  '  j'ai  bien  sujct  d'etre  malade.' 
Enfin,  eiant  en  apparenee  sansaucune  fievre,  I'Enjpereur 
se  tourna  brusquement  vers  le  docteur,  qui  etait  seul 
present.  '  Mon  ami,'  s  ecria-t-il, '  quclles  actions,  quellcs 
epouvantables  actions:'  et  il  fi.va  sur  le  medecin  un  re- 
gard terrible  et  incomprehensible.' — Annuaire  Historique, 
viii.  37,  note. 

t  "  Light — more  light  I"  the  well-known  last  words  of 
Goethe,  as  noticed  by  Buhver  in  his  beautiful  romance, 
"  My  Novel."  Those  who  have  witnessed  the  last  mo- 
ments of  the  dying,  know  how  often  a  request  for,  or  ex- 
pressions of  satislaction  for  light,  are  among  their  last 
words. 

t  The  empress  addressed  the  following  beautiful  letter 
to  her  mother-in-law  on  tliis  sad  bereavement :  "  Maman, 
votre  ange  est  au  ciel,  et  moi,  je  vegeie  encore  sur  la  lerre. 
Qui  aurait  pense  que  moi,  faible  malade,  je  pourrais  lui 
survivre  '.  Maman,  ne  m'abandonnez  pas,  car  je  suis  ab- 
solument  seule  dans  ce  monde  de  douleurs.  Noire  cher 
defunt  a  repris  son  air  de  bienveillance,  son  fourire  nie 
prouve  qu'il  est  heureux,  et  qu'il  voit  des  choscs  plua 


1626.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


269 


The  body  of  the  emperor,  after  beinsj  em- 
J07         balnied,  was  brought  to  the  Church 
And  fuller-  of  St.  Alexander  Newski  at  Taganrog, 
*'■  where  it  remained  for  some  days  in  a 

chapelle  ardente,  surrounded  by  his  mourning 
subjects,  and  was  thence  transferred,  aceompa 
nied  b\-  a  splendid  cortege  of  cavalry,  Cossacks, 
and  artillery,  after  a  long  interval,  to  the  cathe- 
dral of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  in  the  citadel  of 
St.  Petersburg,  where  his  ancestors  were  laid. 
The  long  journey  occupied  several  weeks,  and 
ever}'  night,  wjien  his  remains  were  deposited 
iu  the  church  of  the  place  where  the  procession 
rested,  crowds  of  people,  from  a  great  distance 
around,  flocked  to  the  spot  to  kneel  down,  and 
kiss  the  bier  where  tlieir  beloved  Czar  was  laid. 
Ma   h  10   '^''^  body  reached  St.  Petersburg  on 
the  10th  of  March,  but  the  interment, 
which  was  conducted  with  extraordinary  mag- 
nificence in  the  cathedral,  did  not  take  place 
till  the  25th.     The  Grand  Duke  Mcholas  (now 
become  emperor),  wltli  all  the  imperial  family, 
was  present  on  the  occasion,  and  a  splendid  as- 
sembly of  the  nobility  of  Russia  and  diplomacy 
of  Europe.     There  was  not  a  heart  wliich  was 
not  moved,  scarce  an  eye  that  was  not  moist- 
ened with  tears.     The  old  grenadiers,  his  com- 
rades in  the  campaigns  in  Germany  and  France, 
and  who  bore  the  weight  of  the  coffin  when 
taken  to  the  grave,  wept  like  children ;  and  he 
I  Gazette  de  ^^^  followed  to  his  last  home  by  his 
St.  Peters-     faithful  servant  Ilya,  who  liad  driv- 
bur^,  March  en  tlie  car  from  Taganrog,  a  distance 
s'-'hiiu'zier      ^^  fifteen  hundred  miles,  and  who 
ii.  235,  244 ;  stood  in  tears  at  the  side  of  tlie  bier, 
Ann.  Hist,     as  his  beloved  master  was  laid  iu 
i.x.  337,  338.  the  tomb.  1 

The  Empress  Elizabeth  did  not  long  survive 
„  the  husband  who,  despite  all  her  sor- 

Death  and  I'ows,  had  ever  reigned  supreme  in 
bu.'iul  of  her  heart.  The  feeble  state  of  her 
tliee.nprcss.  health  did  not  permit  of  her  accom- 
panying  his  luneral  procession  to  bt. 
Petersburg,  which  she  was  passionately  desirous 
to  liave  done ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  8th  May 
that  she  was  able  to  leave  Taganrog  on  her 
way  to  the  capital.  The  entire  population  of 
tlie  town,  by  whom  she  was  extremely  beloved, 
aficompanied  lier  for  a  considerable  distance  on 
the  road.  Her  weakness,  liowever,  increased 
ra[)idly  as  she  continued  her  journey;  grief  for 
the  loss  of  her  husband,  along  with  the  sudden 
cessation  of  tlie  anxiety  for  his  life,  and  the 
want  of  any  other  object  in  existence,  proved 
fatal  to  a  constitution  already  weakened  by 
long  years  of  mourning  and  severance.  She 
with  difficulty  reached  Bclcf,  a  small  town  in 
the  government  of  Toule,  where  she  breatlicd 
May  10.  ''«•■'"•'*'•,  serene  and  tranquil,  on  the  16th 
Ma}-.  Her  remains  were  brought  to  St. 
Petersburg,  where  she  was  carried  to  the  cathe- 
dral on  the  same  car  which  had  conveyed  lier 
July  3  ^"is'-"i"'l.  ai'l  lai'l  beside  him  on  the  \'A 
July.  Thus  terminated  a  marriage,  cel- 
ebrated thirty  years  before  with  every  pro.spcct 
of  earthly  felicity,  and  every  splendor  whicii 
the  most  e.xalted  rank  could  confer.  "  I  liave 
seen,"  said  a  Russian  poet,  "  that  couple,  he 

belles  qu'  ici-bas.  Ma  Houle  con.solaliDM  ilans  cette  pcrte 
irreparable  est,  que  je  iie  lui  snrvivrai  pas  .  j'ai  I'espe- 
lancc  (le  m'unir  bienlot  a  liii."— L'lMi-EUATUKJii  a 
.Marie  Foedohovna,  2  Due,  1625. 


beautiful  as  Hope,  she  ravishing  as  Felicity. 
It  seems  only  a  day  since  Catherine  placed  on 
their  youthful  heads  the  nuptial  crown  of 
roses;  soon  the  diadems  were  mingled  with 
thorns;  and  too  soon,  alas!  the  angel  ,g  j^  .  , 
of  death  environed  their  pale  fore-  n.  263,  see  •,' 
heads  with  poppies,  the  emblem  of  Ann.  Hist. 


eternal  si 


eep. 


i.x.  341,342. 


Had  Alexander  died  shortly  after  the  first 
capture  of  Paris  in  1814,  he  would  109. 
have  left  a  name  unique  in  the  his-  Hischarac- 
tory  of  the  world,  for  seldom  had  so  ''^'"• 
great  a  part  been  so  nobly  played  on  such  a 
theatre.  It  is  hard  to  say  whether  his  forti- 
tude  in  adversit}%  his  resolution  in  danger,  or 
his  clemency  in  victory,  were  then  most  admi- 
rable. For  the  first  time  in  the  annals  of  man- 
kind, the  sublime  principles  of  forgiveness  of 
injuries  were  brought  into  the  government)* of 
nations  in  the  moment  of  their  highest  excite- 
ment, and  mercy  in  the  hour  of  triumph  re- 
strained the  uplifted  hand  of  justice.  To  tho 
end  of  the  world  the  flames  of  Moscow  will  be 
associated  with  the  forgiveness  of  Paris.  But 
time  has  taken  much  from  the  halo  which  then 
environed  his  name,  and  revealed  weaknesses 
in  liis  character  well  known  to  his  personal 
friends,  but  the  existence  of  which  the  splen- 
dor of  his  former  career  had  hardly  permitted 
to  be  suspected.  He  had  many  veins  of  mag- 
nanimity in  his  character,  but  he  was  not  a 
thoroughly  great  man.  He  was  so,  like  a 
woman,  by  impulse  and  sentiment,  rather  than 
principle  and  habit.  Chateaubriand  said,  "  11 
avait  I'ame  forte,  mais  le  caractere  foible." 
lie  wanted  tho  constanc}'  of  purpose  and  per- 
severance of  conduct  which  is  the  distinguish- 
ing and  highest  mark  of  the  masculine  char- 
acter. 

Warm-hearted,  benevolent,  and  affectionate, 
he  was  without  the  steadiness  which 
springs  from  internal  conviction,  and  jisf 'tn 
the  consistency  which  arises  from  the 
feelings  being  permanently  guided  by  the  oon. 
science  and  ruled  by  the  reason.  He  Avas  sin, 
cerely  desirous  of  promoting  the  happiness  of 
his  subjects,  and  deeply  impressed  with  a  sense 
of  duty  in  that  respect;  but  his  projects  of 
amelioration  were  not  based  upon  practical  in- 
formation, and  consequently,  in  great  part, 
failed  in  cfl'ect.  They  savored  more  of  the 
philanthroi)ic  dreams  of  his  Swiss  preceptor 
La  llarpe  tiian  either  the  manners,  customs,  or 
character  of  his  own  people.  At  times  he  was 
magnanimous  and  heroic,  when  circumstances 
called  forth  tlie.se  elevated  (jiialitics;  but  at 
others  ho  Avas  flexible  and  weak,  when  he  fell 
under  influences  of  a  less  creditable  description. 
Essentially  religious  in  his  disposition,  he  some- 
times sank  into  the  dreams  of  superstition.  The 
antagonist  of  JN'apoleon  at  one  time  camo  to 
share  the  reveries  of  Madame  Krudcner  at 
another.  Affectionate  in  |)rivatc  life,  lie  yet 
broke  the  lieart  of  his  empress,  who  showed 
by  lier  noble  conduct  on  his  deatJi-bcd  how  en- 
tirely she  was  worthy  of  his  regard.  His  char, 
acter  affords  a  memorable  example  of  the  truth 
so  often  enforced  by  moralist.s,  so  generally  for- 
got in  the  world,  that  it  is  in  the  ruling  ]>owcr 
of  the  mind,  rather  than  the  imi)ulses  by  which 
it  is  inllucnccd,  that  tho  distinguishing  mark 
of  cIiai-Mcter  is  to  be  looked  for;  and  that  no 


•::o 


III  STORY    OF   EUR  OPE. 


[Chap.  VIII. 


amount  of  ponoroslfy  of  disposition  can  oom- 
poiisnto  for  the  want  of  tlio  tirnmess  wliieli  is 
to  control  it. 
The  death  of  Aloxandcr  was  succeeded  by 
events  in  Russia  of  the  very  highest 
siati'oiihe  importance,  and  which  revealed  the 
sui-cossion  depth  of  the  abyss  on  tiie  edge  of 
10  ilie  which  the  despotic  sovereigns  of  Eu- 

ihrone.  rope  slumbered  in  fancied  security. 
It  occasioned,  at  the  same  time,  a  contest  of 
generosity  between  the  two  brothers  of  Alex- 
ander. Constantine  and  Nicholas,  unexampled  in 
history,  and  which  resembles  rather  the  fabled 
magnanimity  with  which  the  poets  extricate 
the  difficulties  of  a  drama  on  the  opera  stage, 
than  any  thing  which  occurs  in  real  life.  By 
a  ukase  of  (.5)  16th  April,  1797,  the  Emperor 
Paul  had  abolished  the  right  of  choosing  a  suc- 
cessor out  of  the  imperial  family,  which  Peter 

the  Great  had  assumed,  and  establish- 
April  10,  ^j  forever  the  succession  to  the  crown 

in  the  iisual  order,  the  males  succeed- 
ing before  the  females,  and  the  elder  in  both 
before  the  younger.  This  settlement  had  been 
formally  sanctioned  b}-  the  Emperor  Alexander 
1  iju-gp  on  two  solemn  occasions,  and  it  consti- 
Aug.  27,'  tutedtheacknowledgedandsettledlaw 
1807,  and  of  the  empire.'  As  the  late  emperor 
fj-^o' ''  ''^*^  °°^^  ^^  *^  daughters,  both  of  whom 
died  in  infancy,  the  undoubted  heir  to 
the  throqe,  when  he  died,  was  the  Grand  Duke 
Constantine,  then  at  Warsaw,  at  the  head  of 
the  government  of  Poland.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas,  the  next  younger 
brother,  was  at  St.  Petersburg,  where  he  was 
high  in  command,  and  much  beloved  by  the 
guards  in  military  possession  of  the  capital.  In 
these  circumstances,  if  a  contest  was  to  be  ap- 
prehended, it  was  between  the  younger  brother 
on  the  spot  endeavoring  to  supplant  the  elder 
at  a  distance.  Kevertheless  it  was  just  the  re- 
verse. There  was  a  contest,  but  it  was  be- 
tween the  two  brothers,  each  en- 
1 141  HU  '  <3eavoring  to  devolve  the  empire 
'  upon  the  other.- 

Intelligence  of  the  progress  of  the  malady  of 
JJ2         of  Alexander  was  communicated  to 
Constantine  Constantine  at  Warsaw,  as  regularly 
refuses  the    as  to  the  empress-mother  at  St.  Pe- 
throne.  tersburg ;  and  it  was  universally  sup- 

posed that,  as  a  matter  of  course,  upon  the  de- 
mise of  the  Czar,  to  whom  he  was  only  eighteen 
months  younger,  he  would  succeed  to  the  throne. 
The  accounts  of  the  death  of  the  reigning  sov- 
ereign reached  Warsaw  on  the  7th  December, 
where  both  Constantine  and  his  youngest  broth- 
er, the  Grand  Duke  Michael,  were  at  the  time. 
The  former  was  immediately  considered  as  em- 
peror by  the  troops,  and  all  the  ministers  and  I 
persons  in  attendance  in  the  palace,  though  he  I 
shut  himself  up  in  his  apartment  for  two  days 
on  receiving  the  melancholy  intelligence.  But 
to  the  astonishment  of  every  one,  instead  of 
assuming  the  title  and  functions  of  empire,  he 
absolutely  forbade  them ;  declared  that  he  had 
resigned  his  right  of  succession  in  favor  of  his 
younger  brother  Nicholas ;  that  this  had  been 
done  with  the  full  knowledge  and  consent  of 
the  late  emperor;  and  that  Nicholas  was  now 
emperor.  And  in  effect,  on  the  day  following, 
the  Grand  Duke  Michael  set  out  for  St.  Peters- 
burg, bearing  holograph  letters  from  Constan- 


tino to  the  emprcss-mothor  and  Ids  brother 
Nicholas,  in  which,  after  referring  to  ,^^  jj-  . 
a  former  act  of  renunciation  in  1822,  jx.  3lil ; 
deposited  in  the  archives  of  the  em-  Schnif/lor, 
pire,  and  which  had  received  the  sane-  (ja^^el'ie  j' ' 
tion  of  the  late  emperor,  lie  again,  in  st'.  Petcrs- 
themost  solemn  manner,  repeated  his  burg.  No. 
renunciation  of  the  throne.'*  ^*'''  '^"" 

To  understand  how  this  came  about,  it  is  ne- 
cessary to  premise  that  the  Grand  113. 
Duke  Constantine,  like  his  brother  How  this 
Alexander,  had  been  married,  at  the  came  about, 
earlj'  age  of  sixteen,  by  the  orders  of  the  Em- 
press Catherine,  to  the  Princess  Julienne  of 
Saxe-Coburg,  a  house  which  has  since  been 
illustrated  b}'  so  many  distinguished  marriages 
into  the  royal  families  of  Europe.  The  marriage, 
from  the  very  first,  proved  unfortunate;  the 
savage  manners  of  the  Grand  Duke  proved  in- 
supportable to  the  princess;  they  had  no  fami- 
ly; and  at  the  end  of  four  years  the}' separated 
by  mutual  consent,  and  the  Grand  Duchess  re- 
turned with  a  suitable  pension,  to  her  father  in 
Germany.  The  Grand  Duke  was  occupied  for 
twenty  years  after  with  war,  interspersed  with 
temporary  liaisons;  but  at  length,  in  182U, 
when  he  was  viceroy  of  Poland,  his  inconstant 
affections  were  fixed  by  a  Polish  lady  of  uncom- 
mon beauty  and  fascination.  She  was  Jeanne 
Grudzinska,  daughter  of  a  count  and  landed 
proprietor  at  Pistolaf,  in  the  district  of  Brom- 
berg.  So  ardent  was  the  passion  of  Constantine 
for  the  Polish  beauty,  that  he  obtained 
a  divorce  from  his  first  wife  on  1st  April,  ^PJ"'^  '> 
1820,  and  immediately  espoused,  though 
with  the  left  hand,  the  object  of  liis  present 
passion,  upon  whom  he  bestowed  the  title  of 
Princess  of  Lowicz,  after  a  lordship  in  Masovia 
which  he  gave  to  her  brother,  and  which  had 
formerly  formed  p;;  It  of  the  military 
appanage  bestowed  by  Napoleon  j  ^ise^'ia;^"^' 
upon  Marshal  Davoust.*  '      ' 

The  marriage  of  Constantine,  however,  was 
with  the  left  hand,  or  a  morganatic         114. 
one  only ;  the  effect  of  which  was,  Constan- 
that,  though  legal  in  all  other  re-  ""^'s  pre- 

,      .1    °  f  ii,  •  viousrenun- 

spects,  the  sons  01  the  marriage  were  elation  of 

not  grand  dukes,  and  could  not  sue-  his  right  of 
ceed  to  the  throne  ;  nor  did  the  prin-  succession, 
cess  by  her  marriage  become  a  grand  duchess. 


*  The  letter  to  the  empress-mother  was  in  these  words  : 
"  Ilabitue  des  men  enfance,  a  accomplir  religieuscment  la 
volonte,  tant  de  feu  mon  pere  que  du  defunt  empereur, 
ainsi  que  celle  de  V.  M.  1.  ;  et  me  renfermant  maintenant 
encore  dans  Ics  bornes  de  ce  principe,  je  considere  comme 
une  obligation,  de  ceder  mon  droit  a  la  puissance,  con- 
formfement  aux  dispositions  de  I'acte  de  I'empire  sur  I'ordre 
de  succession  dans  la  famiUe  imperiale,  a  S.  A.  I.  le 
Grand  due  Nicolas  ct  a  ses  heritiers."  In  the  letter,  of 
the  same  date,  to  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas,  Constantine 
thus  expressed  himself:  "  Je  regarde  comme  un  devoir 
sacre ;  de  prier  tres-humblement  V.  M.  I.  qu'elle  daigne 
accepter  de  moi,  tout  le  premier,  mon  serment  de  sujetion 
et  defidehte  ;  et  de  me  permettre  de  lui  exposer  que,  n'ele- 
vant  mes  yeux  a  aueune  dignit6  nouvelle,  ni  a  aucun  litre 
nouveau,  je  desire  de  conserver  seulement  celui  de  Cesar- 
owitch,  dont  j'ai  ete  pour  mes  services,  par  feu  notre  pere. 
Mon  unique  bonheur  sera  toujours  que  V.  M.  I.  daigne 
agreer  les  sentiments  de  ma  plus  profonde  veneration,  et 
de  mon  devouemeiit  sans  homes  ;  sentiments  dont  j'offre 
comme  gage,  plus  de  trente  annees  d'un  service  fidele,  ct 
du  zele  le  plus  pur  qui  m'anime  envers  L.  L.  M.  les  empe- 
reurs  mon  pere  et  mon  frerede  glorieuse  memoire.  C'est 
avec  les  memes  sentiments  que  je  ne  cesserai  jusfju^  a  la 
Jin  de  7nes  jours  de  seri'ir  V.  M.  /.,  et  ses  descejidants  dans 
7nesfonctions  et  ma  place  actuelle.^' — Const  an  tin,  a /'/m- 
peratrice  Marie  et  au  Grand-dur  Nicolas,  Sth  December, 
1625.     ScHNiTZLER,  Hist.  Int.  de  la  Russie,  i.  1U0-19I 


1826.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


2*7 1 


But  in  addition  to  tliis,  Constantine  had  come 
under  a  solemn  engagement,  though  verbal, 
and  on  his  honor  as  a  prince  only,  to  renounce 
his  right  of  succession  to  the  crown  in  favor  of 
his  brother  Nicholas;  and  it  was  on  this  con- 
dition only  that  the  consent  of  the  emperor  had 
been  given  to  his  divorce.    In  pursuance  of  this 

engagement  he  had,  on  the  (14)  26th 
j^.,0  '^'    January-,  1822,  left  with  his  brother,  the 

Emperor  Alexander,  a  solemn  renunci- 
ation of  his  right  of  succession,  which  had  been 
accepted  by  the  emperor  by  as  solemn  a  writ- 
ing, and  a  recognition  of  IS'icholas  as  heir  to  the 
throne.     The  whole  three  documents  had  been 
deposited  by  him  in  a  packet  sealed  with  the 
imperial  arms,  endorsed,  "  JS'ot  to  be  opened  till 
immediately  after  my  death,  before 
■  ^ir2"'i63^'^'  P''oceeding  to  any  other  act,"'  with 
'      '     Prince  Pierre  Vassiluvitch  Lapouk- 
hine,  President  of  the  Imperial  Council.* 
The  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Alexander 
215         arrived  at  St.  Petersburg  on  the  9th 
Nicholas  re-  December,  in  the  morning,  at  the 

fuses  the  very  time  when  the  imperial  family 
crown,  and  -'       ,         ■       ..i       i      ■     ^v       i         i 

proclaims      were  returning  thanks,  in  the  chapel 

Consian-  of  the  palace,  to  Heaven  for  his  sup- 
tine.  Dec.  9.  posed  recovery,  which  the  dispatches 
of  the  preceding  day  had  led  them  to  hope  for. 
The  first  thing  done  was,  in  terms  of  the  injunc- 
tion of  Alexander,  to  open  the  sealed  packet 
containing  Constantine's  resignation.  As  soon 
as  it  was  opened  and  read,  the  Council  declared 
Nicholas  emperor,  and  invited  him  to  attend  to 
receive  their  homage.  But  here  an  unexpected 
difficulty  presented  itself.  Nicholas  positively 
refused  to  accept  the  throne.  "  I  am  not  em- 
peror," he  said,  "and  I  will  not  be  so  at  my 
brother's  expense.  If,  maintaining  his  renun- 
ciation, the  Grand  Duke  Constantine  persists  in 
the  sacrifice  of  his  rights,  but  in  that  case  only, 
will  I  exercise  my  right  to  the  throne."  The 
Council  remained  firm,  and  entreated  him  to 
accept  their  homage;  but  Nicholas  positively 
refused,  alleging,  in  addition,  that  as  Constan- 

*  "  Ne  reconnaissant  en  moi,  ni  le  genie,  ni  les  talents, 
ni  la  force  necossaire  pour  etre  jamais  cleve  a  la  dignite 
souveraine,  a  laquelle  je  pourrais  avoir  droit  par  ma  nais- 
sance,  je  supplie  V.  M.  1.  de  transfcrcrce  droit  a  celui  a  ijui 
il  appartient  apres  moi,  et  d'assurer  ainsi  i)Our  toujours  la 
slabilite  de  Tempire.  Quant  a  moi,  j'ajoutcrai  par  cette 
renonciation,  uue  nouvelie  garantie  et  une  nouvelle  force 
a  rcngagement  que  j'ai  sporitanement  et  solennellemcnt 
contracte,  a  I'occasioti  de  rnon  divorce  avec  ma  premiere 
c-pouse.  Toutes  les  circonstances  de  ma  situation  actu- 
elle,  me  portent  de  plus  en  plus  a  cette  mesure,  qui  prou- 
vcra  a  I'empire  et  au  monde  enticr  la  sinct-ritc  de  mes 
sentiments.  Uaignez,  sire,  agrccr  avec  bonto  ma  priere, 
daignez  contribuer  a  ce  que  notre  auguste  mere  vt-uille  y 
adherer  ;  et  sanctionnez-la  de  votro  assurance  imperialc. 
Dans  la  sphere  de  la  vie  privec,  je  m'tflbroerai  toujours 
de  servir  d'excmple  a  vos  fidulcs  sujets  ;  a  tous  ccux  (ju' 
ariime  I'amour  de  notre  chore  I'atrie." — Con.stantin  d 
I'Empereur,  St.  I'6ler«bour/i,  H  {2fi)  Jan.,  Ib22.  The  ac- 
ceptance of  ttie  emperor  of  this  renunciation  was  simple 
and  tmi|U;ilined,  and  dated  2  (llth)  Feb.,  1822.  The  Em- 
peror added  a  manifesto  in  the  following  terms,  declaring 
Nicholas  his  heir:  "  I-'acte  sponlanc  par  lequel  notre 
frere  puinc,  le  (Jesarowitch  et  Grand-due  Constantin,  re- 
nonce  a  son  droit  sur  le  tronc  de  toutes  les  Uussics,  est, 
ct  demeurera,  fixe  et  invariable.  Lcdit  Acle  de  Itenon- 
ciation  sera,  pour  que  la  nolorielo  en  soil  assuree,  con- 
serve a  la  Grande  Cathedrale  de  rAssomption  a  Moscow, 
ot  dans  les  trois  hautes  administrations  tie  notre  Empire, 
au  Saint  Synode,  au  Conseil  de  I'Empire,  et  au  Senat 
Dirigeant.  En  consequence  do  ci^s  dispositions,  et  con- 
fornioment  a  la  strictc  tencur  de  I'acte  sur  la  succession 
Hu  trone,  est  reconnu  pour  notre  licritier,  notre  second 
frere  le  Grand-due  Nicolas.  ALEXntiUUE."— Journal  de 
•St.  Petersbaurff,  No.  151).     Schnitzleb,  i.  1G3,  1G4. 


tine's  renunciation  had  not  been  publislied  or 
acted  upon  during  the  lifetime  of  the  late  em- 
peror, it  had  not  acquired  the  force  of  a  law, 
and  that  .he  was  consequently  emperor,  and  if 
he  meant  to  renounce,  must  do  so  afresh,  wlien 
in  the  full  possession  of  his  rights.  The  Coun- 
cil still  contested  the  point;  but  finding  the 
Grand  Duke  immovable,  they  submitted  with 
the  words,  "You  are  our  emperor;  we  owe 
you  an  absolute  obedience:  since,  then,  you 
command  us  to  recognize  the  Grand  Duke  Con- 
stantine as  our  legitimate  sovereign,  we  liave 
no  alternative  but  to  obey  your  commands." 
They  accordingly  declared  Constantine  empe- 
ror. Their  example  determined  the  Senate; 
and  the  guards,  being  drawn  up  on  the  place  in 
front  of  the  Winter  Palace,  took  the  usual  oath 
to  the  Cesarowitch  as  the  new  emperor.  The 
motives  which  determined  Nicholas  ,  j^^^^  jj^g^ 
to  take  this  step  were  afterward  ix.  381 , 
stated  in  a  noble  proclamation  on  Schnitzler, 
his  own  accession  to  the  throne.'*      '■  ^^^'  '^^• 

Matters  were  in  this  state,  when  the  Grand 
Duke  Constantine  being  proclaimed 
emperor,  and  recognized  by  all  the  contest  of 
authorities  at  St.  Petersburg,  when  generosity 
the   Grand    Duke  Michael   arrived  between  the 
tliere,  with  the  fresh  renunciation  '^\°  broth- 
b}'  the  former  of  his  rights,  after  the  NJc'hoias 
death  of  the  late  sovereign  had  been  mounts  the 
known  to  him.     Nothing  could  be  ^'^''"o; 
more  clear  and  exjilieit  than  that 
renunciation,  concerning  the  validity  of  which 
no  doubt  could  be  now  entertained.    Neverthe- 
less Nicholas  persisted  in  his  generous  refusal 
of  the  throne,  and,  after  a  few  hours'  repose, 
dispatched  tlie  Grand  Duke  Michael  back  to 
Warsaw,  with  the  intelligence  that  Constantine 
had  already  been  proclaimed  emperor.    He  met, 
however,  at  Dorpat,  in  Livonia,  a  courier  witii 
the  answer  of  Constantine,  after  he  had  received 
the  dispatches  from  St.  Petersburg,  again  pos- 
itively declining  the  empire,  in  a  letter  address- 
ed "  To  his  Majesty  the  Emperor."     Nicholas, 
however,  still  refused  the  empire,  and  again 
besought  his  brother  to  accept  it.     The  inter- 
regnum continued  three  weeks,  during  wliich 
the  two  brothers — a  thing  unheard  of — were 
mutually  declining  and  urging,  the  empire  on 
tiie  otlier!     At  length,  on  tiie  24th  sAnn.  Hi.st. 
December,  Nicholas,  being  fully  per-  ix.  75, 7(i ; 
suaded  of  the  sincerity  and  legality  '''uces  llis- 
of  his  brotlier's  resignation,  yielded  sctm'iizicr 
to  wiiat  appeared  tlie  will  of  Prov-  i.  lya,  194'; 
idence,   mounted  tlie  throne  of  his  Nesselrode 
fatliers,  and  notified   liis   accession  "■"iTccs"''*' 
to  all  tlie  sovereigns  of  I'^uropc,  by  Eirangercs, 
whom  he  was   immediately  recog-  13  (25)  Dec. 
nized.^-  1S25. 


*  "  Nous  nViimes  ni  le  dcsir,  ni  le  droit,  de  coiisidcrer 
comme  irrevocable  cette  nnoiiriation,  (|ui  n'avait  point 
cte  publice  lors(iu'elle  cut  lieu  ;  et  qui  n'avait  ctu  conver- 
tie  en  loi.  Nous  voulions  ainsi  munifester  notre  respect 
pour  la  premiere  loi  fondanientalc  de  notre  I'atrie,  sur 
I'ordre  invariiil)le  de  la  succession  uu  trone.  Nous  cher- 
chions  uni(|ueirient  agarantir  do  la  moindre  attcinte  la  loi 
qui  regie  la  succession  au  Trone,  a  placer  dans  tout  son 
jour  la  loyaute  de  nos  intentions,  et  de  preserver  noire 
chore  I'atrie,  menic  il'un  moment  d'incerlitudc,  sur  la  per- 
sonne  de  son  legitime  souvcrain.  Getle  (letcnniiiation, 
prise  dans  la  purete  do  notre  conscienic  dcvant  le  Dieu 
qui  lit  au  fond  des  ccEurs,  fut  benie  par  s,  M.  I'liiipcTatrice 
Marie,  notre  mere  h\vn-aimvc."—Pritrlaiiiii/iiui.  25  Dec, 
lh25  ;  Jriurnal  ile  tit.  Peltrsbourg,  No.  151).  StiiMTZ- 
LEU.  i.  IfiU,  170. 


in  STORY    OF    EUROTE. 


IJiit  while  even  thiiicr  sooiiutl  to  siiiilo  on  the 

young  oiniHTor,  and  he  was,  in  ap- 

.      .,'„.       penrnnce,  roeeivin<;  llie  reward  of  his 

oi  till-  con-  disinterested  and  generous  conduct, 

spiriuy         in  being  seated,  l>v  general  coni-ent, 

inm""'  ''"  ^'"-^  k''*^"^*-'**  throne  in  the  world, 
the  eartii  was  trembling  beneath  his 
feet,  and  a  conspiracy  was  on  the  point  of  burst- 
ing forth,  which  ere  long  involved  Russia  in 
the  most  imminent  danger,  and  had  well-nigh 
terminated,  at  its  very  commencement,  his 
eventful  reign.  From  the  documents  on  this 
subject  which  have  since  been  published  by  the 
Russian  Government,  it  appears  that,  ever  since 
1S17,  secret  societies,  framed  on  the  model  of 
those  of  Germany,  had  existed  in  Russia,  the 
object  of  which  was  to  subvert  the  existing 
Government,  and  establish  in  its  stead  repre- 
sentative institutions  and  a  constitutional  mon- 
archy. Tliej'  received  a  vast  additional  impulse 
iipon  the  return  of  the  Army  of  Occupation 
from,  France,  in  the  close  of  1818,  where  the 
officers,  having  been  living  in  intimacy,  during 
three  j'cars,  with  the  Englisli  and  German  offi- 
cers, and  familiar  with  the  liberal  press  of  both 
countries,  as  well  as  of  Paris,  had  become  deep- 
l}-  imbued  with  republican  ideas,  and  enthusi- 
astic admirers  of  the  popular  feelings  by  which 
they  were  nourished,  and  of  the  establishments 
in  which  they  seemed  to  end.  The  conspiracy 
was  the  more  dangerous  that  it  was  conducted 
with  the  most  profound  secrecy,  embraced  a 
number  of  the  highest  nobles  in  the  land,  as 
\rell  as  military  officers,  and  had  its  ramifica- 
tions in  all  the  considerable  armies, 
J  Rapport  j^^  J  even  in  the  guards  at  the  capital, 
mission  "^o  strongly  was  the  danger  felt  by 
d'Enqutte,  the  older  officers  of  the  empire,  who 
Dec.  14  (20),  -^-ere  attached  to  the  old  recrime, 
J&25 :  Ann.     .i     ,  ^  .i  -j  ^i  , 

Hist.  i.\.        tliat  one  of  them  said,  on  the  return 

78,  80,363;  of  the  troops  from  France,  "  Rather 
Scjimi'-ler,     than  let  these  men  re-enter  Russia,  I 

would,  were  I  emperor,  throw  them 

into  the  Baltic."' 
The  conspiracy  was  divided  into  two  braneh- 
jjg         es,  each  of  which  formed  a  separate 
Details  on    society,  but  closely  connected  by  cor- 
the  conspi-  respondence.    The  directing  commit- 
raey.  ^gg  ^f  ^^^^jj  jjj^^j  j(.g  ^^^^  ^^  y^_  Peters- 

burg, and  at  its  head  was  Prince  Troubetzkoi 
— a  nobleman  of  distinguished  rank,  but  more 
ardor  than  firmness  of  character,  who  was 
high  inthe  emperor's  confidence— Ryleif,  Prince 
Obolonsky,  and  some  other  officers  in  the  gar- 
rison, besides  sixt}'  officers  in  the  guards.  The 
second  society,  which  was  much  more  numer- 
ous, and  embraced  a  great  number  of  colonels 
of  regiments,  had  its  chief  ramifications  in  the 
army  of  the  south  on  the  Turkish  frontier,  then 
under  tlie  command  of  Count  Wittgenstein. 
At  the  heacl  of  this  society  were  Captain 
Isikita  MouraviefF,  Colonel  Pestel,  and  Alex- 
ander Mouravieff,  whose  names  have  acqiiired 
a  melancholy  celebrity  from  the  tragedy  in 
which  their  efforts  terminated.  These  men 
were  all  animated  with  a  sincere  love  of  their 
country,  and  were  endowed  with  the  most 
heroic  courage.  Under  these  noble  qualities, 
however,  were  concealed,  as  is  always  the  case 
in  such  conspiracies,  an  inordinate  thirst  for 
elevation  and  individual  ambition,  and  an  en- 
tire ignorance  of  the  circumstances  essential  to 


i.  200.  ii.  ■; 
14. 


[Cusv.  YIII. 

the  success  of  any  eiili'r])rise,  havirg  frr  its 
oljectthc  cstabli?hiiuiil  of  lepretciitaii ve  ii.eti- 
tutions  in  their  country.  They  were  among 
the  most  highly  educated  and  cultivated  men 
in  the  Russian  emi)iie  at  the  time;  and  yet 
their  project,  if  successful,  could  not  have  failed 
to  reduce  their  count rj'  to  anarchy  and  throw 
it  back  a  century  in  the  career  of  improvt-nunt 
and  ultimate  freedom.  So  true  it  is  that  the 
first  thing  to  be  inquired  into,  in  all  measures 
intended  to  introduce  the  institutions  of  one 
countrj'  into  another,  is,  to  consider  whether 
their  ])olitical  circumstances  and  national  char- 
acter are  the  same.  The  conspiracy  was  headed 
by  the  highest  in  rank  and  the  first  in  intelli- 
gence, because  it  was  on  them  that  the  chains 
of  servitude  hung  heaviest.  "Envy,"  i  Rapport, 
says  Bulwer,  ''enters  so  largely  into  14 (20) Dec. 
the  democratic  passion,  that  it  is  al-  J*'.^^;. Ann- 
ways  felt  most  strongly  by  those  feV^'Docu-' 
who  are  on  the  edge  of  a  line  which  me'nts  His- 
they  yet  feel  to  be  impassable.  Xo  tonques, 
man  envies  an  aichangel."'  Tartie  2. 

Information,  though  in  a  very  vague  way, 
had  been  communicated  to  the  late 
emperor   of   these  societies;   but  it  inforJna- 
was  not  suspected  how  deep-seated  tion  given 
and  extensive  they  in  reality  were,  of  the  Con- 
or   how    widely    they   had    spread  ^.'1"^^'^^,'° 
.,  ,       i.  ii,   -^   /r  r  *i       '  Alexander, 

throughout  the  rfficers  oi  the  army. 

The  privates  were,  generally  speaking,  still 
steady  in  their  allegiance.  "Wittgenstein,  how- 
ever, and  Count  de  Witt,  had  received  secret 
but  authentic  accounts  of  the  conspiracj-  at  the 
time  of  Alexander's  journey  to  Taganrog,  and 
it  was  that  information,  suddenly-  communica- 
ted during  his  last  illness,  w^hich  had  so  cruelly 
aggravated  the  anxiety  and  afflicted  the  heart 
of  the  Czar.  The  project  embraced  a  general 
insurrection  at  once  in  the  capital  and  the  two 
great  armies  in  Poland  and  Bessarabia ;  and 
the  success  of  similar  movements  in  Spain  and 
Italy  inspired  the  conspirators  with  the  most 
sanguine  hopes  of  success.  The  time  had  been 
frequently  fixed,  and  as  often  adjourned  from 
accidental  causes;  but  at  length  it  was  ar- 
ranged for  the  period  of  Alexander's  journey 
to  Taganrog,  in  autumn,  1825.  It  was  only 
prevented  from  there  breaking  out  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  Wittgenstein  to  the  command  of 
the  army  of  the  south,  whose  known  resolu- 
tion of  character  rendered  caution  necessary; 
and  it  was  then  finally  resolved  it  should  take 
place  in  ilaj-,  1826.  The  conspirators  were 
unanimous  as  to  an  entire  change  of  govern- 
ment, and  the  adoption  of  representative  insti- 
tutions; but  there  was  a  consider- ,  „„„„„„ 
1  ,      T    •  •  1  ,.  Kapport, 

able  division  among  them,  at  first,  h  (2b)  Dee. 
what  was  to  be  done  with  the  emper-  1625;  Ann. 
or  and  his  farail}'.     At  length,  how-  t^,''^go'^" 
ever,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  the  more  doc  "iiist. 
decided  and  sanguinary  resolutions  Ibid.  383 ; 
prevailed,  and  it  was  determined  to  ^'^^^''j^''^''' 
put  them  all  to  death.'  '    '' 

The  death  of  Alexander  at  first  caused  un- 
certainty in  their  designs;  but  the        j^j, 
long  continuance  of  the  interregnum.  Plans  of 
and  the  strange  contest  between  the  the  conspi- 
two  brothers  for  the  abandonment  ''^'o'"^- 
of  the  throne,  offered  unhoped-for  chances  of 
success,  of  which  they  resolved  to  avail  them- 
selves.    To  divide  the  army,  and  avoid  shock- 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


1826.] 

ing,  in  the  first  instance  at  least,  the  feelings 
of  the  soldiers,  it  was  determined  that  they 
should  espouse  the  cause  of  Constantino ;  and 
as  he  had  been  proclaimed  emperor  by  Nicholas 
and  the  Government,  it  appeared  an  easy  matter 
to  persuade  them  that  the  story  of  his  having 
resigned  his  right  of  succession  was  a  fabrica- 
tion, and  that  their  duty  was  to  support  him, 
against  all  competitors.  As  Nicholas  seemed 
60  averse  to  be  charged  with  the  burden  of  the 
empire,  it  was  hoped  he  would  renounce  at 
once  when  opposition  manifested  itself,  and 
that  Constantine,  supported  by  their  arms, 
would  be  easily  got  to  acquiesce  in  their  de- 
mands for  a  change  of  government.  Their 
ulterior  plans  were,  to  convoke  deputies  from 
all  the  governments;  to  publish  a  manifesto  of 
ilie  Jjeuate,  in  which  it  was  declared  that  they 
v.ere  to  frame  laws  for  a  representative  gov- 
ernment; that  the  deputies  should  be  sum- 
moned from  Poland,  to  insure  the  unity  of 
I  An.  Hist,  the  empire,  and  in  the  mean  time 
ix.  385;  a  provisional  government  establish- 
'«^i)'^'^''  ^^'^  Constantine  was  to  be  per- 
is'jj ;  Ibid,  suaded  that  it  was  all  done  out  of 
p.  82,  64 ;  devout  feelings  of  loyalty  toward 
Doc.  Hist,    himself. 

In  contemplation  of  these  changes,  the  great- 
est efforts  had  been  made  for  several 
Coimnued.  ^^J^  V^^^  to  gain  the  regiments  of 
the  guards,  upon  whose  decision  the 
success  of  all  previous  revolutions  had  depend- 
ed ;  and  they  had  succeeded  in  gaining  many 
officers  in  several  of  the  most  distinguished 
regiments,  particularly  those  of  Preobrazinsky, 
Siinoneffsky,  the  regiments  of  Moscow,  the  body- 
guard grenadiers,  and  the  corps  of  marines.  In- 
formation, though  in  a  very  obscure  way,  had 
been  conveyed  to  Nicholas,  of  a  great  conspir- 
acy in  which  the  household  troops  were  deep- 
ly implicated,  and  in  consequence  of  that  the 
guard  had  not  been  called  together ;  but  it  was 
determined  that,  on  the  morning  of  the  26th, 
the  oath  of  allegiance  should  be  administered 
to  each  regiment  in  their  barracks.  The  Win- 
ter Palace,  where  the  emperor  dwelt,  was  in- 
trusted to  the  regiment  of  Finland  and  the  sap- 
pers of  the  guard,  instead  of  the  grenadiers-du- 
corps,  to  whom  that  charge  was  usually  confid- 
ed, and  all  the  posts  were  doubled.  But  for 
that  precaution,  incalculable  evils  must  have 
arisen.  In  truth,  the  danger  was  much  great- 
er, and  more  instant,  than  was  apprehcndej. 
Prince  Troubetzkoi,  llyleif,  and  Prince  Obolon- 
sk}',  the  chiefs  of  the  conspiracy,  liail  gained 
ndlierents  in  almost  every  regiment  of  the 
guards,  especially  among  the  young  men  wlio 
were  highest  in  rank,  most  ardent  in  disposi- 
tion, and  most  cultivated  in  education  ;  and  the 
privates  could  easily  be  won,  by  holding  out  tliat 
»Schnit7.ler  Con.stantine,  wlio  had  already  been 
i.  201,  202;'  proclaimed,  was  the  real  Czar,  and 
Ann.  Hist,  that  their  duty  required  tliern  to 
IX.  385,  3bO.  ghed  their  blood  in  his  defense.  =" 
Matters  were  brought  to  a  crisis  by  tlic  re- 
.  turn  of  tiic  (irand  Duke  Miclinel  from 

A  revolt,  is  Livonia  Avith  the  intelligence  of  the 
decided  on  final  refusal  of  the  throne  by  Con- 
by  the  con-  stantine.  It  was  then  determined  to 
Dec.  24.  '^^^  ^^  once;  and  l.'oubctzkoi  was 
named  dictator — a  post  he  proved  ill 
qualified  to  fill,  by  his  want  of  resolution  at 
Vor.  I.—S 


273 


the  decisive  moment.  The  emperor  published 
a  proclamation  on  the  24th  December,  in  which 
he  recounted  the  circumstances  which  had  com- 
pelled him  to  accept  the  empire,  and  called  on 
the  troops  and  people  to  obey  him;  and  on  the 
same  day  a  general  meeting  of  the  conspirators 
was  held,  at  which  it  was  determined  to  com- 
mence the  insurrection  without  delay.  It  was 
agreed  to  assassinate  the  emperor.  "  Dear 
friend,"  said  Ryleif  to  Kakhofski,  "you  are 
alone  on  the  earth  ;  you  are  bound  to  sacrifice 
3'ourself  for  societ}- ;  disembarrass  us  of  the  em- 
peror." Jakoubovitch  proposed  to  force  the 
jails,  liberate  the  prisoners,  and  rouse  the  ref- 
use of  the  population  by  gorging  them  wiili 
spirits;  but  these  extreme  measures  were  not 
adopted.  Orders  were  sent  to  the  army  of  the 
south,  where  they  reckoned  on  a  hundred  thou- 
and  adherents,  to  raise  the  standard  of  revolt. 
On  the  following  evening,  very  alarming  intelli- 
gence was  received,  in  consequence  of  which  it 
was  agreed  immediately  to  adopt  the  most  des- 
perate measures.  They  learned  that  they  had 
been  betrayed,  and  information  sent  to  govern- 
ment of  what  was  in  agitation  ;  thus  their  only 
hope  now  was  in  the  boldness  of  their  resolutions. 
"  Una  spes  victis  nullara  sperare  salutem."  "  We 
have  passed  the  Rubicon,"  said  Alexander  Bes- 
toujif,  "  and  now  we  must  cut  down  all  who 
oppose  us."  "You  see,"  said  Ryleif,  "we  are 
betrayed  ;  the  court  is  partly  aware  of  our  de- 
signs, but  they  do  not  know  the  whole.  Our 
forces  are  sufiicient;  our  scabbards  are  broken; 
we  can  no  longer  conceal  our  sabres.  Have  we 
not  an  admirable  chief  in  Troubetzkoi  ?"  "  Yes," 
answered  Jakoubovitch,  "in  height" — alluding 
to  his  lofty  stature.  At  length  all  .schnitzier 
agreed  upon  an  insurrection  on  the  j.  213,  aie;' 
day  when  the  oath  should  be  tend-  Ann.  Hist, 
ered  to  the  troops.'  '■''•  ^^^<  ^^^ 

On  the  morning  of  the  26th,  the  oath  was 
taken  without  difficulty  in  several  of        123 
the  first  regiments  of  the  guards,  es-  commence- 
pecially  the  horse-guards,  the  che-  "lent  oi"  it. 
valier  guards,  and  the  famous  regi-  ^^' 

ments  Preobrazinsk}-,  Simoneffsky,  Imailoffskj', 
Pauloffsky,  and  the  chasseurs  of  the  guard.  But 
the  case  was  very  diil'erent  with  the  regiment 
of  Moscow,  the  grenadiers  of  the  body-guard, 
and  t)»e  marines  of  the  guard.  They  were  for 
the  most  part  at  the  devotion  of  the  conspira- 
tors. Tlie  troops  were  informed  that  Constan- 
tine had  not  resigned,  but  was  in  irons,  as  well 
as  the  (Jrand  Duke  Michael ;  that  he  loved  their 
regiments,  and,  if  reinstated  in  autlioi-ity,  would 
double  their  pa}'.  [Such  was  tiie  ellect  of  these 
representations,  enforced  as  they  were  by  the 
ardent  military  eloquence  of  the  many  gifted 
and  generous  young  men  who  were  engaged  in 
tiie  conspiracy  from  patriotic  motives,*  that 
the  men  tumultuously  broke  their  ranks,  and, 
with    loud    hurraiiH,    "  (."oiistantine  for  ever!" 


*  Alcxanilcr  Ucstoiijif,  brothrr  of  Michael  Hcstoiijif,  one 
of  llu;  IcailiTH  of  tin;  revolt,  addrt'SHcd  the  followinn  prayer 
to  the  Aliiiijihty,  as  he  rose  on  tlie  eventful  day  :  "Oh 
God  1  if  our  eriteriiriHe  \»  ju»t,  vouchHafe  to  us  thy  sup- 
I)ort  ;  if  not,  thy  will  tic  done  to  uh."  It  ia  dillicult  to 
know  whether  to  admire  the  oourage  and  sincerity  of  the 
rnen  who  brave/l  such  dangcrH,  as  they  conceived,  for 
their  country's  Rood,  or  to  lament  the  hlindness  and  in- 
fatuation which  led  th.Mu  to  strive  to  obtain  for  it  institu- 
tions wholly  unsuited  for  the  people,  and  which  could 
terminate  in  nothing  hut  temporary  anarchy  and  lasting 
military  despotism  — SuiiNirzLEn,  i.  2'21,  note 


274 


HISTORY   OF  EUROPE. 


[Chap.  VIII. 


rushed  into  their  bnrrncks  for  (ininuinition,  from 
wlu'iioi"  they  iiiinuHliately  retiiriiwl  with  their 
iiuiskots  Uuided  with  bull.  They  were  jiis-t  eoiii- 
ini;  out  when  an  aid-do-i'unip  arrived  with  or- 
ders for  the  oflieers  to  repair  forthwith  to  tlie 
head-quarters  of  tiie  general  (Frederiek)  and  the 
Grand  Duke  Miehael.  "  1  do  not  aeknowledgc 
the  authority  of  your  general,"  cried  Prince 
Tflieehipine,"  who  eoniniuuded  one  of  the  re- 
volted eonipanics,  and  immediately  he  ordered 
the  soldiers  to  load  their  pieces.  At  the  same 
instant  Alexander  Pestoiijif  discharged  a  pistol 
at  General  Frederick  himself,  who  was  eonung 
up,  and  wounded  him  on  the  head.  lie  fell  in- 
sensible on  the  pavement,  while  Tchechipine 
attacked  General  Chenchine,  who  commanded 
the  brigade  of  the  guard,  of  which  the  regiment 
of  Moscow  formed  a  part,  and  stretched  him  on 
the  ground  by  repeated  blows  of  his  sabre.  In 
a  transport  of  enthusiasm  at  this  success,  he 
with  his  own  hand  snatched  the  standard  of  the 
regiment  from  the  officer  who  bore  it,  and,  wav- 
ing it  in  the  air,  exclaimed  aloud,  "  Constantine 
forever !"  The  soldiers  loudly  answered  with 
the  same  acclamation,  and  immediately  the 
greater  part  of  the  regiments,  disregarding  the 
voice  of  their  superior  officei's.  Colonel  Adles- 
berg  and  Count  Lieven,  who  held  out  for  JSich- 
olas,  moved  in  a  body  forward  from  the  front  of 
their  barracks,  and  took  up  a  position  on  the 
Grand  Place  behind  the  statue  of  I'eter  the 
Great.  There  they  were  soon  joined  by  a  bat- 
talion of  the  marines  of  the  guard,  who  had  been 
roused  in  a  similar  manner  by  Lieutenant  Ai'- 
bouzoff,  and  by  several  companies  of  the  grena- 
diers of  the  body-guard.  By  ten  o'clock,  eigh- 
teen hundred  men  were  drawn  up  in  battle  ar- 
ray on  the  Place  of  the  Senate,  behind  the  statue, 
surrovmded  by  a  great  crowd  of  civilians,  most 
of  whom  were  armed  with  pistols  or 
i  ^222"'223'^'  sabres ;  and  the  air  resounded  with 
'  '  cries  of  "Constantine  forever!"' 
The  die  was  now  cast,  and  the  danger  was  so 
imminent,  that,  if  there  had  been  the 
Heroic  con-  slightest  indecision  at  head-quarters, 
duct  of  the  insurrection  would  have  proved 
Nicholas  successful,  and  Russia  have  been  de- 
livered over  to  the  horrors  of  mili- 
tary license  and  servile  revolt.  But 
in  that  extremity  Nicholas  was  not  awanting  to 
himself;  he  won  the  empire  by  proving  he  was 
worthy  of  it.  He  could  no  longer  reckon  on 
his  guards,  and  without  their  support  a  Russian 
emperor  is  as  weak  as  with  it  he  is  powerful. 
At  eleven  he  received  intelligence  that  the  oath 
had  been  taken  by  the  principal  officers  in  the 
garrison,  and  it  was  hoped  the  danger  was  over ; 
but  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour  news  of  a  very  dif- 
ferent import  arrived — that  an  entire  regiment 
of  horse-artillery  had  been  confined  to  their 
barracks,  to  prevent  their  joining  the  insur- 
gents, and  that  a  formidable  body  of  the  guards 
in  open  revolt  were  drawn  up  on  the  Place  of 
the  Senate.  He  instantly  took  his  resolution, 
and  in  a  spirit  worthy  of  his  race.  Taking  the 
empress,  in  whom  the  spirit,  if  not  the  blood, 
of  Frederick  the  Great  still  dwelt,  by  the  hand, 
he  repaired  to  the  chapel  of  the  palace,  where, 
with  her,  he  invoked  the  blessing  of  the  Most 
High  on  their  undertaking.  Then,  after  ad- 
dressing a  few  words  of  encouragement  to  his 
weeping  but  still  courageous  consort,  he  took 


on  the  00- 
casion. 


his  eldest  son,  a  charming  child  of  eight  years 
of  age,  by  the  hand,  and  descended  to  the  chief 
body  of  the  yet  faithful  guards,  stationed  in 
front  of  the  palace,  and  gave  orders  to  them  to 
load  their  jiieces.  Then  presenting  the  young 
tirand  Duke  to  the  soldiers,  he  said,  "I  trust 
him  to  you ;  yours  it  is  to  defend  him."  The 
chasseurs  of  Finland,  with  loud  acclamations, 
swore  to  die  in  his  cause  ;  and  the  child,  terri- 
fied at  their  cheers,  was  passed  in  their  arms 
from  rank  to  rank,  amidst  the  tears  of  the  men. 
They  put  him,  while  still  weeping,  into  the  cen- 
tre of  their  column,  and  such  was  the  entliusi- 
asm  excited  that  they  refused  to  give  him  back 
to  his  preceptor,  Colonel  Moerder,  who  came  to 
reclaim  him.'*  "  God  knows  our  in-  ischnitzlcr 
tention,"  said  they;  "we  will  restore  j.  224,  225  ;' 
the  child  only  to  his  father,  who  in-  Ann.  Hist, 
trusted  him  to  us."  '^-  ^^'''  ^'^S- 

Meanwhile  Nicholas  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  first  battalion  of  the  regiment 
Preobrazinsky,  which  turned  out  Nicholas 
with  unheard-of  rapidity,  and  ad-  advances 
vanced  toward  the  rebels,  supported  aga'nst  the 
by  the  third  battalion,  several  com- 
panies of  the  grenadiers  of  Pauloffsky,  and  a 
battalion  of  the  sappers  of  the  guard.  On  the 
way  he  met  a  column  proceeding  to  the  ren- 
dezvous of  the  rebels.  Advancing  to  them  with 
an  intrepid  air,  he  called  out  in  a  loud  voice, 
"Good-morning,  my  children!" — the  usual  sal- 
utation of  patriarchal  simplicity  of  the  emper- 
ors to  their  troops.  "Hourra,  Constantine!" 
was  the  answer.  Without  exhibiting  any  symp- 
toms of  fear,  the  emperor,  pointing  with  his 
finger  to  the  other  end  of  the  Place,  where  the 
insurgents  were  assembled,  said,  "You  have 
mistaken  your  way ;  your  place  is  there  with 
traitors."  Another  detachment  following  them, 
to  which  the  same  salute  was  addressed,  re- 
mained silent.  Seizing  the  moment  of  hesita- 
tion, with  admirable  presence  of  mind,  he  gave 
the  order,  "  Wheel  to  the  right — ^niarch  I"  with 
a  loud  voice.  The  instinct  of  discipline  pre- 
vailed, and  the  men  turned  about  and  retraced 
their  steps,  as  if  they  liad  never  „  „  .  .  , 
deviated  from  their  allegiance  to  j  22:"228!'^' 
their  sovereign.^ 

The  rebels,  however,  reinforced  by  several 
companies  and  detachments  of  some  regiments 
which  successively  joined  them,  were  by  one 


*  What  a  scene  for  poetry  or  painting  I — realizing  on 
a  still  greater  theatre  all  that  the  genius  of  Homer  had 
prefigured  of  the  parting  of  Hector  and  Andromache  : 
"  Thus  having  spoke,  the  illustrious  chief  of  Troy 
Clasped  liis  fond  arms  to  clasp  the  lovely  boy  , 
The  babe  clung  crying  to  his  nurse's  breast. 
Scared  at  the  nodding  plume  and  dazzling  crest. 
With  secret  pleasure  each  fond  parent  smiled. 
And  Hector  hastened  to  relieve  his  child  ; 
The  glittering  terrors  from  his  brow  unbound. 
And  placed  the  beaming  helmet  on  the  ground  ; 
Then  kissed  the  child,  and,  lifting  high  in  air, 
Thus  to  the  gods  preferred  a  father's  prayer  : 
O  Thou !  whose  glory  fills  the  ethereal  throne, 
And  all  ye  deathless  powers,  protect  my  son  ! 
Grant  him,  like  me,  to  purchase  just  renown, 
To  guard  the  Trojans,  to  defend  the  crown  ; 
Against  his  country's  foes  the  war  to  wage, 
And  rise  the  Hector  of  the  future  age. 
So,  when  triumphant  from  successful  toils, 
Of  heroes  slain,  he  bears  the  reeking  spoils. 
Whole  hosts  may  hail  him  with  deserved  acclaim. 
And  say  this  chief  transcends  his  father's  fame  ; 
While,  pleased  amidst  the  general  shouts  of  Troy, 
His  mother's  conscious  heart  o'ertlows  with  joy." 

Pope's  Iliad,  vi.  595,  610- 


1826.] 


HI  STORY    OF    EUROrE. 


2^5 


n'flock  in  the  afternoon  above  three  thousand 
J26  strong,  and  incessant  cries  of  "  Ilour- 
Forces  on  ra,  Constantine!"  broke  from  their 
iiotii  sides,  ranks.  The  ground  was  covered  with 
lutfon  oT""  snow,  some  of  which  had  recently 
the  chiefs  fallen;  but  nothing  could  damp  the 
of  the  re-  ardor  of  the  men,  who  remained  in 
^'^"'  close  array,  cheering,  and  evincing 

tlie  greatest  enthusiasm.  Loud  cries  of  "  Long 
live  <Ac^/H;?eror  Constantine!"  resounded  over 
t!ie  vast  Place,  and  were  repeated  by  the  crowd, 
which,  every  minute  increasing,  surrounded  the 
regiments  in  revolt,  until  the  shouts  were  heard 
Lven  in  the  imperial  palace.  Already,  however, 
Count  Alexis  Orlof  had  assembled  several  squad- 
luiis  of  his  regiment  of  horse-guards,  and  taken 
a  position  on  the  Place  in  front  of  the  muti- 
neers ;  and  the  arrival  of  the  emperor,  with  the 
battalion  of  the  Preobrazinsky  regiment  and 
the  other  corps  from  the  palace,  formed  an  im- 
jiosing  force,  which  was  soon  strengthened  by 
-' veral  pieces  of  artillery,  which  proved  of  the 
trreatest  service  in  the  conilict  that  ensued. 
of  the  chiefs  of  the  revolt,  few  had  appeared 
on  the  other  side.  Troubetzkoi  was  nowhere 
lo  be  seen ;  Colonel  Boulatoff  was  in  the  square, 
Ijut  concealed  in  the  crowd  of  spectators  await- 
ing the  event.  Rj'leif  was  at  his  post,  as  was 
■lakoubovitch  ;  but  the  former,  not  seeing  Trou- 
li  tzkoi,  could  not  take  the  command,  and  lost 
the  precious  minutes  in  going  to  seek  him. 
Decision  and  resolution  were  to  be  found  only 
on  the  other  side,  and,  as  is  gener- 

1  23u"232'^'^'  ^^^y  *^^®  *^^^^  ^^  ^^^^^  conflicts,  they 
determined  the  contest.' 
Deeming  the  forces  assembled  sufficient  to 
J27.  crush  the  revolt,  the  generals  wlio 
Death  of  Mi-  surrounded  the  emperor  besought 
laradowitch.  him  to  permit  them  to  act;  but''he 
long  hesitated,  from  feelings  of  humanitj',  to 
shed  the  blood  of  his  subjects.  As  a  last  re- 
source, he  permitted  General  Milai-adowitch, 
the  governor  of  St.  Petersburg,  a  noble  veteran, 
well  known  in  the  late  war,  who  had  by  his 
single  influence  appeased  the  mutiny  in  the 
guards  in  the  preceding  year,  to  advance  to- 
ward the  insurgents,  in  hopes  that  his  presence 
might  again  produce  a  similar  eft'ect.  Milarad- 
owitch,  accordingly,  rode  forward  alone,  and 
when  within  hearing,  addressed  the  men,  in  a 
few  words,  calling  on  them  to  obey  their  law- 
ful sovereign,  and  return  to  their  duty.  He 
■was  interrupted  by  loud  cries  of  "  llourra,  Con- 
stantine 1"  and  before  lie  had  concliided,  Prince 
Obolonsky  made  a  dash  at  him  witli  a  bayonet, 
which  the  veteran,  with  admirable  coolness, 
avoided  by  wheeling  his  horse ;  but  at  the 
same  instant  Kakhofski  discharged  a  pistol  at 
him  within  a  few  feet,  which  wounded  him  mor- 
3  Schnitzlcr,  tally,  and  he  fell  from  liis  horse." 
1.232,233;'  "Could  I  liavo  believed,"  saiu  the 
Ann.  Hist,      veteran  of  the   campaign  of  1812, 

IX.  387.  luli-i.  r  il°l  1         r 

"that  it  was  from  the  hand  of  a 
Russian  I  was  to  receive  death  ?"  "  Wlio,"  said 
Kakhofski,  "now  speaks  of  submission  ?"  Milar- 
adowitch  died  the  following  morning,  deeply 
regretted  by  all  Europe,  to  whom  his  glorious 
career  had  long  been  an  object  of  admiration.* 


*  "'Hear  me,  good  people:  I  pror-jaitn,  in  llie  name 
of  the  kins,  free  pardon  to  all  ('Xcc]itiiiK— '  '  I  j;ive  tlice 
fair  warnine.'  saiil  Hurley,  prcKcijiirm  his  picoc.  '  A  free 
pardon  to  all  but—'     •  Iheii  the  Lord  yranl  grace  to  thy 


The  emperor,  notwithstanding  this  melan- 
choly catastrophe,  was  reluctant  to 
proceed  to  extremities;  and  perhaps  rpi^^  'j^'^pi,. 
he  entertained  a  secret  dread  as  to  bishop  also 
what  the  troops  he  commanded  might  fails  in  re- 
do, if  called  on   to   act   decisively  1"!;"'°  '*"= 

'  .  ,      .  i.       A  1  i  mutnieers. 

against  the  insurgents.   A  large  part 

of  the  guards  were  there  ranged  in  battle  array 
against  their  sovereign :  what  a  contest  miglit 
be  expected  if  the  signal  was  given,  and  the 
chevalier  guards  were  to  be  ordered  to  charge 
against  their  leveled  bayonets!  Meanwhile, 
however,  the  forces  on  the  side  of  Nicholas 
were  hourly  increasing.  The  sappers  of  the 
guard,  the  grenadiers  of  Pauloffsky,  the  horse- 
guards,  and  the  brigade  of  artillerj',  had  suc- 
cessively come  up;  and  the  Grand  Duke  Mi- 
chael, who  acted  with  the  greatest  spirit  on  the 
occasion,  had  even  succeeded  in  ranging  six 
companies  of  his  own  regiment,  the  grenadiers 
of  Moscow,  the  leaders  of  the  revolt^  on  the 
side  of  his  brother.  Still  the  emperor  was  re- 
luctant to  give  the  word ;  and  as  a  last  re- 
source, the  Metropolitan  Archbishop,  an  aged 
prelate,  with  a  large  part  of  the  clergy,  were 
bi'ought  forward,  bearing  the  cross  and  the 
sacred  ensign,  who  called  on  them  to  submit. 
But  although  strongly  influenced  by  religious 
feelings,  the  experiment  failed  on  this  occasion : 
the  rolling  of  drums  drowned  the  voice  of  the 
Archbishop,  and  the  soldiers  turned  his  gray 
hairs  into  derision.  Meanwhile  the  leaders  of 
the  revolt,  deeming  their  victory  secure,  began 
to  hoist  their  real  colors.  Cries  of  "Constan- 
tine a7id  the  Constitution  I"  broke  from  their 
ranks.     "What  is  that?"  said  the  men  to  each 

other.  "  Do  you  not  know,"  said  one,  ,  c  ,,  •, 
<i  •!.  •    ii  /r^       .-,      .   ■   N  n,.  '  Schnitz- 

"  it  IS  the  empress  (Constitoutzia)?    icr.  i.  233, 

"Not  at  all,"  i-eplied  a  third:  "it  is  234;Drem. 

the  carriage  in  which  the  emperor  is  "'^'"'  ?H,1'. 
-      1  •         ?.  •  , .      „ ,  i  sia.  II.  127 

to  drive  at  his  coronation.   '■  * 

At  length,  having  exhausted  all  means  of 

pacification,  the  emperor  ordered  the       jog 

troops  to  act.     The  rebels  were  at-  The'empe- 

tacked  in  front  by  the  horse-guards  ror  gains 

and  chevalier  guards,  while  the  in-  ^liu  victory. 

fantry  assailed  them  in  flank.     But  these  noble 

veterans  made  a  vigorous  resistance,  and  for  a 

few  minutes  the  result  seemed  doubtful.    Closely 

arrayed  in  column,  they  faced  on  every  side :  a 

deadly  rolling  fire  issued  from  the  steady  mass. 


Koul!'  with  these  words  he  lired,  atid  Cornet  Kiehurd 
Graham  fell  from  liis  liorsc.  He  had  only  strength  to 
turn  on  tlie  ground,  and  exclaim, '  My  poor  mother  1'  when 
life  forsook  liim  in  tlic  cllort.  '  What  have  you  done  '' 
said  one  of  Halfour's  brother  oflicors.  '  My  duty,'  said 
Balfour  firndy.  •  Is  it  not  written,  Thou  shall  be  zealous 
even  to  slaying '  Let  those  who  dare  7iow  speak  of  truce 
or  pardon.'  "—Old  Mortality,  chap.  viii.  How  singular 
that  the  insurrection  of  St.  Petersburg  in  1)^25  shoidd 
realize,  within  a  few  hours,  what  the  bard  of  Chios  had 
conceived  in  song  and  the  Scottish  novelist  in  prose,  at 
the  distance  of  twenty-live  centuries  from  each  other  , 
and  what  a  proof  of  the  identity  of  human  nature,  ami 
the  deep  insight  which  those  inasler-minds  had  obtained 
into  its  inmost  recesses,  that  a.  revolt  in  llio  capital  of 
Russia  in  the  nineteenth  century  should  come  so  near  lo 
what,  at  such  a  distance  of  time  and  place,  they  had  re- 
spectively prefigured. 

*  "The  leaders  of  th(^  revolt,  however,  had  difT'erent 
ideas  of  what  they,  at  all  evcnls,  understood  by  Ihe  move- 
ment. On  loading  Ins  pistols  on  the  morning  ol'  that 
eventful  day,  lioulalolf  said,  '  We  shall  see  whethi'r  there 
are  any  Hrutuses  or  lliegos  in  Russia  to-day.'  Neverthe- 
less, he  failed  at  the  decisive  moment:  he  was  not  to  be 
found  on  the  I'lace  of  Iho  Senate."— Kn/jporf  sur  Irs 
Evivements,  &c.,  26  D6c.,  p.  125,  and  Sciinitzleu,  i 
232,  note. 


HISTORY    OF    EUROTE. 


[CiiAi-.  vi:i. 


niul   tho  cnvnlry   in   vain  strove   to  find   nn 
oi'.lranoo  into  their  serried  riinks.     The  horse- 
men were  repulsed:   Kukliofski  witli  liis  own 
liand  slew  Colonel  St  rosier,  who   conunnnded 
tlie  ijrenndiei-s ;  nnd  Kuehelbeeker  had  already 
uplifted  his  arm  to  eut  down  the  Crand  Duke 
Miohael,  when  a  marine  of  the   guard  on   his 
own   side    averted    the    blow.     Jakouboviteh, 
charijed  with  disjialehing  the  emperor,  eagerly 
sought  him  out,  but,  in  the  inclcc  and  amidst 
the"  smoke,   without    effect.      The    resistance, 
however,  continued  several  hours,  and  night 
was  approaching,  with  the  rebels,  in  unbroken 
strength,  still  inpossession  of  their  strong  posi- 
tion.    Then,   and  not  till  then,   the   emperor 
ordered  the  cannon,  liitherto  concealed  by  tho 
cavalry,  to  be  unmasked.     The  horsemen  witli- 
diew  to  the  sides,  and  showed  the  muzzles  of 
tlie  guns  pointed  directly  into  the  insurgent 
square :  they  were  again  summoned  to  surren- 
der, while  the  pieces  were  charged  with  grape, 
and  the  gunners  waved  their  lighted  matches 
in   the   now  darkening   air.     Still  the   rebels 
stood  firm ;  and  a  first  fire,  intentionally  di- 
rected above  their  heads,  having  produced  no 
effect,  tliey  cheered  and  mocked  their  adversa- 
ries.    Then  the  emperor  ordered  a  point-blank 
discharge,  but  the  cannoneers  refused  at  first  to 
fire  on  their  comrades,  and  the  Grand  Duke 
Michael,  with  his  own  hand,  discharged  the 
first  gun.     Then  the  rest  followed  the  example, 
and  the  grape  made  frightful  gaps  in  the  dense 
ranks.     The   insurgents,  however,   kept   their 
ground,  and  it  was  not  till  the  tenth  round  that 
they  broke  and  fled.     They  were  vigorously 
pursued  by  the  horse-guards  along  the  quays 
and  through  the  cross  streets,  into  which  they 
fled  to  avoid  their  bloody  sabres.     Seven  hun- 
dred were  made  prisoners,  and  several  hundred 
bodies  remained  on  the  Place  of  the  Senate, 
which  were  hastily  buried  under  the 
snow  with  which  the  Neva  was  over- 
23'J;   Ann.  spread.     By  six   o'clock  the   rebels 
Hist.  ix.       were    entirely    dispersed ;    and    the 
Gdovfne      emperor,  now  firmly  seated  on  his 
La  Russi'e    throne,  returned  to  his  palace,  where 
sous  Nich-  the  empress  fell  into  his  arms,  and  a 
oUis  I.,  i.     goiemn  Te  Deiim  was  chanted  in  the 
chapel.' 
Of  all  the  conspirators  during  this  terrible 
130.         crisis,  Jakouboviteh  had   alone  ap- 
Seizure  of  pearcd    at   the    post    assigned  him. 
the  leaders  Troubetskoi,  whose  firmness  had  de- 
s[(irar,y,       serted  him  on  this  occasion,  sought 
and  gener-  refuge  in  the  hotel  of  the  Austrian 
embassador,   Count  Libzeltern,  but, 
on  the  requisition  of  the  emperor,  he 
■was  brought  from  that  asylum  into 
his  presence.     At  first  he  denied  all 
knowledge  of  the  conspiracy;   but  when  his 
papers  were  searched,  which  contained  decisive 
proof  not  merely  of  his  accession  to  it,  but  of 
his  having  been  its  leader,  he  fell  at  the  em- 

i)eror's  feet,  confessed  his  guilt,  and  implored 
lis  life.  "If  }-ou  have  courage  enough,"  said 
Kicholas,  "to "endure  a  life  dishonored  and  de- 
voted to  remorse,  you  shall  have  it;  but  it  is 
all  I  can  promise  you."  On  the  following  morn- 
ing, when  the  troops  were  still  bivouacked,  as 
the  evening  before,  on  the  Place  of  the  Senate, 
and  the  curious  crowds  surveyed  at  a  distance 
the  theatre  of  the  conflict,  the  emperor,  accom- 


'  Schnitz- 
ler,  i.  237 


panied  by  a  single  aid-de-canip,  rode  out  of 
the  palace  to  review  those  who  had  combated 
fi>r  him  on  the  preceding  day.  Riding  slowly 
along  their  ranks,  he  thanked  them  for  their 
fidelity,  and  promised  them  a  considerable 
augmentation  of  yay,  as  ■well  as  the  usual 
largesses  on  occasion  of  the  accession  of  a  new 
emjieror.  lie  then  ])rocceded  to  the  regimenls 
which  had  revolted,  and  granted  a  pardon 
alike  politic  and  generous.  To  the  marines  of 
the  guard,  who  liad  lost  tlieir  colors  in  the 
conflict,  he  gave  a  fresh  one,  with  the  words, 
"You  have  lost  your  honor;  try  to  recover 
it."  The  regiment  of  Moscow,  in  like  manner, 
received  back  its  colors,  and  was  pardoned  on 
the  sole  condition  that  the  most  guilty,  formed 
into  separate  companies,  should  be  sent  for  two 
years  to  expiate  their  fault  in  combating  the 
mountaineers  of  the  Caucasus.  The  emperor 
promised  to  take  their  wives  and  children 
under  his  protection  during  their  ab-  ,  ^^  jjjgf 
sence.  These  generous  words  drew  ix.  391, 
tears  from  the  veterans,  who  declared  392  -, 
themselves  ready  to  set  out  on  the  f  242"24T.' 
instant  for  their  remote  destination.' 

But  although  all  must  admit  the  justice  of 
these  sentiments — and  indeed  it  was       131. 
scarcely   possible   to   act   otherwise  Appoint- 
with  men  who  were  merely  misled,  I!!'!!!' "I'* 
and  who  resisted  the  Czar  when  they  sion  or  in- 
thought  they  were  defending  him —  quiry. 
a  very  difl'erent  course  seemed  neces-  ^^'^-  ^^■ 
sary  with  the  leaders  of  the  revolt,  who  had 
seduced  the  soldiers  into  acts  of  treason  through 
the  very  intensity  of  their  lo3-alty.     All  the 
chiefs  were  apprehended  soon  after  its  suppres- 
sion, and  the  declarations  of  the  prisoners,  rs 
well  as  the  papers  discovered  in  their  posses- 
sion, revealed  a  far  more  extensive  and  danger- 
ous conspiracy  than  had  been  previously  im- 
agined.    The  emperor  appointed  a  commission 
to  investigate  the  matter  to  the  bottom,  and  on 
the  31st  he  published  a  manifesto,  in  which, 
after  exculpating  the  simple  and  loyal-hearted 
soldiers  who  were  drawn  into  the  tumult,  he 
denounced  the  whole  severity  of  justice  against 
the  leaders,  "who  aimed  at  overturning  the 
throne  and  the  laws,*  subverting  the  empire, 


ous  con- 
«;uct  of 
Nicholas 
to  the  pri- 
vates. 


*  "  Deux  classes  d'hommes  out  pris  part  a  revenement 
du  14  (26)  Decembre,  evenenient  qui,  peu  important  par 
lui-ineme,  ne  Test  que  trop  par  son  principe  et  par  ses 
consequences.  Les  uns,  personncs  egarees,  ne  savaient 
pas  ce  qu'ils  faisaient ;  les  autres,  veritables  conspira- 
teurs,  voulaient  abattre  le  Trone  et  les  lois,  bouleverser 
I'empire,  amener  I'anarchie,  entrainer  dans  le  tumulte  les 
soldats  des  compagnies  seduiles,  qui  n'ont  participe  a  ces 
attentats,  ni  de  fait,  ni  d'intention  :  una  enquete  severe 
m'en  a  donne  la  preuve  ;  et  je  rcgarde,  comme  un  premier 
acte  de  justice,  comme  ma  premiere  consolation,  de  les 
declarer  innocents.  Mais  cette  mtme  justice  defend 
d'epargner  les  coupables.  D'apres  les  mesures  deja  prises, 
le  chatiment  embrasserait  dans  toute  son  etendue,  dans 
toutes  ses  ramifications,  un  mal  dont  le  germe  compte  des 
annees  ;  et  j'en  ai  la  confiance,  elles  le  detruiront  jusquc 
dans  le  sol  sacre  de  Russie  :  elles  feront  disparaitre  cet 
odieux  melange  de  tristes  verites  et  de  soupcons  gratuits, 
qui  repugne  aiix  ames  nobles  ;  elles  tireront  a  jamais,  une 
ligne  de  demarcation  entre  I'amour  de  la  Patrie  et  les 
passions  revolutionnaires,  entre  le  desir  du  niieux  et  la 
fureur  des  bouleversements  ;  elles  montreront  au  monde, 
que  la  nation  Russe,  toujours  fidele  a  son  souverain  et 
aux  lois,  repousse  les  secrets  efforts  de  I'anarchie,  comme 
elle  a  repouss6  les  attaques  ouvertes  de  ees  ennemis 
declares  ;  elles  montreront  comme  on  se  delivre  d'un  tel 
fleau  ;  elles  montreront  que  ce  n'est  point,  pourtant,  qu'il 
est  indestructible." — Proclamatirm.  ^^t\i  December,  lb25; 
ScHNiTZLER,  i.  255-29f) — said  to  have  come  from  the  pen 
of  the  celebrated  historian  Karamsin,  who  died  shortly 
after. 


1826.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


277 


ami  iiulucing  anarchy.''  A  commission  was 
accordinglj'  appointed,  having  at  its  head  the 
Minister  at  War,  General  Talischof,  president ; 
the  Grand  Duke  Michael;  Prince  Alexander 
Gallitzin,  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  ;  Gen- 
eral Chernichef,  Aid-de-camp  General,  and 
Bevcral  other  members,  nearly  all  military 
1  schnitz-  men.  There  were  only  two  civilians, 
ler,  i.  258,  Prince  Alexander  Gallitzin  and  M. 
260-  Blondof.i 

From  a  commission  so  composed,  the  whole 
jjo  proceedings  of  which  were  private. 
Its  compo-  there  was  by  no  means  to  be  expected 
sition  and  the  same  calm  and  impartial  inquir}' 
report.  -which  might  be  looked  for  from  an 
English  special  commission  which  conducted 
all  its  proceedings  in  public,  and  under  the 
surveillance  of  a  jealous  and  vigilant  press. 
But  nevertheless  their  labors,  which  were  most 
patient  and  uninterrupted,  continuing  through 
several  months,  revealed  the  magnitude  and 
frightful  perils  of  the  conspiracy,  and  the  ab^'ss 
on  the  edge  of  which  the  nation  had  stood, 
when  the  firmness  of  Nicholas  and  the  fidelity 
of  his  guards  saved  them  from  the  danger. 
Their  report — one  of  the  most  valuable  histor- 
ical monuments  of  the  age,  though  of  necessity, 
under  the  circumstances  in  which  it  was  drawn 
up,  one-sided  to  a  certain  degree — unfolds  this 
in  t!ie  clearest  manner:  and  although  no  judi- 
cial investigation  can  be  implicitly  relied  on 
which  is  not  founded  on  the  examination  of 
witnesses  on  both  sides,  in  public,  yet  enough 
which  can  not  be  doubted  has  been  revealed, 
to  demonstrate  how  much  the  cause  of  order 
and  real  liberty  is  indebted  to  the  firmness 
3  „  ,  which  on  this  momentous  occasion 
May  30,  '  repressed  the  treasonable  designs 
1826,  Ann.  which  in  such  an  empire  could  have 
Hist.  ix.       terminated  only  in  the  worst  excesses 

/9,  112.  ~  ^        1       '' 

01  anarchy.^ 

Before  the  commission  had  well  commenced 

-,         their  labors,  a  catastrophe  occurred 

Leaders  of     '"  ^-^^  south  which  afforded  confirm- 

the  revolt  in  ation  strong  of  the  extent  of  the 

the  army  of   conspiracy  and  the   magnitude  of 

the  south.       .ij  1-1111  J 

the  danger  which  had  been  escaped. 

The  great  armies  both  of  the  south  and  west 
were  deeply  implicated  in  the  designs  of  the 
rebels,  and  it  was  chiefly  on  their  aid  that  the 
leaders  at  St.  Petersburg  reckoned  in  openly 
hoisting  the  standard  of  revolt.  It  was  in 
the  second  army  (that  of  the  south)  that 
the  conspiracy  had  the  deepest  roots,  and  Paul 
Pestel  was  its  soul.  He  was  son  of  an  old 
officer  who  had  been  governor-general  of  Si- 
beria, and  had  gained  his  company  by  liis  gal- 
lant conduct  at  the  battle  of  Arcis-sur-Aube, 
in  France,  in  1814.  He  was  colonel  of  the 
regiment  of  Vicitka  in  182.5,  when  the  revolt 
broke  out,  and  his  ability  and  pleasing  manners 
had  made  him  an  aid-de-catnp  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, Count  Wittgenstein.  He  was 
inspired  with  a  strong  horror  at  oppression  of 
any  kind  ;  but  the  other  conspirators  said  it 
was  only  till  he  was  permitted  to  exercise  it 
J  -  himself.'     He  was  a  declared  repub- 

ler  ii.  9  "  lican,  but  Kyleif  said  of  bin),  "  lie  is 
13;  liap-  an  ambitious  man,  full  of  artifice — 
port.  May  a  Bonaparte,  and  not  a  Washing- 
30,  1826,  p.  ^^^„  jj^,  ,,,j,j  ^^^^^  resolution,  how- 
ever, and  power  of  eloquence,  and 


those  qualities  had  procured  for  him  unbound- 
ed infiuence  among  his  comrades. 

In  the  first  armj',  stationed  on  the  Polish 
frontier,  the  conspiracy  had  ramifica-  534 
tions  not  less  extensive.  At  its  head.  And  in  that 
in  that  force,  were  two  brothers,  of  the  west. 
Serge  and  Matthew  Mouravieff-Apostol,  the 
first  of  whom  was  a  colonel  of  the  regiment 
of  Tchernigof ;  the  second  a  captain  in  that  of 
Semonof.  Their  father,  who  was  nephew  of 
the  preceptor  of  Alexander,  had  been  educated 
with  that  prince,  by  whom  he  was  tenderly- 
loved  ;  and  he  was  one  of  the  few  Russians  oif 
family,  at  that  period,  who  engaged  in  literary 
pursuits.  He  had  translated  the  Clondx  of 
Aristophanes  into  Russian ;  and  his  Travels  in 
Tauris,  published  at  St.  Petersburg  in  1825,  re- 
vealed the  extent  and  accuracy  of  his  classical 
knowledge.  He  had  composed  a  beautiful 
sonnet,  in  Greek  verse,  on  the  death  of  Alex- 
ander, which  he  had  also  translated  into  Latin. 
His  two  sons,  on  whom  he  had  bestowed  the 
most  polished  education,  had  been  brought  up 
abroad,  wliere  they  had  imbibed  the  liberal 
ideas,  and  vague  aspirations  after  indefinite 
freedom,  at  that  period  so  common  in  western 
Europe.  They  returned  to  Russia  deeply  im- 
bued with  republican  ideas,  and  in  good  faith 
and  with  benevolent  views,  but  without  any 
practical  knowledge  of  mankind,  or  any  fixed 
plan  of  reform,  or  what  was  to  be  established 
in  its  stead,  entered  into  the  project  for  the 
overthrow  of  the  government.  A  third  leader 
was  a  young  man  named  Michael  Bestoujif- 
Rumine,  an  intimate  friend  of  Pestel,  ,  „  .  . 
and  who  formed  the  link  which  con-  ler'^ii"]'?' 
nected  the  two  MouraviefFs  with  the  21  •  Ann.' 
projects  of  the  conspirators  in  the  IJ'st-  ix. 
capital,  and  in  the  army  of  the  south.'  ^"^'^'  ^^''• 

When  the  papers  of  the  persons  seized  at  St 
Petersburg,  on  the  26th  December, 
were   examined,    it  was   discovered  Arrest  of 
that  the  two  Mouravieffs  were  deep-  the  Moura- 
ly  implicated  in  the  conspiracy,  and  ^'effs,  and 

I     ^  i.ti  i.1-         outbreak  ol 

orders  were  sent  to  have  them  im-  ^^^^  conspi- 

mediately  arrested.  The  orders,  how-  racy  in  the 
ever,  got  wind,  and  they  sought  safety  Army  of 
in  flight,  but  were  arrested,  on  the  ^'''''i'"'- 
18th  January,  in  the  burgli  of  Trilissia,  by 
Colonel  Ghebel,  whose  painful  duty  it  was  to 
apprehend  one  of  his  dearest  friends.  Inform- 
ed of  their  arrest,  a  number  of  officers  of  the 
Society  of  United  Sclavonians  surrounded  the 
house  in  which  they  were  detained  by  Ghebel, 
and  rescued  them,  after  a  rude  conflict,  in 
which  Ghebel  fell,  pierced  by  fourteen  wounds. 
Delivered  in  this  manner,  tlie  Mouravieft's  had 
no  safety  but  in  a  cliange  of  government.  Serge 
MouraviefF  succeeded  in  causing  liis  regiment 
to  revolt,  by  the  same  device  which  had  proved 
so  successful  at  St.  Petersburg,  (hat  of  persuad- 
ing them  to  take  up  arms  for  their  true  Czar, 
Constantine.  The  leaders  of  the  conspiracy, 
amidst  the  cries  of  "Hourra,  Constantine!" 
tried  to  introduce  the  cry  of  "Long  live  the 
Sclavonic  Ue[)ublicl"  but  the  soldiers  could 
not  be  brought  to  understand  what  was  meant. 
"  We  ai'c  t\\ut(:  willing,"  said  an  old  grenadier, 
"to  call  out,  'Jjong  live  the  Sclavonic  Re])ub- 
lic  ;'  but  who  is  to  he  our  emperor  ?"  The  officers 
spoke  to  them  of  liberty,  and  the  priests  read 
some  passages  from  the  Old  Testament,  to  prove 


27  S 


IIISTOUY    OF   EUKOPE. 


ihat  vloiiKHTaoy  was  the  form  of  government 
most  njireoublc  to  the  Ahnighty  ;  but 
omcuT"  *''"  si>lJ'<''r3  eonstnntly  imswered, 
May  30,  "  WI»o  is  to  be  emperor — Constnii- 
ivjii,  p.  tino  or  Nicholas  rnuloviteh?"  So 
}?\  •  .  ,  strong  was  tliis  iiiii^ression,  that 
II.  •.'1,26,  Mounivielf,  by  his  own  admission, 
S9;  Ann.  was  obliged  to  give  over  speaking 
r'lfi'in  of  liberty  or  republics,  and  to  join  in 
the  cry  of  "llourra,  Constantine  !'"' 
It  was  now  evident  that  the  common  men 
.3-  were  at  heart  loyal,  and  that  it  was 
lis  sup-  by  deception  alone  that  they  had 
nrossion.  been  drawn  into  mutiny.  Taking 
Jan.  12.  advantage  of  their  hesitation,  Cap- 
tain KogloC  Avho  commanded  the  grenadiers, 
harangued  his  men,  informing  them  that  they 
had  been  deceived,  and  that  Nicholas  was  their 
real  sovereign.  "  Lead  us,  captain,"  they  ex- 
claimed ;  "  we  will  obey  your  orders."  He  led 
thom,  accordingly,  out  of  the  revolted  regiment, 
without  MouravielF  venturing  to  oppose  any 
resistance.  Reduced  by  this  defection  to  six 
companies,  that  regiment  was  unable  to  com- 
mence any  offensive  operations.  Mouravieff 
remained  two  days  in  a  state  of  uncertainty, 
sending  in  vain  in  every  direction  in  quest  of 
succor.  Meanwhile,  the  generals  of  the  army 
were  accumulating  forces  round  them  in  ever}- 
direction;  and  though  numbei-s  were  secretlj^ 
engaged  in  the  conspiracy,  and  in  their  hearts 
wished  it  success,  yet  as  intelligence  had  been 
received  of  its  suppression  at  St.  Petersburg, 
Done  ventured  to  join  it  openly.  The  rebels, 
obliged  to  leave  IJelain-Tzerskof,  where  they 
had  passed  the  night,  were  overtaken,  on  the 
morning  of  the  15th,  on  the  heights  of  Ostin- 
ofska.  Mouravieff,  nothing  daunted,  formed 
liis  men  into  a  square^  and  ordered  them  to 
march,  with  their  arms  still  shouldered,  straight 
on  the  guns  pointed  at  them.  He  was  in  hopes 
the  gunners  would  declare  for  them  ;  but  he 
was  soon  undeceived.  A  point  blank  discharge 
of  grape  was  let  fly,  which  killed  great  num- 
bers. A  ehai-ge  of  cavalry  quickly  succeeded, 
which  completed  their  defeat.  Seven  hundred 
were  made  prisoners,  among  whom  were  Mat- 
thew and  Hippolyte  Mouravieff,  and  the  chief 
leaders  of  the  revolt ;  and  a  conspiracy,  which 
pervaded  the  whole  army,  and  threatened  to 
shake  the  empire  to  its  foundation,  was  defeat- 

2  D  ..„„„,..  ed  by  the  overthrow  of  six  companies 
2  Rapport  .'  1  -11   J        J  J    J 

Officiei,  and  fifty  men  killed  and  wounded. 

May  30,  The  unhappy  Mouravieff,  father  of 

1826,  84,  ^}jg  rebels,  saw  himself  deprived  of 

130,  Ann.  I  ■     ,1        '  .  r  \, 

Hist.  1826,  his   three   sons   at  one  fell    swoop, 

p.  84, 130;  "Nothing  remained,"  he  said,  "but 

?''^'iU''o'/'^'  for  bim  to  shroud  his  head  under 


ii.  30,  34. 


their  ashes."* 


The  commission  which  had  been  appointed 
j3-  to  try  the  insurgents  at  St.  Peters- 
Sentences  burg  extended  its  labors  to  the  con- 
on  the  con-  spiracy  over  the  whole  empire,  and 
spirators.  tracedits  ramifications  in  their  whole 
extent.  It  can  not  be  said  that  their  proceed- 
ings were  stained  with  unnecessary  cruelty  ; 
for  of  so  great  a  number  of  conspirators  actual- 
ly taken  in  arms  against  the  Government,  or 
whose  guilt  was  established  beyond  a  doubt, 
five  only,  viz..  Colonel  Pestel,  Kyleif,  Colonel 
Serge  Mouravieff,  Bestougif-Iiumine,  and  Kak- 
hofski,  were  sentenced  to  death.    While  thirty- 


[CuAi-.  VIIL 

one  others,  original!}'  sentenced  to  death,  had 
their  sentences  commuted  to  exile,  accompanied 
with  hard  labor,  for  life  or  for  long  periods,  ia 
Siberia.  They  fonned  a  melancholy  list;  for 
among  them  were  to  be  found  several  men  of 
the  highest  rank  and  noblest  feelings  in  Kussio, 
the  victims  of  mistaken  zeal  and  deluded  patri- 
otism. Among  them  were  Prince  Troubelzkoi, 
Colonel  Matthew  Mouravieff-Apostol,  Colonel 
Davidof,  (icncral  Prince  Serge  Volkonsk}', 
Captain  Prince  Stchpine  Boslowsky,  ,, 
and  Nicholas  Tourgunoff,  councilor  juiy74,*^  ' 
of  state.  One  hundred  and  thirty  1826;  An. 
others  were  sentenced  to  imprison-  J''?*'-  ^■,"'- 
meiit  and  lesser  penalties.'  ' 

The  conspirators  who  were  selected  for  ex- 
ecution met  their  fate  in  a  worthy  jj,g 
spirit.  They  faced  death  on  the  Their  con- 
scaffold  with  the  same  courage  that  duct  on  ilie 
they  would  have  done  in  the  field,  eve  of  death. 
Their  original  sentence  was  to  be  broken  on 
the  wheel ;  but  the  humanity  of  the  emperor 
led  him  to  commute  that  frightful  punishment, 
and  the}'  were  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  This 
mode  of  death,  unusual  in  Russia,  was  keenly 
felt  as  a  degradation  bv  men  who  expected  to 
meet  the  death  of  soldiers.  Ryleif,  the  real 
head  of  the  conspiracy,  and  the  most  intellec- 
tual of  all  its  members,  acknowledged  that  his 
sentence  was  just,  according  to  the  existing 
laws  of  Russia ;  but  he  added,  that,  having  been 
deceived  by  the  ardor  of  his  patriotism,  and 
being  conscious  only  of  pure  intentions,  he  met 
death  without  apprehension.  "  ily  fate,"  said 
he,  "  will  be  an  expiation  due  to  society."  He 
then  wrote  a  beautiful  letter  to  his  young  wife, 
in  which  he  conjured  her  not  to  abandon  her- 
self to  despair,  and  to  submit,  as  a  good  Chris- 
tian, to  the  will  of  Providence,  and  the  justice 
of  the  emperor.  He  charged  her  to  give  his 
confessor  one  of  his  golden  snuff-boxes,  and  to 
receive  from  him  his  own  last  bless- 
ing  from    the    scaffold.  ="      Nothing  ,°:^^n?"o,!f' 

&  .  &   11.  303,  305. 

shook   Pestel  s   courage ;    he   main- 
tained to  the  last  his  principles  and  the  purity 
of  his   intentions.     All  received   and  derived 
consolation  from  the  succors  of  religion. 

There  had  been  no  capital  sentence  carried 
into  execution  in  St.  Petersburg  for  jgg 
eighty  years;  and  in  all  Russia  but  Their  cxe- 
few  scaffolds  had  been  erected  for  cuiion. 
death  since  the  reign  of  the  Empress  ^"'^  ^^' 
Elizabeth,  a  century  before.  The  knowledge 
that  five  criminals,  all  of  eminent  station,  were 
about  to  be  executed,  excited  the  utmost  con- 
sternation in  all  classes ;  and  Government  wise- 
ly kept  secret  the  exact  time  when  the  sentence 
was  to  be  carried  into  effect.  At  two  in  the 
morning  of  the  25th  July,  however,  a  mournful 
sound  was  heard  in  every  quarter  of  the  city, 
which  presaged  the  tragedy  which  was  ap- 
proaching: it  was  the  signal  for  every  regi- 
ment in  the  capital  to  send  a  company  to  assist 
at  the  melancholy  spectacle.  Few  spectators, 
save  the  military,  were  present,  when,  on  the 
edge  of  the  rampart  of  the  citadel,  was  seen 
diinly  through  the  twilight  which  preceded  the 
morning,  a  huge  gallows,  which  froze  every 
heart  with  horror.  The  rolling  of  drums  was 
soon  heard,  which  announced  the  approach  of 
the  thirty-one  criminals  condemned  to  death, 
but  whose  lives  had  been  spared,  who  were  led 


1826.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


279 


out,  and  on  their  knees  heard  their  sentence  of 
deatli  read  out.  When  it  was  finished,  their 
epaulets  were  torn  off,  their  uniform  taken  off 
tlieir  backs,  their  swords  broken  over  their 
heads,  and,  dressed  in  the  rude  garb  of  con- 
victs, they  were  led  away  to  undergo  their 
sentence  in  the  wilds  of  Siberia.  JS^ext  came 
the  five  criminals  who  were  to  be  executed: 
they  mounted  the  scaffold  with  firm  steps,  and 
in  a  few  minutes  the  preparations  were  adjust- 
ed, and  the  fatal  signal  was  given.  Pcstel  and 
Kakhofski  died  immediately;  but  a  frightful 
accident  occurred  in  regard  to  the  other  three. 
The  ropes  broke,  and  they  were  precipitated, 
while  yet  alive,  from  a  great  height  into  the 
ditch  beneath.  The  unhappy  men,  though  se- 
verely bruised  by  their  fall,  reascended  the 
scaffold  with  a  firm  step.  The  spectators  hoped 
ihey  were  about  to  be  pardoned ;  but  this  was 
not  so,  for  the  emperor  was  absent  at  Tsariko- 
Velo,  and  no  one  else  ventured  to  give  a  respite. 
"  Can  nothing,  then,  succeed  in  this  countrj'," 
said  Rylief — "  not  even  death?"  "  Woe  to  the 
country,"  exclaimed  Serge  Mouravieff,  "where 
they  can  neither  conspire,  nor  judge,  nor  hang!" 
Bestoujif-Rumine  was  so  bruised  that  he  had 
to  be  carried  up  to  the  scaffold;  but  he,  too, 
evinced  no  symptoms  of  trepidation.  This  time 
fortunately  the  rope  held  good,  and 
ii.  304  307-  "^  "^'*^  mmutcs  a  loud  rolling  of 
Custine,  ii.'  drums  announced  that  justice  was 
Lettres,  14,  satisfied,  and  the  insurrection  term- 
29-31;    ^       inated.^ 

It  is  impossible  to  recount  these  details  with- 
j^Q  out  the  most  melancholy  feelings — 
Reflec-  feelings  which  will  be  shared  to  the 
tions  on  end  of  the  world  by  all  the  generous 
this  event,  j^j^^j  humane,  who  reflect  on  capital 
executions  for  political  offenses.  The  peculiar 
and  harrowing  circumstance  in  such  cases  is, 
that  the  persons  upon  whom  the  extreme  pun- 
ishment of  the  law  is  thus  inflicted  are  some- 
times of  noble  character — men  actuated  by  the 
purest  patriotism,  who,  in  a  heroic  spirit,  sacri- 
fice themselves  for  their  country,  and,  as  the}' 
conceive,  the  good  of  mankind.  Even  when, 
as  in  this,  as  in  most  other  instances,  such  con- 
spiracy could  terminate  only  in  disaster,  and 
its  suppression  was  a  blessing  to  humanity,  and 
a  step  in  the  march  of  real  freedom,  it  is  im- 

f)ossible  to  avoid  feeling  respect  for  the  motives, 
lowever  mistaken,  of  the  persons  engaged  in  it, 
and  admiration  for  the  courage  with  which  they 
met  their  fate.  The  ends  of  justice,  the  cause 
of  order,  is  more  advanced  by  the  humanity 
which,  in  purely  political  offences,  remits  or 
eofLcns  punishment,  than  by  the  rigor  which 
exacts  its  full  measure.  The  state  criminal  of 
one  age  often  becotncs  the  martyr  of  the  next, 
the  hero  of  a  third ;  and  the  ultimate  interests 
of  society  are  never  so  effectuuU}'  secured  as 
when,  by  depriving  treason  of  the  halo  of 
martyrdom,  it  is  allowed  to  stand  forth  to  the 
memory  of  futurity  in  its  real  colors.* 


*  Kylicf,  wlio  waH  a  rniin  of  (iiii;  ({iniiiH,  in  tiiH  ri^inark- 
ablc  poi!rn,  entitli^d  Vninaro/iiki,  exiircMMcd  Iiih  llriii  roiill- 
denc.R  in  llle  irresistible  marrh  of  Infcdoid  in  tlicHo  words, 
which  he  put  into  the  mouth  of  nn  Atninun  of  the  Coh- 
sacks:  "  That  which  in  our  dream  Hecmcd  a  dream  of 
heaven,  was  not  recorded  on  hieli.  i'atieiirc  '  I,et  us 
await  till  the  colossus  has  lor  some  time  accumulated  its 
wron:;s — till,  in  hastening  its  increase,  it  has  weakened 
ilsrrlf  in  striving  to  embrace  the  half  of  the  earth.  Allow 
it :  the  heart  Kwollcn  with  pride,  parades  it.s  vanity  in  the 


But  if  the  fate  of  these  gallant  though  delud- 
ed men  must  ever  excite  very  mixed 
feelings  in  every  generous  bosom,  Noble  con- 
there  is  one  subject  connected  with  duct  of  the 
their  companions  in  suffering, which  Princess 

,  ^  1  ii  i  Troubetzkoi 

must   ever   awaken   the   most  un-  ^^^  ^^^g 

bounded  interest  and  admiration,  other  wives 
The  convicts  who  were  banished  to  of  the  con- 
Siberia  were  for  the  most  part  of  '*'"^'^- 
high  rank  and  noble  family;  many  of  them 
were  married,  and  their  wives,  of  equal  station 
in  soeiotj',  had  moved  in  the  very  first  circles 
in  St.  Petersburg.  The  conduct  of  these  ladies, 
on  this  terrible  crisis,  was  worthy  of  eternal 
admiration.  When  their  husbands  set  off  on 
their  long  and  painful  journey  of  three  thou- 
sand miles  into  the  interior  of  Siberia,  seated 
on  wooden  chariots  without  springs,  and  often 
exposed  to  the  insults  and  assaults  of  the  popu- 
lace, they  did  not  go  alone.  These  noble  women, 
who  were  themselves  entirely  innocent,  and 
were  offered  the  protection  of  the  emperor,  and 
all  the  luxuries  of  the  elevated  circles  in  which 
the}-  had  been  born  and  lived,  if  they  would 
remain  behind,  unanimously  refused  the  offer, 
and  insisted  upon  accompanying  their  husbands 
into  exile.  They  bore  without  repining,  even 
with  jo}',  the  mortal  fatigues  of  the  long  and 
dreary  journey  in  open  carts,  and  all  the  insults 
of  the  populace  in  the  villages  through  which 
they  passed,  and  arrived  safe,  supported  by  their 
heroic  courage.  To  accustom  themselves  to  the 
hardships  they  were  to  undergo,  they  volunta- 
rily laid  aside  in  their  palaces  at  St.  Petersburg, 
some  weeks  before  their  departure,  the  spTendid 
dresses  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed, 
put  on  instead  the  most  humble  garments,  and 
inured  their  delicate  hands  to  the  work  of  peas- 
ants and  servants,  on  which  they  were  so  soon 
to  enter.  "Thou  shalt  eat  thy  bread  with  the 
sweat  of  thy  brow"  became  their  resolution, 
as  it  is  the  ordinary  lot  of  humanity.  The 
Princess  Troubetzkoi,  the  Princess  Serge  Vol- 
konskj',  Madame  Alexander  Mouravieff',  Mad- 
ame ISikitas  Mouravieff  (»tee  Tcheneichef),  and 
Madame  Karisichkine  (nee  Ronovnitsyne),  the 
two  last  of  the  noblest  families  in  Russia,  were 
among  the  number  of  those  who  performed  this 
heroic  sacrifice  to  duty.  History  igchnitzler 
may  well  preserve  their  names  with  jj.  309,  31 1  ■ 
pride  ;  it  is  seldom  that  in  either  sex  Custine,  iii. 
it  has  such  deeds  to  recount.'  ^'^^  ■^^• 

It  is  some  consolation  to  know  that  the  gen- 
erous self-sacrifice  did  not  even  in  j^g 
this  world  go  without  its  reward.  A  Condition 
sense  of  duty,  the  courage  which  ofihcexilc.i 
often  springs  up  with  misfortune,  the  '"  •'''''•^'■m. 
consciousness  of  suffering  togcth(ir,  softened  the 
horrors  of  the  journey  to  such  a  degree  that  bo- 
fore  it  was  concludeu  they  had  come  to  bo  con 
tented,  even  liappy,  and  it  would  have  been 
deemed  a  misfortune  to  liavc  been  turne<l  back.* 
Their  ultimate  destination  was  the  village  of 
Tchitinsk,  on  the  liigoda  river,  beyond  the  lake 
iiaikal,  and  not  fur  removed  from  tiio  frontiers 

rnys  of  the  sun.  Patience  I  the  justice  of  neav<'n  wil] 
end  by  reducing  it  to  the  dust.  In  history,  (lixl  is  rrtri- 
liutinn  :  He  does  not  permit  the  seed  of  sin  to  pass  withoul 
Its  harvest."    Scii.MT/LEn,  Ii.  3l)tt. 

*  One  of  the  iraveliuK  companions  of  one  of  those 
mothers  overheard  her  say  to  her  daughter,  wlio  bad  been 
petulant  on  the  journey,  "  .Sophie,  if  you  don't  l)ehnvo 
better,  you  shan't  go  to  Siberia." — Suii.nit/.li;ii,  ii.  310. 


£80 


HISTORY    U  F    E  U  K  0  1'  E. 


[CiiAr.  YIII. 


of  Cliiiin.  The  climate  there  is  some-whot  less 
severe  tlmii  ii>  the  same  liititiiJe  in  other  parts 
of  Siheria  ;  niul  the  humanity  of  tlie  emperor 
permitted  a  few  articles  of  comfort  to  be  mtro- 
tlnced,  which  softcneil  the  ns^perities  of  that 
deep  solitude.  Tchitinsk,  where  they  were  all 
assembled,  became  a  jiopulous  colony,  an  oasis 
of  civilization  in  the  midst  of  an  immense  des- 
ert. The  forced  labor  of  tiie  convicts  extended 
only  to  a  few  hours  a  day  ;  some  slender  com- 
forts, and  even  luxuries,  were  stealthily  intro- 
duced ;  and  a  library  containing  a  few  books, 
permitted  by  the  police,  enlivened  the  weary 
houi-s  of  solitude  by  the  pleasures  of  intellect- 
ual recreation.  But  the  simple  duties  of  their 
situation  left  them  little  leisure  for  such  amuse- 
ments, and  the  regular  routine  of  humble  life, 
if  it  deprived  them  of  the  excitement,  at  least 
saved  them  from  the  torment  of  ennui,  the  bane 
and  punishment  of  civilized  selfishness.  Many 
of  them  tasted  a  happiness,  in  this  simple  and 
patriarchal  existence,  to  which  they  had  been 
strangers  amidst  all  the  splendors  of  St.  Peters- 
burg. The  Princess  Troubetzkoi  had  been  on 
distant  terms  with  her  husband  before  his  ban- 
ishment, and  she  had  no  familj- ;  but  misfor- 
tune did  that  which  prosperity  had  failed  to 
effect — they  were  drawn  together  by  suffering 
,  S(.>,nit7.ier  ^^  common  ;  they  lived  contentedly 
ii.  311,313;  together  in  their  humble  cottage, 
Cusijne,  ill.  and  she  is  now  the  happy  mother 
29,  31.  Qf  f^yg  children.' 

The  emperor  behaved  generously  to  the  fara- 

1^.         ilies  and  relations  of  such  as  had 

Geperous      suffered  either  death   or   exile  for 

conduct  of  their  political  offenses.  So  far  from 
the  emperor   .         i    •        .i  •  •         r 

to  the  rela-  involving  them  m  any  species  oi  re- 
lives of  the  sponsibility,  he  in  many  cases  did 
convicts.  much  to  relieve  them  from  the  con- 
eequenees  of  that  which  they  had  already 
undei'gone  in  the  punishment  of  those  who 
■were  dear  to  them.  He  gave  50,000  rubles 
(£2500)  to  the  father  of  Pestel,  -with  a  valua- 
ble farm  on  one  of  the  domains  of  the  crown, 
and  appointed  his  brother,  a  colonel  in  the 
chevalier  guards,  one  of  his  own  aids-de-camp. 
He  was  extremely  anxious  to  relieve  the  dis- 
tresses of  Ryleif's  widow,  who  had  been  left  in 
very  destitute  circumstances,  and  sent  repeat- 
edly to  inquire  into  her  necessities;  but  this 
higli-minded  woman,  proud  of  her  suffering,  re- 
fused all  his  proffered  kindness,  and  said  the 
only  favor  she  asked  of  him  was  to  put  her  to 
death,  and  lay  her  beside  her  husband.  Un- 
known to  her,  he  caused  relief  to  be  conveyed 
to  her  children,  with  whose  maintenance  and 
education  he  charged  himself.  But  to  the  wo- 
men who  had  accompanied  tlieir  husbands  into 
exile  he  showed  himself  inexorable  ;  be  thought 
that  by  so  doing  they  had  adopted  their  crimes, 
instead  of  extenuating  it  by  the  opposite  vir- 
tues. After  undergoing  fifteen  years  of  exile  in 
their  appointed  place  of  banishment,  the  Prin- 
cess Troubetzkoi  earnestly  petitioned  the  em- 
peror for  a  removal,  not  into  Russia,  but  to  a 
place  where  the  climate  was  milder,  and  she 
might  obtain  the  rudiments  of  education  for 
their  children,  and  be  near  an  apothecary  to 
tend  them  when  ill.  She  wrote  a  touching  let- 
ter to  the  emperor,  which  concluded  with  the 
words,  "  I  am  very  unhappy  ;  nevertheless,  if 
it  was  to  do  over  again,  I  would  do  the  same," 


But  her  petition  was  sternly  refused.     "I  am 

astonished  that  you  venture  to  speak  to  me," 

said  ho  to  the   lady  who  ventured  ,  „    .. 

.    -^     ,,■    '\  c       e  Custine, 

to  present  it,  "in  lavor  oi  a  lam-  m  31,41; 

ily    which    has    conspired    against  Sthniizier, 
uic.'M  ii.  313,  3ie. 

According  to  an  established  usage  in  Russia, 
a  solemn   religious  ceremony   was        144. 
performed  on  the  termination  of  the  Expiatory 
ifreat  contest  with  the  priuciides  of  ctrnTiony 

1  1  •   1     1      1      •         V      ]    ii       ("1  the  1' ace 

anarchy  wlucli  liad  signalized  the  of  the  Sen- 
emperor's  accession  to  the  throne,  ate. 
"  On  the  spot,"  said  the  emperor  in  ■'"'>'  21. 
another  proclamation,  "  where  seven  months 
ago  the  explosion  of  a  sudden  revolt  revealed 
the  existence  of  a  vast  eon.tpiracy  which  had 
been  going  on  for  ten  years,  it  is  meet  that  a  last 
act  of  commemoration — an  expiatory  sacrifice 
— should  consecrate  on  the  same  spot  the  mem- 
ory of  the  Russian  blood  shed  for  religion,  the 
throne,  and  tlie  country.  We  have  recognized 
the  hand  of  the  Almighty,  when  He  tore  aside 
the  vail  which  concealed  that  horrible  mystery : 
it  permitted  crime  to  arm  itself  in  order  to  as- 
sure its  fall.  Like  a  momentary  storm,  the  re- 
volt only  broke  forth  to  annihilate  the  conspir- 
acy of  which  it  was  the  consummation."*  In 
conformity  with  these  ideas,  the  whole  garri- 
son of  St.  Petersburg,  sixty  thousand  strong, 
was  on  the  morning  after  the  execution  of  the 
conspirators  assembled  on  the  Place  of  the  Sen- 
ate, where  the  mutineers  had  taken  their  sta- 
tion. The  emperor  issued  from  the  Church  of 
the  Admiralt}^  which  is  the  centre  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, led  by  the  Metropolitan  Archbishop,  clad 
in  his  pontifical  robes,  and  accompanied  by  the 
Empress  and  Prince  Charles  of  Prussia,  her 
brother.  A  solemn  thanksgiving  was  then  per- 
formed at  the  altar,  and  the  priests,  descending 
from  the  steps,  scattered  holy  water  over  the 
soldiers,  the  people,  and  the  pavement  of  the 
square.  When  the  purification  was 
completed,  the  bands  of  all  the  regi-  •;  3^9' 32o''| 
ments  struck  up  a  hallelujah  ;  and  journal  de  ' 
the  discharge  of  a  hundred  guns  an-  St.  Petcrs- 
nounced  that  the  expiation  was  con-  o-^ilae 
eluded  and  the  crime  effaced.^  ' 

Nicholas  made,  in  one  important  respect,  a 
noble  use  of  his  victor}'.    During  the        J45 
course  ofthe  long  investigation  which  Great  re- 
took place  into  the  conspiracy,  great  forms  in  all 
part  of  which  was  conducted  by  the  J^g^t's  in- 
emperor  in  person,  ample  revelations  troduced 
were  made,  not  merely  in  regard  to  by  the  em- 
the   extent  and  ramifications  of  the  V^tot. 
conspiracy,  but  to  the  numerous  social  and  po- 
litical evils  which  had  roused  into  such  fearful 
activity  so  large  a  portion  of  the  most  intrepid 


I 


*  The  address  contained  these  words,  applicable  to  all 
ages  and  people  :  "  May  the  fathers  of  families  by  this 
sad  example  be  led  to  pay  proper  attention  to  the  moral 
education  of  their  children.  Assuredly  it  is  not  to  the 
progress  of  civilization,  but  to  the  vanity  which  is  the  re- 
sult of  idleness  and  the  want  of  intelligence — to  the  want 
of  real  education — that  we  are  to  ascribe  that  licentious- 
ness of  thought,  that  vehemence  of  passion,  that  half- 
knowledge,  so  confused  and  perilous,  that  thirst  after  ex- 
treme theories  and  political  visions,  which  begin  with  de- 
moralizing and  end  by  ruining.  In  vain  will  the  Govern- 
ment make  generous  efforts,  in  vain  will  it  exhaust  it.self 
in  sacrifices,  if  the  domestic  ed^ieation  of  the  people  does 
not  second  its  views  and  intentions,  if  it  docs  not  pour 
into  the  hearts  the  germs  of  virtue." — Journal  de  St. 
Petert'jourg,  Julv  21, 16S0,  No.  66  ;  and  Schnit^lek,  it 
316, 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


E 


182G.] 

and  patriotic  of  the  higher  classeas.  The  lead- 
ers, who  were  examiued  by  the  emperor,  un- 
folded without  reserve  the  whole  evils  which 
were  complained  of,  in  particular  the  dreadful 
corruption  which  pervaded  every  branch  of 
the  administration,  and  the  innumerable  delays 
and  venality  which  obstructed  or  perverted  the 
course  of  justice  in  every  department.*  He  was 
so  liorror-struck  by  the  revelations  which  were 
made,  that  for  a  long  time  he  despaired  of  suc- 
cess in  the  attempt  to  cleanse  out  so  vast  and 
frightful  an  Augean  stable;  and  his  spirits  were 
so  affected  by  the  discoveries  made,  that  gloom 
ervaded  the  whole  court  for  a  long  time  after 
is  accession.  But  at  length  he  rose  superior 
to  the  difficulties  with  which  he  was  environ- 
1  j^^^  jjjgj  ed,  and  boldly  set  about  applying  a 
ix.  334 ;  *  remedy,  in  the  only  true  and  safe 
Schnitzler,  method,  bv  cautious  and  practical 
ii.  135,138.   i-eform.' 

His  first  care  was  to  dispatch  circulars  to  all 
j.g  the  judges  and  governors  in  the  em- 
Great  legal  pire,  urging  them  in  tlie  most  earn- 
reforms  of  est  way  to  the  faithful  discliarge  of 
ihe  empe-  their  duty,  under  the  severest  penal- 
ties, and  inculcating  in  an  especial 
manner  the  immediate  decision  of  the  numerous 
cases  in  arrear  before  them,  both  in  regard  to 
persons  and  property.  With  such  success  was 
this  attended,  that  out  of  2,850,000  processes  de- 

E ending  in  the  beginning  of  1826,  nearly  all  had 
een  decided  before  the  end  of  that  year ;  and 
out  of  127,000  persons  under  arrest,  there  re- 
mained only  4900,  in  the  beginning  of  1827,  in 
custody.  The  change  was  so  great  and  satis- 
factory, that  it  was  with  reason  made  the  sub- 
ject of  a  special  congratulation  from  the  em- 
peror to  the  Minister  of  Justice.  Some  of  the 
laws  which  pressed  with  most  severity  on  the 
Cossacks  and  the  southern  provinces  were  re- 
pealed. But  the  grand  defect,  which  struck 
the  emperor  in  the  internal  administration  of 
Russia,  was  the  want  of  any  regular  code  of 
laws  in  the  hands  of  all  the  judges,  accessible 
to  all,  according  to  which  justice  might  be  uni- 
formly administered  in  all  the  governments. 
This  was  the  more  essential,  since,  as  already 
noticed,  in  a  great  proportion  of  the  govern- 
ments the  ukases  of  the  emperors  had  never 
reached  the  judges.     Great  part,  indeed,  were 


281 


*  Wliile  the  conspirators  avowed  tliat  their  designs 
ultimately  involved  the  destruction  of  the  emperor  and 
liis  family,  and  expressed  the  deepest  contrition  for  that 
olfense,  lliey  at  the  same  time  portrayed  with  courage 
ariil  lidelily  lh»  social  evils  which  consumed  their  coun- 
try, and  had  induced  them  to  take  up  arms.  Many  of 
them,  Ryleif  and  Ijestoujif  in  particular,  evinced  a  noble 
spirit  in  misfortune.  "  1  knew  belbre  1  engaged  in  it," 
said  the  former  to  the  emperor,  "  that  my  cnteriirise  would 
ruin  me,  but  I  could  no  longer  bear  to  see  my  country 
under  the  yoke  of  despotism  :  the  seed  which  I  have  sown, 
rest  assured,  will  one  day  germinate,  and  in  the  end  hear 
ffuit."  "  I  repent  of  nolhwig  1  have  done,"  said  Michel 
Uestoujif;  "1  die  salisfieil,  and  soon  to  be  avenged." 
The  emperor  was  so  struck  with  the  courage  of  his  an- 
swers, and  the  hideous  revelations  which  he  made  in  re- 
gard to  the  aliases  of  the  public  administration,  that  he 
said  to  him,  "  I  have  the  power  to  pardon  you  ;  and  if  I 
felt  assured  you  would  prove  a  faithful  servant,  1  would 
gladly  do  so."  "  That,  sire  I"  said  he,  "  is  precisely 
what  we  complain  of,  the  emperor  can  do  every  thing, 
and  there  is  no  law.  In  the  name  of  God,  let  justice  take 
its  course,  and  let  the  fate  of  your  subjects  not  in  future 
depend  on  your  caprices  or  the  impressions  of  the  mo- 
ment." They  were  noble  men  who,  in  presence  of  the 
emperor,  and  with  (he  ax  suspended  over  their  heads, 
could  express  such  sentiments  in  such  language. — 
Schnitzler,  ii.  134,  135- 


what  may  be  termed  private  ukases,  being  ad- 
dressed to  individuals,  not  the  Senate,  and  yet 
binding  on  the  whole  community.  They  form- 
ed, as  was  well  observed  at  the  time,  "  a  hid- 
den code  of  laws  yet  ruling  the  empire."  To 
remedy  this  great  defect,  a  complete  collection 
of  the  ukases,  which  formed,  like  the  rescripts 
of  the  Roman  emperors,  the  laws  of  Russia,  was 
formed,  printed,  and  codified  by  the  order  of 
Nicholas.  The  great  work  proved  to  be  one  of 
immense  labor ;  but  by  the  vigilant  attention 
and  incessant  energy  of  the  emperor,  it  was 
completed  in  a  surprisingly  short  space  of  time. 
The  printing  commenced  on  the  1st  May,  1828, 
and  was  concluded  on  1st  April,  1830.  It  then 
embraced  35,993  ukases  or  acts,  of  which  5075 
had  been  pronounced  since  the  accession  of  the 
present  emperor,  and  the  collection  which  was 
sent  to  all  the  judges  amounted  to  fiftj'-six  large 
quarto  volumes.  In  addition  to  this,  Nicholas 
undertook,  and  successfully  carried  through,  a 
still  more  difficult  undertaking — viz.,  the  con- 
struction of  a  uniform  code,  forming  a  complete 
system  of  law,  out  of  the  enormous  and  often 
heterogeneous  materials.  This  gigantic  under- 
taking, akin  to  the  Institutes  and  Pandects  of 
Justinian,  was  completed  in  seven  years  more, 
and  now  forms  the  "  sood"  or  body  of  Russian 
law.  Thus  had  Nicholas  the  glory,  after  hav- 
ing rivaled  Caesar  in  the  courage  with  which  ho 
had  suppressed  military  revolt,  of  emulating 
Justinian  in  the  zeal  with  which  he  prosecuted 
legal  reforms.  Yet  must  his  antagonists  not  be 
denied  their  share  in  the  honor  due  to  the  found- 
ers of  the  august  temple  ;  for  if  the  i  ^^^^^  jjj^j 
emperor  raised  the  superstructure,  it  jx.  342 ; 
was  the  blood  of  the  martj-rs  which  Schnitzler, 
cemented  the  foundations.'  "■  ^^*'  ^'*^- 

Yet  was  the  crime  of  these  generous  but  de- 
luded men  great,  and  their  punish-  ^^j 
ment  not  only  necessary,  but  just.  Crime  of 
The  beneficial  results  which  follow-  "le  insur- 
ed their  insurrection  were  accidental  ^^"  ^' 
only,  and  arose  from  its  defeat ;  liad  it  been 
suppressed  by  other  hands,  or  proved  success- 
ful, it  could  not  have  failed  to  have  induced 
the  most  terrible  calamities.  Met  and  crushed 
by  Ivan  the  Terrible  or  the  Empress  Catherine, 
it  would  have  drawn  yet  closer  the  bands  of 
tyranny  on  the  state,  and  thrown  it  back  for 
centuries  in  the  career  of  real  freedom.  No 
man  had  a  right  to  calculate  on  the  sujiiiression 
of  the  revolt  being  immediately  fullowitl  on  the 
part  of  the  conqueror  by  the  coni|iihition  of  the 
Pandects.  It  was  utterly  inij)ossiblc  that  a  mili- 
tary revolt,  of  which  a  few  ofiicer.s  only  knew 
the  object,  into  which  the  private  soldiers  had 
been  drawn  by  deceit,  and  to  which  the  com- 
mon people  weie  entire  strangers,  could,  if  suc- 
eessfid,  terminate  in  any  thing  but  disaster. 
Even  the  Reign  of  Terror  in  France  would  have 
been  but  a  shadow  of  what  ninst  have  ensued 
in  the  event  of  success  ;  the  proscriptions  of 
Marias  and  Sylla,  the  slaughter  of  Nero,  the 
centralized  iiiiiiiitigaf  ed  despotism  of  the  Lower 
Empir(!,  could  alone  have  been  looked  for.  Be- 
nevolent intentions,  generous  self-devotion,  pa- 
triotic spirit,  are  neither  alone  sufficient  in  jiub- 
lic  men,  nor  do  they  afford,  even  in  the  light  of 
morality,  an  adequate  vindication  of  (heir  aet.s, 
if  tin;  law.s  are  infringed.  It  is  the  first  duty 
of  tiiosc  who  urge  on  a  movement  to  consider 


•2S2 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


in  wlmt  it  must  tcniiinale,  niul  whether  the  in- 
stiuiiu'iits  by  whuh  it  is  to  be  accomplished 
arc  c:i[>able  of  pei-rormiiiji  the  new  duties  re- 
quired of  tlieni,  if  successful.  Nations  have 
seven  ages,  as  well  as  man  ;  and  he  is  their 
worst  enemy,  who,  anticipating  the  slow  march 
of  time,  intlames  childhood  with  the  passions 
of  youth,  or  gives  to  youth  the  privileges  of 
manhood. 

The  coronation  of  the  emperor  and  empress 
]4jt  took  place,  with  cxtraordinar}'  pomp. 
Coronation  at  Moscow  on  the  2-2d  August  (Sd 
ofilieom-  Sopt ember)  in  the  same  year.  The 
omnro""'at  y*"'"^^'  ""'^  beauty  of  the 'two  sover- 
Moscow.  eigns,  the  dreadful  contest  which 
Aug.  22  had  preceded  their  accession  to  the 
(Sept.  3).  throne,  the  generous  abnegation  of 
self  by  which  the  mutual  renunciation  of  the 
throne  by  the  two  imperial  brothers  had  been 
characterized,  gave  an  extraordinary  interest 
to  the  august  spectacle,  and  crowds  of  the  most 
distinguished  strangers  from  every  part  of  Eu- 
rope llocked  together  to  witness  it  The  entry 
of  their  imperial  majesties  took  place  on  the 
5th  August  (17th),  the  emperor  riding  between 
the  Grand  Duke  Michael  and  Prince  Charles  of 
Prussia ;  the  empress  followed  in  a  magnificent 
chariot,  drawn  by  eight  horses,  having  her  son, 
the  heir  of  the  empire,  by  her  side.  Enthusi- 
astic acclamations  burst  from  the  immense 
crowd,  which  advanced  several  miles  on  the 
road  to  St  Petersburg  to  meet  them.  Moscow 
exhibited  the  most  splendid  spectacle.  All 
traces  of  the  conflagration  of  1812  had  disap- 
peared, magnificent  buildings  had  arisen  on 
every  side,  and  the  quarters  which  had  suffered 
most  from  its  ravages  could  now  be  traced  only 
by  the  superior  elegance  and  durability  of  the 
stojie  structures,  by  which  the  former  wooden 
palaces  and  buildings  had  been  replaced.  On 
the  loth,  when,  according  to  the  custom  of 
Russia,  a  great  religious  ceremony  took  place, 
an  unexpected  event  threw  the  people  into 
transports  of  joy.  The  emperor  appeared,  hold- 
ing with  his  right  hand  the  Grand  Duke  Con- 
stantine,  who  had  arrived  the  evening  before 
in  Moscow,  and  with  his  left  the  Grand  Duke 
Michael.  Shouts  of  joy  arose  from  the  assem- 
bled multitude,  but  the  cry  which  resounded 
above  all,  "  Hourra,  Constantine !"  at  first  start- 
led the  emperor ;  he  had  heard  it  on  the  Place 
of  the  Senate  on  the  26th  December.  It  was 
but  for  a  moment,  however,  and  his  counte- 
nance was  soon  radiant  with  joy,  when  that 
prince  was  the  first  to  do  him  homage,  and 
threw  himself  into  his  arms.  The  universal 
acclamations  now  knew  no  bounds,  the  reality 
of  the  self-sacrifice  was  demonstrated ;  future 
concord  was  anticipated  from  the  happy  union 
in  the  imperial  family.  Splendid  reviews  of 
fifty  thousand  of  the  guards  and  chosen  troops 
of  the  empire,  and  a  hundred  and  sixty  guns, 
succeeded,  and  the  coronation  took  place  on 
the  day  fixed,  22d  August  (3d  September),  in 
the  cathedral  of  Moscow,  with  circumstances  of 
1  Ann.  Hist,  unheard-of  magnificence  and  splen- 
ix.  353,  356 ;  dor.  The  Grand  Duke  Constantine 
.Schnitzler,  -v^as  the  first  to  tender  his  homage 
u.  350,  357.    ^Q  jj^g  jjg^  sovereign.' 

Nicholas  I.,  who,  under  such  brilliant  cir- 
cumstances, and  after  the  display  of  such  in- 
vincible resolution,  thus  ascended  the  throne 


[CUAP.  VIII. 

of  Russia,  and  whom  subsequent  events  have, 
in  a  manner,  raised  up  to  become  an 
arbiter  of  Eastern  Europe,  is  the  character 
greatest  sovereign  that  that  country  of  the  cm- 
has  known  since  Peter  the  Great;  in  P'^for  Ni- 
somc  respects  he  is  greater  than  Peter  paranei""^ 
himself.  Not  less  energetic  in  char-  iwecn  him 
acter  and  ardent  in  improvement  a"*l  I'cter 
than  his  illustrious  predecessor,  he  ""*  ^''**'- 
is  more  thoroughly  national,  and  he  has  brought 
the  nation  forward  more  completely  in  the  path 
which  nature  had  pointed  out  for  it  I'etcr 
was  a  Russian  only  in  his  despotism :  his  vio- 
lence, his  cruelty,  his  beneficence,  his  ardor 
for  improvement,  his  patriotic  ambition,  were 
all  borrowed  from  the  states  of  western  Eu- 
rope. As  these  states  were  greatly  further  ad- 
vanced in  the  career  of  civilization  than  his 
was,  his  reforms  were  in  great  part  premature, 
his  improvements  abortive,  his  refinements  su- 
perficial. He  aimed  at  doing  by  imperial,  what 
so  many  ardent  men  have  endeavored  to  efl'ect 
by  democratic  despotism — to  ingraft  on  one 
nation  the  institutions  of  another,  and  reap 
from  the  infancy  of  civilization  the  fruits  of  its 
maturity.  The  attempt  failed  in  his  hands,  as 
it  has  ever  done  in  those  of  his  republican  imi- 
tators, as  it  will  do  in  those  of  their  successors, 
whether  on  the  throne  or  in  the  tribune,  to  the 
end  of  the  world.  '  His  civilization  was  all  ex- 
ternal merely ;  it  made  a  brilliant  appearance, 
but  it  did  not  extend  beneath  the  surface,  and 
left  untouched  the  strength  and  vitals  of  the 
state.  He  flattered  himself  he  had  civilized 
Russia,  because  he  ruled  by  a  police  which 
governed  it  by  fear,  and  an  army  which  re- 
tained it  in  subjection  bj'  discipline. 

Nicholas,  on  the  other  hand,  is  essentially 
Russian  in  all  his  ideas.  He  is  heart  jjq 
and  soul  patriotic,  not  merely  in  He  is  essen- 
wish,  but  in  spirit  and  thought.  He  tiaJly  Rus- 
wishes  to  improve  and  elevate  his  ^'^"" 
country,  and  he  has  done  much  to  effect  that 
noble  object;  but  he  desires  to  do  so  by  de- 
veloping, not  changing  the  national  spirit,  by 
making  it  become  a  first  Russia,  not  a  second 
France  or  England.  He  has  adopted  the  maxim 
of  Montesquieu,  that  no  nation  ever  attained 
to  real  greatness  but  by  institutions  in  conform- 
ity witii  its  spirit  He  is  neither  led  away  by 
the  thirst  for  sudden  mechanical  improvement, 
like  Peter,  nor  the  praises  of  philosophers,  like 
Catherine,  nor  the  visions  of  inexperienced 
philanthropy,  like  Alexander.  He  has  not  at- 
tempted to  erect  a  capital  in  a  pestilential 
marsh,  and  done  so  at  the  expense  of  a  hundred 
thousand  lives ;  nor  has  he  dreamt  of  mystical 
regeneration  with  a  visionary  sybil,  and  made 
sovereigns  put  their  hands  to  a  holy  alliance 
from  her  influence.  He  neither  corresponds 
with  French  atheists  nor  English  democrats; 
he  despises  the  praises  of  the  first,  he  braves 
the  hostility  of  the  last  His  maxim  is  to  take 
men  as  they  are,  and  neither  suppose  thera 
better  nor  worse.  He  is  content  to  let  Russia 
grow  up  in  a  Russian  garb,  animated  with  a 
Russian  spirit,  and  moulded  by  Russian  insti- 
tutions, without  the  aid  either  of  Parisian  com- 
munism or  British  liberalism.  The  improve- 
ments he  has  eff'ected  in  the  government  of  his 
dominions  have  been  vast,  the  triumphs  with 
which  his  external  policy  have  been  attended 


1826.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


283 


unbounded  ;  but  tliey  liave  all  been  achieved, 
not  in  imitation  of,  but  in  opposition  to,  the 
ideas  of  western  Europe.  They  bespeak,  not 
less  than  his  internal  government,  the  national 
character  of  his  policy.  But  if  success  is  the 
test  of  worldly  wisdom,  he  has  not  been  far 
wrong  in  his  sj^stem;  for  he  has  passed  the 
Balkan,  heretofore  impervious  to  his  predeces- 
sors ;  he  has  conquered  Poland,  converted  the 
Euxine  into  a  Russian  lake,  planted  the  cross 
on  the  bastions  of  Erivan,  and  opened  through 
subdued  Hungary  a  path  to  Constantinople. 
Nature  has  given  him  all  the  qualities  fitted 
.,,  for  such   an  elevated  destiny.     A 

Ilis  person-  lofty  stature  and  princely  air  give 
al  appear-  additional  influence  to  a  majestic 
ance  and  countenance,  in  which  the  prevail- 
ai  ings.  j^g  character  is  resolution,  yet  not 
unmixed  with  sweetness.  Like  "Wellington, 
Csesar,  and  many  other  of  the  greatest  men 
recorded  in  history,  his  expression  has  become 
more  intellectual  as  he  advanced  in  years, 
and  became  exercised  in  the  duties  of  sover- 
eignty, instead  of  the  stern  routine  of  military 
discipline.  Exemplary  in  all  the  relations  of 
private  life,  a  faithful  husband,  an  affectionate 
father,  he  has  exhibited  in  a  brilliant  court, 
and  when  surrounded  by  every  temptation 
wliich  life  can  offer,  the  simplicity  and  aff"ec- 
tions  of  patriarchal  life.  Yet  is  he  not  a  pei"- 
fect  character.  His  virtues  often  border  upon 
vices.  His  excellences  are  akin  to  defects. 
Deeply  impressed  with  the  responsibility  of  his 
situation,  his  firmness  has  sometimes  become 
sternness,  his  sense  of  justice  degenerated  into 
severity.*     He  knows  how  to  distinguish  the 


*  "  It  is  in  regard  to  political  offenses  of  a  serious  dye, 
however,  that  this  severity  chiefly  applies.  In  lesser  mat- 
ters, relating  to  order  and  discipline,  he  is  more  indulgent, 
and  at  times  generous.  At  his  coronation  at  Moscow,  his 
eyes  met  those  of  General  Paskewiich,  who  had  severely 


innocent  from  the  guilty,  and  lias  often  evinced 
a  noble  and  magnanimous  spirit  in  separating 
the  one  from  the  other,  and  showing  oblivion 
of  injury,  even  kindness  to  the  relatives  of 
those  who  had  conspired  against  his  throne 
and  life.  But  toward  the  guilty  themselves 
he  has  not  been  equally  compassionate.  He 
has  not  always  let  the  passions  of  the  contest 
pass  away  with  its  termination.  He  is  an  Alex- 
ander the  Great  in  resolution,  but  not  in  mag- 
nanimity. He  wants  the  last  grace  in  the 
heroic  character — he  does  not  know  how  to 
forgive. 


upbraided  him  for  some  military  error  at  the  head  of  his 
regiment  some  years  before.  '  Do  you  recollect,'  said  he, 
with  a  stern  air,  '  how  you  once  treated  me  here  ?  The 
wind  has  turned  ;  take  care  le.st  I  return  you  the  like.' 
Two  days  after,  he  appointed  him  General-in-Chief." — 
SCHMTZLER,  ii.  356. 

A  striking  proof  of  the  emperor's  simplicity  of  charac- 
ter is  recorded  by  the  Marquis  Custine,  who  had  frequent 
and  confidential  conversations  with  him.  Speaking  of  his 
conduct  on  the  revolt  of  26th  December,  he  said  ;  "  '  J'ig- 
norais  ce  que  j'allais  faire,  j'etais  inspire.'  '  Pour  avoir 
de  pareilles  inspirations,'  disait  le  Marquis,  '  il  faut  les 
meriter.'  'Je  n'ai  fait  rien  d'extraordinaire,'  repliqua 
I'Empereur  ;  '  j"ai  dit  aux  soldats,  retournez  a  vos  rangs ; 
et  au  moment  de  passer  le  regiment  en  revue,  j'ai  crie,  a 
genoux.  Tous  ont  obei.  Ce  qui  m'a  rendu  fort,  c'esi 
que  I'instant  auparavant,  j'etais  resigne  a  la  mort.  Je 
suis  reconnaissani  du  succes,  je  n'en  suis  pas  fier ;  je 
n'y  ai  aucun  merite.'  '  Votre  niajeste,'  repliqua  Custine, 
'a  ete  sublime  dans  cette  occasion.'  'Je  n'ai  pas  ete 
sublime,'  repondit  I'empereur,  'je  n"ai  fait  que  mon  me- 
tier. En  pareille  circonstance,  nul  ne  peut  savoir  ce  qu'il 
dira  ;  on  court  au-devant  du  peril,  sans  se  dcmander 
comment  on  s"eii  tirera.' " — Le  Marquis  de  Custine, 
Russie  en  183'J,  ii.  40,  41,  57.  Lamartine  has  frequently 
said  in  society,  in  reference  to  his  conduct  when  he  per- 
suaded the  people  to  lay  aside  the  red  flag  at  Paris,  on 
the  revolution  of  1848,  "J'etais  sublime  ce  jour-la."  Such 
is  the  difference  between  the  simplicity  of  the  really  mag- 
nanimous and  the  self-love  of  those  in  whom  it  is  de- 
formed by  overweening  and  discreditable  vanity.  1  have 
heard  this  anecdote  of  Lamartine  from  two  ladies  of  high 
rank,  both  of  whom  heard  him  use  the  expression  on  dif- 
ferent occasions  in  reference  to  Ins  own  conduct,  which 
was  really  noble  and  courageous  on  that  day. 


284 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


LChap.  IX. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


ROYALIST    REACTION    IN    FRANCE. 


FKANCE    FUOM    TlIE    COIT    I)'j-rrAT   OF    STH    MARCH,    1819,    TO    THE    ACIESSION    OF    THE    rURELT    ROYALIST 

MINISTRY    IN    DECEMBER,    1621. 


There  is  no  instance  in  the  -whole  records  of 
history  of  a  country  \vhich  so  rapid- 
Great  evils  ly  recovered  from  the  lowest  point 
of  France  of  depression,  as  France  did  in  the 
"r  !''?fi'^'°®®  interval  from  the  close  of  1816  to 
"'  ^  the  beginning  of  1820.     Every  con- 

ceivable ill  which  could  afflict  a  state  seemed 
to  have  accumulated  around  it  at  the  com- 
mencement of  that  period.  Its  capital  was 
taken,  its  government  overturned,  its  sover- 
eign a  dethroned  captive,  its  army  defeated 
and  disbanded,  and  eleven  hundred  thousand 
armed  men  in  possession  of  its  territory.  Con- 
tributions to  an  enormous  and  unheard-of  ex- 
tent had  been  imposed  upon  its  inhabitants ; 
the  armed  multitude  lived  at  free  quarters 
among  them,  and  were  supported  by  exactions 
coming  from  their  industry ;  and  about  sixty 
millions  sterling  of  indemnities  had  been  levied 
on  them  for  the  allied  powers  or  their  subjects. 
Such  was  the  bequest  of  the  Revolution  to 
France.  The  inclemency  of  nature  had  united 
with  the  rigor  of  man  to  waste  the  devoted 
land.  The  summer  and  autumn  of  1816  had 
been  beyond  all  example  cold  and  stormy;  the 
harvest'had  proved  extremely  deficient,  and 
prices  risen  in  many  places  to  a  famine  level. 
It  seemed  impossible  for  human  malignity  to 
conceive  a  greater  accumulation  of  disasters, 
or  for  human  ability  to  devise  any  mode  of 
rendering  them  bearable. 

Nevertheless  it  proved  otherwise,  and  the 
2.  resurrection  of  France  was  as  rapid 

Rapid  flow  as  had  been  her  fall  into  the  abyss 
of  prosper-  ^f  misfoi-tune.  Three  years  only 
succeeded  ^ad  elapsed,  and  all  was  changed, 
them  in  the  Plenty  had  succeeded  to  Avant,  con- 
next  year,  fidence  to  distrust,  prosperity  to 
misery.  The  Allies  had  withdrawn,  the  ter- 
ritory was  freed :  the  contributions  were  paid 
or  provided  for,  the  national  faith  had  been 
preserved  entire.  All  this  had  been  purchased 
by  a  cession  of  territory  so  small  that  it  was 
not  worth  speaking  of  The  public  funds  were 
high  in  comparison  of  what  they  had  been; 
and  though  the  loans  necessary  to  furnish  the 
Government  with  the  funds  to  make  good  its 
engagements  had  been  contracted  at  a  very 
high  rate  of  interest,  yet  the  resources  of  the 
country  had  enabled  its  rulers  to  pay  it  with 
fidelity  and  exactness,  and  strengthened  their 
credit  with  foreign  states.  The  simple  preser- 
vation of  peace — a  blessing  so  long  unknown 
to  France — had  effected  all  these  prodigies, 
»nd  worked  wonders  in  the  restoration  of  the 
national  industrj-.  Agriculture,  relieved  from 
the  wasting  scourge  of  the  conscription,  had 
sensibly  revived;  the  husbandman  every  where 
fowed  in  hope,  reaped  in  safetv;  and  the  be- 
nignity of  Providence,  which  awarded  a  favor- 


able harvest  in  1818  and  1819,  filled  the  land 
with  plenteousness.  Great  improvements  had 
in  many  places  been  introduced  into  this  staple 
branch  of  the  national  industry.  The  division 
of  property,  which  always  induces  a  great  in- 
crease in  the  amount  of  labor  applied  to  the 
cultivation,  liad  not  as  yet  been  attended  by 
its  subsequent  effect — an  exhaustion  of  its  pro- 
ductive powers ;  and  the  six  millions  of  jiro- 
prietors  succeeded  in  extracting  a  considerable 
increase  of  subsistence  from  the  fields.  Kew 
and  valuable  trees  had  been  planted  in  tht 
woods ;  and  horticulture,  to  which  a  large  pan 
of  the  country  near  the  great  towns  was  de- 
voted, had  made  rapid  strides  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  improved  style  of  English  garden- 
ing. Population  had  largely  advanced  since 
the  peace ;  but  no  want  was  ex-perienced  among 
the  inhabitants.  Commerce  had  every  where 
revived,  latterly  it  had  come  to  flourish  to  an 
extraordinary  degree.  The  animation  on  the 
roads  in  the  interior,  on  the  canals  which  con- 
veyed merchandise,  and  in  the  seaport  towns, 
proved  how  largely  the  means  of  con- 
sumption had  increased  among  the  in-  019  "qoo' 
habitants.* 

The  capital,  in  an  especial  manner,  had  shared 
in  the  general  prosperity,  and  gave  g 

unequivocal  proof  of  its  reality  and  Brilliant 
extent.  The  concourse  of  strangers  appearance 
attracted  by  its  celebrity,  its  monu-  "'  Paris, 
ments,  its  galleries,  its  theatres,  and  its  other 
attractions,  was  immense ;  and  their  great  ex- 
penditure consoled  the  Parisians  for  the  nation- 
al reverses  which  had  paved  the  way  for  their 
arrival.  The  Russians  and  English,  their  most 
formidable  and  persevering  enemies,  were  in  an 
especial  manner  conspicuous  in  this  lucrative 
immigration.  Under  the  influence  of  such  ex- 
traordinary stimulants,  Paris  exhibited  an  un- 
wonted degree  of  affluence:  the  brilliant  equi- 
pages and  crowded  streets  bespoke  the  riches 
which  were  daily  expended,  while  the  piles  of 
splendid  edifices  arising  on  all  sides  exceeded 
any  thing  previously  witnessed  in  the  bright- 
est days  of  its  history,  and  added  „ 
daily  to  the  architectural  beauties  obsermi^n. 
it  presented.^ 

Statistical  facts  of  unquestionable  correctness 
and  convincing  weight  attested  the  4. 

reality  and  magnitude  of  this  change.  E.\ports, 
The  exports,  imports    and  revenue  3°;;^;„„, 
of  the  country  had  all  gone  on  in-  of  France 
creasing,  and  latterly  in  an  acceler-  during  this 
ated  ratio.     The  imports,  which  in  period. 
1815  (the  last  year  of  Napoleon's  reign)  had 
been    only    199,407,660  francs,    had    risen,   in 
1817,  to  332,000,000,  and  in  1821  they  had  ad- 
vanced to  355,591,877  francs.    The  exports  also 
had    risen   considerably;    they   had  increased 


1S19.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


285 


Thoro'jgh 
establish- 
ment of  re- 
presentative 
institutions 
in  France. 


fi-oin  422,000,000  to  464,000,000  francs.*  The 
amount  of  revenue  levied  during  these  years 
could  not,  by  possibility,  afford  a  true  index  to 
the  real  state  of  the  country,  from  the  enor- 
mous amount  of  the  contributions  to  the  allied 
powers ;  but  in  those  items  in  which  an  increase 
was  prauticable,  or  which  indicated  the  greater 
well-being  of  the  people,  the  improvement  was 
very  conspicuous.  So  marked  a  resurrection  of 
a  country  and  advance  of  its  social  condition,  in 
so  short  a  period,  had  perhaps  never  been  wit- 
nessed ;  and  it  is  the  more  remarkable,  from  its 
occurring  immediately  after  such  unprecedent- 
ed misfortunes,  and  from  the  mere  effect  of  an 
alteration  in  the  system  and  policy  of  Govern- 
ment. 
Add  to  this,  that  France  had  now,  for  the 
first  time  in  its  entire  history,  ob- 
tained the  full  benefit  of  represent- 
ative institutions.  The  electors  of 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies  were  few 
in  number — indeed,  not  exceeding 
80,000  for  the  whole  country — but 
they  represented  the  national  feelings  so  thor- 
oughly, that  their  representatives  in  parlia- 
ment had  not  only  got  the  entire  command  of 
the  state,  but  they  expressed  the  national  wish- 
es as  faithfully  as  eight  millions  could  have 
done.  If  there  was  any  thing  to  be  condemned 
on  the  part  of  Government,  it  was  that  it  had 
yielded  too  rapidly  and  immediately  to  the 
wishes  of  the  people,  whatever  they  were  at 
the  moment.  The  Ro^^alist  reaction  of  1815; 
the  subsequent  leaning  to  liberal  institutions; 
the  coup  d'etat  of  September  5,  1816;  the  great 
creation  of  peers  in  March,  1819,  had  all  been 
done  in  conformity  with  the  wishes,  and  in 
obedience  to  the  fierce  demands,  of  the  majority 
at  tlie  time.  Weak  from  the  outset,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  calamitous  circumstances  under 
which  it  was  first  established,  and  deprived  at 
length  of  all  support  from  external  force,  the 
(Government  had  no  alternative  throughout  but 
to  conform,  in  every  material  step,  to  the  na- 
tional will,  and  for  good  or  for  evil  inaugurate 
the  people  at  once  in  the  power  of  self-govern- 
iiient.  To  such  a  length  had  this  been  carried, 
tliat  at  the  close  of  the  period  the  king  had 
come  to  an  entire  rupture  with  his  Royalist 
supporters,  and  thrown  himself  without  reserve 
into  the  arms  of  the  Liberal  and  anti-monarch- 
ical party. 

It  might  reasonably  have  been  expected  that 
tiiese  great  concessions  would  have  conciliated 
the  Constitutional  party,  who  were  now  not 
only  in  possession  of  the  blessings  of  freedom, 
but  the  sweets  of  office,  and  that  they  would 
have   done   tlieir   utmost   to   support  a  Gov- 


ernment which    had  conferred   such   advant- 
ages upon  their  country  and  themi- 
selves.    Yet  it  was  just  the  reverse,  -which  have 
With  every  concession  made  to  them,  no  effect  in 
their  demands  rose  higher,  their  ex-  conciliating 
asperation    became    greater ;     the  I'ltfy'''^'^^ 
press  was  never  so  violent,  the  pub- 
lic effervescence  so  extreme,  as  when  the  Gov- 
ernment was  opposing  the  least  resistance  to  the 
popular -will;  and  at  length  the  danger  became 
so  imminent,  from  the  increasing  demands  of  the 
Liberals  and  the  menacing  aspect  of  the  legis- 
lature, that  the  king,  from  sheer  necessity,  and 
much  against  his  will,  was  driven  into  a  change 
of  system,  and  return  to  a  monarchical  admin- 
istration. 

The  new  Ministry  appointed  when  the  Lib- 
erals were  in  the  ascendant,  being  .^ 
not  altogether  confident  in  their  sta-  Popular  acta 
bility,  and  having  come  to  an  open  of  the  new  • 
rupture  with  the  Royalists,  d id  every  M'h'stry. 
thing  in  their  power  to  increase  their  popular- 
ity, and  conciliate  .the  democratic  party,  upon 
whom  they  exclusively  depended.  Various 
measures  of  great  utility,  and  attended  by  the 
very  best  consequences,  were  set  on  foot,  which 
have  been  felt  as  beneficial  even  to  these  times. 
To  them  we  owe  the  first  idea  of  an  exhibition 
of  the  Avorks  of  national  industry,  -which  was 
fixed  for  the  2oth  August,  1819,  to  be  followed 
by  a  similar  one  every  two  years  afterward, 
and  which  was  attended  with  such  success  that 
it  gave  rise,  in  its  ultimate  effects,  to  the  mag- 
nificent Great  Exhibition  in  London,  in  the 
year  1851.  A  Council-General  of  Agriculture 
was  established,  consisting  of  ten  members,  of 
whom  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  -was  Presi- 
dent, which  was  to  correspond  with  and  direct 
affiliated  societies  all  over  the  kingdom.  In  the 
choice  of  its  members  the  most  laudable  impar- 
tiality was  shown,  and  the  Duke  de  la  Roche- 
foucauld, the  head  of  the  Royalist  nobility,  was 
the  first  person  on  the  list,  followed  by  the 
Dukes  of  Choiseul  and  Liaiicourt,  mIio  were 
equally  distinguished  by  their  opposition  to 
the  present  Government.  A  Council-General 
of  Prisons  was  established,  and  the  attention 
of  the  philanthropist  directed  to  the  unhappy 
convicts,  a  class  of  sufferers  who  had  been  alike 
neglected  amidst  the  declamations  of  the  Re- 
public and  the  glories  of  the  Empire.  To  aid 
tlicm  in  their  j)hilanthropic  labor,  a  society 
was  formed,  under  the  direction  of  the  Minister 
of  the  Interior,  which,  under  the  title  of  the 
"Royal  Society  of  Prisons,"  was  soon  actively 
engaged  with  projects  for  the  improvement  of 
j^rison  discipline,  and  moral  and  religious  in- 
struction of  the  inmates.     Great  solicitude  was 


*  Exports  and 

Imports  and  Revenue  of  Franui 

,    FROM    1815   TO    1821. 

Venni. 

Importa. 

ExporU. 

Revenue  OrdinHTy. 

Revenue 
Extraordinary. 

Total  Revenue. 

Frnt.05 

Fronc. 

Frnnrs. 

Krnnr». 

Frnnrfl. 

1815 

19y,4(i7,frf.l 

422,147,770 

729,154,571 

117,103,661 

876,3 1H.232 

1813 

242.698.75.3 

547,706,317 

878,903,354 

157,801,000 

1,036,804.354 
1.^0,312.5.50 

1817 

332,374,593 

464.049,387 

899,813,624 

370,498,H96 

1818 

335.574,488 

502,284,083 

9.37,751,487 

470„329,198 

1,414,080,625 

1819 

294,548,286 

460,232,224 

895,380.K18 

41,271,900 

936,658,784 

1820 

335,()09,5f)f) 

543,112,774 

933.439.553 

5,798.510 

939.2.38,063 

1821 

355,591,857 

450,7HH,h43 

928.515,558 

7,436.491 

9.35.053,049 

1822 

368,990,533 

427,679,150 

937,427,670 

10,493,592 

953,921,262 

—Statistique  de  la  France  Commerce  Exterieur,  p.  9  ,  Ibid.,  Administration  Publique,  116,  121. 


2SC 


HISTORY    OF    EUROTE. 


[CiiAr.  IX. 


Return  of 
Maroi  and 
many  other 
of  the  pro- 
scribed to 
France. 


evinced  for  the  advancement  of  primnry  in- 
struction ;  and  in  no  former  period,  either  of  the 
Kepiiblie  or  tlte  Empire,  had  a  irreater  number 
of  improvements  been  etleeted  in  that  impor- 
tant department  of  public  ini^truc- 
iLac  11  3-23,  ^-  i  Finally,  the  attention  of  the 
M5,  155,  tiovcrnment  was  directed,  in  an  es- 
Cin-uiairo  pecial  manner,  to  the  administration 
""^J!'^'^^''^'^'  of  justice,  and  the  numerous  abuses 
which  prevailed  in  the  delay  gener- 
ally incurred  in  bringing  prisoners  to  trial;  and 
ft  circular  issued  by  M.  de  Serres,  the  Minister  of 
Justice,  deserves  a  place  in  history,  from  the 
admirable  spirit  which  it  breathes  on  a  subject 
hitherto   unaccountably  neglected  by  all  the 

Iiarties  who  had  been  successively  called  to  the 
lelm  of  aft'airs.* 
At  the  same  time,  nearly  the  whole  persons 

8.  banished  for  their  accession  to  the 
conspiracy  of  the  Hundred  Days  re- 
ceived permission  to  return  to  their 
country.  Maret,  Duke  of  Bassano, 
the  principal  author  of  that  revolt, 
obtained  it,  and  after  his  return  the 

same  indulgence  could  scarcely  be  refused  to 
inferior  delinquents.  The  king  never  refused 
forgiveness  to  any  application  from  any  of  his 
Ministers;  rarely  to  any  respectable  "inferior 
application.  By  these  means,  in  a  few  months 
nearly  all  the  proscribed  persons,  excepting  the 
actual  regicides,  had  returned  to  their  country, 
and  these  were  so  few  in  number,  and  for  the 
most  part  so  old  and  infirm,  that  their  absence 
2  Cap  vi  '^^  presence,  except  as  an  example, 
156, 158 ;  and  indicating  the  triumph  or  defeat 
Lac.  ii.  317,  of  a  principle,  was  almost  equally  an 
^~'-  object  of  indifference.' 

Notwithstanding  this  indulgent  administra- 

9.  tion,  and  substantial  benefits  con- 
Increasing  ferred  on  France  by  the  Govern- 
lu'^T^b^  °^  ment  of  the  Restoration,  it  was  daily 
als,  and  re-  becoming  more  unpopular,  and  the 
sistance  to  general  discontent  had  now  reached 
the  Govern-  such  a  height  as  seriously  to  menace 
"'^°'"  its  existence.  Three  elections  re- 
mained to  complete  the  last  renewal  of  the 
Chamber,  and  the  persons  elected,  M.  Daunou, 
Saint- Aignan,  and  Benjamin  Constant,  were  all 
leaders  of  the  extreme  democratic  party.  K^or 
was  the  hostility  to  the  Ministers  confined  to 
electoral  contests.  In  the  Chamber  itself  the 
most  violent  and  systematic  resistance  was 
made  to  every  proposal  of  the  Government; 
and  every  concession  they  made,  so  far  from 
disarming  the  opposition,  only  rendered  it  more 


'  "  Des  reclamations  nombreuses  ont  signale  dans  ces 
derniers  temps  divers  abus  dans  I'lnstruction  des  Proce- 
dures criminelles.  Ces  plaintes  peuvent  netre  pas  ex- 
emptes  d'exageration.  II  parait  cependant  que  plusieurs 
ne  sont  que  trop  fondees.  Ellas  ont  porte  sur  la  facilite, 
la  leeerete  meme,  avec  laquelle  sont  faites  les  arrestations. 
2.  Sur  une  prolongation  ou  un  application  abusive  de 
rinterdiction  aux  prevenus  de  communiquer.  3.  Enfin, 
sur  la  negligence  apportee  dans  I'lnstruction  des  proces. 
Je  crois  done  utile  de  retracer  sur  chacun  de  ces  points 
les  principes,  a  la  stricte  application  desquels  vous  devez 
sanscesse  rappeler  les  Procureursdu  Roi,  les  Juges  d'ln- 
stniction,  et  ch|cun  des  agents  judiciaires  qui  vous  sont 

subordonnes Attachez-vous  aimprimerfortement 

cette  verite  aux  Magistrats  Instructeurs  que  la  celerile 
dans  les  Informations  est  pour  eux  un  devoir  imperieux, 
et  qu'ils  se  chareent  d'une  grande  responsabilite  lorsque, 
sans  une  necessite  evidente,  ils  la  prolongent  au  dela  du 
temps  suflisant  pour  faire  regler  la  Competence,  et  statuer 
sur  la  Preconisation  en  Connaissancede  Cause." — Circu- 
laire  mix  PrefUs,  2-lth  April,  1&19.  Circulaire  aux  Prifets, 
ii.  271. 


virulent  and  persevering.  Tlie  press  was  never 
so  violent  and  undisguised  in  its  attacks  on 
the  administration;  and  to  stieh  a  length  did 
its  hostility  jiroceed,  that  before  two  months 
had  elapsed  from  the  coup  ditat  creating  sixty 
new  peers  in  the  democratic  interest.  Ministers 
found  it  necessary  to  bring  forward  a  lasting 
law  regarding  the  press,  to  be  a  bridle  on  its 
excesses. 

Although  this  law  was  a  great  concession  to 
the  popular  party,  and  placed  the  .q 
liberty  of  the  press  upon  a  better  Law  regard- 
basis  than  it  had  ever  been,  since  ing  the 
the  Restoration  gave  freedom  to  Jl^^fg] 
France,  it  excited  the  most  violent 
opposition  in  both  Chambers  and  in  the  public 
press.  It  abolished  the  censorship — an  im- 
mense step  in  the  progress  of  real  freedom — 
and  declared  that  offenses  against  the  laws  for 
restraining  its  excesses  should  be  tried  by  juries. 
This  was  evidently  laying  the  only  true  foun- 
dation for  entire  freedom  on  this  subject;  but 
the  enactment  which  it  also  contained,  that  the 
proprietors  of  newspapers  should  find  security 
to  meet  fines  or  claims  of  damages  which  might 
be  awarded  against  them,  gave  rise  to  the  most 
violent  opposition,  both  in  the  legislature  and 
the  public  journals.  "The  press  is  strangled," 
was  the  universal  cry ;  "  give  us  back  the  cen- 
sorship." Yet — markworthy  circumstance — 
the  proposal  passed  into  a  law ;  the  resistance 
was  overcome ;  of  the  whole  journals,  not  one 
perished  from  inability  to  find  caution ;  but 
the  violence  and  vehemence  of  the  press  be- 
came greater  than  ever.  In  truth,  in  an  age 
of  intelligence  and  strong  political  excitement, 
it  is  impossible  to  restrain  the  press ;  and  the 
enactments  of  the  legislature,  be  they  what 
they  may,  are  of  little  consequence,  for  they 
ere  long  become  a  dead  letter.  During  the 
whole  of  the  stormy  discussion  which  took 
filace  on  this  subject,  the  Royalists  took  no 
part,  confining  themselves  to  the  urging  an 
amendment,  declaring  offenses  against  religion 
punishable;  which  was  agreed  to.  They  de- 
sired freedom  of  discussion  as  the  only  means 
of  achieving  their  return  to  power;  but  they 
were  ashamed  of  the  allies  who  aided  them  at 
the  moment  iu  the  attempt.  The  project  passed 
ultimately  into  a  law  by  a  majority  of  eighty- 
five  ;  the  numbers  being  a  hundred  and  forty- 
three  to  fiftj'-eight ;  and  thus  the  i  q^^  ^j 
Restoration  might  justly  boast  of  161,  164; 
having  obtained  for  France  the  in-  Lac.  ii-307; 
estimable  blessing  of  a  real  liberty  ^"g3_  gg^'' 
of  the  press,  to  which  no  approach  no;  Moni- 
ever  had  been  made  during  either  tet""-  April 
the  Revolution  or  the  Empire.'  ^^'  ^^'^• 

A  still  more  vehement  debate  took  place  on  a 
matter  which  was  anxiously  pressed 
on  the  king  by  the  whole  extreme  Debate  on 
left  of  the  Chamber,  and  all  their  the  return 
supporters  in  the  public  press — viz.,  of  the  pro- 
the  general  and  unqualified  return  of  persons, 
the   proscribed  persons.     From  the 
state  of  maturity  to  which  the  project  for  the 
overthrow  of  the  Bourbons  had  arrived,  this 
was  a  matter  of  very  great  importance ;   for 
the  exiles  whom  it  was  proposed  to  get  back 
would  be  the  very  first  to  become  its  leaders. 
The  Ministers  resisted  the  attempt  to  force  such 
a  measure  upon  the  king;  they  had  some  in- 


1819.] 

formation  as  to  the  clanger  -which  impended 
over  the  monarchy,  and  thought  justly,  that 
if  the  sovereign  was  driven  into  such  a  general 
measure,  it  would  take  away  all  credit  for  acts 
•Can  vi  of  grace  conferred  upon  individuals.' 
170, 171 ;'  M.  de  Serres,  on  this  occasion,  broke 
Ann.  Hist,  forth  into  an  eloquent  declamation, 
ii.  228,  229.  ^jjg  termination  of  which  made  an 
immense  sensation,  and  contributed,  in  an  es- 
sential manner,  to  alienate  the  democratic  lead- 
ers from  the  crown,  and  reveal  the  secret  hos- 
tility with  which  they  were  actuated  against  it. 
"In  the  petitions  which  have  been  present- 
j2  ed,"  said  M.  de  Serres,  "  it  is  partieu- 

Speecli  of  larly  to  be  observed,  that  there  is  no 
M.  de  Ser-  question  as  to  individuals  exiled  for 
subec"  "*^  ^  *™®  under  the  law  of  12th  Janu 
ary,  1816,  but  of  all  the  proscribed 
individuals  in  a  mass.  They  include  not  only 
the  regicides,  but  the  farailj^  of  Bonaparte  him- 
self. When  the  deplorable  day  of  the  20th 
JIarch,  1815,  appeared,  in  the  midst  of  the  pro- 
found consternation  of  all  good  citizens,  and 
the  frantic  joy  of  a  few  agitators ;  when,  from 
the  confines  of  Europe  and  Asia  to  the  shores 
of  the  ocean,  Europe  ran  to  arms,  and  France 
■was  invaded  by  millions  of  foreign  soldiers; 
when  it  was  despoiled  of  its  fortune,  its  monu- 
ments, and  in  danger  of  having  its  territory 
reft  away,  every  one  felt  that  the  first  duty  of 
every  good  citizen  was  to  defend  the  crown  by 
severe  measures  against  fresh  aggressions.  Then 
arose  the  question,  whether  the  individuals 
who  had  concurred  in  the  vote  for  the  death 
of  Louis  XVI.  should  be  removed  from  the 
French  territory ;  and  every  one  knows  with 
what  perseverance  the  royal  clemency  strug- 
gled against  the  proposition  for  their  banish- 
ment. Many  men,  known  by  their  boundless 
devotion  to  tlie  royal  cause,  and  to  the  princi- 
ples of  a  constitutional  monarchy,  maintained 
that  a  universal  and  unqualified  amnesty  should 
be  pronounced.  But  it  was  otherwise  decided ; 
and  having  been  so,  the  decision  was  irrevo- 
cable. The  extreme  generosity  of  the  king 
might  engage  individuals  to  abstain  from  vot- 
ing; but  when  once  the  law  was  passed,  it  was 
evidently  impossible,  without  doing  violence 
to  the  strongest  moral  feelings,  without  inflict- 
ing a  fatal  wound  on  Ihe  royal  authority  in  the 
e\es  of  France  and  Europe,  to  urge  the  king  to 
restore  to  the  country  the  assassins  of  his  broth- 

,  ,       „.      er,  his  lawfully  crowned  predeces- 
^  Ann.  Ilist.         o     Ti   •  i\        r        J. 

li.  2.30    Mo-  sor.'     It  H  necessary,  tliereforo,  to 

nitcur,  May  make  a  distinction  between  the  in- 
IH,  IHI'J;  dividuals  struck  at  by  the  law  of 
Cap.  VI,  1,1,  January,  1810.  In  the  irrevocable 
category  should  be  placed  the  family 
of  Bonaparte  and  the  regicide  voters.  The 
rest  are  only  exiled  for  a  time.  To  conclude 
in  one  word — the  regicides,  never ;  as  to  those 
exiled  for  a  time,  entire  confidence  in  the  good- 
ness of  the  king." 

The  expression  used  by  M.  de  ^iCvvq^,  jamah 
]3  (never),  made  an  immense  sensation. 
Immense  It  at  once  separated  the  extreme  l^eft 
Bensation  from  the  Ministry,  and,  liy  the  oxas- 
by^thiruc-  P«>"*it'f"i  which  it  produce'd,  revealed 
bate.  tlieir  secret  designs.     So  great  was 

the  ferment  that,  in  the  report  of  his 
speech  in  the  Aloniteur,  it  was  deeined  neces- 
sary to   add    a   qualifying   expression,  to  the 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


287 


effect  that,  although  the  regicides  couhl  never 
claim  a  return,  they  might  hope  for  it  from  the 
clemency  of  the  king,  in  consideration  of  age 
and  infirmities.*  But  this  qualification  pro- 
duced no  impression.  The  unqualified  words 
had  been  spoken  by  the  minister  in  his  place  in 
the  Chamber,  and  were  taken  as  a  decisive  in- 
dication of  the  intentions  of  Government.  The 
exasperation  of  the  extreme  Liberals,  accord- 
ingly, continued  unabated,  and  was  so  strongly 
expressed  in  the  contemporary  journals  in  their 
interest,  that  both  M.  de  Serres  and  M.  Deeazes 
began  to  hesitate  in  regard  to  the  possibilitj'  of 
carrying  on  the  government  by  the  support  of 
such  allies.  A  schism,  attended  in  the  end 
with  important  effects,  was  beginning  in  the 
Cabinet,  and  to  this  period  is  to  be  referred  the 
commencement  of  an  alteration  in  the  i  cap.  vi. 
sentiments  of  the  leading  members  of  174,  175  : 
administration,  which  ultimately  led  Lac.  ii.  310, 
to  a  change  of  government.' 

Open  v.-ar  being  now  declared  between  the 
Government  and  the  Liberal  press,        .^ 
and  all  restraints   upon   the   latter  increasing 
being  taken  away  by  the  removal  of  violence 
the  censorship,  there  was  no  end  to  andexas- 
the  violence  with  which   Ministers  the  press" 
were    assailed    by    the    democratic 
party.     All  that  they  had  done  was  forgotten  ; 
what  it  was  feared  they  would  do  alone  was  con- 
sidered.    The  co^ip  iVctat,  which  had  changed 
the  Electoral  Law,  and  promised  soon  to  give 
them  the  command  of  the  Chambers — the  crea- 
tion of  peers,  which  had  already  given  them  a 
majority  in  the  upper  chamber — were  never 
once  mentioned:  the  word  ''jamais"  alone  re- 
sounded in  every  ear.     The  most  unbounded 
benefits  conferred  on  their  country  and  them- 
selves were  forgotten  in  the  denial  of  an  am- 
nesty to  a  few  hoary  Jacobins,  stained  with 
every  atrocity  which  could  disgrace  humanity. 
Three-fourths  of  the  public  press  was  leagued 
together  against  the  Government,  and  poured 
forth  its  venom  daily  with  a  vigor  and  talent 
which  bore  down  all  opposition.     The  Courrier, 
which  was  supported  by  the  Doctrinaire  l)arty, 
and  adorned  by  the  talents  of  M.  Guizot,  Ko3-er- 
Collard,  and  Kerratry,  proved  in  tliis  strife  no 
match  for  the  Constitationncl,  which  then  first 
attained  its  immense  circulation,  and  in  whicii 
M.  Thiers  was  beginning  his  eventful  career. 
The  Royalist  journals,  in  which  M.  Chateau 
briand  and  Hyde  Neuville  exerted  their  talents, 
were  su|iported  with  greater  genius  and  elo- 
quence tlian  the  Liberal,  and  strongly  confirmed 
the  minority,  which  agreed  with  them  in  their 
opinion  of  the  present  downward  progress  of 
things;  but  their  voices  were  those  of  a  minor 
ity  only  of  the  entire  jwpidation.      Tlie  ma- 
jority, upon  the  wliole,  was  decidedly  with  tlic 
J.,iberals,  and  they  were  more  veliement  in  their 
attacks  on  the  (lovei'nment  than  they  had  been 
on  the  Royalist  administration.     A 
popular  party  which  is  suspected  of   3.t(5'*33i'' 
an  intention  of  stopping  in  the  career  Cap.  vi. ' 
of  concession,  soon  becomes  the  ob-  ''^5.  199' 
jcet  of  more  inveterate  hostility  than  .'i^oh' 
that  which  had  always  opposed  it.^  ' 


*  "  A  rccanl  dcs  regicides  jamais,  Hauf,  comme  jo  I'at 
dit,  les  toleranceH  nccordees  par  la  clemence  du  roi  a 
I'at'c  et  cux  infirmites."— il/o;ii<cur.  May  IS,  1819;  Ann 
Ihst  ii.  2:tU. 


2SS 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


As  these  uleorateil  feelings  arose  from  tlisnp- 
15  pointed  aniliitioii  ratlier  than  patri- 

nuilsii  of  otie  feeling,  tliey  were  in  no  degree 
'*''•'■  abated    by    the    general    prosperity 

whieh  prevailed,  and  whieh  jiroved  how  inueh, 
as  a  whole,  the  (uneninient  of  the  Restoration 
had  deserved  the  sni>i>ort  and  nflections  of 
tlie  country.  The  budget  of  1819  presented  a 
striking  and  most  gratifying  contrast  to  those 
which  had  preceded  it,  and  proved  the  im- 
mensity of  tiie  relief  which  ttie  Congress  of 
Aix-la-"Chapelle,  and  the  evacuation  of  the 
territory,  had  procured  for  the  French  nation.* 
The  estimated  expenses  of  the  year  were  only 
889,'200,000  francs,  being  a  reduction  of  nearly 
800,000,000  francs  from  those  of  the  prcceeding 
year,  which  had  amounted  to  1,154,000,000 
5"rancs.  In  the  expense  of  the  year,  independ- 
ent of  the  cessation  of  the  payments  to  the 
Allies,  there  was  a  reduction  of  15,000,000 
francs.  The  Government  had  good  reason  to 
congratulate  itself  upon  the  exposition  of  its 
financial  situation :  nothing  nearly  so  favorable 
had  been  presented  since  the  Revolution ;  for 
here  was  a  reduction  of  £12,000,000  a  j-ear,  ef- 
fected, not  by  contributions  exacted  from  other 
countries,  or  any  reduction  in  the  national  arma- 
ments, but  simply  by  successful  diplomatic  ar- 
I  ^^„  jjjg,  rangements  with  foreign  states,  and 
ii  itil,l63;  the  moderation  on  the  part  of  their 
tap.  vi.  rulers  which  the  policy  of  the  French 
191,193.      Government  had  inspired' 

Ml  eyes,  in  the  autumn  of  this  year,  were 
jj;  fixrd  on  the  annual  election  for  filling 
Prcpara-  iip  the  fifth  of  the  Chamber,  which 
tions  for  by  law  was  vacated  and  renewed 
'^819''°"  every  season.  Already  the  evils  of 
these  annual  elections  had  come  to 
be  severely  felt;  and  the  expression  of  the  ap- 
proach of  the  "  Electoral  Fever"  had  become  as 
common  as,  in  after  days,  that  of  the  ajiproach 
of  the  cholera  was  to  be.  Ministers  felt  stronglj- 
the  importance  of  the  ensuing  election,  and 
exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost  to  gain  popu- 
larity before  it  came  on.  The  king  visited  fre- 
quently the  magnificent  exhibition  of  the  pro- 
ductions of  native  industry,  which  was  held  in 
the  Louvre,  and  was  prodigal  of  those  flattering 
expressions  of  which  he  was  so  accomplished  a 
master:  not  a  manufacturer  withdrew  with- 
out believing  that  he  had  captivated  the  royal 
taste.  Crosses  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  were 
profusely  bestowed,  but  yet  with  discernment, 
and  without  regard  to  party ;  and  the  circulars 
to  the  prefects  earnestly  inculcated  the  utmost 
lenity  in  prosecution  of  offenders,  and  diligence 
in  encouraging  every  oljject  of  social  improve- 
ment. The  prosecution  of  the  assassins  of  Mar- 
shal Brune  was  authorized,  if  they  could  be 
discovered;  the  proscribed  returned  in  crowds 
from  Belgium ;  while,  to  conciliate  the  Royal- 


*  The  budget  of  1619  stood  thus  :— 

FranCB. 

Interest  of  public  debt 232,000,000 

Civil  list  and  royal  family. .     34,000,000 

Foreign  Affairs 8,000,000 

Justice 17,460,000 

Interior 102,700,000 

War 192,750,000 

Marine 45,200,000 

Miscellaneous 257,000,000 


'^Annuaire  HistoTiqiu,  ii.  161. 


689,210,000  or  £35,450,000 


[ClI.M-.    IX. 

ists,  the  concordat  with  the  court  of  Rome  was 
modified;  bulls  were  given  to  the  new  French 
bisho])8;  and  the  sacred  ceremonies  frequently 
announced  the  installation  of  a  new  bishop  in 
his  diocese.  A  million  of  francs  (£40,000)  was 
devoted  to  the  establishment  of  new  rarish 
])riests;  while,  to  evince  their  impartiality, 
three  new  I'rotcstant  ministers  were  cndowid 
at  the  same  time  with  the  Catholic  bishops; 
and  the  ) "residents  of  the  electoral  collegts 
were  all  chosen  from  the  Centre  of 
the  Assembly,  and  taken  from  men  gip^gjo ' 
of  moderation  and  respectability.' 

It  was  all  in  vain  ;  and  the  elections  of  1S19, 
which  had  an  imj'ortant  effect  on 
the  destinies  of  the  inonavch}',  afford  Their  re- 
anothcr  example  of  the  truth  exem-  suit:  lUc 
plified  by  so  many  passages  of  con-  'J??.*"  ''l^ 
temporary  history — that  in  periods  go*e.  ^^^ 
of  excitement,  when  the  passions  are 
violently  roused,  moderate  men  are  assailed  on 
both  sides,  and  it  is  the  extremes  on  either  who 
alone  prove  successful.  All  that  the  king  and 
the  ministers  had  done  for  the  Liberal  party — 
and  it  was  not  a  little — went  for  nothing;  or 
rather,  they  onlj'  encouraged  them  to  rise  in 
their  demands,  and  return  representatives  who 
Avould  extort  what  they  wished  from  the  Gov- 
ernment The  Royalists  in  many  places  coa- 
lesced with  them  to  throw  out  the  ministerial 
candidates:  their  journals  openly  advised  them 
to  do  so,  inculcating  the  doctrine,  "Better  the 
Jacobins  than  the  Ministerialists;  for  the  Jaco- 
bins will  bring  matters  to  a  crisis."  In  trutli, 
however,  the  crisis  was  nearer  than  thej-  im- 
agined, and  it  was  brought  on  very  much  liy 
their  policy.  Five-and-thirty  extreme  Liberals 
were  returned,  fifteen  Ministerialists,  and  only 
four  Roj'alists.  Among  those  whom  the  Liber- 
als returned  were  General  Foy,  the  most 
distinguished  popular  orator  of  the  Restora- 
tion, and  two  extreme  Jacobins,  whose  appear- 
ance in  the  returned  lists  excited  universal 
consternation — M.  Lambrecht,  and  j  ^  ^■ 
the  Abbe  Geegoiee,  the  Jacobin  and  216,  229  : 
constitutional  bishop  of  Blois,  whose  I.ac.  ii.330, 
name  was  identified  with  several  of  ^^^g^i^l-^o' 
the  worst  acts  of  the  Convention.^ 

The  Abbe  Gregoire,  who  had  left  the  Church 
of  Rome  during  the  Revolution,  and  ,g 
received  in  return  from  the  civil  au-  Biography 
thorities  the  bishopric  of  Blois,  had  of  the  Abbe 
not  actually  voted  for  the  death  of  Gregoire. 
Louis  XA'I.,  having  been  absent  on  a  mission  at 
the  time  ;  but  he  had  given  several  subsequent 
votes,  which  evinced  his  approval  of  that  great 
legislative  murder.  His  language  had  alwaj-s 
been  violent  and  immeasured  against  royalty 
and  the  Bourbons;  and  no  one  had  spread 
brief  sarcastic  sayings  against  them  more  wide- 
ly, or  done  more  to  injure  their  cause  with  the 
great  body  of  the  people,  with  whom  stinging 
epithets  or  bold  assertions  often  prevail  more 
than  sound  argument  or  truth  in  the  statement 
of  facts.  A  mute  senator  under  the  Empire,  he 
had  possessed  good  sense  enough  to  abstain 
from  joining  in  the  movement  which  followed 
the  return  of  Napoleon  from  Elba,  which  pre- 
vented his  being  included  in  the  sentence  of 
banishment  pronounced  against  those  concern- 
ed in  that  event,  and  paved  the  way  for  liis  re- 
turn as  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies. 


1819.] 

He  had  never  been  wholly  faitliloss  to  the  eause 
of  Christianity,  though  lie  liad  to  tliat  of  the 
court  of  Rome,  in  whose  service  he  liad  been  ; 
and  there  were  manj'  worse  men  in  the  Con- 
vention. But  it  w'as  impossible  to  find  one  more 
1 1  am  v'  •  personally  obnoxious  to  the  Bour- 
222.  223 ;  bons,  or  whose  return  was  considered 
Cap.  vi.  a  more  decided  triumph  by  the  party 
227,  229.  -which  aimed  at  tiieir  overthrow.* 
General  Foy,  a  far  nobler  and  superior 
,g  character,  though  not  so  much  dread- 

General  ed  at  tlie  time,  proved  a  much  more 
Foy ;  his  formidable  enemy  in  the  end  to  the 
biography,  (jovernment  of  the  Restoration.  Born 
at  Havre  in  1775,  he  had  early  served  under 
Dumourier,  Pichegru,  and  Dampierre  in  tiie 
legions  of  the  Revolution.  Subsequently  he 
was  wounded  by  the  side  of  Desaix,  in  one  of 
the  campaigns  in  Germany;  and  he  served 
under  JSIassena  in  the  campaign  of  Zurich  in 
1799.  He  early  evinced,  however,  an  inde- 
pendent spirit,  and  devoted  his  leisure  hours, 
in  the  intervals  of  his  campaign,  to  the  study 
of  law  and  social  questions.  He  refused  to 
sign  the  servile  addresses  which  were  sent  by 
the  troops  M'ith  whom  he  acted  to  Napoleon, 
fell,  in  consequence,  under  the  imperial  dis- 
pleasure, and  was  sent  to  Spain  to  expiate  his 
offense  in  the  dreadful  campaigns  in  that  coun- 
try. To  this  circumstance  we  owe  his  very 
interesting  account  of  the  early  campaigns  in 
that  memorable  war.  He  joined  the  Bourbons 
in  1814;  but,  without  being  implicated,  like  so 
many  others,  in  the  revolt  of  1815,  he  hastened 
to  the  scene  of  danger  when  the  independence 
of  France  was  menaced;  and  none  combated 
with  more  gallantry  both  at  Quatre-Bras  and 
J  J  ..  Waterloo.  In  1815,  he  returned  to 
£25  227  ;  private  life,  on  the  disbanding  of  the 
Biog.  Univ.  army,  and  employed  his  leisure  hours 
2*='*^)  in  writing  the  annals  of  his  cam- 
paigns.* 

The  only  man  in  the  Chamber,  who,  on  the 
20.        Ministerial  side,  was  capable  of  bal- 
M.  (le  Ser-    ancing  the  power  of  General  Foy  on 
'^^-  the  Liberal,  was  M.  de  Serres.     He 

was  in  every  sense  a  very  eminent  man,  and 
seemed  to  have  inherited  the  spirit  of  Mirabeau 
wilh(nit  being  stained  by  his  vices,  and  en- 
lightened by  experience  and  subsequent  events. 
He  was  fitted  by  nature,  if  any  man  was.  to 
have  brought  about  the  marriage  of  the  here- 
ditary monarchy  with  the  liberty  of  the  Rev- 
olution, which  that  great  man,  in  the  close  of 
his  career,  endeavored  to  effect,  but  which  Ids 
own  violence  at  that  period  had  contributed  to 
render  impossible.  A  Royalist  by  descent,  born 
on  I'itii  March,  177G,  of  a  noble  family  in  Lor- 
raine, lie  had,  in  the  first  instance,  served  with 
tiie  other  emigrants  in  the  army  of  the  Prince 
of  Condo  against  the  Revolution.  But  his 
inclination  led  him  to  [leaceful  studii's  rather 
than  warlike  [)ursui1s,  and  he  returiieil  to 
France  on  occasion  of  Najioleon'-s  amnesty  in 
■1801,  and  began  his  studies  for  the  bar.  Such, 
however,  at  that  period,  from  long  residence 
abroad,  was  his  ignorance  of  his  own  language, 
that  he  required  to  study  it  as  a  foreign  tongue. 
He  made  his  dC/H^t  at  the  provincial  bar  of 
Metz,  and  in  a  few  j-ears  had  distinguished 
himself  so  nuicii  that  in  IHIl  Napxlcon  ap- 
jiointed  him  public  [rro-ecutor  tli(  re  and  soon 
Vol.  I.— T 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


289 


Ixiv. 


after  President  of  the  Imperial  Court  at  Ham- 
burg. In  that  situation  he  remained  till  1814, 
when,  having  declared  his  adhesion  to  the 
Bourbons  on  the  fall  of  ISai"ioleon,  he  was  ap- 
pointed President  of  the  Royal  Court  at  Colmar, 
a  situation  which  he  held  v<hen  he  was  ,  „;„„ 

,      ,  ,•  1       i      1  ■  "102. 

named  deput}'  lor  that  department  in  iJniv. 
1815.  With  that  commenced  his  par-  Ixxxii. 
liamentary  and  ministerial  career.'  133,134. 

His  principles  were  Roj-alist  from  birth  and 
early  impressions,  and  he  was  of  a  21. 
religious  disposition;  but  when  his  Ilischarac- 
reason  was  fully  developed,  his  opin-  '^''• 
ions  inclined  to  the  Liberal  side,  and  then  he 
readily  fell  into  the  alliance  of  the  Royali.-t 
Liberals,  of  whom  M.  Deeazes  was  the  head, 
and  which  Louis  XVIII.  adopted  as  the  basis 
of  his  government.  He  was  more  remarkable 
for  the  power  of  his  eloquence,  and  the  com- 
manding flow  of  his  oratory,  than  the  consist- 
ency of  his  political  conduct.  His  soul  was 
ardent,  his  imagination  rich,  his  words  impas- 
sioned, his  elocution  clear  and  emphatic.  He 
was  thus  the  most  powerful  debater,  the  most 
brilliant  orator  on  the  ministerial  side,  and  was 
put  forward  by  them  on  all  important  occasions 
as  their  most  valuable  supporter.  Such  was 
the  force  of  his  language,  and  the  generous 
liberality  of  his  sentiments,  that  he  not  only 
never  failed  to  command  general  attention,  but 
often  to  elicit  the  warmest  applause  from  both 
sides  of  the  Chamber — an  intoxicating  but 
dangerous  species  of  homage,  to  which  the 
consistency  of  more  than  one  very  eminent 
man,  on  both  sides  of  the  Channel,  has  fallen  a 
sacrifice.  His  previous  life  and  known  princi- 
ples still  obtained  for  him  the  applause  of  the 
Royalists,  while  the  new-born  liberality  of  his 
sentiments  extorted  the  cheers  of  the  Liberals 
on  the  left.  Thus  his  parliamentary  influence 
at  the  moment  was  extensive — more  so,  per- 
haps, than  that  of  any  other  man  ;  but  it  was 
not  likely  to  be  durable.  Mere  talent,  how 
great  soever,  will  not  long  secure  the  sufl"rages 
of  any  body  of  men,  least  of  all  an  assembly  in 
which  ambition  is  the  ruling  principle  of  action 
in  the  great  majority.  Both  sides  applaud  him 
so  long  as  both  hope  to  gain  him,  but  when  his 
decision  is  once  taken,  the  parly  which  he  has 
abandoned  becomes  his  bitterest  encni}-.  Wis- 
dom of  thought  and  consistency  of  conduct, 
though  often  exposed  to  obloquy  at  Ihe  time, 
are  the  only  secure  foundation  for  lasting  fame, 
because  they  alone  can  lead  to  a 
course  upon  which  time  will  stamp  211'""  "'' 
its  approval.* 

The  result  of  the  elections,  and  in  an  especial 
manner  the  return  of  the  Abbe  (Jru-         22 
goiro,  acted  like  a  clap  of  thunder  on  Conversa- 
Louis   XVIII.   and   M.   Deeazes,   to  Honor 

whose  Electoral  Law  it  wns  obvious-  vv'.'m  „,  , 
,  ,  -111  A  V  III    anil 

ly  to  1)0  aseril)eti.  It  was  no  longer  ihecoiim 
[>ossible  to  shut  their  eyes  to  the  il'Artois  (in 
danger.  Every  successive  election,  ""-'<-'lt;*'tioii. 
since  the  cnnj)  d'itdt  of  September  5,  181('),  had 
proved  more  unfavorable  than  the  preceding, 
and  the  last  had  turned  out  so  disastrous,  both 
in  the  general  rt'sults  and  the  character  of  the 
individuals  returned,  that  not  a  doubt  could 
rem.'iiii  that  the  iie.vt  would  give  a  decided 
iMnj(nity  in  the  Chamber  to  tlie  declared  en 
emies  of   the  Bourbon    fiunily.      Imnieni-e  wiui 


290 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


tlio  seiii^ation  wliioh  tlu>?o  iiiitownid  results 
protlucoil  III  tlie  Tuilorifs;  and  tlio  ovidoiiot'  of 
fnots  WHS  now  too  oU-nr  and  ooiivinoini?  for  the 
kini;  any  lontjor  to  shut  his  eyes  to  the  infer- 
onci'sdoihioible  froni  thoiii.  On  tlie  evening  of 
the  day  wlien  intellitreneo  liad  been  received 
of  the  return  of  the  Ahhe  Gregoire,  tlie  Count 
d'Artois  thus  addressed  Louis:  "  Well  :ny  broth- 
er, vou  see  at  last  whither  they  are  leading 
vou."  "I  know  it,  my  brother,"  replied  the 
iing,  softening  his  voice,  and  in  an  under-tone, 
••  1  know  it,  and  will  provide  against  it."  Con- 
fidence was  by  these  words  immediately  re- 
estftblislied  between  the  heir-apparent  and  the 
throne.  A  long  and  cordial  conversation  en- 
sued between  the  two  brothers,  in  tiie  course 
of  which  it  was  agreed  that  an  Electoral  Law, 
which  had  induced  such  a  succession  of  defeats 
to  the  Government  and  insults  to  the  throne, 
evidently  required  to  be  altered.  The  very 
same  evening  M.  Decazes  received  orders  to 
prepare  a  new  electoral  bill.  The  minister 
saw  that  his  master's  mind  was  made  up,  and 
at  once  agreed  to  do  so.  M.  de  t^erres,  whose 
early  prepossessions  and  imaginative  turn  of 
mind  inclined  him  to  the  same  side,  and  even 
to  magnify  the  approaching  dangers,  readily 
fell  into  tlie  same  views,  and  M.  Portal,  the 
Minister  of  Marine,  adopted  them  also.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  President,  General  DessoUes, 
General  Gouvion  St.  Cyr,  War  Minister,  and 
,  Lam  vi  Baron  Louis,  the  Finance  Minister, 
227  ;  Cap.  were  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  exist- 
vi._234,  ing  system ;  so  that  the  Cabinet  was 
a^^339'^'^      divided  on  the  subject,  as  w'ell  as  the 

country.' 

'^Tien  a  division  had  taken  place  in  the  Cabi- 

23         net  on  so  vital  a  subject  as  the  Elec- 

riian?e  in  toral  Law,  it  was  impossible  that  it 

the  Minis-  could  be  adjusted  without  a  change 

in  the  composition  of  the  Ministry. 


try. 


The  king  and  M.  Decazes,  aware  of  the  danger 
of  showing  symptoms  of  division  in  their  own 
camp,  in  presence  of  an  enterprising  and  in- 
satiable enemj-,  made  great  efforts  to  avert  the 
rupture,  and  labored  hard  to  convince  the  Lib- 
eral members  of  the  administration  that  no 
change  involving  principle  was  contemplated, 
but  only  such  a  modification  in  details  as  cir- 
cumstances had  rendered  necessaiy.  But  the 
ministers  adverse  to  a  change  stood  firm,  and 
resolved  to  resign  rather  than  enter  into  the 
proposed  compromise.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
king  was  fortified  in  his  view  of  the  case  by  the 
accession  of  M.  Pasquier,  who  laid  before  him 
a  very  able  memoir,  in  which  the  dangers  of  the 
present  law  were  clearly  pointed  out,  and  its 
further  maintenance  was  shown  to  be  incon- 
sistent with  the  existence  of  the  monarchy.  The 
Liberal  journals,  made  aware  of  the  danger  of 
their  chiefs,  sounded  the  alarm  in  the  loudest 
possible  notes,  and  praised  General  DessoUes, 
General  Gouvion  St.  Cyr,  and  Baron  Louis  to 
the  skies,  as  the  sole  patriotic  ministers,  and 
the  only  ones  who  had  the  interest  of  the  people 
and  the  support  of  the  national  liberties  really 
at  heart.  But  it  was  all  in  vain.  Tlie  king's 
mind  was  made  up :  the  danger  was  too  obvi- 
ous and  pressing  to  be  any  longer  disregarded; 
and  as  no  compromise  was  found  to  be  practica- 
ble, the  result  was  a  great  and  important  change 
in  the  Ministry.     M.  Decazes  was  sent  for  by 


[CnAF  IX.<J 

i 


'  Cap.  vi. 
235,  254  ; 
Lain.  vi. 
2S8,  22!) : 
Lac.  li.  339. 


tlie  king,  and  declared  President  of  the  Coui;ci1. 
He  reserved  for  hiiii.<ilf  the  situation  of  Minister 
of  tile  Interior,  for  whieh  his  talents  and  habits 
peculiarly   (lualified  him.     M.   Pas- 
quier wa.s  ai>pointed  Minister  of  For- 
eign Affairs;    General  Latour  Mau- 
bourg,  Minister-at-War ;  and  M.  Roy, 
Finance  Minister.' 

It  was  comparatively  a  matter  of  little  diffi- 
culty to  make  a  change  in  the  Minis- 
try, but  it  was  not  so  easy  to  see  how  violent  at- 
tlie  alteration  was  to  be  supported  in  taoks  on 
the  Chamber,  or  rendered  palatable  •*'«  "cw 

to  the  public  press,  in  both  of  which  ^'"'Js'ryi'y 
,  .,         1      .      .1  .  the  press. 

Liberal  principles  were  in  the  ascend- 
ant. Every  thing  depended  on  the  Centre  of 
the  Assembly,  and  to  secure  its  support  the  new 
Cabinet  ^linisters  had  been  taken  from  its  ranks ; 
and  to  gain  time  for  the  parties  to  arrange  them- 
selves, the  opening  of  the  Chambers  was  ad- 
journed to  the  29th  November.  But  mean- 
while, both  the  journals  and  the  pamphleteers 
on  the  Liberal  side,  now  freed  from  the  re- 
straints of  the  censorship,  commenced  a  war  to 
the  knife  with  the  new  Ministry.  M.  Decazes, 
so  recently  the  object  of  general  idolatry  as 
long  as  he  headed  the  movement,  was  instantly 
assailed  with  the  most  virulent  reproaches; 
none  are  so  much  so  as  public  men  avIio  change 
their  line,  or  are  unfaithful  to  their  princijiles, 
especially  w  hen  the  change  conduces,  as  in  this 
instance  it  did,  to  their  own  advantage.  Nor 
were  publications  awanting  of  a  higher  stamp, 
and  which  had  greater  weight  with  persons  of 
thought  and  reflection.  In  particular,  M.  de 
Stael,  son  of  the  illustrious  autlioress,  in  a  pam- 
phlet of  great  ability,  defended  the  contem- 
plated change  in  the  Electoral  Law,  pointed 
out  the  evils  of  the  existing  system,  and  pro- 
posed, to  remedy  them,  the  duplication  of  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  elections  by  arrondisse- 
ments  and  chief  places,  and  a  renewal  of  the 
entire  Chamber  every  five  j-ears,  instead  of  the 
annual  renewal  of  a  fifth.  The  Doctrinaries, 
including  M.  de  Staiil,  M.  Guizot,  and  M.  de 
Broglie,  tendered  their  powerful  support  to  the 
new  Cabinet,  demanding  only,  as  a  2  cap.  vi. 
guarantee  for  its  sincerity,  two  port-  256,  259 ; 
folios,  one  for  M.  Royer-CoUard,  and  Lam.  vi. 
one forM.de  BrogHeorM.deBarante.=   ^'^®'  ^^^• 

The  king's  speech,   at  the  opening  of  the 
Chamber  on  November  29,  gave  to- 
kens of  the  apprehensions  with  which  jjin^'s 
the  royal  mind  was  inspired,  and  of  speech  at 
the  change  of  policy  which  was  in  opening  the 
contemplation.     "In  the  midst,"  said  ^ov°29 
he,  "  of  the  general  prosperit}',  and 
surrounded  by  so  many  circumstances  calcu- 
lated to  inspire  confidence,  there  are  just  grounds 
for  apprehension  which  mingle  with  our  hope.*, 
and  demand  our  most  serious  attention.      A 
vague  but  real  disquietude  has  seized  eveiy 
mind ;  pleased  with  the  present,  every  one  asks 
pledges  for  its  duration:  the  nation  enjoj-s,  in 
a  very  imperfect  way,  the  fruits  of  legal  gov- 
ernment and  peace ;  it  fears  to  see  them  reft 
from  it  by  the  violence  of  faction ;  it  is  terrified 
by  the  too  undisguised  expression  of  its  designs. 
These  fears  and  wishes  point  to  the  necessity 
of  some  additional  guarantee  for  repose  and 
tranquillit}-,    Impressed  with  these  ideas,  I  have 
reveited  to  the  subject  which  has  so  much  oc- 


1819.] 


UISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


ciipied  my  thouo;ht-:,  which  I  wished  to  realize, 
but  which  requires  to  be  matured  by  experience, 
atid  enforced  by  necessity  before  it  is  carried 
into  execution.  Founder  of  the  charter,  to 
which  are  attached  the  whole  interests  of  my 
people  and  my  family,  I  feel  that  if  there  is 
any  amelioration  which  these  great  interests 
require,  and  which  should  modify  some  regula- 
ting forms  connected  with  the  charter,  in  order 
the  better  to  secure  its  power  and  action,  it 
rests  with  me  to  propose  it.  The  moment  has 
come  when  it  is  necessary  to  fortify  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies,  and  withdraw  it  from  the  annual 
action  of  part}*,  by  securing  it  a  longer  endu- 
rance, and  one  more  in  conformity  with  the 
interests  of  public  order  and  the  exterior  con- 
sideration of  the  state.  It  is  to  the  devotion 
and  energy  of  the  two  Chambers,  and  their  cor- 
dial co-operation  with  my  government,  that  I 

1  vi„r,i.<„.,.    look  for  the  means  of  saving  the  pub- 
'  Moniteur,         i-i      -•      ^  i-  °    c    ^  ■ 
Nov.  30,       he  liberties  from  license,  coniirming 

1819 ;  .'Vnn.  the  monarchy,  and  giving  to  all  the  iu- 
Hist.  iii.      terests  guaranteed  by  the  charter  the 
'    '  entire  security  which  we  owe  to  it."' 

It  was  impossible  that  words  could  announce 
2g  more  explicitly  a  change  of  policy 

Comparative  adopted  by  the  king  and  the  Gov- 
strength  of  ernment ;  but  the  result  of  the  first 
f'i['"^h'"  ''^^  division  in  the  Chamber  proved 
that  the  extreme  Left,  reduced  to 
itself,  could  not  disturb  its  movements,  and  that, 
if  the  Centre  supported  Ministers,  they  would 
be  able  to  carry  through  their  measures.  In 
the  division  for  the  president,  M.  Lafitte,  who 
had  all  the  extreme  Liberal  strength,  had  only 
sixty-five  votes,  while  M.  Ravez,  who  was  sup- 
ported by  the  Centre  and  Right,  had  a  hundred 
and  five,  and  M.  de  Villele  by  the  Right  alone, 
seventy-five.  This  sufficiently  proved  where 
the  majority'  was  to  be  found ;  but  that  it  could 
not  be  relied  on  to  support  any  change  in  the 
Electoral  Law  was  proved  by  the  division  on 
the  address,  on  which  Ministers  were  defeated 
by  a  majority  of  one,  the  numbers  being  a  hun- 
dred and  eight  to  a  hundred  and  seven.  The 
new  address,  drawn  up  by  the  commision  which 
the  majority  had  nominated,  bore,  "Why 
weaken  our  hopes,  and  the  calmness  of  our 
felicity,  by  unnecessary  fears?  The  laws  are 
every  day  meeting  with  an  easy  execution  ; 
nowhere  is  the  public  tranquillity  disturbed ; 
but  it  is  no  doubt  true  that  a  vague  disquietude 
has  taken  possession  of  the  public  mind,  and 

2  A  Ti-  factions,  which  attempt  no  con- 
ji,  5|4;'*''  cealment  of  their  projects  and  their 
Moni'teu'r,  hopes,  endeavor  to  corrupt  public 
iJcc.  2,  opinion,  and  they  would  plunge  us 
VI  270  271    ^"^"  licentiousness,  in  order  to  dc- 

'      '  stroy  our  liberties."' 
It  was  too  true  that  the  factions  made  no 
2-  attempt  to  conceal  their  projects,  and 

Designs  of  the  iin])unity  with  whidi  they  were 
the  Liberals  permitted  to  carry  tliem  on  in  face  cf 
'"  ^''^"''-  day  afforded  the  clearest  proof  of  the 
weakness  of  the  Government.  The  following 
account  of  the  secret  associations  at  this  time 
in  Paris,  and  of  their  designs,  is  given  by  a  di.s- 
tinguished  writer,  who  liimseif  has  since  been, 
for  a  brief  season,  tln^ir  principal  leader:  "At 
this  period,"  says  J^ainartiiie,  "the  opposition, 
obliged  to  avoid  the  light  of  da}',  took  refuge  in 
secret  societies.     The  spirit  of  conspiracy  in- 


sinuated itself  into  them,  under  the  color  of  lib- 
eral opinions.  Public  associations  were  formed, 
to  defend,  by  all  legal  means,  the  liberty  of 
thought,  of  opinion,  and  of  the  press.  MM.  de 
Lafayette,  d'Argenson,  Lafitte,  Uenjamin  Con- 
stant, Gevaudeau,  Mechin,  Gassicourt,  de  Brog- 
lie,  and  others,  impressed  the  course  of  public 
action.  M.  de  Lafayette,  in  his  hotel,  held 
meetings  of  still  more  secret  and  determined 
committees.  Every  defensive  arm  gained  by 
our  institutions  to  public  freedom,  became,  in 
their  hands,  an  aggressive  arm  for  the  purposes 
of  eonspiracj'.  iSecret  correspondences  were 
established  between  the  persons  proscribed  at 
Brussels  and  the  malcontents  in  Paris.  They 
spoke  openly  of  changing  the  d^'nastx'.  The 
King  of  the  Netherlands,  it  was  said,  secretly 
favored  their  projects,  and  hoped  to  elevate 
his  house  on  the  ruins  of  the  Bourbons.  Nego- 
tiations were  attempted  between  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  the  proscribed  persons,  and  Lafayette. 
The  threads  of  the  conspiracy  extended  into 
Germany,  Italy,  Spain,  Piedmont,  and  Naples. 
The  spirit  of  freedom  which  had  roused  Europe 
against  Napoleon,  seeing  itself  menaced  in 
France,  every  where  prepared  to  defend  itself 
Carbon'arism  was  organized  in  Ital}',  anti-mon- 
arch liberty  at  Cadiz,  and  a  general  union  in 
the  universities  of  German^-.  One  of  the  J'oung 
members  of  that  sect,  the  student  Sand,  assassi- 
nated, in  cold  blood,  Kotzebue,  who  formerly 
enjoyed  an  extensive  popularity,  but 
who  was  supj^osed  to  be  sold  to  219  22o" 
Russia."' 

A  full  account  of  these  important  changes  in 
Europe  has  already  been  given  ;  but 
their  influence  was  great  and  decided  j^^^'  ^igp. 
on  the  measures  of  Government  at  toral  Law 
Paris.  It  was  no  longer  a  question,  proposed 
whether  the  Electoral  Law  should  be  enimcar" 
modified — the  only  point  was,  to  what 
extent.  The  Cabinet,  in  conjunction  with  M. 
de  Broglie,  JI.  Guizot,  ]SI.  Vilmain,  and  the 
Doctrinaires,  drew  up  a  bill,  the  heads  of 
which  were — 1st,  That  the  Chamber  should  be 
renewed  entire  every  five  or  seven  years,  and 
not  a  fifth  every  year  as  at  present;  2d,  That 
the  number  of  its  members  should  be  consider- 
ably augmented ;  3d,  That  the  colleges  of  ar- 
rondissement  as  they  now  stood  should  be 
broken  into  smaller  divisions.  The  Doctrin- 
aires agi-eed  to  support  this  bill  Avith  their 
whole  weight  from  the  Centre  of  the  Chamber, 
and  it  was  hoped  it  would  pass.  But  great 
delay  took  place  in  adjusting  the  details,  and 
the  Liberals  took  advantage  of  the  time  thus 
gained  to  rouse  the  country  against  the  Gov- 
ernment. Petition.H  against  the  Ministers  were 
got  up  in  all  quarters,  and  the  violence  of  the 
press  exceeded  any  thing  ever  witnessed  since 
the  days  of  the  Convention.  In  vain  were 
])ro.';ocutions  instituted  against  the  delinquents: 
the  juries,  in  the  face  of  the  clearest  evidence, 
constantly  acquitted  tlie  persons  brought  befiU'e 
the  tribunals.  Caulaineourt  openly  saluteil 
Napoleon  as  Emperor  in  liis  writings,  ami 
B6rangcr  lent  to  liis  cause  tlic  fascination  of 
genius  and  the  charms  of  poetry.  The  intelli- 
gence daily  received  of  the;  jirogress  of  the  re- 
volution in  Spain,  and  the  fermentation  in  (Ger- 
many and  Italy,  added  to  the  general  excite- 
ment ;  and  the  Napoleoni.sts,  deeming  the  real- 


UiVi 


II I  ST  0  11  Y    OF    EUROrE. 


[ClJAF.    IX. 


isution  of  tluir  hopes  nppronoh'mLr,  every  v  liere 
stniek  the  elionl  whieli  still  vihrateil  so  ])o\v- 
orfiilly  in   the  iieaits  of  the  rreneli ;  aiul  tlio 

luitrhtv  image  of  the  Emperor,  long 
«->3""-'5^''  l>""'*''^'^^  '"'"'"  '''*^  •'P*'  hut  treasured 
i'ap."i. '  i"  ^1'^'  hearts  of  men,  again  seemed 
277,  2si ;  to  arise  in  gloomy  magniticence  on 
L:u-.  11. 347,  j^jjjj    extreme    verge   of  the  distant 

ocean.' 
The   project  ultimately  agreed   on   for   the 

nioditicatioM  of  the  Electoral  Eaw 
-,  ~^'  ,  was  one  founded  in  wisdom,  niid 
Law  finally  which,  by  providing  a  remedy  against 
agn-ed  on  the  great  danger  of  the  existing  sys- 
by  the  Gov-  ^gjij — (_i,g  uniform  representation,  and 
crnnient.  consequent  preponderance  of  one  sin- 
pie  class  in  society — jn-omised  to  establish  it  in 
France  on  the  only  basis  on  which  it  can  ever 
be  beneficial  or  of  long  duration  in  an  old  and 
mixed  community.  It  obtained  the  concurrence 
both  of  the  Roytilists  and  the  Doctrinaires.  It 
was  agreed  that  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  was 
to  be  composed  of  430  members,  instead  of  260, 
the  present  number — 258  being  returned  by 
the  colleges  of  arrondissements,  and  172  by  the 
colleges  of  departments.  The  colleges  of  arron- 
dissements were  to  appoint  the  electors  of  the 
colleges  of  departments  ainong  those  who  paid 
\uOO  francs  (£40)  of  annual  taxes;  the  half  of 
all  taxes,  to  make  up  the  quota,  was  to  be  of 
land-tax;  the  elections  were  to  be  made  by  in- 
scriptions on  a  bulletin;  the  172  departmental 
deputies  were  to  be  elected  immediately ;  the 
Chamber  to  go  on  without  renewal  in  any  part 
for  seven  years.  The  material  thing  in  this 
proposed  law  was,  that  a  different  class  of  elec- 
lois  was  introduced  for  the  colleges  of  depart- 

2  Can.  vi  ments  —  viz.,  persons  paying  1000 
291),  292 ;  francs  of  annual  taxes,  instead  300, 
Lam.  vi.  which  constituted  the  franchise  at 
230, 237.      present.' 

The  project  no  sooner  got  wind  than  the 
Liberals  sounded  the  alarm.  The 
Violent  op-  violence  of  the  press  became  insup- 
posiiion  of  portable.  Assassination  was  openly 
the  Liber-  recommended ;  Brutus  and  Cassius, 
^^'  Sand  and  Carlisle,  Riego  and  Quiroga 

the  leaders  of  the  Spanish  revolution,  were 
lauded  to  the  skies  as  the  first  of  patriots.  In  a 
jiamphlet  by  Saint  Simon  it  was  asserted  that 
tlie  murder  "of  the  king,  of  the  Duke  d'Angou- 
lemo,  and  the  Duke  de  Berri,  would  be  less  to 
be  deplored  than  that  of  the  humblest  mechanic, 
because  persons  could  more  easily  be  found  to 
act  the  part  of  princes  than  of  common  work- 
men. But,  dangerous  as  these  publications 
were,  all  attempts  to  check  them  proved  en- 
tirely nugatory;  for  neither  weight  of  evi- 
dence nor  magnitude  of  delinquence  bad  the 
slightest  effect  in  inducing  the  juries  to  convict. 
The  contest  ere  long  assumed  the  most  viru- 
lent aspect;  the  Government  and  Royalists  felt 
that  they  had  no  chance  of  saving  the  mon- 
archy but  by  a  change  in  the  Electoral  Law ; 

3  „  .  and  the  Liberals  and  revolutionists 
290  294  •  vrere  resolute  to  prevent,  at  all  haz- 
Lam.  vi.'  ards,  anj'  change  in  the  present  law, 
2.17.  238;  .n^hich  promised  so  soon  to  subvert 
Lac.n.3o3.    ■.  3  ' 

These  open  incitements  to  assassination  were 
not  long  of  leading  to  the  desired  result;  and  a 
deplorable  event  plunged  the  royal  family  and 


Royalists  in  grief,  and  caused  sucli  consterna- 
tion in  the  gi'iieral  mind  as  for  11  time  31 
made  the  balance  incline  in  favor  t)f  The  Duke 
conservative  jn-inciples.  The  Dike  ^"^  Hern. 
UE  Bekri,  second  son  of  the  Count  d'Artois,  hud 
now  become  the  chief  hope  of  the  royal  familv, 
because  it  was  from  him  alone  that  a  continu- 
ance of  the  direct  line  of  succession  could  be 
looked  for.  This  circumstance  liad  given  nn 
importance  to  his  position  and  an  interest  in  his 
fate  which  could  not  otherwise  have  belonged 
to  it.  lie  was  more  gifted  in  lieart  and  dispo- 
sition than  in  external  advantages.  Disfigure 
was  short,  his  shoulders  broad,  his  lips  thick, 
his  nose  retrousse ;  every  thing  in  his  appear- 
ance indicated  a  gay  and  sensual,  rather  than 
an  intellectual  and  magnanimous  disposition. 
But  the  sweetness  of  his  smile,  and  the  cordi- 
ality of  his  manner,  revealed  the  native  benevo- 
lence of  his  disposition,  and  speedily  won  every 
heart  among  those  who  approached  him.  lie 
had  all  the  hereditary  courage  of  his  race,  and 
had  sighed  all  his  life  for  a  share  of  the  military 
fame  which  surrounded  his  country  in  a  halo 
of  glory,  but  from  which  his  unfortunate  jiosi- 
tion  as  a  prince  of  the  exiled  family,  and  in 
arms  against  his  compatriots,  necessarih'  ex- 
cluded him.  lie  was  not  free  from  the  foibles 
usual  in  princes  in  whom  luxury  has  enhanced 
and  idleness  has  afforded  rocm  for  the  gratifi- 
cation of  the  passions ;  but  he  caused  them  to 
be  forgotten  by  the  generous  qualities  Avith 
which  they  were  accompanied.  Constant  in 
love,  faithful  in  friendship,  eager  for  renown, 
thirsting  for  arms,  if  he  had  not  acquired  mili- 
tary fame,  it  was  not  owing  to  an3^  lack  of  am- 
bition to  prove  himself  the  worth}-  ,  ^^^  ^,j 
descendant  of  Henry  lY.,  but  to  the  239',  241 ; 
circumstances  of  his  destiny,  which  I^iog.  Univ. 
had  condemned  him  to  inaction.'         '^'"''  ^^• 

Being  the  youngest  of  the  princes  of  the  blood, 
he  came  to  play  a  more  important  33. 
part  on  the  Restoration.  He  was  the  Ills  biogra- 
bridge  of  communication  between  the  P'^y- 
pacific  family  of  the  Bourbons  and  the  armj-; 
and  being  himself  passionately  attached  to  the 
career  of  arms,  he  took  to  tlie  soldiers  as  his 
natural  element.  He  anxiously  cultivated  the 
friendship  of  the  marshals,  the  generals,  the 
officers — even  the  private  soldiers  attracted  a 
large  share  of  his  attention ;  and  before  liis 
career  was  cut  short  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin, 
he  had  already  made  great  progress  in  their 
affections.  On  the  return  of  ISapoleon  from 
Elba,  he  was  invested  with  the  command  of 
the  army  which  was  assembled  round  Paris; 
and  when  the  retreat  to  Flandeis  was  resolved 
on,  he  commanded  the  rear-guard,  and  by  his 
personal  coui'age  and  good  conduct  succeeded 
in  escorting  his  precious  charge  in  safety  to  the 
frontier,  without  having  shed  the  blood  of  a 
Frenchman.  At  Bethune  he  advanced  alone 
against  a  regiment  of  cavalr}',  and  b}'  his  in- 
trepid bearing  imposed  upon  them  submission. 
On  the  return  to  Paris  after  Waterloo,  he  con- 
tinued his  military  habits,  and  many  happy  ex- 
pressions are  recorded  of  his,  which  strongly 
moved  the  hearts  of  the  soldiers.  He  had  been 
very  kindly  received  by  the  inhabitants  of  Lisle, 
on  the  retreat  to  Ghent ;  and  having  been  sent 
there  after  the  second  Restoration,  the  mutual 
transports  were  such,  that  on  leaving  them  he 


1820.] 


IlISTORi    OF   EUROPE. 


2'.  3 


said,  '■IIe:ieeforlli  it  is  between  us  for  life  and 
death."  At  the  barraeks  iu  Paris,  having  one 
day  fallen  into  conversation  with  a  veteran  of 
the  Imperial  army,  he  asked  him  why  the  sol- 
diers loved  Kapoleon  so  much?  ''Because  he 
always  led  us  to  victor^',"  was  the  reply.  "It 
was  not  very  difficult  to  do  so  with  men  such 
as  you,"  was  the  happy  rejoinder  of  the  prince, 
which  proved  that,  besides  the  spirit,  he  had 
in  some  degree  tlie  felicity  of  expression  of 
Henry  IV.  On  the  28th  March,  ISlC,  a  mes- 
sage from  the  king  to  both  Chambers  announced 
that  the  Duke  de  Berri  was  about  to  espouse 
Cauoli.ne  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  the  heir  to 
the  crown  of  Naples — an  event  which  was  hailed 
with  every  domonstration  of  joy  both  by  the 
Legislature  and  the  people  of  France.  The 
Chambers  spontaneously  made  him  a  gift  of 
1,500,000  francs  (£60,0U0),  but  he  declared  he 
would  only  accept  to  consecrate  it  to  the  de- 
jiartments  which  had  suffered  most  during  the 
dreadful  scarcity  of  that  year — a  promise  which 
lie  religiously  performed.  The  marriage  proved 
an  auspicious  one.  The  young  princess  won 
every  heart  by  the  elegance  of  her  person  and 
the  engaging  liveliness  of  her  manner ;  and  she 
gave  proof  that  the  direct  line  of  succession  was 
uot  likely  to  fail  wiiile  her  husband  lived.  The 
two  first  children  of  tlie  marriage,  the  eldest 
of  whom  was  a  prince,  died  in  early  infancy ; 
but  the  third.  Princess  Maiy,  who  afterward 
became  Duchess  of  Parma,  still  survived,  and 
1  Chateaub.  the  princess  had  been  three  months 
Mori  du  enceinte  when  the  hand  of  an  assassin 
Due  du  deprived  her  of  her  husband,  and  in- 
(Euv.'  xvi.  duced  a  total  change  in  the  prospects 
282 ;  Lam.  and  destinies  of  France.  Never  were 
VI. 239,241,  severed  married  persons  more  ten- 
358-  liioo-.'  derly  attached,  or  on  whose  mutual 
I'niv.  iviii.  safty  more  important  consequences 
63,  84.  to  the  world  were  dependent.' 
There  lived  at  Paris  at  lliat  time  a  man  of 
33  the  name  of  Louvel,  whose  biography 
Louvfl,  his  is  only  of  interest  as  indicating  by 
assassni.  what  steps,  and  the  indulgence  of 
what  propensities,  and  what  opinions,  men  are 
conducted  to  the  most  atrocious  crimes.  He 
had  been  born  at  Versailles,  iu  1787,  of  humble 
parents,  who  made  their  bread  by  selling  small- 
wares  to  the  retainers  of  the  palace.  He  had 
received  the  first  rudiments  of  education,  if 
education  it  could  be  called,  amidst  the  fetes  of 
the  Convention,  where  regicides  were  celebrated 
as  the  first  of  patriots,  and  the  operatic  worship 
of  the  theo-philanthropists,  where  universal 
liberation  from  restraint  was  preached  as  the 
obvious  dictate  and  intention  of  nature.  Soli- 
tary in  his  di6[)Osition,  taciturn  in  his  liabits, 
lie  revolved  tliese  ideas  in  his  mind  without  re 
vealing  them  to  any  one,  and  they  fermented 
60  ill  his  bo.som  that  when  Louis  X\'lll.  landed 
at  ("alais,  in  1H14,  he  endeavored  to  get  to  the 
pier  to  assassinate  him  the  instant  he  set  foot 
on  tlie  soil  of  France.  For  several  years  afler, 
he  was  so  haunted  by  tiie  desire  to  become  a 
regicide,  or  at  least  signalize  himself  by  the 
murder  of  a  prince,  tliat  he  was  forced  to  move 
from  place  to  place,  to  give  a  temporary  dis- 
;traction  to  his  mind;  and  he  went  I'cpcatcdly 
to  !St.  (icrmain,  St.  Cloud,  and  Fontaineblcau 
to  seek  an  opportunity  of  doing  so.  He  was 
long  disajipointcd,  an(i  had  liovcred  about  the 


opera  for  many  nights,  when  the  Duke  de  Ben  i 
was  there,  iu'hopes  of  finding  the  means  of 
striking  his  victim,  when,  on  the  i  Lau,  yi. 
13tli  February,  1820,  chance  thrcAV  244,247; 
the  long-wished-for  opportunity  in  his  ]^^S-  "■  35G. 
way.' 

On  that  day,  being  the  last  of  the  carnival, 
the  Duke  de  Berri  was  at  the  opera 
with  the  princess;  and  Louvel  lurked  Assassina- 
about  the  door,  armed  with  a  small  tion  of  Uio 
sharp  poniard,  with  which  he  had  ^^^'r  '^^ 
previously  provided  himself.  He  was  '^"'' 
at  the  door  when  the  prince  entered  the  house, 
and  might  have  struck  him  as  he  handed  the 
princess  out  of  the  carriage ;  but  a  lingering 
feeling  of  conscience  withheld  his  hand  at  that 
time.  But  the  fatal  moment  ere  long  arrived. 
During  the  interval  of  two  of  the  pieces,  tiic 
Duke  and  Duchess  left  their  own  box  to  pay  a 
visit  to  that  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Or- 
leans, who,  with  their  whole  family,  destined 
to  such  eventful  changes  in  future  times,  were 
in  a  box  in  the  neighborhood.  On  returning 
to  her  own  box,  the  door  of  another  one  w;;s 
suddenly  opened,  and  struck  the  side  of  the 
Duchess  de  Berri,  who,  being  apprehensive  of 
the  effects  of  any  shock  in  her  then  delicate 
situation,  expressed  a  wish  to  the  prince  to 
leave  the  house  and  return  home.  The  prince 
at  once  agreed,  and  handed  the  Duchess  into 
her  carriage.  "Adieu!"  cried  she,  smiling  to 
her  husband,  "  we  shall  soon  meet  again."  Tiuy 
parted,  but  it  was  to  be  reunited  in  another 
world.  As  the  prince  was  returning  from  the 
carriage  to  the  house,  Louvel,  who  was  stand- 
ing iu  the  shade  of  a  projecting  part  of  the 
wall,  so  still  that  he  had  escaped  the  notice 
both  of  the  sentinels  on  duty  and  the  footmen 
of  the  Duke,  rushed  suddenly  forward,  and  seiz- 
ing with  his  left  arm  the  left  shoulder  of  tlie 
prince,  struck  him  violently  with  the  right  arm 
on  the  right  side  with  the  poniard.  iSo  instan- 
taneous was  the  act  that  the  assassin  escaped 
in  the  dark;  and  the  Duke,  who  only  felt,  as 
is  often  the  case,  a  violent  blow,  ana  not  the 
stab,  put  his  hand  to  the  spot  struck.  He  then 
felt  the  hilt  of  the  dagger,  which  ^ 
was  still  sticking  in  his  side;  and  2,33" 2*35^ •' 
being  then  made  aware  he  had  been  Lac.  ii  350, 
stabbed,  he  exclaimed,  "I  am  assassin  30(1,  Uio-; 
ated;  lam  dead;  1  have  the  poniard:  (^"'J^  '''"' 
that  man  has  killed  me!"'- 

Thc  princess  was  just  driving  from  the  door 
of  tlie  opera-house  wiien  the  fright-  35 
ful  words  reached  her  eiir.  She  iin-  His  last 
mediately  gave  a  jiiercing  shriek,  '"oiir'his. 
heard  above  all  the  din  of  the  street,  and  loud- 
ly called  out  to  Jier  servants  to  stop  and  let  lur 
out.  They  did  so,  and  the  moment  the  door  was 
opened,  before  the  steps  were  let  down,  she 
sprung  out  of  the  carriage  and  clas[)ed  her  hus- 
band in  her  arms,  who  was  covered  with  bloud, 
and  just  drawing  the  dagger  from  his  side.  "  1 
am  dead!"  said  lie;  "send  for  a  j)ric8t.  Conic, 
dearest  I — let  inc  die  in  your  arms."  Meanwhile 
the  assassin,  in  the  first  moments  of  terror  and 
agitation,  had  made  his  escape,  and  ho  had  al- 
reaily  i-cachcd  the  arcade  whidi  branches  olf 
from  tlif  \\\\i:  de  iiicliolicu,  under  tlio  spacious 
arches  of  tlie  Biliiiotheipiu  du  Hoi,  when  a 
waiter  in  a  coffoe-iiouse,  named  i'aidoiso,  hear- 
ing tlie  alarm,  seized,  and  was  still  wiithing 


•JV  I 


IllSTOllY    OF   EUROPE. 


[CuAr.  IX 


'  Lam   vi. 
•;54,257; 
L/trniers 
Moiiieins 
LU  Due  de 
Btrri,  32, 
42  .  Biog. 
Viiiv.  Iviii. 
fc4. 


w  itli  liiii).  wlion  (lino  trendnrnios  ciinic  up,  and 
liii\  inir  apiirolK'iuK'il,  Itrouu'lit  liiiu  luuk  to  tlie 
<K>i>r  oftiic  opora-lioiiso.  Ho  was  thoro  iioarly 
torn  ill  piooes  by  the  cn)wd,  which  was  inlhuii- 
od  witli  tho  most  violent  iiuliirnation  ;  but  the 
jroiularnu'S  suoceodeJ  with  groat  dilKculty  in 
oxtrioatinp  him,  boinp  foaiful  that  the  storots 
of  au  oxtondod  conspiracy  wotild  ]>orish  with 
him.  Aloanwhilo  tho  jirinoe  hail  boon  carried 
into  a  little  apartiiioiit  behind  his  box,  and  the 
medical  meu  were  arriving  in  haste.  Ou  being 
informed  of  the  arrest  of  the  assassin,  he  ex- 
claimed, "Alas!  how  cruel  is  it  to  die  by  the 
hand  of  a  Freuchmau  1"  For  a  few  minutes  a 
ray  of  hope  was  felt  by  the  medical  attendants, 
:nid  illuminatod  every  visage  iu  the  apartment; 
uiu  the  dying  man  did  not  partake  the  illusion, 
!i!id  fearing  to  augment  the  sufferings  of  the 
]Tincess  by  the  blasting  of  vain  expectations, 
he  said,  "No!  I  am  not  deceived:  the  poniard 
Las  entered  to  the  hilt,  I  can  assure  you.  Caro- 
liue,  are  you  there  ?"  "  Yes,"  exclaimed  the 
princess,  subduing  her  sobs,  "  and 
will  never  quit  you."  His  domestic 
surgeon,  M.  Bougon,  was  sucking  the 
wound  to  restore  the  circulation, 
which  was  beginning  to  fail.  "What 
are  you  doing^'  exclaimed  the  prince: 
"  for  God-sake,  stoj) :  perhaps  the 
poniard  was  poisoned."' 
The  Bishop  of  Chartres,  his  father's  confessor, 
36.  at  length  arrived,  and  had  a  few  min- 
IIis  last  utes'  private  conversation  with  the 
nioiiicnis.  dying  man,  from  which  he  seemed  to 
derive  much  consolation.  He  asked  for  his  in- 
fant daughter,  who  was  brought  to  him,  still 
asleep.  "Poor  child  1"  exclamied  he,  laying 
his  hand  on  her  head,  "may  you  be  less  unfor- 
tunate than  the  rest  of  your  fa'mily."  The  chief 
surgeon,  iJupuytren,  resolved  to  try,  as  a  last 
resource,  to  open  and  enlarge  the  wound,  to 
allow  the  blood,  which  had  begun  to  impede 
respiration,  to  flow  externally.  He  bore  the 
operation  with  firmness  —  his  hand,  already 
clammy  with  the  sweat  of  death,  still  clasping 
that  of  the  Duchess.  After  it  was  over,  he 
said,  '•  Spare  me  any  further  pain,  since  I  must 
die."  Then  caressing  the  head  of  his  beloved 
wife,  whose  beautiful  locks  had  so  often  awak- 
ened his  achniration,  "Caroline,"  said  he,  "take 
care  of  yourself,  for  the  sake  of  our  infant 
wiiich  you  bear  in  your  bosom."  The  Duke 
and  Duchess  of  Orleans  had  been  in  the  apart- 
ment from  the  time  the  prince  was  brought  in, 
and  the  king,  the  Duke  d'Angouleme,  and  the 
rest  of  the  royal  family,  arrived  while  he  was 
still  alive.  "  Who  is  the  man  who  has  killed 
me  'i"  said  he :  "I  should  wish  to  see  him,  in 
order  to  inquire  into  his  motives:  perhaps  it  is 
some  one  whom  I  have  unconsciously  offended." 
The  Count  d'Artois  assured  him  that  the  as- 
sassin had  no  personal  animosity 
against  him.*  '•"Would  that  I  may  live 
long  enough  to  ask  his  pardon  from 
the  king,"  said  the  worthy  descend- 
ant of  Saint  Louis.  "Promise  me, 
my  father — promise  me,  my  brother, 
to  ask  of  the  king  the  life  of  that 
man." 

But  the  supreme- hour  soon  approached  :  all 
the  resources  of  art  could  not  long  avert  the 
stroke  of  fate.     The  opening  of  the  wound  had 


-  Lam.  vi. 
259,  261  , 
Biog.  Univ 

IviJl.  CO  , 

Derriiera 
Moriiems 
du  Due  de 
Berri,  45, 
51. 


on]}'  for  a  Tu-iof  period  relieved  the  accumula- 
tion of  blood  within  the  breast,  and 
symptoms  of  sulfocatiou  approached.  Hisu'eath. 
Then,  on  a  few  words  interchanged 
between  him  and  the  Duchess,  two  illegitimate 
children  which  he  had  had  iu  London,  of  a 
faithful  companion  iu  misfortune,  and  whom 
both  had  brought  up  at  I'aris  with  the  utmost 
kindness,  were  brought  into  the  room.  As  they 
knelt  at  his  side,  striving  to  stifle  their  sobs  in 
his  bloody  garments,  he  said,  embracing  them 
with  tondornoss,  "  I  know  jou  sulHcientlv,  Car- 
oline, to  be  assured  you  will  take  care,  after 
me,  of  these  orphans."  "With  the  instinct  of  a 
noble  mind,  she  took  her  own  infant  from  ila- 
dame  de  Goiitaut,  who  held  it  in  her  arms,  and, 
taking  the  children  of  the  stranger  by  the  hand, 
said  to  them,  "  Kiss  your  sister."  The  prince 
confessed  soon  after  to  the  Bishop  of  Chartres, 
and  received  absolution.  "My  God,"  said  he, 
at  several  responses,  "  pardon  me,  and  pardon 
him  who  has  taken  my  life."  It  was  announced 
that  several  of  the  marshals  had  arrived,  eager 
to  testify  their  interest  and  affliction.  "  Ah  '" 
he  exclaimed,  '•  I  had  hoped  to  have  shed  my 
blood  more  usefullj^  iu  the  midst  of  them  for 
France."  But  still  the  pardon  of  his  murder- 
er chiefly  engrossed  his  thoughts.  When  the 
trampling  of  the  horses  on  the  pavement  an- 
nounced the  ajiproach  of  the  king,  he  testified 
the  utmost  joy;  and  when  the  monarch  entered 
the  apartment,  his  first  words  were,  "  My  uncle, 
give  me  your  hand,  that  I  may  kiss  it  for  the 
last  time ;"  and  then  added  with  earnestness, 
still  holding  the  hand,  "  I  eutr'^at  of  you,  in  the 
name  of  my  death,  the  life  of  that  man."  "  You 
are  not  so  ill  as  you  suppose,"  answered  Louis ; 
"  we  will  speak  of  it  again."  '-Ah  !"  exclaim- 
ed the  dying  man,  with  a  mournful  accent, 
"you  do  not  say  Yes;  say  it,  I  beseech  you, 
that  I  may  die  in  peace."  In  vain  they  tried 
to  turn  his  thoughts  to  other  subjects.  "  Ah  1" 
said  he,  with  his  last  breath,  '■  the  life  of  that 
man  would  have  softened  my  last  mo-  ^ 
ments!  If,  at  least,  I  could  depart  with  ^c-J^^ii-' 
the  belief  that  the  blood  of  that  man  Uiog.  Univ. 
would  not  flow  aftermy  death."  With  lvui.fc5,i:6; 
these  words  he  expired,  and  his  soul  Momcn?s 
winged  its  way  to  heaven,  having  left  du  Due  de 
the  prayer  for  mercy  and  forgiveness  Bern,  64, 
as  its  last  bequest  to  eai'th.*  '^" 

ISo  words  can  convey  an  idea  of  the  impres- 
sion which  the  death  of  the  Duke  de 
Berri  produced  in  France.  Coming  immense 
at  a  time  of  increasing  political  excite-  sensation 
raent,  when  the  minds  of  men  were  al-  "inch  it 
ready  shaken  by  a  vague  disquietude,  ^"^^  ""^^  " 
and  the  apprehension  of  great  and  approaeliing 
but  unknown  change,  it  excited  a  universal  con- 
sternation. The  obviously  political  character 
of  the  blow  struck  magnified  tenfold  its  force. 
Leveled  at  the  heir  of  the  monarchy,  and  the 
only  prince  from  whom  a  continuance  of  the 
direct  line  of  succession  could  be  hoped,  it 
seemed  at  one  stroke  to  destroy  the  hopes  of  an 
heir  to  the  throne,  and  to  leave  the  nation  a 
prey  to  all  the  evils  of  an  uncertain  future  and 
a  disputed  succession.  Pity  for  the  victim  of 
political  fanaticism,  admiration  for  the  magna- 
nimity and  lofty  spirit  of  his  death,  mingled 
with  apprehensions  for  themselves,  and  a  mortal 
terror  of  the  rcNolutionary  convulsions  which 


1S20.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


295 


might  be  expected  from  a  repetition  of  the  blows 
of  \vhieh  this  was  the  first.  The  public  con- 
sternation manifested  itself  in  the  most  un- 
equivocal ways.  All  the  theatres — and  that,  in 
Paris,  was  a  decisive  sj-mptom — were  closed. 
The  balls  of  the  carnival  were  interrupted ; 
and  it  was  decreed  by  the  Government,  with 
the  general  consent  of  the  people,  that  the 
opera-house  should  be  removed  from  the  spot 
where  the  execrable  crime  had  been  committed, 
and  an  expiatory  monument  erected  on  its  site. 
But  these  changes  did  not  adequately  express 
the  public  feelings.  They  exhiiled  in  transports 
of  indignation  against  the  rashness  of  the  min- 
istries whose  measures  had  brought  matters  to 
such  a  point,  and  the  incapacity  of  the  police, 
which  had  permitted  the  crime  to  be 
2fi'l""o6'''  <^o'"i^itted ;  and  it  was  loudly  pro- 
LsJ.Ti.  3f!fi,  claimed,  that  an  entire  change  of  gov- 
359 ;  Biog.  ernment  and  measures  had  become 
Uiiiv.  Iviii.  indispensable,  if  the  monarchy  Avas 
to  be  saved  from  perdition.' 
"  The  hand,"  said  Chateaubriand,  "  which 
delivered  the  blow  is  not  the  most 
Chateau-  ^^^i'^'-Y-  Those  who  have  really  assas- 
briand's  sinated  the  Duke  de  Berri  are  those 
words  on  who,  for  four  j-ears,  have  labored  to 
sioii"^'^*  establish  democratic  laws  in  the  mon- 
arch}';  those  who  have  banished-relig- 
ion  from  our  laws;  those  who  have  recalled 
the  murderers  of  Louis  XVI.;  those  who  have 
heard,  with  indifference,  impunity  for  regicides 
discussed  at  the  tribune;  those  who  have  al- 
lowed the  journals  to  preach  up  the  sovereignty 
of  the  people,  insurrection,  and  murder,  with- 
out making  any  use  of  the  laws  intended  for 
their  repression;  those  who  have  favored  every 
false  doctrine ;  those  who  have  rewarded  trea- 
son and  punished  fidelity;  those  who  have  filled 
lip  all  employments  with  the  enemies  of  the 
Bourbons,  and  the  creatures  of  Bonaparte; 
those  who,  pressed  by  the  public  indignation, 
have  promised  to  repeal  a  fatal  law,  and  have 
done  nothing  during  three  months,  apparently 
to  give  the  Revolutionists  time  to  sharpen  their 
poniards.  These  are  the  true  murderers  of  the 
l)uke  de  Berri.  It  is  no  longer  time  to  dissem- 
ble; the  revolution  we  have  so  often  ])redicted 
has  already  commenced,  and  it  has  already  pro- 
duced irreparable  evils.  Who  can  restore  life 
to  the  Duke  de  Berri,  or  give  us  back  the  hopes 
which  love  and  glory  had  wound  up  with  his 
august  person?  Surprise  is  expressed  that  a 
poniard  should  have  been  raised;  but  the  real 
subject  of  wonder  is,  that  a  thousand  poniards 
have  not  been  leveled  at  the  breasts  of  our 
princes.  During  four  j'ears  we  have  over 
whelmed  with  rewards  those  who  preach  up 
an  agrarian  law,  a  republic,  and  assassiiuition ; 
we  have  e.xcited  tlio..>e  who  have  nolliing 
against  those  who  have  something;  him  who 
is  born  in  a  huml)h;  class  against  liim  to  whom 
misfortune  has  left  nothing  but  a  name:  we 
have  permitted  public  ojunion  to  be  disquiet- 
ed by  phantoms,  and  represented  ^  part  of 
the  nation  as  set  on  re-establishing  rights 
»  Chateaub.  forever  abolished,  institutions  for 
Feb.  IH,  over  overturned.  If  we  are  not 
3"'lH20-''*  plunged  in  the  horrors  of  external 
(Euvrps,  ^^  civil  war,  it  is  not  Ihe  fault  of 
XX.  2t)e,  the  adm'nislr.ition  which  has  just 
2'"-  expired."* 


When  language  so  violent  as  this  was  used 
in  the  midst  of  the  crisis,  by  so  dis-  ^„ 

tinguished  a  writer  as  the  Viscount  General 
Chateaubriand,  it  may  be  supposed  indignation 
that  inferior  authors  were  still  more  ^'"•'*'  ''^'• 
impassioned  in  their  strictures.  The 
clamor  became  so  violent  that  no  ministry 
could  stand  against  it.  An  untoward  incident, 
which  occurred  while  the  Duke  de  Berri  yet 
lived,  tended  to  augment  the  public  feeling  on 
the  subject.  Entering  the  room  in  which  Lou- 
vel  was  detained,  M.  Decazes  was  seized  with 
a  sudden  suspicion  that  the  dagger  might  have 
been  poisoned;  and  thinking,  if  so,  an  antidote 
might  be  applied,  and  possibly  the  life  of  the 
prince  saved,  he  had  whispered  in  his  ear, 
"Miserable  man!  a  confession  remains  for  you 
to  make,  which  may  save  the  life  of  your  vic- 
tim, and  lessen  your  crime  before  God.  Tell 
the  truth  sincerely  to  me,  and  me  alone — was 
the  dagger  poisoned?"  "It  was  not,"  replied 
the  assassin  coldly,  with  the  accent  of  truth. 
The  words  spoken  on  either  side  were  not 
heard ;  but  the  fact  of  M.  Decazes  having  whis- 
pered soiuething  to  Louvel,  during  his  first  in- 
terrogatory, became  known,  and  was  seized 
upon  and  magnified  by  all  the  eagerness  of 
faction.  It  was  immediately  bruited  abroad 
that  the  minister  had  enjoined  silence  to  the 
assassin,  and  thence  it  was  concluded  he  had 
been  his  accomplice.  So  readily  was  this  atro- 
cious calumny  received  in  the  excited  state  of 
the  public  mind,  and  so  eagerly  was  it  seized 
upon  by  the  vehemence  of  faction,  that  next 
day  M.  Clausel  de  Coussergues,  a  Royalist  of 
the  extreme  Right,  a  respectable  man,  but  of 
an  impassioned  temperament  and  credulous 
disposition,  said  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies, 
"  There  is  no  law  which  prescribes  the  mode 
of  impeaching  ministers;  but  justice  requires  it 
should  be  done  in  public  sitting,  and  in  the  face 
of  France.  I  propose  to  the  chamber  to  insti- 
tute a  prosecution  against  M.  Decazes,  Minister 
of  the  Interior,  as  accomplice  in  the  assassina- 
tion." The  Chamber  revolted  against  such  an 
accusation,  and  only  twenty-five  voices  suji- 
ported  it.  General  Foy  said,  "If  such  an  event 
is  deplorable  for  all,  it  is  in  an  especial  manner 
so  for  the  friends  of  freedom,  since  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  their  adversaries  will 
take  advantage  of  this  execrable  or^^'o-v " 
crime  to  wrest  from  the  nation  the  (ai). v'i. 305, 
liberties  which  the  king  has  be-  3(i0;  Ann. 
stowed  upon  it,  aii<l  which  he  is  so  .I','"!.,'''" 
anxious  to  maintain."'  *"' 

From  the  moment  when  the  Duke  de  Berri 
breathed  his  last,  the  king  forestiw 
the  immense  advantage  it  would  give  y|,p  |(j| 
to  the  ultra-Royalists,  and  th<^  efforts  resolves  to 
they  would    nuike   to    force   him    to  Kupport 
abandon  the  .system  of  government 
and   tile   public   servants   to  whom  he  was  so 
much   attached.       "  My  child,"  said  lie  to   M. 
Decazes  next  day,   "  tlie  ultraii  are   preparing 
against  us  a  terrilde  war;  they  will  nuike  the 
most  of  my  grief.     It  is  not  your  S3'stem  that 
they  will  attack — it  is  mine;  it  is  not  at  j-oii 
their  blows  arc  leveled — it  is  lit  me."  "  Should 
your  Majesty,"  answered  M.  Decazes,   "  deem 
my  retiring  for  the  good  of  your  service,  T  am 
ready  to  resign,  though  grieved  (o  think  my 
retreat  will  lead  to  such  fatal  consequencea." 


296 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


[ClIAF.  IX. 


'•  I  insist  upon  yonr  rciuainintr,"  rrpl'ioil  (lie 
iDonnroh;  "thov  sliall  not  sinarnto  you  from 
nio."  Tlion.  nllor  woepint;  in  roninion  over 
tlio  iK'ploiable  ovoiit  wliioh  had  altered  tlie 
destinies  of  France,  and  let  loose  tlie  parties 
wlio  tore  its  entrails  with  sueli  fury  against 
caeh  other,  thev  ntjreeil  on  the  measures  to  be 
adopted  in  eonseipienoe ;'  and  these 
S'I'/simV  were,  that  the  C'haiuher  of  I'eers 
I,  nil.  VI.'  should  he  summoned  as  a  supreme 
873,  274  .  court  to  trv  the  a.ssassin  of  the  Duko 
L.II-.  li  369.  jg  Berri;  and  that  laws,  restrictive 
■ "  of  the  license  of  the  press,  and  giving 

the  Governmeiit  extraordinary  powers  of  ar- 
rest, and  modifying  the  Electoral  ].aw,  should 
be  introduced  into  the  Lower  Chamber. 

But  how  determined  soever  the  king  might 
.n  be  to  support  his  favorite  minister 

IleatlcnftJi  nnd  sj-steni  of  government,  the  tide 
.Taree.s  10  his  of  public  feeling  soon  became  so 
iiisiiiissal.  gtrong  that  it  was  impossible  to 
resist  it  The  terrible  words  of  ]\1.  de  Clia- 
teaubriaiid  regarding  M.  Decazes  in  the  C'o7i- 
xrrvatdir,  ''His  feet  have  slipped  in  blood,"  vi- 
brated in  every  heart.  The  accusation  against 
him,  though  quaslied  in  the  Chamber  of  Depu 
ties,  and  repudiated  by  every  unprejudiced 
mind,  still  hung  over  him  in  general  opinion. 
People  did  not  believe  him  guilty,  but  he  had 
been  openly  accused,  and  no  proof  of  his  inno- 
cence had  been  adduced.  Tlie  agitation  of  the 
public  mind  was  indescribable,  and  soon  as- 
sumed such  a  magnitude  as  portended  great 
changes,  and  is  always  found,  for  good  or  for 
evil,  to  be  irresistible.  The  terrible  nature  of  the 
catastrophe — itsirreparableconsequencesonthe 
future  of  the  monarchy — the  chances  of  future 
and  unknown  dangers  which  it  had  induced, 
were  obvious  to  every  apprehension.  Every 
one  trembled  for  his  fortune,  his  life ;  a  few  for 
the  public  liberties.  The  Liberals  became  sub- 
dued and  downcast,  the  Royalists  vehement 
and  exulting.  Matters  were  at  last  brought  to 
a  crisis  by  a  conversation  which  ensued  be- 
tween the  king  and  the  principal  members  of 
the  royal  family.  The  Count  d'Artois  demand- 
ed the  dismissal  of  the  prime  minister,  and  a 
change  in  the  sj-stem  of  government.  "  We  are 
hastening  to  a  revolution,  sire,"  said  the  Duch- 
ess d'Angouleme,  "  but  there  is  still  time  to 
arrest  it.  M.  Decazes  has  injured  the  Royalists 
too  deeply  for  any  accommodations  to  take 
place  between  them:  let  him  cease  to  be  a 
member  of  jour  Cabinet,  and  all  will  hasten 
to  tender  to  you  their  services."  "  I  do  not 
suppose,"  replied  the  king,  "that  you  propose 
to  force  my  will:  it  belongs  to  me  alone  to 
determine  the  policy  of  my  government."  "It 
IS  impossible  for  me,"  rejoined  the  Count  d'Ar- 
tois, "to  remain  at  the  Tuileries  when  M.  De- 
cazes, openly  accused  of  the  murder  of  my  son, 
sits  at  tiie  council :  I  beseech  you  to  allow  me 
to  retire  to  Compiegne."  The  Duchess  d'An- 
gouleme united  her  mstances  to  those  of  the 
Count  d'Artois,  and  at  length  the  king,  dread- 
j  Lg^  ^.j  ing  a  total  rupture  of  the  royal  fam 
299,  300 ,  Jl}'>  said,  "  You  are  determined  on  it : 
Cap  VI.  well,  we  shall  see  vou  all  shall  be 
3'".  3'9-       satisfied."^ 

"When  M.  Decazes  heard  of  the  result  of  this 
conference,  he  saw  it  was  no  longer  possible 
to  maintain  his  position,  and  he  accordingly 


sent  in  his  resignation     The  king,  deeply  nfTcct 

ed,  felt  himself  eoiistrnined  to  receive 

it 


43. 


My  child,"  said   he,  "it  is  not  ncsj<;na- 
against  vou.  but  against  mo  that  the  H""  oi'  M- 
stroke    'is    diiected\      The    I'avillon  1J»';«'''8> 

At  111-  i-  11      "■"'   '''C 

Mursan    would    deprive    mo    or    all  Dukeile 
power.    1  will  not  have  M.  de  Tallev-  Kiiliclieu 
rand;   the  Duke   de  Richelieu  alone  si'it  lor. 
shall  replace  you.     Co  and  convince  him  of  the 
necessity  of  his  agreeing  to  the  sacrifice  which 
1  demand  of  him.     As  for  jou,  I  shall  show 
these  gentlemen  that  you  have  in  noways  lost 
my  confidence."     The   Duke  do  Richelieu  ac- 
cordingly was  commissioned  to  form  a  ministry, 
but  he  evinced  the  utmost  repugnance  at  un- 
dertaking  the   task,    and   it   was   only   at  the 
earnest  solicitation  of  the  king,  and  as  a  mat- 
ter of  patriotic  dut}',  that  he  at  length  agreed. 
M.  Simeon  was  made  Minister  of  the  Interior, 
and  M.  Porlalis  under-secretary  to  the  Minister 
of  Justice.     No  other  changes  were  made  ia 
the  Cabinet;  and  M.    Decazes  was  apjiointeJ 
embassador  at  London,  with  magnificent  allow- 
ances.    He  was  so  far  from  losing  his  influence, 
liowever,  by  his  departure,  that  the  king  cor- 
responded with  him  almost  daily  after  he  was 
settled   in   London.     The  Duke  de  Richelieu 
made  the  absolute  and  unconditional  support 
of  the  Ro_yalists  a  condition  of  his  taking  office, 
and  this  the  Count  d'Artois  engaged 
to  secure ;'  and  as  a  pledge  of  the  319^333  V 
cordiality  of  the  alliance,  M.  Capelle,  Lam.  vi.' 
his  private  secretary,  was  made  phin-  3(i3,  305  ; 
cipal  secretary  to  tlie  Minister/of  the  \^^-  "• '®'' 
Interior.    The  Ministry  therefore  was 
materially   modified   by  the   introduction    of 
Royalist  members,  though  it  still  retained,  as  a 
whole,  its  Liberal  character.     But  a  still  more 
material  change  took  place  at  this  period  in 
the  private  disposition  of  the  king,  owing  to  a 
change    of  favorites,  wliich    materially    influ- 
enced his  policy  during  the  remainder  of  his 
reign. 

Although  the  age  and  infirmities  of  the  king 
prevented  him  from  becoming  the 

slave  of  the  passions  which  had  dis-  t,^  1  „ „•„ 
1  The  king  s 

graced  so  many  01  his  race,  and  his  inclination 
disposition  had  always  made  him  for  Plato- 
more  inclined  to  the  pleasures  of  the  "'"^  attach- 
table  than  to  those  of  love,  yet  he 
was  by  no  means  insensible  to  female  charms, 
and  extremely  fond  of  the  conversation  of 
elegant  and  well-informed  women.  He  piqued 
himself,  though  neither  young  nor  handsome, 
upon  his  power  of  rendering  himself  agreeable 
to  them  in  the  way  which  he  alone  desired, 
which  was  within  the  limits  of  Platonic  attach- 
ment. He  had  a  remarkable  facility  in  expres- 
sing himself,  both  verbally  and  in  writing,  in 
elegant  and  complimentary  language  toward 
them:  he  spent  several  hours  every  daj-in  this 
refined  species  of  trifling,  and  prided  himself 
as  much  on  the  turn  of  his  flatter}-  in  notes  to 
ladies,  as  on  the  charter  which  was  to  give 
liberty  to  France  and  peace  to  Europe.  Aware 
of  this  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  sovereign, 
the  Royalists,  in  whose  saloons  such  a  person 
was  mo"st  likelj-  to  be  found,  had  for  long  been 
on  the  look-out  for  some  lad}'  attached  to  their 
principles,  who  might  Avin  the  confidence  of 
Louis,  and  insensibly  insinuate  her  ideas  on 
politics   in   the   midst  of  the   complimentary 


1820.] 

trifling  or  iinresorveJ  confidence  of  the  bou- 
doir. Such  a  person  was  found  in  a  young  and 
Leautiful  woman  then  in  Paris,  who  united  a 
graceful  exterior  to  great  powers  of  conversa- 
tion, and  an  entire  command  of  diplomatic  tact 

and  address;    and  to   her  influence 
ST^^^SO^'     the  future  policy  of  his  reign  is  in  a 

great  degree  to  be  traced.' 
Madame,  the  Countess  Du  Cayl.\,  was  the 
..  daughter  of  M.  Talon,  who  held  a 

The  Count-  respectable  position  in  the  ancient 
CSS  Du  magistracy  of  France,  and  had  taken 

Cayla.  ^^^  active  part,  in  concert  with  Mira- 

beaii  and  the  Count  de  la  Marche,  in  tlic  in- 
trigues which  preceded  the  Revolution.  lie 
was  said  to  be  possessed  of  some  valuable 
papers,  implicating  Louis  XVIII.,  then  Count 
of  Provence,  in  the  affair  for  which  the  Marquis 
de  Favras  suffered  death  in  1789,  and  these  had 
descended  after  his  decease  to  his  daugiiter. 
She  had  been  brought  up  in  the  school  of  di- 
plomacy under  Madame  Campan,  and  was  inti- 
mate both  with  the  Empress  Josephine,  and 
Hortense  Queen  of  Holland,  since  l>uchcss  of 
St.  Leu.  She  was  married  early  in  life  to  an 
old  man  of  fortune,  whose  temper  was  soon 
found  to  be  incompatible  with  her  own,  and 
having  separated  from  him,  without  reproach, 
after  the  French  fashion,  she  was  living  without 
Bcandal  in  the  family  of  the  Prince  of  Conde, 
witii  whose  natural  (laughter,  the  Countess  de 
Rally,  she  was  intimate,    when  the   Royalist 

leaders  cast  their  eyes  upon  her  as 
281  %2^'     a  person  likely  to  confirm  their  as- 
'  ~  cendency  in  the  royal  councils.^ 

The  Viscount  de  la  Rochefoucauld  was  the 
46.         person  intrusted  with  the  managc- 
ller  first       ment  of  this  delicate  affair,  and  he 
intervievv     ^jj  gg  ^ith  great  tact  and  address, 
■with Louis,  TT     £     i.   •  J  ii 

which  -^Is  "'■s''  impressed  upon  the  young 

proves  sue-  and  charming  countess  that  she 
cossful.  would  confer  inestimable  services  on 
the  cause  of  religion  and  her  country  if  she 
would  take  advantage  of  the  gift  of  pleasing 
which  Providence  had  bestowed  upon  her,  and 
reclaim  the  sovereign  to  the  system  of  govern- 
ment which  would  alone  secure  the  interests 
of  his  religion,  his  people,  or  his  family.*     The 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


297 


*  "Louis  a  besoin  d'airncr  ceux  a,  qui  il  permit  de  Ic 
conseiller,  son  ca-ur  est  jiour  moitic  dans  la  politique. 
Madame  de  Dalbi,  M.  Duvarny,  M.  de  lilacas  autrefois, 
M.  Deca/.es  aujourd'hui,  sont  lespreuves  encore  vivantes 
<le  celte  disposition  de  sa  nature  II  faut  lui  plaire  pour 
avoir  li;  droit  de  I'lndueiieer.  Des  feinines  illustres  i)ar 
leur  i-rcdit,  utile  ou  funesle,  sur  Ic  ca-ur  et  sur  I'esprit  de 
nos  rois,  ont  tour  a  tour  perdu  ou  sauve  la  royautc  en 
France  et  en  Espagne.  C'est  d'une  femme  seule  au- 
jourd'hui que  peut  vcnir  le  salut  de  la  relieion  et  do  la 
inonarchie.  La  nature,  la  naissance,  I'education,  le  irial- 
hcur  mcme,  Hernbleiit  vous  avoir  dcsitince  jiour  ce  role, 
Voule/.-vous  ctre  le  salut  des  princes,  I'aniio  du  roi, 
VEsthrr  des  royalistcs,  la  Mainteiion  ferme  ct  irre|)rocti- 
able  d'une  cour  qui  se  perd  et  qu'unc  (eiiirnc  peut  recnii- 
eilicr  et  sauvor '  Uemandez  au  roi  une  audience  sous 
prelexte  d'implorer  sa  jirotection  donl  vous  ave/,  besoin 
pour  vous  et  pour  vos  enfaiits.  Monlrez-lui  coinme  par 
hasard  ces  trosors  de  grace,  de  bon  sens,  (;t  d'esprit  que 
Id  nature  vous  a  prodigues,  non  pour  rombrc  et  la  retraitc, 
mais  pour  I'entretien  d'un  roi  apprcciatciirpassionne,  des 
dons  de  I'amfi  ;  charmc7,-Ie  par  une  premiere  conversation  ; 
rctonrnc-/,  (piand  il  vous  rappellera  ;  et  quand  voire  empire 
ina|i(rr,u  sera  fondu  dans  un  altachenient  par  les  liabl- 
tuilcs,  employe?,  pen  a  pen  ci't  empire  a  deraciner  de  son 
conseil  le  favori  dont  il  est  raHcin6,  et  a  reroncilier  le  roi 
nvcc  son  frere,  avcc  les  princes,  ct  a  lui  faire  nilopter  de 
concert,  dans  la  pcrsonne  de  M.  de  Villele,  etde  ses  amis, 
un  ministere  a  la  fois  royaliste  ct  constitutionnel  qui 
reinette  le  tronc  a  plonib  sur  la  base  nionarchique,  ct  qui 


mind  of  Madame  Du  Cayla,  as  her  published 
letters  demonstrate,  at  once  pious  and  tender, 
and  endowed  with  a  reach  of  thought  equal 
to  either  Madame  de  Sevigne  or  the  Princess 
des  Ursins,  readily  embraced  the  duty  thus  as- 
signed to  her  by  the  political  party  to  which 
she  was  attached.  "  It  was  necessar}-,"  said 
she  afterward,  playfully,  "to  have  an  Esther 
for  that  Ahasuerus."  Tlie  next  point  was  to 
throw  her  in  the  king's  way,  and  this  was  easily 
brouglit  about  by  the  unfortunate  circum- 
stances in  which  slie  was  placed.  Her  husband, 
with  whom  she  had  come  to  open  rupture,  at 
once  claimed  her  fortune,  and  insisted  upon  ob- 
taining delivery  of  her  children;  and  the  dis- 
consolate mother  solicited  an  interview  with 
Louis,  to  throw  herself  at  Lis  feet,  and  solicit 
his  interest  and  support  in  the  difficult  circum- 
stances in  wliich  she  was  placed.  The  king 
granted  it,  and  the  result  was  entirely  success- 
ful. Dazzled  by  her  beauty,  captivated  by  her 
grace,  impressed  by  her  talents,  melted  by  her 
tears,  tlie  king  promised  to  aid  her  to  the  ut- 
most of  his  power,  and  invited  her  to  a  second 
interview.  So  great  was  the  ascendency  which 
her  genius  and  charms  of  manner  soon  gave 
her,  that  she  became  necessary  to  the  monarch, 
who  spent  several  hours  every  day  in  her 
society,  without  any  of  the  scandal  arising 
which  in  ordinary  cases  follows  such  inter- 
views. Great  was  the  effect  of  this 
secret  influence  on  the  future  desti-  ^^  MjiOa^me 
nies  of  France,  especially  after  the  re-  Uu  Cayla, 
moval  of  M.  Decazes  to  London  had  39,  9-1 ;_ 
removed  the  chief  counterpoise  on  281^296 
the  other  side.' 

Thus  fell,  never  again  to  rise,  M.  Decazes; 
for  though  he  Avas  appointed  embas-  ^- 
sador  to  London,  and  retained  the  Character 
confidence  of  the  king,  yet  he  never  of  M-  Ueca- 
again  formed  part  of  the  Ministry,  ^^^" 
and  his  career  as  a  public  man  was  at  an  end. 
It  is  impossible  to  deny  that  he  was  possessed 
of  considerable  abilities.  No  man  raises  liim- 
sclf  from  a  humble  station  to  the  rule  of  empire, 
without  being  possessed  of  some  talents,  which, 
if  they  are  not  of  the  first  order,  arc  at  least  of 
the  most  marketable  description.  It  is  generally 
characters  of  that  description  which  are  most 
successful  in  maintaining  themselves  long  at  the 
head  of  affairs.  (Jciiius  anticipates  the  march 
of  events,  and  is  often  8lii[)wrecked  because  the 
world  is  behind  its  views ;  heroism  recoils  front 
the  concessions  requisite  for  success,  and  fails 
to  conipier,  because  it  disdains  to  stoop.  It  is 
pliant  ability  Avhiclt  discerns  the  ])reciso  mode 
of  elevation,  and  adopts  the  jirinciples  retpiisito 
for  immediate  success.  1\I.  Decazes  had  this 
pliant  ability  in  the  very  highest  degree.  Dis- 
cerning in  character,  lio  at  once  scanned  llio 
king's  disposition,  and  perceived  the  foibles 
which  recpiired  to  be  attcnde<l  to  in  order  to 
pain  his  confidence.  Able  in  the  conduct  of 
affairs,  he  niaile  liimself  serviceable  in  his  ein- 
j)lovmeiit,  and  attracted  his  notice  by  the  \  aliia- 
l)le  informutioti  which  he  coimmiiiicated,  Ixilh 
in  hit)  own  department  and  that  of  others.  Va\- 
crgetic  and  readv  in  the  tribune,  he  defended 


previeiine  les  prochaincs  catastrophes  dont  la  train  est 
menacec." — Pdrolr.i  ilc.  M.  itr  la  RiichifDunmld  a  Madnrnc 
la  Comtrs.ic  Du  Ciii/la.  LAMAUTiNt,  Hist,  de  la  lics- 
tauration,  vl.  290,  2'j'j. 


203 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[CiiAr.  IX. 


the  mim'sterinl  measures  with  viijor  nml  success 
nurainst  tlio  miincious  iittiieks  with  which  they 
were  iissailiHl. 

lie  noiiuii-i'J  the  surprising  asceudeney  which 
,£,  lie  iiuiiR'J  over  tiio  iniiul  of  tlie  king 

Merits  of  mainly  by  studying  his  di>iK)sitiou, 
ins  nifiis-  nnd  proposing  luoasin'os  in  the  Cab- 
uros  as  a  jjj^.^  whicii  were  in  a  niannor  the  re- 
siaicsnian.    j^^^^.j^^^,,  ^,f  ^,,^,j,,,  ^^.]^■^^.\^  j,^.  perceived 

were  already  contemplated  in  the  royal  breast ; 
but  tlic  temporary  success  which  they  met  with 
jiroved  tiiat  both  "had  correctly  discerned,  if  uot 
the  ultimate  consequences  of  their  measures,  at 
least  the  immediate  signs  of  the  times.  The 
Rovalists  justly  reproach  him  with  having  es- 
tablished, by  the  royal  authority,  an  electoral 
Fvstem  of  the  most  democratic  character,  and 
thrown  himself  into  the  arms  of  the  Liberals, 
■who  made  use  of  the  advantage  thus  gained  to 
Tmdermine  the  monarchy.  But,  in  justice  to 
him,  it  must  be  recollected  that  the  working 
of  representative  governments  was  then  very 
little  understood,  and  the  practical  results  of 
changes,  now  obvious  to  all,  w'ere  then  only 
discei-ncd  bj'  a  few,  that  his  situation  was  one 
surrounded  with  difficulties,  and  in  which  any 
false  step  might  lead  to  perdition;  and  that  if 
the  course  he  pursued  was  one  which  entailed 
ultimate  dangers  of  the  most  serious  kind  on 
the  monarchy,  it  was,  perhaps,  the  only  one 
Avhieh  enabled  it  to  shun  the  immediate  perils 
with  which  it  was  threatened.  In  common 
with  the  king,  his  leading  idea  was  reconcilia- 
tion ;  his  principle,  concession ;  his  policy,  to 
disarm  opposition  by  anticipating  its  demands. 
This  view  was  a  benevolent  and  amiable  one, 
but  unfortunately  more  suited  to  the  Utopia  of 
Sir  Thomas  More  than  the  storm-beaten  mon- 
archy of  the  Bourbons;  and  experience  has 
proved  that  such  a  policy,  in  presence  of  an 
ambitious  and  unscrupulous  enemy,  only  post- 
pones the  danger  to  aggravate  it. 

The  Assembly,  by  the  fall  of  M.  Decazes,  and 
49_  the  infusion  of  Royalist  members  into 
Division  of  the  Cabinet,  was  divided  differently 
parties  in  from  what  it  had  hitherto  been.  The 
Wvaffcr m!  intermediate  third  party  was  extin- 
Decazes'  guishedby  the  fall  of  M.  Decazes.  The 
fall.  Roj-alists  and  Liberals  now  formed 

two  great  parties  which  divided  the  whole 
Assembly  between  them — the  Centre  all  ad- 
hered to  the  Right  or  Left.  This  circumstance 
rendered  the  situation  of  the  Ministry  more 
perilous  in  the  outset,  but  more  secure  in  the 
end ;  it  was  more  difficult  for  them  to  gain  a 
majority  in  the  first  instance,  but,  once  gained, 
it  was  more  likely  to  adhere  permanently  to 
them.  It  is  a  great  evil,  both  for  Government 
and  Opposition,  to  have  a  third  party  between 
them,  the  votes  of  which  may  cast  their  balance 
either  way;  for  it  imposed  upon  both  the  ne- 
cessity of  often  departing  from  their  principles, 
and  avoiding  immediate  defeat  by  permanently 
degrading  themselves  in  the  eyes  of  the  country. 
The  iJoctrinaires  all  retired  with  their  chief, 
M.  Decazes,  but  they  voted  on  important  ques- 
tions with  the  new  ilinistry;  and  the 
334^3157  •  at)ilitie3  of  3L  Guizot,  ISI.  de  Stael,  M. 
Lam.  vi.'  <ie  Barante,  and  M.  de  Saint  Aulaire, 
312.  314;  who  formed  the  strenjjth  of  that  party,' 
were  too  well  known  not  to  make  their 


Lac.  ii. 
301,  304. 


adhesion  a  matter  of  eacrer  solicitation 


and  no  slight  maiid-uvring,  on  both   sides  of 
the  Assembly. 

Two   painful   scenes  took   place    before   the 
measures  of  the  new  Mini.'^tei's  were         jo 
brought  forward  in  the  Chamber  of  Fum-ral  of 
Dei)Utics— the  funeral  of  the  Duke  de  "',''  \^"'''^ 
lierri,  and  the  trial  and  execution  of  ^Jjj  execu- 
his  assassin.     The  body  of  the  prince  tion  of 
was  laid  in  state  for  several  days  in  Louvel. 
the  Louvre,   and   afterward   can-ied  l^^'if'^'i  1^ 
with  every  possible  magnificence  to  the  ances- 
tral but  now  untenanted  vaults  of  Saint-Denis. 
The  king,  accompanied  by  the  Duke  and  Duch- 
ess of  Angouleme,  attended  the  mournful  cere- 
monj',  which  was  celebrated  with  every  circum- 
stance of  external  .■splendor  w  hich  could  im])res9 
the  imagination,  and  every  realitj'  of  woe  which 
could  melt  the  heart : 

"  When  a  prince  to  the  fate  of  a  peasant  has  yielded. 
The  tapestry  waves  dark  in  the  dim-lighted  hall ; 
With  scutcheons  of  silver  the  colfiu  is  shielded. 
And  pages  stand  mute  by  the  canopied  pall ; 
Through  the  courts  at  deep  midnight  the  torches  are 

gleaming. 
In  the  proudly-arched  chapel  the  banners  are  beaming. 
Far  adown  the  long  aisles  sacred  music  is  streaming. 
Lamenting  a  chief  of  the  people  should  fall." 

Such  was  the  emotion  of  the  Duchess  d'An- 
'gouleme  at  witnessing  such  a  scene  in  such  a 
place,  that  she  sunk  senseless  on  the  pavement. 
One  only  ray  of  hope  remained  to  the  royal 
family,  arising  from  the  situation  of  the  Duchess 
de  Berri,  which  gave  hopes  that  an  heir  might 
yet  be  preserved  for  the  monarchy,  and  the 
hopes  of  the  assassin  blasted.  That  fanatical 
wretch  was  brought  to  trial,  and  condemned  on 
the  clearest  evidence,  fortified  by  his  own  con- 
fession. He  admitted  the  enormity  of  his  crime, 
but  still  insisted  that  on  public  grounds  it  was 
justifiable.*  Ilis  answers,  when  interrogated, 
evinced  the  deplorable  atheism  in  w-hich  the 
dreams  of  the  Revolution  ended.  "  I  was  some- 
times a  Catholic,"  said  he,  "sometimes  a  theo- 
philanthropist."  "  Do  you  not  fear  the  Divine 
justice?"  asked  the  Prevost  de  Montmorency. 

"  God  is  a  mere  name,"  replied  the  ,  „    . 

Ti  i   J  ii       1  Moniteur, 

assassin.      He  was  executed  on  the  j^j^g  g 

7th  June,  and  evinced  on  the  scaffold  ifeao ;  Ann. 

the  same  strange  indifference  which  ^t'st-  iu._ 

had  characterized  his  demeanor  ever 

since  the  murder. "^ 

The  first  measures  of  the  new  Ministers  Avere 
directed  to  the  prosecution  of  the  51. 
measures  prepared  by  the  former  Ministerial 
ones,  arming  Government  with  e.xtra-  {^e^g'ess^onf 
ordinary  powers  of  arrest,  and  re-  Argument 
straining  the  licentiousness  of  the  against  the 
press.  Much  difficulty  was  at  first  ^'"^'• 
experienced  in  arranging  terms  of  accommoda- 
tion with  the  Royalists  on  the  right,  so  as  to 
secure  a  majority  in  the  Chambers,  but  at  length 
the  terms  were  agreed  on  ;  and  these  were,  that 
the  powers  of  arrest  were  to  be  conferred  on 
Government  for  a  limited  period,  that  the  press 
was  to  be  restrained,  and  that  a  new  electoral 
law  was  to  be  introduced,  restoring  the  double 
step  in  elections.  Nothing  could  equal  the  ve- 
hemence with  which  these  laws  were  assailed 

»  "  C'etait  une  action  horrible,  c'est  vrai,"  disait  Louvel, 
"  quand  on  tue  un  autre  homme  :  cela  ne  peut  passer  pour 
vertu,  c"est  un  crime.  Je  n'y  aurais  jamais  ete  entraine 
sans  I'interet  que  je  prenais  a  la  nation  suivant  moi :  je 
croyais  bien  faire  suivant  mon  idee." — Monitcur,  June  4, 
1820  ;  Prods  de  Louvel,  37. 


129,  Lac. 
11.  3&3,  391. 


1820.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


299 


l)y  the  Opposition,  ^vhen  the)'  were  introduced. 
Tliat  on  the  law  of  arrest  was  the  first  that  came 
under  discussion.  "  It  belongs  to  the  wisdom  of 
tlie  Chambers,"  said  General  Foj-  and  Benjamin 
Constant,  "  to  defend  a  throne  which  misfortune 
has  rendered  more  august  and  more  dear  to 
fidelity.  Let  us  beware  lest,  in  introducing  a 
law  more  odious  than  useful,  we  substitute  for 
tlie  present  public  grief  other  grounds  of  discon- 
tent which  may  cause  the  first  to  be  forgotten. 
The  prince  whom  we  mourn  pardoned  witli  his 
(lying  breath  his  infamous  assassin.  Let  us  take 
care  that  the  example  of  that  sublime  death  is 
not  lost  for  the  nation,  the  royal  famil}-,  anil 
the  public  morality;  that  posterity  may  not 
reproach  us  with  having  sacrificed  the  public 
liberties  on  a  hecatomb  at  the  funeral  of  a 
Bourbon. 

"  The  abyss  of  a  counter-revolution  is  about 
jj,  to  open:  a  system  is  announced  which 
Coniiiiued.  will  attack  successively  all  our  rights, 
all  the  guarantees  which  the  nation 
sighed  for  in  vain  in  1789,  and  hailed  with 
such  gratitude  in  1814.  The  regime  of  1788  is 
to  be  revived  by  the  three  laws  which  are  pro- 
posed at  the  same  time,  the  first  reviving  Icttren 
cle  cachet,  the  second  establishing  the  slavery  of 
the  press,  the  third  fettering  the  organs  of  free- 
dom whom  it  sends  to  the  Chamber.  Experi- 
ence has  demonstrated  in  every  age,  and  more 
especially  in  the  disastrous  epoch  of  the  Revo- 
lution, that  if  a  government  once  yields  to  a 
party,  that  party  will  not  fail  soon  to  subju- 
gate it.  The  present  time  affords  a  proof  of  it. 
The  barrier,  feeble  and  tottering  as  it  was, 
which  the  Ministry  opposed  to  the  counter- 
revolution, shakes,  and  is  about  to  be  thrown 
down.  Perhaps  the  Ministry  does  not  at  this 
moment  foresee  it;  but  all  the  laws  which  you 
are  called  on  now  to  pass,  will  be  turned  to 
the  profit  of  the  counter-revolution,  and  that 
principle  is  to  be  applied  to  the  proposed  law, 
compared  to  that  of  1817.  That  which  in 
1817  was,  from  the  pressure  of  circumstances, 
1  f^jy  jjig(  merely  irregular,  will  in  1820  be 
111.61,81.  terrible;  that  which  in  1817  was 
•?(w'  ''■^^*'  only  vicious  in  principle,  will  in  1820 
become  terrible  in  its  application."' 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  answered  by  the 
53  Duke  de  Richelieu  and  the  Duke  de 

Answer  by  Fitz-james,  on  the  part  of  the  Gov- 
ihu  Govern-  ernmeiit:  "Is  it  possible  that  an}- 
""''"■  one  can  be  so  blind  to  existing  cir- 

cumstances, and  the  dangers  which  menace  the 
6tate  and  the  royal  family?  Does  any  one 
persist  in  asserting  that  the  assassination  of  the 
13th  February  is  an  isolated  act?     Have  the 

fjersons  who  assert  this  been  shut  up  in  their 
louses  for  tlie  last  six  months?  What!  are 
those  ferocious  8ong.s,  repeated  night  after 
night  with  such  perseverance  that  the  indul 
gent  police  have  at  length  come  to  pretend 
that  they  do  not  hear  tiiem,  notliingif — those 
songs  which  commenced  on  the  very  night  of 
the  assassination,  and  which  they  hail  the 
effrontery  to  re[)eat  under  the  winJows  of  the 
Duche-ss  de  Berri  herself?  What!  those  pla- 
cards, those  menaces,  those  anonymous  letters 
— not  to  lis,  who  are  uccustoiiied  to,  and  dis- 
I'egard  them,  but  to  her  for  wiiom  they  know 
We  are  disposed  to  sacrifice  a  thousand  times 
our  lives — those  execrable  tlireata  against  u  be- 


reaved father,  whose  grief  would  have  melted 
tigers,  but  has  only  increased  the  thirst  for 
blood  in  our  revolutionary  tigers.  What !  those 
medals,  struck  with  the  name  of  Marie  Louise 
and  her  son — their  images  sent  ever\'  where 
through  the  kingdom,  and  now  paraded  even 
in  the  capital ;  those  clubs,  in  which  they  count 
us  on  our  benches,  and  have  a  poniard  ready 
for  each  of  our  breasts  ■  the  coincidence  of  what 
passes  in  the  nations  around  us  with  what  we 
witness  in  our  interior — the  assassination  by 
Sand,  the  attempted  assassination  of  Thistle- 
wood,  repetitions  abroad  of  what  was  going  on 
in  our  interior — homicide  and  regieiile  eon- 
verted  into  virtues,  and  recommended  as  deeds 
worthy  of  eternal  glory.  What!  Spain  be- 
come the  prey  of  a  military  faction,  and  of  acts 
of  treason  which  have  dishonored  the  name  of 
a  soldier.  Are  these  not  proofs  of  a  conspiracy 
extending  over  all  western  Europe,  which  is  aa- 
vancing  with  rapid  strides  toward  its  maturi- 
ty?" So  obvious  were  these  dangers,  that, 
notwithstanding  a  vehement  outcry  in   botii 

houses,  the  proposed  law  was  passed  .  ,  „  , 
1  111  •     -f       .1  "All  Hist, 

by  considerable  majorities,  the  nam-  jji.  61.  82, 
bers  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  l.ac.n.399, 
being  134  to  113;  in  the  Peers,  121  "*""•,  ^^^k'n 
to  80!'  VI  345.350. 

The  law  re-establishing  the  censoi-ship  of  the 
press  excited  a  still  more  violent  54 
storm  in  the  Chambers.  As  a  pre-  Censor- 
lude  to  it,  the  most  extraordinary  f*'"!'  o*"  ••'« 
ferment  took  place  in  the  public  gl^mp„t'^'^" 
journals,  which  nearly  unanimously  a^'ainst  it 
assailed  the  projio.sed  measure  with  by  the  Op- 
a  degree  of  vehemence  tinexampled  P'''*'''o"- 
even  in  those  days  of  rival  governments  and 
desperate  party  contests.  On  the  one  hand,  iu 
was  said  by  M.  Manuel,  M.  Lafayette,  and  M. 
Camille-Jourdan :  "The  censorship  is  essen- 
tially partial ;  it  has  always  been  so,  and  it  is 
impossible  it  should  be  otherwise,  for  it  is 
absolute  government  iu  practice.  You  have 
already  suspended  individual  liberty,  and  you 
are  now  about  to  add  to  the  rigor  of  arbitrary 
detention  by  the  censure,  for  you  render  it  ini- 
jiossible  for  the  Ministers  to  be  made  aware  of 
their  error  You  ask  for  exam]>les  of  the  abuee 
of  the  censorship,  they  are  innumerable:  the 
most  arbitrary  spirit  jn-evailed  wIku  it  was 
last  established,  for  they  erased  even  the 
s|ieeclies  of  your  own  colleagues,  when  they 
were  in  defense  against  attacks.  To  what  do 
you  aspire  with  these  ill-timed  attempts  at  re- 
pressioii?  To  extinguish  tlu,' volcano?  Do  you 
not  know  that  tlie  fiame  is  exi ending  beiieatii 
j'our  feet,  and  that,  if  you  do  not  give  it  an 
aiJeijuate  means  of  escape,  it  will  occasion  an 
explosion  wiiich  Avill  destroy  you  all?  While 
the  liberty  of  Europe  is  advancing  with  the 
steps  of  a  giant,  and  when  France  wishes,  and 
ought  to  be  at  the  head  of  that  great  develop- 
ment of  till'  digiiily  and  faculties  of  man,  a. 
government,,  to  whom,  indeed,  hypocrisy  can 
IK)  longer  be  (dijected,  is  endeavoring  to  drag 
you  into  a  backward  course,  and  to  widen 
more  and  more  the  breach  which  already 
yawns  in  the  nation.  Whither  are  we  tena- 
ing?  Voii  accumulate  Ictlrcs  de  caclirt  and 
censors!  I  am  no  j)aiicgyrist  of  the  Iviglish 
government,  but  1  do  not  believe  tliit  any 
minister  could  be  found  so  bold  as  ty  pi<)j)0de, 


soo 


HISTORY    OF    El' 110  PR. 


Ill  iliat  couiilry,  nt  the  snmo  (imo,  the  cciisor- 
sliio  of  the  press,  nuJ  the  suspension  of  tlic 
Halloas  Corpus  Act 

"To  prevent  is  not  to  repress,  say  the  parti- 
„  sans  of  the  censorship.     Never  was  a 

Concluded,  niore  deplorable  illusion.  To  subject 
the  journals  to  such  fetters  is  to  strike 
at  the  liberty  of  the  press  in  its  very  heart. 
The  liberty  of  the  periodical  press  is  the  life- 
blood  of  freedom.  N'igilant  advanced  guards, 
pver-wakeful  sentinels,  tiieir  sheets  are  to  re- 
presentative governments  what  language  is 
to  man.  They  serve  as  the  medium  of  com- 
munieation  between  distant  places,  whose  in- 
terests are  the  same;  they  leave  no  ojiinion 
without  defense,  no  abuse  in  the  shade,  no  in- 
justice without  an  avenger.  Tiie  Govcrmnent 
IS  not  less  aided  by  its  efforts.  The  Ministry 
know  beforehand  what  it  has  to  hope  or  to 
fear ;  the  people,  who  are  their  friends,  and 
who  their  enemies;  and  to  them  we  owe  that 
early  communication  of  intelligence,  and  that 
rapid  expression  of  wishes,  which  is  an  advant- 
age which  nothing  else  can  supply.  Attack 
openly  the  liberty  of  the  press,  or  i-espect  that 
of  the  public  journals;  but  recollect  that  the 
charter  has  not  separated  them,  and  that  it  has 
withdrawn  both  alike  from  every  species  of 
censorship.  This  is  not  a  question  of  prin- 
ciple; it  is  a  question  of  life  or  death.  We 
have  arrived  at  that  point,  that  if  our  personal 
freedom,  the  liberty  of  the  press,  and  the  liberty 
of  elections,  are  taken  awa}',  the  charter  has 
become  a  mockery,  the  constitutional  monarchy 
is  at  an  end.  Nothing  remains  for  us  but 
anarchy  or  despotism.  Power  will  rest  with 
the  strongest;  and  if  so,  woe  to  the  feeble  ma- 
jority in  this  Chamber  which  now  directs  it. 
Nothing  can  long  remain  strong  which  is  not 
1  An  IIisi.  national  Do  not  denationalize  the 
111  6T,  68,  throne:  if  you  do  so,  your  majority 
'2  will  soon  be  broken  to  pieces."  ' 

On   the   other  hand,  it  was  contended  by 

5g  Baron  Pasquier  and  Count  Simeon: 

Answer  by  "  It   is   books,    and   not   pamphlets, 

tlie  Mnns-    -which  have  enlightened  the  world. 

itnalists       (^jjgj.  y^yj.  ^j.gg  ^jj  j^jjg  condition  to 

which  the  unrestricted  liberty  of  the  journals 
has  brought  society,  and  every  where  j^ou  will 
see  the  passions  roused  to  the  highest  degree, 
hatreds  envenomed,  the  poniards  of  vengeance 
sharpened — and  the  horrible  catastrophe  which 
we  all  deplore  is  a  direct  consequence  of  it. 
Consider  the  character  of  that  crime:  one 
special  character  distinguishes  it,  and  that  is 
fanaticism.  But  what  sort  of  fanaticism  ?  Every 
age  has  had  its  own,  and  ours  is  not  lessclearl}' 
defined  than  that  which,  two  hundred  years 
ago,  .sharpened  the  dagger  of  Ravaillac.  It  is 
not  now  the  pulpit,  it  is  the  journals  which 
encourage  fanaticism  ;  it  is  no  longer  religious, 
but  jx)litieal.  Where  are  the  organs  of  that 
fanaticism  which  threatens  to  tear  society  in 
pieces  to  be  found  ?  By  whom  is  it  cherished, 
flattered,  exalted?  Who  can  deny  that  it  is 
the  journals  and  periodical  publications  that  do 
this?  Mtn  eminent  for  their  talents,  respecta- 
ble for  their  virtues,  influential  from  their 
position,  have  not  disdained  to  descend  into 
this  arena,  and  to  employ  their  great  abilities 
to  move  the  people.  Others,  borrowing  every 
mask,  have  learned  and  employed  every  art  to 


[Cii.u-.  IX. 

turn  to  their  advantage  the  most  shameful  ]iro- 
jeets,  the  most  infamous  objects  which  the  heart 
of  man  can  harbor.  Suc^i  is  the  goveriunciit 
of  journals;  powerful  to  destroy,  they  are 
powerless  to  save.  Thev  have  destroyed  the 
Constitution  of  IT'.tl,  which  gave  them  liberty; 
they  destroj-ed  that  Convention  which  made 
the  world  tremble. 

"  We  are  told  that  the  libertj-  of  the  press  is 
the   soul  of  representative   govern- 
ments.    Doubtless  it  is  so ;  but  it  is  r-„„^V,  i  i 
1-        i-  Concluded, 

not  less  true  tlian  the  licentiousness 

of  the  press  is  its  most  mortal  enemy.  I  do 
not  hesitate  to  assert  there  is  no  political  s^'s- 
tem  suflieicntly  strong  to  bear  the  attacks 
which  it  has  now  come  to  organize  among  us. 
Possibly  the  time  may  come  when,  as  in  En- 
gland, it  may  be  practicable  to  establish  fully 
the  liberty  of  the  press  among  us;  but  unques- 
tionably that  time  has  not  yet  arrived.  The 
event  we  all  deplore,  the  universal  dcbde/e  of 
violence  which  has  succeeded  it,  is  a  sufficient 
proof  of  this.  In  the  mean  time,  Governmenc, 
without  the  aid  of  extraordinaiy  powers,  can 
not  command  a  remedy  for  these  evils ;  it  has 
not,  and  should  not  have,  any  influence  over 
the  tribunals;  the  dependence  of  magistrates 
would  degrade,  unsuccessful  prosecutions  weak- 
en it;  verdicts  of  juries,  so  powerful  on  public 
opinion,  might  destroy  it.  In  a  word,  it  is  ne- 
cessary to  supply  the  deficiency  of  repressive, 
by  augmenting  the  strength  oi preventive  cliecks; 
and  this  can  only  be  done  by  the  censorship. 
It  is  in  vain  to  object  to  such  a  power,  that 
it  may  be  converted  into  the  arm  of  a  party. 
Doubtless  it  might  be  so;  but  that  party  is 
the  party  of  France — of  the  Bourbons — of  the 
charter  of  freedom.  That  party  must  be  al- 
lowed to  triumph,  for  it  is  that  of  regular  gov- 
ernment. The  time  has  arrived  when  we  must 
say  to  the  people,  'The  danger  with  wliicli  you 
are  menaced  does  not  come  from  your  gov- 
ernors; it  comes  from  yourselves — from  the 
factions,  in  whose  eyes  nothing  is  fixed,  nothing 
sacred,  and  which,  abandoned  to  their  senseless 
furies,  would  not  scruj<le  to  trample  ever}-  law 

under  their  feet.     It  is  from  them  , ,, 

,,     .  ,  i  .1     •  1        '  Moniteur, 

that  we  must  wrest  their  arms,  under  p^j,  jg^ 

pain  of  perishing  in  case  of  failure,   1S2U ;  Ann. 
for  thev  aim  at  nothing  short  of  uni-  jS^'^^- '''■ 
versal  ruin.     - 

The  Doctrinaires,  who  felt  that  their  influence 
was  mainly  dependent  on  strength         gg 
of  intellect,  and  dreaded  any  restric-  Result  of 
tion  upon  its  expression,  almost  all  the  dehaie. 
voted  against    the    Government    on  ^''"■'^'>  3"- 
this  occasion  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies;  and 
in  the  Peers,  M.  de  Chateaubriand,  whose  ar- 
dent genius  revolted  at  the  idea  of  restraint, 
was   also   ranged   against  them.      The  Right 
Centre,  however,  with  that  exception,  nearly 
unanimously  adhered ;  and  the  result  showed 
how  nearl}'  the  parties  were  balanced,  now  that 
the  Chamber  was  divided  into  two  onlj\     In  the 
Peers   the   numbers  were   106  to   lO-l;  in   the 
lower  house,  136  to  110."     It  is  re-  „,,     ., 
markable  tliat,  on   so  vital  a   point  ^prii  i, 
for  public  freedom,  the  majority  was  iy2i) ;  Ann. 
so  much  greater  in  the  Commons  than  ?.'."*'•,"'• 
the  Peers.     On  the  day  after  the  final     ^'    "' 
division  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  a  com- 
mission was  appointed  by  the  Minister  of  th« 


1820.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


301 


Interior  to  examine  all  periodical  journals  be- 
fore their  publication,  and  tlie  censorship  came 
into  full  operation. 

Exf)erience  has  confirmed  the  assertion  here 
jg         made,  that  no  government  has  ever 
Reflections  been  established  in  France,  since  the 
oiiiiiissub-  Revolution,  which  has  been  able  to 
J^*^'-  stand  for  any  length  of  time  against 

tlie  unrestricted  assaults  of  the  public  press. 
"Whether  it  is  from  the  vehemence  and  prone- 
noss  to  change  in  the  French  cliaracter,  or  from 
the  absence  of  that  steadying  mass  of  fixed  in- 
terests, -which,  like  the  fly-wheel  in  tlie  ma- 
cliine,  steadies  its  movements,  and  restrains  the 
actions  of  the  moving  power,  tlie  fact  is  certain. 
No  dynasty  or  administration  lias  ever  existed 
for  any  length  of  time,  whicli  had  not  contrived 
somehow  or  other  to  restrain  the  violence  of 
tlie  periodical  press.  There  is  more  here  tlian 
a  peculiarity  of  national  temperament,  to  which, 
on  tliis  side  of  tlie  Channel,  we  are  so  apt  to 
ascribe  it.  It  points  to  a  great  truth,  of  gen- 
eral application  and  lasting  importance  to 
iiiankiiid — that  is,  tliat  the  public  press  is  only 
to  be  relied  on  as  the  bulwark  either  of  freedom 
or  good  government,  where  classes  exist  in 
societ}',  and  interests  in  the  state,  which  render 
the  support  of  truth  a  matter  of  immediate  prof- 
it to  those  engaged  in  the  great  work  of  en- 
lightening or  directing  the  [>ublic  mind.  In- 
dividuals of  a  noble  and  lofty  character  will, 
indeed,  often  be  found  who  will  sacrifice  inter- 
est to  the  assertion  of  truth,  but  they  are  few 
in  number;  and  though  they  may  direct  the 
thinking  few,  tliey  can  not  be  expected,  in  tlie 
fii'st  instance  at  least,  to  have  much  influence 
on  the  unthinking  many.  The  ability  of  those 
engaged  in  the  public  press  is  in  general  very 
great ;  but  it  is  like  the  ability  of  the  bar — it 
is  employed  to  support  the  views  which  suit 
the  interests  of  its  clients,  and  more  occupied 
with  objects  of  present  interest  than  with  those 
of  ultimate  importance.  Those  who  live  by 
the  people  must  please  the  people.  Tiicre  is 
no  security  so  complete  alike  for  stable  govern- 
ment and  public  freedom  as  a  free  press,  when 
great  interests  on  botli  sides  exist  in  societ}',  and 
the  national  talent  is  equally  divided  in  plead- 
ing their  cause  respectively.  But  where,  either 
from  the  violence  of  previous  convulsions,  or 
any  other  cause,  only  owe  prevailing  interest  is 
left  in  society,  the  greater  part  of  the  public 
press  at  once  ranges  itself  on  its  side:  tlie  other 
13  never  heard  ;  or,  if  heard,  never  attende<l  to. 
The  chains  are  thrown  over  the  minds  of  men, 
and  a  free  press  becomes,  as  in  republican 
America,  the  organ  of  tlie  mandates  of  a  tyrant 
majority;  or,  as  in  iiiij)erial  France,  the  instru- 
ment of  a  militai'y  desp(jtism. 

Government  soon  found  tliat  the  decree  di- 
rected against  the  periodical  press 
had  neithercxtinguishedtlie  freedom 
of  thought  nor  taken  away  the  arms 
of  facti(ui.  The  journals,  being  fet- 
tered by  the  ccnsorhhip,  took  ref- 
uresofGov-  y„(,  }„  pamphlets,  which  were  not 
emment.  ",  .     ,  'i  ,   '  -.         i  ,, 

subjected  to  it,  and  I'aris  soon  was 

overrun  with  brochures  which  assailed  (Jovern- 
mcnt  with  the  utmost  fury,  and,  on  tlie  jilea 
that  it  had  departed  from  the  constitutional  re- 
gime, indulged  in  the  most  un(!ontrolled  vio- 
lence of  language.     Not  the  MiisiUry  iiicre'y, 


60. 
Alarming 
state  or  tho 
country, 
and  derens- 
ive  meas- 


the  dynasty  was  openly  assailed ;  and  then,  for 
the  fii-st  time,  there  appeared  decisive  evidence 
of  the  great  conspiracy  which  had  been  organ- 
ized in  France  against  the  Bourbons.  As  long 
as  the  electoral  system  was  established  on  such 
a  footing  as  gave  them  a  near  prospect  of  dis- 
possessing the  Crown  by  legislative  means,  this 
conspiracy  was  kept  in  abeyance;  but  now 
that  a  quasi-Royalist  Ministry  was  in  power, 
and  there  was  a  chance  of  a  change  in  the 
Electoral  Law  which  might  defeat  their  pro- 
jects, they  became  entirely  undisguised  in  tlieip 
measures,  and  openly  menaced  the  throne.  In 
these  arduous  circumstances  the  conduct  of  Gov- 
ernment was  firm,  and  yet  temperate.  Prose- 
cutions were  instituted  against  the  press,  which, 
in  some  instances,  were  successful,  and  in  some 
degree  tended  to  check  its  licentiousness.  The 
army,  moreover,  was  firm,  and  could  be  relied 
on  for  the  discharge  of  its  duty;'  i  Can  vii 
which  was  the  more  fortunate  and  i,  7,  12; 
meritorious  on  its  part,  that  a  great  Lac  ii. 403, 
portion  of  its  ofiicers  were  veterans  ^^^• 
of  Napoleon's  army,  and  that  the  greatest  ef- 
forts had  been  made  by  the  Liberal  party  to 
seduce  both  them  and  those  on  half-pay  into 
the  treasonable  designs  which  were  in  contem- 
plation. Aware  of  the  approach  of  danger, 
the  Minister  of  War  drew  the  Royal  Guard 
nearer  to  Paris,  and  arranged  its  station  so  that 
in  six  hours  two  thirds  of  its  force  might  be 
concentrated  at  any  point  in  the  capital  which 
might  be  menaced. 

An  untoward  circumstance  occurred  at  this 
juncture,  which,  although  trivial  in  .. 
ordinary  times,  now  considerably  Denuneia- 
augmeuted  the  difficulties  of  Govern-  ation  or  tho 
ment.  A  magistrate  at  Nimes,  M.  secret  gov 
Madier,  a  respectable  but  injudicious 
and  credulous  man,  presented  a  petition  to  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  in  which  he  stated  that, 
some  daj's  after  the  death  of  the  Duke  de  Berri, 
two  circulars  had  been  sent  to  Nimes,  not  froir. 
the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  but  from  the  Roy- 
alist committee,  denouncing  M.  Decazes,  and 
directing  the  Ro3-alists  to  organize  themselves 
as  for  ulterior  events.*  It  was  evident  from 
the  tenor  of  these  circulars,  wiiich  without 
doubt  liad  emanated  from  the  Royalist  com- 
mittee at  Paris,  that  thoy  related  only  to  elec- 
tioneering preparations,  in  the  event  of  a  disso- 
lution of  the  Chambers  taking  place  in  conse- 
quence of  tiie  change  of  Ministry;  and  that 
when  tlie  retreat  of  M.  Decazes  was  secured, 
nothing  more  was  intended  to  be  done.  But 
this  petition  and  the  revelation  of  the  Ro^yalist 
circulars  served  as  an  admirable  handle  to  the 
Liberal  party,  who  jioiiitcd  to  it  as  a  proof  of 
a  secret  government,  wliicli  counteracted  all 
the  measures  of  the  I'cspoiisiblc  one,  and  was 
preparing  tho  entire  ruin  of  the  public  liber- 


*  "  Nc  soycz  ni  surpris  ni  rirrajjcs  quoique  ralieiilal 
du  13  Fevri(^r  n'ait  pas  uinciie  sur-je-clianip  la  clinic  <lu 
Favciri  ;  riKissc/,  coiimic  n'jl  Ctail  dcja  renvoye.  Nous 
rarniclicriiiis  dc  ce  poste  kI  on  nc  con.scnt  pas  a  I'm  l)an- 
nir  :  en  attendant,  orpanisez-vonH ;  IcH  avis,  Ics  ordres, 
I'arKent  nc  vous  niaiKiueront  pas."  Another — "  Nous 
vouM  dcniandions  il  y  a  jicu  dc  jours  unc  attitude  inipo- 
Hante,  nous  vous  rccominandons  aujourd'liui  Ic  ralino, 
nous  venous  de  remportcr  un  avantaKe  dCcisiCcii  Caisant 
chasHcr  liecazcs  :  de  (jrands  services  pcuvcnt  vous  c.lro 
rendus  par  le  nouvcau  niinistcrc  :  il  faut  bien  vous  jjardiT 
de  lui  inonlrcr  dc8  aeiilimenta  bostiles."— CArtnotE, 
V.  11, 


30'i 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[e'liAiv  IX. 


ties.  Yohoniont  debntos  followed  on  the  sul>- 
joct  in  t!u>  (.'hnnibor  of  Oojnitios,  in  tlic  course 
t>f  which  the  "  factious  personnpe"  near  the 
tiiroi\e,  from  wliom  tliey  all  onianated,  was 
openly  ilenouneeil,  and  a  motion  was  even 
brouijlit  forward  for  an  address  to  the  Crown 
to  dismiss  the  new  ^linisters.  The  proposal 
was  negatived,  but  the  object  was  gained ;  the 

1  .       »T   .    public  mind  was  asritated,  and  the 

>  .\nn.  Hist.   '        ,  ]  *  u 

ill.  217.219;  pfople  were  prepared  to  embrace 

Cap.  vii.  15,  tlie  idea  that  the  continuance  of  the 

d'l  j'-"'  "'    ^l'"'*^''V  ^vas  inconsistent  Avith  tin; 

'     '■         preservation  of  the  public  liberties.' 

It  was  in  this  agitated  state  of  the  public 

„  mind   that  Ministers  were   charged 

Ministerial  "^ith  the  arduous  duty  of  bringing 

project  of  a  forward  their  new  law  of  election 

new  elect-    — tijg  most  dangerous  and  exciting 

topic  which  it  was  possible  for  them 
to  broach,  but  which  was  made  an  indispensa- 
ble condition  of  the  Royalist  alliance  with  the 
Centre  in  support  of  the  Government.  Ko 
small  difficult}-  was  experienced,  however,  in 
effecting  a  compromise  on  the  subject,  and  ad- 
justing a  project  in  which  the  coalescing  par- 
ties might  agree;  but  at  length,  by  the  inde- 
fatigable efforts  of  M.  Simeon,  M.  Pasquier,  and 
M.  Mounier,  the  terms  were  agreed  to  on  both 
sides,  and  were  as  follows:  Two  classes  of  col- 
leges of  electors — one  of  the  departments,  the 
other  of  the  arrondissements.  The  electoral 
college  of  each  department  was  to  consist  of  a 
fifth  part  of  the  whole  electors  paj'ing  the 
highest  taxes;  the  electoral  colleges  of  the 
arrondissements  were  to  consist  of  the  whole 
remainder  of  the  electors  having  their  domicile 
within  their  limits.  The  electoral  colleges  of 
the  arrondissements  named  by  a  simple  majority 
as  many  candidates  as  the  department  was  en- 
titled to  elect;  and  the  college  of  the  depart- 
ment chose  from  among  them  the  deputies  to 
send  to  the  Chamber.  This  project  was  im- 
perfect in  its  details,  and  drawn  up  in  haste; 
but  it  tended  to  remove  the  grand  evil  of  the 
existing  system — the  election  of  the  whole 
Chamber  by  one  uniform  class  of  electors ;  and 

as  such  it  was  promised  the  support 
R  ap-  'vu-  of  the  Doctrinaires  and  a  large  part 

of  the  Centre  of  the  Assembly.* 
The  discussion  was  brilliant  and  animated  in 
g„  both  Chambers,  and  called  forth  the 
Argument  very  highest  abilities  on  either  side, 
asainst  it  On  the  side  of  the  Opposition  it  was 
''y^'.^e  Op-  contended  by  M.  Royer-Collard,  M. 
p  SI  ion.  Lafayette,  and  General  Foy:  "The 
charter  has  consecrated  the  Revolution  by  sub- 
jecting it  to  compromise;  it  is  it  which  has 
given  us  all  our  liberties — the  liberty  of  con- 
science, which  is  expressly  guaranteed  by  it ; 
and  equality,  which  is  guaranteed  by  repre- 
sentative institutions.  The  Chamber  of  Depu- 
ties is  the  guarantee  of  the  charter.  That  is  a 
proposition  which  no  one  will  be  so  bold  as  to 
dispute.  Take  away  the  Elective  Chamber, 
and  power  resides  alone  in  the  Executive  and 
the  Chamber  of  Peers ;  the  nation  becomes 
retrograde — it  becomes  a  domain,  and  is  pos- 
sessed as  such.  Take  away  the  guarantees 
promised  by  the  charter,  and  you  turn  that 
instrument  against  itself;  or,  what  is  even 
worse,  you  render  it  an  object  of  derision,  alike 
against   the    sovereign   who   granted  and   the 


26,27 


1>eople  who  received  it.  If  the  Government 
lad  persisted  in  its  intention  of  revising  the 
charter,  it  wo\ild  have  experienced  less  ojiposi- 
tion  than  in  this  attempt,  which  is  pretending 
to  u|>hold  tlie  charter,  to  undermine  its  most 
inqiortant  provisions.  It  is  not  because  tlie 
charter  h;is  given  this  one  the  title  of  I5aron, 
another  that  of  Bishop,  that  it  is  the  idol  of 
the  nation  ;  it  is  because  it  has  secured  liberty 
of  conscience  and  personal  freedom  (hat  it  has 
become  so,  and  that  we  have  sworn  fidelify  to 
it.  IS'ow  we  are  virtually  absolved  from  our 
oaths — the  aristocracy  is  secretly  undermining 
both  the  nation  and  the  throne.  Can  yon 
doubt  it,  when  j-ou  recollect  the  contempt  and 
derision  it  has  cast  on  that  glorious  standard 
with  which  such  recollections  are  associated — 
that  standard  which,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  re- 
peat, is  that  of  public  freedom  ? 

"  In  vain  may  the  proposed  law  be  passed, 
and  even  for  a  time  carried  into  exe- 
cution; the  public  feeling  will  ex-  (^„„,  j 
tinguish  it,  wear  it  out,  destroy  it 
by  resistance ;  it  never  will  become  the  law 
of  France.  Representative  government  will 
not  be  wrested  from  you;  it  is  stronger  than 
the  will  of  its  adversaries.  By  a  co2ip  d'etat  of 
18th  Fruetidor*  you  may  transport  men  ;  you 
can  not  transport  opinions.  Our  old  parlia- 
ments were  not  so  robust  as  a  representative 
assembly;  they  did  not  speak  in  the  name  of 
France,  but  they  sometimes  defended  the  pub- 
lic liberties,  and  the  eloquent  and  courageous 
remonstrances  which  they  laid  at  the  foot  of 
the  throne  resounded  through  the  nation.  The 
ministry  of  Louis  XV.  wished  to  overthrow 
them:  he  was  conquered.  The  parliaments, 
for  a  moment  subdued,  raised  themselves  again 
amidst  the  public  acclamations;  and  the  ephem- 
eral puppets  with  whom  they  had  filled  their 
benches  disappeared  forever.  Thus  will  van- 
ish the  Chamber  of  Privilege. 

"You  strive  in  vain  against  an  irresistible 
torrent.  You  are  under  the  iron 
hand  of  necessity.  So  long  as  equal-  conUnucd 
ity  is  the  law  of  society,  equal  repre- 
sentation is  imposed  upon  it  in  all  its  energy 
and  purity.  Ask  from  it  no  concessions;  it  is 
not  for  it  to  make  them.  The  representative 
government  is  itself  a  guarantee.  As  such  it; 
is  called  on  to  demand  concessions,  not  to  make . 
them.  Be  not  surprised,  therefore,  that  it  isj 
partial  to  the  new  order  of  things — it  existsl 
only  to  insure  the  triumph  of  the  charter. 
Would  3'ou  obtain  its  supjjort? — Embrace  it*? 
cause.  Separate  right  from  privilege.  Affec- 
tion is  the  true  bond  of  societies.  Study  what 
attracts  a  nation,  what  it  repudiates,  what  it 
hopes,  what  it  fears ;  in  a  word,  show  yourself 
a  part  of  it,  and  you  will  be  popular.  During 
eight  centuries,  this  has  been  the  secret  of  the 
English  aristocracy.  Legitimacy  is  the  idea 
the  most  profound,  and  withal  the  most  fruit- 
ful, which  has  penetrated  modern  soeietj'.  It 
renders  evident  to  all  in  a  visible  and  immor- 
tal  image  the  idea  of  right,  that  noble  appanage 
of  the  human  race ;  of  right,  without  which 
there  would  be  nothing  on  earth,  but  a  life 
without  dignity,  and  a  death  without  hope. 
Legitimacy  belongs  to  us  more  than  anj'  other 
nation,  for  no  other  nation  possesses  it  in  such 


i 


la  1797,  when  the  Directory  was  overturned. 


1S20.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


303 


purity  as  ourselves,  or  can  point  to  so  illustri- 
ous a  line  of  great  ami  good  princes. 

'•Rivers  do  not  flow  back  to  their  sources: 
accomplished  facts  are  not  restored 
Concfuded.  to  nonentity.  A  bloody  Revolution 
had  changed  tlie  face  oi  our  eartli : 
on  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  society,  overturned 
with  violence,  a  new  society  had  raised  itself, 
governed  by  new  maxims  and  new  men.  Like 
all  conquerors,  I  say  it  in  its  presence,  that  so- 
ciety was  barbarous:  it  had  neither  received,  in 
its  origin  nor  in  its  progress,  the  true  principle 
of  civilization — right.  Legitimacy,  which  alone 
had  preserved  the  ark  of  our  salvation,  could 
alone  restore  it  to  us:  it  has  restored  it.  With 
the  royal  race,  right  has  reappeared;  every 
day  has  been  marked  by  its  progress  in  opin- 
ions, manners,  and  laws.  In  a  few  years  we 
have  recovered  the  social  doctrines  which  we 
had  lost.  Right  has  succeeded  to  power.  Le- 
gitimacy on  the  throne  has  become  the  guaran- 
tee of  the  general  ascendant  of  law.  As  it  is 
the  ruling  principle  in  society,  good  faith  is  its 
august  character;  it  is  profaned  if  it  is  lower- 
ed to  astuteness  or  devoured  by  fraud.  The 
proposed  law  sinks  the  legitimate  monarchy 
to  the  level  of  the  government  of  the  Revolu- 
i  ^nn.  Uist.  tion,  by  resting  it  on  fraud.  The  pro 
iii.  105. 125  ;  ject  of  the  proposed  law  is  the  most 
Monjteur,  fatal  which  has  ever  come  out  of  the 
1820'  Lac'  councilsof  kings  since  those,  of  fjital 
ij.  413.  415 ;  memory,  which  overturned  the  fam- 
Cap.  vii.  30,  ily  of  the  Stuarts.  It  is  the  divorce 
of  the  nation  from  its  sovereign."' 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  contended,  on  the 

g-  part  of  the  Government,  by  M.  de 

Answer  by  Serrcs,  M.  Simeon,  and  M.  Vill^le: 

the  Minis-    "We  are  reminded  of  two  periods — 

lenaiists.     ^j^^  ^^^,^  ^^  ^^^  Revolution  and  the 

present  time.  History  will  judge  the  first,  and 
it  will  judge  also  the  men  who  were  engaged 
in  it.  But  I  can  not  dissemble  what  the  strange 
speech  of  M.  Lafayette  obliges  me  to  declare, 
that  he  put  himself  at  tlie  head  of  the  men  who 
attacked  the  monarchy,  and  in  the  end  over- 
turned it.  I  am  convinced  that  generous  and 
elevated  sentiments  animated  him;  but,  inspired 
by  these  feelings,  is  it  surprising  to  him  tiiat 
men  attached  by  principle  and  duty  to  that 
monarchy  should  have  defended  it  before  it 
fell?  He  should  be  just  enough  not  to  impute 
to  the  victims  of  those  times  all  the  evils  of  a 
Revolution  which  has  pressed  so  heavily  on 
themselves.  Have  these  times  left  in  (he  mind 
of  the  honorable  member  some  mournful  recol- 
lections, many  useful  les.sonsif  lie  should  Jiavc 
known — many  a  time  he  must  have  felt,  with 
deatli  in  his  heart  and  blushes  on  liis  face — 
not  only  that,  after  having  once  roused  the 
masses,  their  leaders  have  no  longer  the  power 
to  restrain  them,  but  that  they  are  forced  to 
follow,  and  even  to  lead  them. 

"But  let  us  leave  these  old  events,  and  think 
of  our  present  condition,  and  the 
Continued.  'l"cstions  which  are  now  before  us. 
What  chiefly  weighs  with  me  is  the 
declaration  made  by  General  Lafayette,  that 
he  has  entered  these  walls  to  make  oath  to  the 
conxtitutioii  (he  has  not  said  the  /tin;/  and  the 
constitution),  and  that  that  oath  was  recipro- 
cal ;  that  the  acts  of  the  legislature — your  acts 
— have  violated  the  constitution,  anil  that  he 


is  absolved  from  his  oath  !  He  declares  this  in 
the  name  of  himself  and  his  friends:  he  declarfs 
it  in  the  face  of  the  nation !  He  adds  to  this 
declaration  an  eloge,  as  affected  as  it  is  ill- 
timed,  of  colors  which  can  not  now  be  regard- 
ed as  any  other  colors  but  those  of  rebellion. 
The  scandal  which  I  denounce,  so  far  from  be- 
ing repented  of,  has  been  renewed  a  second 
time  in  the  tiibune.  What,  I  ask,  can  be  the 
motive  for  such  conduct?  If  insensate  persons, 
excited  by  such  language  criminally  imprudent, 
proceed  to  acts  of  sedition,  on  whoso  head 
should  fall  the  blood  shed  in  rebellion,  or  in 
extinguishing  it  by  the  hands  of  the  law  ?  And 
when  a  man,  who  himself  has  precipitated  the 
excesses  of  the  people,  saw  their  fury  turned 
against  himself — when  that  man,  respectable  in 
many  respects,  uses  language  of  M'liich  his  own 
experience  should  have  taught  him  the  danger, 
are  not  his  words  to  be  regarded  as  more 
blamable  than  if  they  came  from  an  ordinary 
man  ?  The  honorable  member,  who  should  bt 
so  vfell  aware  of  the  danger  of  revolutionary 
movements,  now  pretends  to  be  ignorant  of 
them.  With  the  same  brea'h  he  pronounces 
a  glowing  eulogium  on  the  cause  of  rebellion, 
and  declares,  in  his  own  name  and  that  of  his 
colleagues,  that  he  considers  himself  absolved 
from  his  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  charter:  he  pro 
claims  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  which  is, 
in  other  words,  tlie  right  of  insurrection.  Is 
not  such  an  appeal  an  incitement  to  rebellion? 
And  does  not  that  point  to  your  duty  in  com- 
bating an  opposition  animated  by  such  princi 
pies? 

"The  Electoral  Law  of  1817  has  lost,  since  it 
was  carried  into  execution,  the  most 
important  of  its  defenders.  It  has  foniinucd 
been  the  cause  of  the  present  crisis 
in  society.  The  same  Ministers  who  formerly 
proposed,  who  subsequently  have  been  com- 
pelled to  defend  it,  convinced  by  experience, 
animated  by  a  sense  of  duty,  now  come  for- 
ward to  propose  its  modification.  The  very 
Chamber  of  Peers  which  voted  its  adoption  has 
risen  up  against  it.  Sixty  peers  were  created 
to  vanquish  the  resistance  to  it  in  that  t'iiam- 
ber;  a  hundred. would  be  required  to  insure 
its  continuance.  It  is  no  wonder  it  is  so,  for 
the  law  of  1817  failed  in  the  chief  object  of 
representative  institutions.  It  excluded  the 
masses  alike  of  property  and  numbers.  What 
renders  it  in  an  especial  manner  dangerous  is, 
that  the  limited  homog(;neous  class  to  which  it 
has  confined  the  francliise  becomes  every  year, 
by  tlie  annual  eleclions,  more  grasping,  more 
selfish,  more  exclusive.  So  evident  has  this 
danger  become,  that  if  the  present  change  is 
not  carried,  the  friends  of  liberty  will  be  com- 
pelled themselves  to  bring  forward  a  modifica- 
tion of  the  law  in  the  interest  of  freeilom. 

"France  will  never  bear  for  any  time  a  ho- 
mogeneous representation,  as  the  ]no- 
j)08er  of  the  existing  law  at  one  time  (;o„ii„'uert 
supposed  it  Avouid:  umnistakablo 
proofs  of  the  general  revolt  against  such  a  sys- 
tem arise  on  all  sides.  Besides,  in  the  ])resent 
state  of  things,  the  existence  of  a  revolutionary 
faction  among  us — of  a  faction  irreligious,  im- 
moral, (he  enemy  of  restraint,  (he  friend  of 
usiirpadon — has  been  denionstrated  beyond  (ho 
2)ossibiIity  of  a  doubt.     It  speaks  in  the  jour- 


S04 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[Chap.  IX. 


iiaU,  it  sits  in  tlio  tliroclinij  coniiuittoes:  tliis 
com  iction  is  forced  upon  all  tlio  Ministorn,  not 
niiTtly  by  tlu'ir  reason,  l>ut.  tlieir  olli<'ial  infor- 
nnition.  I  jirediot  to  tlio  lioiioraMe  nienibers 
ulio  are  now  tlie  allies  of  tliat  faetion,  lliat 
tliev  will  in  tlie  en<l  sink  under  its  attacks, 
and"  that  they  will  disappear  from  the  Chani- 
l)or  the  moment  they  venture  to  resist  it.  Pub- 
lic opinion  has  already  repudiated  both  the 
faction  and  the  Kleetoral  Law  whicli  su]>ports 
it.  Horror-struck  at  the  spectacle  of  a  regicide 
returned  to  the  C'handjer,  real  juiblic  opinion 
lias  become  alarmed  alike  at  the  principle  of 
that  law  and  its  consequences. 

"  It  has  become  indispensable  to  alter  the 
mode  of  election,  since  we  see  faction 
ConcludeJ.  straining  to  support  it,  from  a  convic- 
tion that  it  throws  tlie  greatest  influ- 
ence into  the  lowest  class  of  pro])rictors — to 
the  very  class  which  has  the  least  interest  in 
th«  soil.  The  law  proposed,  by  restoring  to 
tlie  larger  proprietors  a  portion  of  that  influ- 
ence of  which  the  existing  law  has  deprived 
them,  gives  a  share  in  the  choice  of  deputies  to 
those  who  are  most  interested  in  upholding  it. 
The  law  will  never  be  complete  and  safe  till 
the  electoral  power  is  made  to  rest  on  the  en- 
tire class  of  proprietors,  and  is  intrusted  by 
them  to  a  smaller  body,  chosen  from  among 
those  who  pay  the  greatest  amount  of  assess- 
ments: and  whose  list,  accessible  to  all,  and 
from  its  very  nature  shifting  and  changeable, 
can  never  constitute  a  privileged  class,  since 
those  who  fall  within  it  to-day  may  be  excluded 
from  it  to-moiTow.  In  tlie  political  system  pur- 
sued since  the  Restoration  is  to  be  found  the 
seat  of  the  evil  which  is  devouring  France. 
Under  the  existing  law  a  constant  system  of 
attack  against  the  existing  dynasty  is  carried 
on.  Lofty  ambitions  arrested  in  tlieir  course, 
great  hopes  blasted,  fanaticism  ever  rampant, 
have  coalesced  together:  the  conspiracy  was 
at  first  turned — it  has  now  sapped  the  founda- 
tions of  the  throne — it  will  soon  overturn  it. 
At  Lj'ons,  as  at  Grenoble,  cast  down  but  not 
destroyed,  it  ever  rises  again  more  audacious 
than  ever,  and  menaces  its  conquerors.  In- 
trenched in  the  law  of  elections  as  its  last  cita- 
1  Moniteur  *^^''  ^^  threatens  its  conquerors.  It  is 
June  1-19, '  determined  to  conquer  or  die.  It  is 
1820 ;  Ann.  no  longer  a  matter  of  opinion  which 
lo'l'isi-  ^^  agitates,  'to  be  or  not  to  be,  that 
Lao.  li.  420.  is  the  question.'  The  uniform  suf- 
423;  Lap.  frage  has  placed  the  monarchy  at 
vij.  35,  37.  ^jjg  mercy  of  a  pure  demoeracj'.''' 
So  sensible  were  the  Liberal  chiefs  of  the 
weight  of  these  ai'guments,  and  of  the 
(^amnie-  large  proportion  of  enlightened  opin- 
Jourdiin's  ion  which  adhered  to  them,  that  they 
ameiuiineni  did  not  venture  to  meet  them  by  a 
carried.  direct  negative,  but  endeavored  to 
elude  their  force  by  an  amendment.  It  was 
proposed  by  Camille-Jourdan,  and  was  to  this 
effect,  "That  each  department  shall  be  divided 
into  as  many  electoral  arrondissements  as  there 
are  deputies  to  elect  for  the  Chamber;  that 
each  of  these  arrondissements  shall  have  an 
electoral  college,  which  shall  be  composed  of 
the  persons  liable  to  taxes,  having  their  political 
domicile  in  the  arrrondissement,  and  paying 
three  hundred  francs  of  direct  contribution; 
that  every  electoral  colleg:'  shall  noininate  its 


deputy  directly."  Though  this  was  represent- 
ed by  him  as  a  compi-oniise,  it  in  reality  was 
not  so;  for,  by  ])erpeluatiiig  the  uniform  suf- 
frage and  direct  rejiresentation,  it  continued 
jiolitical  jiower  ex('lusi\  ely  in  the  hands  of  the 
most  democratic  poilioii  of  the  comiiiunitv,  the 
small  proprietors.  It  received,  accordingly,  the 
immediate  and  enthusiastic  sujiport  of  the  whole 
Liberal  party  ;  the  democratic  press  was  unani- 
mous iti  its  jiraise ;  and  so  nearly  were  [)nrtics 
balanced  in  the  Chamber,  that  the  amendment 
was  carried  ar/ahist  (unermnent  by  a  majority 
of  o»c,  the  numbers  being  a  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  to  a  hundred  and  twenty-seven.  The  bal- 
ance was  cast  by  M.  dc  Chauvclin.  who.  though 
grievously  ill,  was  carried  into  the  Chamber, 
and  decided  the  question  b}-  his  vote.  He  was 
conveyed  home  in  triumph  by  a  vociferous  mob. 
and  became  for  a  brief  period  the  object  of 
jiopular  idolatry.  The  revolutionists  were  in 
transports,  and  every  where  antici-  ,  ,,„„  „•; 
pated  the  immediate  realization  of  37,  3h;  An. 
their  hopes,  by  the  defeat  of  the  Gov-  Hist.  in. 
ernmcnt  on  so  vital  a  question.'  '■^"•*' 

In  this  extremity.  Ministers  made  secret  over- 
tures to  the  chiefs  of  the  Doctrin- 
aires, whose  numbers,  though  small,  y^^^  aniend- 
were  j'et  sufficient  to  cast  the  bal-  mcntoiM. 
ance  either  way  in  the  equally  di-  Boin  is  lar- 
vided     assembly.       This     overture  "e^i  ">  Gov- 

1       ^-1  /•  1        A  i-      1    eriiment. 

proved  entirely  successful.     A  fresh 

amendment  was  proposed  by  M.  Boin  and  M. 
Courvoisier  on  their  part,  and  supjjorted  by  the 
whole  strengtii  of  the  Government,  the  Right, 
and  their  adherents  in  the  Centre.  It  was  to 
this  effect,  that  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  was 
to  consist  "  of  two  hundred  and  fift^'-eight  mem- 
bers chosen  by  the  arrondissements,  and  a  hun- 
dred and  seventj-two  by  the  departments ;  the 
latter  being  chosen,  not  by  the  ivhole  electors, 
but  by  a  fourtlt  of  tlicir  ommbcr,  componcd  of 
those  who  paid  the  highest  amount  of  taxes." 
This  was  an  immense  change  to  the  advantage 
of  the  aristocracy ;  for  not  only  did  it  add  a 
hundred  and  seventy  members  to  this  Cham- 
ber, but  it  added  them  of  persons  chosen  by  a 
fourth  of  the  electors  for  each  department  pay- 
ing the  highest  assessment:  in  other  words,  by 
the  richest  proprietors.  jS^evertheless,  so  grati- 
fied were  the  Doctrinaires  by  getting  quit  of 
the  much-dreaded  double  mode  of  election,  or 
so  sensible  had  they  in  secret  become  of  its  dan- 
gerous tendency,  that  they  agreed  to  the  com- 
promise ;  and  M.  de  Boin's  amendment  was 
carried  b}-  a  majority  of  Jive,  the  numbeis 
being  a  hundred  and  thirty  to  a  hundred  and 
twenty-five.  Only  five  members  were  absent 
from  the  entire  Chambei* — an  extraordinary 
circumstance,  proving  the  unparalleled  inter- 
est the  question  had  excited.  This  victory 
was  decisive ;  the  waverers  came  j  ^joniteur 
round  after  it  was  gained;  and  the  June  13, 
final  division  on  the  question  showed  1^20;  Ann. 
a  majority  of  ninetj'-tive  for  Govern-  {as'iss 
ment.^ 

It  soon  appeared  that  this  vehement  strife  in 
the  Chamber  was  connected  with  still      . 
more  important  designs   out  of  doors  Disturb. 
— that  they  were  linked  with  the  rev-  ancts  in 
olutions  in  progress  in  Spain,  Rortu-  ''aris. 

1  1    T    1  3    ..1     i.    -i  ..   June  5. 

gal,   and  Italy ;   and  that   it  was  not 

without  an  ulterior  ohject  that  Lafayetle  1^;  1 


1820.] 

invoked  the  tricolor  fl.ig,  find  thrown  down  the 
gauntlet,  as  it  were,  to  the  monarchy.  iS'o 
sooner  was  the  news  of  the  decisive  vote  in 
favor  of  the  principle  of  the  new  law  known  in 
tlie  capital  than  the  most  violent  agitation  com- 
menced. M.  Manuel  and  M.  lienjamia  Constant 
published  an  inflammatory  address  to  the  young 
men  at  the  university  and  colleges;  and  the 
sinister  omen  of  crowds  collecting  in  the  streets 
indicated  the  secret  orders  and  menacing  prep- 
arations of  the  central  democ-ratic  committee. 
[Seditious  cries  were  heard  ;  and  so  threatening 
did  affairs  soon  appear,  that  the  military  were 
obliged  to  disperse  them  by  force ;  and  in  the  tu- 
mult a  young  student  of  law,  named  Lallemand, 
was  shot,  and  died  soon  after.  This  unhappy 
event  augmented  the  general  excitement;  the 
mobs  assembled  in  still  greater  force,  and  the 
Government  took  serious  precautions.  The  posts 
were  every  where  doubled ;  the  guards  were 
drawn  into  Paris ;  large  bodies  of  infantry  and 
I  Moniteur,  cavalry  were  stationed  on  the  bridges 
June  6.  in  the  I'lace  Carrousel,  and  around  the 
1820;  Ann.  Chamber  of  Deputies ;  and  proclama- 
130  136  ■  tions  were  placarded  in  all  directions. 
Lam.  vi.'  forbidding  all  assemblages  of  persons 
3-23,  324.       even  to  the  number  of  three.' 

This  proclamation  was  met  by  a  counter  one 
from  the  democratic  committee,  which 
Which  be-  "^'^^^  affixed  to  the  gates  of  all  the  col- 
come  seri-  leges  and  schools,  calling  on  the 
ous.  young  men  to  meet  and  avenge  their 

""^  ■  comrade  who  had  been  slain.  They 
did  so  accordingly;  and,  marching  two  and 
two,  so  as  to  avoid  the  literal  infringement  of 
the  order  of  the  police,  formed  a  column  of 
above  five  thousand  persons,  armed  with  large 
sticks  and  sword-canes,  which  debouched  upon 
the  Place  Louis  XY.,  directly  in  front  of  the 
palace  of  the  legislative  body.  The  gates  of 
the  Tuileries  and  gardens  were  immediately 
closed,  and  the  huge  mass  was  driven,  by  re- 
peated charges  of  cavalry,  who  behaved  with 
the  most  exemplary  forbearance,  out  of  the 
Place.  They  immediately  marched  along  the 
Boulevards  toward  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine. 
where  the  immense  masses  of  workmen,  so  well 
known  in  the  worst  days  of  the  Revolution, 
were  already  prepared  to  receive  them;  and, 
returning  from  thence  with  numbers  now  swell- 
ed, by  tiie  idle  and  excited  from  every  cotfee- 
liouse,  to  between  tiiirty  and  forty  thousand 
men,  moved  toward  the  Place  de  Greve  and 
Hotel  de  Ville.  The  head  of  the  column,  how- 
s  Moniteur,  ever,  was  met  on  the  way  by  a  strong 
June  7,  H,  body  of  the  gendarmcrie-a-cheval, 
His?'  iti"""  '^^''i*^''  charged  and  dispersed  it,  upon 
133,  li:>;  whicli  the  whole  body  took  to  flight. 
Lim.  vi.  Thirty  or  forty  were  made  prisoner.-!, 
■ -'  and  inniicdiately  lodged  in  custody.^ 

it  m;iy  be  readily  imagined  what  use  Avas 

70.         made  of  these   untoward  events  by 

l.oud  dec-     the    unsorupulous    and    im])assioncd 

lamaiion  leaders  of  the  Liberal  party  in  the 
on  the  Bub-   ,,,        ,  ,  _.        ..        i„,,  •' ,       ,     ^ 

)cct  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  Ihe  loudest 
Chambcrof  and  most  vehement  complaints  were 
Uepuiic-s.  made  against  nil  concerned  in  the 
repression  of  the  riots — the  Ministers,  for  hav- 
ing ordered  the  measures  wliieh  led  to  their 
suppression;  the  military,  gendarmerie,  and 
{)olice,  for  having  executed  them.  Although 
the  conduct  of  all  the  three  had  been  prudehl, 

Vo!.  ;.— u 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


305 


forbearing,  and  exemplary  in  the  highest  de- 
gree, yet  they  were  all  overwhelmed  by  the 
most  unmeasured  obloquy.  Not  a  whisper  was 
breathed  against  the  leaders  or  followers  of  the 
seditious  assemblages,  which  had  not  only  for 
days  together  kept  the  metiojolis  in  alarm,  but 
seriously  menaced  the  monarchy.  Still  less  was 
it  observed  by  these  impassioned  declaimers, 
that  a  revolt  of  so  serious  a  kind  had  been 
stifled  with  the  loss  of  a  single  life.  "Blood," 
exclaimed  M.  Lafitte,  "  has  never  ceased,  dur- 
ing eight  days,  to  flow  in  Paris;  a  hundred 
thousand  of  its  peaceable  citizens  were  charged, 
sabred,  and  trampled  imder  the  hoofs  of  horses 
3'esterday  by  the  cuirassiers.  The  indignatioii 
of  the  capital  is  at  its  height ;  the  agitation  of 
the  people  is  hourly  increasing;  tremble  for 
the  morrow."  " Here  is  the  blade  of  a  sabie 
broken  by  a  cut,"  exclaimed  M.  de  Corcelle:^, 
holding  up  the  fragment  with  a  theatrical  air. 
"  Blood  flows,  and  3"ou  refuse  to  hear  us ;  it  is 
infamous."  The  Ministers  ably  and  energetic- 
ally defended  their  measures ;  and  the  vio- 
lence of  the  two  parties  became  so  i  j  g,^  y, 
great  that  the  president,  in  despair,  325,  327, 
covered  himself,  and  broke  up  the  Ann,  Hist, 
meeting.'  iii.  139, 142 

These  violent  appeals,  however,  failed  in  the 
desired  result,  and  their  failure  con-  77. 
tributed  more  than  anj-  other  circum-  Their  sup- 
stance  to  produce  that  adhesion  of  Pi'ession. 
the  Doctrinaires  to  the  proposed  electoral  law, 
as  modified  by  M.  Boin,  which  led  to  its  being 
passed  into  a  law.  A  suppressed  insurrection 
never  fails,  for  the  time  at  least,  to  strengthen 
the  hands  of  government.  In  the  present  in- 
stance, the  influence  of  that  repression  was 
enhanced,  not  only  by  the  patience  and  temper 
of  the  armed  foi-ce  employed,  and  moderation 
of  the  Government  in  the  subsequent  i)rosecu. 
tions,  but  by  another  circumstance  of  decisive 
importance — the  viUitary  Jiad  faithfully  ad- 
hered to  (heir  duty.  The  utmost  etibrts  had 
been  made  to  seduce  them,  and  failed  of  suc- 
cess. All  the  hopes  of  the  insurgents  were 
rested  on  their  defection,  and  their  steadiness 
made  them  de-pair  of  the  cause.  The  leaders 
of  the  revolt  saw  that  their  attempt  had  been 
premature,  that  the  military  had  not  been 
sufficiently  worked  u])on,  and  that  the  attempt 
must  be  adjourned.  They  let  it  die  away  ac- 
cordingly at  the  moment,  reserving  their  ef- 
forts for  a  future  period.  Although  the  crowds 
continued  to  infest  the  streets  for  several  days, 
and  great  eftbrts  were  made  at  the  funeral  of 
Lallemand — who  was  buried  with  much  so- 
lemnity, in  presence  of  some  thousand  specta- 
tors, on  the  'Jth — yet  the  danger  was  evidently 
past.  The  cai)ital  gradually  became  tranquil ; 
the  large  majority  of  i)5  in  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  on  the  last  reading  of  the  bill,  passed 
almost  without  notice;  and  it  was  ]iasse<l  by  a 
majority  of  (i.'j  in  Ihe  i'eers,  the  nunibers  being, 
141  to  51).  The  (iovernment  bihaved  with  ex- 
emplary moderation,  it  may  even  be  said  timid- 
ity, in  repressing  this  revolt.     It  was  known 

that    money   had    circulated    freely 

,1    •'  •  .  ]    ■»        -^    2  An.  Hist, 

among   tlic   insurgents,   and   it  was  jijiso  ici- 

known  from  whom  it  came.'    But  it  Lam.  vi 

was  deemed  mor<'  |)rudcnt,  now  tiiat  325,  327  . 

the  insurrection  had  been  surmount-  47"''.}^" 

••d,  not  !o  agitate  the  public  mind  by 


S06 


II  1  S  T  0  U  Y    OF   EUROPE. 


[Chap.  IX. 


the  trial  of  its  lon^lol•s,  aiul  no  furthor  prosoeii- 
tions  woiv  nttomptfil.  It  will  i»|>iH"ar  in  tlic 
PoUiiol  what  roturii  they  made  for  this  lenity, 
wluMi  tho  i-risis  of  ISoO  aniTcd. 
Tliis  was  tlio  groat  struggle  of  the  year,  be- 
cause it  was  a  direct  cfVort  to  siip- 
Tho  budget.  pl"'it  tlio  Bourbon  dynasty  on  the 
one  hand,  and  establisli  it  more 
firmlj-  ill  the  legislature  on  the  other.  Every 
thing  depended  on  the  troops:  if  they  had 
wavered  when  the  insurgents  marched  on  the 
Hotel  de  Ville,  on  June  6th,  it  was  all  over, 
and  1820  would  have  been  ISW.  The  remain- 
ing objects  of  the  session,  which  involved  tlie 
comparatively  trifling  matters  of  the  public 
wellare  or  social  liaj>piness,  excited  scarcely 
any  attention.  The  budget  was  voted  with 
scarce  any  opposition.  The  gross  revenue  of 
the  j-ear'was  8,741, OSY.OOO  francs;  the  net 
income,  deducting  the  expense  of  collection, 
739,712,000  francs,  which  showed  a  cost  of 
above  £5,000,000  in  coUeeftng  an  income  of 
£30,000,000,  or  nearly  17  per  cent. — a  very 
large  proportion,  but  which  is  explained  by 
the  circumstance  of  the  direct  taxes,  forming 
above  a  third  of  the  ■whole,  being  exigible 
from  above  five  millions  of  separate  little  pro- 
prietors. The  expenditure  was  estimated  at 
511,371,000  francs,  exclusive  of  the  interest  of 
the  debt.  Every  branch  of  the  public  revenue 
exhibited  s^-mptoms  of  improvement,  and  the 
most  unprecedented  prosperity  per- 
.'..■*"D:  ^^'^-  vaded  the  countr}-.'  It  is  a  singu- 
'  '  '  "  lar  circumstance,  but  highly  charac- 
teristic of  tho  real  motives  which  actuated  the 
Liberal  opposition  at  this  period,  that  this  era 
of  unexampled  social  well-being  was  precisely 
the  one  which  they  selected  for  most  violently 
agitating  the  public  mind  for  an  overthrow  of 
the  monarchy  and  change  of  the  d3nasty,  by 
whom  alone  those  blessings  had  been  intro- 
duced.* 


The  Budget  of  1820  and  1&21  stood  thus  : 


RECEIPTS. 

1820. 
Francs  nett. 

Direct  taxes 311,773.780 

Indirect  ditto  140,000,000 

Registrations 147,000,000 

Woods 14,000,000 

Customs  and  salt 66,000,000 

Postes 12,097,000 

Lottery 9,000,000 

Retained  from  salaries.  5,600,000 

Miscellaneous 14,712,970 


Total  nett 739,712,750 

Expense  of  collection  . .   134,375,130 


1801. 
Francs  nett 
325,036,159 
191,666,300 
158,986,500 

17,047,400 
111,113,000 

23,790,710 

14.000,000 
5,600,000 

15,433,970 

740,566,105 
136,871,285 


Total  gross 874,087,680  . . .  677,437,880 


EXPENDITURE. 

1820. 
Francs  nett. 
Interest  of  public  debt . .   1 88.34 1 .000 

Sinkins  fund 40.000,000 

Kin?  and  Royal  Family.     34,000,000 

Justice 17,460,000 

Foreign  affairs 7,850,000 

Interior 102,640,000 

War 184,750,000 

Marine 45,200,000 

Finances  and  miscella- 
neous    115,880,000 


1821. 

Francs  neft. 

169.052.764 

40.000.000 

34.000,000 

17,959.500 

7,855,000 

109,060.800 

179,736,600 

52,970,000 

119,572,000 


739,712,750  ...  747,206,664 

From  a  statement  laid  before  the  Chamber  by  the  Min- 
ister of  Finances,  it  appeared  that  the  produce  of  the  sink- 


Convineed,  from  the  unsuccessful  issue  of  this 
attempt,  tliat  tliov  had  no  chance  of  .„ 
success  in  their  atteiiiiits  to  over-  Military 
throw  tlic  Government,  unless  they  conspiracy, 
could  enlist  the  military  on  then-  Lafe'^ettlf 
side,  the  Liberal  lenders,  after  the  ^"^"^ 
prorogation  of  the  Chamber,  bent  their  whole 
efforts  to  that  object.  It  is  now  known  who 
they  wore;  siibse<iuent  success  has  made  them 
boast  of  their  attempts;  they  are  no  longer 
afraid  to  admit  their  treason.  "M.Lafayette," 
says  Lamartine,  "declared  to  his  friends  that 
open  force  could  now  alone  overturn  the  Gov- 
ernment, which  liad  declared  war  against  the 
equality  of  classes."  Emissaries  dispatched 
from  this  centre  set  out  to  sound  the  dejiart- 
ments  and  the  troops.  The  parliamentar}-  op- 
position of  M.  Lafitte  and  Casimir  Perier  un- 
consciously aided  the  conspirators,  who  were 
grouped  around  Lafayette,  d'Argenson,  Manuel, 
Corcelles,  Roy,  and  Merilhou.  That  conspiracy 
found  innumerable  accomplices,  without  tlic 
need  of  affiliating  them,  in  the  half-pay  officers, 
the  remains  of  Napoleon's  army,  in  the  small 
number  of  Republicans,  in  the  Bonapartists — 
as  numerotis  as  the  discontented — in  the  holders 
of  the  domains  of  the  emigrants,  who  were  every 
day  more  apprehensive  of  the  loss  of  their  her- 
itages, and  of  the  influence  of  those 
who  were  now  protected  by  the  Gov-  ogg  "^^  ^'' 
ernment.' 

Numerous  as  this  band  of  conspiratoi's  was, 
it  was  not  on  them  alone  that  their 
leaders  totally,  or  even  chieflj',  rested,  .j-jj^jr  de- 
The  great  object  was  to  seduce  the  signs,  and 
military  actually  in  arms ;  for  long  ertbrts  to 
experience  had   taught  the  French  j°J™f  "*® 
that  it  is  by  them  that  all  social  con- 
vulsions in  their  country  are,  in  the  last  resort, 
determined.     They  were  not  long  in  finding  a 
few  desperadoes  who  were  -willing  to  execute 
their  designs.     A  captain  in  the  Legion  de  la 


ing  fund,  which,  in  1816,  was  20.000,000,  and  in  1817  was 
increased  to  40,000,000,  had  been  highly  gratifying.  U 
was  as  follows . 


Sams  applied. 
Francs. 

1816 20.439,724 

1817 43.064,946 

1618 51,832,333 

1819 67,094,682 


Annuities  bonght  ap. 

Francs. 

1.762,765 

..        3.322,114 

3,675,642 

. .       4,854,776 


And  from  a  statement  laid  before  the  Chamber  by  the 
celebrated  economist  M  Ganihl,  it  appeared  that  before 
the  Revolution  the  public  burdens  stood  thus : 

Francs. 

Total  taxes 565,000,0C0 

Of  which  the  direct  taxes  were — 

Franes.  f.  a. 

On  realized  property  . . .  250,000,000,  or    8  1^0  per  cent- 
Industry  and  commerce.     30,000,000,  or    1  1-20      " 
Consumers 304,000,000,  or  10  1-  2      " 

After  the  Revolution  in  1820  they  stood  thus  : 

Francs. 

Total  revenue  and  taxes 875,941,063 

Of   which    raised    by        Franw. 

taxes 600,712,600 

Of  which  the  land  paid.  268,000,000,  or  9  francs  16  cents 

Taxed  capital  money  . .  154.000,000,  or  9      "      16    ''^ 

Industry  and  commerce.  56.000,000,  or  1      "      16 

Consumers 302,116,300,  or  6      "      16    " 

So  that  the  taxes  on  land,  industry,  and  fixed  capitall 
had  increased  a  third,  and  those  on  consumption  had  re-| 
mained  the  same,  though  their  amount  per  head  dimin- 
ished, from  the  increase  of  population,  in  the  intervening! 
period,  from  25.000.000  to  .30,0(10.000  souls.— Ann.  Hist.,t 
lii.  175.  15*8.  200  ;  and  iv.  611,  f:u3. 


1820.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROTE. 


S07 


Meurtlie,  in  garrison  nt  Paris,  named  IS'aiilil,  a 
half-pay  colonel,  named  Sauzet,  and  a  colonel 
of  the  disbanded  Imperial  Guard,  named  Ma- 
zaire,  agreed  to  act  as  leaders.  Their  plan  was 
to  surprise  the  fortress  of  Vincennes,  to  cor- 
rupt the  regiments  in  Paris,  to  rouse  the  fau- 
bourgs and  the  schools,  and  with  the  united 
forces  march  on  tlie  Tuileries.  A  great  num- 
ber of  the  half-pay  generals  of  the  Empire — in 
particular,  Generals  Pajol,  Bacheluz,  Merten, 
ilaransin,  Lafitte,  and  superior  officers  in  re- 
tirement^were  engaged  in  the  conspiracy,  the 
object  of  which  was  to  dethrone  the  Bourbons. 
On  that  they  were  all  agreed,  but  on  ulterior 
measures  there  was  great  difference  of  opinion. 
Lafayette  desired  to  proclaim  a  republic  or  a 
constitutional  monarchy,  whose  interests  were 
ideatical  with  those  of  the  Revolution,  and 
who  might  be  "  fettered  by  the  bonds  of  a  rep- 
resentative democrac}'."  Tlie  great  majority 
wished  to  proclaim  Napoleon  II.,  hoping  to  re- 
store with  him  the  days  of  glory,  of  promotion, 
and  plunder.  Lafaj-ette  indulged  a  sanguine 
hope  that,  as  Napoleon's  son  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  Austrians,  wlio  would  not  allow  him  to 
accept  the  proffered  crown,  it  would  become  a 
matter  of  necessity  to  bestow  on  him  the  dic- 
tatorship, of  which  lie  had  enjoyed  a  foretaste 
in  1790,  and  of  which  he  had  dreamed  in  1815. 
The  day  of  rising  was  fixed  for  19th  August: 
Nantil  was  to  raise  his  legion,  and  head  the 
attack ;  Lafayette  went  to  his  chateau  of  La- 
grange to  rouse  his  department,  and  aid  in  the 
assault  on  A^incennes ;  M.  d'Argenson 
i.iu  oQn'''     went  to  Alsace  to  array  in  arms  its 

JJO,  JJU ;  ,.  1     TIT      J 

Cap.  vii.  numerous  repubheans  ;  and  JM.  de 
62,63;  Lac.  Corcelles  was  charged  with  organiz- 
i'.m^"^'  ing  the  revolt  in,  the  great  and  pop- 
\ilous  city  of  Lyons.  ^ 
An  accidental  circumstance  prevented  this 
gj  deeply  laid  design  from  being  carried 
Which  fails  into  etfect.  On  the  day  before  it  was 
byaccident.  to  have  taken  place,  an  explosion 
Aug.  19.  Qf  powder,  from  fortuitous  causes, 
took  place  in  the  castle  of  Vincennes,  and  this 
led  to  the  military  and  police  being  assembled 
in  considerable  numbers  in  that  important  for- 
tress. Their  presence  led  the  conspirators  to 
suppose  that  their  -designs  were  discovered, 
which  was  really  not  the  case,  for  they  were 
not  fully  developed  till  long  afterward.  In- 
formation had,  however,  been  given  to  Gov- 
ernment, by  some  of  the  officers  upon  wliom 
unsuccessful  attempts  had  been  made,  of  a  plot 
to  overturn  the  Government,  and  the  whole 
ISIinisters,  in  consequence,  were  summoned  to 
tlie  Duke  de  Ricliehcu's  on  tiie  morning  of  the 
19tli.  From  the  information  there  laid  before 
them,  it  was  resolved  to  remove  the  Legion  de 
la  Meurthe,  which  was  most  disaffected,  from 
Paris  to  the  frontiers,  and  the  suspected  officers 
were  arrested  in  their  barracks  early  in  the 
forenoon  by  officers  of  the  police.  M.  de  Latour 
Maubourg,  the  War  Minister,  was  himself  pres- 
ent when  this  was  done.  No  resistance  was 
attempted;  the  common  soldiers  were  aston- 
ished, not  irritated  ;  it  was  their  officers,  not 
themselves,  who  were  privy  to  the  oonspir- 
ncj'.  Before  night,  the  Legion  de  la  Mcnrthe 
marched  out  for  I.an<lreeies  in  a  state  of  tu- 
mult and  indiscipline,  which  recalled  the 
description  given   by  Tacitus  of  the   Roman 


legions  in  the  mi;tiny  which  Germanicus  repress- 
ed.    Several  of  their  officers  were 
arrested  on  the  march.     Nantil,  and  3-99  331^.'' 
the   principal   leaders  of  the   con-  cap.  vii.' 
spiracy,   however,   made    their    es-  66, 67 ;  Lac . 
cape.'  '"■  8.  9- 

Government  acted  with  the  utmost  lenity  in 
the  prosecutions  consequent  on   this 
abortive  revolt.     Lists  of  the  persons  i.enity 
implicated  in  it  had  been  furnished  shown  in 
to  the  Ministry,  and  they  comprised  the  prose 
most  of  the   leaders  of  the  Liberal  ^^t'o^s. 
party  in  Paris.     M.  Lafayette  and  M.  Manuel 
were  at  its  head.     Ministers,  however,  recoiled 
from  the  idea  of  openly  coming  to  a  rujiture 
of  an  irreconcilable  kind  with  the  chiefs  of  a 
party  strong  in  the  Chambers,  strong  in  popular 
support,  strong,  as  had  recently  appeared,  in 
the  aft'ections  of  a  part  at  least  of  the  arnij'. 
It  was  doubtful  how  far — however  clear  the 
moral  evidence  might  be — the  complete  meas- 
ure of  legal  proof  could  be  obtained  against 
the  real  but  half-vailed  leaders  of  the  conspir- 
acy.    It  was  deemed  more  expedient,  there- 
fore, to  proceed  only  against  the  inferior  agents, 
and  even   against   them  in   the  most    lenient 
manner.      They   were    sent    for   trial    to   the 
Chamber  of  Peers,   by  whom  a  few,  after  a 
long  interval,  were  convicted,  and  sentenced 
to  secondary  punishments,  and  several  acquit- 
ted. But  ten  years  afterward,  the  real  2  Lac  iii  0 
leaders  were  revealed  in  those  who  ]2 ,  cap. 
received  the  rewards  of  treason,  at  vn.  67,  es  ; 
a  time  when  none  dared  call  it  by  L'^J'^o!,'' 
its  right  name.^ 

While  conspiracies  so  serious  and  widespread 
were  in  progress  to  overthrow  the  g, 
d}-nasty  of  the  Bourbons,  Providence  Birth  oVthc 
appeared  in  an  extraordinary  manner  Duke  of 
to  have  interposed  in  their  behalf;  g"'^^'^?"''" 
and  an  event  occurred  which,  be^'ond 
any  which  had  yet  occurred,  elevated  the  hopes 
of  their  partisans  throughout  the  country.  The 
Duchess  de  Berri,  notwithstanding  the  dreadful 
shock  received  from  the  murder  of  her  husband, 
went  successfully  through  the  whole  period  of 
her  pregnancy,  and  on  the  night  of  the  2nt]i 
September  was  safely  delivered  of  a  son,  who 
was  christened  Henry  Duke  of  Bordeaux.  As 
by  the  Salic  Law  males  only  can  succeed  to  the 
throne  of  France,  and  the  infant  whicli  the 
duchess  bore  was  the  last  hope  of  continuing 
the  direct  line  of  succession,  the  utmost  pains 
were  taken  to  secure  decisive  evidence  of  the 
child  really  being  of  the  royal  line.  The  mo- 
ment the  duchess  was  seized  with  her  pains, 
she  desired  that  Marshal  the  Duke  of  Albufera 
(Suchet)  should  be  sent  for,  and  she  had  the 
courage  and  presence  of  mind,  after  the  de- 
livery was  over,  to  insist  that  the  umhilic:il 
cord  should  not  be  cut  till  tlie  marshal  withiiis 
own  eyes  had  been  satisfied  witii  the  reality  of 
the  birth  and  the  sex  of  the  infant.  Several  of 
tlie  Guard,  besides  the  usual  attendants  on  the 
princess,  were  also  cye-wilncsses  to  the  birth. 
The  old  king  hastened  to  the  apartment  on  the 
first  alarm,  and  wlicii  the  infant  was  prescntvd 
to  him,  said,  "Hero  is  a  fine  Duke  de  Bordeaux : 
lie  is  born  for  us  all;"  and  taking  a  few  drops 
of  tin!  wine  of  Pan,  which  according  to  old 
tradition  had  anointed  the  lips  of  Henry  IV. 
before  lie  had  received  liis  mother's  milk,  did 


308 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


iho  same  to  his  infant  dosoouilant.  Then  takini; 
n  pla.-is,  ho  tilloil  it,  ami  drank  Id  tho 
^r^p.  vii.  hJalth  of"  tlio  (hiohoss.  "Sire!"  f^lio 
I.an'i  vi.  roplioil,  "  1  -wish  1  knew  the  soni:;  of 
n35,  336;  Jean  d' Albert,  that  every  tliinir  shunhl 
Lar.  Hi.  16,  ^^^  ^^one  here  as  at  the  birtli  of  Henry 
''•  IV.'" 

Xo  words  can  convey  an  idea  of  the  trans- 
c,  ]^orts  into  wliieli  the  Royalists  -were 

fr.iver'siil  tiirown  over  all  France  by  this  au- 
iransporis  sjiieions  event  ;  and  oven  tliose  of  the 
i:i  France,  opposite  jiarties  eoiild  not  resist  feel- 
ing tl»c  intluenee  of  tlio  general  enthusiasm. 
There  was  sonic  thing  iu  the  birth  of  the  in- 
f.ir.t — the  last  remnant  of  a  long  line  of  kings, 
and  who  had  been  born  in  so  interesting  and 
almost  miraculous  a  manner  after  his  father's 
death — whicli  spoke  to  ever}-  heart.  Tiie  gen- 
eral enthusiasm  exceeded  even  that  felt  at  the 
birth  of  the  king  of  Rome,  ten  years  before 
— for  Napoleon  might  have  had  many  other 
sons — but  110  one,  save  this  infant,  could  trans- 
mit in  the  direct  line  the  blood  of  Henry  IV. 
and  Louis  XIV.  to  future  generations.  It  liad 
been  announced  that  twelve  cannon-shots  should 
announce  the  birth  of  a  daughter,  twenty-four 
of  a  son.  When  tho  guns  began  to  fire,  all 
Paris  was  roused,  and  in  speechless  anxiet}' 
watched  the  successive  discharges;  but  when 
the  thirteenth  report  announced  that  an  heir  to 
tlie  monarchy  lisfd  been  born,  the  transpox'ts 
were  universal.  The  telegraph  speedily  con- 
veyed it  to  ever}-  part  of  France,  and  the 
thirteenth  gun  in  all  the  fortresses  and  harbors 
announced  the  joyful  intelligence  to  the  people. 
One  would  have  supposed,  from  the  universal 
jo}-,  that  France  had  but  one  heart,  one  soul 
— so  strongly  had  the  romantic  and  interesting 
circumstances  of  the  birtli  wrought  upon  the 
public  mind.  Congratulatory  addresses  from 
everj'  part  of  the  country  poured  in  to  the 
king  and  the  duchess,  and  the  grace  of  her 
manner  and  felicity  of  her  answers  added  to 
tlie  general  enchantment.  A  protest,  in  the 
name  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  was  published  in 
tlie  London  papers,  though  disavowed  by  that 
prince;  but  he  asked  the  important  question 
solemnly  of  tlia  Duke  of  Albufera — "  M.  le 
JIarechal,"  said  he,  "you  are  a  man  of  honor; 
you  were  a  witness  of  the  accouchement  of  the 
Duchess  de  Berri.  Is  she  really  the  mother  of 
a  boy?"  "As  certainly  as  your  royal  highness 
is  father  of  the  Duke  de  Chartres,"  replied  the 
marshal.  "  That  is  enough,  M.  le  ISIarechal," 
rejoined  the  duke;  and  lie  immediately  went 
v.itli  the  duchess  to  congratulate  the  happy 
iiiother,  and  salute  the  infant  who  might  one 
day  be  their  king.  At  the  same  time,  the 
Duchess  de  Berri  gave  proof  that  she  was  ani- 
mated with  the  sublime  spirit  of  forgiveness 
sliown  on  his  death-bed  by  her  husband,  by 
requesting  and  obtaining  the  pardon  of  two 
men,  named  Gravin  and  Bonton,  sentenced  to 
death  for  an  attempt  on  her  life,*  or  that  of 


*  "  Sire  I  comme  je  ne  puis  voir  le  Roi  aujourd'hui,  je 
Hii  ccris  pour  lui  dernander  la  grace  de  deux  rnalheureux 
(,ui  ont  etc  condamnes  a  mort  pour  tentative  contre  ma 
jxrsonne.  Je  serais  au  desespoir  qu'il  put  y  avoir  des 
Frarn'ais  qui  rnourussent  pour  moi :  I'ange  que  je  pleure 
deniandait  en  mourant  la  grace  de  son  meurtrier,  il  stra 
I'arbilre  de  ma  vie ;  me  permettez-vous,  mon  oncle,  de 
I'iuiiter,  et  de  supplier  votre  Majestc  d'accorder  la  grace 
de  la  vie  a  ces  deux  mfortunes ;     L'auguste  exemple  du 


[C'llAl'.  IX. 

her  cliild,  which  she  did  in  terms  so  touching 
lliat  they  deserve  a  place  even  in  general  his- 
tory. Her  conduct  at  tiiis  period  was 
so  generous  and  noble,  that  the  Km-  ^  jy.'"* 
peror  Alexander  expressed  his  adini-  t;ap.  v'ii. 
ration  of  it  in  a  t()uching  epistle  ad-  73,  b3; 
drcfsed  with  liis  own  hand  to  tiie  prin-  33'J;"33-'' 
cess.'  ' 

The  birth  of  the  Duke  de  Bordeaux,  which 
afforded  so  fair  a  prospect  of  continu-         gg 
iiig  the  direct  line  of  succession,  con-  Congrata- 
lirming  the  dynasty  of  tlie  Bourbons,  latious 

and  establislung  tlie  peace  of  Europe,  l™"'  "^'^ 

.        .  r     i.  t        »   i  European 

was  too  important  an  event  not  to  powers, 

awake  the  general  sympathj-  and  in-  and  pro- 

terestof  the  European  powers.     Con-  "'o'ions  in 

,    ,    ..  ^  ■       T  r  11  1' ranee, 

gratuhitions  were  received  Irom  all 

quarters:  that  from  the  Emperor  Alexander 
was  peculiarly  warm  and  cordial.  The  corps 
diplomatique  of  Paris  expressed  a  noble  senti- 
ment on  this  occasion  in  the  words,  "  Providence 
has  awarded  the  greatest  possible  blessing  to 
the  paternal  tenderness  of  your  Majesty.  The 
child  of  grief,  of  regrets,  of  tears,  is  also  tho 
cliiJd  of  Europe — he  is  at  once  the  guarantee 
and  the  pledge  of  the  repose  and  peace  which 
should  follow  so  many  agitations."  This  ex- 
pression revealed  the  feeling  of  the  European 
powers:  it  was,  that  the  elder  branch  of  the 
Bourbons  was  the  sole  pledge  for  the  peace  of 
Europe,  and  that  the  new-born  infant  was  the 
bond  which  was  to  unite  its  rulers.  Tlie  Em- 
peror Alexander  wrote  to  Louis — "  The  birth 
of  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux  is  an  event  whicli  I 
consider  as  most  fortunate  for  the  peace  of 
Europe,  and  which  affords  just  consolation 
to  your  family.  I  pray  your  Majesty  to  be- 
lieve that  I  adopt  the  title  of  the  'child  of  Eu- 
rope,' which  the  dij>lomatic  body  has  already 
bestowed  upon  him."  Promotions,  honors, 
and  gratifications  were  bestowed  in  the  most 
liberal  manner  in  France:  the  crown  debtors 
were  nearly  all  liberated  fj-oni  prison ;  most  of 
the  political  offenders  pardoned  ;  im-  2  ^  ^jj 
mense  sums  bestowed  in  charity  ;  and  75, 78;  Lac! 
a  great  creation  of  the  order  of  the  iii-  1",  I'J; 
Cordon  Bleu  attested  at  once  the  grat-  ^^-'"iog' 
itude  and  liberality  of  the  sovereign.^        ' 

But  though  these  circumstances  argued  fa- 
vorably for  the  stability  of  the  dy-         gg 
nasty,  and  the  consequent  peace  of    Rupture 
Europe,  symptoms  were  not  awanting    with  the 
of  a  divergence  of  opinion,  which  por-    ^°'^"''' 
tended  divisions  that  might  prove  fa- 
tal in  future  times.    It  was  with  the  Doctrinaires 
that  the  rupture  first  took  place.      This  part}*, 
which  afterward,  from  the  talents  of  some  of  its 
members,  became  so  celebrated,  had  alreadj-  be- 
come important,  from  its  position  between  the 
two  great  parties  which  divided  the  state,  and  its 
power,  \>y  inclining  to  either  side,  to  give  a  pre- 
ponderance to  either.     The  conduct  of  the  lead- 
ers of  this  party  during  the  session,  if  not  decid- 
edly hostile  to  the  Ministry,  had  been  equivocal ; 


Roi  nous  a  habitues  a  la  clemence  ;  daignera-t-il  permct- 
tre  que  les  premiers  instants  de  I'existence  de  mon  Henri, 
de  mon  rher  fils,  du  votre,  du  fils  de  la  France,  soicnt 
marques  par  un  pardon  ?  Excusez,  mon  chcr  onode,  la 
liberie  que  j'ose  prendre  de  vous  ouvrir  mon  cCEUr  ;  dans 
loutcs  les  occasions  voire  indulgente  bonte  m'y  a  encour- 
agee.  Je  supplie  le  Roi  d'excuser  ma  hardicsse.  ct  de 
croire  au  respect  profond  avcc  IpoupI  je  suis."  <tc. — Car- 
ol me  Duchesse  de  Bern  au  Roi  tie  France,  28  Sept.,  l;.'20. 


1S20.] 


HISTORY   OF  EUROTE. 


309 


and  the  increasing  leaning  of  Government  to 
the  Royalist  side,  since  the  great  reaction  con- 
sequent on  the  death  of  the  Duke  de  Berri,  had 
rendered  the  position  -which  tliey  still  held 
under  the  Administration  precai'ious  and  pain- 
ful. At  the  same  time  Government  could  not 
dispense  with  the  support  of  the  Ro\-alists,  for 
it  was  by  their  aid  alone  that  the  majorities, 
slender  as  they  were,  in  the  Chamber  of  Depu- 
ties had  been  obtained.  The  Doctrinaires  had 
become  sensible  of  the  great  error  into  which 
they  had  fallen  in  supporting  the  coup  d'etat  of 
5th  September,  1810,  which  changed  the  Elec- 
toral Law ;  and  it  was  by  the  secession  of  a 
part  of  their  members  from  the  Liberal  ranks 
tliat  the  amendment  of  M.  Boin,  wliich  again 
changed  it,  had  been  carried.  But  on  other 
points  they  were  decidedly  opposed  to  the  Gov- 
ernment as  now  constituted ;  and  the  divergence 
before  the  close  of  the  session  had  become  so 
evident,  that  neither  the  security  of  the  one 
party,  nor  the  character  of  the  other,  would 
admit  of  their  longer  remaining  united.  The 
Duke  de  Richelieu,  accordingly,  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  M.  Laine,  who  had  been  much  hurt  by  a 
speech  of  M.  Royer-Collard  on  the  budget,  took 
his  resolution,  in  which  he  was  unanimously 
supported  b}'  the  Cabinet;  and  the  Moniteur, 
in  announcing,  after  the  close  of  the  session,  the 
names  of  the  Council  of  State,  omitted  those  of 
Ro3er-Collard,  Guizot,  Barante,  Camille-Jour- 
dan,  and  Mirbel.  Four  prefects,  who  were 
known  to  belong  to  the  same  party,  were  dis- 
missed from  office.  At  the  same  time,  the  Duke 
,  Q  ^,jj  de  Richelieu  had  several  conferences 
55,  58 ;  '  with  M.  de  Villele  and  M.  Corbiere, 
Lam.  vi.  on  the  conditions  of  a  cordial  imion 
337,  338.       .^yi^ij  ^Yie  Royalist  party.' 

Although  the  great  abilities  of  the  persons 
g7  thus  dismissed  from  the  Government 

View.s  of  deprived  them  of  very  powerful  sup- 
Uie  Doctri-  port,  especially  in  debate,  yet  in 
nairts.  truth  the  severance  was  unavoida- 

ble, for  there  was  an  irreconcilable  ditterence 
between  them.  It  arose  from  principle,  and 
an  entirely  different  view  of  the  most  desirable 
structure  of  society,  or  of  what  was  practicable 
under  e.xisting  circumstances.  The  Doctrinaires 
were  conservative  in  their  views,  but  they  were 
so  on  the  principles  of  the  Revolution.  Tliey 
adored  tlie  equality  which  was  at  once  the 
object  of  its  ambition,  and  the  victory  it  had 
achieved.  They  thought  it  was  possible,  on  the 
basis  of  absolute  equality,  to  construct  the  fabric 
of  constitutional  monarchy  and  reguhited  free- 
dom. They  wisiied  a  hierarchy,  but  it  was  one, 
not  of  rank,  or  territories,  or  fortune,  but  of 
talent;  and,  being  conscious  of  great  abilities 
in  tlieinselvcs,  they  indulged  the  secret  iiope 
that  under  such  a  sj-stem  they  would  rise  to 
tlie  power  and  eminence  which  tliey  were  con- 
scious their  capacity  deserved.  They  had  tl|e 
natural  jealousy  which  intellectual  always  feels 
of  political  power,  and  felt  the  utmost  ""repug- 
nance at  the  restoration  of  those  distinctions  in 
society  which  tended  to  re-establish  the  ancient 
supremacy  of  rank  or  fortune.  In  a  word,  they 
^vere  the  i)hilosophers  of  the  Revolution  ;  and 
philosophers,  Avhen  tiiey  are  not  tlie  sycoiihnnts, 
are  always  jealous  of  nobles. 

The  Royalists,  on  the  other  liand,  were  set 
upon  an  entirely  dilFerent  set  of  objects.     They 


were  as  well  aware  as  the  Doctrinaires  that  the 
old  regime  could  not  be  re-establish-  gg 

ed,  that  feudality  was  forever  abol-  Views  of  the 
ished,  and  that  general  liberty  was  I^oyal'sis. 
at  once  the  birth-right  and  greatest  blessing  of 
man.  But  they  thought  it  could  only  be  secured 
by  the  continuance  of  tlie  monarchy,  and  that 
constitutional  goverimient  was  impossible  with- 
out the  reconstruction  of  a  territorial  nobility 
and  ecclesiastical  hierarchy,  who  might  be  at 
once  a  support  of  the  throne  and  a  check  upon 
its  power.  Absolute  equality-,  according  to 
them,  was  the  best  possible  foundation  for  East- 
ern despotism,  but  the  worst  for  European  free- 
dom ;  you  might  as  well  construct  a  palace  ov.t 
of  the  waves  of  the  ocean,  as  a  constitutional 
monarchy  out  of  the  absolute  equality  of  classes. 
Infidelity  had  been  the  principle  ot  the  Revo- 
lution in  matters  of  belief;  the  only  foundation 
for  the  monarchy  was  to  be  found  in  the  i-esto- 
ration  of  the  influence  of  the  ancient  faith.  The 
centralization  of  all  power  in  the  capital  b}'  the 
system  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  destruction 
of  all  power  in  the  provinces  by  the  division  of 
property,  threatened,  in  their  view,  the  total 
destruction  of  public  freedom,  and  would  leave 
France  no  other  destiny  but  that  of  an  armed 
democracy  or  an  irresistible  despotism.  The 
sequel  of  this  history  will  show  which  of  these 
sets  of  opinions  was  the  better  founded ;  in  the 
mean  time,  it  is  obvious  that  they  were  wholly 
irreconcilable  with  each  other,  and  that  no  har- 
monious cabinet  could  by  possibility  be  con- 
structed out  of  the  leaders  of  such  op2:)Osite 
parties.* 


*  M.de  Chateaubriand,  in  an  article  ill  the  CoMsfn'a/fur, 
on  3Uth  Nov.,  Ibl9,  lia.s  well  explained  the  views  and  in- 
tentions of  the  Royalists  at  this  period  ;  and  sub-soquint 
events  have  rendered  his  words  prophetic:  "  Voila  don;; 
les  Royalistes  au  pouvoir,  fermenient  resolus  a  inaintcnir 
la  eharte  ;  tout  leur  edilice  sera  pose  sur  ce  londeiiieiit  ; 
inais,  au  lien  de  batir  uiie  democratie,  ils  eleveront  une 
monarchie.  Ainsi  leur  premier  devoir,  comme  leur  jire- 
iiiier  soin,  serait  de  changer  la  loi  des  elections.  lis  le- 
raient  en  meme  temps  retrancher  de  la  loi  de  recrutenient 
le  titre  VI. ,i  et  rendraient  aiiisi  a  la  couronne,  une  des 
lilus  importantes  i)r€rof;atives.  lis  rolabliraicnt  dans  la 
loi  sur  la  liberte  de  la  jiresse  le  inot  •  Kfli;,Mon,'  tju'a  leur 
lionte  eternelle,  de  ]iruteiidus  hoinnus  il'Klal  en  out  banui. 
Miiiistres  1  vous  londez  une  lej;i.slatioii,  el  elle  produira 
des  mcEurs  confornics  a  vos  regies. 

"  Aprcs  la  modilication  des  lois  capitalcs,  les  Royalistes 
proposeraient  les  loi.s  les  i)Ius  nionarchujues,  sur  I'orjian- 
isation  des  communes  el  sur  la  IJarde  Pvalionalo.  lis  al- 
laibliraient  le  systOme  de  centralisation  ;  ils  rendraient  une 
jiuissance  salutaire  aux  conseils  generaux.  Croaiit,  par- 
tout,  des  agrcgations  d'niterets,  ils  les  substilucraient  a 
CCS  individuahtes  trop  lavorubles  a  rctublissemenl  de  In 
tyrannic.  En  un  mot,  ils  recomiioscraienl  I'aristocratie, 
Iroisieme  pouvuir  qui  /iiani/ue  a  7ios  inxtilulions,  et  doni 
I'absence  produit  le  froltement  dangereux  que  Ton  re- 
inarque  aujourd'hui  entrc  la  ])uissuiice  royale  et  la  puis- 
sance poi)ulairc.  Cest  dans  cette  vuc,  que  les  Uoyalistes 
Kolliciteraient  les  substitutions  en  faveur  de  la  I'airie.  Ms 
cliercheraicnt  a  urreter,  par  tons  les  nioyens  legaux,  la  di- 
vision des proprietes,  divi.sioii qui,  dans trintc ans,  en  rea- 
lisant  la  loi  agnurc,  nousfira  tomOcr  t?i  democratie forcic. 

"  Une  autre  nicsure  iinportante  serait  encore  jirise  par 
Tadministration  Koyaliste.  Celti:  udmtiiistration  demand- 
erait  aux  Chambrcs,  tant  dans  rinteret  des  acquereiirs 
que  dans  ccltii  des  aiicirriH  iiropriftaires,  uiie  juste  inilcni- 
nite  pour  les  (ainjilcs  ijiii  ont  perdu  leurs  biens  dans  lo 
coiirs  de  la  Ri  viihilioii.  l.rs  deux  espoces  de  projirietc  s 
qui  existent  ]iariiii  nous,  et  qui  creent,  pour  aiiisi  dire, 
deux  peuples  sur  le  moment,  sont  la  graride  nlaie  de  la 
France.  I'our  la  giierir,  les  Royalistes  n'auraieiil  que  lo 
merite  de  faire  revivre  la  proposition  de  M.  lo  Marechal 
Macdonald  ;  '  On  ujiprend  tout  dans  les  camps  Fraiifais  : 
la  justice  comme  la  gloire.'" — Conscrvaletcr,  30  Nov., 
IHI'J  ,  and  QCuvrvs  de  M.  (Jiiateaubhiand,  xx.  270,  271. 

'  That  regulating  the  promoiion  ol'ofllccrii  irrespeclivo 
of  the  Crown,— Ante,  ch.  vi.  <j  47. 


HISTORY    OF    EUIIOPE. 


[CiiAr.  IX. 


Tlio  groat  iiiilitarv  conspirnov,  'uhich  Mna  to 
(;.)  linvo   biokoii  out  on   I'.tth  Aiiirust^ 

PisiurhaiuTs  had  its  raiiiilieatiotis  in  tlio  prov- 
i II  till'  pniv-  iin-.s,  and  in  sovorul  ]>laces  the  dis- 
'"I'lnioHsiiros  turhancos  \vhioh  onsuid  roquircd 
oftlioCov-  to  be  ooorood  by  open  force.  At 
trmmiii.  Hresl,  M.  l?alhirt,  the  deimtv,  'wns 
openly  iusultod  by  the  popidaee,  and  the  im- 
tional  guard  evinced  such  symptoms  of  dis- 
alfeetion  that  it  required  to  be  dissolved.  At 
Saunuir,  M.  InMijaniin  (.'onstant  was  threat- 
ened by  the  scholars  of  the  military  school 
for  cavalry.  Every  thing  indicated  the  ap- 
proach of'tho  most  fearful  of  all  contests — a 
contest  of  classes.  The  exasperation  of  parties, 
as  usual  iu  cases  ■where  they  arc  nearly  bal- 
anced, was  extreme  ;  the  Iloyalists  were  excited 
by  the  prospect  of  ere  long  attaining  power, 
the  Liberals  oxasjjcrated  at  the  thoughts  of 
losing  it.  The  ruling  principle  with  the  Duke 
de  Kichelieu,  and  which  had  directed  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  honors  of  the  Cordon  Bleu,  had 
been  to  form  a  new  hierarchy,  drawn  from  all 
cla.sses,  around  the  throne,  and  thus  to  interest 
in  its  support  alike  the  Liberals,  Imperialists, 
and  Royalists.  This  maxim  had  been  acted 
upon  with  great  discrimination  and  success; 
but  now  the  violent  exasperation  of  parties, 
and  the  ascertained  conspiracies  in  the  army, 
,  ^.  ^.j-  rendered  it  advisable  to  adopt  still 
\\n,  112;  more  vigorous  measures  of  concilia- 
Laia.  vii.  tion,  and  those  resolved  on  were  the 
*'  ^-  following.' 

A  new  organization  was  given  to  the  house- 
QQ  hold  of  the  king,  which  embraced  a 

Changes  in  considerable  extension.  It  was  divid- 
tho  house-  ed  into  six  departments,  the  heads  of 
i'"'i's'>o^°^  four  of  which  were  great  officers  of 
'  "  ■  the  Crown,  and  the  other  two  gi-eat 
officers  of  the  household.*  The  king  regulated 
these  departments  entirely  himself,  and  never 
would  permit  any  interference  on  the  part  of 
his  Cabinet  Ministers.  He  said,  and  not  with- 
out reason,  that  as  he  left  them  the  disposal 
of  all  the  offices  of  the  state,  they  might  leave 
him  the  patronage  of  his  own  household.  In 
filling  up  the  situations,  however,  he  carried 
out  to  its  full  extent  the  system  of  fusion,  on 
which  he  was  so  much  bent.  M.  de  Lauriston 
was  put  at  the  head  of  the  household,  in  reward 
of  his  military  services,  and  recent  activity  in 
suppressing  the  disturbances  in  Brest.  His 
devotion  to  the  royal  family,  good  sense,  and 
discernment,  justified  the  choice.  But  so  far 
did  the  king  go  in  his  desire  to  conciliate  all 
parties,  that  he  appointed  General  Rapp,  a 
brave  and  distinguished,  but  rough  and  home- 
spun veteran  of  Napoleon's,  Grand  Master  of 
the  Wardrobe.  The  old  soldier,  however,  soon 
showed,  that  if  he  had  been  bred  in  camps,  he 
could  take  on,  late  in  life,  if  not  the  polish,  at 
least  the  address  of  courts;  for,  on  occasion  of 
the  death  of  Napoleon,  which  soon  after  en- 
» Cap.  vji.  sued,^  having  been  gently  chid  by 
113,  115  ;  the  king  for  the  extreme  grief  which 
Lac.  iii.  20.    j^y    manifested,   he  replied:    "Ah! 


*  Viz. :  "  De  la  {rrande  Aumonerie,  du  grand  Maitre,  du 
grand  Chamhellan,  du  grand  Ecuyer,  du  grand  Veneur, 
du  grand  .Maitre  des  Ceremonies.  Le  grand  Veneur  et  le 
grand  Maitre  des  Ceremonies  etaient  grands  officiers  de 
la  inaison  ;  les  autres.  grands  officiers  de  la  couronne."— 
Uiatoire  de  la  Restauration,  vii.  114. 


Sire,  1  owe  him  every  thing — even  the  happi. 
ness  of  serving  your  Majesty." 

A  more  important  change  was  adopted  sooi> 
after,  which  tended,  more  than  any  „. 

thing  else,  to  the  prolonged  existence  New  organ, 
of  tiie  dynasty  of  the  Restoration,  i/ation  of 
This  was  an  entirely  new  organiza-  ""^  a"")'- 
tion  of  the  ai'iny.     The  object  of  the   former 
division  of  the  troops  into  departmental  legions 
had  been,  to  destroy  the  disalfected  spirit  of  the 
Imperial  army,  by  breaking  up  the  regiments 
from  whose  esprit  dc  corpa  its  continuance  was 
chiefly  to  be  aj)prehended ;  and  the  measure  had 
in  a  great  degree  been  attended  with  success. 
But  the  military  consi)iracy  of  August  19,  and 
the  certain  information  obtained  that  a  consid- 
erable part  of  the  army  had  been  privy  to  it, 
proved  that  the  new  regulation.s,  recently  intro- 
duced, regarding  promotion  in  the  army,  which 
determined  it  by  certain  fixed  rules,  irrespective 
of  the  choice  of  the  sovereign,  was  fraught  with 
danger,  and  might,  at  some  future  period,  provo 
fatal  to  the  monarchy.     M.  Latour-Maubourg, 
accordingh',  felt  the  necessity  of  a  change  of 
■system ;  and  he  presented  a  report  to  the  king, 
stating  a  variety  of  considerations,  Avhich,  how- 
ever just,  were  not  the  real  ones,*  which  de- 
termined the  alteration  he  proposed — a  return 
to  the  old  system.     According  to  his 
recommendation,    a    new    ordonnance  j^go 
was   issued,   which   re-established   the 
army,  very  much  on  the  footing  on  which  it 
had  stood  prior  to  the  great  change  introduc- 
ing departmental  legions  in  1815.     The  infant- 
ry was  divided  into  eighty  regiments,  of  which 
sixty  were  of  the  line,  and  twenty  light  infant- 
ry.    Each  regiment  consisted  of  three  battal- 
ions, and  each  battalion  of  eight  companies; 
each  company  of  three  officers  and  eighty  sub- 
officers  and  soldiers.     Thus  each  regiment,  in- 
cluding field-officers,  consisted  of  two  thousand 
and  ten  men,  and  the  whole  foot-soldiers  of  a 
hundred  and  sixt3'-one  thousand  men.'     Four- 
teen  etats-majors,   six  legions,   and  i  jyjonjteur 
between   two   thousand    and  three  Oct.  28, 
thousand  officers,  were  put  on  half-  1S20;  Ann. 
pay.     No  change  was  made  on  the  |3|'234'. 
guards    or    cavalry,    the    spirit    of  ord'on- 
which  was  known  to  be  sufficiently  nanee,  Oct. 
good.     The  ordonnance  experienced  ^''  ^'*^'^- 
no  resistance   in   any  quarter;  very  much  in 
consequence  of  its  gratifying  the  soldiers,  by 
ordering  the   resumption  of  the  old  blue  uni- 
form, associated  with  so  many  recollections — a 
change  which  induced  them  to  hope,  at  no  dis- 
tant period,  for  the  restoration  of  the  tricolor 
cockade. 


*  •'  Que  I'appel  sous  les  drapeaux  des  jcunes  soldats 
donnail  lieu,  dans  le  sysleme  des  legions,  a  des  depensea 
considerables,  par  la  necessite  de  les  dinger  sur  les  le- 
gions de  Icur  departement,  qui  en  etait  souvent  place  ^ 
une  grande  distance  ;  or  en  diminuant  la  distance  a  par- 
courir,  on  obtenait  avec  une  reduction  dans  les  depenses, 
I'avantage  de  compter  moins  de  deserteurs.  Dans  cer- 
taines  legions  le  nombre  des  sujets  capables  est  si  grand, 
que  I'avancement  qui  leur  est  devolu,  n'offre  pas  assez 
de  chances  pour  les  retenir  au  service,  tandis  que  dans 
d'autres  legions  on  est  totalement  depourvu  de  bona  sous- 
officiers ;  et  puis,  a  la  guerre,  ou  dans  le  cas  d'une  expe- 
dition lointaine  un  fevenement  malheureux  peserait  tout 
entier  sur  la  population  militaire  du  quelques  departe- 
ments,  et  rendrait  impossible,  pour  longlemps,  la  reor- 
ganisation de  leur  corps." — RapjMtrt  de  M.  de  (iourwn  St. 
Vijr.  Capefigue,  Histoire  de  la  Rentauration,  vii.  115, 
110. 


1820.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


31\ 


A  change  not  less  important,  both  in  its 
92  effects  and  as  indicating  the  altered 
Ordon-  disposition  of  the  Government,  was 
nance  re-  niade  by  the  Minister  of  the  Interior 
DuWicfn-  ^"  ^''®  important  matter  of  public 
struction.  instruction.  An  ordonnance  of  the 
Nov.  1,  king  re-established  the  "Secretaries 
1820.  General"  of  schools,  which  had  been 

abolished  in  1816.  These  officers  were  erected 
into  a  roj'al  commission,  of  which  M.  Corbiere 
soon  became  the  head ;  and  their  duty  was  to 
cxei'cise  a  superintendence  over  the  system  of 
education  pursued,  and  the  works  read,  in  all 
the  schools  of  the  kingdom.  As  they  virtually 
came  in  place  of  the  old  university  of  JS'a^ioleon, 
and  discharged  its  functions,  so  they  were  di- 
vided into  its  departments,   and  resumed  its 

1  Vide  Hist,  costume.'  The  object  of  this  meas- 
of  Europe,  ure,  as  that  of  Kapoleon  had  for- 
c   I.  t)ij  78,  nierly    been,    was    to    bring    public 

opinion  into  harmony  with  the  exist- 
ing dynasty  and  sj'stem  of  government  by 
moulding  the  minds  of  the  rising  generation. 
An  academy  of  medicine  was  soon  after  created 
Dec.  20.       t)y  the  king,  and  several  stringent 

2  An  H  St  I'^gul'i'^ior's  passed,  the  object  of 
ill.  232,  which  was  to  restrain  the  turbulent 
233  ;  Moni-  and  refractory  spirit  which,  in  the  late 
2^l"'l'82o'^      tumults,  had  manifested  itself  in  Paris 

'         ■       in  the  students  of  law  and  physic." 
All   these    matters,    however,    though   most 
()3  momentous  in  their  ultimate  effects. 

The  king's  yielded  in  importance  to  the  elec- 
circular  to  tions,  upon  the  result  of  which  the 
Oct.^25"''"'  f'^^e  of  the  Ministr}^  in  a  great 
measure,  depended,  and  which  were 
this  year  of  the  greater  importance,  that 
they  would  indicate,  for  the  first  time,  the 
working  of  the  new  Electoral  Law  upon  the 
composition  of  the  Legislature.  At  a  Cabinet 
Council  assembled  to  consider  this  question,  M. 
Pasquier  stated,  that  the  circumstances  ap- 
peared to  be  so  grave  that  a  circular  should  be 
written  by  the  king  to  the  electors,  explaining 
his  views,  and  the  course  which  he  was  desir- 
ous they  should  adopt  on  tlie  occasion.  Louis 
caught  up  the  idea;  and,  to  render  the  royal 
intervention  still  more  ajiparent,  he  proposed 
that  M.  Pasquier  should  draw  up  the  address, 
that  he  should  correct  it,  copy  it  over  witli  his 
own  hand,  and  sign  it,  and  that  litltographic 
copies  of  the  roi/al  aictorfraph  nhould  be  sent  to 
every  elector  in  the  kiiujdom.  This  was  accord- 
ingly done,  and  a  Imndred  thousand  copies 
thrown  off  and  circulated  for   that  purpose.* 


*  "  Une  libcrte  forte  ct  legitime,  fondce  sur  dos  lois 
cmanees  de  son  amour  pour  les  Fraii^ais,  ct  dc  son 
csperancc  des  temps,  etait  assurec  a  ses  peuples  :  '  Ecar- 
tez  des  fonctions  de  depute,'  ajoutait-il,  'les  fauteurs  de 
troulilcs,  les  artisans  de  discordes,  les  propagateurs  d'in- 
justes  defiances  centre  moil  gouvcrnement.  II  dcp(;iiii  de 
vous  d'assurer  le  repos,  la  gloire  et  Ic  bonheur  de  nntre 
commune  patrie ;  vous  en  avcz  la  volontc,  iiiaiiifcstc/,-la 
par  vos  f;tioix.  l,a  France  touchc  an  niomcnt  dc  nccvoir 
le  prix  de  tous ses  sacrifices,  dc  voir  ses  iiiiputs  ;liminiRs, 
les  charges  jjubliques  allegocs  ;  ct  ce  n'est  pas  ipiand 
tout  neurit  et  tout  prospere,  qu'il  faut  mettre  dans  les 
mains  des  faciicux,  et  livrcr  a  leurs  desseins  pcrvcrs,  les 
arts,  rindustri(!,  la  paix  des  families,  et  une  felicite  que 
tous  les  peuples  de  la  tcrre  envient.  Vos  deputes  choisis 
parmi  les  citoyens,  amis  sinceres  et  7.(;les  de  la  charte, 
devoues  an  trone  et  a  la  patrie,  aflTcrmiront  avec  moi 
I'ordrc  sans  lequcl  nnlh;  sorieto  ne  pcut  cxister;  et 
j'affermjrai  avi-c  eux  ces  liberies  que  deux  Ibisje  vous  ai 
rendues,  et  ipii  ont  toujours  en  pour  asile  le  trone  de  rnes 
aieux.'  "—Louis  XV II I.  aur  lilectcurs,  25 October,  1820  ; 


This  is  a  very  curious  circumstance,  strongly 
indicative  of  how  little  the  first  elements  of 
constitutional  government  were  understood  in 
France.  They  were  destitute  of  what  must 
ever  be  the  basis  of  the  fabric — the  power  of 
self-direction.  Both  the  Ro}-alists  and  the  Lib- 
erals were  aware  of  this,  and  neither  wished  to 
alter  it.  They  regarded  the  people  as  a  vast 
army,  which  would  best  discharge  its  duties 
when  it  obeyed  with  docility  the  voice  of  its 
chiefs;  they  had  no  conception  of  the  chiefs 
obeying  the  voice  of  the  army.  Sad  and  ir- 
remediable effect  of  the  destruction  of  all  inter- 
mediate ranks  and  influence  by  the  Revolu- 
tion, which  left  only  the  executive  standing 
erect,  in  awful  strength,  amidst  the  level  sur- 
face of  the  people.  Of  the  two,  however,  the 
Royalists  were  the  most  likely,  if  they  had 
been  permitted  to  do  so,  to  prepare  the  people 
for  the  exercise  of  constitutional  rights;  be- 
cause they  desired  to  restore  the  nobility, 
hierarchy,  and  provincial  incorporations,  by 
whom  a  public  opinion  and  rural  influence, 
capable  of  counter-balancing  the  executive, 
might  be  formed :  but  it  is  more  than  doubtful 
whether  the  attempt  coT.tld  have  been  success- 
ful; because,  in  their  insane  passion  for  equal- 
ity, the  nation  would  not  permit  the 
foundation  even  of  the  edifice  to  be  liu'^fon^''' 
laid.'  "^'  ^^"• 

At  length  the  elections  came,  and  wei-o  more 
favorable  to  the  Royalists  than  their  „. 
most  sanguine  hopes  could  have  an-  Result  of 
ticipated.  They  demonstrated  not  theelec- 
only  the  magnitude  of  the  change  '"i",""^ '^^'9''; 
made  on  the  constituency  by  the  late  Royalists 
change  in  the  Electoral  Law,  but 
the  reaction  which  had  taken  place  in  the 
public  mind  from  the  birth  of  the  Duke  of 
Bordeaux,  and  improved  prospects  of  the  Bour- 
bon dj-nasty.  Not  merel}'  M'cre  the  whole  new 
members  elected  for  the  departments  chosen 
for  the  first  time  by  the  fourth  of  the  whole 
who  paid  the  highest  amount  of  t.txes — one 
hundred  and  sixty  in  number — with  a  few  ex- 
cei)tions,  on  the  Ro3'alist  side,  but  even  those 
for  the  arrondissements,  of  whom  a  fifth,  ac- 
cording to  the  existing  law,  were  changed, 
proved,  for  the  first  time  since  the  coup-d'etat 
of  5th  September,  181(j,  on  the  whole  favorable 
to  their  views.  Out  of  forty-si.x  to  be  chosen 
to  fill  up  the  fifth,  twenty -seven  Avere  Royalists 
and  onh^  seventeen  Liberal.  On  the  whole, 
the  Royalists  had  now,  for  the  first  time  since 
1815,  obtained  a  decided  jireponderance  in  the 
popular  branch  of  the  lcgi.slature.  I'assionalely 
desirous  of  victory  in  civil  equally  as  military 
contests,  the  majority  of  the  French  in  any 
conflict  invariably,  irrespective  of  princij>le, 
range  themselves  on  the  side  of  success.  The 
principle,  so  strong  in  England,  of  dogged  re- 
sistrnce  to  victorious  power,  is  almost 
unknown  among llieiii.  Louis  X VIII. 
was  terrified  at  the  success  of  the  vii.  120, 
friends  of  the  monarchy.  =  "We  shall  'r.' :  Ann. 
be  overwhelmed,  M.  do  Richelieu," 
said  he:   "can  you  possibly  restrain 


s  Lac.  iii. 
20, 21;  Cap. 


Hist.  iii. 
231,  232. 


Annuaircs  Uistnriqurs,\\i.  231  ;  wmXCwzviovr.,  Ilistoirr 
(If  la  lirxtfiuratinn,  vii.  110,  121.  The  idea  of  J.ouis 
XIV.,  "  1,'etat,  c'cst  nioi,"  is  very  .npparcnt  in  this  pro. 
clumation  of  his  descendant,  notwitlislaiiding  all  the  les- 
so!is  of  the  Rovoluiion. 


r.i2 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.  IX. 


f  uoli  a  ni:iji>i  it y  i"  Vt'o  have  tlio  word  of  Mon- 
sieur," roi>lii'>l  llio  Miiiiritor;  niul  at  all  evonts, 
it  was  iiKJispi'iisublo  ubove  all  to  save  tho 
monarchy. 

Tliis  gront  clinnpe  in  tlic  composition  of  tlio 
95  popular  ilt'putii'S  proved   decisivt'ly 

EfTi'ct  of  iiow  nuK'li  tlif  lunt;-(.-ontinuod  asconj- 
tla-  rlianso  oncv  of  I  lie  l.ihorals  liad  been  owint; 
la  ilie  As-  („  ji,^,  f,^,.,i  ^.iiv.its  of  a  const itu.Micv 
founded  on  one  nuijorm  quatijicatum, 
which  the  coupditnt  of  6tli  tjeptember,  181(1, 
had  introduced.  The  Royalists  and  their  ad- 
lierents  in  the  Centre  were  now  fully  two- 
thirds  of  the  Assembly ;  and  this  majority  was 
formidable,  not  only  I'rom  its  number,  but  from 
its  ardent  and  uncompromising;  character.  Is'ow 
was  seen  how  little  crime  advances  any  cause: 
decjily  did  the  Liberals  mourn  the  murder  of 
the  Duke  de  Borri.  Among  the  new  deputies 
were  upward  of  sixty  of  the  old  Chamber  of 
1815,  whom  the  change  in  the  law  had  since 
excluded  from  the  Chambei',  and  who  had 
nursed  in  solitude  their  opinions,  and  become 
contirmed  in  their  prejudices.  M.  do  Pej-ron- 
net,  who  had  been  king's  advocate  at  Bourges, 
was  returned,  but  he  was  cautious  and  reserved 
at  first,  and  far  from  presaging  the  eminence 
which  as  Minister  he  afterwards  attained.  M. 
Dudon,  who  had  commenced  his  official  career 
rather  unfortunately,  soon  rose  to  eminence, 
chietly  from  the  great  facility  of  speaking 
which  he  possessed,  and  the  energy  with  which 
lie  defended  any  cause  which  he  espoused. 
General  Donnadieu,  who  had  become  known 
by  the  prompt  suppression  of  the  insurrection 
at  Grenoble,  and  the  exaggeration  and  violence 
with  which  it  was  followed,  acquired  distinc- 
tion also,  from  the  intrepidity  of  his  thoughts 
and  the  fearlessness  of  his  language.  lie  was 
able  and  energetic  in  his  ideas,  but  impetuous 
and  declamatory  in  liis  language — a  peculiarity 
very  common  with  military  men,  when  thej^ 
become  orators  or  authors,  and  one  which  sen- 
sibly impedes  their  influence.  An  ultra-Roj-al- 
ist,  he  included  the  whole  Ministry  in  his  long- 
cherished  hatred  of  M.  Decazes,  and  did  not 
advert  to  the  rapid  modification  toward  Royal- 
ist principles  which  it  was  undergoing.  The 
Libei'als  beheld  with  satisfaction  those  feuds 
1  Cap.  vii.  among  their  adversaries,  and  loudly 
128.  131 :  applauded  General  Donnadieu  in  his 
I.ac.  iii.  20,  diatribes  against  the  administration 
of  the  Duke  de  Richelieu.' 

The  first  public  proof  of  the  leaning  of  the 
g.  Ministry    toward    the    Royalists  — 

Accession  '^'hich,  in  truth,  had  become  tmavoid- 
"fViiiele,  able  from  the  composition  of  the 
^cc.  to  the  Chambers — was  given  by  the  ap- 
^'  pjointment  of  M.  de  Chateaubriand 
to  the  embassy  at  Berlin,  which  he  aceej)ted, 
at  the  special  request  of  the  Duke  de  Richelieu. 
It  was  arranged  between  the  Royalist  chiefs 
and  the  Premier  that  AL  de  Yillule  and  M.  de 
Corbiere  should,  at  the  same  time,  be  taken 
into  the  administration ;  but  there  was  some 
difficulty  in  finding,  at  the  moment,  places  for 
men  of  their  acknowledged  talents  and  weight 
in  the  legislature.  It  was  got  over  by  the 
moderation  of  M.  de  A^illele,  who,  set  on  liigher 
objects  of  ambition,  stooped  to  conquer.  "Do 
something  for  Corbiere:  a  place  in  the  king's 
Council  is  enoucrh  for  me."     It  was  arrarn'cd 


accordingly  that  M.  I.ainC  should,  in  the  mean 

time,  cede  the  ])ort-folio  of  Public  Instruction 

to  AI.  de  Corbiere,  and  thatM.  de  Villele  should 

be  admitted  without  office  into  the  Cabinet; 

but  llie  appointment  did  not  appear  in  the  J/on- 

itinri\\\  after  the  session  commenced. 

The  only  condition  which  M.  de  Vil-  !.,^il"";,''" 

lele  made  on  enlenng  tlie  Cabinet,  briand.  vii. 

was  that  a  new  Municipal  Law  shouid  2*6,  279  ; 

be  introduced  by   the  (iovernmeut,  r.^',",^'.'- 
...  ,         •'  Til  '31,  My.. 

winch  was  done  accordingly.' 

The  Chambers  nut  on  the  20th  December, 

and  the  speech  of  the  king,  which 

was    delivered   in    the    hall    of   the  sp^pph  of 

Louvre  bearing  the  name  of  Henry  the  king, 

lY.,  on  account  of  the  health  of  his  and  an- 

maiesty  not  permitting  him  to  go  to  s"'^'''?'^'''^ 
..   ■>  ,,  •  J      ,      T       ■  1    .•        i>    1       Chambers, 

the  Palace  oi  the  Legislative  Body, 

earnestly  counseled  moderation  and  unanimity. 
"Every  tiling  annoimced,"  said  lie,  "that  the 
modifications  introduced  into  our  electoral  sys- 
tem will  produce  the  desired  results.  What- 
ever adds  to  the  influence  and  consideration  of 
the  legislature,  adds  to  the  authority  and  dig- 
nity of  my  crown.  By  strengthening  the  re- 
lations necessary  between  the  monarch  and  the 
Chambers,  we  shall  succeed  in  forming  such  a 
system  of  government  as  a  great  monarchy  such 
as  France  will  require  in  all  time  to  come.  It 
is  to  accomplish  these  designs  that  I  would  see 
the  daj-s  prolonged  which  Providence  may  ac- 
cord to  me  ;  and,  to  insure  this  great  object, 
desire  that  you  may  reckon  on  my  firm  and 
invariable  will,  and  I  on  jour  lojal  and  con- 
stant support."  The  address  was,  as  usual,  an 
echo  of  the  speech  ;  but  it  terminated  with  ex- 
pressions which  revealed  the  ruling  feelings  of 
the  majority,  and  furnish  the  key  to  nearly  the 
whole  subsequent  career  of  the  Royalist  ad- 
ministration in  France.  "  To  fortify  the  author- 
ity of  religion,  and  purify  morals  by  a  system 
of  education  at  once  Christian  and  monarchical ; 
to  give  to  the  armed  force  that  organization 
which  may  secure  tranquillity  within  and  peace 
without ;  to  improve  all  our  institutions  which 
rest  on  the  charter,  and  are  intended  to  pro- 
tect our  liberties — such  are  the  well-known  in- 
tentions of  j-our  majesty,  and  such  also  are  our 
duties.  "We  will  pursue  "these  ameliorations  with 
the  moderation  which  is  the  accompaniment 
of  strength;  we  will  obtain  them  by  patience, 
which  is  the  act  of  awaiting  in  patience  the 
fruits  of  the  beneficial  changes  already  intro- 
duced. May  Heaven,  measuring  the  years  of 
your  Majesty  by  the  wishes  and  prayers  of  j-our 
people,  cause  to  dawn  on  France  those  happy 
and  serene  days  which  are  presaged  ^ 
by  the  birth  of  a  new  heir  to  the  ^^  g,  3,'"  ' 
throne."^  "You  have  expressed,"  Doc' Hist 
said  the  monarch  in  reply,  "my  in-  App.  5t5, 
tentions,  and  your  ansv.-er  is  a  pledge  ^-j'  '145^'* 
that  you  will  second  them.  I  repeat 
it:  if  I  wish  to  prolong  my  days,  it  is  to  con. 
solidate  the  institutions  I'have  given  to  my 
people.  But  whatever  may  be  the  intentiorii* 
of  Providence,  let  us  never  Wget  our  constitu- 
tional maxim,  'The  king  never  dies  in  France.'" 
Although  these  expressions  and  allusion.^ 
seemed  to  presage  an  important  and  perliaps 
eventful  session,  yet  it  proved  otherwise,  and 
the  session  passed  over  with  fewer  legislative 
nieaau-cs  of  importance  than  any  which  had 


1820.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


313 


cuf'ed  since  the  Restoration.  The  reason  was 
gg  that  the  Royalist  mnjoritj'  was  so 
Measures  decided  that'the  strife  of  party  was 
of  the  ses-  over,  while,  at  tlie  same  time,  as  they 
sion,  fixing  ^ygj.g  g^jn  ju  ^  niinority  in  the  Cab- 
tUe   bound-    .      ,      , ,  ,  ,         .    ,■'  •         r-  ^ 

ariesofthe  met,  they  could  not  bring  lorward 
electoral  those  measures  on  which  their  lead- 
districts.  gj.g  -^yere  ggt^  -^vith  a  view  to  modify 
the  general  frame  and  intluenee  of  Govern- 
ment. The  initiation  of  laws  still  belonged  to 
the  king's  Ministers  :  the  opposition  could  only 
introduce  their  ideas  by  amendments,  which, 
however,  often  assumed  the  importance  of  orig- 
inal propositions.  An  important  bill  in  its  prac- 
tical effects,  though  not  so  much  so  in  appear- 
ance, was  introduced  and  carried,  to  determ- 
ine the  boundaries  of  electoral  districts.  It 
was  intended  to  increase  the  Royalist  influence, 
and  did  so  most  effectually.  Great  difficulty- 
was  experienced  in  arranging  the  details  of  the 
municipal  law  which  had  been  promised  to  M. 
de  Villele,  but  at  length  M.  Mounier  succeeded 
in  drawing  one  which  met  the  views  of  both 
parties.  But  being  founded  on  a  compromise, 
it  was  really  acceptable  to  neither ;  and  it  expe- 
rienced so  much  resistance  in  the  Chamber  that 
after  a  prolonged  discussion  it  was  at  length 

1  A«  Tr-,t    witlidrawn.    The  king  said  on  this  oc- 

1  An.  iiist.         .  Till       111       •! 

iv.  44,  51;  casion,"!  had  abandoned  the  rights  of 
Cap.  vii.  the  crown ;  the  Chambers  would  not 
149,151.  permit  it:  I  have  learned  a  lesson."' 
The  strength  of  the  Roj-alists  in  tlie  Chamber 
made  Ministers  feel  the  necessity  of 
Law  for  bringing  forward  some  measure  in 
additional  support  of  the  Church,  upon  which 
ecclesiasti-  they  were  so  anxiously  set.  They 
did  so  accordingly,  and  the  law  they 
proposed  gave  the  king  power  to 
establish  twelve  new  bishoprics,  and  to  raise 
considerably  the  salaries  of  the  clergy  in  those 
situations  where  it  might  be  deemed  necessary. 
The  report  of  the  commission,  to  whom  tlie 
matter  was  referred,  bore  "  that  religion,  rest- 
ing between  the  two  concordats  of  1801  and 
1817,  without  any  solid  basis,  was  reduced  with 
its  ministers  to  the  most  dej)lorable  state,  to 
which  the  legislature  is  not  sufficiently  alive. 
The  absolute  absence  of  religion  in  the  country 
districts  is  an  evil  to  whicli  no  other  is  com- 
parable. Civilization  is  the  perfection  of  the 
laws — very  dittercnt  from  jioliteness,  wliich  is 
the  perfection  of  tiic  arts — and  is  nothing  but 
Christianity  applied  to  the  legislation  of  socie- 
ties. The  law  met  with  very  violent  opposition 
from  the  Liberal  party  in  the  Chamber,  but  it 
passed  by  a  majority  of  more  flian  two  to  one 
— the  numbers  being  219  to  105:  a  result  which 

2  An.  Hist.'  siifhcieiitlj-  indicated  the  vast  change 
iv.  %,  110;  whicii  tlie  recent  changes  in  the 
Cap.  vii.  Electoral  Law  had  made  in  the  popu- 
151,  152.       ],j,.  i„.a„^.j,  yj- 1,|,(,  h'gislature.^' 

The  return  of  peace,  and  opening  of  its  har- 
]QQ  bors  to  tlie  coiimierce  of  all  nations, 

Modifica-  had  produced,  thongli  in  a  lesser  dc- 
t ion. s  ill  the  gree,  tiie  same  effect  in  Franco  as  in 
corn-laws.  (.^.^.^^^  ]J,.it,^in  It,ip„rtation  had  in- 
creased to  a  degree  whicli  excited  alarm  ;  and 
the  grain  districts  loudly  demanded  some  re- 
Btrictions  upon  foreign  iiiiportatif)n,  as  a  pi'o- 
tectiori  to  native  industry.  In  the  course  of 
the  discussion,  M.  de  Villele  stated,  that  tlie 
annual  consumption  of  France  was  100,000,000 


cal  endow- 
ments 


hectolitres  of  grain;  that  the  crop  of  1819  had 
exceeded  that  amount  by  a  tenth ;  notwith- 
standing which  1,400,000  hectolitres,  or  about 
1-100  of  the  annual  consumption,  had  been 
imported;  while  the  exportation  had  only 
been  538,000  hectolitres;  leaving  a  balance  of 
862,000  hectolitres  introduced  when  not  re- 
quired. The  import  duty  paid  on  these  862,000 
hectolitres  was  2,573,000  francs.  The  importa- 
tion came  chiefly  from  Odessa,  America,  and 
Egypt.  The  regulations  proposed  and  adopted 
in  consequence  were  chiefly  of  a  local  charac- 
ter, throwing  restrictions  on  the  importation 
of  foreign  grain,  by  limiting  the  number  of 
places  where  it  might  be  received.  But  the 
inci'cased  importation,  even  under  the  consid- 
erable protecting  duty  which  existed  in  Franco, 
is  a  valuable  illustration  of  the  eternal  law, 
that  the  old  and  rich  state  is  always  undersold 
in  the  productions  of  subsistence  by  the  poor 
one,  as  much  as  it  undersells  the  i  y^j,  ijigt_ 
latter  in  the  production  of  manufac-  iv.  75,  89, 
tures.'*  ^^^• 

A  law,  which  excited  much  more  attention, 
though  not  of  so  much  real  import- 
ance, was  brought  forward  by  Gov-  Lawforthe 
eminent  for  an  indemnity  to  the  Im-  indemnity 
perial  donataries.     These   were  the  of  the  ini- 

marshals,  generals,  and  others  whom,  J't^il'f "' 
1    ■       1  •        r  1     AT  iidtariesj. 

as  explained  in  a  former  work,  JNapo- 

leon  had  endowed,  often  richly,  out  of  the 
revenues  of  Italj^  Germany,  and  other  coun- 
tries over  which  his  poAver  extended,  during 
the  spring-tide  of  his  fortunes,^  but  2  jjist.  of 
who,  by  the  refluenee  of  his  dominion  Europe,  c. 
to  the  limits  of  Old  France,  had  been  ■•  *  ^^■ 
entirely  bereaved  of  their  possessions,  and  were 
reduced  to  great-  straits  in  consequence.  The 
distresses  of  these  persons  had  been  such,  that 
they  obtained  a  slight  relief  from  the  Treasury 
by  the  finance  law  of  1818,  but  now  it  was  pro- 
posed to  give  them  a  durable  indemnity.  As 
many  of  these  persons  were  of  the  highest  rank, 
and  their  names  associated  with  the  most  glori- 
ous epochs  of  the  Empire,  the  proposal  excited 
a  very  great  sensation,  and  was  loudly  ap- 
plauded by  the  Imperial  party,  who  were  to 
profit  by  it.  The  intention  of  (jlovernment  was 
to  make  this  grant  to  the  time-honored  relics 
of  the  Imperial  regime  a  precedent  for  the 
great  indemnity  whicii  they  meditated  to  the 
emigrants  and  otiiers  who  had  been  dispossessed 
of  tlieir  estates  by  the  Revolution;  for  after 
the  Liberals  had  uiiaiiiniously  supported  grants 
from  tlie  public  funds  for  the  relief  of  their 
chief's  who  had  lost  their  [tossessions  by  the 
calamities  of  war,  it  was  not  ea.sy  to  see  on 
wliat   principle    they  could   oppose  a  similar 


*  The  price  of  wheat  at  (Jdcssa  was,  on  an  average, 
this  year — which  was  there  one  of  scarcity — 12  francs; 
freight  to  Marseilles,  3  Irancs  50  cents,  and  the  iinjiort 
duty  5  francs  50  cents  ;  in  all  20  francs  (His.)  the  hecto- 
litre;, or  48s.  the  quarter.  The  usual  price  at  Odessa  was 
4  francs  the  hectolitre,  which  corresponds  to  about  12 
francs  (10s.)  the  quarter.  Kxiiorlation  was  permitted  in 
France  by  the  law  of  14th  DcceiiilHr,  1814,  only  when  the 
price  in  the  frontier  dcpartmcniN  was  23  francs  lor  tlio 
best  wheat,  21  francs  for  the  second,  and  19  francs  for  the 
third,  which  showed  that  the  average  cost  of  jiroductioii 
was  above  the  liiRhest  of  these  sums.  The  import  duty 
was  5  francs  50  cents  the  hectolitre,  hut  even  at  this  liruli 
import  duty  the  inllux  of  foreign  grain  ft-om  America, 
Odessa,  and  llie  Nile  had  caused  a  ruinous  full  of  prices 
in  all  the  soirtliern  provinces. — L'Annuairi:  Jlisloritjut, 


:nt 


11  ISTor.  Y    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.  IX. 


praiit  to  the  sutTorors  uiulor  (lio  t-oiitiscatidns 
oftlio  Ki'vulution.  Till'  Kovalu-its,  Iiowon  or,  did 
not  >ti'  tlii.s  or  tlu'v  liad  no  liiilli  in  tlio  cxic^t- 
ing  .Ministry  oarn  intr  out  this  di-.sii^n,  as  Mar- 
shal .Maoilonald.  wlio  introdiiocd  the  project  in 
1S14,  had  intended,  and  it  met  aceordingly 
with  ti»e  most  impassioned  resistance  from  the 
Kiiiht  of  the  Assembly.  No  words  can  describe 
the  indignation  of  the  Royalists  when  they 
heanl  the  names  of  the  chief  persons  to  be  bene- 
fited bv  the  new  law,  embracing  the  principal 
leaders"  of  the  Napoleonist  party,  and  those 
most  deeply  implicated  in  tlie  conspiracy  of 
1815.*  "It  is,"  said  M.  Duplessis,  "a  reward 
for  conspirators."  The  indemnity  proposed  was 
nn  inscription  on  the  Grand  Livro — in  other 
words,  the  gift  of  so  much  stock  in  the  Five  per 
Tents,  bearing  date  '22d  Sept.,  1821,  in  certain 
fixed  proportions.  The  bill  underwent  many 
amendments  in  committee ;  but  at  length,  after 

I  .  II  .  creat  hesitation,  indicative  of  weak- 
'  An.  Ilist.  »  ,  .    c-K,-   •  i.        -i  J 

iv.  115,1-28;  nesson  the  partof  Mmisters,  it  passed 
Cap.  vii.  as  originally  proposed  by  a  majority 
148,149.       of  203  to  125.' 

The  question  of  the  censorship  of  the  press 
still  remained,  which  afforded  as 
Law  re-  regular  a  subject  for  the  encounter 
garding  the  of  parties  in  France  as  that  of  Catholic 
censorship  Emancipation  did  in  England.  Al- 
ofthepress.  tijo^gh  the  Ministry  was  now  of  so 
mixed  a  character  that  it  might  reasonably 
have  been  supposed  that  both  sets  of  journalists, 
having  each  something  to  hope  from  the  Gov- 
ernment, would  support  it,  yet  it  proved  other- 
wise ;  and  there  is  no  period  in  the  whole  an- 
nals of  the  Restoration  when  the  press  was  more 
violent,  or  parties  were  more  exasperated  against 
each  other.  Perhaps  this  was  unavoidable: 
the  effect  of  the  change  in  the  Electoral  Law 
■was  now'  evident,  and  a  party  in  possession  of 
power  is  never  so  exasperated  as  when  it  sees 
the  reins  gradually  but  perceptibly  slipping 
from  its  hands.  The  Minister  of  the  Interior 
accordingly,  Count  Simeon,  brought  forward  a 
project  for  continuing  the  censorship,  alleging, 
in  justification  of  the  proposal,  that  it  had 
during  the  past  year  been  so  gently  exercised, 
that  no  fair  discussion  had  ever  been  interfered 
with,  but  intemperate  abuse  alone  excluded. 
The  commission,  however,  to  which  the  matter 
was  referred,  reported  against  the  project,  and 
Government,  in  the  Chamber  itself,  were  de- 
feated on  an  amendment  proposed  by  M.  Cour- 
tarvel,  on  the  part  of  the  Liberals,  that  the  re- 
striction should  continue  only  three  months 
after  the  commencement  of  the  session  of  1821. 
Thus  modified,  however,  the  proposal  passed 
a  An.  Ilist.  into  ^  1^^  ^^  the  Deputies  by  a 
iv.  180,191',  majoritvof  214  to  112;  in  the  Peers, 
19^-  by  83  to  45.2 

Tliis  debate  was  chiefly  memorable  for  the 

jQ,  first  open  declaration  of  opinion  on 

Speech  of  M.  the   part  of    Ministers,    which   re- 

Pasquicr  on    vealed  an  irreconcilable  division  of 

the  occasion,  opinion  and  approaching  rupture  in 

the  Cabinet.     "  If  the  censorship," 


July  Ctb. 


*  They  were,  .MM.  Jean-Bon  Saint-Andre,  Jean  de  Bry, 
Quinette,  General  HuUin,  Labedoyere,  Marshal  Ney,  Count 
d'Estar,  General  Lefevre-Desnou'ettes,  General  Gifly,  Gen- 
eral .Mouton-Duvernet,  General  Clauzel,  Count  de  Laborde, 
General  Excclmans,  the  Duke  de  Bassano.  General  La- 
niarqiie.  Baron  .Mechin. — Capefigue, //ts^  de  la  Reala- 
uration,  vii.  149. 


said  M.  Pas(iuior,  "lias  boon  useful,  it  has  boon 
chiefly  in  wliat  relates  to  foreign   aflaiis,  and 
certainly  it  has  reinlercd  great  services,  in  that 
respect,    not  only   to   Franco,   but   to   Europe. 
We  are  accused  of  having  enmities  and  partial- 
ities;   yes,  I  admit  I  have  a  repugnance  to 
those  men,  to  whatever  party  they  belong,  who 
wish  to  trouble,   or,   without  intending  it,  do 
trouble,  the  tranquillity  of  our  country,  who 
disunite  minds  when  they  should  be  united.     I 
have  a  rcjiugnance  to  the  men  who,  too  often 
exhuming  from    the   tomb   the   revolutionary 
maxims,  would  gladly  make  them  a  means  of 
destroying  the   felicity  we   enjoy,  perverting 
the  rising  generation,  and  bringing  upon  their 
heads  the  evils  Avhich  have  so  long  desolated 
us.     I  have  a  repugnance  to  the  men  who,  by 
odious  recriminations,  generally  unjust,  always 
imiiolitic,  furnish  arms  and  auxiliaries  to  those 
whom  I  have  designated.     As  1  distrust  every 
usurpation,  I  have  a  repugnance  to  a  small  body 
of  men  who  would  claim  exclusively  for  them- 
selves the  title  of  Royalists — who  would  wish  to 
monopolize  for  themselves  the  sentiments  which 
belong  to  the  French  nation ;  and  who  w  ould 
every  day  contract  a  circle  which  it  is  for  the 
interest  of  all  should  be  expanded.     Still  more 
have  I  a  repugnance  to  the  same  men,  when 
they  evince  too  clearly  the  design  of  making 
of  a  thing  so  sacred  as  royalty,  and  the  power 
which  emanates  from  it,   the  instruments  of 
their  passions,  their  interests,  or  their  ambition. 
I  have  a  repugnance  to  these  men,  but  chiefly  be- 
cause I  feel  assured  that  if  they  obtained  all  that 
they  desire,  they  would  make  use  of  the  power 
they  have  acquired  for  no  other  end  but  to 
gratify  private  interests,  and  that  we  should  thus 
see  them  reproduce,  by  the  success-  i  Moniteur, 
ive  triumph  of  their  petty  ambition,  July  8, 
that  system   of  government  which,  jpi.  A""*- 
in   the    years    preceding  the   Revo-  i^~ .'  ^gp. 
lution,    had   done  such  mischief  to  vii.  157, 
France."'  1^^- 

When  sentimentssuch  as  these  were  expressed 
by  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Aff'airs,  in        104. 
language  so  unmeasured  in  regard  to  Increasing 
a  body  of  men  who  formed  part  of  nniauonof 
^,      -.,•!■  .  113  •      -^     •      parties, and 

the  Mmistr}-,  who  had  a  majority  in  difficulties 
both  Chambers,  and  whose  support  oi'the  Min- 
was   essential  to  their  existence,  it  's'O- 
was  evident  that  the  dissolution  of  the  Govern- 
ment was  at  hand.     The  difliculties  of  Ministers 
and  the  irritation  of  parties  increased  rapidly 
after  the  session  of  the  legislature  terminated. 
The  Count  d'Artois  and  the  Royalists  were  dis- 
satisfied that,  when  they  had  a  majority  in  the 
Chambers,   they  had  not  one  in  the  Ministry, 
and  that  M.  Polignac  and  Peyronn,et  had  not 
seats  in  the  Cabinet.     They  condemned  also,  in 
no  measured  terms,  the  conduct  of  the  Govern- 
ment, which,  after  having  obtained,  by  the  rev- 
elations made  in  the  course  of  the  trial  of  the 
conspirators  of  August  19th,  decisive  evidence j 
of  the  accession  of  the  Liberal  leaders,  especial-f 
ly  Lafayette  and  Manuel,  to  the  design  of  over 
throwing  the  Government,  let  them  escape  unJ 
touched,  and  chastised  even  the  inferior  delin-j 
quents  only  with  subordinate  penalties.*    ''M-l 


*  "  Pans  le  proces  des  troubles  du  mois  de  juin  le  pouJ 
voir  ministeriel  avait  reculedevant  un  systeme  de  penalite^ 
Irop  forte,  trop  afflictive.     De  tous  ces  debats  etait  re 
1  suitee  la  certitude  qu'il  existail  un  coniite  acuf,  dirigcan^ 


1S21.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


316 


(le  Richelieu  is  an  honest  man,  but  weak;  M. 
de  Serres,  uncertain;  M.  de  Pasquier,  a  Bona- 
pai'tist  in  disguise;  M.  Portal,  worst  of  all,  a 
Protestant;  M.  Roy,  a  representative  of  the 
Hundred  Days;  M.  Simeon,  the  minister  of  the 
Emperor  Jerome  ;  M.  Mounier,  secretary  to  the 
nsurper."  Such  was  the  language  of  the  Royal- 
ists, and  the  Liberals  and  Doctrinaires  were 
not  behind  them  in  vehemence.  In  particular, 
JM.  Guizot  published  a  pamphlet  entitled,  "  On 
the  Restoration  of  the  Present  Ministry,"  which 
made  a  great  noise,  chiefly  by  the  graphic  pic- 
ture it  presented  of  their  difficulties  and  divis- 
ions. The  bland  temper  and  moderate  disposi- 
tion of  the  Duke  de  Richelieu  was  sorely  tried 
I  n  I  R  •?  ^y  these  accumulated  attacks  on  ev- 
tauration  ery  side ;  and,  on  his  return  from  the 
ctdu Minis-  embassy  in  London,  he  complained 
•ereActuel,  ^g  ^i  Decazes  on  the  subject.  "I 
parM.  Gui-  ,  ■     j  »       •  i  i 

zot.  34  42  ■  "wonder  you  are  surprised,    said  Jie  : 

Cap.  vii.       "  they  betrayed  me,  they  will  betra}' 
161, 165,      you;  it  is  their  part  to  do  so:  it  is 
impossible  to  act  with  them."' 
At  length  matters  came  to  such  a  pass  that 
J 05         M.  de  Villele  and  M.  Corbiere,  find- 
Rupture       ing  they  could  no  longer  preserve 
with  the       terms  with  the  Royalists  on  the  one 
amifall'of    I'^iid,  and  the  semi-liberal  Ministry 
the  Riche-    on  the  other,  resigned  their  situations 
lieu  Minis-  shortly  before  the  parliamentary  ses- 
^^^ '  sion  came  to  a  close.     Chateaubriand 

retired  with  them,  greatly  regretted,  from  the 
embassy  at  Berlin.  Negotiations  upon  this  were 
opened  with  Monsieur  and  the  Royalist  chiefs, 
who  wished  to  retain  the  Duke  de  Richelieu  as 
premier,  but  demanded  the  Ministry  of  the  In- 
terior for  M.  de  Villele,  the  creation  of  a  Minis- 
try of  Public  Instruction  for  M.  Corbi6re,  the 
embassy  at  London  for  M.  de  Chateaubriand, 
and  another  embassy  for  M.  de  VitroUes.  The 
Cabinet  offered  the  Ministry  of  the  Marine  to 
M.  de  Villele,  but  held  firm  for  retaining  M. 
Mounier  in  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior,  by  far 
the  most  important  for  political  influence  of 
any  in  the  Government.  The  negotiations  broke 
off  on  this  vital  point,  and  Ministers,  without 
the  support  of  the  Right,  ventured  to  face  the 
next  session.  In  their  expectations,  however, 
of  being  able  to  go  on  without  their  support, 
they  soon  found  themselves  mistaken.  The 
elections  of  1821  considerably  augmented  the 
Royalist  majority,  already  so  great,  and  on  the 
first  division  in  the  Chamber  the  latter  were 
victorious  by  an  immense  majority.  The  speech 
of  the  Crown  was  studiously  guarded,  so  as  if 
])ossible  to  avoid  a  division  ;  but  in  the  answer 
of  tlie  Chamber  to  the  king,  a  passage  was  in- 
serted at  whicii  both  the  monarch  and  the 
Duke  de  Richelieu  took  mortal  offense,  as  seem- 
ing to  imply  a  doubt  of  their  patriotism  and 
lionor.*     The  king  returned  a  severe  answer  to 


dont  ICH  chffs  ct  Ich  jiroji-tH  ctaifiit  conrius.  Comment 
des  lors  les  Royalistr's  |i<)iivairiit-ils  n'oxplKjuer  cetlc  iii- 
Boucianceot  cette  tiiihlosMe  qui  s'arretaient  dcvanl  ccrtainH 
noms  propros  '  La  <;orrespoti(lanre  de  .M.dc  Lafayette avcc 
Cohier  de  la  Sarthu  revclait  Ioh  desHeins  et  leH  plans  revo- 
lulionnaircM :  pouniuoi  ne  pas  la  doponer  cornrnu  piece 
jirincipale  d'un  acle  d'accusalion  ?" — Capekioue,  Hist, 
de  la  Rextauratwn,  vii.  104. 

*  "  Nous  nous  fulicitons,  Sire,  do  vos  relations  constam- 
rncnt  armcales  avee  les  puissances  cininyeres;  dans  la 
juste confianc^e  (ju'une  paix  si  \)Tt-cuMsi-  n'rst  potnt  aclietfe 
purdcH  surrijiccs  incmnpatibhs  nvic  r/ininiiitr  itr  la  nation 
ct  avec  la  dignite  de  la  CouTonnc." — Moiutcur,  30tli  Nov., 
1B21.    Ann.  JItst.,  iv.  258. 


the  address,*  and  is  was  for  a  time  thought 
the  triumph  of  the  minister  was  complete;  but 
this  hope  proved  fallacious.  The  Duke  de 
Richelieu  found  his  situation  so  painful,  with  a 
decided  majority  hostile  to  him  ni  the  Chamber, 
that,  after  some  conference  with  the  Count 
d'Artois,  in  Avhieh  it  was  found  im-  i  cap.  vii. 
possible  to  come  to  an  understand-  220,  247 ; 
ing,  he  resolved  on  resigning  with  A"gnJli,4M'. 
all  his  colleagues,  which  was  ac-  Moniteur  ' 
cordingly  done  on  the  13th  of  De-  December 
cember.'  ^^'  l^^l. 

According  to  established  usage,  the  Duke  de- 
Richelieu  advised  the  king  whom  to  iqc 
send  for,  to  form  the  new  Ministry,  The  new 
and  he  of  course  recommended  M.  Ministry. 
de  Villele.  There  was  no  difficulty  in  forming 
a  Government ;  the  near  approach  of  the  crisis 
had  been  so  long  foreseen,  that  the  Roj'alists 
had  their  arrangements  all  complete.  M.  de 
Villele  was  President  of  the  Council  and  Min- 
ister of  Finance ;  M.  de  Peyronnet,  Seeretar}-  of 
State  and  Minister  of  Justice  ;  Viscount  Mont- 
morency, Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  ;  M.  Cor- 
biere, Minister  of  the  Interior  ;  Marshal  A^ictor, 
of  War ;  the  Marquis  Clermont-Tonncrre,  of 
the  Marine.  In  addition  to  this,  the  ex-minis- 
ters, M.  de  Serres,  General  Latour-Maubourg, 
Count  Simeon,  Baron  Portal,  and  M.  Roy,  were 
appointed  members,  as  usual  on  such  occasions, 
of  the  Privy  Council;  and,  in  addition,  Latour- 
Mauboui'g  was  appointed  Governor  of  the  In- 
valides.  The  Ministerial  revolution  was  com- 
plete ;  the  Pto^alists  were  in  entire  possession 
of  the  government,  and  the  change  in  all  subor- 
dinate, as  well  as  the  principal  offices,  was 
thorough  and  universal.  The  king  Avould  prob- 
ably never  have  oonsented  to  so  entire  a  revo- 
lution, had  he  possessed  the  bodily  or  mental 
vigor  which  he  did  in  the  earlier  parts  of  his 
reign.  But  tl.is  was  very  tsiv  from  being  the 
case.  His  health,  which  had  been  long  declin- 
ing, had  now  become  so  feeble  that  his  life  was 
almost  despaired  of;  and  he  had  fallen  into  that 
state  of  dependence  on  those  around  him,  which 
such  a  state  of  debility  generally  produces.  To 
a  monarch  who  was  not  able  to  rise  from  his 
chair,  who  was  wheeled  about  the  room,  and 
required  lobe  tended  almost  with  the  care  of  an 
infant,  the  influence  of  Monsieur,  the  Duchess 
d'Angouleme,  and  the  Countess  Du  Cayla,  was 
irresistible.  Louis,  in  fact,  had  almost  resigned 
the  reigns  of  government  to  his  brother.  He 
regarded  his  reign  as  liaving  terminated  with 
tiie  retirement  of  tlie  Duke  de  Riciielieu.  "  At 
last,"  said  he,  "  M.  do  Villele  triumphs:  I  know 
little  of  the  men  Avho  arc  entering  my  Council 
along  with  him  :-  1  believe,  however, 
that'  they  have  good  sense  enough  i)^'°",5''"'"' 
not  to  follow  blindly  all  tlio  follies  i821;  Ann. 
of  the  Right.  ]'"<)r  the  rest,  1  consid-  Hist.  iv. 
er  myself  annihilated  from  this  mo-  ?}^\,^^^' 
ment;  1  undergo  the  usual  fate  of 
constitutional   monarchs:    hitherto,  at  least,  I 


*  "  Dans  I'exil  it  la  iiersei-iilioii.j'ai  souteiui  iiies  droits, 
I'honneur  de  mu  rare  ct  cclui  du  nom  I'ranpais ;  sur  lo 
tronc,  cntouri;  <lu  iiion  pcuiple,  jo  nritidiiiiie  a.  lu  sculo 
pen.sce  que  je  puisso  jamais  Bacriller  riionncur  fran(;ais 
et  la  dignilo  do  ma  couronne.  J'aime  a  croire  que  la  plu- 
part  de  ccux  qui  ont  vote  cctto  ndresse  n'en  ont  pas  peso 
toutes  les  expressions — s'ils  uvaient  eu  le  tem|>s  de  les 
apprecier,  ils  n'eussent  jjas  sotifTert  une  supposition  quo, 
comme  I{ol,  jc  ne  dois  pas  caracteriser.'' — Monttvur,  20tU 
Nov.,  Ib20.    Capekioue,  vii.  237. 


81G 


11  ISTOllY    01'    EUnOPE. 


[Cii.vr.  IX. 


liiivo  ilofond.Hl  my  crown ;   if  my  brother  casts 
it  to  till'  wimis,  it  is  liis  ati'air." 

The  fall  o(  M.  do  Kichol ion's  ndmiiiisfrntioii, 
,(,-         niul  tho  accession  of  a  puroly  Koyalist 
Rorloi-tions  tiovoniinont,  was  so  groat  a  change 
on  iiiis         ill  Franco,  that  it  was  equivalent  to 
iviiii.  ^  revolution.      Nothing  appears  so 

extraordinary  as  (hat  sucli  an  event  should 
luive  taken  place,  in  consequence  of  a  parlia- 
mentary majority.  ?o  soon  after  the  period 
when  the  tide  of  Liberal  opinions  set  in  so 
ptronglv  in  the  nation  that  two  successive  covps 
■  ditat  had  been  deemed  necessary  by  tho  Gov- 
ernment, in  September  1816  and  March  1819, 
to  mould  the  two  branches  of  the  legislature  in 
conforniity  with  it.  IJut  many  similar  exam- 
ples of  rapid  change  of  opinion,  and  the  setting 
in  of  entirely  opposite  Hood-tides  of  opinion, 
are  to  be  found  both  in  the  previous  and  subse- 
quent annals  of  that  country ;  and  they  are  not 
without  a  parallel  both  in  the  ancient  and 
recent  history  of  this.  Whoever  studies  the 
changes  of  public  opinion  in  the  reign  of  Charles 
II.,  which  within  a  few  years  led  to  the  frightful 
judicial  massacres  of  the  Papists,  and  the  inhu- 
man severities  of  the  R3-e-IIouse  Plot — or  recol- 
lects that  the  same  nation  which  brought  in 
Sir  Robert  Peel  by  a  majority  of  91  in  1841,  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  to  support  Protection, 
ten  years  afterward  obliged  Lord  Derby  to 
abandon  it — will  see,  that,  though  the  varia- 
tions of  opinion  in  Great  Britain  are  not  quite 
60  rapid  as  in  France,  they  are  not  less  remark- 
able, nor  less  decisive  in  their  results. 

No  doubt,  the  great  change  in  the  Electoral 

Law  of  France,  carried  through  with 
G  ^t  f-  ^°  much  difficulty  by  the  Duke  de 
fectsofihe  Richelieu's  administration,  eontribu- 
chanae  in  ted  largely  to  this  result.  The  new 
the  Eiecto-  principle  introduced  by  that  law,  of 

giving  the  departmental  electors  rep- 
resentatives of  their  own  in  the  Chamber,  and 
of  having  them  chosen,  not  by  the  electors  gen- 
erally, but  by  a  fourth  of  tlieir  number  who 
paid  the  highest  amount  of  taxes,  was  a  great 
change,  not  merely  in  its  numerical  results, 
tipon  the  composition  of  the  Chamber,  but  in 
the  principle  of  representation  itself.  It  was 
a  return  from  the  principle  of  the  Revolution, 
which  was  that  of  a  mere  representation  of 
numbers,  to  the  general  ancient  representative 
system  of  Europe,  which  was  that  of  classes.  It 
"Was  an  abandonment  of  the  principle  of  uniform 
representation,  the  most  pernicious  which  can 
possibly  be  ingrafted  on  the  constitutional  sys- 
tem, because  it  tends  at  once  to  introduce  class 
government,  and  that  of  the  very  worst,  be- 
cause the  most  irresponsible  kind.  Some  one 
class  inevitably,  under  such  a  system,  acquires 
the  majority  in  the  elections  and  in  the  legis- 
lature; and  the  moment  it  does  so,  and  feels  its 
strength,  it  commences  and  carries  througlj  a 
series  of  measures  calculated  for  its  own  benefit, 
■without  the  slightest  regard  to  the  effect  they 
may  have  upon  the  interest  of  other  classes,  or 
the  general  prosperity  of  the  state.  The  only 
way  to  cheek  this  is  to  introduce  into  the  legis- 
lature the  representatives  of  other  classes,  elect- 
ed under  a  different  suffrage,  and  tlius  prevent 
the  selfishness  of  one  class  from  becoming  para- 
mount, bj-  permitting  the  selfishness  of  another 
class  to  combat  it. 


But  although  the  introduction  of  the  h;;n- 
dred  and  sixty  di-partmetital  mem- 
bers, eleotod  by  "  los  ]>lus  iiiip"ses,"  t^  r'"!''  <• 
'  ,-•',},  '  1  refects  of 
was  a  most  iinnortunt  stop,  and  one  the  rcprc- 
in  the  right   direction,  yet   another  sontative 

step  was  wanting  to  yive  the  French  «>»"'"' '« 

'•  i    i-  rri  •     France, 

nation  a  proper  representation,    llus 

was  a  representation  of  numbers.  To  base  tho 
whole  legislature  upon  them  is  doubtless  to  in- 
troduce class  government  of  the  worst  kind ; 
but  it  is  also  a  groat  mistake,  which  in  the  end 
maybe  attended  with  fatal  consequences,  to  ex- 
clude them  from  the  representation  altogether. 
The  interests  of  labor  are  not  only  not  identi- 
cal with  those  of  monej'ed  wealth,  but  the}'  aro 
often  adverse  to  it:  the  sequel  of  this  history 
will  place  this  beyond  a  doubt,  with  rcsjiect  to 
the  British  islands.  The  condition  of  the  great 
body  of  the  working  classes  may  not  only  bo 
noways  benefited,  but  essentially  injured,  by  a 
representation  resting  entirely  on  pro])erty,  es- 
pecially of  a  commercial  kind;  because  meas- 
ures injurious  to  their  welfare  may  be  passed 
into  lav/  by  the  class  wdiich  alone  is  represent- 
ed. As  the  representative  system  of  the  Res- 
toration in  France,  even  when  amended  by  the 
act  of  1820,  contained  no  provision  whatever 
for  the  representation  of  the  working  classes,  by 
allowing  no  vote  except  to  those  paying  at  least 
300  francs  yearly  of  direct  taxes,  it  was  want- 
ing in  a  most  important  element  both  of  utility 
and  general  confidence.  It  will  appear  in  the 
sequel  how  large  a  share  this  defect  had  in  in- 
ducing the  great  catastrophe  which,  ten  years 
afterward,  proved  fatal  to  the  d^'nasty  of  the 
Restoration. 

Connected  with  this  great  defect  in  the 
French  representative  system  was 
another  circumstance,  attended  in  xJndue  as- 
the  end  with  consequences  not  less  cendency  of 
disastrous.  This  was,  that,  while  the  Parti- 
labor  was  unrepresented,  religion  ■■*^"'*'- 
was  too  much  represented.  This  was  the  nat- 
ural, and,  in  truth,  unavoidable  result  of  the 
irreligious  spirit  of  the  Revolution  :  the  reaction 
was  as  violent  as  the  action  ;  its  opponents  con- 
ceived, with  reason,  that  it  could  be  combated 
only  with  the  weapons  and  with  the  fervor  of 
the  ancient  faith.  The  class  of  considerable 
proprietors,  in  whom  a  decided  majority  of  tho 
Chamber  of  Deputies  was  now  vested,  was  at- 
tached to  this  party  from  principle,  tradition, 
and  interest.  But  although  it  is  impossible  to 
over-estimate  the  salutaiy  influence  of  religion 
on  liuman  society,  it  unhappily  does  not  equal- 
ly follow  that  the  ascendency  of  its  professors 
in  the  legislature  is  equally  beneficial.  Expe- 
rience has  too  often  proved  that  the  Parti- 
Pretre  is  perhaps  the  most  dangerous  that  can 
be  intrusted  with  the  administration  of  aflairs. 
The  reason  is,  that  those  who  direct  are  not, 
brought  into  contact  with  men  in  the  actual 
bu.siness  of  life,  and  the}-  deem  it  their  duty  to 
be  regulated,  not  hy  expedience,  or  even  prac- 
ticability, but  solely  by  conscience.  This  dis- 
position may  make  courageous  martyrs,  but  it 
produces  very  bad  legislators;  it  is  often  noble 
in  adversity,  but  always  perilous  in  prosperity. 
Power  is  "the  touchstone  which  the  Romish 
Church  has  never  been  able  to  withstand,  as 
suffering  is  the  ordeal  from  which  it  has  never 
failed  to  emerge,  surrounded  by  a  halo  of  glory. 


1821.] 

The  danger  of  lliis  party  holding,  as  they  now 
did,  the  reins  of  power,  supported  by  a  large 
majority  in  both  Chambers,  was  much  increased 
by  the  circumstance,  that,  tliough  the  peasants 
in  the  country  were,  for  the  most  part,  under 
Iha  influence  of  the  ancient  faith,  it  was  held 
i.i  abhorrence  by  the  majority  of  the  Avorking 
classes  in  the  groat  towns,  who  Avere,  at  the 
same  time,  without  any  legal  channel  whereby 
to  make  their  feelings  influential  in  the  legis- 
lature, but  in  possession  of  ample  resources  to 
disturb  the  established  government. 

Although  the  change  in  the  Electoral  Law 
was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  ma- 

/>,.,  i„V  I'oritv  which  the  Royalists  now  got 
Cause  of         ?"     ./     r-i         i  t    n  i  i 

the  reaction  m  the  Chamber,  yet  the  real  and 
against  Lib-  \dtimate  cause  is  to  be  looked  for 
eral  institu-  ^^  circumstances  of  wider  extension 
and  more  lasting  effects.  It  was  the 
violence  and  crimes  of  the  Liberal  party  oA-er 
Europe  which  produced  the  general  reaction 
against  them.  It  was  the  OA'crthrow  of  gov- 
ernment in  Spain,  Portugal,  Naples,  and  Pied- 
mont, and  the  absurd  and  ruinous  institutions 
established  in  their  stead,  Avhich  alarmed  everj' 
thinking  man  iii  France:  the  assassination  of 
tiie  Duke  de  Berri,  the  projected  assassination 
of  the  Cabinet  Ministers  in  London,  the  at- 
tempted insurrection  in  the  streets  of  Paris, 
opened  the  eyes  of  all  to  the  means  by  AAdiich 
the  hoped-for  change  was  to  be  effected.  The 
alteration  in  the  Electoral  LaAV  in  France  was 
itself  an  effect  of  this  change  in  the  public 
mind ;  for  it  took  place  in  a  Chamber  heretofore 
decidedly  liberal.  A  similar  modification  had 
taken  place  in  the  A'icAvs  of  the  constituency, 
for  the  Roj-alists  were  noAv,  for  the  first  time 
for  five  j'ears,  in  a  majority  in  the  arrondisse- 
ments  with  regard  to  Avhich  no  change  had 
l)een  made.  It  is  LouA-el,  ThistlcAvood,  and 
liiego,  who  stand  forth  as  the  real  authors  of 
this  great  reaction  in  Europe,  and  of  the  long 
stop  to  the  progress  of  freedom  which  resulted 
from  it — a  memorable  instance  of  the  eternal 
truth,  that  no  cause  is  in  the  end  advanced  by 
means  at  Avhich  the  general  mind  revolts,  and 
that  none  are  such  sufferers  from  the  effects  of 
crime  as  those  for  Avhosc  interest  it  Avas  com- 
mitted. 

While  France  was  thusundcr  going  the  po- 
JJ2  litical  throes  and  changes  consequent 
Death  of  on  its  great  Revolution,  and  the  for- 
Napolcon.  cible  change  of  the  dynasty  Avhich 
May  5.  governed  it,  and  at  the  very  moment 
Avhen  tlie  infant  prince  was  baptized  Avho,  it 
Avas  hoped,  Avould  continue  tlie  ancient  race 
of  the  jjourbon  princes,  that  Avoiidcrfiil  man 
breathed  his  last  upon  the  rock  of  .'^t.  Helena 
Avho  had  so  long  chained  the  destinies  of  the 
Avorld  to  his  cIiariot-Avheels.  Since  liis  trans- 
ference, by  tlie  unanimous  determination  of  the 
allied  sovereigns,  to  that  distant  and  melan- 
ciioly  place  of  e.\ile,  he  had  alternately  exhib- 
ited the  grandeur  of  a  lofty,  the  Aveaknesscs  of 
a  little,  and  the  genius  of  a  highly-gifted  mind. 
He  said  at  Fontainebleau,  Avhen  he  took  leave 
of  his  faithful  guards,  that  Avhat  "  they  had 
I  iiJ3,  qc  done  together  he  would  Avrite ;"'  and 
Europe,  he  had  fulfilled  the  promise,  in  part 
f.lx.wix.  iit  least,  with  consummate  ability. 
''■  It  is  liard  to  say  Avlicther  his  faine 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE 


31t 


does  not  now  rest  nearly  as  much  on  his  say- 
ings and  thoughts  recorded  at  St.  Helena,  as 
on  .all  the  mighty  deeds  Avliich  he  achicA'ed  in 
Europe.  Yet  even  hero,  and  when  his  vast 
genius  alternately  revealed  the  secrets  of  tho 
jiast,  and  pierced  the  depths  of  the  future,  the 
littleness  of  a  dAvarf  appeared  in  striking  con- 
trast to  the  strength  of  a  giant.  lie  was  irii- 
table,  jealous,  and  siiiteful,  not  less  than  able, 
discriminating,  and  profound;  his  serenity  was 
disturbed  by  his  being  addressed  Avith  the  title 
of  General,  or  attended,  at  a  distance,  by  an 
English  orderly  in  the  coui'se  of  his  rides;  and 
exaggeration,  falsehood,  and  enA'y,  a[>peared  in 
his  thoughts  and  Avritings,  not  less  than  genius, 
capacity,  and  depth.  His  character,  as  revealed 
b}'  misfortune,  that  touchstone  of  the  human 
heart,  affords  the  most  striking  proof  of  the 
truth  of  Dr.  Johnson's  observation,  that  no  man 
ever  yet  raised  himself  from  a  private  station 
to  the  government  of  mankind,  in  whom  great 
and  commanding  qualities  were  not  blended 
Avitli  littlenesses  which  would  appear  incon- 
ceivable in  ordinary  men. 

Without  doubt,  it  must  ever  be  a  matter  of 
deep  regret  to  OA'ory  generous  mind,  jjg 
and  to  none  so  much  as  to  the  inhab-  Reflections 
itants  of  Great  Britain,  that  it  was  ou  Ins  cap- 
necessary  to  impose  any  restraint  at  "^"y- 
all  on  the  latter  years  of  so  great  a  man.  How 
much  more  grateful  Avould  it  have  been  to  every 
honorable  mind,  to  eA'ory  feeling  heart,  to  have 
acted  to  him  as  Xerxes  did,  in  the  first  instance 
at  least,  to  Themistocles,  and  in  the  spirit  to 
Avhicli  he  himself  appealed  Avhoii  he  said,  that 
he  placed  himself  on  the  hearth  of  the  "  great- 
est, the  most  poAverful,  and  the  most  persever- 
ing of  his  enemies."  But  there  Avas  this  essen- 
tial difference  between  the  tAvo  cases — Themis- 
tocles, when  he  took  refuge  in  the  dominions 
of  the  great  king,  had  not  given  his  Avord  and 
broken  it.  Napoleon  had  been  treated  Avith 
signal  lenity  and  generosity  Avhen,  after  hav- 
ing devastated  Europe  by  his  ambition,  ho  Avas 
alloAved  the  splendid  retirement  of  Elba ;  and 
the  only  return  he  made  for  it  Avas,  to  invade 
Franco,  overturn  Louis  XVIII.,  and  cause  his 
kingdom  to  bo  overrun  bj-  a  million  of  armed 
men.  He  had  signed  the  treaty  of  Fontaine- 
bleau, and  the  first  thing  he  did  Avas  to  break 
it.*  When  chained  to  the  rock  of  St.  Helena, 
he  was  still  an  object  of  dread  to  the  European 
poAvers;  his  name  Avas  more  powerful  than  an 
army  of  a  liiindrcd  and  fifty  thousand  men;  ho 
Avas  too  groat  to  be  forgotten,  too  little  to  be 
trusted.  Every  imaginable  precaution  was  ne- 
cessary to  prevent  the  escape  of  a  man  Avho  had 
siioAvn  that  he  regarded  the  faith  of  treaties 
oidy  till  it  Avas  his  interest  to  break  them;  and 
of  Avhom  it  had  been  tndy  sai<l  by  exalted  gen- 


*  Tlie  aultior  is  well  aware  of  the  prouiid  alU'f;c<l  liy  Ilio 
partisans  of  Nnpoiion  for  this  inrraclion,  vi/,.,  that  llio 
payiiientM  stipulated  liy  the  Inaty  hail  not  been  made  by 
the  French  CJoverniiieiit  to  liiiii.  Dut  supposiiij;  that 
there  Avns  some  foundation  for  this  complaint,  it  could 
afford  no  justific'alion  for  ko  desperate  and  outrageous  an 
act  as  invading  France,  Avithout  the  slightest  warning  or 
declaration  of  war,  and  overturning  the  Government. 
The  excessive  pecuniary  diflieullies  under  which  France 
at  that  period  labored,  owing  to  the  calamities  in  which 
ho  hims(^lf  had  involved  ami  lefl  her,  were  the  cause  of 
this  backwardness  in  making  some  ol^the  payments  :  and 
the  last  man  in  the  world  wlio  had  any  title  to  comjilaiu 
of  iliein  was  tho  person  whoso  insatiable  ambition  had 
caused  them  all. 


318 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


L(""' 


IX. 


ills,  that  "  his  cookcJ  hnt  and  proat-cont,  placed 
on  a  stick  on  the  coast  of  liiittany, 
'  itiairau-    ^y^mij  cause  Kiiro])e  to  run  to  anus 
from  one  euil  to  aui>tlior.   ' 
Groat  was  tho  sensation  excited  in  Europe, 
114.         and  especially  England,  by  the  pub- 
Crcat  oxa«r-    licatiou  of  the  St.  Helena  memoirs, 
peraiion  n^-    jj^j  tl,(,  l^,^,^^  „nd  impassioned  com- 
EnJ'ish""'    rli'"ts  "i^J*^  pf  the   alleged  harsh 
ttvaimciit  of  treatment  of  the  exiled  Emperor  by 
him.  the  English  authorities.    They  were 

re-echoed  iu  rarliament  b}'  Lord  Holland  and 
the  leaders  of  the  Opposition,  and  even  the 
most  moderately  disposed  men  were  led  to 
doubt  the  necessity  of  the  rigid  precautions 
which  were  adopted,  and  to  regret  that  more 
generous  feelings  had  not  been  shown  to  a 
iallen  enomj-.  Time,  however,  has  now  exer- 
cised its  wonted  influence  over  these  mournful 
topics:  it  has  demonstrated  that  the  conduct 
of  the  English  Government  toward  their  illus- 
trious captive  was  not  only,  in  the  circum- 
stances, imavoidable,  but  highly  liberal  and 
considerate ;  and  so  clearly  is  this  demonstra- 
ted, that  it  is  now  admitted  by  the  ablest  and 
most  impassioned  of  the  French  historians  of 
the  period.*  England  bore  the  whole  brunt 
of  the  storm,  because  she  was  in  the  front  rank, 
and  held  the  Emperor  in  her  custody ;  but  she 
did  not  act  singly  in  the  matter — she  was  only 
the  executor  of  the  general  resolutions  of  the 
Allies.  These  were  to  treat  Napoleon  with  all 
the  respect  and  consideration  due  to  his  rank, 
but  under  such  precautions  as  should  render 
his  escape  a  matter  of  impossibility.  The  con- 
duct of  his  partisans,  to  which  he  was  no  stran- 
ger, added  to  the  necessary  rigor  of  these  pre- 
cautions ;  for  several  plots  were  formed  for  his 
escape,  and  only  failed  of  success  by  the  vigi- 
lance of  the  military  and  naval  authorities  on 
the  island.  Yet,  even  in  the  presence  of  these 
difficulties,  the  indulgence  with  which  he  was 
treated  was  such  as  now  to  excite  the  sur- 
prise of  the  most  impassioned  historians  of 
5  PorsMh's  t^*^  Revolution.  The  account  shall 
Napoleon  at  be  given  in  the  words  of  the  ablest 
St.  Helena,  and  most  eloquent  of  their  num- 
iii.  343,  345.    j^gj.  2 

"The  sum  of  300,000  francs  (£12,000)  ayear," 
j]5  says  Lamartine,  "often  added  to  by 
Lamartine's  additional  grants,  was  consecrated 
account  of  by  the  English  Government  to  the 
^^  ^^'*'-  cost  of  the  table  of  the  little  court 
of  the  exiled  Emperor.  Bertrand  the  marshal 
of  the  palace,  his  wife  and  son  ;  M.  and  Madame 

*  "  Apres  la  crise  de  1615,  lorsque  TEurope,  encore  una 
fois  menacee  par  Napoleon,  crut  necessaire  de  prendre 
une  mesurede  precaution  qui  empechat  une  seconde  tour- 
mente,  Sainte-Helene  fut  choisie  comme  prison  d'etat. 
Les  puissances  durent  arreter  un  systeme  de  surveillance 
a  regard  du  prisonnier,  car  elles  craignaient  par-dessus 
tout  le  retour  de  Napoleon.  L'Angleterre  pourvut  large- 
inent  a  ses  besoins  ;  la  table  seule  de  Napoleon  coutait  a 
la  Tresorerie  12,000  livres  sterling.  11  y  a  quelque  chose 
qui  depasse  mes  idees,  quand  j'examine  le  grandiose  du 
caractere  de  Napoleon,  et  sa  vie  immense  d'administra- 
tion  et  de  batailles ;  c'est  cet  esprit  qui  s'arrete  tant  a 
Sainte-Helene  aux  petitcs  difficuUes  d'etiquette.  Napo- 
leon boude  si  I'on  s'assied  en  sa  presence,  et  si  Ton  ne  le 
traite  pas  de  Majeste,  et  d'Empereur  ;  il  se  drape  perpetu- 
ellement :  il  ne  voit  pas  que  la  grandeur  est  en  lui  et  non 
dans  la  pourpre  et  de  vains  titres.  A  Austerlitz,  au  con- 
seil  d"Etat,  Napoleon  est  un  monument  de  granit,  et  de 
bronze:  a  Sainle  Ilelene,  c'est  encore  un  colosse,  mais 
pare  d'un  costume  de  cour." — Capefigve,  Histoire  de  la 
Restauratinn,  vii.  209. 


de    Jlontholon,    General    Gonrgnud    and    I'r. 
O'Mcai-a;  the  valct-dc  chaiiilue  .Marcluuid,  (  y- 
priani   mnitre-d'hotel,    rrerion   chief  of  oli'.ce, 
Saint-Denys,  Novcrras,  his  usher  Saiitiiri,  Rous- 
seau keeper  of  the  plate,  and  a  train  of  valets, 
cooks,  and  footmen,  formed  the  establishment. 
A  library,  ten  or  twelve  saddlediorscs,  gardens, 
woods,  rural  labors,  constant  and  free  commu- 
nication at  all  times  between  the  exiles,  corre- 
spondence under  certain  regulations  with  Eu- 
rope, receptions  and  audiences  given  to  travel- 
ers who  arrived  in  the  island,  and  were  desir- 
ous to  obtain  an  audience  of  the  Emperor — such 
were  the  daily  amusements  of  Long  wood.    Pick- 
ets of  soldiers  imder  the  command   of  an   of- 
ficer watched  the  circuit  of  the  building  and  its 
environs;  a  camp  was  established  at  a  certain 
distance,  but  out  of  sight  of  the  house,  so  as  not 
to  otiend  the  inmates.     Kapoleon  and  his  offi- 
cers were  at  libertj^  to  go  out  on  foot  or  on 
horseback  from  daybreak  to  nightfall,  and  to 
go  over  the  whole  extent  of  the  island  accom- 
panied only  by  an  officer  at  a  distance,  so  as  to 
prevent  all  attempt  at  escape.     Such  was  the  re- 
spectful captivity  which  the  complaints  of  Napo- 
leon and  his  companions  in  exile  styled  the  dun- 
geon and  martyrdom  of  St.  Helena."'  jj^ 
To  this  it  may  be  added,  that  the  Histoire  de' 
entire  establishment  at  St.  Helena  la  Restau- 
was  kept  up  by  the  English  Govern-  j'j!,'''?;,^'" 
ment  on  so  splendid  a  scale  that  it      '' 
cost  them  £400,000  a  year;  that  Champagne 
and  Burgundy  were  the  daily  beverage — the 
best  French  cookerj'  the  fare  of  the  whole  party ; 
that  the  comfort  and   luxuries   they  enjoyed 
were  equal  to  those  of  any  duke  in  England ; 
and  that,  as  the  house  at  Longwood  liad  been 
inconvenient,  the  English  Government  had  pro- 
vided, at  a  cost  of  £4i),000,  a  house  neatly  con- 
structed of  wood  iu  London,  which  arrived  in 
the  island  two  days  after  the  Emperor's  death. 
Such  were  the  alleged  barbarities  of  England 
toward  a  man  who  had  so  long  striven  to  ef- 
fect her  destruction,  and  who  had  chastised  the 
hostility  of  Hofer  by  death  in  the  fosse  of  Man- 
tua, of  Cardinal  Pacca  by  confinement  „pjjj.j  -q^^ 
amidst  Alpine  snows  in  the  citadel  xxxv.ii43, 
of  Fenestrelles,  and  the  supposed  en-  1159  ;  For- 
mity  of  the  Luke  d'Enghien  by  mas-  ^^^'^'  "'• 
sacre  in  the  ditch  of  Vincennes.^* 

But  all  this  was  as  nothing  as  long  as  Mordecai 
the  Jew  sat  at  the  king's  gate.     In 
the  first  instance,  indeed,  the  bland  irritation 
and  courteous  manners  of  Sir  Pul-  between 
teney  Malcolm,  who  was  intrusted  ^.''"  {'"f 
with  the  chief  command,  softened  the  LQ^-g/" 
restraints  of  captivity,  and  made  the 
weary  hours  pass  in  comparative  comfort ;  but 
he  was  imfortunately  succeeded  by  Sir  Hudson 
Lowe,  whose  manners  were  far  less  conciliating. 

*  The  allowance  of  wine  to  the  establishment  at  Long- 
wood  was  as  foUows,  a  fortnight : 


Vin  ordinaire. 
Constantia  . . . 
Champagne  . . 
Vin  de  Grave. 

Teneriffe 

Claret  


Bottles. 

hi 

14 
21 
84 
140 


350 

And  besides,  fortv-two  bottles  of  porter.     A  tolerable  al- 
lowance for  ten  grown  persons,  besides  servants.— Se 
Parliamentary  Debates,  xxxv.   1159.     The  total  cost 
the  tabic  was  £12,000  a  year.— yiid.,  1158. 


1821.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


319 


A  gallant  veteran,  •who  had  accompanied  the 
aniiv  of  Silesia,  in  the  quality  of  English  com- 
missioner, through  its  whole  campaign  in  France, 
he  was  overwhelmed  with  the  sense  of  the  re- 
sponsibility under  which  he  labored,  in  being 
intrusted  with  the  custody  of  so  dangerous  a 
captive ;  and  he  possessed  none  of  the  graces 
of  manner  which  so  often,  in  persons  in  author- 
ity, add  to  the  charms  of  concession,  and  take 
olf  the  bitterness  of  restraint.  The  obloquy 
cast  on  Sir  Colin  Campbell,  in  consequence  of 
having  been  accidentally  absent  from  Elba 
when  the  Emperor  made  his  escape,  was  con- 
stantly before  his  eyes.  He  does  not  appear  to 
have  exceeded  his  instructions;  and  certainly 
tlie  constant  plots  which  were  in  agitatfon  for 
Xapoleon's  escape,  called  for  and  justified  every 
imaginable  precaution.  But  he  was  often  un- 
reasonably exigeant  on  trifles  of  no  real  moment 
to  the  security  of  the  Emperor's  detention ;  and 
his  manner  was  so  unprepossessing,  that,  even 
when  he  conferred  an  indulgence,  it  was  seldom 
felt  as  such.  Napoleon,  on  his  part,  was  not  a 
whit  behind  the  governor  of  the  island  in  irri- 
tability or  unreasonable  demands.  He  seemed 
anxious  to  provoke  outrages,  and  his  ideas  were 
fixed  on  the  effect  the  account  of  them  would 
produce  in  Europe.  He  was  in  correspondence 
with  the  leading  members  of  the  English  Oppo- 
sition, who  made  generous  and  strenuous  ef- 
forts to  soften  his  captivity;  and  he  never  lost 
the  hope  that,  by  the  effect  these  representa- 
tions would  make  on  the  British  people,  and  on 
the  world,  his  place  of  confinement  might  be 
altered;  and,  by  being  restored  to  Europe,  he 
might  succeed  in  playing  over  again  the  game 
of  the  Hundred  Daj's.  All  his  thoughts  were 
fixed  on  this  object,  and  it  was  to  lay  a  founda- 
tion for  these  complaints  that  he  aft'ectcd  to 
take  offense  at  every  trifle,  and  vol- 
KapS^'at  untarily  aggravated  the  inconven- 
St.  Helena,  iences  of  his  own  position.  Montho- 
iii.  334,  357;  Ion  said  truly  to  Sir  Hudson  Lowe, 
\i^'aI~'  "  If  you  had  been  an  angel  from  heav- 
en, you  would  not  havepleased  us."'* 
The  truth  is,  none  of  the  parties  implicated 
117.  in  the  treatment  of  Napoleon  at  St. 
All  parties  Helena  have  emerged  unscathed  out 
J^ere  wrong  of  t^g  ordeal  through  whicli  they 
his^treal?  have  passed  since  his  death;  and  the 
msnt  at  St.  publication  of  the  papers  of  Sir  Ilud- 
Iltlana.  ggn  Lowe,  by  Mr.  Forsyth,  has  placed 
this  beyond  a  doubt.  The  British  government 
Was  the  first  to  blame:  its  conduct  in  the  main, 
and  in  all  essential  article-!,  was  indulgent  and 
considerate ;  but  in  matters  of  lesser  real  mo- 
ment, but  .still  more  important  to  a  person  of 
Napoleon's  irritable  disposition,  their  instruc- 
tions were  unnecessarily  rigid.  Admitting  that 
after  his  stealthy  evasion  from  Ell)a  it  Avas  iii- 


*  "Ell  lisant  attentlvcmtrnt  los  C()rrc.spon<lanrrs  <;l  lrn 
notes  eiraiiiicrcH  a  tout  prctextc,  cntre  les  fainiliers  de 
Napoleon  et  <Ie  Hudson  Lowe,  on  est  confondu  des  out- 
rages, des  provo.iations,  des  invectives,  dontle  eaptifct  ses 
amis  insultent  a  lout  propos  Ic  Rouverncur.  Napoleon  en 
ee  moment  cherehait  a  emouvoir  par  des  cris  de  douleur 
la  pitio  du  parU'ment  anclais  v\  a  fournir  \in  crief  aux 
orateurs  de  rop[)osition  rontre  le  ministere,  nfin  d'obtenir 
son  rapprochement  de  I'Europe.  I,e  rlcsir  de  provoquer 
<les  outrages  par  des  outrages,  et  de  presenter  en  suite  ces 
outrages  comme  des  erimes  au  Continent,  transpire  dans 
toutes  ces  notes.  II  est  evident  que  le  gouverneur,  sou- 
vent  irrite,  quelquefois  inquisiteur,  toujours  inlialiile,  se 
s-^ntait  lui-meme  victime  de  la  responsabilitc."— LAM,ia- 
Ti.NE,  Hist,  de  la  Rcstauratwn,  vi.  410,  417. 


dispensable  that  he  should  be  seen  daily  by 
some  of  the  British  officers,  and  attended  by 
one,  beyond  certain  prescribed  limits,  where 
was  the  necessity  of  refusing  him  the  title  of 
Emperor,  or  ordering  every  thing  to  be  witli- 
held  which  was  addressed  to  him  by  that  title? 
A  book  inscribed  "  Imperatori  Napoleon"  might 
have  been  delivered  to  him  without  his  deten- 
tion being  rendered  insecure.  A  cop}'  of  Coxe's 
Marlborough,  presented  by  him  to  a  British  reg- 
iment which  he  esteemed,  might  have  been  per- 
mitted to  reach  its  destination,  without  risk  of 
disaffection  in  the  British  army.'  It 
is  hard  to  say  whether  most  littleness  ^  .^"IS^'o'l' 
was  evinced  by  the  English  govern-  '  '  "'  ' 
ment  refusing  such  slight  gratifications  to  the 
fallen  hero,  or  by  himself  in  feeling  so  much 
annoj'cd  at  the  withholding  the  empty  titles 
bespeaking  his  former  greatness.  It  is  deeply 
to  be  regretted,  for  the  honor  of  human  nature, 
wdiicli  is  the  patrimony  of  all  mankind,  that  he 
did  not  bear  his  reverses  with  more  equanimity, 
and  pi'ove  that  the  conqueror  of  continental 
Europe  could  achieve  the  yet  more  glorious 
triumph  of  subduing  himself 

For  a  year,  before  his  death  he  became  more 
tractable.     The  approach  of  the  su-        .,„ 
preme  hour,   as   is   often   the   case,   change  in 
softened  the  asperities  of  previous  ex-  Napoleon 

istence.     He  persisted  in  not  eoins:  'j'^'"™  '''" 

ii      •  J     ■  r\  ■  ^       ^  death. 

out  to  nde,  in  consequence  ot  his  quar- 
rel with  the  governor  of  the  island,  who  insisted 
on  his  being  attended  by  an  officer  beyond  the 
prescribed  limits;  but  he  amused  himself  with 
gardening,  in  which  he  took  great  interest,  and 
not  unfrequently,  like  Dioclesian,  consoled  him- 
self for  the  want  of  the  excitements  of  royalty,  by 
laboring  with  his  own  hands  in  the  cultivation 
of  the  earth.     The  cessation  of  riding  exercise, 
however,  to  one  who  had  been  so  much  accus- 
tomed to  it,  proved  very  prejudicial.     This,  to 
a  person  of  his  active  habits,  coupled  with  the 
disappointment  consequent  on  the  ^  Forsvth 
failure  of  the  revolutions  in  Europe,  lii.  lyo,  lyg ; 
and  the  plans  formed  for  his  escape,  Ann.  Hist, 
aggravated  the  hereditary  malady  '^'-Sis,  21G; 
in  the  stomach,  under  which  he  la-  4'iV,  417'- 
bored,  and  in  spring  1821  caused  his  Chateaub. 
physicians  to  apprehend  danger  to  J'J.""';  ,\"- 
his  lifc^"  ^^^'  "'^• 

The  receipt  of  this  intelligence  caused  the 
English  government  to  send  direc-  \\i)_ 
tions  for  his  receiving  every  possible  His  death, 
relief  and  accommodation,  and  even,  ^^^y  •>■ 
if  nccess;iry,  for  his  removal  from  the  island. 
]>nt  these  huiiiiuie  intentions  were  annonnced 
too  late  to  be  carried  into  effect.  In  the  begin- 
ning of  May  he  became  rapi<lly  worse;  and  on 
the  evening  of  the  5th,  at  five  minutes  before 
si.v,  he  breathed  his  last.  A  violent  storm  of 
wind  and  rain  at  the  same  time  arose,  which 
tore  up  the  trees  in  tiie  island  by  their  root.s — 
it  was  amidst  the  war  of  the  elements  that  his 
soul  departed.  Tlu;  howling  of  the  wind  seemed 
to  recall  to  (he  dying  conqueror  the  roar  of 
battle,  and  his  last  words  were — "Mon  Dieu — 
La  Nation  Fran^aisc — Teto  d'arm6c."  He  de- 
clared in  his  testament,  "I  die  in  the  Apostolic 
and  Roman  religion,  in  the  bosom  of  which  I 
was  liorii,  above  fifty  years  ago."  Win;!!  he 
breathed  his  last,  his  sword  was  beside  him,  on 
the  left  side  of  the  couch ;  but  the  cros.«.  the 


s-:o 


HTSTOllY    OF   EUROPE. 


cvinlml  (if  poaco,  rosted  on  his  ln-ca.^t.  The 
••liiKl  oftho  Kovohitioii,  tlie  liu'iirniilioii  of  War, 
tlioil  in  tho  ihristiau  faith,  w  ilh  the  omhli'in  of 
tho  Cospol  on  his  bosom!  His  will,  Mhioh  had 
boon  nindo  in  tho  April  pvooodinLT,  was  found  lo 
contain  a  groat,  mnltitudc  of  boipiosts,  but  two 
iu  an  osjiooial  niannor  worthy  of  notice.  Tho 
first  was  n  request  that  his  body  "niiglit  finally 
repose  on  tho  banks  of  the  Seine,  anionic  tho 

i'loople  ho  had  loved  so  well;"  tiio  soeond,  a 
ogaoy  of  10,000  francs  to  the  assassin  Cnntillon, 
,  ,  jj.^  who,  as  already  noticed,*  had  at- 
iv'  21(5,  21T  ;  teni]ited  the  life  of  the  Duke  of  Wcl- 
Forsyth,  iii.  lington,  but  had  been  acquitted  by 
2M,  2f-7 ;  ^]^Q  iurv,  from  the  evidence  being 
Ucriiiirs  deemed    insuincicnt.      lie   died    in 

Mom.  de  Na-  the  53d  year  of  his  age,  having 
S"'>'ojr"i        ^^6°   ^°r^   ®^  ^'^^  ^^^  February, 

.U, .46,31.;    j.ggi 

Kapoleon  had  liimself  fixed  upon  tho  place 
in  the  ishand  of  St.  Helena  where  he 
His  funeral  '^"'*li<'tl,  in  the  first  instance  at  least, 
to  be  interred.  It  was  iu  a  small 
hollow,  called  Slanes  Valley,  high  up  on  the 
mountain  which  forms  the  island,  where  a  foun- 
tain, shaded  by  weeping  ■willows,  meanders 
though  verdant  banks.  The  (cliampas  flourished 
in  the  moist  soil.  "It  is  a  plant,"  says  the 
Sanscrit  writings,  "which,  notwithstanding  its 
beauty  and  perfume,  is  not  in  request,  because 
it  grows  on  the  tombs."  The  body,  as  directed 
by  the  Emperor,  lay  in  state  in  a  "chapelle  ar- 
dente,"  according  to  the  form  of  the  lioman 
Catholic  Ch'irch,  in  the  three-cornered  hat, 
military  surtout,  leather  under-dress,  long  boots 
and  spurs,  as  when  he  appeared  on  the  field  of 
battle,  and  it  was  laid  iu  the  coffin  in  tho  same 
garb.  The  funeral  took  ])lace  on  the  9th  Maj*. 
It  was  attended  by  all  the  militar}'  and  naval 
forces,  and  all  the  authorities  in  the  island,  as 
well  as  his  weeping  household.  Three  squad- 
rons of  dragoons  headed  the  procession.  The 
hearse  was  drawn  by  four  horses.  The  G6th 
and  20th  regiments,  and  fifteen  pieces  of  artil- 
leiy,  formed  part  of  the  arra}',  marching,  with 
arms  reversed,  to  the  sound  of  mournful  music, 
and  all  the  touching  circumstances  of  a  soldier's 
funeral.  AVhen  they  approached  tho  place  of 
sepulture,  and  the  hearse  could  go  no  fui-ther, 
the  coffin  was  borne  by  his  own  attendants, 
escorted  by  twenty-four  grenadiers  of  the  two 
English  regiments  who  had  the  honor  of  con- 
ve3'ing  the  immortal  conqueror  to  his  last  rest- 
ing-place. Minute-guns,  during  the  whole  cer- 
emony, were  fired  by  all  the  batteries  in  the 
island.  The  place  of  sepxilture  was  consecrated 
by  an  English  clergyman, f  according  to  the  En- 
glish form,  though  he  was  buried  with  the 
2  Ann.  Hist.  Catholic  rites.^  Volleys  of  mus- 
^'  h^" '  '^°'''  ^6tr\-  and  discharges  of  artillery  paid 
290,  ay's-  *^®  ^^^^  honors  of  a  nation  to  their 
Antomar-  noble  antagonist.  A  simple  stone 
Chi,  ii.  ISO,  of  great  size  was  placed  over  his  re- 
mains, and  the  solitary  willows  wept 
over  the  tomb  of  him  for  whom  the  earth  itself 
bad  once  hardly  seemed  a  fitting  mausoleum. 


*  A7ite,  chap.  vi.  ^  73. 


t  The  Bev.  Mr.  Vernon. 


[Chap.  IX. 

Tho  death  of  Napoleon  made  a  prodigious 
sensation  in  luiropo,  and  caused  a  ,„. 
greiitor  change  of  opinion,  especially  Inmienso 
in  England,  than  any  event  which  sensation 
had  occurred  since  that  of  Louis  e^o'c*^'" 
XVI.  There  was  something  in  the 
circumstances  of  the  decease  of  so  great  a  man, 
alone,  unbefriondod,  on  a  soliliiry  rock  in  tho 
midst  of  tlio  ocean,  and  in  the  contrast  which 
such  a  reverse  jircsentod  to  his  former  grand- 
eur aiul  prosperity,  which  fascinated  and  sub- 
dued the  minds  of  men.  All  ranks  were  afi'ected, 
all  imaginations  kindled,  all  sympathies  awak- 
ened by  it.  In  England,  in  particiilar,  where 
tho  antipathy  to  him  had  been  most  violent,  and 
the  resistance  most  persevering,  llie  reaction 
was  the  most  general.  The  great  qualities  of 
their  awful  antagonist,  long  concealed  by 
enmity,  misrepresented  bj'  hatred,  misunder- 
stood by  passion,  broke  upon  them  in  their  full 
lustre,  when  death  had  rendered  him  no  longer 
an  object  of  terror.  The  admiration  for  him 
in  man}-  exceeded  what  had  been  felt  in  France 
itself.  The  prophecy  of  the  Emperor  proved 
true,  that  the  first  vindication  of  his  memory 
would  come  from  those  who  in  life  had  been  his 
most  determined  enemies.  Time,  however,  has 
moderated  these  transports ;  it  has  dispelled  the 
illusions  of  imagination,  calmed  the  eft'ervesence 
of  generositj-,  as  much  as  it  has  dissipated  the 
prejudices  and  softened  the  rancor  of  hostility. 
It  has  taken  nothing  from  the  great  qualities 
of  the  Emperor ;  on  the  contrary,  it  has  brought 
them  out  in  still  more  colossal  proportioi.s 
than  was  at  first  imagined.  But  it  lias  reveal- 
ed, at  the  same  time,  the  inherent  weaknesses 
and  faults  of  his  nature,  and  shown  that 
"the  most  mighty  breath  of  life,"  in  the  words 
of  genius,  "  that  ever  had  animated  the  human 
clay,  was  not  without  the  frailties  which  are 
the  common  inheritance  of  the  children  of 
Adam." 

With  Xapoleon  tenninated,  for  the  present  at 
least,  the  generation  of  ruling  men 
— of  those  who  impress  their  signet  -.-r  i,     ,j,g 
on  tho  age,  not  receive  its  impression  lastof  the 
from  it.     "  He  sleeps,"  says  Chateau-  nien  who 
briand,    '^ike  a  hermit   at  the  ex-  ru|ftl"-ir 
tremity  of  a  solitary  yalley  at  the 
end  of  a  desert  path.     lie  did  not  die  under 
the  eye  of  France ;  he  disappeared  on  the  dis- 
tant horizon  of  the  torrid  zone.     The  grandeur 
of  the  silence  which  shrouds  his  remains,  equals 
tho  immensity  of  the  din  which  once  environed 
them-     The  nations  are   absent,  their  crowds 
have  retired."     The  terrible  spirit  of  innova- 
tion which   has  overspread  the  earth,  and  to 
which  Xapoleon  had  opposed  the  barrier  of  his 
genius,  and  which  he  for  a  time  arrested,  has 
resumed  its  course.     His  institutions  failed,  but 
he  was  the  last  of  the  great  existences.     The 
shadow  of  Xapoleon  rises  on  the  frontier  of  the 
old  destroyed  world,  and  the  most  distant  pos- 
terity will  gaze  on  that  gigantic  spectre  overJ 
the  gulf  into  which  entire  ages  have  i  chateaub.j 

fallen,  until  the  appointed  day  of  Me'-\_ ^;ii- 
•  1  i-      1  lOb,  111. 

social  resurrection.'  ' 


1819.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


821 


CHAPTER  X. 


rOMESTIC    HISTORY    OF    ENGLAND,    FROM    THE    PASSING    OF    THE    CUKRENCT    ACT    OF    1819    TO    THE    DEATH 

OF    LORD    LONDONDERRY    IN    1822. 


The  contest  between  parties  in  France  was 
I.  directed  to  different  ends,  and  was 

Difference  of  of  an  entirely  different  character 
theobjects  fronj  tl,at  in  Great  Britain.  At 
ot  the  Liberal  „     .    ^i        i  •     >  ,  .i 

party  in  Pans  the  object  was  to  overthrow  a 

France  and  dynast}',  in  London  it  was  to  gain 
England.  g^  subsistence.  The  contest  in  tlie 
one  country  was  political,  in  the  other  it  was  so- 
ciah  All  the  discontented  in  France,  however 
much  disunited  upon  ulterior  objects,  were 
agreed  in  their  hatred  of  the  Bourbons,  and 
their  desire  to  dispossess  them.  The  multitude 
of  ambitions  which  had  been  thwarted,  of  in- 
terests injured,  of  glories  tarnished,  of  prospects 
blasted,  by  the  disasters  in  which  the  war  had 
terminated,  and  the  visions  which  it  had  over- 
thrown, rendered  this  party  very  numerous 
and  fearfully  energetic.  In  England,  although 
there  were,  doubtless,  not  a  few,  especially  in 
the  manufacturing  towns,  who  desired  a  change 
of  government,  and  dreamed  of  a  British  or 
Hibernian  Republic,  the  great  majority  of  the 
discontented  were  set  upon  very  different  ob- 
jects. The  contest  of  dynasties  was  over:  no 
one  thought  of  supplanting  the  House  of  Han- 
over by  that  of  Stuart.  Few,  comparatively, 
wished  a  change  in  the  form  of  government: 
there  were  some  hundred  thousands  of  ardent 
republicans  in  the  great  towns ;  but  those  in 
the  country  who  were  satisfied,  and  desired  to 
live  on  under  the  rule  of  King,  Lords,  and 
Commons,  were  millions  to  these.  But  all 
wished,  and  most  reasonably  and  properly,  to 
live  comfortably  under  their  direction ;  and 
when  any  social  evils  assumed  an  alarming  as- 
pect, or  distress  prevailed  to  an  unusual  degree 
among  them,  they  became  discontented,  and 
lent  a  ready  ear  to  any  demagogue  who  pro- 
mised them,  by  the  popularizing  of  the  nation- 
al institutions,  a  relief  from  uU  the  evils  under 
which  the  country  labored. 

From  this  difference  in  the  prevailing  dis- 
2  position  and  objects  of  the  people  in 

Difference  in  the  two  countries,  there  resulted  a 
the  causes  most  important  distinction  in  the 
duced'd^s"'  c.iuses  which,  on  the  opposite  sides 
content  in  of  the  Channel,  inflamed  the  puijlic 
the  two  mind,  or  endarigei'cd  the   staliility 

countries.  ^,f  existing  institutions.  In  Fratice, 
the  objects  of  the  opposition  in  the  Cham- 
bers, the  discontented  in  the  country,  being 
the  subversion  of  the  Government  and  a 
change  of  dynasty,  whatever  tended  to  make 
the  people  more  anxious  for  that  change,  and 
ready  to  support  it,  rendered  civil  war  and 
revolution  more  imminent.  Hence,  general 
prosperity  and  social  welfare,  ordinarily  so 
powerful  in  allaying  discontent,  were  there  the 
most  powerful  causes  in  creating  it;  because 
they  put  the  people,  as  it  might  be  said,  into 
fighting-trim,  and  inspired  them,  like  n  wcU- 
fei  and  rested  armv,  with  tlie  ardor  reaui.-iite 
Vot,   I.— X      " 


for  success  in  hazardous  enterprises.  In  En- 
gland, on  the  other  hand,  as  the  contest  of  dy- 
nasties was  over,  and  the  decided  republicans 
who  aimed  at  an  entire  change  of  institutions 
were  comparatively  few  in  number,  nothing 
could  enlist  the  great  body  of  the  people,  even 
in  the  manufacturing  towns,  on  the  side  of  se- 
dition, but  the  experience  of  suffering,  to 
strong,  however,  is  the  desire  for  individual 
comfort,  and  the  wish  to  better  their  condition, 
in  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  that  general  distress 
never  fails  to  excite  general  disaffection,  at  least 
in  the  great  cities;  and  whatever  tends  to  in- 
duce it,  in  the  end  threatens  the  public  tran- 
quillity. Thus,  in  France  at  that  period,  at  least, 
general  prosperity  augumented  the  danger  of 
revolution ;  in  England,  it  averted  it. 

A  cause,  however,  had  now  come  into  opera- 
tion, which,  more  than  any  other 
recorded  in  its  modern  annals,  pro-  G^cat  ef- 
duced  long-continued  and  periodical-  fects  of  the 
ly-returning  distress  among  the  Brit-  change  in 
ish  people ;  and  at  length,  from  the  J**®  mone- 
sheer  force  of  suffering,  broke  the 
bonds  of  loyalty  and  patriotism,  and  induced 
a  revolution  attended  with  lasting  and  irre- 
mediable consequences  on  the  future  prospects 
of  the  empire.  It  need  not  be  said  what  that 
cause  was :  a  great  alteration  in  the  monetary 
laws,  ever  affecting  the  life-blood  of  a  com- 
mercial state,  is  alone  adequate  to  the  explana- 
tion of  so  great  an  effect.  The  author  need 
not  be  told  that  this  is  a  subject  exceedingly 
distasteful  to  the  great  bulk  of  readers:  lie  is 
well  aware  that  the  vast  majority  of  them  turn 
over  the  pages  the  moment  they  see  the  sub- 
ject of  the  currency  commenced.  He  is  not  to 
be  deterred,  however,  by  that  consideration 
from  entering  upon  it.  All  attempts  to  unfold 
the  real  liistory  of  the  British  empire,  during 
the  thirty  years  which  followed  the  peace,  will 
be  nugatory,  and  the  views  they  exhibit  falla- 
cious, if  this,  the  main-spring  which  put  all  the 
movements  at  work,  is  not  steadily  kept  in 
view.  History  loses  its  chief  utility,  departs 
from  its  noblest  object,  when,  to  avoid  risk  to 
popularity,  it  deviates  from  the  great  duty  of 
I'lirnishiiig  the  materials  for  iniprovemont :  the 
nation  has  little  shown  itself  prepared  for  self- 
government,  when  in  the  search  of  amusement 
it  forgets  inquiry.  I'hiough  of  exciting  and 
interesting  topics  remain  for  tiiis  history,  and 
for  this  volume,  to  induce  even  the  most  incon- 
siderate readers  to  submit  for  half  an  hour  to 
the  elucidation  of  a  subject  on  which,  more 
than  on  any  otlier,  their  own  fortunes  iu\d  those 
of  their  children  depend.  It  may  the  more 
readily  be  submitted  to  at  this  tmie,  as  this 
is  the  turning-])oint  of  the  two  systems,  and 
the  subject  now  explained  need  not  bo  again 
reverted  to  in  the  whole  remainder  of  the 
work. 


S22 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[CUAP.  X. 


The  great  fallior  of  jmlitionl  cH'oiu>nivIiiis  will 
.  oxplaiiiod  tlio  )^i'iiu'iplos  ot  this  sub- 

Mr.  Smith's  jeot.  iiiul  was  liiinsolf  more  than  any 
vu-\vs  on  other  man  alivo  to  tlu'ir  importanoo. 
tins  sut.joct.  ..  ^>^,i^|  n„^i  silver,"  says  Ailain  Smith, 
"  like  every  other  commoility,  vary  in  their 
value,  are  sometimes  cheaper,  sometimes  dear- 
er, sometiines  of  easier,  and  sometimes  of  more 
ditiieult  purchase.  The  quantity  of  labor  which 
any  jiarticular  quantity  of  these  can  purchase 
orconunaml,  or  the  quantity  of  otiier  goods  it 
will  exchanire  for.  depends  always  upon  the 
fertility  or  barrenness  of  the  mines  which  hap- 
jien  to  be  known  about  the  time  when  such  ex- 
changes are  made.  The  discovery  of  the  abund- 
ant mines  of  America  reduced,  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  value  of  gold  and  silver  in  Europe 
to  about  a  third  of  Khat  it  had  formcrli/ been. 
As  it  cost  less  labor  to  bring  those  metals  from 
the  mine  to  the  market,  so  when  they  were 
brought  there,  they  could  purchase  or  com- 
mand less  labor;  and  this  revolution  in  their 
value,  though  perhaps  the  greatest,  is  by  no 
means  the  only  one  of  which  history  gives 
some  account.  But  as  a  measure  of  quantity, 
such  as  the  natural  foot,  fathom,  or  handful, 
which  is  continually  varying  in  its  own  quan- 
tity, can  never  be  an  accurate  measure  of  the 
value  of  other  commodities;  so  a  commodity 
which  is  itself  continually  varying  in  its  own 
,  -Wealth  of  value,  can  never  be  an  accurate 
Nations,  measure  of  the  value  of  other  corn- 
book  i.  c  5.   modities."' 

If  debts,  taxes,  and  other  encumbrances,  could 
5  be  made  at  once  to  rise  or  fall  in  their 

Great  efTects  amount,  according  to  the  fluctuation 
ofany  varia-  of  \]^q  medium  in  which  they  are  to 
value'ofthe  ^^  discharged,  any  changes  which 
standard  of  might  occur  in  the  exchangeable  va- 
value.  lue  of  that  medium  itself  would  be  a 

matter  of  little  practical  importance.  But  the 
experience  of  all  ages  has  demonstrated  that 
this  is  impossible.  The  transactions  of  men, 
when  they  become  at  all  extensive  or  compli- 
cated, absolutely  require  some  fixed  known 
standard  by  which  they  are  to  be  measured, 
and  their  discharge  regulated,  without  any 
thing  else  than  a  reference  to  that  standard 
itself.  It  never  could  be  tolerated  that  every 
debtor,  after  having  paid  his  debt  in  the  cur- 
rent coin  of  the  realm,  should  be  involved  in  a 
dispute  with  his  creditor  as  to  what  the  present 
value  of  that  current  coin  was.  Hence  the  ne- 
cessity of  a  fixed  standard;  but  hence  also  the 
immense  effects  of  any  material  alteration  in 
the  value  of  that  standard,  and  the  paramount 
necessity,  so  far  as  practicable,  of  preventing 
any  considerable  fluctuations  in  it.  If  the 
standard  falls  in  value,  the  weight  of  all  debts 
and  encumbrances  is  proportionally  lessened, 
because  a  lesser  quantity  of  the  produce  of  la- 
bor is  required  for  their  discharge;  if  it  rises, 
their  weight  is  proportionally  augmented,  be- 
cause a  larger  quantity  is  required  for  that 
purpose.  So  great  is  the  eff'ect  of  any  consid- 
erable change  in  this  respect,  that  it  has  oeca- 
eioned,  and  can  alone  explain,  the  greatest 
events  in  the  intercourse  of  nations  of  which 
history  has  preserved  a  record. 

The  great  contest  between  Rome  and  Car- 
thage, which  Hannibal  and  Scipio  conducted, 
and  Livyhas  immortalized,  was  determii'f  .1  bv 


a  decree  of  the  Senate,  induced  by  necessity, 
which  postponed  the  payment  of  all  , 

obligations  of  the  jniblie  treasurj'  in  Examples  cf 
specie  to  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  tins  from  for. 
and  thereby  created  an  inconver-  ""^'"  ''"'«s- 
tible  ])apcr  currency  for  the  Roman  empire.* 
Jlorc  even  than  the  slaughter  on  the  Jletaurus, 
the  triuinpli  of  Zama,  this  decree  determined  the 
fate  of  the  ancient  world,  for  it  alone  equijiped 
the legioiisby  whom  those  victoricswere gained. 
Rome  itself,  saved  in  its  utmost  need  by  an  ex- 
pansion, sunk  in  the  end  under  a  still  greater 
contraction  of  the  national  currenc}\  The  sup- 
plies of  specie  for  the  Old  World  became  inad- 
equate to  the  increasing  wants  of  its  population, 
when  the  power  of  the  emperors  had  given  last- 
ing internal  peace  to  its  hundred  and  twenty 
millions  of  inhabitants.  The  mines  of  Spain 
and  Greece,  from  which  the  chief  supplies  Avere 
obtained  at  that  period,  were  worked  out,  or 
became  unworkable,  from  the  exactions  of  the 
emperors ;  and  so  great  was  the  dearth  of  the 
precious  metals  which  thence  ensued,  that  the 
treasure  in  circulation  in  the  Empire,  which  in 
the  time  of  Augustus  amounted  to  £380,000,000, 
had  sunk  in  that  of  Justinian  to  £80,000,000 
sterling;  and  the  golden  anrats,  which  in  the 
days  of  the  Antonines  weighed  118  grains,  had 
come,  in  the  fifth  century,  to  weigh  only  68,' 

though    it    was    only   taken   in    dis-  ,  r,oo,r„„ 
,~  >j  ^  .*  u  reaves 

charge    or    debts    and    taxes    at   its  on  Ancient 
original  and  standard  value.     As  a  Coins,  i. 
necessary  conseqxience  of  so  prodig-  ^^^'  ^^^' 
ious    a   contraction   of  the  currency,  without 
any  proportional  diminution  in  the  numbers  or 
transactions  of  mankind,  debts  and  taxes,  which 
were  all  measured  in  the  old  standard,  became 
so  overwhelming  that  the   national   industry 
was  ruined ;  agriculture  disappeared,  and  was 
succeeded  by  pasturage  in  the  fields;  the  great 
cities  were  all  fed  from  Egypt  and  Libya ;  the 
revenue    became    irrecoverable;    the    legions 
dwindled  into  cohorts,  the  cohorts  into  com- 
panies;  and  the  six  hundred  thousand  men, 
who  guarded  the  frontiers  of  the 
Empire   in   the  time  of  Augustus,  Rome?c.'%. 
had  sunk  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  42,  71'  Mii- 
thousand   in  that  of  Justinian  —  a  man's  edit. ; 
force  wholly  inadequate    to  its  de-  -^^''^on's  Es- 


fense.* 


says,  iii  442. 


*  "  Hortati  ccnsores,  ut  omnia  perinde  agerent,  locarent 
ac  si  pecunia  in  arano  csset :  nai^mim  nisi  btllo  cvvfecto, 
pecuniam  ah  ararto  petiturum  esse." — Liv.  lib.  xxiv.  cap. 
18. — On  one  occasion,  when  in  a  party  in  London,  com- 
posed chiefly  of  Whigs,  opponents  of  Mr.  Pitt's  Currency 
Act  of  1797,  the  dangerous  effects  of  this  measure  were 
under  discussion,  the  late  Lord  Melbourne,  whose  saga- 
city of  mind  was  equal  to  his  charm  of  manner,  quoted 
this  passage  from  memory.  "  The  censors,"  says  Arnold, 
"  found  the  treasury  unable  to  supply  the  public  service. 
Upon  this,  trust  moneys  belonging  to  widows  and  minors, 
or  to  widows  and  unmarried  women,  were  deposited  in 
the  treasury  ;  and  whatever  sums  the  trustees  had  to 
draw  for  were  paid  by  the  quarter  in  bills  on  the  banking 
commissioners,  or  triumvirs  jticnsarii.  It  is  probable  that 
these  bills  were  actually  a  paper  currency,  and  that  they 
circulated  as  money,  on  the  security  of  the  public  faith. 
In  the  same  way,  the  government  contracts  were  also 
paid  in  paper  ;  for  the  contractors  came  forward  in  a  body 
to  the  censors,  and  begged  them  to  make  their  contracts 
as  usual,  promising  not  to  demand  payment  till  the  end 
of  the  v:ar.  This  must,  I  conceive,  mean  that  they  were 
to  be  paid  in  orders  upon  the  treasurj-,  which  orders  were 
to  be  converted  into  cash  when  the  present  difficulties  of 
the  government  should  be  at  an  end."— Arnold,  ii.  207. 
This  was  just  an  inconvertible  paper  currency,  and  Us 
issue,  after  the  battle  of  Caiime,  saved  the  Roman  cm- 
piT'.-. 


1819.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROTE. 


"What  rendered  this  great  contracliou  <if  Ihe 

circulating  uiediuni   so  crushing  in 

^.     "•  the    ancient  world  was,   that  they 

Discovery  ,     ,,  ■  \    ]  i 

and  wonder-  '"•ere  wholly  unacquainted,  except 

fui  cflects  of  for  a  brief  period  during  the  neces- 
a  paper  cur-  gj^igg  of  the  second  I'unic  War,  with 
'^'''"^'^'  that  marvelous  substitute  for  it — a 

paper  currency.  It  was  the  Jews  who  first 
discovered  this  admirable  system,  to  facilitate 
the  transmission  of  tlieir  wealth  amidst  the 
violence  and  extortions  of  the  middle  ages; 
and  it  is,  perhaps,  not  going  too  far  to  assert 
that,  if  it  had  been  found  out,  and  brought  into 
general  use,  at  au  earlier  period,  it  might  have 
averted  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Emj)ire.  The 
effects  of  a  scarcity  of  the  precious  metals, 
thei'efore,  were  immediately  felt  in  the  dimin- 
ished wages  of  labor  and  price  of  produce,  and 
increasing  weight  of  debts  and  taxes.  A  paper 
currency,  adequately  secured  and  duly  limited, 
obviates  all  these  evils,  because  it  provides  a 
Represen'tative  of  the  metallic  currency,  which, 
when  the  latter  becomes  scarce,  may,  without 
risk,  be  rendered  a  Sudstitute  for  them.  Thus 
the  ruinous  effects  of  a  contraction  of  the  cir- 
culating medium,  even  when  most  violent,  may 
be  entirely  prevented,  and  the  industry',  reve- 
nue, and  prosperity  of  a  country  completely 
sustained  during  the  utmost  scarcity,  or  even 
entire  absence,  of  the  precious  metals.  It  was 
thus  that  the  alarming  crisis  of  179Y,  which 
threatened  to  induce  a  national  bankruptcy, 
was  surmounted  with  ease,  by  the  simple  de- 
vice of  declaring  the  Bank  of  England  notes, 
like  the  treasury  bonds  in  the  second  Punic 
War,  a  legal  tender,  not  convertible  into  cash 
till  the  close  of  the  war;  and  that  the  year 
1810,  when,  from  the  demand  for  gold  on  the 
Continent,  there  was  scarcely  a  guinea  left  in 
this  country,  was  one  of  general  prosperity 
and  the  greatest  national  efforts  recorded  in 
its  annals. 

As  paper  may  with  ease  be  issued  to  any  cx- 
tent,  either  by  Government  or  pri- 
Advanta-'es  '^^^^e  establishments  authorized  to 
oi' a  paper  circulate  it,  it  becomes  an  engine  of 
circulation,  as  great  danger,  and  attended  with 
duly  limited.  ^^  destructive  effects,  when  it  is  un- 
duly multiplied  as  when  it  is  unduly  contracted. 
It  is  like  tlie  blood  in  the  human  body,  whose 
circulation  sustains  and  is  essential  to  animal 
life:  drained  away,  or  not  adequately  fed,  it 
leads  to  death  by  atropiiy;  unduly  increased, 
it  proves  fatal  by  inducing  apoplexy.  To  pre- 
serve a  proper  medium,  and  promote  the  cir- 
culation equally  and  healthfully  tlirough  all 
parts  of  the  system,  is  the  great  object  of  regi- 
men alike  in  the  natural  frame  and  tlio  body 
politic.  Issued  in  overwhelming  qiiuntities,  as 
it  was  ia  France  during  the  Revolution,  it  in- 
duces such  a  rise  of  prices  as  destroys  all  real- 
ized capital,  by  permitting  it  to  be  discharged 
by  a  mere  fraction  of  its  real  amount ;  contracted 
to  an  excessive  degree,  either  by  the  mutations 
of  commerce  or  the  policy  of  Government,  it 
proves  equally  fatal  to  in'.histr}',  by  lowering 
the  money  price  of  its  produce,  and  augment- 
ing the  weight  of  the  debts  and  taxes  with 
which  it  is  oppressed. 

A  paper  currency,  when  perfectly  secure,  and 
hindered  V>y  the  regulations  under  which  it  is 
issued  from  becoming  redundant,  may  not  only, 


in  the  absence  of  gold  and  silver,  supply  its 
place,  but  in  its  presence  almost  supersede  its 
use.  "If,"'  saj's  Adam  Smith,  "the  gold  and 
silver  in  a  country  should  at  any  time  fail 
short,  in  a  country  which  has  wherewithal  to 
purchase  them,  there  are  more  expedients  for 
supplying  their  place  than  almost  any  other 
commodity.  If  provisions  are  wanted,  the  peo- 
ple must  starve ;  if  the  materials  for  manufac- 
ture are  awanting,  industry  must  stop;  but  if 
money  is  wanted,  barter  will  supply  its  place, 
though  with  a  good  deal  of  inconvenience. 
Buj-ing  and  selling  upon  credit,  and  the  ditl'er- 
ent  dealers  compensating  one  another  once  a 
month  or  year,  will  supply  it  with  less  iiicon- 
veniency.  A  well-regulated  paper  money  will 
supply-  it,  vot  only  without  incoiive}iieiic>/,  but  in 
some  calces  xL'Hh  Koinc  advantage.^'^  Ex-  iwealihof 
perience  may  soon  convince  any  one  Nations, 
that  this  latter  observation  of  Mr.  •'•  ^>  '^-  '• 
Smith  is  well  founded,  and  that  a  dul}-  regu- 
lated pa[)er  is  often  more  convenient  and  serv- 
iceable than  one  entirely  of  specie.  Let  him  go 
into  a.\\y  bank  at  a  distance  from  London,  and 
he  will  find  that  they  will  give  him  sovereigns 
to  any  extent  without  any  charge ;  but  that  for 
Bank  of  England  notes,  or  a  bill  on  London, 
they  will,  in  one  form  or  other,  charge  a  pre- 
mium ;  and  if  he  has  any  doubt  of  the  superior 
convenience  of  bank-notes  over  specie  for  the 
transactions  of  life,  he  is  recommended  to  com- 
pare traveling  in  England  with  £500,  in  five 
English  notes,  in  his  waistcoat  pocket,  with 
doing  so  in  France  with  the  same  sum  in  jS'apo- 
leons  in  his  portmanteau. 

The    question   is   often   asked,  "  What   is  a 
pound  ?"  and  Sir  Robert  Peel,  after  g 

mentioning  how  Mr.  Locke  and  Sir  what  is  the 
Isaac  Newton  had  failed,  with  all  standard  oi 
their  abilities,  in  answering  it,  said  ^"'"^  • 
that  he  could  by  no  possible  effort  of  intellect 
conceive  it  to  be  any  thing  but  a  certain  determ- 
inate weight  of  gold  metal.  Perhaps  if  his  valu- 
able life  had  been  spared,  and  he  had  seen  the 
ounce  of  gold  selling  in  Australia  at  £3  to  £0 
10s.  instead  of  £8  178.  lO^d.,  the  mint  price,  he 
would  have  modified  his  opinion.  In  truth,  a 
pound  is  an  abstract  measure  of  value,  just  as  a 
foot  or  }-ard  is  of  length ;  and  different  things 
have  at  different  periods  been  taken  to  denote 
that  measure  according  as  the  convcniency  of 
men  suggested.  It  M-as  originally  a  pound 
weight  of  silver;  and  that  metal  was  till  the 
present  eentur}'  the  standard  in  England,  as  it 
still  is  in  most  other  countries.  When  gold 
was  made  the  standard,  by  the  Bank  being 
compelled  by  the  Act  of  1819  to  jiay  in  that 
metal,  the  old  word,  denoting  its  original  signi- 
fication of  the  less  valuable  metal,  was  still  re- 
taineil.  During  the  war,  when  the  metallic 
currency  disappeared,  the  ])ound  Avas  a  Bank 
of  Englanil  pound-note:  the  standard  was  thus 
paper — for  gold  was  worth  '28s.  the  pound, 
from  the  demand  for  it  on  the  Continent.  Since 
California  and  Australia  have  begun  to  pour 
forth  their  golden  treasures,  the  standard  has 
praetieuUy  eornt;  again  to  be  silver,  as  the 
precious  metal  which  is  least  changing  in  value 
at  this  time.  The  proof  of  this  is  decisive;  the 
oimce  of  gold  is  selling  for  £3  to  £:{  los.  at 
Melbourne;  gold  is  measured  l)y  silver,  not 
silver  by  gold.     In  trutli,  different  things  at 


s:4 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Ciup.  X. 


ilitTeront  times  nro  tnkcn  to  express  the  much- 
eoveted  ubstraot  st4m<.lnrJ  ;  ninl  wlmt  is  ahviiys 
taken  is  that  article  in  gcueral  circulation  tchich 
ix  moxt  ttcady  in  value  and  most  ffeneralli/  rc- 
ceifciL 

Nouo  but  those  practieally  ncqunintetl  with 
jQ  the  subjeit  ean  conceive  how  powcr- 

Vasi  thoct  full}',  niiJ  often  rapidly,  an  extension 
nfvaria-  or  contraction  of  the  currency  acta 
I'^-lZll!-^"  "Pi^'i  tl>c  peneral  industry  and  for- 
tunes  of  the  country.  Allotuercauses, 
i:i  n  comniereial  state,  sink  into  insignificance 
iu  comparison.  "  The  judicious  operations  of 
lankinir,"  says  Mr.  Smith,  "  enable  the  trader 
to  convert  his  dead  stock  into  active  and  pro- 
ductive stock.  Tlie  first  forms  a  very  valuable 
part  of  the  capital  of  the  country,  which  pro- 
duces nothing  to  the  country.  The  operation 
of  banking,  by  substituting  jmper  in  room  of  a 
great  part  of  the  gold  and  silver,  enables  the 
coiuitry  to  convert  a  great  part  of  dead  stock 
into  active  and  productive  stock — into  stock 
which  produces  something  to  the  country.  The 
gold  and  silver  money  which  circulates'in  any 
country  may  very  properly  be  compared  to  a 
liighway,  which,  wh'le  it  circulates  and  carries 
to  market  all  the  grass  aud  corn  of  the  coun- 
try, does  not  itself  produce  a  single  pile  of 
either.  The  judicious  operations  of  banking 
enable  the  country  to  convert,  as  it  were,  a 
great  part  of  its  highways  into  good  pastures 
and  corn-fields,  and  thereby  increase  consider- 
ably the  annual  produce  of  its  land  and  labors."' 
'  Wealth  of  To  this  it  may  be  added,  that  so  great 
Nations,  is  the  effect  of  an  increase  of  the  paper 
b.  n.  c.  2.  circulation,  and  consequently  of  the 
expansion  of  the  credit,  industry,  and  enter- 
prise of  a  commercial  state,  that  a  country 
which  has  dead  stock,  as  Mr.  Smith  says,  of  the 
value  of  twentj-  thousand  millions,  may  find 
the  value  of  all  its  articles  of  merchandise  en- 
hanced or  diminished  fiftj-  per  cent,  by  the  ex- 
pansion or  contraction  of  the  currency  to  the 
extent  of  ten  millions  sterling.  Such  an  addi- 
tion or  subtraction  is  to  be  compared,  not  to 
the  entire  amount  of  its  realized  wealth,  but  to 
the  amount  of  that  small  portion  of  it  which 
forms  its  circulating  medium,  upon  which  its 
prosperity  depends;  just  as  the  warmth  of  a 
house  is  determined,  not  by  the  quantity  of 
coals  in  the  cellar,  but  by  what  is  put  upon 
the  fires.  Such  an  addition  to  the  wealth  of  a 
state  may  be  as  nothing  to  the  value  of  its  dead 
stock,  but  it  is  much  to  the  sum  total  of  its  cir- 
culating medium. 

It  is  not  in  the  general  case  hnmediateJy  that 
J  J  this  great  effect  of  an  expansion  or 

When  this  contraction  of  the  currency  acts  upon 
effeci  takes  the  price  of  the  produce  and  the  re- 
^  ^'^'  muneration  of  the  labor  of  the  coun- 

try':  months  may  sometimes  elapse  after  the 
augmented  issues  go  forth  from  the  bank  before 
their  effects  begin  to  appear  upon  prices  and 
enterprise ;  years,  before  these  effects  are  fully 
developed.  But  these  effects  are  quite  certain 
in  the  end ;  an  expansion  never  fails  by  degrees 
to  stimulate,  a  contraction  to  depress.  The 
reason  of  the  delay  in  general  is,  that  it  takes 
a  certain  time  for  the  augmented  supplies  of 
money  and  extended  credit  to  flow  down  from 
the  great  reservoirs  in  the  metropolis,  from 
whence  it  is  first  issued,  to  the  country  banks 


which  receive  it,  and  through  them  upon  their 
different  customers,  wliose  speculation  and  in- 
dustry it  develops.  There  is  no  iuuucdiate  con- 
nection between  augmented  supplies  of  money, 
whether  in  gold,  silver,  or  paper,  and  a  rise  iii 
the  price  of  commodities,  or  between  tlu  ir 
dimiiuition  and  a  fall ;  it  is  hy  the  gradual  j)ro- 
cess  of  stimulating  enterprise,  and  increasing 
the  demand  for  tliem  in  the  one  case,  and 
diminishing  it  in  the  other,  that  these  effects 
take  jilace ;  and  either  is  the  work  of  time. 
When  matters  approach  a  crisis,  however,  and 
general  alarm  juevails,  any  operations  on  the 
currency  arc  attended  with  effects  much  more 
rapidly,  and  sometimes  instantaneouslj*.  Sever- 
al instances  of  this  will  apjiear  iu  the  sequel  of 
this  liistory. 

As  the  increase  or  diminution  of  the  cur- 
rency in  any  considerable  degree  is  jg 
thus  attended  with  such  incalculable  Vast  im- 
efiects  upon  the  industry,  enterprise,  portanceof 
and  prosperity  of  every  country  ""/tibie"' 
which  is  largely  engaged  in  under-  currency  as 
takings,  it  becomes  of  the  last  im-  a  regulator 
portance  to  preserve  its  amount  as  "f  prices. 
equal  as  may  be,  and  to  exclude,  if  ])ossible,  all 
casual  or  uncalled-for  expansions  or  contrac- 
tions. Such  variations  are  fatal  to  prudent 
enterprise  and  legitimate  speculation,  because 
they  induce  changes  in  prices  irrespective  al- 
together of  the  judgment  with  which  the}'  were 
undertaken,  against  which  no  wisdom  or  fore- 
sight can  provide,  and  which  render  commer- 
cial speculations  as  hazardous,  and  often  ruin- 
ous, as  the  gaming-table.  They  are  injurious 
in  the  highest  degree  to  the  laboring  classes, 
because  they  encourage  in  them  habits  of  im- 
providence and  lavish  expenditure  at  one  time, 
which  are  inevitably  succeeded  by  depression 
and  misery  at  another.  They  often  sweep 
away  in  a  few  months  the  accumulated  savings 
of  whole  generations,  and  leave  the  nation  with 
great  undertakings  on  its  hands,  without  either 
credit  or  resources  to  carry  them  on.  Their 
effects  are  more  disastrous  than  those  of  plague, 
pestilence,  and  famine  put  together,  for  these, 
in  their  worst  form,  affect  only  an  existing 
generation;  but  commercial  crises  extend  their 
ravages  to  distant  times,  by  sweeping  away  the 
means  of  maintaining  the  future  generations  of 
man. 

Ko  currency  which  is  based  exclusively  upon 
the  precious  metals,  or  consists  of         .„ 
them,  can  possibly  be  exempt  from  x  currency 
such  fluctuations,  because,  being  valu-  based  on 
able  all  over  the  world,  these  are  "'^  P'^' 
always  liable  to  be  drained  aw"ay  at  ^is  is  aj- 
particular  times  b}'  the  mutations  of  ways  liable 
commerce  or  the  necessities  of  war  '°  Huctua- 
in  the   neighboring  states.     A  war  ^'°"^- 
between    France    and   Austria   occasioning   a 
great  demand  for  gold  on  the  Continent ;  a 
bad  harvest  in  England  rendering  necessary  a 
great   exportation  of  it   to  bring  grain  from 
Poland  or  America;   a  revolution  in  France; 
three   weeks'   rain  in  August   in    England — 
events,  imhappily,  nearly  equally  probable — 
may  at  any  time  induce  the  calamity.     True, 
the  precious  metals  will  always  in  the  end  be 
attracted  to  the  centre  of  wealth    and  com- 
merce ;  but  before  they  come  back,  half  the 
traders  and  manufacturers  in  the  country  may 


I 


)819.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROTE. 


3'25 


be  rendered  bankrupt.  Any  interruption  of 
the  vconted  issues  of  cash  to  them  is  like  the 
stopping  the  issuing  of  rations  to  an  army,  or 
food  to  a  people.  The  only  possible  way  of 
averting  so  dire  a  calamity,  is  either  by  having 
had  such  immense  treasures  of  gold  and  silver 
in  the  country,  that  they  are  adequate  to  meet 
any  possible  strain  which  may  come  upon 
them,  and  may  fairly  be  considered  inexhaust- 
ible ;  or  by  having  some  currency  at  home  not 
convertible  into  specie,  but  -wiiich,  issued  in 
moderate  quantities,  and  tmder  sufficient  safe- 
guards against  excess,  may  supply  its  place, 
and  do  its  work  during  its  temporarj-  absence. 
Of  the  first.  Great  Britain  and  the  whole 
civilized  world  afforded  in  1852  a  memorable 
example,  when  the  vast  and  newly-discovered 
treasures  of  California  and  Australia  diffused 
animation  and  prosperity  over  every  nation; 
tlie  second  was  illustrated  by  England  in  1797 
and  1810,  when  not  a  guinea  was  left  iu  the 
country,  but  every  difficulty  was  surmounted 
by  the  moderate  issue  of  an  inconvertible 
paper,  which,  without  becoming  excessive,  was 
adequate  to  the  wants  of  the  community. 
The  bill  of  1819,  which  re-established  cash 
14.  payments,  and  thereby  rendered  the 
Concurring  national  currency,  with  the  exception 
\vhich  of  £14,000,000,  which  the  Bank  was 

brought  authorized  to  issue  upon  securities, 
about  the  entirely  dependent  on  the  retention 
bill  of  1819.  of  tjig  precious  metals  in  the  country, 
was  brought  about  by  a  singular  but  not  un- 
natural combination  of  causes.  In  the  first 
place,  there  was  the  natural  reaction  of  the 
human  mind  against  the  enormous  evils  which 
had  arisen  in  France  from  the  abuse  of  the 
system  of  assignats,  the  quantities  of  which 
issued  exceeded  at  one  time  £700,000,000  ster- 
hng,  and  caused  such  a  rise  of  prices  as  swept 
away  nearly  the  whole  realized  capital  of  the 
country.  In  the  next  place,  there  was  tlio 
natural  dread  on  the  part  of  all  the  holders  of 
realized  wealth  of  such  a  continued  elevation 
of  prices  as  might  lessen  tlie  exchangeable 
value  of  their  fortunes,  and  in  some  degree 
deprive  them  of  their  inheritances  or  the  fruits 
of  their  toil.  Thirdly,  the  wliole  persons  en- 
gaged in  manufactures — a  large  and  increasing 
class — were  impressed  with  the  same  ideas, 
from  tiia  experience  which  tlie  opening  of  the 
harbors  had  afforded  them,  since  the  i)cacc,  of 
tlie  great  difference  between  tlio  money  wages 
of  labor  and  prices  of  raw  material  on  the 
Continent,  where  money  was  scarce,  because 
its  inhabitants  were  poor,  and  England,  where 
it  was  plentiful,  because  they  were  ricli,  and 
tlie  necessity  of  contracting  the  currency  in 
order  to  lower  prices,  especially  of  raw  ma- 
terial and  labor,  and  enable  them  better  to 
compete  with  their  Continental  rivals.  The 
Whigs,  as  a  party,  naturally  and  unanimously 
adiiered  to  the  same  opinion.  They  did  so,  be- 
cause Mr.  Pitt  and  Lord  Castlcrcagh  had  sup- 
ported the  opposite  system,  on  tli(!  principle  of 
Mr.  Tierney:  "  The  business  of  tlio  Opi)osition 
is  to  oppone  every  thlnfj,  and  turn  oait  the  Gov- 
ernment" Lastly,  the  political  economists, 
struck  with  the  obvious  dangers  of  great  varia- 
tions in  prices,  of  which  recent  times  had  af- 
forded so  many  examples,  formed  the  same 
opinion,    fiom   an    idea  that,   gold   being  the 


most  precious  of  all  metals,  and  the  most  i:i 
request  in  all  counti-ies  and  ages,  no  circulation 
could  be  considered  as  safe  or  lasting  except 
such  as  was  built  upon  that  imperishable  foun- 
dation. These  circumstances,  joined  to  tlie 
weight  and  abilities  of  Mr.  Iluskisson,  Mr. 
Uorner,  and  the  Bullion  Committee,  who  had 
recommended  the  resumption  of  cash  payments, 
and  of  Mr.  Peel,  who  had  recently  embraced 
their  views,  and  the  general  ignorance  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  community  on  the  subject, 
produced  that  "  chaos  of  unanimity"  which,  as 
already  mentioned,  led  to  the  resolutions  intro- 
ducing it  being  adopted  by  the  House 

of  Commons  without  one    disseutinc:  1-^"'P;, '^^ 

,  s'    IV.  0  lb. 

voice.' 

A  chaos  of  unanimity,  however,  which  con- 
founds parties,  obliterates  old  impres-  15. 
sions,  and  is  followed  by  new  alii-  Danger  of 
ances,  is  seldom  in  the  end  attended  ^  curreiu  y 
by  advantages ;  on  the  contrary,  it  rested  oa 
is  in  general  the  herald  of  misfortune,  a  metaUic 
As  it  arises  from  the  judgment  of  men  basis, 
being  obliterated  for  a  season,  by  the  pressure 
of  some  common  passion  or  apprehension,  so  it 
ends  in  their  interests  being  confounded  in  one 
common  disaster.  The  great  danger  of  consid- 
ering paper  as  the  representative  of  gold  and 
silver,  not,  when  required,  a  substitute  for  them, 
consists  in  this,  that  it  tends  necessarily  to 
multiply  or  diminish  them  both  at  tlie  same  time  ; 
a  state  of  things  of  all  others  the  most  calami- 
tous, and  fraught  with  danger  to  the  best  inter- 
ests of  society.  -When  gold  and  silver  are 
plentiful  abroad,  and  they  flow  in  large  quan- 
tities into  this  country,  from  its  being  the  best 
market  which  the  liolders  of  those  metals  can 
find  for  them,  they,  of  course,  accumulate  in 
large  quantities  in  the  banks,  especially  the 
Bank  of  England,  which  being  obliged  to  take 
them  at  a  fixed  price,  often  above  the  mai'ket 
value,  of  course  gets  the  largest  proportion. 
It  pays  for  this  treasure  with  its  own  paper, 
which  thus  augments  the  circulation,  alreadj', 
perhaps,  too  j)lentiful  from  the  affluence  of  tlie 
precious  metals.  Then  prices  rise,  money  be- 
comes easy,  credit  expands,  and  enterj)rises 
often  of  the  most  absurd  and  dangerous  kind 
are  set  on  foot,  and  are  generally  for  a  brief 
period  attended  with  great  profit  to  the  fortu- 
nate holders  of  shares.  When  a  change  arrives 
— as  arrive  it  must,  from  tiiis  rapid  increasing 
of  the  currency  both  in  specie  and  paper  at  the 
same  time,  and  the  jirecious  metals  are  as 
quickly  withdrawn  to  other  countries,  prob- 
ably to  pay  the  importations  which  the  pre- 
ceding fever  had  brought  into  the  eouiitry — the 
Very  reverse  of  all  this  takes  place.  The  banks, 
finding  their  stock  of  treasure  daily  diminish- 
ing, take  the  alarm ;  discounts  cease,  credits 
are  contracted;  the  greatest  niercantilo  houses 
are  unable  to  obtain  even  inconsiderable  ad- 
vances, and  the  nation  is  left  Avith  a  vast 
variety  of  s])eculatioii3  and  undertakings  on 
hand,  without  either  funds  or  credit  to  bring 
tlK.'iii  to  a  siicecfHsful  issue. 

The  true  system  would  be  just  tlie  reverse. 
Proceeding  on  the  principle  that  the         jo. 
great  object  is  to  equalize  the  cur-  True  «yB- 
rency,  and  with  it  prices  and  specula-  """• 
tioii,  it  would  enlarge  the  paper  currency  when 
the  precious  metals  are  withdrawn  and  credit 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[Chap.  X. 


is  ihroati'noil  witli  .^toppaijo,  niul  pro]ioitioimlly 
cittilrtul  it  whoii  the  pivcious  nutiils  return,  niul 
tlie  ourroiu-y  is  becomiiiij  nile(|imle  Avitliout  any 
considoralilo  addition  ti>  tlie  jtapor.  In  this  way, 
not  onl}"  would  the  iniinoiiso  dauijer  of  the  gold 
and  i>aper  boini;  i>oured  into  the  oirculatiou  at 
the  same  time  be  avoided,  but  a  support  would 
be  given  to  credit,  and  an  adequate  suj>ply  of 
currency  provided  for  the  country  when  its 
precious  metals  are  drained  away,  and  a  mone- 
tary crisis  is  at  hand.  A  few  millions,  secured 
on  Government  credit,  not  convertible  into  cash, 
judiciously  issued  by  tiovernment  commissioners 
when  the  exchanges  are  becoming  unfavorable 
and  money  scarce,  would  at  any  time  arrest  the 
progress  of  the  most  dreadful  monetary  crisis 
that  ever  set  in  upon  the  country.  That  of 
lTi>3  was  stopped  by  the  issue  of  Exchequer 
bills;  that  of  1797  by  suspending  cash  pay- 
ments ;  that  of  1825  was  arrested,  as  will  appear 
in  the  sequel,  by  the  accidental  discovery  and 
issue  of  two  millions  of  old  bank-notes  in  the 
Bank  of  England,  when  their  treasure  was  all 
but  exhausted ;  that  of  1847  was  at  once  stopped 
by  a  mere  letter  of  the  Premier  and  Chancellor 
of  the  Excliequer,  authorizing  the  suspension 
of  cash  payments.  The  prospect  even  of  a  cur- 
rency which  was  to  be  a  substitute  for  gold,  not 
a  representative  of  it,  at  ouee  arrested  the  panic, 
and  saved  the  nation.  Such  an  expedient,  when 
intrusted  to  Government  commissioners,  and 
not  to  bankers  or  interested  parties,  is  compar- 
atively safe  from  abuse;  and  it  would  at  once 
put  an  end  to  that  fluctuation  of  prices  and  com- 
mercial crises,  which  have  been  the  constant 
bane  of  the  countrj"^  for  the  last  thirty  jears.* 
In  addition  to  these  dangers  with  which  the 
resumption  of  cash  payments  and  the  establish- 
ment of  a  paper  currency — the  representative, 
not  the  substitute  for  gold,  and  therefore  de- 


*  Adam  Smith  clearly  saw  the  advantages  of  an  incon- 
vertible paper  currency  issued  on  such  principles,  and  on 
such  safeguards  against  abuse.  "  The  government  of 
Pennsylvania,"  says  he, "  without  amassing  any  treasure, 
invented  a  method'of  lending,  not  money,  indeed,  but  what 
is  equivalent  to  money,  to  its  subjects.  By  advancing  to 
private  people  at  interest,  and  upon  land  security  to  double 
the  value,  paper  bills  of  credit,  to  be  redeemed  filleen  years 
after  their  date,  and  in  the  mean  time  made  transfcraiile 
from  hand  to  hand  like  bank-notes,  and  declared  by  act 
of  Parliament  to  be  a  legal  tender  in  all  payments  by  one 
inhabitant  of  the  province  to  another,  it  raised  a  moderate 
revenue,  which  went  a  considerable  way  toward  defraying 
the  expenses  of  that  orderly  and  frugal  government.  The 
success  of  an  e.\pedient  of  this  kind  must  depend  on  three 
circumstances  :  first,  upon  the  demand  for  some  other  in- 
strument of  commerce  besides  gold  and  silver  money,  or 
upon  the  demand  for  such  a  quantity  of  consumable  stock 
as  could  not  be  had  without  seniling  abroad  the  greater 
■part  of  their  gold  or  silver  money  in  order  to  purchase  it , 
secondly,  upon  the  good  credit  of  the  government  which 
makes  use  of  the  e.xpedient ;  thirdly,  upon  the  moderation 
with  which  it  IS  used,  the  whole  value  of  the  paper  bills 
of  credit  never  exceeding  that  of  the  gold  and  silver  money 
which  would  have  been  necessary  for  carrying  on  their  cir- 
culation, had  there  been  no  paper  bills  of  credit.  The  same 
expedient  was  upon  different  occasions  adopted  by  sev- 
eral other  Amencan  .States  ;  but  from  want  of  this  moder- 
ation, it  produced  in  the  greater  part  of  them  much  di.sor- 
dir  and  inconvenience." —  Wealth  ofSations.  book  v.  chap. 
2.  This  is  the  true  principle  which  should  regulate  the  is- 
sue of  inconvertible  paper,  its  main  use  serving  as  a  substi  • 
tute  for  gold  and  silver,  not  as  a  representative  of  it,  to  he 
used  chiefly  where  the  precious  metals  are  drawn  away, 
and  never  exceeding  the  amount  of  them  vhich  ivould  have 
been  re'/iured  to  conduct  and  facilitate  its  real  transac- 
tions. The  moderation  of  Pennsylvania  was  a  prototype 
of  the  wisdom  of  the  English ,  the  extravagance  of  the 
other  American  colonics,  of  the  madness  of  France  in  the 
use  of  this  powerful  agent  for  good  or  for  evil  during  the 
subsequent  revoluiiouary  war. 


pendent  on  the  retention  of  the  precious  metals 
— must    always   be   attended,    there         ,- 
were  peculiar   circuinstances  which  Peculiar 
rendered  it  eminently  hazardous,  and  dangers 

its  elVects  disastrous,  at  the  time  it  Y'"'^' '''''' 
1      111       *i       1'      VI  theresiiriii- 

was  adojited  by  the  English  govern-  tionofca.sh 
ment  The  annual  supply  of  the  pre-  payments 
cious  metals  for  the  use  of  the  globe,  ^Y**  "'''^"''" 
which,  as  already  mentioned,  had 
been  on  an  average,  before  1810,  ten  millions 
sterling,  had  sunk,  from  the  ctt'ects  of  the  revolu- 
tion in  South  America,  to  little  more  than  two 
millions.'  The  great  paper  currency 
guaranteed  by  all  the  allied  powers,  >  3^  ^'  '^' '' 
issued  60  plentifully  during  1813  and 
1814,  and  wliich  liad  circulated  as  cash  from 
the  banks  of  the  Rhine  to  the  wall  of  China,  had 
been  drawn  in,  in  conformit}'  with  the  Conven- 
tion of  Loudon  of  GOlh  September,  1813;  and 
the  Continent  had  never  yet  recovered  from  the 
contraction  of  credit  and  shortcoming  of  sjiecie 
consequent  on  its  disappearance,  and  on  the 
cessation  of  the  vast  expenditure  of  the  war. 
The  loans  on  the  Continent,  in  the  years  follow- 
ing its  termination,  had  been  so  immense,  that 
they  bad  ruiuousl}'  contracted  the  circulation, 
and  destroyed  credit.  The  fall  of  prices  in  con- 
sequence, and  from  the  good  harvest  of  1 8 1 8,  had 
been  as  great  in  Germany  after  the  peace  as  in 
Great  Britain,  and  the  cabinets  of  Vienna,  Ber- 
lin, and  St.  Petersburg,  were  as  much 
straitened  for  monej' in  the  beginning  yfA'7^'  '^' 
of  1819  as  the  French  government.^  * 

In  addition  to  this,  the  strain  on  the  money 
market  at  Paris,  in  the  close  of  1818  jg. 

and  commencement  of  181 9,  had  been  Strain  on 
so  dreadful  that  a  monetary  crisis  of  '^i^  money 
the  utmost  severity  had  set  in  there,  ^om^he  jm- 
wliich  had  rendered  it  a  matter  of  mense  loans 
absolute  necessity,  as  already  men-  on  the  Coii- 
tioned,  for  the  trench  government  "f^'^'- 
to  solicit,  and  the  allied  cabinets  to  grant,  a  pro- 
longation of  the  term  for  payment  of  the  im- 
mense suras  they  were  required  to  pay,  by  the 
treaty  of  .tVix-la-Chapelle,  as  the  price  ot'  the 
evacuation  of  their  territory,  which  was   ex- 
tended, by  a  convention  in  December  1818,  from 
nine  to  eighteen  months.^      It  was 
not  surprising  that  such  a  financial  a  -J  ^'  '^'^' 
crisis  should  have  taken  place  on  the 
Continent  at  this  time,  for  the  loans  negotiated 
by  its  different  governments  in  the  course  of 
1817  and  ISIS  amounted  to  the  enormous  sum  of 
£38,CUO,OuO,f  of  which  £27,700,000  was  on  ac- 

*  Fall  of  Peices  of  Wheat  o.n  the  Cqntise.nt 
FBOM  lbl7  to  lfcl9. 

March  ISH.       September  1S19. 

Vienna ...   114s.     Od.  ...    I'Js.  (id. 

Muiiii  h 151s.     Od.   ...   2-ls.  od. 

Norway  &ls.  lOd.   ...   £(is.  8d. 

Venice 99s.    fid.  . . .  29s.  4d. 

Lisbon llTs.     Od.   ...  54s.  2d. 

Fmme &8s.  lid.  ...  29s.  9d. 

Vdine 99s.    6d.  . . .   31s.  Td. 

The  bad  harvest  of  1S16  was  the  cause  of  the  higli  prices 
in  IblT.  but  the  prodigious  fall  in  lfel9  was  due  mainly  to 
the  pressure  on  the  money  market.— Tooke  On  Pnces, 
II.  93,  94,  and  authorities  there  quoted. 

t  Loans  raised  in  Europe  in  161"  and  1815. 

France £27,700,000 

Prussia 2.800,000 

Austria 3,600,000 

Russia •■    4.500.000 

X'att,oou,ouu 
—Appendix  to  Lords'  Com.  on  Cash  Payments,  1819.  p. 
424. 


1819.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


327 


count  of  France.  At  least  three-fourths  of  these 
loans  were  undertaken  in  London  and  Amster- 
dam by  Messrs  Baring  and  Hope ;  and  as  the 
whole  sums  they  had  to  pay  up  under  them  re- 
quired to  be  remitted  in  specie,  the  drain  which 
in  consequence  set  in  upon  the  Bank  of  England 
was  so  severe  that  its  accumulated  treasure, 
which  in  October,  1817,  had  been  £11,914,000, 
and  in  February,  1818,  £10,055,460,  had  sunk, 
I  xooke  On  on  31st  August,  1818,  to  £6,303,160, 
Prices,  ii.  and  on  27th  February,  1819,  was 
54-96.  only  £4,184,000.^ 

It  was  the  suspension  of  cash  payments  by  the 

jg  Bank  of  England  in  1817  and  1818, 

Great  pros-    which,  as  already  mentioned,  alone 

perity  of  En-  enabled  this  country  to  prosper  dur- 

'''l^"il  i"  *  j*^  ius:  this  tei'rible  crisis,  which  was  act- 
of  1818  and    .    ^       -^i  ,  .,  ,, 

spring  of  i^g  With  such  severity  upon  other 
1819,  from  states,  and  occasioning  so  fearful  a 
extension  of  (Jrajn  on  its  own  metallic  resources. 
us  currency,  jg^^  ^j^^^  suspension  had  not  onl}-,  b}' 
providing  it  with  an  adequate  internal  currency, 
averted  the  catastrophe  so  general  at  that  time 
on  the  Continent,  but  had  given  it  at  the  very 
eame  time  an  extraordinary  degree  of  prosper- 
ity. "  In  consequence,"  says  Mr.  Tooke,  "  of  the 
great  fall  in  the  French  funds,  combined  with 
the  great  and  sudden  fall  of  the  prices  of  grain 
on  the  Continent,  extensive  failures  occurred  in 
Paris,  Marseilles,  and  other  parts  of  France,  as 
also  in  Holland  and  in  Hamburg,  in  1818,  before 
any  indication  had  appeared  of  discredit,  or  of 
any  pressure  on  the  nioiiey  market  of  this  country. 
A  loan  had  also  been  negotiated  in  1818  for  the 
Russian  government,  the  payments  for  a  large 
proportion  of  which  were  made  in  bullion  ex- 
ported from  this  country,  thus  adding  greatly 


to  the  pressure  on  the  money  market,  and  at 
the  same  time  exhibiting  the  phenomenon  of 
prices  falling  rapidly  on  the  continent  of  Europe 
— much  more  rapidly  than  here — while  bullion 
was  flowing  there  from  hence."^  ^^  i  t  k-  • 
is  not  surprising  that  it  was  so;  for  y^  '''"' 
the  Continental  states,  during  1817 
and  1818,  had  no  paper  adequate  to  sustain  their 
industry  during  the  scarcity  of  money,  owing 
to  the  immense  pressure  on  their  money  market, 
whereas  England  enjoyed  in  the  highest  degree 
that  advantage.  The  paper  circulation  of  Great 
Britain  had  greatly  increased  during  the  drain 
on  the  precious  metals,  and  compensated  for 
their  want,  and  in  the  last  of  these  years  had 
reached  £48,000,000  in  England  alone,  a  higher 
amount  than  in  any  year  of  the  war.  Hence 
the  prosperity  in  this  country  which  coexisted 
with  the  most  serious  pressure  and  distress  on 
the  Continent.* 

The  consequences  of  this  abundant  supply  of 
the  currency  in  Great  Britain  had  go. 

been  an  extraordinary  degree  of  pros-  Great  inter- 
perity  to  the  country  in  the  last  nal  prospcr- 
mouths  of  1818  and  first  of  1819,  '^^^^^^^^ 
accompanied  by  a  corresponding  and 
a  too  sudden  start  in  speculations  of  every  sort. 
It  was  so  great,  and  the  change  so  rapid,  that 
it  was  made  the  subject  of  special  congratula- 
tion and  notice  in  the  speech  from  the  throne.f 
Statistical  facts  demonstrate  how  great  a  start 
had  at  the  same  time  taken  place  in  all  our 
principal  articles  of  imports  and  manufactures, 
and  in  the  general  rise  of  prices  of  all  sorts. 
The  former  had  mcJre  than  doubled,  the  latter 
advanced  fully  50  per  cent,  as  shown  in  the  fol- 
lowing Table  from  Tooke  On  Prices,  ii.  61,  62: 


Imports  into  Great  BRiTAr;^. 


Years. 

SUk. 

Wool. 

Cotton. 

Manufactures. 

Tallow. 

Linseed. 

Colonial  Produce. 

I8IG 
1817 
1818 

lb. 
1,137,922 
1,177,693 
2,101,618 

lb. 

8,117,864 
14,715,843 
26,405,486 

lb. 

93,920,055 
124,912,968 

177,282,158 

Tons. 
18,473 
22,863 
33,020 

Tons. 
20,858 
19,298 
27,149 

Qrs. 

70,802 
162,759 
237,141 

£. 
20,374,920 
29,916,320 

35,819,798 

The  unavoidable  consequence  was,  that  prices 
were  high,  but  not  unreasonably  so:  they  had 
not  advanced  so  as  to  afford  grounds  to  fear 
a  reaction.  Wheat,  on  an  average  of  1819, 
was  at  72.S.,  while  during  the  scarcity  of  1817 
it  had  been  lir)."?.,  and  at  the  lowest  point  of 
the  great  fall  of  spring  1816,  52.s.  And  that 
the  imports,  how  great  and  increased  soever, 
as  compared  with  the  distressed  years  which 
had  preceded  it,  were  not  excessive,  or  run- 
ning into  dangerous  s])eculation,  is  decisively 
proved  by  the  fact  tlint  the  imports  and  ex- 
ports of  Great  Britain  in  1818,  as  compared  to 
its  population  and  revenue,  were  not  half  what 
they  have  since  become,  not  only  witliout  risk 
of  collapse,  but  with  the  most  general  and  ad- 
mitted prosperity.  In  a  word,  the  British 
empire,  in  the  whole  of  1818  and  commence- 
ment of  1819,  was  beginning  to  taste  the 
blessed  fruits  of  jieace  and  prosperity ;  and  in- 
dustry, vivified  and  supported  by  a  currency 
at  once  adequate  and  iltily  liriiit(!d,  was  flour- 
ishing in  all  its  branches,  and  daily  discovering 
new  channels  of  profit  and  entcri)rise,  at  the 
Very  time  when  the  scarcity  of  money  on  the 


Continent  was  involving  all  classes  in  unheard- 
of  disasters.  J 


Circulation  of  Bank  of  England  and  Country 
Notes. 


Veam.    Bank  of  England. 

Country  Banks. 

Total. 

1816 
1817 
1818 
1819 

£27,013,620 
27,397,901) 
27,771,070 
25,227,100 

XI5,096,000 
15,891,000 
20,507,000 
15,701,328 

X42, 109,620 
43,291,90(1 
48,278,070 
40,928,428 

— Alison's  Europe,  chap,  xcvi.,  Ajjpcmlix. 

t  "  The  Prince  llcKcnt  has  the  greatest  pleasure  in  b;v 
inir  al)le  to  inform  you  that  the  traile,  commerce,  anJ  man- 
ufactures of  the  country  are  in  a  most  llourishiiix  comli- 
tion.  The  Oivorat)le  change  which  has  so  rapidly  taluii 
place  in  the  internal  circumstances  ofthe  United  Kincdom, 
allbrds  the  strongcHt  proof  ot  the  solidity  of  its  resourci's. 
To  cultivate  and  improve  the  advantages  of  our  iircscnt 
situation  will  be  the  object  of  your  deliberations." — PuiNCE 
Heoent's  Speech,  Jan.  21,  1819  ;  Parliamentary  Debates, 
xxxix.  21. 

t  This  opinion  was  strongly  expressed  by  the  most  in- 
telligent persons  at  the  time.  "  Doth  trade  and  tnainifac- 
tures  are  in  a  lliiurishing  condition,  and  likely  to  improve 
still  further.  There  appear."*  to  be  little  xpiridatKin  biyond 
the  rrcul'ir  tiemnnds  iif  the  different  jmtrkits,  men  with- 
out capital  fmcling  it  almost  impossible  to  procure  credit  ; 
so  that  tlicre  is  now  no  disposition  to  Ibrcc  a  trade,  and 


828 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[?1IAI>.   X. 


But  tbeso  flrtttorinp  prospects  were  of  short 
„.  ilurntion,  and  Groat  Britain  was  soon 

Disastnnis  ilooinod  to  oxporioncc,  in  all  its  bit- 
fomraccion  ternosii,  the  disastrous  effects  of  an  ill- 
otiliccur-  jmljjed  and  worse-timed  contraction 
rtnry-  ^^f  {|,^,  currency.      At  the    moment 

when  the  annual  supplies  of  the  precious  metals 
fur  the  use  of  the  globe  had  been  reduced,  by 
the  South  American  revolution,  to  a  fourth 
of  their  former  amount — when  the  coin  annu- 
ally issued  from  the  English  mint  had  in  conse- 
quence sunk  to  only  £1,500,000  a  year*— when 
the  drains  of  gold  on  the  Bank,  to  meet  the 
gigantic  loans  contracted  for  in  this  country 
for  the  Continental  powers,  and  pay  for  the 
immense  importations  of  the  vear,  had  reduced 
the  treasure  in  the  Bank  from  £12,000,000  to 
£3,500,000,  and  when  the  large  mercantile 
transactions  recently  entered  into  in  this  coun- 
try, and  the  general  prosperity  and  activity 
which  prevailed,  imperatively  required,  instead 
of  a  contraction,  a  great  increase  of  the  currency, 
Parliament,  without  one  dissenting  voice,  passed 
an  act,  requiring  the  Bank  of  England,  at  no 
,  distant  period,'  to  resume  cash  pay- 

iv.  "ts.*'  ments,  thereby  rendering  the  cur- 
rency dependent  on  the  retention  of 
gold — the  very  thing  which,  in  the  circum- 
stances of  the  country,  could  not  be  retained.f 

The  effects  of  tliis  extraordinary  piece  of  leg- 
go  islation  were  soon  apparent.  The 
Its  effects  industry  of  the  nation  was  speedily 
on  the  Bank  congealed,  as  a  flowing  stream  is  by 
issues.  j^j^g  severity  of  an  arctic  winter. 
The  alarm  became  universal — as  wide-spread  as 
confidence  and  activity  had  recently  been.  The 
country  bankers,  who  had  advanced  largely  on 
the  stocks  of  goods  imported,  refused  to  con- 
tinue their  support  to  their  customers,  and  the}' 
were  in  consequence  forced  to  bring  their  stock 
into  the  market.  Prices  in  consequence  rapidly 
fell — that  of  cotton,  in  particular,  sunk  in  the 
space  of  three  months  to  half  its  former  level. 
The  country  bankers'  circulation  was  contract- 


no  injurious  competition  to  procure  orders,  and  conse- 
quently wages  are  fair  and  reasonable." — Lord  Sheffield 
to  Lord  SiD.MouTH,  ITth  Dec,  1818 ;  Sidmouth's  Life,  iii. 
242. 

*  Money  Coined  a.md  Issued  at  the  Mint. 

1817 6,771,595 

1818  3,488,652 

1819 1,270,817 

1820 1.787,233 

1821 7,954,444 

—Porter's  PaH.  Tables.  Alison's  Europe,  chap,  xcvi.. 
Appendix. 

t  Lord  Eldon,  however,  had  strongly  opposed  it  in  the 
Cabinet,  and  wished  the  project  postponed  for  two  years. 
— Twiss's  Life  of  Lord  Eldon.  ii.  329.  Mr.  Ward  (Lord 
Dudley)  said  "  Those  that  are  near  the  scene  of  action  are 
not  less  surprised  than  you  are  at  the  turn  the  Bullion 
question  has  taken.  Canning  says  it  is  the  i^eatesl  won- 
der he  has  witnessed  in  the  political  world." — Earl  of 
Dudley's  Letters,  222.  The  truth  is,  .Ministers  at  the 
period  were  very  weak,  and  had  sustained  several  defeats 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  particularly  on  the  Criminal 
Law,  and  they  did  not  venture  to  face  the  Opposition  on 
the  Bullion  question.  Lord  Liverpool,  at  the  period  it 
was  first  broached  in  the  Cabinet,  wrote  to  Lord  Eldon  in 
allusion  to  their  difference  of  opinion  on  the  subject :  "  Af- 
ter the  defeats  we  have  already  experienced  during  this  ses- 
sion, our  remaining  in  office  is  a  positive  evil.  It  confounds 
all  the  ideas  of  government  in  the  minds  of  men.  It  dis- 
graces us  personally,  and  renders  us  less  capable  every 
day  of  being  of  any  real  service  to  the  country  now.  If, 
therefore,  things  are  to  remain  as  they  are,  I  am  quite 
clear  that  there  is  no  advantage  in  any  way  in  our  being 
the  persons  to  carry  on  the  public  service." — Lord  Liver- 
pool to  Lord  Eldon,  May  10, 1619  ;  Eldon's  Life,  ii.  3C9. 


ed  by  no  less  than  five  millions  sterling  ;  the  en- 
tire circulation  of  England  fell  from  £48,278,000 
in  1818,  to  £4o,ii'28,ooo  in  18'20;  and  in  the  suc- 
ceeding year  it  sunk  as  low  as  £34,145,000. 
Nothing  in  this  disastrous  contraction  of  the 
currcnc}-,  at  a  period  when  its  expansion  was 
so  loudly  called  for,  sustained  the  national  in- 
dustr\',  or  averted  a  general  bankruptc}-,  but 
the  fortunate  circumstance  that  the  obligation 
on  the  Bank  to  pay  in  specie  was,  by  the  Act 
of  1819,  oidy  to  commence  on  the  Ist'pebuarv, 
1820;*  and  this  enabled  that  establishment,  in 
the  preceding  autumn,  when  the  crash  began, 
not  only  not  to  contract  its  issues,  but  even  in 
a  slight  degree  to  increase  them.f 

The  effects  of  this  sudden  and  prodigious 
contraction  of  the  currency  were  soon  gg 
apparent,  and  they  rendered  the  next  And  on 
three  j'cars  a  period  of  ceaseless  dis-  prices  of  all 
tress  and  suffering  in  the  British  J'"^""*'^'' 
islands.  The  accommodation  granted 
by  bankers  diminished  so  much,  in  consequence 
of  the  obligation  laid  upon  them  of  paying  in 
specie  when  specie  was  not  to  be  got,  that  the 
paper  under  discount  at  the  Bank  of  England, 
which  in  1810  had  been  £23,000,000,  a^id  in 
1815  not  less  than  £20,660,000,  sunk  in  1820  to 
£4,672,000,  and  in  1821  to  £2,676,000  !t  The 
effect  upon  prices  was  not  less  immediate  or 
appalling.  They  sunk  in  general,  within  six 
months,  to  half  their  former  amount,  and  re- 
mained at  that  low  level  for  the  next  three 
years.  [See  Note  (1)  on  opposite  page.]  Im- 
ports sunk  from  nearly  £36,000,000  in  1818,  to 
£29,769,000  in  1821  ;  exports  from  £45,000,000 
in  the  former  year,  to  £35,000,000  in  the  latter.g 


Bank  and  Bankers'  Notes. 


Yeare. 

Bank  of 
England. 

Conntry 
Baokera. 

Total. 

Money  Coined 

and  ls«:ued  at 

the  Mint 

1818 
1819 
1820 
1821 
1822 

£. 
27,771,000 
25,227.100 
23,509,150 
22,471,450 
18,172,170 

£. 

20,507,000 

15,701,328 

10,576,245 

8,256,180 

8,416,430 

£. 

48,278,070 
40,928,428 
34,145,395 
30,727,630 
26,588,600 

£. 

3,438,652 
1,270,817 
1,797,233 
9,954,444 
5,368,217 

— Parliamentary  Papers  quoted  in  .\lison"s  Europe,  chap, 
xcvi.  ;  Appendix  to  TooKE  On  Pnrcs,  ii.  129. 

Mr.  Sedgewick,  of  the  Stamp  Office,  estimates  the  con- 
traction of  country  bank-notes  as  follows : 

1819 £15,284,491 

1820 11,767,391 

1821 8,414,281 

1822 8,067,260 

1823 8,798,277 

— TooKE  On  Prices,  ii.  128. 

t  Circulation  of  the  Bask  of  England. 

Bullion. 

27th  Febniarv,  1819 i>25, 126,970  ....  X4, 184,620 

31st  August,'l819 25,252,790....      3,595,360 

— TooKE  On  Prices,  ii.  96. 
t  Paper  under  Discount  at  the  Bank  of  En- 
gland. 


1608 £12,950,100 

1609 18,127,597 

1610 23,070,000  1619. 

IRll 15.199,032  1820. 

1612 17,610,950  1621. 

1613 14,514,744  1622. 

— Tooke  On  Prices,  ii   381-363. 

Export?. 
Declared  Value 

I)   1818 '£45.180,150 

1619   34.2.52,251 

1620 35.569.677 

1821 35.823.127 

1622 36,176,697 


1814 £13.363,475 

1615 20,660,000 


6,515.f00 
3,883.600 
2,676,700 
2,662,000 


Imports. 
£35.845,340 
29,661,640 
31,515,222 
29,769,122 
29,432,376 


-Alison's  Europe,  chap,  xcvi.,  Appendix. 


1S19.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROTE. 


S29 


Distress  ■was  universal  in  the  latter  montlis  of 
the  year  1819,  and  tliat  distrust  and  discourage- 
ment was  felt  in  all  branches  of  industrj-,  which 
is  at  once  the  forerunner  and  the  cause  of  dis- 
aster. The  Three  per  Cents,  which  had  been 
at  79  in  January,  gradually  fell,  after  the 
Bank  Restriction  Act  passed,  to  65  in  Decem- 
ber; and  the  bankruptcies,  which  had  been  86 
'  Ann  Uc  ^^  January,  rose  in  May  to  178 :  the 
181").  301,°  total  in  the  year  was  1499,  being  an 
3U6;Ai>p.  increase  of  531  over  the  preceding 
tu  Cliron.     year.'* 

The  effects  of  this  panic,  and  consequent  dis- 
tress, especially  in  the  manufacturing 
districts,  speedily  appeared ;  and  the 
demagogues  were  not  slow  to  turn 
to  the  best  account  this  unexpected 
turn  of  fortune  in  their  favor.  Mr. 
Cobbett  said  afterward,  that  the  mo- 
ment he  heard  in  America  of  the  resumption  of 
cash  payments  in  Great  Britain,  he  prepared  to 
return  to  this  country,  as  he  felt  certain  that 
the  cause  of  Reform  in  Parliament  could  not 
long  be  averted ;  and  the  result  proved  that  he 
had  correctly  scanned  the  effects  of  that  meas- 
ure. The  disaffected,  under  the  direction  of 
their  able  and  intelligent  leaders,  changed  the 


24. 
Rapid  in- 
crease of 
disaffec- 
tion in  ttie 
country. 


direction  of  their  tactic.^.  They  no  loncor  con- 
fined their  operations  to  the  breaking  of  mills 
or  destruction  of  machinery ;  political  changes 
became  their  object;  and  their  method  of  effect- 
ing them  was  by  making  displays  of  vast  mul- 
titudes of  men,  in  a  certain  degree  disciplined, 
and  closely  banded  together  in  feeling.  At  a 
great  meeting  of  30,000  or  40,000  persons,  which 
took  place  at  Glasgow  on  16th  May,  called  to 
petition  the  Prince  Regent  for  relief  and  means 
to  emigrate  to  Canada,  an  amendment  was  pro- 
posed, and  carried  by  an  overwhelming  major- 
ity, that  no  good  was  to  be  expected  but  from 
annual  parliaments,  imiversal  suffrage,  vote  by 
ballot,  and  diminished  taxation.  They  now, 
for  the  first  time,  assumed  the  name  of  Radical 
Reformers,  and  began  to  use,  as  their  war-cries, 
the  necessity  of  annual  parliaments,  universal 
suffrage,  vote  by  ballot,  and  the  other  points 
which  have  since  been  combined  in  what  is 
called  the  People's  Charter.  The  leaders  of  tlie 
great  meetings  which  took  place,  mueli  to  their 
credit,  strenuously  inculcated  upon  the  people 
the  necessity  of  keeping  the  peace,  and  abstain- 
ing from  all  acts  of  intimidation  and  outrage ; 
and,  considering  the  immense  multitudes  who 
were  congregated  together,  amounting  often  to 


(From  TooKE  On  Frictt,  ii.  390,  397,  420.) 

(1)  Prices  of  the  undermentioned  Articles  in  the  Year,  and  Wheat  in  December  of  each 

Year. 


Year. 

Wheat, 
per  qr. 

Cotton, 
per  Jb^ 

Iron, 
per  ton. 

Rice, 
per  ton. 

Silk, 
per  Jb. 

Tea, 
per  lb. 

Wool, 

per  lb. 

Sugar, 
per  cwt. 

Beef, 
per  tierce. 

1818 

1819 

t.     d. 
80    8 
66    3 
54    6 
49    0 
38  11 

<.    d. 
2     0 
1  H 
1     5 
1     1 
1     0 

£.   .. 
9    0 

8  10 

9  0 
7  10 
6  10 

a. 
45 
43 
32 
36 
33 

9.    d. 
39  0 
30  0 
24  5 

24  0 

25  1 

..    d. 
3     1 
2  10 
2     4 
2     4 
2     S 

s.    d. 
-  G  0 
G  0 
3  0 
3  3 
3  6 

70 
66 
58 
58 
42 

100 
115 
130 
115 

60 

1820   

1821 

1822 

*  Mr.  Tooke,  wliose  industry  and  talents  entitle  his 
opinions  to  the  highest  respect,  has  labored  hard  to  show 
that  tlie  contraction  ol  the  currency  in  1819  had  no  connec- 
tion with  the  distress  of  that  and  the  three  following  years, 
but  that  It  is  entirely  to  be  ascribed  to  overtrading :  and 
in  this  opinion  he  is  followed  by  .Miss  Martineau.  With 
what  success  their  arguments  are  founded  may  be  judged 
of  by  the  (acts  above  stated.  Mr.  Tooke's  arguments  are 
ba-sed  upon  an  idea  which  every  one  acquainted  with  the 
real  working  of  commerce  knows  to  be  fallacious — that 
the  effe -ts  of  monetary  changes,  if  real,  upon  prices,  must 
be  nnmediatp.  and,  therefore,  as  he  finds  the  bank  issues 
a  shade  higher  in  August,  1819,  than  they  had  been  in 
February  of  that  year,  he  concludes  that  there  was  no 
contraction  to  account  for  the  distress,  and  that  it  arose 
entirely  from  overtrading. —(Tooke  On  Prices,  ii.  90,113.) 
He  takes  no  account  ofilie  prodigious  drain  on  the  metal- 
lic currency  which  brougtit  the  bullion  in  the  Bank  down 
from  £12,000,000  to  i'3,500,000,  nor  of  the  contraction  of 
X'5,000,000  in  the  country  bankers'  issues,  from  the  pass- 
ing of  the  act.  But,  in  truth,  his  notion  that  there  is  an 
immediate  connection  between  currency  and  prices  if 
there  is  any,  is  entirely  erroneous.  Someliines,  doubl- 
les.s,  the  effect  is  very  rapid,  but  in  general  it  is  the  work 
of  time.  If  a  sudden  panic  is  either  produced  or  arrested 
by  legislative  measures,  the  effect  may  be  instantaneous  ; 
but  in  other  ca.scs  it  is  by  slow  degrees,  and  by  working 
through  all  the  ramifications  of  society,  that  a  contraction 
or  expansion  of  the  currency  acts  upon  the  interests  of 
society.  If  five  millions  additional  are  thrown  into  the 
money  market,  or  gradually  withdrawn,  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  there  is  to  be  an  instantaneouH  effect  on  prices. 
The  effect  takes  place  gradually,  in  cons('c)uence  of  the 
extended  speculations  and  iindertakincs  which  are  set  on 
foot  in  the  one  case,  or  ruined  or  contracted  in  the  other. 
The  effect  of  the  contraction  of  the  currency,  which  began 
In  1819,  continued  tlirniigh  the  whole  tliree  following 
years,  till  it  was  arrested  by  an  expansion  of  it  in  1823, 
which  soon  landed  tin;  nation  in  another  set  of  dangers 
on  the  opposite  side.  The  speculation  of  181H  was  doubt- 
less considerable,  and  would  probably,  in  any  event  ami 
with  the  best  regulated  currency,  have  led  to  a  check  and 
a  temporary  fall  of  prices,  just  as  an  abundant  harvest  for 


a  season  lowers  the  price  of  grain.  But  it  is  quite  chimer- 
ical to  suppose  that  the  long-continued  distress,  from  1819 
to  1623,  was  owing  to  the  importations  of  lbl8.  If  they 
were  excessive,  that  evil  would  speedily  check  it.self,  and 
restore  prices  to  their  average  and  healthful  stale.  But 
that  they  were  not  excesswe,  and  should  not,  if  the  cur- 
rency had  been  let  alone,  have  terminated  in  any  thing 
like  disaster,  is  decisively  proved  by  the  fact  that  ihcy 
were  not  half  as  great,  relatively  to  the  populaton  of  the 
empire,  as  they  have  since  become  in  years  not  only  un. 
accompanied  by  disaster,  but  marked  by  the  most  un. 
equivocal  prosperity.  This  distinctly  appears  from  th(! 
following  table  of  exports  and  imports  : 


YeaiB. 

Exports — oHicml 
value. 

Imports — ofllcial 
value. 

Population  ct 

Great  llrilain  and 

Ireland. 

1B18 
1M9 

1620 

1623 
1624 
1625 

]83t 
1635 
163G 

1844 
1M5 
1816 
1647 

£42,700,521 
33,534,176 

36,395,025 

43.604,372 
4h,7K'i,5.'il 
47,106,020 

73,821. 5.W 
76,376,73 1 
85,229,837 

131, .064,503 
134,.'-)99,110 
1.12,2HH,315 
125,907,063 

£35.845,340 
29,681,640 
31,515,222 

34,591,260 
36,056,551 
42,060,954 

49,.102,811 
46,911, .'.42 
57,023,607 

75,44  KS.'iS 
65,261,955 
75,958,674 
99,921,806 

20,500,000 
22,000,000 
23,500,000 

27,400,000 

— 1'orter's  Pari.  Tables ;  and  Alison's  Europe,  Appen- 
dix, chap.  cxvi. 

It  is  true,  several  of  these  prosperous  years  terminated 
in  disaster  ;  but  that  was  the  necessary  ell'ect  of  the  syg- 
tiin  of  currency  established  in  the  enipin',  which  rciidcreU 
periods  of  disaster  as  necessarily  the  Ibllowers  of  pros*- 
perity  as  nighl  is  of  day. 


sr.0 


1 1 1  S  T  0  11  Y    0  F    K  U  11  O  r  E. 


[Chap.  X. 


S.i.OOO  nnil  40,000  persons,  it  was  siirinisinc 
how  troiunillv  (ho  diroetioiis  were  followed. 
Awuiv  from  Oie  syniploms  in  (he  ]ioliti«';il  at- 
mosphoi-o  of  an  approaeliini;  storm,  but  wliully 
I'.iiL'ouscious  thill  it  had  jiroooedod  from  (heir 
own  ne(s,  Itoverimient  streni'thcncd 
i,  225  ;  Lite  themselves  by  the  admission  ot  the 
of  Lord  Sid-  Duke  of  ■\Veilini;ton  into  the  Cub- 
"^'oV ■'■  "'^'^  "*  I\Iaster-G~"eneral  of  the  Ord- 
Ann.Ufl'.  iianee,  on  his  return  from  tlie  com- 
ISl'J,  m,       mand  of  the  Army  of  (.)ccui>ation  in 

These  politieal  meetings  were  general  in  all 
the  manufacturing  towns  of  England 
MccUns  at  ^"*^  Scotland  during  the  whole  sum- 
Peterloo.  mer  of  1810,  and  the  leading  topics 
Au?.  10,  constantly  dwelt  on  were  the  depres- 
^^''■'"  eion  of  wages  and  misery  of  the  poor, 

which  were  invariably  ascribed  to  the  Corn 
Laws,  the  weight  of  taxation,  the  influence  of 
the  boroughmongci"s,  or  holders  of  nomination 
boroughs,  and  the  want  of  any  representation 
of  the  people  in  Parliament.  The  speeches, 
which  were  often  eloquent  and  moving,  ac- 
quired additional  force  from  the  notorious  facts 
to  which  they  could  all  refer,  which  were  too 
cx]>ressivc  of  the  general  distress  which  pre- 
vailed. No  serious  breach  of  the  peace  occur- 
red till  the  16th  of  August,  1819,  when  a  great 
assemblage  took  place  at  Peterloo,  near  Man- 
chester. As  it  was  known  that  multitudes 
were  to  come  to  that  meeting  from  all  the 
towns  and  villages  in  that  densely-peopled  lo- 
cality, great  apprehensions  were  entertained  by 
the  local  authorities,  and  extraordinary  precau- 
tions taken  to  prevent  a  breach  of  the  peace, 
iu  conformity  with  a  circular  from  the  Home 
Office  on  '7th  July,  which  recommended  the 
utmost  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  local  magis- 
tracy, and  the  adoption  of  prompt  and  vigor- 
ous measures  for  the  preservation  of  the  public 
tranquillity.  The  yeomanry^  of  the  county  of 
Cheshire,  and  a  troop  of  Manchester  yeomanry, 
were  summoned;  and  the  military,  consisting 

•>  A„„  -D^.,  of  six  troops  of  the  15th  Hussars, 
2  Ann.  Reg.  1     ,  1     ^i         i    1       r 

1619, 104,  two  guns,  and  nearly  the  whole  01 
106;  Marii-  the  31st  regiment,  were  also  on  the 
I'?^'^'  I'y^^I  spot  and  under  arms.  A  large  body 
sidmouih,  of  special  constables  was  swoi'n  in, 
iii.  234, 237;  and,  armed  with  their  batons,  sur- 
Mr.  Joliffe'3  mounded  the  hustings  where  the 
speakers  were  to  be  placed.' 
The  avowed  object  of  the  first  proposed  meet- 
ing, which  had  been  called  by  reg- 
Great excite-  ^'^"^  advertisement,  was  to  elect  "a 
ment,  and  representative  and  legislatoi-ial  at- 
objeeisof  the  torney"  to  represent  the  city  of  Man- 
lueeting.  chester,  as  had  already  been  done 
at  Bii-mingham,  Stockport,  Leeds,  and  other 
places.  This  meeting  was  called  for  the  9th 
August;  but  as  the  magistrates, feeling  such  an 
object  to  be  illegal,  had  intimated  it  would  bo 
dispersed,  the  next  or  adjourned  meeting,  which 
was  called  for  the  16th,  was  simply  to  petition 
for  a  reform  in  Parliament.  Drilling  had  been 
practiced  in  many  places  in  all  the  country 
round ;  and  large  bodies  of  men  had  met  on 
the  hills  between  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire,  in 
the  gray  of  the  morning,  to  go  through  their 
evolutions,  though  without  having  any  arms. 
The  consequence  was,  that  they  marched  into 
Manchester  from  every  direction  for  thirty  miles 


around,  six  abreast,  with  bands  of  music  and 
colors  flying.  On  (hese  were  inscribed,  "No 
Corn  Laws;"  "Annual  Parliaments  ;""  Univer- 
sal SutlVage;"  "  Vote  by  Ballot;"  "Equal  Rep- 
resentation or  Death;"  "Liberty  or  Death;" 
"God  armelh  (he  Patriot" — with  a  figure  of 
Wallace.  Two  bands  of  female  reformers  were 
among  them,  one  numbering  150  members,  with 
light  blue  silk  flags:  they  added  much  interest 
and  excitement  to  the  scene.    Mr.  Hunt  was  the 

person  who  was  (o  address  the  mul-  ,  ,  ,-     , 

•       1  111-1  •       -1  1  Life  of  a 

titudo,  and  belore  lie  arrived  on  the  Radical,  ii. 
ground  it  was  computed  that  60,000  I'J",  '-i04 ; 
persons  were  assembled,  chiefly  from  ^'^''^"ool]'. 
places  around  I^Ianchestcr,  a  large  Life  oV  Lord 
pi'oportion,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  be-  Sidmouth, 
ing  women,  and  not  a  few  children.'  "'•  '^•'^^  '^•'^■ 
The  magistrates  of  Manchester,  deeming  such 
a  meeting  for  such  an  object  to  be  il-  q- 
legal,  resolved  to  prevent  it  by  ar-  its  dispcr- 
restiug  Mr.  Hunt,  its  avowed  leader,  sion  iiy  the 
before  the  proceedings  had  begun.  ""^''^lO'- 
He  arrived  about  noon  in  an  open  carriage, 
and  made  his  way^  with  some  difficulty  to  the 
hustings  erected  on  the  centre  of  the  ground, 
amidst  cheers  which  rent  the  air.  A  warrant 
was  immediately  made  out  to  arrest  him,  and 
put  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Kadin,  the  chief  con- 
stable, with  orders  to  execute  it  immediately'. 
He  declared,  however,  that  he  could  not  do  so; 
which  was  evidently  the  case,  as  the  crowd  was 
so  dense  that  it  was  physically  impossible  to 
force  a  passage  through  the  throng  up  to  the 
hustings.  Upon  this  they  directed  the  military 
to  be  called  up  to  clear  the  way — and  notes 
were  dispatched  to  the  commanders  of  the  J'eo- 
manry  and  the  military  to  advance  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  civil  officers  who  were  to  execute 
the  warrant.  The  Manchester  yeomanry^  were 
nearest  at  hand,  and,  coming  up,  adopted  the 
unlucky^  resolution  of  advancing  two  by  two  at 
a  walk.  A  loud  shout  was  set  up  when  they 
appeared,  and  as  they  continued  to  move  on, 
they  were  speedily  detached  from  each  other, 
hemmed  in,  and  some  of  them  unhorsed.  L'pon 
seeing  this,  the  commanding  officer  of  the  hus- 
sars said  to  Mr.  Hutton,  the  chief  magistrate, 
""What  am  I  to  do?"  "Do  you  not  see  they 
are  attacking  the  yeomanry? — disperse  the 
crowd,"  was  the  answer.  Upon  this  the  word 
"Forward"  was  given;  the  hussars  came  up  at 
a  trot,  and,  forming  on  the  edge  of  the  throng, 
the  trumpet  sounded  the  charge,  and  the  horse- 
men, advancing,  wheeled  into  line,  and  speed- 
ily drove  the  multitude  before  them.  The 
dense  mass  of  human  beings  forced  forward 
was  instantly  thrown  into  the  most  dreadful 
alarm ;  numbers  were  trod  down,  and  some 
sufibcated  by  the  pressure;  and  although  the 
hussars  acted  with  the  utmost  forbearance,  and 
struck  in  general  only  with  the  flat  side  of  their 
sabres,  yet  four  or  five  persons,  including  one 
woman,  were  pressed  to  death,  and  about  twen- 
ty injured  by  sabre  wounds.  About  seventy 
persons  in  ail  were  more  or  less  hurt  during 
this  unhappy  affray,  including  one  „  j^j^jj,  ^f 
special  constable  ridden  over  by  the  Lord  Sid- 
hussars,  and  one  yeoman  struck  from  ^°"'^' "'• 
his  horse  by  a  stone  from  the  mob.=  jjfartineau, 
Mr.  Hunt  and  ten  of  his  friends  were  ;.  229.  2.W; 
arrested  and  committed,  first  on  a  Mr.  Jollifle's 
charge  of  high  treason,  and  after-  •A-ccoum. 


1819.] 


HISTORY   OF  EUROPE. 


S31 


■ward  of  conspiring  to  alter  the  law  by  force  and 
tlireats ;  and  several  men  were  wounded  by 
a  discharge  from  the  foot-soldiers,  when  vio- 
lently assailed  by  the  mob  when  conve^-ing  the 
prisoners  to  jail. 

Lord  Sidmouth,  to  whom,  as  Home  Secre- 
tary, the  first  intelligence  of  this  un- 
Noble^con-  l^^ppy  afiair  was  sent,  acted  in  the 
duct  of  Lord  noblest  manner  on  the  occasion.  Ter- 
Sidmouiti  ceiving  at  once  that  a  crisis  of  no 
on  the  occa-  ordinary  kind  had  arrived,  and  that 
the  conduct  of  the  magistrates  in  or- 
dering the  dispersion  of  the  crowd  before  any 
acts  of  violence  had  been  committed,  would  be 
made  the  subject  of  unbounded  obloquy,  and 
probably  great  misrepresentation,  on  the  part  of 
the  popular  press,  he  at  once  determined  to  take 
his  full  share  of  the  responsibility  connected 
with  it ;  and  accordingh^  before  there  was  time 
to  call  together  the  entire  Cabinet  to  'deliberate 
on  the  subject,  he  conveyed,  with  the  concur- 
rence of  the  Prince  Regent,  the  law-otEcers  of 
the  Crown,  and  such  of  the  Cabinet  as  could 
be  hastily  got  together,  the  royal  approbation 
for  the  course  pursued  on  the  occasion.*  In 
doing  this,  he  acted  on  the  principle  which 
"he  considered  an  essential  principle  of  gov- 
ernment, namely,  to  acquire  the  confidence  of 
the  magistracy,  especially  in  critical  times,  by 
showing  a  readiness  to  support  them  in  all  hon- 
est, reasonable,  and  well-intended  acts,  without 
inquiring  too  minutely  whether  they  might 
have  performed  their  duty  a  little  better  or  a 
1  Life  of  Sid-  little  worse."'  His  conduct  on  this 
mouth,  iii.  occasion,  though  attacked  with  the' 
2*52-  utmost  vehemence  at  the  time,  earn- 

ed the  support  of  all  men  really  acquainted 
with  the  necessary  action  of  government  in  a 
popular  community,  as  it  must  command  the 
admiration  of  every  right-thinking  man  in  all 
time  coming. f 

The  generosity  of  Lord  Sidmouth's  conduct 
29_  is  wholly  irrespective  of  the  real  mer- 
Result  of  its  of  the  conduct  of  tlie  magistracy 
Hunt's  trial,  on  this  occasion;  nay,  it  becomes 
greater,  if,  after  the  act  was  done,  and  could  not 
be  undone,  he  voluntarily  interposed  the  siiield 
of  his  responsibility,  to  shelter  those  whose  con- 
duct may  be  considered  as  open  to  some  excep- 
tion. Mr.  Hunt  was  afterward  indicted,  along 
with  Johnson,  Moorhouse,  and  seven  others,  be- 
fore the  Manchester  Grand  Jury,  for  seditious 
conspiracy,  who  found  true  bills  against  them 


*  •'  The  Prince  Regent  desires  me  to  convey  to  your 
lordship  his  approbation  and  high  commendation  of  tlic 
conduct  of  the  magistrates  and  civil  authorities  at  Man- 
chester, as  well  as  the  offlcers  and  troops,  both  regular 
and  yeomanry  cavalry,  whose  firmness  and  efTectual  sup- 
port of  the  civil  powers  preserved  ttie  peace  of  tlie  town 
upon  that  most  critical  occasion.  His  Uoyal  Highness 
entertains  a  favorable  sense  of  the  forbearance  of  Lieuten- 
ant Colonel  L'Estrange  in  the  execution  of  his  duty,  and 
bestows  the  greatest  praise  upon  the  zeal  and  alacrity 
manifested  by  Major  Tralfon!  and  J,ieut. -colonel  Towns- 
end,  and  their  respective  corps.     I  am,  &c. 

'■  a.  Uloomfield. 

"  To  the  Lorrl  Viscount  SinMOUTii." 
—Lord  .Sidmouth's  Life,  iii.  2(52. 

t  "To  attack  the  executive  for  supporting  the  magis- 
tracy on  such  an  occasion,  appears  to  ine  perfectly  sense- 
less. How  can  it  be  stipposed  that  any  magistrate  will 
act  unless  assuredof  support— nay,  unless  supporti'd  with 
a  high  hand  '  Assuredly  as  the  cveciilivc  shrinks  0-om 
encouraging,  approving,  and  supporting  tin;  magistracy, 
there  will  be  an  end  of  all  subordination." — Lord  Siief- 
riELD  to  Lord  Sidmouth,  Nov.  1,  ISia  ;  Sidmouth's  Li/e, 
ill  203. 


all.     They  traversed,  in  English  law  phrase — • 

that  is,  got  the  trial  postponed  till  the  next  as^ 

sizes — m  order  to  c;ive  the  public  ef-  .  .,  ,„„. 
e  <  •        t         u  ■  1  wi         April,  1820. 

lervescence  time  to  subside ;  and  they     ^    ' 

were  ultimately  tried  before  Mr.  Justice  Ba}'- 
ley  at  York,  and,  after  a  long  and  most  impar- 
tial trial,  which  lasted  eleven  days,  and  which 
Mr.  Hunt  himself  had  the  candor  to  call  "  a 
magnificent  specimen  of  British  justice,"  Hunt, 
Johnson,  Healy,  and  Bamford,  were  convicted 
of  conspiracy  to  get  up  a  seditious  meeting,  and 
"  alter  the  government  by  force  and  threats." 
The  case  was  afterward  carried  to  the  Court 
of  King's  Bench,  by  which  the  verdict  was 
affirmed,  and  Hunt  sentenced  to  two  j-ears  and 
a  half,  the  others  to  one  year's  imprisonment 
in  llchester  jail ;  which  sentences  were  carried 
into  full  execution.'  The  verdicts  of 
the  coroner's  inquest  on  the  persons  ^j^p',^'^p 
killed  in  the  Manchester  affray  were  at  York,  ' 
of  such  a  kind  as  amounted  to  casual  March  16, 

death,  or  iustifiable  homicide,  with  j^-.^i  ^'^'^ 
,,  J         e  1  •  1       ft      1  Trials;  An. 

theexceptionoi  one, which, alter  hav-  j{e„  jg20 

ing  been  long  protracted,  was  quash-  64'J ;  App.  to 
ed  by  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  on  ^jiron.  and 
the  ground  of  irregularity,  from  the 
coroner  not  having,  with  the  juiy,  inspected 
inspected  the  bod}^  as  by  law  directed.* 

The  judgment  of  these  high  authorities  leaves 
no  room  for  doubt  as  to  the  illegal- 
ity of  the  meeting  at  Manchester  by  Rpf,J)."joj,g 
the  English  law ;  and  very  little  re-  on  the  im- 
flection  is  required  to  show  4hat  it  policy  of  al- 
was  a  proceeding  of  such  a  kind  as  in  lo^mg  such 
no  well-regulated  community  should  ° 

now  be  tolerated,  fc'o  long,  indeed,  as  the  great 
majority  of  the  manufacturing  towns  and  dis- 
tricts were  unrepresented  in  Parliament,  there 
was  a  plausible — it  may  be  a  just — reason  as- 
signed for  allowing  such  meetings,  that  tliere 
was  no  otlier  way  in  which  the  people  could 
make  known  their  wishes  to  the  legislature. 
But  since  the  Reform  Act  has  passed,  and  every 
considerable  place  is  fully  represented  in  Par- 
liament, and  a  legal  channel  has  been  provided 
for  the  transmission  of  the  popular  will  to  Cov- 
ernment,  this  plea  can  no  longer  be  advanced. 
Such  meetings  are  now  simply  dangerous  and 
pernicious,  without  being  attended  with  one 
countervailing  advantage.  Too  large  and  pro- 
miscuous either  for  deliberation  or  discussion, 
they  tend  only  to  inflame  passion  and  multiply 


*  Lord  Eldon  said,  in  the  debates  which  Ibllowed  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  "  When  1  read  in  my  law  books  that 
numbers  constitute  force,  and  force  terror,  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  say  that  the  Manchester  meeting  was  not  an  illegal 
one."— Harl.  Deb.,  23d  Nov.,  1819;  Hansard,  xli.  38. 
This  is  undoubtedly  true  ;  but  it  may  be  observed,  that  it 
is  impossible  the  law  on  this  point  can  be  on  a  more  un- 
satisfactory footing,  and  that  it  is  high  time  it  should  be 
at  once  defined,  by  act  of  Parliament,  what  is  an  illegal 
meeting,  independent  of  actual  commenced  violence.  Who 
is  to  be  the  judge  of  what  inspires  terror,  and  in  whom ' 
In  a  dozen  old  men  or  old  women,  or  a  do/.en  inlrei)id 
young  men  7  Between  these  two  extremes,  infinite  diver- 
sities of  opinion  will  be  found  to  exist ;  no  two  witnesses 
will  agree,  no  two  juries  will  arrive  at  the  same  conclu- 
sion. The  practical  result  is,  that  no  man,  as  the  law 
now  stands,  can  say  with  certainty  what  is  an  illegal 
meeting;  and  every  magistrate,  if  he  gives  orders  to  <lis- 
perse  it,  places  himself  at  the  mercy  of  a  subseiiuciit  jury, 
who  may  be  called  on  to  determine  whether  the  elrciim- 
stanees  wen;  such  as  to  have  inspired  terror  in  a  rea.son- 
ahlo  mind,  as  to  which,  it  is  a  mere  chance  what  opinion 
they  form.  The  only  security  for  the  magistrate  in  such 
cases  is,  to  wait  till  the  danger  has  become  so  imminent 
that  a  tolerabli;  unanimity  of  witnesses  may  be  hoped  for 
belbrc  orders  to  act  are  given. 


SS2 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[Chap.  X. 


niisroproscntntion.  Thoir  purpose  ronlh'  is  not 
to  oxi>re.<s  ojMiiion,  but  to  inspire  terror;  it  is 
bv  the  display  of  their  ]>hyt^iiiil  uuuibers,  not 
their  intelloetunl  streugtli,"  tlint  tliey  hope  to 
gain  their  objeet.  As  such,  they  teiul  to  up- 
root the  very  Voumlations  of  govcriinient,  wliieh 
must  always  be  laid  in  the  loyalty  and  sub- 
mission of  the  irreat  body  of  the  j>oople.  They 
are  always  on  the  edge  of  violence,  if  they  do 
not  actually  conunence  it;  and  if  they  are  not 
actually  treasonable,  they  may  be  rendered 
such  at  no  distant  period.  In  all  considerable 
towns  in  the  empire,  where  such  meetings  are 
in  use  to  be  held,  there  are  rooms  capable  of 
liolding  at  least  as  manj'  as  can  possibly  hear 
the  speakers;  the  press  will  next  morning  con- 
vey their  sentiments  to  the  whole  nation;  and 
if  the  display  of  numbers  is  desired,  the  petition 
or  resolutions  agreed  to  may  be  presented  to 
Parliament,  supported  by  a  million  of  signa- 
tures. 

The  conduct  of  the  magistrates  on  this  un- 
happy occasion,  though  not  illegal, 
And^on  the  appears  to  have  been  more  open  to 
conduct  of  exception  in  point  of  prudence  ;  and 
the  magis-  though  properly  and  courageously 
"''*"^'*-  approved  of  by  the  Government  at 

the  time,  it  should  by  no  means  be  followed  on 
similar  occasions.  They  had  not  issued  any 
proclamation  before,  warning  the  meeting  that 
its  object  was  illegal,  and  that  it  would  be  dis- 
persed by  force ;  nor,  indeed,  could  such  a 
proclamation  have  been  issued,  as  the  avowed 
objeet  of  the  meeting  to  petition  for  a  reform 
in  Parliament  was  legal.  The  banners  carried, 
though  in  some  instances  inflammatory  and 
dangerous,  could  hardly  be  called,  upon  the 
•whole,  seditious.  "  God  save  the  King,"  and 
"  Rule  Britannia,"  had  been  played  by  the 
bands  without  any  signs  of  disapprobation 
from  the  meeting;  and  though  they  had  in 
part  marched  in  military  array,  they  had  no 
arms  except  a  few  pikes,  had  numbers  of  w^omen 
and  children  among  them,  and  had  attempted 
no  outrage  or  act  of  violence.  They  had  not 
commenced  the  proceedings  when  the  disper- 
sion began,  so  that  nothing  had  been  said  on 
the  spot  to  justify  it.  The  Riot  Act  had  been 
read  from  the  window  where  the  magistrates 
were,  but  the  hour  required  to  justify  the 
dispersion  of  a  peaceable  assembly  had  not 
elapsed.  The  highest  authorities  have  taught 
us  that  the  meeting  was  illegal,  from  its  mena- 
cing and  dangerous  character ;  but  the  point  is, 
was  it  expedient  at  the  moment,  when  no  warn- 
ing had  been  given  of  its  illegalit}',  to  disperse  it 
by  force  ?*  True,  the  warrant  to  arrest  Hunt 
and  his  friends  could  not  be  executed  but  bj- 
military  force ;  but  where  was  the  necessity  of 
executing  it  at  all  in  the  presence  of  the  multi- 
tude ?  Could  they  not  have  been  observed  by 
the  police,  and  arrested  in  the  evening,  or  at 
night,  after  they  had  dispersed,  when  no  tumult 

*  Lord  Eldon  appears,  at  first  at  least,  to  have  been  of 
this  opimon,  for  he  wrote  to  his  brother,  Sir  WiUiarn 
Scott,  soon  after  hearing  of  it :  "  Without  all  doubt  the 
Manchester  magistrates  must  be  supported  ;  but  they  are 
very  generally  blamed  here.  For  my  part,  1  think  if  the 
assembly  was  only  an  unlauful  assembly,  that  task  will 
be  difficult  enough  in  sound  reasoning.  If  the  meeting 
was  an  overt  act  of  high  treason,  their  justification  was 
complete."  He  then  goes  on  to  say  he  thought  it  was  an 
overt  act  of  treason.— Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  W.  Scott  ; 
Eldun's  Life,  ii.  338. 


or  disorder  was  to  be  apprehended  ?  Had  the 
crowd  proceeded  to  acts  of  violence  or  depre- 
dation, liiey  coidd  not  have  been  too  quickly 
or  vigorously  charged  by  the  military;  but 
while  yet  ])aeitic  and  orderl}',  and  when  no  se- 
ditious resolutions  had  been  proposed,  the>i  at 
least  were  imiocent,  whatever  their  leadei's 
may  have  been.  In  a  word,  the  conduct  of 
the  magistrates,  though  legal,  seems  to  have 
been  ill-judged,  and  their  measures  inexpedient. 
But  great  allowance  must  be  made  for  tinpro- 
fessional  men  suddenly  placed  in  such  trying 
circumstances ;  and  as  their  error,  if  error  there 
was,  was  one  of  judgment  only,  there  can  be 
but  one  opinion  on  tlie  noble  and  in-  i  parj  ugb. 
trepid  course  which  Government  pur-  xli.  365, 
sued  on  the  occasion.'*  2'*^- 

It  soon  appeared  how  little  effect  the  violent 
suppression  of  the  Manchester  meet-  gq 
ing  had  in  preventing  assemblages  Seditious 
of  a  similar  or  still  more  alarming  meetings  in 
description  throughout  the  country'.  "'''^'^  quar- 
Meetings  took  place  at  Birmingham 
and  Leeds,  in  Westminster,  York,  Liverpool, 
Bristol,  and  Nottingham,  attended  by  great 
multitudes,  at  which  flags  representing  a  yeo- 
man cutting  at  a  woman  were  displayed,  with 
the  word  "  Vengeance"  inscribed  in  large  let- 
ters, and  resolutions  vehemently  condemning 
the  Manchester  proceedings  were  adopted.  A 
meeting  of  the  Common  Council  of  London 
was  held  on  9th  September,  when  a  petition 
was  voted  to  the  Prince  Regent,  condemning 
the  conduct  of  the  magistrates  and  yeomanrv, 


*  In  truth,  in  all  such  cases,  what  the  magistrate  has 
chiefly  to  consider  is,  not  what  is,  strictly  speaking,  legal 
merely,  but  what  will  bear  the  efforts  of  misrepresenta- 
tion and  the  ordeal  of  public  opinion.  Many  things  are 
legal  which  must  often  not  be  attempted  by  those  intrust- 
ed with  authority  ;  many  things  illegal,  in  those  subject- 
ed to  it,  which  must  yet  be  sometimes  tolerated.  The 
following  rules  to  guide  the  magistrate  in  such  difficult 
circumstances  may  perhaps  be  of  use  to  those  w  ho  are 
liable  to  be  called  on  to  act  under  them,  and  have  been  the 
result  of  some  experience  and  much  reflection  on  the  part 
of  the  author  ;  1st.  If  a  meeting,  evidently  treasonable  or 
seditious,  or  obviously  tending  lo  a  breach  of  the  peace — 
as  to  choose  a  provisional  government,  or  to  levy  war  on 
the  Government,  or  to  train  without  proper  authority,  or 
to  have  an  Orange  procession  among  Ribbonmen — is  an- 
nounced, to  meet  it  by  a  counter-proclamation  denouncing 
it  as  illegal ;  but  not  to  do  this  unless  the  illegality  or 
danger  is  manifest,  and  the  magistrate  is  prepared,  and 
has  the  force  to  act  decidedly  if  his  admonition  is  disre- 
garded. 2d.  If,  in  defiance  of  the  proclamation,  the  meet- 
ing is  held  or  the  procession  attempted,  to  stop  it  as  gently 
as  possible  by  force,  the  magistrate  being  alwajs  hmiself 
at  the  head  of  the  civil  or  military  force  which  may  be 
employed.  3d.  If  a  meeting,  not  called  for  treasonable 
or  seditious  purposes,  takes  place,  but  threatening  to  the 
public  peace,  to  assemble  in  the  vicinity  as  large  a  civil 
and  military  force  as  he  has  at  his  disposal,  but  place 
them  out  of  sight,  and  never  let  them  be  e.xposed  passive- 
ly either  to  the  insults  or  the  seductions  of  the  people. 
4th.  If  acts  of  violence,  as  breaking  into  houses,  setting 
fire  to  them,  or  assaulting  or  robbing  individuals,  are  at- 
tempted, to  charge  the  mob  instantly,  the  magistrate  tak- 
ing his  place  beside  the  commanding  officer,  and  taking 
on  himself  the  entire  responsibility  ;  but  not  to  give  orders 
to  act  till  the  felonious  acts  are  so  clear  and  decided  as  to 
leave  no  doubt  of  the  Impending  danger,  and  to  be  capa- 
ble of  being  proved,  in  defiance  of  misrepresentation,  by 
numerous  witnesses.  5th.  If  the  leaders  are  to  be  arrest- 
ed, but  nothing  illegal  has  yet  been  done  by  the  multitude, 
to  have  the  warrant  ready,  but  not  to  attempt  to  execute 
it  till  they  have  dispersed,  taking  the  precaution,  however, 
to  have  the  speeches  listened  to,  or  taken  down  by  per 
sons  who  can  be  relied  on.  6lh.  If  acts  of  decided  ielony 
have  been  commenced,  to  act  at  once,  without  waiting 
for  the  hour  required  to  elapse  by  the  Riot  Act,  and  though 
it  has  not  been  read,  the  objeet  of  that  Act  being  lo  render 
illegal  a  legal  and  peaceable,  not  lo  justify  the  dispersion 
of  a  violent  and  illegal  assembly. 


1819.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


333 


and  praying  for  inquiry;  and  at  Paisley  a 
meeting  of  the  most  violent  and  seditious  char- 
acter was  held,  which  led  to  still  more  seri- 
ous results.  The  magistrates  of  the  burgh  and 
eherifF  of  the  county  had  there  very  proper- 
ly issued  a  proclamation,  denouncing  the  pro- 
posed meeting  as  illegal,  and  warning  the  pub- 
lic that  it  would  be  dispersed  by  force ;  but 
notwithstanding  this,  the  people  met  on  a  com- 
moa  near  the  town,  and  entered  it  in  great 
force,  with  colors,  bearing  seditious  devices, 
flying,  and  music  sounding.  They  were  met 
by  the  sheriff  and  magistrates,  who  seized  the 
colors,  and  warned  the  people  to  disperse.  This 
led  to  a  violent  tumult,  in  the  course  of  which 
several  shops  were  broken  into  and  pillaged, 
and  order  was  not  restored  till  the  military  had 
been  brought  from  Glasgow,  and  twenty  of  the 
ringleaders  seized.  In  Yorkshire  a  meeting 
was  held,  on  a  requisition  to  the  high  sheriff, 
signed  by  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  the  lord-lieutenant 
of  the  West  Riding  of  the  count}',  and  many 
other  noblemen  and  gentlemen,  where  resolu- 
tions strongly  condemnatory  of  the  Manchester 
proceedings  were  adopted.  For  his  share  in 
that  proceeding,  Lord  Fitzwilliam  was  imme- 
diately removed  from  his  high  office  by  order  of 
Government,  to  the  great  regret  of  the 
1819  10U°  friendsof  that  highly -respected  noble- 
Ill;' Sid-  man;  but  the  divergence  of  opinions 
mouih's  between  him  and  the  Administration 
208"304'  ^^^  become  such  that  it  was  impossi- 
'  '  ble  they  could  longer  act  together.' 
Great  inconvenience  had  been  experienced 
throughout  all  these  disturbances, 
Augmenta-  occurring  simultaneously  in  so  many 
tion  of  the  different  and  distant  quarters,  from 
Chelsea  i\^q  want  of  any  adequate  militai-y 
pensioners,  f^j.^^  ^q  overawe  the  disaffected  and 
preserve  the  public  peace.  A  serious  riot  oc- 
curred at  Ely,  in  the  course  of  which  the  riot- 
ers got  possession  of,  and  kept  for  some  time, 
the  little  town  of  Littleport,  and  the  only  force 
to  oppose  to  them  was  eighteen  dragoons.  The 
like  force  was  all  that  could  be  collected  to 
oppose  an  insurrection  at  Derby.  When  the 
disturbance  broke  out  at  Paisley  in  the  end  of 
September,  and  the  most  pressing  request  for 
more  troops  was  sent  by  Sir  Thomas  Bradford, 
the  Commander-in-Chief  in  Scotland,  the  only 
mode  of  answering  it  was  by  sending  a  regi- 
ment from  Portsmouth,  and  supplying  its  place 
by  one  from  Guernsey.  The  Commander-in- 
Chief,  with  the  exception  of  the  Guards,  who 
could  not  with  safety  be  moved  from  J^ondon, 
had  not  a  single  regiment  at  his  disposal,  when 
applications  for  protection  were  coming  in  from 
all  quarters,  and  yet  Parliament  was  ringing 
with  declamations  about  the  undue  increase  of 
the  military  force  of  the  country.  In  this  ex- 
tremity Government  adopted  tlie  wisest  course 
which  could  have  been  followed,  by  calling  out 
the  most  efficient  of  the  pensioners,  and  arrang- 
ing them  in  veteran  battalions — a  incasui'e 
wliich,  at  a  cost  of  only  £:jOU,ooo  a  year, 
added  nearly  11,000  men  to  the  military  force 
Oct  29  ^^  *"  kingdom.  Lord  Sidmouth  was 
indefatigable  in  pursuing  this  object,  as 
well  as  in  augmenting  the  number  and  strength 
of  the  yeomanry  force  throughout  the  country ; 
and  so  ceaseless  and  energetic  were  his  efforts 
in  both   respects,  that  the  Prince  Regent  ob- 


served, with  equal  truth  and  justice,  "  He  is  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  on  home  service."     At  the 
same  time   that    illustrious    commander,    who 
now,  on  his  return  from  the  Continent,  com- 
menced that  career  of  administrative  reform 
and    amelioration    which,    not    less    than    his 
military  career,  entitle  him  to   the   gratitude 
and  admiration  of  his  country,  ad- 
dressed  a  letter  to  Lord  Sidmouth,   isiy,  n*!; 
of  lasting  value  to  all  magistrates  Sidmouth'i 
and  officers  placed  in  similar  circum-  J'ljJi^'g'ilV 
stances.'*  ' 

Parliament  met  on  the  23d  November,  and 
of  course   there  was   special   allu-  3.} 

sion  in  the  Speech  from  the  Throne  Meeting  of 
to  the  seditious  practices  which  had  I'arliament, 

^     .         .    ,      , '  ,      .    and  meas- 

uniortunately  become  so  prevalent  ures  of  Cov- 
in the  country.  There  were  no  con-  ernment. 
gratulations  on  the  prosperity  of  the  ^o^'-  23. 
country,  or  the  general  well-being  of  the  wctk- 
ing  classes.  On  the  contrarj-,  the  speech  con- 
tained an  emphatic  admission  of  deep  distress 
in  several  branches  of  industry. f  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  Ministers  alluded  to  the  distress 
which  pervaded  several  branches  of  manufac- 
turing industry,  for  from  the  papers  laid  be- 
fore Parliament,  to  justify  the  measures  of  re- 
pression which  were  proposed,  it  appeared  that 
wages  in  the  cotton  manufacture  had  sunk  a 
Aa//"  within  the  last  eight  months,  and  in  most 
other  trades  in  the  same  proportion — a  fact 
speaking  volumes  both  as  to  the  real  cause 


*  "  I  strongly  recommend  to  you  to  order  the  magis- 
trates to  carry  into  execution,  without  loss  of  time,  the 
law  against  training,  and  to  furnish  them  with  llie  means 
of  doing  so.  Do  not  let  us  be  again  reproached  with 
having  omitted  to  carry  tlie  laws  into  execution,  liy 
sending  to  Carlisle  and  Newcastle  TOO  or  800  men,  caval- 
ry and  infantry,  and  two  pieces  of  cannon,  or,  in  other 
words,  two  of  this  movable  column,  tlie  (bur  would  bo 
more  than  sutficient  to  do  all  that  may  be  required.  Rely 
upon  it,  that,  in  the  circumstances  in  which  we  are  placed, 
impression  on  either  side  is  evert/  thing.  If,  upon  the 
passing  of  the  training  law,  you  prevent  training,  either 
i)y  the  use  of  force  or  the  appearance  of  force,  in  the  two 
places  above  mentioned,  you  will  put  a  stop  at  once  to  all 
the  proceedings  of  the  insurgents.  They  are  like  con- 
querors ;  they  must  go  forward ;  the  moment  they  stop 
they  are  lost.  Their  adlicronts  will  lose  all  confidence, 
and  by  degrees  every  individual  will  relapse  into  their  old 
habits  of  loyalty  or  indilTerence.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
moment  the  loyal  see  there  is  a  law  which  can  prevent 
these  practices,  and  means  and  inclination  and  determina- 
tion to  carry  it  into  execution,  they  will  regain  courage, 
and  will  do  every  thing  whii-h  you  can  desire.  In  my 
opinion,  if  you  send  the  troops,  and  order  that  the  law 
shall  be  carried  into  execution,  you  will  not  be  under  the 
necessity  of  using  them  ;  and  the  good  tfl'ect  of  this  will 
be  felt  not  only  in  these  towns,  but  over  nil  England. 
Observe  also,  that  if  training  is  continued  after  the  jiass- 
ing  of  the  law,  which  it  will  be  unless  you  send  a  lorco 
to  prevent  it,  the  insurgents  will  pain  a  very  important 
victory." — Wellinoton  to  Lord  Sidmouth,  Dec.  11, 
1819  ;  Sidmouth's  Life,  iii.  293. 

t  "  The  seditious  practices  so  long  prevalent  in  several 
parts  of  the  manufacturing  districts  of  the  country,  have 
been  continued  with  increased  activiiy  since  you  wero 
last  assembled.  They  have  led  to  proceedings  incompat- 
ible with  the  public  tranquillity,  and  with  the  peaciful 
habits  of  the  industrious  classes  ol'  the  community  ;  and 
a  spirit  is  now  fully  maiiifestcMl  utterly  hostile  to  the  con- 
stitution ofthis  kiiigdoni,  and  aiming  not  only  at  the  changu 
of  those  political  institutions  which  have  hitherto  consii- 
tuted  the  pride  and  security  of  the  country,  hut  at  tlio 
subversion  of  the  rights  of  property,  and  of  all  order  in 

society Sonic!  depression  still  continues  to  exist 

in  certain  branchr^s  of  our  manufactures,  and  1  deeply  la* 
ment  the  distress  felt  by  those  who  more  immediately  dc- 
jiend  upon  them  ;  but  this  iliiirrssion  is  in  a  great  meas- 
ure to  be  ascribed  to  the  cinliarrasscd  situation  of  other 
countries,  and  I  earnestly  hope  it  will  be  found  to  be  of  a 
temporary  nature."— I'm NCE  Regent's  Speech,  23d  Nov., 
181U;  Ann.  Reg-  for  1B19,  IIC,  117. 


SS-i 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Chap.  X. 


which  at  this  pnrticulnr  poiioJ  had  rciulercd 
tlie  otVorts  of  the  iloniagoguos  so  successful  in 
disturbing  the  population,  and  the  futility  of 
tl>o  ideas  of  those  who  ascribed  the  distress 
which  prevailed  to  the  excess  of  importations, 
Avhich  could  have  had  no  other  effect  but  a 
'  Tarl  Deb  I'f"*?^^'''!!  P"<'  <^n  'l"^  manufactures 
xli.  1,  5,  for  the  export,  sale,  by  diminishing 
•12J ;  Ann.  the  price  at  which  the  raw  material 
Ueg.  1619,    jij^  J  ()j^  subsistence  for  the  workmen 

would  be  purchased.'* 
As  soon  as  the  debates  on  the  Address,  which 

were  unusually  long  and  stormy,  but 

T  „,  1  c;  1     which  terminated  in  large  ministerial 

Lord  Sid-  ••,.••     v    ^i    i, 

moutirs      majorities  in  both  houses,  were  over, 

Acts  of  LordSidmouthinthe  House  of  Lords, 
Parlia-  ^„j  Lord  Castlereagh  in  the  Com- 
mons, introduced  the  new  measures 
which  the  Cabinet  had  deemed  essential  to  meet 
the  exigencies  of  the  times.  They  were  four 
in  number,  and,  with  the  addition  of  two  others 
not  immediately  connected  with  the  public  dis- 
turbances, were  long  famous  in  England  under 
the  name  of  the  Six  Acts.  By  the  first, 
i  ov.  _  .  ^jj  training  or  practicing  military  exer- 
cises, by  persons  not  authorized  by  Government, 
was  prohibited,  and  persons  engaged  in  it  were 
declared  liable  to  punishment  by  fine,  or  im- 
l>risonment  not  exceeding  two  j-ears.  By  the 
S3cond,  justices  of  the  peace  were  authorized  to 
issue  warrants  in  certain  counties  of  England 
and  Scotland,  to  search  for  arms  or  other  weap- 
ons dangerous  to  the  public  peace,  on  a  sworn 
information.  By  the  third,  the  court  was  au- 
thorized, in  the  event  of  the  accused  allowing 
judgment  to  go  by  default,  to  order  the  seizure 
of  all  copies  of  a  seditious  or  blasphemous  libel, 
to  be  restored  if  the  person  accused  was  after- 
ward acquitted;  and  for  the  second  offense 
banishment  might  be  inflicted.  By  the  fourth, 
no  more  than  fifty  persons  were  to  be  allowed 
to  assemble,  except  in  borough  or  county  meet- 
ings called  by  the  magistrate:  and  the  carry- 
ing of  flags  or  attending  such  meetings  armed 
was  prohibited,  and  extensive  powers  given  to 
justices  of  peace  or  magistrates  for  dispersing 
them.  In  addition  to  this,  a  bill  was  intro- 
duced b}'  the  Lord  Chancellor,  to  prevent  trav- 
ersing or  postponing  of  the  trial,  in  cases  of 
misdemeanor,  to  subsequent  assizes ;  and  an- 
other in  the  Commons  by  Lord  Castlereagh, 
subjecting  newspapers  to  certain  stamps,  and 
to  prevent  the  abuses  arising  from  the  publica- 
tion of  blasphemous  and  seditious  libels.  The 
first  and  third  of  the  first  four  acts  alone  were 
permanent ;  the  second  and  third  were  tempo- 
rary only  in  their  endurance,  and  have  long 
since  expired.  The  bills  were  all  strenuously 
resisted,  with  the  exception  of  the  first,  in  both 
houses,  but  were  passed  by  large  majorities — 
that  in  the  Commons,  on  the  Seditious  Meetings 
Bill,  being  223,  the  numbers  351  to  128 ;  in  the 
Lords,  on  the  same  bill,  97,  the  numbers  being 
135  to  38.  In  regard  to  the  Training  Act,  how- 
ever, which  is  still  in  force,  a  much  greater  de- 
gree of  unanimity  prevailed.     Several  members 


'  "  In  all  the  frreat  stations  of  the  cotton  manufacture, 
as  Manchester,  Glasgow,  Paisley,  the  rate  of  wages  had 
faUen  on  an  average  more  than  one  half.  This  depres- 
sion might  be  traced  through  the  last  twenty  years  to 
measures  of  political  economy." — Lord  Lansdowne's 
Speech,  Dec.  1,  1619;  Pari.  Utb.  .\iii.  422. 


of  both  houses  usually  opposed  to  Government,    t 

but   orticiallv  acquainted   with   the   ,  „    ,   .„  ^ 

.    .         ...,•'  '  ,  ]  1    I    .1    •      '  Pari.  Deb. 

state  oi    tlie   country,    added    their   xli.t)75  677 

testimony  to  its  necessity;   and  that    1295;  Ann. 

the  practice  of  training  was  then   ^^V^-  '^'"t 

generally  prevalent  has  since  been  Lord  sid- 

admitted    l)v  the   Radical    leaders,  mouth's  Me. 

and    their    ablest    historical    advo-  moirs,  iii. 

cates.'*  302,303. 

A  curious  but  instructive  circumstance  look 
place  when  the  Radical  leaders  were         35^ 
brought  up  for  examination  before  Impression 
the  Privy  Council,  into  the  presence  Lord  Sid- 
of  those  whom  they  had  been  taught  Lor"d'cas^ 
to  regard  as  of  a  cruel  and  unrelent-  tlercagh 
ing  disposition,  and  the  bitterest  ene-  made  on  the 
mies  of  the  people.     "The  simple-  l^adicals. 
minded  men  who  had  followed  Hunt  were  sur- 
prised," says  Miss  Martineau,  "  when  brought 
into  the  presence  of  the  Privj'  Council,  at  the 
actual    appeai'ance  of  the  rulers  of  the  land, 
whom  they  had  regarded  as  their  cruel  enemies. 
They  found  no  cruelty  or  ferocity  in  the  faces 
of  the  tyrants' — Lord  Castlereagh,  ^ 
the  good-looking  person  in  a  plum-  j.  240.""'^"' 
colored  coat,  with  a  gold  ring  on 
the  little  finger  of  his  left  hand,  on  which  he 
sometimes  looked  while  addressing  them  :  Lord 
Sidmouth,  a  tall,  square,  and  bony  figure,  with 
thin  and  gray  hairs,  broad  and  prominent  fore- 
head, whose  mild  and  intelligent  eyes  looked 
forth  from  their  cavernous  orbits;  his  manners 
affable,  and  much  more  encouraging  to  freedom 
of  speech  than  had  been  expected."^  a  Bamford's 
"How  often,"  says  Thiers,  "would  Life  of  a 
factions  the  most  opposite  be  recon-  Radical,  i. 
ciled,  if  they  could  meet  and  read 
each  other's  hearts."     On  the  other  hand.  Hunt 
was  far  from  exliibiting  the  constancy  in  adver- 
sity which,  in  every  age,  has  animated  the  pa- 
triot and  the  hero.    He  was  alternately  querulous 
and  depressed — elated  by  popular  applause,  but 
sadly  cast  down  when  the  intoxicating  draught 
was  taken  from  his  lips.     In  this  there  is  no- 
thing surprising;  rectitude  of  intention  is  the 
principle  which  animates  the  patriot,  who  is 
sustained  by  its  conscioiisness  when  aiding  the 
people  often  against  their  will.     Vanity  is  the 
prevailingpasbion  of  the  demagogue, 
and  his  spirits  sink  the  moment  the  ^  24r'24f'*' 
exciting  influence  is  withdrawn.* 

The  beginning  of  the  year  1820  was  marked 
by  two  events  which  strongly  riveted 
the  attention  of  the  nation,  and  had  a  peat'h  of 
beneficial   general   efl'ect   in   reviving  the  Duke 
those  feelings  of  loyalty,  which,  though  o*"  Kent, 
sometimes  forgotten,  are  never  extinct     "' 
in  the  breast  of  the  English  people.     The  Duke 
of  Kent,  the  father  of  our  present  gracious  Sove- 
reign, had   accompanied  the  Duchess  and  his 
infant  daughter,  the  future  Sovereign  of  Great 
Britain,   to  Sidmouth  in  Devonshire,  for  the 
benefit  of  change  of  air.     There  he  was  unfor- 
tunately exposed  to  wet  and  cold  on  the  loth 


*  "  There  is,  and  can  be,  no  dispute  about  the  fact  of 
military  training  ;  the  only  question  is  in  regard  to  the 
design  or  object  of  the  practice.  Numerous  informations 
were  taken  by  the  Lancashire  magistrates,  and  trans- 
mitted to  Government  in  the  beginning  of  August.''  Bam- 
ford,  the  Radical  annalist,  assures  us  it  was  done  solely 
with  a  view  to  the  great  meeting  on  the  16lh  August  at 
Manchester. — See  .Miss  .Martineau,  i.  227  ;  Bamfoke's 
Life  of  a  Radical,  i.  177,  160. 


1820.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


335 


January,  wliicli  brought  on  a  cough  and  inflam- 
mation of  the  lungs,  which,  notwithstanding 
the  most  active  treatment,  terminated  fatally 
on  the  23d  of  the  same  month.  He  was  inter- 
rod,  with  the  usual  solemnities,  at  Windsor  on 
'7th  February.  This  prince  took  little  share  in 
public  life;  and  the  rigorous  discipline  which 
lie  had  found  it  necessary  to  enforce  in  the 
army,  in  his  earlier  years,  when  in  command, 
had  at  the  time  given  rise  to  considerable  dis- 
cussion. But  he  had  survived  this  temporarj- 
unpopularity,  as  really  estimable  characters  sel- 
dom fail  to  do ;  and  in  his  latter  years  he  pos- 
sessed alike  the  respect  of  the  nation  and  the 
warm  affection  of  his  personal  friends.  Person- 
ally intrepid,  as  his  race  have  ever  been,  he  pos- 
sessed at  the  same  time  the  kindness  of  heart 
and  charm  of  manner,  which  in  all,  but  in  none 
so  much  as  those  of  exalted  station,  are  the  main 
foundation  of  lasting  affection.  In  politics  he 
inclined  to  the  Liberal  side,  as  his  bi'other  the 
Prince  Regent  and  the  Duke  of  Sussex  had  so 
long  done;  but  he  had  little  turn  for  polit- 
ical contentions,  and  shrouded  himself  in  pref- 
erence in  the  seclusion  and  enjoyments  of  pri- 
vate life.  Deeds  of  beneficence,  or  the  support 
of  institutions  of  charity,  of  which  he  was  a 
munificent  patron,  alone  brought  him  before 
file  eye  of  the  public;  but  in  private,  no  one 
,  ^jj  jjg„  was  more  kindly  in  his  disposition, 
i--io,  6  ;  °  or  had  secured  bj"  acts  of  generosity 
llughesjVi.  a  wider  or  more  attached  circle  of 
'^'^^-  friends.i 

The  death  of  the  Duke  of  Kent  was  speedily 
gg  followed  by  that  of  his  father,  who 
Death  of  bad  so  long  swayed  the  sceptre  of  the 
George  III.  realm.  Toward  the  end  of  January, 
Jan.  28.  ^f^g  health  of  George  III.,  which  had 
hitherto  been  surpi'isingly  preserved  during  his 
long  and  melancholy  mental  alienation,  rapidly 
sunk,  his  strength  failed,  his  appetite  left  him, 
and  it  became  evident  that  the  powers  of  na- 
ture were  exhausted.  At  length,  at  half-past 
eight  on  the  28th  January,  he  breathed  his  last ; 
and  the  Prince  Regent,  as  George  IV.,  formally 
ascended  the  throne,  of  which,  during  ten  years, 
he  had  discharged  the  duties.  On  Monday  tlie 
31st,  the  new  sovereign  was  proclaimed  with 
the  usual  formalities  at  the  Palace,  Temple  Bar, 
J  Ann  Re"  Charing  Cross,  and  otlier  places;  the 
1820,  7 ;  "  members  of  Parliament  were  sworn 
Hughes,  vi.  in,  and  both  houses  immediately  ad- 
"^'  journed  to  the  17th  February.^ 

Although  he  had  lived  nearly  ten  years  in 
,g  retirement,  and  the   practical  dis- 

Deepinipres-  charge  of  the  functions  of  royalty 
sion  which  by  the  sovereign  who  succeeded 
his  death  ]^ij^  jj^d  so  long  withdrawn  him 
country!  ^  from  the  public  gaze,  the  death  of 
George  III.  made  a  profound  im- 
pression on  the  British  heart.  Tlie  very  cir- 
cumstances under  which  the  demise  had  taken 
place  added  to  the  melanolioly  interest  whicli 
It  excited,  and  the  feelings  with  which  the  be- 
reavement was  regarded  Ijy  the  people.  Near- 
ly the  whole  existing  generation  had  grown  up 
during  his  long  reign  of  sixty  years;  there  was 
no  one  who  had  not  been  accustomed  to  regard 
the  4th  of  June,  the  well-known  birth-day  of  the 
sovereign,  as  a  day  of  rejoicing;  no  oiu;  could 
form  an  idea  of  a  king  without  the  aged  form 
wiiich  still  flitted  through  the  halls  of  Windsor 


occurring  to  the  mind.  Tlie  very  obscurity  in 
which  his  last  days  had  been  shrouded,  the  men- 
tal darkness  which  had  prevented  him  ivom 
being  conscious  of  the  surpassing  glories  of  the 
close  of  his  reign,  the  malady  which  had  se- 
cluded him  from  the  eyes  ot  his  affectionate 
people,  added  to  the  emotion  which  his  death 
occasioned.  Old  feelings  were  revived,  for- 
mer affections,  long  pent  up,  gushed  forth,  and 
flowed  without  control.  The  realization  of  the 
catastrophe,  though  not  of  the  sorrows,  of  Lear 
on  the  theatre  of  the  world,  profoundly  aftected 
every  heart.  The  king  had  survived  all  his 
unpopularity ;  he  had  lived  down  the  bitterest 
of  his  enemies.  When  the  eloquent  preacher 
quoted  the  w^ords  of  Scripture,  "And  Joseph 
asked  them  of  their  welfare,  and  said,  Is  your 
father  well  ?  the  old  man  of  whom  ye  spake,  is 
he  3'et  alive?  And  they  answered,  Our  father 
is  j-et  alive.  And  they  bowed  their  heads,  and 
made  obeisance,"*  all  felt  that  now,  as  in  the 
days  of  the  patriarchs,  the  same  affections  of  a 
people  to  their  common  father  were  experienced. 
The  removal  of  the  aged  king  from  this  earthly 
scene  made  no  change  in  the  political  world ;  it 
was  unfelt  in  the  councils  or  cabinets  of  princes ; 
but,  like  a  similar  bereavement  in  private  life, 
the  circle  of  the  domestic  aft'ections  was  for  a 
season  drawn  closer,  from  the  removal  of  one 
who  had  shared  in  its  brightness.  Nor  did  it 
lessen  the  emotion  felt  on  this  event,  that  it 
occurred  at  the  time  when  the  mighty  antago- 
nist of  the  departed  sovereign  was  decliningiii 
distant  and  hopeless  captivity,  and  that  while 
George  III.  slept  to  death  in  the  solitude  of  his 
ancestral  halls,  Napole'on  was  dying  a  dis- 
crowned exile  in  the  melancholy  main. 

The  French  said,  in  the  da3s  of  their  loj-al- 
ty,  "  The  king  is  dead — long  live  the 
king!"  Never  was  the  value  of  this  „.  '^^■ 
noble  maxim  more  strongly  felt  than  Queen 
on  the  present  occasion.  The  death  Victoria, 
of  the  king,  preceded  as  it  had  been  ^'o^y,^^' 
by  that  of  "the  Princess  Charlotte,  the 
heiress  of  the  throne,  the  age  and  circumstances 
of  the  sovereign  who  had  just  ascended  it,  and 
tlie  situation  of  the  other  members  of  the  royal 
family,  had  long  awakened  a  feeling  of  disqui- 
etude as  to  the  succession  to  the  monarchy. 
The  Duke  of  York,  now  the  heir-apparent,  was 
married,  had  no  familj',  and  the  duchess  was 
in  declining  health;  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  the 
next  in  succession,  was  advanced  in  years,  and 
although  he  had  had  children,  they  had  all 
died  in  infancy  or  early  youth.  The  successors 
to  the  crown,  after  the  present  sovereign,  whose 
health  was  known  to  be  in  a  precarious  con- 
dition, were,  a  ])rince  from  whom  no  issue  could 
now  be  expected,  and,  after  him,  an  infant 
princess.  Many  were;  the  gloomy  npjjrehen- 
sions  entertained  of  the  eventual  conscMjucnccg 
of  such  a  state  of  things,  at  a  time  when  Europe 
was  convulsed  by  revolutionary  passions,  and 
vigor  and  capacity  on  the  throne  seemed,  in 
an  especial  manner,  requisite  lo  steer  the  mon- 
archy tlirough  the  shoals  witli  which  it  was 
surrounded.  But  how  of'fcn  does  the  course 
of  events  deviate  from  what  was  once  antici- 
Iiatcd,  and  Providence,  out  of  seeming  disaster, 
educe  the  means  of  future  salvation!     Out  of 

*  .Scniioii  on  the  Jubilee,  1810,  by  Rev.  A.  Alison. — 
ScrmoHx,  i.  419. 


S3G 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


tliis  npparontlv  untownril  couibiimtion  of  cir- 
ounistaiioos  arose  nn  cvoiit  of  the  last  iniport- 
nnoe  in  after  times  to  the  IJritisli  empire. 
Geortre  IV.  reigned  just  ten  years  after  his 
ftceession  to  the  throne,  tlie  Duke  of  Clarence 
only  seven ;  and  his  demise  opened  the  succes- 
sion to  our  present  gracious  sovereign,  tlien  an 
infant  in  the  arms,  who,  uniting  the  courage 
and  spirit  of  her  IMantagenet  and  Stuart,  to  the 
judgment  and  integrity  of  her  Hanoverian  an- 
cestors, has  reunited,  in  troubled  times,  all 
hearts  to  the  throne,  and  spread  through  her 
entire  subjects  the  noble  feelings  of  disinterest- 
ed loyalty.  The  sequel  of  tliis  history  will 
show  of  wliat  incalculable  importance  it  was 
that,  at  a  time  when  ever}-  crown  in  Europe 
was  shaking  on  the  brow  of  its  wearer,  and  the 
strongest  monarchies  were  crumbling  in  the 
dust,  a  Queen  should  have  been  on  the  British 
throne,  whose  virtues  had  inspired  the  respect, 
while  her  intrepidity  had  awakened  the  admi- 
ration of  all  her  subjects,  and  who,  like  her  an- 
cestress Queen  Mary,  was  regarded  with  warm- 
er feelings  of  chivalrous  devotion  than  any 
king,  how  eminent  soever,  could  have  been;  for 
toward  her,  to  all  that  could  command  respect 
in  the  other  sex  were  united 

"  the  gallantrj-  of  man 

In  lovelier  woman's  cause." 

The  English  were  soon  made  aware  on  how 
41_  precarious  a  footing  the  succession  to 
Alarming  the  throne  was  placed,  and  how  soon 
illness  of  they  might  have  to  mourn  a  second 
"  ■  death  among  their  monarchs.  Hardly 
had  the  new  king  ascended  the  throne,  when  he 
was  seized  with  a  violent  attack  of  inflamma- 
tion in  the  chest,  which  was  the  more  alarming, 
from  its  being  the  same  complaint  which  had 
so  recently  proved~fatal  to  the  Duke  of  Kent. 
For  several  days  his  life  was  in  imminent  dan- 
ger, and  almost  despaired  of;  but  at  length  the 
strength  of  his  constitution,  and  the  skill  of  his 
phj'sicians,  triumphed  over  the  virulence  of  the 
disease,  and  the  alarming  symptoms  disappear- 
ed. He  long  continued,  however,  very  weak, 
from  the  copious  bleedings  which  he  had  un- 
dergone; and  when  his  royal  father  was  laid 
,  ^jjjj  jjg  in  the  grave  at  "Windsor,  on  tlie  16th 
Ib20,l7,l8;  February,  the  highest  in  station  was 
Hughes,  i.  absent,  and  the  Duke  of  York  was 
405,406.      chief  mourner.! 

Parliament  met  again,  after  the  prorogation, 
,,  on  the  17th  February.    By  the  Con- 

Ominous  stitution,  the  House  of  Commons 
questions  re-  must  be  dissolved  within  six  months 
garding  the  after  the  demise  of  the  king,  and  the 
omission  of     ,    ,       «  , ,  -uv    i,      •  i        i 

Queen  Caro-  state  ot  the  public  busmess  rendered 
line's  name  it  advisable  that  this  should  take 
in  the  Litur-  place  as  soon  as  possible,  in  order 
to  get  it  over  by  the  ordinary  time 
of  prorogation.  It  was  indispensable,  however, 
for  Ministers  to  obtain  some  votes  in  supply  be- 
fore the  House  was  dissolved ;  and,  in  doing  so, 
they  received  early  warning  of  a  serious  diffi- 
culty which  awaited  them  at  the  very  thresh- 
old of  their  career  as  ministers  of  the  new 
monarch.  Hitherto  Queen  Caroline  had  been 
prayed  for  in  the  Liturgy  as  the  Princess  of 
Wales.  But  as  the  king  was  determined  never, 
under  any  circumstances,  to  acknowledge  her 
F  b  12  ^^  Queon  of  England,  it  was  deemed  in- 
dispensable to  make  a  stand  at  the  very 


Feb.  18. 


[Cii.vp.  X. 

outset ;  and,  accordingly,  her  name  was  omitted 
in  the  J>ilurgy  by  an  order  of  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil. This  gave  lise  to  an  ominous  question  in 
the  House  of  Commons  a  few  days  after. 
Mr.  Hume  asked,  on  the  18th  February, 
whether  the  allowance  of  £35,000  a  year,  liith- 
erto  made  to  her  Royal  Highness,  was  to  be  con- 
tinued ;  and  Lord  Castlereagh  having  answered 
in  the  ailirniative,  no  further  notice  of  the 
subject  took  place,  though  Mr.  Brougham,  her 
chief  legal  adviser,  was  present,  and  had  made 
a  violent  attack  on  the  Government.  But  on 
the  21st,  when  a  motion  was  made  that  the 
House  should  resolve  itself  into  a  committee  of 
supply,  Sir.  Hume  again  introduced  the  sub- 
ject, and  said  that,  without  finding  fault  with 
any  exercise  of  the  prerogative,  on  the  part  of 
the  sovereign,  as  head  of  the  Church,  he  might 
be  permitted  to  ask  why  an  address  of  condo- 
lence and  congratulation  had  not  been  voted  to 
her  Majesty  on  her  accession  to  the  throne,  and 
to  express  his  regret  at  the  manner  in  which 
she  had  been  treated.  "Was  she  to  be  left  a 
beggar  upon  the  Continent,  and  the 
Queen  of  England  to  be  thrown  a  j4o"25  ° 
needy  suppliant  on  tlie  cold  charity  26 ;  Pari, 
of  foreign  princes?  Something  def-  IJ«->b.  xli. 
inite  should  be  fixed  in  regard  to  the  \lf,'  \lf^' 
future  provision  lor  her.' 

The  speech  of  Mr.  Brougham  on  this  occasion 
was  very  remarkable,  and  seemed  to 
presage,  as  he  was  the  Queen's  Attor-  Remarka- 
nej'-general,  a  more  favorable  issue  ble  speech 
to  this  unhappy  division  than  could  9^  '^''■• 
have  been  at  first  anticipated.  He  ^^f°"g''3in. 
deemed  it  unnecessaiy  to  Jay  any  stress  on  the 
omission  of  her  name  in  the  Liturgy,  or  her 
being  called  by  the  King's  ministers  in  this 
debate  an  "  exalted  personage"  instead  of  Her 
Majesty.  "Was  she  not  the  wedded  wife  of  the 
sovereign  ?  What  she  was  called  could  not 
alter  her  position  one  way  or  other.  These  are 
trifles  light  as  air,  which  can  never  render  her 
situation  either  precarious  or  uncertain.  If  the 
advisers  of  the  Crown  should  be  able  to  settle 
upon  her  what  was  necessary  to  maintain  her 
rank  and  dignity  out  of  the  civil  list,  there 
would  be  no  need  to  introduce  her  Majestj's 
name.  He  had  refused  to  listen  to  any  surmise ; 
he  had  sliut  his  ears  to  all  reports;  he  knew 
nothing  of  any  delicate  investigations ;  but  if 
any  charge  was  preferred  against  her  Majesty-, 
he  would  be  prepared  to  meet  it  alike  ^  p^^j  j^^^ 
as  her  Majesty's  confidential  adviser,  xli.  1616  ; 
and  as  an  independent  member  of  Ann.  Reg. 
Parliament."  ^^~^'  ^'■ 

IS'othing  further  followed  on  this  conversa- 
tion,  and  Parliament,  having  been        44. 
prorogued  to  the  13th  March,  was  Cato  Street 
next  day  dissolved,  and  writs  issued  '^""^I'lTr. 
for  the  election  of  a  new  Parliament  tie'wood's  ' 
to  meet  on  27th  April.     But  ere  it  previous 
could  assemble  the  nation  was  hor-  '''^■ 
ror-struck  by  the  discovery  of  one  of  the  most 
atrocious  murderous  conspiracies  that  ever  dis- 
graced the  annals  of  mankind,  and  which  was 
only  prevented  from  ending  in  the  massacre  of 
the  whole  Cabinet  by  the  timidity  or  treachery 
of  one  of  the  members  of  the  gang,  who  reveal- 
ed the  plot  to  the  Government.     This  was  the 
C.\T0  Street  Cosspiract,  w'hich  may  well  take 
its  place  beside  the  worst  outbreaks  of  Italian 


1820.] 


HISTORY   OF  EUROPE. 


337 


crime,  and  showed  to  what  frightful  extremities 
tile  English  mind,  when  violently  excited  by 
political  passions,  is  capable  of  being  led.  The 
author  of  the  plot  was  Arthur  Thistlewood, 
who  was  born  in  1770,  had  received  a  tolerable 
education,  and  had  served  both  in  the  militia 
and  in  a  West  India  regiment.  He  soon,  how- 
ever, resigned  his  commission,  and,  notwith- 
standing the  war,  succeeded  in  making  his  way 
to  Paris,  where  he  arrived  shortly  after  the  fall 
of  Robespierre.  He  there  embraced  all  the 
extravagant  ideas  which  the  Revolution  had 
caused  to  germinate  in  France,  and  he  return- 
ed to  England  lirmly  persuaded  that  the  tirst 
duty  of  a  patriot  was  to  massacre  the  Govern- 
ment, and  overturn  all  existing  institutions.  He 
was  engaged  in  Watson's  conspiracy,  already 

mentioned,'  and,  like  him,  acquitted 
iv  6  e^s  "    ''^  ^^^  ^^'^'^  '^^  distinct  proof,  chiefly 

from  the  indictment  having  been  laid 
for  high  treason,  which  was  straining  a  point, 
instead  of  conspiracy  and  riot,  as  to  which  the 
evidence  was  clear.     On  his  acquittal  he  sent 
a  challenge  to  Lord  Sidmouth,  for  which  he 
was  handed  over  to  the  civil  authorities,  by 
Avhom  he  was  sentenced  to  a  year's  imprison- 
ment.    He  came  out  of  prison  at  its  expiration 
thirsting  for  vengeance,  and  burning  with  revo- 
lutionary passions,  at  the  verj'  time  when  the 
"JManchester  massacre,"  as  it  was  called,  had 
excited  such  a  ferment  in  the  coun- 
im)^'2'f-^'  ^O''    ^'^'i   ^®   immediately   engaged 
]Iugties,vi.  himself  in  the  furtherance  of  a  con- 
40B ;   Mar-  spiracy,  the  object  of  which  was  to 
nneau,  i.      mm-jei.  the  Ministers  and  overturn 
the  Government.^ 
He  soon  succeeded,  in  that  period  of  excite- 
^.  ment,  in  collecting  a  band  of  conspir- 

Design  of  ators  as  determined  and  reckless  as 
ili8  conspi-  himself — men  fit,  indeed,  "  to  disturb 
p'^b'^ig  ^^^^  peace  of  the  whole  world,"  though 
certainly  not  to  "  rule  it  when  'tis 
wildest."  lugs,  a  butcher ;  Davidson,  a  creole ; 
Brunt  and  Tidd,  shoemakers,  were  his  principal 
associates,  but  with  them  were  collected  forty 
or  fifty  more,  who  were  to  be  emj^loj'ed  in  the 
execution  of  their  designs.  Tliey  met  twice  a 
day,  during  February,  in  a  hired  room  near 
(Cray's  inn  Lane,  and  their  first  design  was  to 
murder  the  king,  but  this  was  soon  laid  aside 
for  the  massacre  of  his  ministers,  who  were  to 
be  dispatched  separately  in  their  own  houses. 
On  Saturday',  February  lOtii,  tiieir  j)lans  weri,' 
arranged.  Forty  men  were  to  be  set  aj)art  for 
lliese  detached  murders,  and  whoever  faltered 
ill  the  great  work  was  to  atone  for  it  with  Ids 
life;  while  a  detachment  was,  at  the  same  time, 
to  seize  two  pieces  of  artillery  stationed  in 
Gray's  Inn,  and  six  in  the  artillery  ground. 
Tlic  Mansion  House  was  to  be  immediately  at- 
tacked, and  a  provisional  government  establish- 
ed there,  the  Bank  assaulted,  and  London  set 
<'"  fire  in  several  [ilaces.  But  tliis  design  was 
modified,  in  consequence  of  information  given 
ly  Edwards,  one  of  their  number,  who  after- 
'  Thistle-  ■^vard  revealed  the  consjiiracy,  lliat 
wood's  the  whole  Cabinet  was  to  dine  at  Lord 
'1  rial,  37,  Harrowby's  in  Grosvcnor  Square.^ 
!(','„  "^20  Tliistlewood  immediately  proposed 
:i(i,31;  "  '  to  murder  them  all  at  once  when 
iMarUneau,  assembled  there,  which  was  assented 
'  ^''*-  to  ;  "foi',"  said  lie,  "  as  there  lias  no; 

Vol.  1— Y 


been  a  dinner  for  so  long,  there  will  no  doubt 
be  fourteen  or  sixteen  there ;  and  it  will  be 
a  rare  haul  to  murder  them  all  toycther." 

In  pursuance  of  this  |)lan,  two  of  the  con- 
spirators were  stationed  in  Grosvenor  ^g 
Square  to  see  what  was  going  on  there;  Their  final 
and  a  room  was  taken  above  a  stable  P'ans. 
in  Cato  Street,  off  the  Edgeware  Road,  wheve 
the  conspirators  were  to  assemble  on  the  aflcr- 
noon  of  the  22d  February,  when  the  dinner  ;!t 
Loi'd  Harrowby's  was  to  take  place.  The  only 
access  to  this  room,  which  was  large  enough  lo 
hold  thirty  persons,  was  by  a  ladder,  which  k-d 
up  to  a  trap-door,  and  there,  at  six  in  the  even- 
ing, Thistlewood,  and  twenty-four  of  the  con- 
spirators, fully  armed,  were  assembled.  It  was 
arranged  that  one  of  the  conspirators  was  fo 
call  at  Lord  Harrowby's  with  a  note  when  the 
party  were  at  dinner,  and  on  the  door  being 
opened  the  whole  were  to  rush  in,  murder  tlie 
Ministers,  and  as  trophies  of  their  success  brii!"" 
out  the  heads  of  Lord  Sidmouth  and  Castle- 
reagh,  for  which  purpose  bags  were  provided. 
Meanwhile  the  cavalry  barracks  in  King  Street, 
Portman  Square,  were  to  be  set  on  fire  by 
throwing  fire-balls  into  the  straw  depot,  and 
the  Bank  and  Mansion  House  attacked  by  those 
left  in  tlie  city.  Every  thing  was  in  readiness-, 
arms  and  ammunition  provided,  fire-balls  pre- 
pared, the  treasonable  proclamation  ready,  and 
at  half-past  seven  the  conspirators  Avere  arming 
themselves  in  the  Cato  Street  loft  by  the  light 
of  two  small  candles.  But  meanwhile  Ministers 
had  information  of  their  designs  from  the  in- 
formation of  Edwards,  wlio  had  revealed  the 
whole  conspiracy,  and  instead  of  dining  at  Lord 
Harrowby's  they  dined  together  pi'ivately  in 
Downing  Street.  The  preparations  for  tlie'din- 
ner  at  Lord  Harrowby's,  however,  were  allowed 
to  proceed  without  any  interruption,  and  a 
party  of  fourteen  police,  under  that  able  police 
magistrate,  Mr.  Birnie,  proceeded  to  the  jilace 
of  rendezvous,  where  it  had  been  arranged 
they  were  to  be  supported  by  a  detachment  of 
the  Coldstream  Guards.  The  Guards,  how- 
ever, were  not  ready  to  start  instantly  wlic'a 
Birnie  called  with  'the  police  at  i  Thistlo- 
their  barracks,  and  in  consequence,  wood's  Trial, 
thinking  not  a  moment  was  to  be  S".  64 ;  Ann. 
lost,  that  intrepid  officer  hastened  "o^ss^fMnrti- 
on  wilh  his  fourteen  policemen  neau,  i.  2-12, 
alone.'*  243. 


*  Th(^  delay  in  gotting  the  detachment  of  Foot  Guards 
ready  wlien  liiriiiu  called  at  the  barracks  with  the  police, 
was  not  owing  to  any  want  of /cal  or  activity  on  the  part 
of  that  gallant  corps,  the  detachment  of  which,  under  their 
nohle  leader.  Captain  Fitzclarunce,  behaved  wilh  tlie  ut- 
iiio.st  spirit,  and  rendered  essential  service  in  tlie  allray 
when  they  did  come  up.  It  arose  from  a  diUcrciii  mean- 
ing heini;  attached  by  military  men  and  civilians  to  tho 
words,  "  ready  to  turn  out  at  a  iiiomi'iil's  warniiig."  Tho 
former  understood  these  words  to  mean,  "  ready  to  tako 
tluMr  places  in  file,  and  be  told  olf,"  when  ordered  to  do  so  ; 
lli('  latter,  ready  Xo  face  about  and  march  xtrai/ilit  out  of 
the  hrirrack  ffate.  The  dill'en^nce  should  be  known,  and  is 
ollen  attended  with  important  cnnseciuenees.  In  this  in- 
stance, if  the  Guards  had  been  drawn  up  and  told  oil'  in 
the  barrack-yard,  and  marched  out  with  Uirnie  the  mo- 
ment he  arrived,  the  whole  conspirators  vvoulil  at  oiico 
have  been  taken  in  the  loll,  and  perhaps  no  lives  lost. 
They  hail  been  ordered  to  bo  in  readiness  to  start  at  a 
moment's  warning,  but  some  little  time  was  lost  in  i)ut- 
ting  them  in  their  places  and  telling  olf.  Another  instance 
will  occur  in  the  seiiuel  of  this  history,  where  a  similar 
misunderstanding  as  to  the  meaning  of  these  words  tx- 
iweeii  the  magi.'slraics  and  military  occasionsd  tlit;  loss 
III  live  lives. 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE, 


[Cii.vr.  X. 


Tho  fii'stof  tlio  police  who  nsooiulod  the  traji- 

..  stnirwiis  an  notive  and  brave  oHiccr, 

Contllot  in    'irt'nod  Sniithers,  who,   the   inoiiieiil 

ilio  diirk  III  lie  trot  to  the  top  of  tho  huKler,  ealled 

Hio  •.'atu       on  the  eonsnirators  to  surrender.    As 

SIOH-t  loll.      .,  1-  ,        1  1  1  1    i 

Feb.  2'J.  they  reliised  to  do  .-^o,  lie  advanced  to 
eeize  Thistlewood,  and  was  l>y  him 
run  through  the  body  and  inuiiediately  fell. 
The  lij;hts  were  instantly  extinguished,  and  a 
fritjitful  conflict  beiran  in  tho  dark  between  the 
police  orticers  and  the  pang,  in  tho  course  of 
which  sorre  dashed  headlong  down  the  tra])- 
Ptair,  and' others,  inehidiiig  Thistlewood,  iiuule 
their  escape  by  the  back  windows  of  the  loft. 
At  this  critical  moment  the  Foot  Guards,  thirty 
in  number,  came  up  with  fixed  baj'oiiets,  and. 
hastening  in  double-quick  time  to  the  door  of 
the  stable,  arrived  there  as  some  of  the  con- 
spirators were  rushing  out.  Captain  Fitzclar- 
ence,  who  was  at  their  head,  advanced  to  seize 
the  sentinel  at  the  door,  who  instantly  aimed 
a  pistol  at  his  head,  the  ball  of  which  was 
averted  by  his  covering  Sergeant  Logge,  whom 
it  wounded.  Fitzclarence  upon  this  ordered 
his  men  to  follow  him  into  the  stable,  himself 
leading  the  way.  Ue  was  met  by  a  mulatto, 
who  aimed  a  blow  at  him  with  a  cutlass,  which 
one  of  the  soldiers  warded  off  with  his  musket. 
Both  these  men  were  made  prisoners.  The}- 
tlien  mounted  the  ladder,  and  five  men  were 
secured  in  the  loft,  making,  with  those  previ- 
ouslj'  taken  by  the  police,  nine  in  all.  The 
;  Trial  of  T^c^^,  in  the  darkness  and  confu- 
Ttiisiiewood,  sion,  had  escaped,  among  whom 
fi5,  74;  Ann.  ■^^•as  Thistlewood;  but  a  reward  of 
saTipp^'to''  ^1000  having  been  offered  for  his 
("liron.  935,  apprehension,  he  w"as  made  prison- 
940;  Hughes,  er  the  following  morning  in  his 
vi.41U,411.     i^e^i 

The  Ministers,  whose  lives  had  been  saved  by 

the  discovery  of  tJiis  conspiracy,  re- 

E.\ecution  turned  thanks  publicly  at  St.  Paul's  a 

of  the  con-  few  daj's  after,  and  the  whole  respeet- 

spirators.   able  classes  in  the  country  were  hor- 

^^  ■  ror-struck  at  the  intelligence.  Thistle- 
Aveod,  Ings,  Tidd,  Brunt,  and  Davidson,  were 
arraigned  for  high  treason  on  the  PJth  of  April, 
found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  death,  on  proof 
which,  though  consisting  in  part  of  the  testi- 
mony of  two  of  the  conspirators  who  were 
taken  as  king's  evidence,  was  so  confirmed  by 
the  police  officers,  military,  and  others  engagecl 
in  the  capture,  that  not  a  doubt  could  exist  of 
their  guilt.  Five  were  sentenced  to  transpor- 
tation for  life,  and  one,  after  sentence,  received 
a  free  pardon.  Indeed,  so  far  from  denying 
their  guilt,  Thistlewood  and  Brunt  gloried  in 
it  at  their  trial,  alleging  that  assassination  was 
fully  justifiable  in  the  circumstances,  and  that 
it  was  a  fit  retribution  for  the  high  treason 
committed  against  the  people  by  the  Manches- 
ter massacre.*     Thev  were  executed  on  the  1st 


"  '■  High  treason  was  loiiiniiiled  against  lUe  l^eople  at 
Manchester,  but  justice  was  closed  against  the  nnulilated, 
the  maimed,  and  the  friends  of  those  who  were  upon  that 
occasion  indiscriminately  massacred.  The  Prince,  by  the 
advice  of  his  Ministers,  thanked  the  murderers,  still  reek- 
ing in  the  gore  of  their  victims.  If  one  spark  of  honor, 
if  one  spark  of  independence  still  glimmered  in  the  breasts 
of  Englishmen,  they  would  have  risen  as  one  man.  In- 
surrection then  became  a  public  duty,  and  the  blood  of  the 
victims  should  have  been  the  watchword  for  vengeance 
on  their  murderers.  Albion  is  still  in  the  chains  of  slav- 
ery. I  quit  it  without  regret.  I  shall  soon  be  consigned 
to  the  grave  ;  my  tody  will  be  inmiured  beneath  the  soil 


May,  in  presence  of  an  immense  crowd  of  spec- 
tators, many  of  whom  evinced  a  warm  sympa- 
thy with  their  fate.  They  behaved  with  great 
tirmness  in  their  last  moments,  exhibitiig  that 
mixture  of  stoicism  and  ruflianism  to  ciinmon 
in  jH'rsoiis  engaged  in  jiolitical  consjiiraoies. 
All  attempts  to  awaken  them  to  anj'  sense  of 
religion  or  feelings  of  repentance  failed,  except 
with  Davidson.  "  In  ten  minutes,"  said  lugs, 
as  he  ascended  the  ecalVold,  "  we  sliall  know 
the  great  secret."  The  frightful  process  of  de- 
ciipitating,  prescribed  by  the  English  law  for 
eases  of  high  tieason,  was  executed,  it  is  to  be 
hoped  for  the  last  time,  on  their  life- 
less remains,  amidst  the  shudders  Ll'"?'""",;^'' 
„  .,  ;        •,  ,  411;  An.  Reg. 

01  the  crowd,  who  were  more  hor-  ]h20,32,  Ap. 
ror-struck  Avith  this  relic  of  ancient  toCliron.y4t), 
barbarity  than  impressed  with  the  ^'9  ;  Mart'- 
guilt  01  the  criminals.' 

Ilivrdly  had  the  nation  recovered  ficm  the 
shock    arising   from   this   atrocious  .„ 

conspiracy,  and  its  dreadful  punish-  Disiurtanres 
ment,  Avlien  a  fresh  alarm  of  a  more  in  Scotland 
serious  and  wide-spread  nature  p"' ,""',"'  "'^ 
broke  out  in  the  north.  Kotwith-  "®  ^" 
standing  the  powers  given  to  the  magistrates  to 
suppress  military  training  by  the  late  act,  it  still 
continued  through  the  whole  winter  in  the 
"West  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  Lancashire,  Durham, 
and  the  neighborhood  of  Gla.=gow.  All  the 
vigilance  of  the  magistrates  was  unable  to  de- 
tect or  suppress  these  alarming  practices,  which 
evidently  presaged,  at  no  distant  period,  a  gen- 
eral insurrection  against  the  Government.  It 
was  at  first  fixed  for  the  1st  Kovembei",  but  ad- 
journed then,  and  on  various  other  occasions, 
in  consequence  of  the  preparations  not  being 
complete.  Meanwhile  the  midnight  training 
went  on  without  intermission  on  the  hills  and 
moors,  sometimes  in  one  place,  sometim.es  in 
another,  so  as  to  elude  discovery  or  pursuit; 
and  at  length,  all  things  being  conceived  to  be 
in  readiness,  the  insurrection  was  arranged  to 
take  place  on  the  2d  April.  The  large  military 
force,  however,  which  was  stationed  in  Lanca- 
shire and  Yorkshire  prevented  any  serious  out- 
break in  that  quarter,  and  it  ended  in  an  assem- 
bly of  three  hundred  malcontents  near  Iludders- 
field,  who  dispersed  on  the  rumor  of  the  ap- 
proach of  a  body  of  cavalr}-.^  But  „ 
m  Scotland  aft'airs  became  more  se-  i^so^se*^ 
rious,  and  revealed  at  once  the  prec-  37 ;  Hug'h- 
ipice  on  the  brink  of  which  the  na-  ^s,  vi.  412  ; 
tion  stood,  and  the  extraordinary  i^^'sfs.""^"' 
sway  Avhieh  the  leaders  of  the  move- 


where  1  first  drew  breath.  My  only  sorrow  is,  that  the 
soil  should  be  a  theatre  for  slaves,  for  cowards,  and  lor 
despots.  I  disclaim  any  personal  motives.  My  every 
principle  was  for  the  prosperity  of  my  country.  My  every 
feeling,  the  height  of  my  ambition,  was  for  the  welfare  of 
my  starving  countrymen.  I  keenly  felt  for  their  miseries; 
but  when  their  miseries  were  laughed  at,  and  when,  be- 
cause they  dared  to  e.xpress  those  miseries,  they  w  ere  in- 
humanly massacred  and  trampled  upon,  my  feelings  Le- 
caine  too  intense,  and  I  resolved  on  vengeance  1  I  re- 
solved that  the  lives  of  the  instigators  should  be  required 
to  the  souls  of  the  murdered  innocents.'' — Tht.stliuood'a 
Address  before  receiving  sentence.  I 

"  Lords  Castlereagh  and  Sidmouth  have  been  the  cause        J 
of  the  death  of  millions.     I  conspired  to  put  them  out  of        ! 
the  world,  but  I  did  not  intend  to  commit  high  treason.         ' 
In  undertaking  to  kill  them  and  their  lellow -ministers,  I 
did  not  e.xpect  to  save  my  own  life  ;  but  I  was  dilermired 
to  die  a  martyr  in  my  country's  cause,  and  to  aNtnge  the 
innocent    blood  shed   at    Manchester." — Brunt's  i-jxech 
before  receiving  sentence  ;  Aim.  Reg.  Ifc20,  946,  947  ;  Ap- 
pendijc  to  Chronicle. 


IS  20.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


330 


iTient  had  obtained  over  the  working  chi.:8es  in 
the  manufacturing  districts. 

Ou  Sunday  uiurniog,  April  2d,   a  treasona- 
ble prochunation  was  found  placarded 
Insu?rec-    over  all  the  streets  of  Glasgow,  Paisley, 
tionin       Stirling,   and  the  neighboring  towns 
Scotland,   ^nd  viUages,  in  the  name  of  a  provis- 
Apnl  2.      {qj^^\  government,  calling  on  the  peo- 
ple to  desist  from  labor ;  on  all  manufacturers 
to  close  their  workshops ;   ou  the  soldiers  to  re- 
member the  glorious  example  of  the  Spanish 
troops;  and  on  all  friends  of  their  country  to 
come  forward  and  effect  a  revolution  by  force, 
with  a  view  to  the  establishment  of  an  entire 
equality  of  civil  rights.     Strange  to  say,  this 
treasonable  proclamation,  unsigned,  proceeding 
from  an  unknown  authority,  was  widely  obeyed. 
Work  immediately  ceased;  the  manufactories 
were  closed  from  the  desertions  of  tlieir  work- 
men ;  the  streets  were  filled  with  anxious  crowds 
eagerly  expecting  news  from  the  south;    the 
sounds  of  industry  were  no  longer  heard ;  and 
two  hundred  thousand  persons  in  the  busiest  dis- 
tricts of  the  country  were  thrown  at  once  into  a 
state  of  compulsory  idleness  by  the  mandates  of 
an  unseen  and  unknown  power.  Never  was  there 
a  clearer  proof  how  powerful  an  engine  fear  is 
to  work  upon  the  human  heart — how  mucli  its 
influence  is  extended  by  the  terror  being  awak- 
1  c„„.„>.        ened  from  a  source  of  which  all  are  ig- 
State  Trials,  norant.     How  true  are  the  words  oi 
10  ;  Ann.    Tacitus,  "  Omne  igyiotuni  pro  magni- 
Jico ;"  and  how  well  founded  was  the 
boast  of  Marat,  that  with  three  hun- 
dred determined  bravoes  he  would 
govern  France,  and  cause  three  hun- 
dred thousand  heads  to  fall.' 
Fortunately  at  this  juncture  the  energy  of 
51.         Government,  and  the  spirit  of  the  un- 
Outbreak     tainted  parts  of  the  country,  were 
adequate  to  encounter  the   danger. 
Volunteer  and  yeomanry  corps  had 
shortly  before  been  formed  in  various 
districts;  regiments  800  strong  had 
been  raised  in  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow,  entirely 
clothed  at  their  own  expense.     Squadrons  of 
j'eomanry  had  been  formed  in  both  towns,  and 
they  came  forward  at  the  approach  of  danger 
with  the  most  praiseworthy  alacrity.    At  2  i'.m. 
on  April  3,  summonses  were  dispatched  to  the 
Edinburgh  squadron,  which  was  99  strong,  to 
assemble  in  marching  order;  at  4  p.m.  97  were 
at  tiic  ajipointed  rendezvous,  and  set  out  for 
Glasgow.*    Volunteer  and  yeomanry  cor[)s  rap- 
idly poured  into  that  city;  in  a  few  days  .'iOUO 
men,  of  whom  2000  were  horse,  with  eight  guns, 
were  assembled  in  it.     The  crown-officers  has- 
tened to  Glasgow,  and  directed  the  proceed- 
ings.    This  great  demonstration  of  moral  and 
physical  strength  extinguished  the  threatened 
insurrection.     The  exj)ccte<l  movement  in  En- 
gland did  not  take  place  ;  the  nppointe<l  signal 
of  the  stopping  of  the  London  mail  in  vain  was 


Reg.  18-2U, 
36,  37  ; 
Hughes,  vi. 
412,  413; 
Personal  ob- 
scrvaUon. 


of  the  in- 
surrection, 
and  Its  sup- 
pression. 
April  3. 


looked  for:  a  tumultuous  body  of  insurgerits, 
which  set  out  from  Stratliaven,  in  Lanarkshire, 
melted  away  before  they  arrived  in  Glasgow ; 
another  between  Kilsyth  and  Falkirk  was  en- 
countered at  Bonnymuir  by  a  detachment  of 
fourten  hussars  and  fourteen  of  the  Stirlingshire 
yeomanrj-,  totally  defeated,  and  nineteen  of 
their  number  made  prisoners.    Before  the  week 
had  elapsed  the  danger  was  over;  the  insur- 
gents saw  they  were  over-matched ;  a  rigorous 
search  for  arms  in  Glasgow  revealed  to  them 
their  weakness ;  numerous  arrests  paralyzed  all 
the  movements  of  the  leaders,  and  sent  numbers 
into  voluntary  exile ;  the  people  gradually  re- 
sumed   their    avocations;    and  this    outbreak, 
which  at  first  had  appeared  so  thretitening,  was 
terminated  with  the  sacrifice  only  of  two  men 
executed  at  Stirling,  one  at  Glasgow,  and  seven 
or  eight  transported.     Jiiit  the  rebellious  spirit 
of  the  manufacturing  districts  was  suppressed 
in  a  far  more  ert'ectual  and  better  way,  which 
neither  caused  blood  to  flow  nor  a  tear  to  fall. 
They  were  morally  slaughtered;  the  strength 
of  their  opponents,   their  own  weakness,  was 
evinced  in  an  unmistakable  manner.     The  an- 
cient spirit  and  loyalty  of  the  Scotch  was  shown 
in  the  most  striking  manner  on  this  occasion: 
the  flower  of  the  youth  in  all  the  counties  ranged 
themselves  in  arms  around  the  standard  of  their 
country;  and  Sir  Walter  Scott,  whose  chival- 
rous spirit  was  strongly  roused  by  ,  personal 
these  exciting  events,  boasted,  in  the  knowicdf,'e ; 
pride  of  his  heart,  that  at  a  public  Ann-  Rc| 
dinner  of  800  gentleincn  in  Edin-  gcotchStatJ 
btiri 


*  The  author  has  muoli  pleasure  ni  rcconliiiK  tins  just 
tribute  to  a  line  and  K|>iriled  corps,  ni  the  ranks  of  wlncli 
Home  of  the  happiest  days  of  his  life  have  been  spent.  The 
Kdlnburgh  s(inadroii  al  iliat  time,  which  was  the  successor 
of  that  in  which  .Sir  Walter  Scott  had  served,  and  has  im- 
inortalizcd,  contained  several  young  men  destined  to  dis- 
tniKUishcd  eminence  :  among  others,  the  present  Lord 
.lusiice  Clerk,  Hope  ;  Mr.  Patrick  Tytler,  the  historian  of 
Scotland  ;  Mr.  Lockliart,  since  editor  of  the  Quarterly  Re- 
view ;  and  Mr.  Francis  Grant,  since  so  eminent  as  a 
painter  in  I-ondon. 


men  ( 

50,000  men  in  arms.'* 

Parliament  met,  after  the  general  election,  on 
21st  April.     Its  result  had  made  no        g., 
material  difference  in  the  respective  Death  and 
strength  of  parties,  but,  if  any  thing,  character 
J.         ii  1  xi         ■    ■  I     ■   i,„.,i.o       oliMr.Grat- 

strengthened  the  ministerial  ranks —  ^^^ 

the  usual  result  of  public  disturb- 
ances, which  awaken  men  to  a  sense  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  supporting  the  Government,  whatever 
it  is,  which  is  intrusted  with  the  duty  of  rejiress- 
ing  them.     One  distinguished  member  of  the 
House,  however,  Mr.  G  R.\Tr.\N,  ne  vertook  his  seat 
in  the  new  Parliament,  and  expired  soon   j^^^^  ^ 
after  the  session  commenced,     lie  was 
the  last  of  that  bright  band  of  patriots,  who, 
wanned  into  life  by  the  great  struggle  for  Irish 
independence  in  1782,  wJien  the  chains  in  which 
tliat  country  ha<l  so  long  been  held  by  England 
first  began  to  be  broken,  were,  after  ,  ^^    j^^„ 
the  Union,  transferred  to  the  British  \Hm,  HS," 
Parliament,  which  they  caused  to  re-  I''-' ;  '^''"'" 
sound  with  strains  of  eloquence  rarely  2^3^''"'  '' 
before  heard  within  its  wall.s.* 


♦  "We  have  sileni  cd  the  Scolllsh  Whigs  for  our  lime, 
and,  I  think,  drawn  the  (lower  of  Scotland  round  the  lung 
and  Constitution.  Lilerallv  1  do  not  exceed  the  mark, 
when  Lord  JIuntly,  onr  Cork  of  the  North,  as  he  is  calU  (I, 
presided  over  HOO  gentlemen,  there  was  influence  and  fol- 
lowing enough  among  us  to  rais(!  50,0(10  men.  property 
enough  to  e(|ulp  and  pay  them  for  n  year,  young  mi'ii  not 
unacijuaintf'd  with  arms  enough  to  discipline  them,  and 
one  or  two  e.xperienced  generals  to  command  them.  I  told 
this  to  iTiy  Whig  frjen<ls  who  were  bullying  me  about  the 
popular  voice— and  ad<led,  they  might  begin  when  they 
liked,  we  were  as  ready  an  they."— Sir  Waltkii  Scott 
to  Lord  SiDMouTii,  17th  February,  1821;  Sulmoutks 
Life,  iii.  313. 


SIO 


HISTORY    OF   EUIlOrE. 


[Chap.  X. 


lie  was  not  so  luminous  in  liis  exposition  of 
facts  as  ritt,  nor  so  velionient  in  his 
llisrharac-  deoliinmtion  as  Fox;  hut  in  hurning 
i.T  as  a  thouglits,  generous  feelings,  and  glow  • 
suuisiiian  iiijr  language,  he  was  sometimes  supc- 
aud  orator,    ^.j^.^.  j,;  ^,i,,,^,,.      ,^)^.^.„jio„al   passages 

in  his  speeches,  when  (luoted  or  repeated,  are 
periiaps  the  finest  anil  most  imaginative  pieces 
of  elotjuence  in  the  English  language,  it  was 
justly  observed  by  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  in 
moving  a  new  writ  for  Dublin,  which  he  had 
long  reproseiited.  that  he  was  perhaps  the  only 
man  recorded  in  history  who  had  obtained  equal 
fame  and  inlUience  in  two  assemblies  ditiering 
from  each  other  in  such  essential  respects  as 
the  English  and  Irish  Parliaments.  Forty  years 
before  his  death,  he  had  been  voted  a  grant  to 
purchase  an  estate,  by  the  Irish  Parliament,  in 
consideration  of  his  eminent  national  services, 
a  thing  unknown  in  an  individual  not  connect- 
ed with  the  public  establishments.  He  had  been 
a  warm  supporter  of  the  Union,  hoping,  as  he 
himself  expressed  it,  that  Ireland,  instead  of 
receiving  laws  from  ICngland,  should  henceforth 
take  an  equal  share  with  her  in  legislating  for 
the  united  empire.  It  is  only  to  be  regretted 
tliat  his  genius,  great  as  it  was,  had  been  through 
life  chiefly  directed  to  an  unattainable  object. 
The  independence  of  Ireland  was  the  chief  as- 
piration of  his  mind,  and  he  lived  to  see  that  it 
was  hopeless.  He  said,  in  his  figurative  and 
beautiful  language,  "I  have  sat  by  its  cradle, 
I  liave  followed  its  hearse."  Hence  his  name, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Union  and  the  shack- 
les burst  in  1782,  is  linked  with  no  great  legis- 
lative improvement  in  his  native  countrj' — for 
Catholic  emancipation,  of  which  he  was  the 
strenuous  and  able  advocate,  has  failed,  by  the 
admission  of  its  warmest  supporters,  to  prove 
such.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  Irish  or  Celtic 
character,  gifted,  often  beyond  the  Anglo-Saxon, 
with  the  brightest  imaginative  qualities,  has  in 
general  been  found  deficient  in  that  practical 
turn  and  intuitive  sagacity  which  is  necessary 
to  turn  them  to  any  good  purpose ;  and  that, 
amidst  all  our  admiration  of  their  genius,  we 
are  too  often  reminded  of  the  elegant  allegory 
told  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  that  every  fairy 
invited  to  his  christening  sent  him  a  gift  of 
person,  genius,  or  fortune;  but  tliat  one  old 
fairj-,  to  whom  no  invitation  had  been  given, 
'Pari. Deb.  ^^nt  one  fatal  present  —  that  he 
i,  1056,  should  be  unable  to  make  any  use  of 
1058.  them.i 

One  of  the  first  measures  adopted  by  Govern- 
54  ment,  with  the  sanction  of  Parlia- 

rncrease  of  ment,  was  the  increase  of  the  j-eo- 
ihe  yeoman-  manry  force,  which  was  so  much 
ry  force.  augmented  that  before  the  end  of 
the  year  it  amounted  to  nearly  35,000  men,  all 
animated  with  the  best  spirit,  and  for  the  most 
part  in  a  surprising  state  of  discipline  and  effi- 
ciency. Without  doubt,  it  takes  above  a  j'ear 
to  make  a  good  horse  soldier;  but  it  often  ex- 
cites the  wonder  of  military  officers  how  quickly 
men  of  intelligence  and  spirit,  such  as  usually 
compose  the  j'eomanry  corps,  if  previously  able 
to  ride,  acquire  the  rudiments  of  skill  even  in 
the  cavalry  service ;  and  still  more,  how  quickly 
their  horses  learn  it.  The  Duke  of  Wellington 
recommended  that  the  militia  should  be  called 
out  througliout  the  kingdom;    but   this  was 


thought  not  advisable,  ]>robably  because  it  was 
doubtful  how  far,  in  the  manufacturing  dis- 
tricts, such  a  force  could  be  relied  on.  Two 
thousand  meti,  however,  were  added  to  the 
marines,  which  rendered  disposable  an  equal 
amount  of  the  regular  force  stationed  in  the 
garrison  seaport  towns.  Such  was  the  vigor 
of  Lord  Sidmouth  in  following  uji  the  measures 
for  the  increase  of  the  yeomanry  force,  that  the 
king  liappily  said  of  him,  "  If  England  is  to  be 
preserved  England,  the  arrangements  he  has 
made  will  lead  to  that  preservation."  "Without 
doubt,  the  ])owerful  volunteer  force,  organized 
especially  in  the  manufacturing  districts  at 
this  ])erio(l,  and  the  decisive  demonstration  it 
atibrded  of  moral  and  physical  sti-ength  on  the 
partof  thcGovernment,  wasthechief  i  Ann.  Reg. 
cause  of  (Jreat  Britain  escaping  an  1620,43; 
alarming   convulsion,    at    the    time  Sidmoutirs 

1  ,  P  ■  -i      r  1    .  •  Life,  ni. 

when  tlie  spirit  ot  revolution  was  302  •  pari 

proving  so  fatal  to  monarch}-  in  so  Deb.  i.  1107, 
many  of  the  Continental  states.'  '"^^  series. 

The  revenue  for  the  year  fell  considerably 
short  of  what  had  been  anticipated,  55 
the  natural  consequence  of  the  gene-  The  budget 
ral  distress  which  jire vailed  in  the  ^^^  \b%{). 
country.  Mr.  Alderman  Heygate,  who  had  so 
strenuously  resisted  the  resumption  of  cash 
paj-ments  in  the  preceding  year,  did  not  fail  to 
jjoint  out  the  contraction  of  the  eurrenc}-  as  the 
main  cause  of  that  deficiency.*  Great  disputes 
as  usual  took  place  as  to  the  real  amount  of  the 
revenue,  as  compared  with  the  expenditure; 
but  it  appeared  upon  the  whole  evident  that 
the  revenue,  had  fallen  above  a  million  short 
of  what  had  been  anticipated,  and  that  instead 
of  the  expected  real  sinking  fund  of  £5,000.000, 
no  reduction  in  the  public  debt  had  taken  place, 
as  the  unfunded  debt  had  decreased  £2,0U0,0U0, 
and  the  funded  debt  increased  by  exactly  the 
same  sum.  The  revenue  for  182U  and  1821  ex- 
hibited,! without  any  change  in  taxation,  and 
the  most  strenuous  efl'orts  at  economy  on  the 
part  of  Government,  decisive  evidence  of  the 


*  "Let  the  House  contrast  the  quantity  of  the  circu- 
lating medium  which  was  lioatiug  in  the  country  in 
May,  1818,  with  the  amount  in  circulation  in  the  same 
month  in  the  present  year.  In  the  issue  of  Bank  of  Eng- 
land notes  there  had  been  a  diminution  of  £4,000,000  ;  in 
the  issue  of  country  bank-notes  there  had  been  a  diminu- 
tion of  £5,000,000.  The  total  diminution  in  that  short 
period  had  been  £'9,000,000,  a  sum  amounting  to  more 
than  one-sixth  of  the  whole  circulation  of  the  country. 
The  Slate  of  the  exchange  during  that  period  had  been 
almost  uniformly  in  our  favor,  but  not  a  single  piece  of 
gold  had  made  its  appearance  to  replace  the  notes  whicU 
had  been  withdrawn.  Three-fourths  of  the  distress  of  the 
country  was  to  be  ascribed  to  the  haste  with  which  so 
large  a  proportion  as  £9,000,000  had  been  withdrawn  from 
the  circulation." — Mr.  Hevgate's  Speech,  June  19,  1820  ; 
Pari.  Debates,  i.  1178,  new  series. 

t  The  revenue  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  for  1620  and 
1821  stood  thus : 

INCOME. 

1S'20— Nett.  1821— Xett. 

Customs £10,743,189  . .   £11,475,259 

Excise   28,622,248  . .       28,941,629 

Stamps 6,794,866  . .        6,853,966 

Lands   Assessed,    including 

Ireland 8,313,148..        8,192,301 

Post  Office 1,692,636..         1.621,326 

Lesser  Imposts 1,323,893..         1,731,231 

Hereditary  Revenue 127,620  ..  136,077 

£57,304,650  ..   £58,108,855 
Loans  from  Sinking  Fund  .      17,292,544  . .       13,833,783 


Total £74.597,195 

Of  which  was  Irish  Revenue      3,905,699 


£71,937.639 
3,672,4:9 


1320.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


Z-il 


laboring  state  of  the  finances  of  the  country, 
and  took  away  all  hopes  of  making,  (luring 
peace,  any  serious  impression  ou  the  public 
debt.  The  details  are  of  little  practical  impor- 
tance in  a  work  of  general  histor}- ;  but  the  re- 
sult is  so,  as  demonstrating  how  entirely  the  ef- 
fects had  corresponded  to  what  had  been  predict- 
ed as  to  the  effects  of  the  currency  bill  passed  so 
1  Pari.  Deb.  unanimously  in  the  preceding  year 
i.  1170, 1174.  by  both  Houses  of  Parliament.' 
The  Parliamentary  debates  of  1820  embrace 

fewer  topics  than  usual  of  general 
Important  moment,  in  consequence  of  the  en- 
subjeets  of  grossing  interest  of  the  proceedings 
debate  in  regarding  the  Queen,  to  be  imniedi- 
ilussession.  ^^^^^  noticed.  But  three  subjects 
of  lasting  importance  were  brought  forward — 
namely,  that  of  general  education,  introduced 
by  Mr.  Brougham;  the  disfranchisement  of 
Grainpound,  by  Lord  John  Russell;  and  Free 
Trade,  by  Mr.  Wallace  of  the  Board  of  Trade. 
On  the  first  point  it  is  superfluous  to  give  the 
speeches,  even  in  an  abbreviated  form,  because 
the  subject  is  one  upon  which  the  minds  of  all 
meu  are  made  up.  It  is  no  more  necessary  to 
prove  that  the  sun's  rays  will  give  light  and 
warmth,  than  that  the  lamp  of  knowledge  will 
illuminate  and  humanize  the  mind.  But  the 
subject,  as  all  others  in  which  the  feelings  of 
large  bodies  of  men  are  warmly  interested,  is 
beset  with  difficulties  ;  and  Mr.  Brougham's 
speech  was  replete  with  valuable  information 
on  it.  His  project,  which  was  for  the  establish- 
ment, as  in  Scotland,  of  a  school,  maintained 
by  the  public  funds,  in  every  parish,  failed 
chiefly  from  its  proposing  to  connect  the  schools 
with  the  Established  Church,  which  at  once 
lost  for  it  the  support  of  all  the  Dissenters.    But 

the  facts  which  he  had  collected  were 
i  205""*^^"'  ^^  lasting  value  in  the  great  cause 

of  moral  and  social  improvement.** 


EXPENDITURE. 

National  Debt  and  Sinking        is'io.  1621. 

Fund ri7,070,927  . .  £47,130,171 

Unfunded  Debt,  Ireland  ... .        1,849,219..  2,219,002 

Civil  List,  &c 2,134,213..  2,268,940 

Civil  Government,  Scotland.           132,080..  133,077 

Lesser  Payments 438,339..  470,873 

Navy 6,387,799  . .  5,943,879 

Ordnance 1,401,585..  1,337,923 

Army 8,926,423  . .  8,932,779 

Miscellaneous 2,610,700..  3,870,042 

Foreign  Loans,  &c 50,357  . .  48,404 


£71,007,048  ..   X72,361,750 

NATIONAL  DEBT. 

Unfunded  Debt £37,042,433  . .   £30,244,720 

Debt  Redeemed  by  Sinking 

Fund  to  5lh  January,  1821   399,500,101    ..     309,358,449 
Unredeemed  Debt  at  ditto.  .    772,000,898.,     795,312,707 
Annual  Interest : 

Funded  Debt 31.4.50,128..      31,450,128 

Sinking  Fund 10,049.514..       16,049,014 

—Arm.  Reg.  1821,  254,  271  ;  and  1822,  319,  325. 

*  "  No  scheme  of  popular  education  can  ever  become 
national  in  tins  country,  which  gives  the  management  of 
schools  and  appointment  of  masters  to  the  Church,  while 
Dissenters  constitute  a  large  proportion  of  the  inhubitants 
in  almost  every  district,  and  especially  In  the  most  popu- 
lous, where  the  Dissenters  bear  their  full  share  in  such 
education  ns  already  exists.  This  dltliculty  was  Immedi- 
ately fatal  to  Mr.  llrotighain's  measure,  and  has  bc^en  sn  in 
every  scliciiie  jirdpoHcd  in  succeeding  years  ;  the  members 
of  the  E.stabhsheil  Church  Insisting  on  ilirect  religious  in- 
struction as  a  part  of  itii^  plan,  and  the  Dissenters  refus- 
ing to  subject  their  children  to  tlie  religious  instruction 
of  the  Church,  or  to  pay  for  a  system  from  which  their 
children  are  neci^ssarily  excluded." — Miss  Makti.neau's 
Thirlij  Years  0/ Peace,  i.  20 J. 


According    to    Mr.    Brougham's    statement, 
there  were  then  12,000  parishes  or  57 

chapelries   in    England  ;    of  these.  Statistics  on 
3500  had  not  a  vestige  of  a  school,  education  in 
endowed  or  unendowed,   and  the  w^fies  by' 
peo])le  had  no  more  means  of  edu-  Mr.  Br'ough. 
cation  than  the  Hottentots  or  the  am- 
CafTres.     Of  the  remainder,  3000  had  endowed 
schools,  and  the  remaining  5500  were  provided 
only  with  unendowed  schools,  depending  en- 
tirely on  the  casual  and  fleeting  support  of  the 
parents  of  the  children  attending  them.     The 
number  of  children  annually  receiving  educa- 
tion at  all  the  schools,  week-day  and  Sundaj', 
was  700,000,   of  whom   only  COO.OOO  were  at 
day-schools,    where    regular    attendance    was 
given  and  disci[)line  enforced.     Fifty  thousand 
were   estimated   as   the   number  educated   at 
home,  making  in  all  750,000   annually  under 
tuition  of  one  sort  or  another,  which,  taking 
the    population   of  England   at  9,540,000,  the 
amount  by  the  census  of  1811,  was  about  o7ie- 
ffteenth  of  the  whole  pojnilation. 

But  in  reality  the  population  of  England 
was  proved,  b}'  the  census  taken  in  the  suc- 
ceeding year,  to  be  considerably  greater  than 
he  supposed,  for  it  amounted  to  no  less  than 
11,260,000,  besides  470,000  in  the  army,  navy, 
and  mercantile  sea-service.  Thus  the  real 
proportion  receiving  education  was  not  more 
than  07ie-sev€ntcenth  of  the  entire  population  ; 
a  small  figure  for  a  country  boasting  so  great 
an  amount  of  intelligence  and  civilization, 
for  in  many  countries  with  less  pretensions 
in  these  respects  the  proportion  was  much 
higher.  In  Scotland  the  proportion  at  that 
period  was  between  one-ninth  and  one-tenth; 
in  Holland  it  was  one-tenth;  in  Switzerland, 
one-eighth ;  in  Prussia,  one-tenth  ;  in  Austria, 
one-eleventh.  In  France — to  its  disgrace  be  it 
said — the  proportion  was  still  one-t^^  enty- 
eighth  onl\',  though  7200  new  schools  had  been 
opened  in  the  last  two  years.  But  though  En- 
gland presented  a  much  more  favorable  aspect, 
j'ct  there  the  deficiency  was  very  great;  for 
the  total  children  requiring  education  were 
about  1,000,000,  and  as  750,000  onl^ 
were  at  any  place  of  education,  it  jj  gj ' ^^^  ' 
followed  that  25tt,000  persons,  or  a  June  28,' 
quarter  of  the  entire  juvenile  ])opula-  1H20;  Ann. 
tion,  were  yearly  growing  up  with-  i*^['%' ,"'~'^' 
out  any  education  whatever.'*  ' 

It  is  abundantly  evident  from  these  facts,  and 
the  same  has  been  proved  in  other         59. 
countiies,    that    no   relhmce  can   bo  Difllculties 

placed  on  the  voluntary  system  for  "'  "''>***''*'- 
!,  L      e      1         ..•  1    41     i    lecl,  and 

the  support  of  edueution,  and   tiiat  ii,.,.,'.sHiiYof 
unless  the  means  of  itislriiclion  are  an  asse.ss- 
providcd  at  tlie  public  expi'iise,  the  ""-'■"■ 
education  of  tht;  pcojtle  will  always  be  in   a 
most  unsatisfactory  stale,  an<l  its  blessings  in  a 
considerabhi    jiortioti    of    society    wholly    un- 


*  Mr.  lir<;iigham  stated  that  In  enilowed  schools  105,432 
rhililrcii  were  rdiiialril,  and  490,0110  in  uiieiiilowril.  !»■- 
sides  11,000  who  might  be  allowed  liir  the  iiiiciiciiiweil 
schools  111  150  parishes,  from  which  no  returns  had  bei  n 
obtained.  Of  this  number  53,000  were  nt  dame  schools, 
where  only  the  rudiments  of  education  were  taught. 
Small  as  I  hi-  proportion  of  educated  children  was,  it  had 
only  become  such  ns  it  was  of  late  years,  for  of  the  total 
ediiciiled  about  200,000  were  at  1.520  Lancasterlan  sihools, 
which  only  began  to  be  established  in  1803,  so  that  bcforo 
that  liiiic  not  more  than  one-twetilieth,  of  the  population 
was  annually  receiving  Instruction.— it?i«.  Rig-  't'-'^i  50- 


11  I  STORY    OF    ELK  OPE. 


[Ciur.  X. 


known.  ^Vliatovor  ministers  to  the  physical 
noi'ossitios  i>r  j>loasures  of  tlic  j>eople  is  otisily 
n-nJerod  soil-support inir,  but  it  is  otherwise 
with  what  tends  to  their  moral  improvement 
vv  social  elevation.  These  can  never  be  safely 
left  to  private  support,  for  this  plain  reason, 
that  a  large  portion  of  soeiety,  and  that  the 
very  one  whieh  most  stands  in  need  of  them, 
is  wholly  insensible  to  their  value,  and  will 
]^ay  nothing  for  their  furtherance.  Had  the 
property  whieh  onee  belonged  to  the  I'hureh 
still  remained  in  its  hands,  and  been  righteous- 
ly administered,  it  might  have  solved  the  diffi- 
culty, because  it  was  adequate  to  the  gratui- 
tous support  of  the  whole  religious  and  educa- 
tional institutions  requisite  for  the  country. 
But  as  so  large  a  part  of  it  had  been  seized  on 
by  private  cupidity,  and  been  alienated  from 
the  Church  at  the  Ueformation,  this  precious 
resource  was  lost,  and  nothing  remained  but 
assessment,  and  there  the  difficulty  at  once  is 
felt. 

At  first  sight,  it  appears  easy  to  solve  the 

difficulty  by  simply  establishing  a 
Us  difflcul-  scliool-rate  in  every  parish,  to  be  col- 
lies, and  lected  along  with  the  poor-rate  and 
Ettempis  at  prison-rate,  and  which,  at  a  trifling 
tliLMr  sQlu-    ^.yg^  {^Q  ^jjg  communitj-,  would  aftbrd 

to  the  children  of  all  adequate  means 
of  instruction.  This  was  what  Lord  Brough- 
am proposed  in  England,  and  which  has  been 
long  established  with  great  success  in  America. 
But  a  difficulty,  which  has  hitherto  been  found 
insurmountable,  lies  at  the  very  threshold  in 
this  country,  whieh  is  the  more  serious  that  it 
arises  from  the  combined  sincere  convictions 
and  selfish  jealousies  of  the  ministers  of  relig- 
ion and  their  zealous  followers.  What  religion 
is  to  be  taught  ?  Is  it  to  be  the  Episcopalian, 
Catholic,  or  Dissent?  If  the  last,  which  Dis- 
sent, for  their  name  is  legion  ?  So  great  is  this 
difficulty,  that  it  has  hitherto  been  found  insur- 
mountable both  in  England  or  Ireland,  and 
caused  all  attempts  at  a  general  system  of  edu- 
cation to  fail.  Each  sect  not  only  gives  no 
support  to  any  attempt  to  establish  any  gener- 
al system  of  education  connected  with  any 
other  sect,  but  meets  it  with  the  most  strenuous 
opposition.  Xor  is  this  surprising,  for  each 
considers  its  own  tenets  and  forms  the  ones 
most  conducive  to  temporal  well-being — and 
not  a  few,  the  only  portals  to  eternal  salvation. 
Scotland  is  the  exception.  Its  parochial 
5Q  schools  were  established  in  1696,  when 
Probable  the  fervor  of  the  Reformation  in  a  com- 
mode of  munity  as  yet  onh'  agricultural  had 
BONingit.  pro(}u(>g^  an  unusual  degree  of  xma- 
nimity  on  religious  subjects,  and  the  burden  was 
laid  entirely  on  the  landholders.  jS'o  general 
school-rate  could  by  possibility  succeed  now, 
in  the  divided  state  of  the  religious  world  in 
that  country.  The  difficulty  might  perhaps  be 
solved  by  simply  levying  a  rate,  and  dividing 
it  in  each  parish,  for  the  support  of  schools,  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  families  belonging 
to  each  considerable  persuasion;  and  possibly 
this  is  the  way  in  which  alone  the  difficulty 
can  ultimately  be  overcome.  In  urban  parishes, 
at  least,  where  the  evils  of  want  of  education 
for  the  poor  are  most  stronglj-  felt,  it  would  be 
easy  to  establish  in  every  school  a  room  or 
rooms,  in  which  the  elements  of  secular  educa- 


tion are  taught  to  all,  while  in  an  adjoining 
apartment  the  children  of  the  different  persua- 
sions are  in  succession  instructed  on  religious 
subjects  by  their  respective  religious  teachers. 
A  general  rate  mighl  be  levied  on  all  for  the 
sui)port  of  the  teachers  in  the  first ;  a  special 
rate  on  those  professing  each  persuasion  for  the 
instruction  in  the  last.  This  is  done  in  several 
schools  in  manufactories  in  Scotland,  and  is 
generally  practiced  in  America  with  perfect 
success.  '1  he  system  appears  complicated,  but 
it  is  perhaps  the  only  way  in  which  the  diffi- 
culties connected  with  the  subject  can  be  obvi- 
ated, or  a  general  assessment  for  educational 
purposes  be  reconciled  with  the  sin-  j  Trcman- 
cere  and  therefore  respectable,  ecru-  hare's  Amer- 
ples  of  the  serious  portion  of  the  ica,  30,  57, 
conmiunity.' 

I)Ut  supposing  this  difficulty  surmounted, 
another,  and  a  yet  more  formidable  pj 
one,  remains  behind,  to  the  magni-  Whai  is  to 
tude  of  which  the  world  is  only  be-  bedoiie 
ginning  to  awaken.  "When  the  peo-  ^}^}^  '.''j 
pie  are  educated,  what  is  to  be  done  classes? 
with  them  ?  How  is  the  country  to 
get  on  when  so  many  more  are  trained  to  and 
qualified  for  intellectual  labor  than  can  by 
possibilit}-  find  a  subsistence,  even  by  the  most 
successful  prosecution  of  any  of  its  branches? 
How  is  the  constantly  increasing  multitude  of 
well-educated  persons,  armed  with  the  powers 
of  intellect,  stimulated  by  the  pressure  of  neces- 
sity, not  restrained  by  the  possession  of  prop- 
erty, to  be  disposed  otj  when  no  possible  means 
of  providing  for  them  but  by  pli3-sical  labor, 
which  they  abhor,  can  be  devised?  How  are 
they  to  be  prevented,  in  periods  of  distress, 
from  becoming  seditious,  and  listening  to  the 
suggestions  of  the  demagogues  who  never  fail 
to  appear  in  such  circumstances,  who  tell  them 
that  all  their  distresses  are  owing  to  the  faulty 
institutions  of  society,  and  that  under  the  reign 
of  "  Libert}",  Equality,  and  Fraternity,"  they 
will  all  disappear  before  the  ascending  power 
of  the  people?  How,  in  such  circumstances,  is 
the  balance  of  the  different  classes  of  society  to 
be  preserved,  and  the  great,  but  inert,  and 
comparatively  unintelleetual  mass  of  the  rural 
population  to  be  hindered  from  falling  \inder 
the  dominion  of  the  less  numerous,  but  more 
concentrated,  more  wealthy,  and  more  acute 
inhabitants  of  towns?  If  thej-  do  become  sub- 
jected to  them,  what  is  that  but  class-govern, 
ment  of  the  worst  and  most  dangerous,  because 
the  most  numerous  and  irresponsible  kind? 
And  what  is  to  be  expected  from  it,  but  the 
entire  sacrifice  of  the  interests  of  the  country, 
by  successive  acts  of  the  legislature,  to  those 
of  towns  ?  England  has  already  felt  these  evils, 
but  not  to  the  degree  that  she  otherwise  would, 
from  the  invaluable  vent  w  hich  her  numerous 
colonies  have  afforded  to  her  surplus  educated 
and  indigent  population  :  in  America  they  have 
been  wholly  unknown,  because  the  Far  "\\  esc 
has  absorbed  it  all. 

These  observations  are  not  foreign  to  a  work 
of   general    history:    its  subsequent  62. 

volumes  will  be  little  more  than  a  ^j|'j'^p'"'|.°'jj 
commentary  on  this  text.     And  with-  jp  leadmg 
out  anticipating  the  march  of  events,  lo  nie  dis. 
which    will     abundantly     illustrate  persion  of 
them,  it  may  be  observed  that  the  "wukud. 


1820.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


343 


maintenance  of  despotic  institutions  in  a  coun- 
try of  advancing  intelligence  is  impossible; 
that  as  knowledge  is  power,  so  knowledge  will 
obtain  power;  that  the  wisdom  of  government 
with  a  people  growing  in  information,  is  gradu- 
ally and  cautiously  to  admit  them  to  a  share 
in  its  duties;  that  the  only  way  to  do  this  with 
safety,  is  by  the  representation  of  interests,  not 
numbers,  the  latter  being  class-government  of 
the  worst  kind ;  and  that,  with  all  that,  safety 
must  mainly  be  looked  for  in  the  providing 
ample  outlets  for  the  indigent  intelligence  of 
the  state  in  colonial  settlements.  It  is  impos- 
sible it  should  be  otherwise,  for  it  is  by  the 
force  of  education  that  the  destinies  of  the 
species  ai-e  to  be  worked  out  by  the  voluntary 
acts  of  free  agents.  The  desires  consequent  on 
information,  with  their  natural  offspring,  demo- 
cratic ambition,  are  the  great  moving  jjowers 
of  nature;  and  in  the  last  da3's  of  man,  as  in 
the  first,  it  is  by  eating  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree 
of  knowledge  that  he  is  torn  up  from  his  native 
seats,  and  impelled  by  the  force  of  his  own  de- 
sires to  obey  the  Divine  precept  to  overspread 
the  earth  and  subdue  it. 

Another  subject,  destined  in  the  end  to  be 
g3  attended    with    paramount  import- 

Disfran-  ance,  though  its  moment  was  not 
chiseraent  perceived  at  this  time,  was  at  the 
ot  Gram-  same  time  introduced  into  Parlia- 
transfer^of  Kient,  and  showed  how  closely  the 
its  mem-  growing  intelligence  of  an  era  is  con- 
V "^^u'h  nected  wtih  the  desire  for  an  exten- 
■korkshire.  ^-^^^  ^^  political  power.  This  was 
Parliamentarv  Reform.  Lord  John  Russell 
on  9th  May  introduced  the  subject  by  propos- 
ing three  resolutions:  1.  That  the  people  were 
dissatisfied  with  the  representation;  2.  That 
boroughs  convicted  ofbribery  should  be  disfran- 
chised; and,  3.  That  their  members  should  be 
transferred  to  some  populous  place  not  repre- 
sented. Grampound  had  been  convicted  of 
bribery  in  the  last  election,  on  so  extensive  a 
scale  that  it  appeared  in  evidence  that  "  per- 
haps there  might  be  two  or  three  electors  who 
had  not  received  bribes."  Tiie  bill  disfranchis- 
ing the  borough  passed  without  any  opposi- 
tion, but  a  great  division  of  opinion  arose  as  to 
the  place  to  which  the  members  for  it  should 
be  transferred.  In  the  bill,  as  it  originally 
stood,  it  was  proposed  that  they  should  be 
transferred  to  Leeds ;  but  the  aristocratic  party. 
in  both  Houses,  inclined  to  give  them  to  some 
rural  district,  where  their  influence  might  be 
more  easily  exerted.  The  bill  was  not  pushed 
through  all  its  stages  this  session,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  proceedings  against  the  Queen 
absorbing  the  whole  attention  of  the  legisla- 
ture; but  it  was  revived  in  the  next,  and,  as 
it  passed  the  Commons,  the  franchise  was  con- 
ferred on  Leeds.  In  the  Lords,  however,  this 
was  altered,  and  the  memljcrs  were  bestowed 
on  the  county  of  York.  With  this  alteration 
the  Reform  party  were  far  from  being  satisfied  ; 
but  they  wisely  agreed  to  it,  ami  liic  bill,  thus 
amended,  passed  into  a  law.  Thus  was  the 
foundation  laid  of  the  great  fabric  of  parlia- 
mentary reform,  ten  years  befon;  tlie  cmi)ire 
was  shaken  to  the  centre  l)y  tiic  8uj)erstruclure 
being  raised.  Even  at  this  early  peri(id,  how- 
ever, the  opening  made  awakened  very  serious 
alarms  in  many  able  persons,  wlio  afterward 


became  leaders  of  the  "Whig  party.*  Happy 
would  it  have  been  for  the  nation  if  it  had  been 
regarded  by  the  opposite  parties  as  a  question 
of  social  amelioration,  not  political  power,  and 
the  use  that  was  practicable  had  been  made 
of  the  progressive  and  just  reforms  j  ,  „ 
which  might  have  been  founded  on  jgao,  46  fr ; 
the  disfranchisement  of  the  bor-  Pari.  Deb.  v. 
oughs  convicted  of  corruption,  in-  604,024,090, 
stead  of  the  wholesale  destruction  of 
the  majority  of  their  number.' 

The  doctrine  of  Free  Trade,  afterward  so 
largely  acted  upon  by  the  British 
legislature,  first  began  at  this  time  Riseoiiree 
to  engross  the  thoughts  not  only  of  trade  ideas 
persons  engaged  in  commerce  and  among  the 
manufactures,  but  of  the  heads  of  an'd  Lor"d^' 
the  Government.  On  8th  May,  Mr.  Lansdowne's 
Baring  presented  a  petition  on  this  declaration 
subject  from  the  merchants  of  Lon-  ""^  ""^  ^^^' 
don ;  and  on  the  16th,  Mr.  Kirkman 
Finlay,  a  Glasgow  merchant,  equally  remark- 
able for  the  extent  of  his  transactions  and 
the  liberality  of  his  views,  brought  forward 
a  petition  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
Glasgow,  which  set  forth,  in  strong  terms, 
the  evils  arising  from  the  restricted  state  of 
the  trade  with  China  and  the  East  Indies,  and 
the  advantages  over  British  subjects  which  the 
Americans  enjoyed  in  that  respect ;  and  urged 
the  repeal  of  the  Usury  Laws,  and  the  reduc- 
tion or  removal  of  the  duties  on  the  importa- 
tion of  several  foreign  commodities.  These 
views  were  so  favorably  received  in  both 
Houses  of  Parliament,  that  Lord  Lansdowne 
was  encouraged,  a  few  da^^s  after,  to  bring  for- 
ward a  motion  for  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee to  take  into  consideration  the  means  of 
extending  our  foreign  commerce.  He  dwelt, 
in  an  especial  manner,  on  the  inconveniences 
to  which  the  trade  of  the  country  was  now  ex- 
posed by  the  numerous  duties  wliich  restricted 
It  in  every  direction,  and  argued  that,  "  what- 
ever brought  the  foreigii  merchant  to  this 
country,  and  made  it  a  general  mart  for  the 
merchandise  of  the  world,  was  beneficial  to 
our  trade,  and  enriched  the  industrious  popu- 
lation of  our  ports.  Such  freedom  of  transit 
would  allow  an  assortment  of  cargoes  for  for- 
eign markets,  and  thus  extend  our  trade  in 
general.  The  import  duties  on  Baltic  timber 
should  be  removed,  for  they  cost  us  annually 
£5U(J,U00  more  for  our  ships  and  houses  than 


*  In  Ortobfr.  1819,  after  tlio  Cranipotind  Disrranoliisi?- 
m(!nt  Bill  had  lir.st  been  introduicd  into  Tarhanient,  Mr. 
Ward,  allerward  Lord  Dudley,  wrote  to  the  Ui.shop  ol' 
Llaridafl':  "All  I  am  afraid  ol'  is,  that  hy  liavnig  the 
theoretical  delects  of  the  present  House  of  ComilioMs  per- 
petually dinned  into  their  cars,  the  well-intentioned  and 
well-allected  part  of  the  eoinmunity  should  at  last  hegin 
to  suppose  thai  xome  rrform.  is  necessary.  Now,  I  ran 
hardly  conceive  itn>i  reform  thai  would  nol  bring  us  with- 
in the  wliirlp<i()l  o( democracy,  toward  which  we  should 
be  attracted  by  an  irresistible  force,  and  in  an  hourly  ac- 
celerated ratio.  Mill  I  flatter  myself  there  is  wisdom 
cnouch  in  the  country  to  preserve  us  long  from  so  great 
an  innovation."  In  April,  1H20,  hengnin  wrote  :  "  When 
I  see  the  progress  that  relorm  is  making,  not  only  among 
the  vulgar,  but  persons,  like  yourself,  of  undersianiling 
and  education,  clear  of  interested  motives  anil  party 
fanaticism,  my  npirils  fail  me.  I  wish  I  could  persuade 
myself  that  the  first  day  of  reform  will  not  be  the  first  of 
the  Knglish  Kevolulion."  In  February,  IH21,  he  writes; 
'■  Macki/ilo.ih  vnulil  kcrp  tlic  nnmnintwn  boroughs  ;  for  my 
part,  I  am  conlent  with  the  constitution  as  it  stands."— 
LoKD  Dudley's  Letters,  HG,  247,  277. 


344 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


[CllAI-.   X. 


if  wo  boiiplit  it  from  the  nortli  of  Europo.     Tho 

dutios  on  FroiU'li  wines  nl>o  sliouKi  W  loworod, 

to  aiiirinont  tlio  tnulo  with  that  oountr}-,  and 

the  trade  with  India  entirely  thrown  open.    Ac 

a  proof  of  the  superior  value  of  the  free  trad 

to  the  East  to  that  of  tho  East  India  (.'onipan\-, 

it   is  sutlieient  to  observe,  that  the  former  has 

tU.t'Oi)  tons  of  siiipping  and  47 '20  seamen  while 

tlie  latter  employs  only  '20,OuO  tons  and  2550; 

,    .      „        and  our  trade  to  Ameriea,  which,  at 
'  All.  Reg.     ,  ■    1       .•  >i       -51  i- 

\VM,  b3,       the  period    ot   tho   independence  ol 

bj";  i'ari.      that  country,  was  only  £3,000,000, 

Deb.  i.  4JC,  j,jjg  ^j^y   swelled   to  the  enormous 

*^'''  amount  of  £30,000,000  a  year."' 

Lord  Liverpool  made  a  very  remarkable 
speech  in  reply ;  memorable  as  be- 
Lord  Liver-  i"g  ^^'^  first  enunciation,  on  the  part 
Voorsinenio-  of  Government,  of  the  principles  of 
table  speech  fy^Q  trade,  which,  half  a  century  be- 
'"  '^^'''  ^ ■  fore,  had  been  promulgated  by  yues- 
nay  in  France,  and  Adam  bmitli  in  Great  Britain. 
"  ll  must  be  admitted,"  he  observed,  "  that  there 
lias  been  a  great  falling  otf  in  our  foreign  trade 
in  the  last  year;  for  our  exports  have  declined 
no  less  than  £7,20u,000  in  the  year  1819,  com- 
pared with  the  average  of  the  three  preceding 
years.  It  is  of  importance  to  examine  in  what 
l)ranehes  of  our  trade  so  great  and  alarming  a 
diminution  has  occurred.  It  is  not  in  any  great 
degree  in  our  intercourse  with  the  Continent; 
Willi  it  the  decline  has  been  only  £000,000. 
The  great  decrease  has  been  in  our  trade  with 
the  East  Indies  and  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica: with  the  latter  alone  there  was  a  falling 
off  in  the  last,  compared  with  the  three  pre- 
ceding years,  of  no  less  than  £3,500,000.  The 
general  doctrines  of  freedom  of  trade,  viewed 
jn  the  abstract,  are  undoubtedly  well  founded; 
but  tiie  noble  marquis  (Lansdowne)  who  intro- 
duced the  subject  is  too  experienced  a  states- 
man not  to  qualify  them  in  their  application 
to  this  country.  It  is  impossible  for  us,  or  any 
countiy  in  the  world,  except,  perhaps,  the  Uni- 
ted States  of  America,  to  act  unreservedly  upon 
that  principle. 

"  If  we  look  to  the  general  principles  of  trade 
and  commerce,  we  must,  at  the  same 
Coniiiiucd.  ^'"^e,  look  to  our  law  concerning  agri- 
.  '  culture.  We  shall  there  see  an  abso- 
lute proiiibition  of  the  importation  of  great  part 
of  foreign  agricultural  produce,  and  heavy  du- 
ties on  the  remainder.  Under  the  operation  of 
these  laws,  we  can  not  admit  free  trade  to  for- 
eign countries.  We  will  not  take  their  cattle, 
nor  their  corn,  except  under  heavy  duties ;  how 
can  we  expect  them  to  take  our  manufactures? 
With  what  propriety  may  not  those  countries 
Gay  to  us,  'If  you  talk  big  of  the  advantages  of 
free  commerce,  if  you  value  so  highly  the  prin- 
ciples of  your  Adam  Smith,  show  your  sincer- 
ity and  j'our  justice  by  the  establishment  of  a 
reciprocal  intercourse.  Admit  our  agricultural 
produce,  and  we  will  admit  your  manufactures.' 
Your  lordships  know  it  would  be  impossible  to 
accede  to  such  a  proposition.  We  have  risen 
to  our  present  greatness  under  the  opposite 
B\-stem.  Some  suppose  that  we  have  risen  in 
consequence  of  that  sj-stem;  others,  of  whom  I 
am  one,  believe  we  have  risen  in  spite  of  that 
system.  Whichever  of  the?e  hypotheses  be 
true,  certain  it  is  we  have  risen  under  a  very 
different  system  from  that  of  free  and  vinre 


strained  trade.  It  is  utterl}'  impossilde,  with 
our  debt  and  taxation,  even  if  Ihi'^-  were  but 
half  their  existing  amount,  that  we  can  sudden- 
Iv  adojit  the  principles  of  free  trade.  To  do  so 
would  be  to  unhinge  the  whole  property  in  the 
country;  to  make  a  change  in  the  value  of 
every  man's  possessions,  and  in  none  more  so 
thairtlio.^e  of  agriculture,  the  very  basis  of  our 
opulence  and  power. 

"  I  was  one  of  those  who,  in  1815,  advocated 
the  Corn  Bill.  In  common  with  all 
the  supporters  of  that  measure,  1  be-  Concluded, 
lieved  it  expedient  to  give  an  addi- 
tional protection  to  the  agriculturist.  I  thought 
that,  after  the  conclusion  of  a  twenty  years' 
war,  and  the  unlimited  extent  to  which  specula- 
tion in  agriculture  had  been  cariied,  and  the 
comparatively  low  price  at  which  corn  could 
be  raised  in  several  countries  of  the  Continent, 
great  distress  would  ensue  to  all  persons  en- 
gaged in  the  cultivation  of  the  land.  1  thought 
the  Corn  Bill  should  be  passed  then,  or  not  at 
all.  Having  been  passed,  it  should  now  be 
steadily  adhered  to;  for  nothing  aggravates 
the  difficulties  of  all  persons  engaged  in  culti- 
vation so  much  as  alterations  in  the  laws  re- 
garding importation.  While,  therefore,  I  advo- 
cate going  into  a  committee,  with  a  view  to  re- 
moving many  of  the  restrictions  and  prohibi- 
tions atfecting  our  foreign  and  colonial  trade,  I 
must  at  the  same  time  state  that,  as  a  general 
measure,  absolute  freedom  of  trade  can  not  be 
established.  In  agricultural  productions,  and 
several  branches  of  our  manufactures,  protec- 
tion must  be  adhered  to.  It  might  have  been 
better  had  it  been  otherwise  from  the  beginning, 
and  each  country  had  attended  only  to  those 
branches  of  manufacture  in  which  it  has  natural 
advantages;  but,  as  matters  stand,  we  can  not, 
save  under  large  exceptions,  attempt  to  re- 
trace our  steps.  I  do  not  believe  j  ^^^^  ^^-^^ 
the  change  in  the  currency  has  had  \  506,590-^ 
any  connection  with  the  general  dis-  corrected  by 
tress  which  has  since  unhappily  pre-  ^°^f  Liver- 
vailed."»  ■■■  ^ 

This  subject  of  agricultural  distress  was  anx- 
iously pressed  on  both  Houses  of 
Parliament  during  this  session ;  and  Appointment 
the  petitions  relating  to  the  subject  oi  a  commit- 
were  so  numerous,  and  stated  facts  "^"^  '"  inquire 

„  1     •  ._  1     .      .1-        into  ajjncul- 

ot  such  importance  and  startling  turaiaistrtss. 
magnitude,  that  although  Govern- 
ment opposed  the  appointment  of  a  committee 
to  inquire  into  the  subject,  it  was  carried  by  a 
majority  of  150  to  lol  It  met,  accordingly, 
collected  a  great  deal  of  valuable  evidence  and 
information,  and,  as  will  appear  in  the  sequel, 
published  a  most  important  report.  But  what 
is  chiefly  of  moment  in  this  stage  of  the  inquiry 
is  the  opinions  delivered  by  three  very  remark- 
able men,  well  qualified  to  judge  of  the  subject, 
and  on  the  justice  of  whose  views  subsequent 
experience  has  thrown  an  imperishable  light. 
These  were  Mr.  Brougham,  Mr.  Huskisson,  and 
Mr.  Ricardo ;  and  the  quotations,  brief  as  they 
shall  be,  from  their  speeches,  present  the  kernel, 
as  it  were,  of  that  great  debate  with  ^  ^^  ^^^ 
the  issue  ofwhich  the  future  fate  of  tho  it,oo,'76.  °' 
empire  was  indissolubly  wound  up.^ 

It  was  observed  by'Mi".  Brougham:  "Agru 
culture  is  in  an  especial  manner  entitled  to  pro- 
tection, both  because  many  public  burdens  presa 


I 


1S20.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROrE. 


345 


iinequally  upon  it,  and  because  much  poor  land 
has  been  brought  into  cultivation, 
Opinion  of  which  could  not  be  thrown  back  to 
Mr.  Brough-  its  former  state  without  immense 
am  on  this  misery  to  individuals,  as  well  as  in- 
subject,  jury  to  the  public.  A  manufacturer 
erects  a  huge  building  in  a  parish,  in  which  the 
production  of  two  articles  is  carried  on — cotton 
and  paupers ;  and  although  this  manufactory 
may  yield  to  the  proprietor  £30,000  a  year, 
vet  he  is  only  rated  for  poor-rates  at  £500  a 
year,  the  value  of  his  buildings ;  while  his  poor 
neiglibor,  who  rents  land  to  that  amount,  is 
rated  at  the  same,  though  his  income,  so  far 
from  being  equal  to  the  manufacturer's,  is  not 
a  fourth  part  even  of  his  rent.  Besides  this, 
there  are  the  bridge-rates,  the  county-rates,  the 
church-rates,  and  many  other  blessings,  heaped 
on  that  favored  class  the  agriculturalists.  They, 
of  course,  must  not  raise  their  voices  against 
such  a  distribution  of  these  imposts,  nor  for  a 
moment  be  heard  to  contend  for  an  equality  of 
burdens  with  the  other  classes  of  the  com- 
munity. 

"  It  is  said  that  it  is  an  erroneous  policy  to 

purchase  corn  dear  at  home,  when  it 
c    t'nued  ^^^  ^^  bought  at  a  much  cheaper  rate 

abroad  ;  and  the  only  effect  of  this,  it 
i.^  added,  is  to  lead  men  to  cultivate  bad  land 
at  a  very  great  expense.  This  may  possibly  be 
true  in  the  abstract ;  but  the  question  we  have 
now  to  consider  is  not  whether,  at  such  an  ex- 
pense, you  ought  to  bring  bad  land  into  culti- 
vation, but  whether,  having  encouraged  the 
cultivation  of  that  land,  we  should  now  allow 
it  to  run  to  waste?  The  circumstances  in  which 
the  country  has  been  placed  have  been  such, 
that  even  the  worst  land  has  been  eagerly  cul- 
tivated and  brought  in  at  an  immense  expense. 
It  has  been  drained,  hedged,  ditched,  manured, 
and  become  part  of  the  inheritance  of  the  Brit- 
ish people.  The  capital  expended  in  these  im- 
provements has  been  irrecoverably  sunk  in  the 
land:  it  has  become  part  and  parcel  of  the  soil, 
and  was  the  life  and  soul  of  the  cultivators 
and  a  large  part  of  our  inhabitants.  Is  it  expe- 
dient to  allow  this  inheritance  to  waste  away, 
this  large  capital  to  perish,  and  with  it  the 
means  of  livelihood  to  so  large  a  part  of  our 
people? 

"  Some  time  ago  there  were  several  vessels 

in  the  harbor  of  London  laden  with 

^  ;'•,  ,  wheat,  which,  but  for  the  Corn  Laws, 
Concluded.       •    ,  , ',  ,  \         i  ^       o^ 

might  have  been  purchased  lor  3/s. 

a  quarter.  On  the  priii«ij)le  on  which  the  Corn 
Laws  are  opposed,  tliis  corn  ought  to  have  been 
purchased,  because  it  was  cheaper  than  any 
which  we  can  grow;  but  then,  if  that  [)rinciple 
were  acted  upon,  what  would  be  the  conse- 
quence? The  inevitable  result  would  bo,  tliat, 
in  the  next  season,  seven  or  eight  millions  of 
acres  would  be  thrown  out  of  cultivation,  and 
the  persons  engaged  in  it  out  of  em])ioyinent. 
Is  there  any  man  bold  enough  to  look  such  a 
prospect  in  the  face?  What  does  the  change 
amount  to?  To  this,  and  nothing  more,  that 
we  would  inflict  a  certain  calamity  on  the  cid- 
tivator  and  landlord,  in  order  to  enable  the 
consumer  to  eat  his  quartern  loaf  a  penny 
cheaper.  Can  the  destruction  of  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  community  be  considered  as  a 
benefit,  because  another  gained  by  it?     There 


is  no  philosopher  or  political  economist  whc 
has  ever  ventured  to  maintain  such  a  doctrine. 
The  average  of  imports  of  wheat  for  the  last 
five  years  have  been  477,138  quar-  ,  p  ,  ^  , 
ters.  This  is  formidable  enough  of  [  g^y  'May 
itself,  but  what  is  it  to  what  may  30,18'io;  An. 
be  anticipated  under  a  free  trade  in  Reg-  IS'-O, 
grain?"'*  '59.  "0. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  maintained  by 
Mr.  Ricardo,  on  the  part  of  the  Free-  73. 
traders:  " The  agriculturists  argue  Answer  by 
that  they  are  entitled  to  a  remuner-  '^''■-  RicarUo. 
ating  price  for  their  produce,  forgetting  that 
what  is  remunerating  must  vary  according  to 
circumstances.  If,  by  preventing  importation, 
the  farmer  is  induced  to  expend  his  capital  on 
land  not  suited  for  the  production  of  grain 
crops,  you  voluntarily,  and  by  j-our  own  act, 
raise  the  price  by  which  j'ou  are  remunerated, 
and  then  j'ou  make  that  price  a  ground  for 
again  prohibiting  importation.  Open  the  ports, 
admit  foreign  grain,  and  you  drive  this  land 
out  of  cultivation ;  a  less  remunerating  price 
will  then  do  for  the  more  productive  soils. 
You  might  thus  have  fifty  remunerating  prices, 
according  as  your  capital  was  employed  on 
productive  or  unproductive  soils.  It  becomes 
the  legislature,  however,  not  to  look  at  the 
partial  losses  which  would  be  endured  by  a 
few  who  could  not  cultivate  their  land  profit- 
ably at  a  diminished  price,  but  to  the  general 
interests  of  the  nation.  It  is  better  to  have  a 
greater  quantity  of  produce  at  a  low  price  than 
a  lesser  at  a  large  price,  for  the  benefit  to  the 


*  Mr.  Huskisson,  who  followed  on  the  same  side,  made 
several  most  important  observations,  which  subsequent 
event.s  have  rendered  prophetic.  lie  observed,  "  that  he 
still  retained  the  same  views  on  this  question  which  he 
had  held  in  1815,  when  the  present  Corn  Law  was  passed. 
In  the  first  place,  he  considered  that  during  a  long  series 
of  years,  by  circumstances  over  which  the  country  had 
no  control,  an  artificial  protection  had  been  alTorded  to 
agriculture,  which  had  forced  a  great  mass  of  capital  to 
the  raising  of  corn  which  would  not  otherwise  have  been 
applied  to  that  object.  If  an  ojien  trade  in  corn  had  been 
then  allowed,  a  great  loss  of  the  capital  thus  invested, 
and  a  great  loss  to  the  agricultural  part  of  the  community, 
would  have  been  occasioned.  It  was  considered  that  SOs. 
the  quarter  was  the  price  which  would  remunerate  the 
the  farmer,  and  he  had  voted  for  it  accordingly.  The 
second  reason  was,  that,  in  its  peculiar  circumstances,  it 
was  of  great  importance  to  this  country  not  to  be  depend- 
ent on  foreign  countries  for  a  supply  of  food.  It  is  an  error 
to  say  there  will  be  sufl'ering  on  both  sides,  if  the  country 
which  raised  corn  for  us  attempted  to  withhold  the  sup- 
ply. So  there  would  ;  but  would  the  contest  be  an  equal 
one?  To  the  foreign  nation  the  result  would  be  a  dim- 
inution of  revenue  or  a  pressure  on  agriculture.  To  us  the 
result  would  probably  be  revolution  and  the  subversion  of 
the  state.  Let  it  be  recollected  that  America,  during  the 
late  war,  despite  its  dependence  on  agriculture,  and  its 
sensitiveness  to  the  voice  of  the  pcoi)lc,  actually  submitted 
to  an  embargo  with  a  view  to  incommode  us  by  cutting 
olTour  supply  of  grain.  A  great  power,  like  that  of  Napo- 
leon, might  com|)el  a  weak  neutral  to  close  its  harbors, 
and  thus  starve  us  into  submission,  without  sull'cring  any 
iiicoTiviniciice  itself  The  third  ground  on  whirli  lie  had 
consented  to  the  modification  of  the  prlnci|)le  of  I'ni' trade, 
was  the  situation  of  Ireland,  which  had  [ireviously  re- 
ceived encouragement  from  our  demand,  to  withdraw 
which  would  liavi!  been  most  injurious  to  that  country. 
To  give  a  superior  cultivati<in  to  the  fertile  land  of  that 
most  fertile  country,  and  to  turn  Uritish  capital  into  it, 
would  ultimately  tend,  in  a  most  material  degree,  to  in- 
crease the  resources  and  revenue  of  the  empire.  Sinca 
the  passing  of  the  Corn  Laws  the  imports  from  Ireland  had 
increased  every  year." — I'nrl.  Drhntrs,  new  series,  i.  678, 
079.  One  of  the  most  curious  things  in  history  is  tho 
clear  and  lucid  way  in  which  the  nsull  of  incasures  under 
discussion  is  often  foretujil,  the  entire  ins(iisil)illly  which 
is  at  the  time  shown  to  the  prediction,  and  i'-s  ultimalo 
complete  accoinpUshincut. 


S-IC 


IIISTOIIY    OF    KUllOrE. 


proiluoor  ia  tho  same,  nnil  tluit  to  the  oonsiiinor 
IS  imuli  gloat  or. 

"  i>y  clionpoiiing  food  tlio  pooplo  Avill  lie  on- 
ftblod  nt  once    to  iiuroluiise  a   lari;or 

C  t'^iol  n"''"'''y  ^^'  '*•  "'"^  ""  ndditioiiiil 
supply  »'f  otlior  oonvoiiioiioos  or  lux- 
uries. Tlie  liiLrli  price  of  provisions  diiiiinislics 
at  onee  the  ]>rotits  of  eaintiil  iiiul  the  comforts 
of  the  workmen  he  employs.  What  constitutes 
tiie  irreater  part  of  the  price  of  manufactured 
articles?  The  wages  of  labor.  Diiiiiuisli  those 
waires,  liy  lesseninu;  the  cost  of  the  subsistence 
vliieh  must  always  form  its  principal  ingre- 
dient, and  you  either  augment  the  profits  of 
capital,  or  extend  tlic  market  for  its  produce  by 
lessening  its  cost.  Either  of  these  ■woii-ld  be  a 
great  benefit  to  our  manufacturing  population. 
The  agriculturists  say  that  they  arc  able  to 
supply  the  whole  inhabitants  of  the  country 
with  food,  and  they  demand  heavy  duties  to 
enable  them  to  feel  secure  in  their  efforts  to  do 
so.  But  the  answer  to  all  their  demands  is 
plain.  You  can  grow  these  articles,  it  is  true ; 
but  we  can  purchase  them  cheaper  than  you 
can  grow  them.  Is  it  expedient  to  force  culti- 
vation on  your  inferior  soils  at  a  loss  to  your- 
selves ?  All  principle  is  against  it.  They  might 
as  well  urge  in  France,  that,  as  they  can  grow 
sugar  from  beet-root  at  a  cost  greater  than  it 
can  be  raised  in  the  West  Indies,  therefore  you 
should  load  W'est  Indian  sugar  in  that  country 
with  prohibitory  duties. 

"Again  it  is  said,  as  shipowners  and  various 
classes  of  manufacturers  are  protect- 
Concluded  ^^'  ^^'*^  agriculturists  should  be  the 
same.  In  truth,  however,  these  pro- 
tections are  of  uo  use  whatever,  cither  to  the 
country  or  the  branches  of  industrj'  which  are 
protected.  Take  any  branch  of  trade  you 
please ;  let  it  be  in  the  most  flourishing  state, 
and  enjoying  the  best  possible  prospects;  sur- 
round it  with  prohibitory  duties,  and  you  will 
soon  see  it  languish  and  decline.  The  reason 
is,  that  the  stimulus  to  human  industry,  the 
spur  to  human  exertions  arising  from  necessit}', 
has  been  taken  awav'.  Even  if  the  trade  pro- 
tected were  thereby  benefited,  it  could  only 
be  at  the  expense  of  the  rest  of  the  communi- 
ty; and  all  that  is  said  on  the  other  side  about 
the  injustice  of  benefiting  one  class  at  the  ex- 
pense of  another,  here  turns  against  themselves. 


[Chap.  X. 

Countervailing  dutie.>5,  if  adopted  in  one  conn, 
try,  will  soon  be  followed  in  others,  and  thence 
wdl  arise  a  war  of  taritfs,  which  will  ciijiple, 
and  at  last  destroy  all  connnerce  whatever. 
The  interests  of  the  agriculturists  and  of  the 
other  classes  of  the  eommunity  might,  indeed, 
be  identified,  ju-ovided  we  were  restrained 
from  all  intercourse  with  other  nations;  but 
this  is  imjjossible  in  a  country  such  as  ours, 
which  carries  on  an  extensive  commercial  inter- 
course with  foreign  countries.  The  price  of 
grain  may  be  altered  either  by  alterations  in 
the  currency,  which  will  raise  it  along  with 
all  other  articles,  or  by  legislative  restric- 
tions, which  will  alter  it  alone.  The  first  altera- 
tion may  not  be  injurious,  because  it  affects 
all  alike.  The  latter  necessarily  must  be  so, 
because  it  lowers  at  once  both  the 
profits  of  stock  and  the  wages  of  j  gTl'  674'' 
labor."'  '       ' 

Such  was  the  comraencement  of  this  great  de- 
bate, which  for  the  next  quarter  of  a 
century  almost  constantly  convulsed  Additional 
the  nation,  and  certainly  never  was  facts  since 
pleaded  on  both  sides  with  greater  discovered 
force  or  by  more  consummate  mas-  ontlussub- 
ters.  One  important  consideration, 
however,  was  omitted  on  both  sides,  from  sta- 
tistical researches  having  not  as  then  brought 
it  to  light,  though  it  now  stands  forth  in  the 
brightest  colors.  This  is  the  infinitel}'  superior 
value  of  our  home  or  colonial  trade  to  that  of 
the  grain-growing  countries  from  whom  we  im- 
port food,  and  the  extreme  impolicy,  even  with 
a  view  to  the  interest  in  the  end  of  the  manu- 
facturers themselves,  of  discouraging  the  former 
to  encourage  the  latter.  So  great  is  this  dis- 
proportion, that  it  would  pass  for  incredible,  if 
not  established  by  the  unerring  evidence  of  sta- 
tistical fiicts.*  Our  manufacturers  still  find  their 
best  customers  in  the  men  who  cultivate  the  ad- 
joining fields.  Notwithstanding  the  great  ex- 
tent of  our  foreign  commerce,  the  manufactures 
consumed  in  the  home  market  are  still  double 
in  value  those  consumed  in  all  foreign  markets 
put  together:  our  own  husbandmen  take  off 
fifty  times  the  amount  of  our  manufactures  per 
head  which  those  of  the  grain-growing  coun- 
tries do,  from  whom  we  now  derive  so  large  a 
part  of  our  subsistence;  and  small  as  is  the 
number  of  their  inhabitants  to  those  of  the  rest 


*  Exports  from  Great  Britain  in  1850. 


Exports. 
Declared  value. 

Population. 

Rate  per  head. 

Russia 

£1,289,704 

503,531 

2,028,463 

66,000,000 
16,000,000 
34,000,000 

£0    0     3i 
0     0     7 
0     0  10 

Prussia , 

France 

3,813,707 
2,201,032 
2,807,356 

2,500,000 
972,000 
538,000 

1  10     0 

2  14     0 
5  17     0 

West  Indies 

Australia 

Total  British  Colonie.s 

19,517,039 
14,362,976 

115,675,000 
25,000,000 

0     4     9 
0  13     8 

Lnited  States  of  America 

nrltish  Colonies  and  Descendants 

All  the  rest  of  the  World 

£33,880,015 
40,608,707 

140,675,000 
830,000,000 

£0    4     8 
0     1     0 

Manufactured  for  nome  Market 

£74,448,722 
130,000,000 

27.000,000 

£5     0    0 

— Parliamentary  Papers,  1851. 

Excluding  the  native  population  of  India,  which  is  109,000,000,  and  supposing  they  consume  £5,000,000  worth  or 
the  £7,000.000  of  exports  to  British  India,  the  exports  to  British  native  colonial  population,  which  is  .about  6,000,000, 
Will  be  £14,000,000,  or  £2  5s.  a  head,  against  Is.  a  head  for  all  tlic  rest  of  the  world. 


1S20.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


347 


about  the 
Queen. 


of  tlie  -world,  our  exports  to  our  own  colonies, 
emancipated  and  uuemancipatcd,  are  nearl}' 
equal  to  those  to  all  the  rest  of  the  world  put 
together. 

These,  and  all  other  social  questions,  how 
momentous  soever,  were  cut  short  in 

„     '^-  this  Parliament  by  the  proceedings 

Commence-  •     ,    ,,       ,-,        -^        i  ■  i  .•     i 

mcntofthe  against  the  Queen,  which  entirely 
troubles  engrossed  the  attention  of  the  legis- 
lature and  the  interest  of  the  peo- 
ple during  the  whole  remainder  of 
the  year,  and  not  only  seriously  shook  the  Min- 
istry, but  violently  agitated  the  nation.  This 
iinliappy  Princess,  the  second  daughter  of  the 
sister  of  George  III.,  and  of  the  illustrious  House 
of  Brunswick,  had  been  married  early  in  life  to 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  now  the  reigning  Sover- 
eign, without  their  ever  having  seen  each  other, 
or  possessing  the  smallest  acquaintance  with 
each  other's  tastes,  habits,  or  inclinations.  It 
is  the  melancholy  fate  of  persons  in  that  ele- 
vated sphere  in  general  to  liave  marriages  im- 
posed upon  them  as  a  matter  of  state-necessitj', 
without  the  slightest  regard  to  their  wishes  or 
happiness;  and  great  is  the  domestic  misery  to 
Vv'iiich  this  necessity  too  often  leads.  But  the 
peculiar  circumstances  of  this  case  rendered  the 
situation  of  the  royal  pair  beyond  the  ordinary 
case  of  crowned  heads  calamitous.  The  Prince 
at  the  time  of  his  marriage  was  deeply  attached 
to,  and  had  been  married,  though  without  the 
consent  required  by  tlu  Marriage  Act,  and  of 
course  illegally,  to  another  lady  of  great  per- 
sonal and  mental  attractions.  The  Princess,  to 
whom  he  was  afterward  compelled  to  give  his 
hand,  though  possessed  of  great  liveliness  and 
considerable  talent,  and  no  small  .share  of  per- 
sonal charms,  was  totally  nniuitcd  to  his  tastes, 
and  repugnant  to  his  habits.  The  consequence 
was,  that  both  parties  were  inspired  witli  a 
mutual  aversion  from  the  moment  they  first 
met :  the  marriage  ceremony  was  gone  througli, 
but  it  was  more  a  form  than  any  thing  else ; 
after   the  first  few   days  they  never  met  in 

private,  and  after  the  birth  of  the 
Malms-  Princess  Charlotte,  no  hopo  remain- 
bury"8  Di-  ed  of  any  further  issue  to  continue 
aries,  iii.  the  direct  lino  of  succession  to  the 
'"'•  -•*•  throne.' 
•Tiie  Princess,  after  her  separation  from  her 

husband,  lived  chiefly  at  lilackheatli. 
Sketch  of  and  tliere  Mr.  Perceval,  afterward 
her  life  pri-  Prime  Minister,  was  for  loni^  lier  priii- 
or  to  this  cipal  adviser;  but  Mr.  Canning  also 
^^^'°  '  shared  her  society,  and  has  recordetl 

Ills  opinion  of  the  liveliness  of  her  manner,  and 
the  charms  of  lier  conversation;  and  Sir  Walter 
Scott  has  added  his  testimony  to  the  flattering 
opinion.  It  was  scarcely  possible  that  a  Piin- 
Ces3  of  a  lively  manner,  f(jnd  of  Kocietv,  ami  es- 
pecially of  tliat  of  young  and  agreciible  men, 
and  livinfj  apart  from  her  husband,  should  es- 
cape tlie  breath  of  scandal,  and  it  would  prob- 
ably have  attached  to  her  notwithstanding  the 
utmost  decorum  and  propriety  on  her  part. 
Unfortunately,  however,  the  latter  qualities 
were  precisely  those  in  which  the  Priiic<'ss  was 
most  deficient;  and  without  going  tin;  length 
of  assert! nc;  that  her  coiidiiet  was  actually  crim- 
inal, or  that  she  retaliated  in  kind  on  hi-r  hus- 
band for  his  well-known  infidelities,  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  observe  that  the  levity  and  indiscretion 


of  her  manners  were  such  as  to  awaken  the  so- 
licitude of  her  royal  parents;  and  that  a  "deli- 
cate investigation"  took  place,  the  particulars 
of  which  have  never  been  disclosed,  and  upon 
the  import  of  which  the  only  ob-  ,  jiu„i,es 
servation  which  can  safely  be  made  vi.422;  ' 
is,  that  no  public  proceedings  were  Martincau, 
adopted  in  consequence  of  it.'  '"  ^^'" 

^\'hen  the  Continent  was  opened  to  British 
travelers  after  the  peace,  the  Prin- 
cess of  Wales,  to  the  great  relief  of  np^  conduct 
her  royal  spouse,  went  abroad,  with  abroad,  and 
a  separate  allowance  of  £35,000  a  proceedings 
year,  and  for  several  years  little  was  '"  ^"so- 
V         ]     r  1        •     ii  •  i.  4.  quenceofit. 

heard  of  her  in  this  country,  except 

her  occasional  appearance  at  a  foreign  court. 
It  appeared,  however,  that,  unknown  to  the 
public,  her  conduct  was  strictly  watched;  con- 
fidential persons  of  respectability  were  sent 
abroad  to  obtain  evidence ;  and,  from  the  inform- 
ation received.  Government  conceived  them- 
selves called  upon  to  send  instructions  to  our 
embassadors  and  ministers  at  foreign  courts, 
that  they  were  not  to  give  her  any  oflicial  or 
public  reception ;  and  if  she  were  received  pub- 
licly bj"  the  sovereign,  they  were  not  to  be  pres- 
ent at  it.  This,  with  lier  formal  exclusion  from 
the  English  court,  which  had  been  previously 
pronounced,  rendered  her  situation  abroad  very 
uncomfortable ;  and  to  put  an  end  to  it,  and  get 
matters  arranged  on  a  permanent  footing,  Mr. 
Brougham,  who  had  become  her  confidential 
adviser,  proposeil  to  Lord  Liverpool,  in  June, 
1819,  though  without  the  knowledge  of  her 
Royal  Higliness,  that,  on  condition  of  her  al- 
lowance of  £35,000  a  year,  which  she  at  pres- 
ent enjoyed,  being  secured  for  her  by  act  of 
Parliament  or  warrant  of  the  Treasury  for  life, 
instead  of  being,  as  at  present,  dependent  on 
the  life  of  the  Prince  Regent,  she  should  agree 
to  remain  abroad  during  the  whole  remainder 
of  her  life.  The  Ministers  returned  a  favorable 
answer  to  tliis  application  ;  and  it  was  no  won- 
der they  did  so,  for  it  went  to  relieve  them  from 
an  embarrassment  which  all  but  proved  latal 
to  the  Administration.  The  Prince  strenuously 
contended  for  a  divorce,  as  not  only  jnstifiea, 
but  called  for,  in  the  circuinstances,  whicli,  ho 
maintained,  were  such  as  would  entitle  any 
private  subject  to  that  remedy.  The  Cabinet 
opposed  this,  as  likely  to  lead  to  a  very  serious 
agitation  in  the  present  disturbed  state  of  tho 
]>ubiie  mind.  At  lengtli  they  came  to  a  com- 
promise, to  the  effect  that,  if  slie  re-  a  Huphes, 
niained  abroad,  no  further  proceedings  vi.  -i-i-i ; 
of  any  sort  should  be  adopted  against  An".  ite|. 
her  Royal  Highness;  but  that,  if  she  lojj'm. ' 
returned  to  England,  they  would  ac-  don'H  Life, 
cede  to  the  I'rince's  wishes."       _  _        _"■  ""^^-^ 

Matters  remained  in  this  jiosition,  in  a  kind 
of  lull,  during  tho  remainder  of  tho  79. 

life  of  (ieorgo  III.  J5ut  when  that  Omission  of 
monarch  <lied,  in  iM^brnaiT,  1 H20.  and  '^^';;;:^;^ 
tho  strong  step  of  omitting  her  31a-  i,i,,ir^'y,  and 
jesty's  name  in  tlie  Liturgy  was  licr  ninm  to 
taken,  niatters  were  bnnigiit  to  a  l^'iK'"'"'!- 
cri.'is.  The  new  (^ueeii  loudly  exclaimed,  that 
such  an  omission  was  a  direct  impiitat  ion  on  her 
honor,  wiiich  could  not  for  a  moment  be  sub- 
mitted to;  and  that  she  would  n'tnrn  to  En- 
gland instantly  to  vindicate  her  character.  Tho 
King,  learning  this,  as  obstinately  contended  for 


SIS 


HISTORY  OF  Kunor  i: 


[C, 


X. 


nn  inmioiliiito  ilivoroc,  in  the  event  of  lior  enrry- 
ini;  Ikt  tluont  into  exoeution;  nnd  n?  Ills  Min- 
i>tor3  refused  to  neeeile  to  tliis,  they  temlered 
their  resigimtion,  nml  nttenipfs  wro  made  to 
form  i\  new  ministry,  of  wliicli  Lord  Welksley 
was  to  be  tiie  head."  These  faikd  ;  and  it  was 
at  lengtii  agreed  that,  if  tlie  tiueen  returned, 
proeeedings  wore  to  be  immediately  com- 
menced against  her.  Attempts  were,  however, 
again  made  to  avert  so  dire  an  alternative ;  it 
v.as  even  proposed  to  increase  her  allowance  to 
£50.000  a  year,  provided  she  agreed  to  take 
some  othername  or  title  than  that  of  Queen, 
and  not  to  exercise  nnj-  of  the  rights  belonging 
to  that  character.  These  proposals  were  form- 
ally transmitted  to  Mv.  Brougham,  as  her  Ma- 
jesty's ]>rincipal  law-officer,  on  the  loth  April, 
nnd  approved  of  by  him.  The  indignant  feel- 
ings and  impetuous  disposition  of  the  Queen, 
however,  rendered  all  attempt  at  accommoda- 
tion fruitless.  She  was  much  incensed,  in  Feb- 
ruary, by  being  refused  a  guard  of  honor  as 
.  Queen  of  England;  and  no  sooner  did 

she  hear  of  the  omission  of  her  name 
in  the  Liturgy,  than  she  took  the  bold  resolu- 
tion of  returning  immediately  to  this  country, 
alleging  that  England  was  her  real  home,  and 
10  it   she   would  immediately  fly.     However 

we  may  regret  this  resolution,  and 
IS^o"l27^'  deplore  the  unfortunate  results  to 
129;' Lord  which  it  led,  we  can  not  but  admire 
Dudley's  the  spirit  of  a  Princess  who  thus 
254"^Tct-  braved  the  utmost  dangers,  it  might 
terofthe  he  to  her  life,  in  vindication  of  her 
Queen,  honor,  or  fail  to  admit  that,  in  what- 
fs^O^''  '"'     ^^'^^  ^'^^  Queen  Caroline  was  awant- 

ing,  it  was  not  in  the  courage  hered- 
itary in  her  race.'  * 

She  was  met  by  Mr.  Brougham  and  Lord 
go  Hutchinson,  who  in  vain  endeavored 
Her  land-  to  get  her  to  accede  to  the  King's  of- 
ing  in  En-  fgp  of  £50,000  a  year,  provided  she 
cnthu'sfast-  '"'ould  remain  abroad,  and  not  assume 
ic  recep-  the  title  or  duties  of  the  Queen  of  En- 
tion.  gland.    She  indignantly  rejected  the 

proposal,  as  an  insult  to  her  honor  and  a  stain 
upon  her  character ;  and  having  dismissed  Ber- 
gami,  her  alleged  paramour,  at  St.  Omer,  she 
landed  at  Dover  on  the  afternoon  of  the  6th 
June.  Xo  words  can  adequately  describe  the 
universal  enthusiasm  which  her  arrival  excited 
among  the  great  bulk  of  the  people.  Thej^  had 
previoush'  been  prepared  for  her  reception  by 
the  publication  of  her  letters  complaining  of  tho 
treatment  she  had  experienced,  and  she  had 
been  expected  almost  daily  for  several  weeks 
past.  The  courage  and  decision  displayed  by 
her  Roj-al  Highness  on  this  trying  occasion  ex- 
cited general  admiration,  and  was  hailed  as  a 

*  "  1  have  wriuen  to  Lord  Liverpool  and  Lord  Castle- 
reagh.  demanding  to  have  my  name  inserted  in  the  Liturgy 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  that  orders  be  given  to  all 
British  embassadors,  ministers,  and  consuls,  that  I  should 
be  acknowledged  and  received  as  Queen  of  England  ;  and 
after  the  speech  made  by  Lord  Castlereagh  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Brougham.  I  do  not  expect 
to  receive  further  insult.  1  have  also  demanded  that  a 
palace  may  be  prepared  for  my  reception.  England  is  rny 
real  home,  to  which  I  shall  immediately  fly."— Queen 
Caroline,  March  16,  1820;  Ann.  Reg  1820,  p.  131. 
'•  Her  promptitude  and  courage,"  said  Lord  Dudley  at  the 
time,  •'  confounded  her  opponents,  and  gained  her  the  fa- 
vor of  the  people.  Whatever  one  may  think  of  her  conduct 
in  other  respects,  it  is  impossible  not  to  give  her  crf:dit 
lor  these  qualities." — Lord  Dldley's  Letters.  254. 


convincing  proof  of  her  innocence.     The  spec- 
tacle of  a  tjueeii  deserted  by  her  husband,  ca- 
lumniated, as  it  was  thought,  by  his  Ministers 
threatened  with  trial,  it  might  be  death,  if  s-h. 
set  her  foot  on  British  ground,  braving  all  tin-.- 
dangers  in  vindication  of  her  innocence,  awake:; 
ed  the  warmest  sympathy  of  the  multitude,  ia 
whom  noble  deeds  seldom  fail  to  excite  the  most 
enthusiastic    feelings.     I'ity  for  her  sujiposed 
wrongs,    united   with    admiration   of  her  real 
courage,  and  the  fine  expression  of  i  Martincau, 
Mr.  Denman,   that   if  she  liad    her  i.  252 ;  Ann. 
jdace  at  all  in  the  Prayer-Book,  it  l^^'jlj^f ' 
was  in  the  supplication  "for  all  who  Lor'j  Dud- 
are  desolate  and  oppressed,"  found  a  ley's  Let- 
responsive  echo  in  the  Briti.-^h  heart.'  ^^''^'  -"^^• 

That  these  were  the  feelings  of  the  vast  ma- 
jority of  the  British  people,  who  hail- 
ed the  arrival  of  the  Queen  with  such  vjp^vs  of 
enthusiastic    feelings,    is    beyond    a  the  Radical 
doubt;  and  it  was  honorable  to  the  leaders  on 
nation  that   they  were   so  general,  g-on*"^^^' 
But  the  Radical  leaders,  who  fanned 
the  movement,  were  actuated  by  very  different 
and  much  deeper  views.    Better  informed  than 
the  multitude  whom  they  led,  they  had  no  con- 
fidence in  the  ultimate  vindication  of  the  Queen's 
innocence ;  but,  so  far  from  being  deterred  by 
that  circumstance,  they  built  on  it  their  warm- 
est hopes,  and  considered  it  as  a  reason  for  tlie 
most  strenuous    efforts.      Innocent  or  guilty, 
they  could  not  but  gain  by  the  investigation, 
and  the  agitation  to  which  it  would  infallibly 
lead: 

"  Careless  of  fate,  they  took  their  way. 
Scarce  caring  who  might  win  the  day ; 
Their  booty  was  secure." 

If  her  innocence  were  proved,  they  ■would  gain 
a  triumph  over  the  King,  force  upon  him  a  wife 
whom  he  could  not  endure,  overturn  his  2ilinis- 
ters,  and  perhaps  shake  the  monarchy:  if  her 
guilt,  they  would  gain  the  best  possible  ground 
for  declaiming  on  the  corruption  which  prevail- 
ed in  high  places,  and  the  monstrous  nature  of 
those  institutions  which  gave  persons  of  such 
character  the  lead  in  society.    The  views  they 
entertained,  and  the  hopes  by  which  they  were 
animated,  have  been  stated  by  one  of  the  ablest 
of  their  number,  whose  voluminous  writings  and 
sterling  sense  have  given  him  a  lasting  place  in 
British  annals.*     Lord  Eldon,  more  correctly, 
as  the  event  proved,  foresaw  the  issue  of  the 
crisis,  when  he  wrote  at  the  time,  "Our  Queen 
threatens  to  approach  England  ;  if  she  can  ven- 
ture, she  is  the  most  courageous  lad}'^  j  Twiss's 
I  ever  heard  of.     The   mischief,   if  Life  of 
she  does  come,  will  be  infinite.     At  Eldon,  ii. 
first,  she  will   have   extensive  pop-  ^^J  j'^^f}' 
ularitv  with  the  multitude  ;  in  a  few  139°  140 ; ' 
short 'weeks  or  months,  she  will  be  Hughes,  vi. 
ruined    in    the    opinion    of    all   the  4^-,  4- J. 
world."  ^ 

*  "  The  people,  in  their  sense  of  justice,"  says  Colheit. 
"went  back  to  the  time  when  she  was  in  fact  turned  out 
of  her  husband's  house,  with  a  child  in  her  arms,  without 
blame  of  anv  sort  having  been  imputed  to  her:  they  com- 
pared what' they  had  heard  of  the  wife  with  what  they 
had  seen  of  the  husband,  and  they  came  to  their  determin- 
ation accordingly.  As  far  as  related  to  the  question  rf 
guilt  or  innocence,  they  did  not  care  a  straw;  but  Ihejr 
took  a  large  view  of  the  matter :  they  went  over  her  whole 
history  ;  they  determined  that  she  had  been  wronged,  and 
thev  resolved  to  uphold  her  "— Cobeett's  Li/c  o/Gtorgi 
IV'.,  423. 


1820.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


849 


Tlie  reception  wliich  the  Queen  met  with  was 
such  as  miglit  swell  lier  heart  with 
Enthfsiastic  exultation  and  flatter  the  Radicals 
reception  of  into  the  nope  of  an  approaching 
the  Queen  at  subversion  of  the  Government,  ^'o- 
London"*^'"  thing  like  it  had  been  witnessed  since 
the  restoration  of  Charles  II.  An 
immense  multitude  awaited  her  arrival  at  the 
harbor  of  Dover;  the  thunder  of  artillery  from 
the  castle,  for  the  first  and  last  time,  saluted  her 
approach ;  the  road  to  London  was  beset  with 
multitudes  eager  to  obtain  a  glimpse  of  her  per- 
son. She  entered  the  metropolis,  accompanied 
by  two  hundred  thousand  persons.  Night  and 
day  her  dwelling  was  surrounded  by  crowds, 
whose  vociferous  applause  of  herself  and  her 
friends  was  equaled  by  their  vituperation  of 
the  King,  and  threats  against  his  Ministers. 
Government  were  in  the  utmost  alarm:  meet- 
ings of  Ministers  were  held  daily,  almost  hourly. 
Their  apprehensions  were  much  increased  by 
symptoms  of  insubordination  being  manifested 
in  one  of  the  regiments  of  the  foot-guards  sta- 
tioned in  the  Mews  barracks  at  Charing  Cross, 
which,  although  ostensibly  grounded  on  the  in- 
conveniences and  crowded  state  of  their  bar- 
racks, were  strongly  apprehended  to  be  con- 
nected with  the  excited  feelings  of  the  populace 
in  the  metropolis,  with  whom  the  household 
troops  were  in  such  constant  communication. 
The  Duke  of  Wellington  was  sent  for,  and  by 
liis  presence  and  courage  succeeded  in  restoring 
order,  and  next  morning  the  disaffected  troops 
were  sent  off  in  two  divisions  to  Portsmouth. 
I  ^jjjj  j^g„  The  night  before  the  last  division 
1820,  139,°  marched,  however,  an  alarming  mob 
143 ;  Mar-  collected  round  the  gates  of  the  bar- 
2M  ""s  d-  J'^cks,  calling  on  the  troops  to  come 
mouth's  out  and  join  them;  and  they  were 
Lifa,  ni.  only  dispersed  by  a  troop  of  the 
330,  331.  life-guards,  called  out  by  Lord  Sid- 
mouth  in  person.' 

After  the  Qieen's  arrival  in  London,  an  at- 
83.  tempt  was  made  by  her  able  advisers. 
Failure  of  Messrs.  Brougham  and  Denman,  to 
rh2  negoti-  pe^Q^  \}iq  negotiation,  and  prevent 
commence-  the  disclosures,  painful  and  discredit- 
mam  of  the  able  to  all  concerned,  to  which  the 
imiuiry.  threatened  investigation  would  neces- 
sarily lead.  The  basis  of  the  proposal  was  to 
be,  that  the  King  was  to  retract  nothing,  the 
Queen  ailmit  nothing,  and  that  she  was  to  leave 
Great  Britain  with  an  annuity,  settled  upon  her 
for  life,  of  £.50,000  a  year.  It  failed,  however, 
ia  consequence  of  her  Majesty  insisting  on  the 
insertion  of  her  name  in  the  Liturgy  and  a  re- 
ception at  foreign  courts,  or  at  least  some  one 
foreign  court,  in  a  manner  suitable  to  lier  rank. 
On  the  first  point  the  King  was  immovable; 
o;i  tiie  last,  the  utmost  length  he  would  go, 
was  to  agree  to  notify  her  being  legally  Queen 
of  England  to  some  foreign  court,  leaving  her 
reception  there  to  the  pleasure  of  that  court. 
The  utmost  mutual  temper  and  courtesy  w(!ro 
evinced  by  tlio  commissioners  on  both  sides, 
who  were  no  less  persons  than  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington  on  the  part 
of  his  Majesty,  and  Messrs.  Brougham  and  Den- 
man on  that  of  the  Queen.  But  all  attempts 
ftt  adjustment  of  the  difTerences  were  unsuc- 
cessful, and  on  the  lOtli  June  it  was  formally 
announced  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament  that 


the  negotiation  had  failed,  and  on  the  4th  Juh', 
the   secret   committee   of  the  Lords,  to 
whom  it  had    been    referred,   reported 
"  that  the  evidence  affecting  the  honor  of  the 
Queen  was  such  as  to  require,  for  the  dignity 
of  the  Crown  and  the  moral  feeling  and  honor 
of  the  countrj-,  a  solemn  inquiry."    The  Queen 
next  day  declared,   by  petition  to  the 
Lords,  her  readiness  to  defend  herself,     "  ^ 
and  praj'ing  to  be  heard  by  counsel ;  and  soon 
after  Lord  Liverpool  brought  forward,  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  the  famous  Bill  of  Pains  and 
Penalties,  which,  on  the  narrative  of  improper 
and  degrading  conduct  on  the  part  of   i  protocol 
her  Majesty,  and  an  adulterous  con-  June  15,  lo' 
nection  with  a  menial  servant  named  1^20  ;  Ann. 
BartelomeoBergami,  proposed  to  dis-  ]5y^'j(|j'. ' 
solve  the  marriage  with  his  Majesty,  pari.  Deb. 
and  deprive  her  of  all  her  rights  and  ii-  lt>",  207, 
privileges  as  Queen  of  England.'  ^'^^■ 

The  die  was  now  cast,  and  the  trial  went  on 
in  good  earnest.    But  who  can  paint  g^ 

the  scene  which  ensued,  when  the  scene  which 
first  of  British  subjects  was  brought  ensued  on 
to  trial  before  the  first  of  British  »''«  ""'=i'- 
assemblies  b\'  the  most  powerful  of  British  sov- 
ereigns! Within  that  august  hall,  fraught  with 
so  many  interesting  recollections,  where  so 
many  noble  men  had  perished,  and  innocence 
had  so  often  appealed  from  the  cruelty  of  man 
to  the  justice  of  Heaven;  where  Anne  Boleyn 
had  called  God  to  witness,  and  Queen  Cathe- 
rine had  sobbed  at  severance  from  her  chil- 
dren ;  where  Elizabeth  had  spoken  to  the  hearts 
of  her  people,  and  Anne  had  thrilled  at  the  re- 
cital of  Marlborough's  victories ;  whose  walls 
were  still  hung  with  the  storied  scene  of  the 
destruction  of  the  Armada — was  all  that  was 
great  and  all  that  was  noble  in  England  assem- 
bled for  the  trial  of  the  consort  of  the  Sover- 
eign, the  daughter  of  the  house  of  Brunswick! 
There  was  to  be  seen  the  noble  forehead  and 
serene  countenance  of  Castlercagh — the  same 
now,  in  the  throes  of  domestic  anxiety,  as  when 
he  affronted  the  power  of  France,  and  turned 
the  scales  of  fortune  on  the  plains  of  Cham- 
pagne ;  there  the  Roman  head  of  Wellington, 
^.till  in  the  prime  of  life,  but  whose  growing 
intellectual  expression  bespoke  the  continued 
action  of  thouglit  on  that  constitution  of  iron. 
Liverpool  was  there,  calm  and  umnoved,  amidst 
a  nation's  throes,  and  jiatiently  enduring  the 
resjioiisibility  of  a  jirocoeding  on  which  tiie 
gaze  of  the  world  Mas  iixed;  and  Sidmouth, 
whose  courage  nothing  could  daunt,  and  whoso 
tutelary  arm  liad  so  long  enchained  the  iiery 
spirit  which  was  now  bursting  forth  on  every 
Ride.  There  was  Eldon,  whose  unaided  abili- 
ties had  placed  him  at  the  head  of  this  august 
assembly,  and  who  was  now  called  to  put  his 
vast  stores  of  learning  to  their  noblest  use — 
thatofliolding  the  scales  of  justice,  even  against 
his  own  strongest  intercsls  and  prepossessions; 
and  there  was  Coplej',  the  terror  of  whoso 
cross-examination  proved  so  fatal  on  the  trial, 
and  presaged  the  fame  of  his  career  as  Lord 
Chancellor.  Tlicro  w.as  (ircy,  whoso  high  in- 
tellectual forehcai],  big  with  the  destinies  of 
England,  bes[)oke  the  coming  revolution  in  her 
social  state;  and  Lansdowne,  in  Avliom  suavity 
of  manner  and  dignity  of  deportment  adorned, 
without  concealing,   the  highest  gifts  of  clo- 


350 


niSTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[Cn.vr.  X. 


quenco  nnd  statosmnnship.  There  were  Brough- 
nm  niul  Doiniiiui,  whoso  oratorical  powers  ami 
lojral  aiMiloiics3  were  sustained  bv  a  noble  in- 
trepidity, and  who,  in  now  defending  the  illus- 
trious aeeused  against  the  phalanx  of  talent  and 
intlueneo  by  whieh  she  was  assailed,  apparent- 
ly to  the  ruin  of  their  j^rofessional  prospects, 
wortiiily  won  a  seat  on  the  "Woolsack,  and  at 
the  head  of  the  King's  Bench  of  England.  I-aw- 
renee  there  gazed  on  a  scene  more  thrilling 
and  august  than  the  soul  of  painting  had  ever 
conceived;  and  Kean  studied  the  play  of  pas- 
sions as  violent  as  any  bj''  Avliich  he  had  en- 
tranced the  world  on  the  mimic  stage.  And 
in  the  front  of  all  was  the  Queen  of  England,  a 
stranger,  childless,  reviled,  discrowned,  but  sus- 
tained b}-  the  native  intrepidity  of  her  race, 
and  gazing  undaunted  on  the  hostility  of  a 
nation  in  arms.* 

The  trial — for  trial  it  was,  though  disguised 
g.  imder  the  name  of  a  Bill  of  Pains 

Progress  of  aD<i  Penalties — went  on  for  several 
the  trial,  months ;  and  day  after  day,  during 
ncult'es'^'^"  *'^"*'  ^^^S  period,  was  the  public  press 
of  England  polluted  by  details,  whieh 
elsewhere  are  confined  to  the  professed  votaries 
or  theatres  of  pleasure.  Immense  was  the  de- 
moralizing influence  which  the  production  of 
these  details  exercised  upon  the  nation,  whieh 
laid  before  the  whole  people  scenes,  and  famil- 
iarized them  with  ideas,  which  had  hitherto 
been  confined  to  the  comparatively  few,  whom 
traveling  had  made  acquainted  with  the  license 
of  foreign  manners.  It  does  not  belong  to  his- 
tory to  bring  them  again  to  light ;  they  repose 
in  "decent  obscurity,  accessible  to  few,  in  the 
Parliamentary  Debatex,  and  have  come  to  be 
forgotten  even  by  the  licentious,  to  whom  at 
the  time  they  were  a  subject  of  such  unbound- 
ed gratification.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  the  facts 
sworn  to  by  the  witnesses  for  the  prosecution 
were  of  such  a  nature  as  to  leave  no  doubt  of 
the  guilt  of  the  accused,  if  the  evidence  was  to 
be  relied  on;  but  that  there  the  case  was  beset 
by  the  greatest  difiiculties.  Most  of  the  wit- 
nesses were  Italians,  upon  whose  testimony 
little  reliance  could  be  placed;  some  of  them 
were  involved  in  such  contradictions,  or  broke 
down  so  under  cross-examination,  that  they 
required  to  be  thrown  overboard  altogether. 
The  principal  of  them,  Theodore  ilajocchi,  the 
Princess's  valet,  pretended  ignorance,  on  cross- 
examination,  of  60  many  things  which  he  ob- 
viously recollected,  that  his  answer  to  the 
questions,  ^'  Hon  mi  ricordo,"  has  passed  into  a 
proverbial  expression  known  all  over  the  world, 
to  express  the  cvdpable  concealment  of  known 
1  ixu2hes  truth  by  a  perjured  witness.  Yet  did 
vi.  442;  '  theconduct  of  the  Queen  herself  afford 
Ann.  Reg.  reason  to  suspect  that  he  had  some- 
10  Chron  ^  thing  material  to  reveal ;  for  when 
'J86,  iMar-  l"s  name  was  called  out  by  the  clerk, 
tineau,  i.  as  the  first  witness,  she  started  up, 
^'-  gave  a  faint  cry,  and  left  the  House.' 

Mr.  Brougham  thus  closed  his  eloquent  open- 
ing of  the  defense  for  her  Majest}',  justly  cele- 
brated as  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  British 


*  The  reader  of  Macaulay's  incomparable  Essay  on 
Warren  Hastings  need  not  be  told  what  model  was  in 
the  author's  eye  in  this  paracraph  ;  but  no  one  ran  feel 
fo  strongly  as  he  does  the  futility  of  ail  attempts  to  rival 
that  noble  picture. 


forensic  eloquence:  "Such,  my  Lords,  is  the 
case  before  you !  Such  is  the  evi- 
dence in  support  of  this  measure —  Peroration 
evidence  inadequate  to  prove  a  debt,  of  Mr. 
impotent  to  deprive  of  a  civil  light,  ^wufiliani's 
ridiculous  to  convict  of  the  lowest 
offense,  scandalous  if  brought  forward  to  sup- 
]iort  the  Jiighest  charge  which  the  law  knows, 
monstrous  to  stain  the  honor  and  blast  the  name 
of  an  English  queen.  What  shall  I  say,  then, 
if  this  is  the  proof  by  which  an  act  of  judicial 
legislation,  a  parliamentary  sentence,  an  ex  poi-.t 
facto  law,  is  sought  to  be  passed  against  this 
defenseless  woman  ?  My  Lords,  I  pray  you  to 
pause ;  I  do  earnestly  beseech  you  to  take  liecd. 
You  are  standing  on  the  brink  of  a  preeijiieo — 
then  beware!  It  will  go  forth  as  your  judg- 
ment, if  sentence  shall  go  against  the  Queen. 
But  it  will  be  the  only  judgment  you  ever  ]>ro- 
nounced,  which,  instead  of  reaching  its  object, 
will  return,  and  bound  back  upon  those  who 
gave  it.  Save  the  country,  my  Lords,  from  the 
horrors  of  this  catastrophe — save  yourselves 
from  this  peril.  Rescue  that  country  of  which 
you  are  the  ornaments,  but  in  which  you  can 
flourish  no  longer,  when  severed  from  the  peo- 
ple, than  the  blossom  when  cut  oft'  from  tlie 
roots  and  the  stem  of  the  tree.  Save  that  coun- 
try that  you  may  continue  to  adorn  it — save 
the  Crown,  which  is  in  jeopardy — the  aristoc- 
racy, which  is  shaken — the  altar,  which  must 
totter  with  the  blow  which  rends  its  kindred 
throne!  You  have  said,  my  Lords — you  have 
willed — the  Church  and  the  King  have  willed 
— that  the  Queen  should  be  deprived  of  its  sol- 
emn service.  She  has,  instead  of  that  solem- 
nity, the  heart-felt  prayers  of  the  people.  She 
wants  no  prayers  of  mine ;  but  I  do  here  pour 
forth  my  humble  supplications  at  the 
throne  of  mercy,  tluu  that  mercj' may  '  ^Jl''^'^'* 
be  poured  down  I'.pon  the  people,  in  Brougham, 
a  larger  measure  than  the  merits  of  i.  227,  228; 
its  rulers  may  deserve,  and  that  your  ^'"^^l',?^^' 
hearts  may  be  turned  to  justice."  * 

Such  was  the  effect  of  this  splendid  speech, 
and  such  the  apprehensions  felt  in  a  g. 
large  part  of  the  House  of  Peers  of  Queen's  de- 
the  hourlv-inereasing  agitation  out  fense,  and 
of  doors,  that  it  is  generally  thought,  jailureofthe 
by  those  best  acquainted  with  the 
feelings  of  that  assembly,  that  if  the  vote  had 
been  taken  at  that  moment,  the  Queen  would 
have  been  entirely  acquitted.  Mr.  Brougham 
himself  intended  to  have  done  this,  after  having 
merely  presented  her  maid  Mariette  Bron  for 
examination.  But  she  was  not  to  be  found: 
and  the  case  went  on  with  most  able  arguments 
by  Mr.  Denman  and  Mr.  Williams,  followed  by 
evidence  led  at  great  length  for  her  Majesty, 
and  powerful  replies  by  the  Attorney  and  So- 
licitor General.  The  speech  of  the  first  (Sir 
Robert  Gifford)  was  in  an  especial  manner  ef- 
fective— so  much  so,  that  the  Radical  leaders 
gave  up  the  case  for  lost,  and  Cobbett  threw 
off  100,000  copies  of  an  answer  to  it.*  2  Life  of 
It  was  not  the  evidence  for  the  pro-  Ge_orge  IV., 
secution  which  had  this  effect,  for  it  ^'*'- 
was  of  so  suspicious  a  kind  that  little  reliance 
could  be  placed  on  it,  but  what  was  elicited,  on 
cross-examination,  from  the  English  officers  on 
board  the  vessel  which  conveyed  her  Majesty 
to  tlie  Levant,  men  of  integrity  and  honor,  of 


1820.] 

whose  testimony  there  was  not  a  shadow  of  sus- 
picion. Without  asserting  that  any  of  them 
proved  actual  guilt  against  her  Majesty,  it  can 
not  be  disputed  that  they  established  against 
her  an  amount  of  levity  of  manner  and  laxity 
of  habits,  which  rendered  her  unfit  to  be  at  tlie 
head  of  English  society,  and  amply  justified  the 
measures  taken  to  exclude  her  from  it.  The 
result  was,  that  on  the  6th  November,  the  sec- 
ond reading  of  the  bill  was  carried  by  a  major- 
ity of  28,  the  numbers  being  123  to  95,  which 
was  equivalent  to  a  finding  of  guilty.  In  com- 
mittee, when  the  divorce  clause  came  forward, 
it  was  sustained  by  a  majorit}-  of  129  to  62,  the 
Opposition  having  nearly  all  voted  for  the 
clause,  with  the  view  of  defeating  the  bill  in 
its  last  stage.  This  proved  successful;  for  on 
the  third  reading,  on  10th  November,  the  ma- 
jority sunk  to  NINE,  the  numbers  being  108  to 
99.  Upon  this.  Lord  Liverpool  rose 
hi.  1726  ^^'^  said,  that  with  so  slender  a  ma- 
1743 ;  Ann.  jority  he  could  not  think  of  pressing 
Reg.  1820,  the  measure  further,  and  withdrew 
'^''''-  thebiU.^ 
No  words  can  convey  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
go  general  transports  which  prevailed 
General  through  the  British  Islands  when  the 
transports  intelligence  of  the  withdrawal  of  the 
ofthepeo-  y^fji  ^j^g  received.  London  was  spon- 
taneously, though  partially,  illumina- 
ted for  three  successive  nights — those  who  did 
not  concur  in  the  general  joy,  and  they  were 
man}',  joining  in  the  festivity  from  a  dread  of 
the  sovereign  mob,  and  of  the  instant  penalty 
of  having  their  windows  broken,  which  in  gen- 
eral followed  any  resistance  to  its  mandates. 
Edinburgh,  Dublin,  Manchester,  Liverpool,  and 
all  the  great  towns,  followed  the  example.  For 
several  days  the  populace  in  all  the  cities  of  the 
empire  seemed  to  be  delirious  with  joy ;  nothing 
had  been  seen  like  it  before  since  the  battle  of 
Waterloo ;  nothing  approaching  to  it  after,  till 
the  Reform  Bill  was  passed.  Addresses  were 
voted  to  the  Queen,  from  the  Common  Council 
of  London,  and  all  the  popular  constituencies  in 
the  kingdom ;  and  her  residence  in  London  was 
surrounded  from  daybreak  to  night  by  an  im- 
2  Ann.  Re".  ™ense  crowd,  testifying  in  their  usu- 
1820,  i92,°  al  noisy  way  the  satisfaction  they 
193  j  Cob-  felt  at  her  victory.  Yet,  amidst  all 
of  Geo.  IV.  these  congratulations,  the  position  of 
417,449;  '  her  Majesty  was  sensibly  deteriora- 
Ilugbes,  vi.  ted  even  by  the  completeness  of  her 
'^^''  triumph.* 

Being  now  secure  of  her  position,  and  inde- 
89  pendent  of  the  support  of  tlie  popu- 

Rapidreac-  lace,  she  ceased  to  court  them,  and 
tionoi"pub-  this  speedily  cooled  their  ardor  in 
lie  opinion,  jj^j.  ^^^^gg  rpij^y  complained  that  she 
was  now  always  encircled  by  a  coterie  of  Whig 
ladies,  aii<l  no  longer  accessible  to  their  deputa- 
tions. When  tiie  struggle  was  over  and  tiie 
victory  gained,  the  King  and  Ids  Ministers  de- 
feated, and  the  Queen  secured  in  her  rank  and 
fortune,  tliey  began  to  reflect  on  wliat  tiiey  liad 
done,  and  tlio  qualities  of  the  exalted  jiersonage 
of  whom  they  had  proved  themselves  such 
doughty  champions.  They  called  to  mind  tlie 
evidence  in  the  case,  which  they  had  little  con- 
sidered while  the  contest  lasted,  and  they  ob- 
served, not  without  secret  misgivings,  the  effect 
it  produced  on  tlie  different  elasics  of  society. 


HISTORY   OF  EUROPE. 


351 


They  saw  that  the  experienced  hesitated  at  it, 
the  serious  shunned  it,  the  licentious  gloated 
over  it.  The  reaction  so  usual  in  such  cases, 
when  the  struggle  is  over,  ensued;  and,  satis- 
fied with  having  won  the  victory,  they  began 
to  regret  that  it  had  not  been  gained  in  a  less 
questionable  cause.  As  has  often  been  the  case 
in  English  history,  old  feelings  re-  i  huctJics  yj. 
vived  when  recent  ones  were  satia-  447  ;''Ann. 
ted ;  and,  strange  to  sa}',  the  most  ^"JS-  IS'^O, 
popular  years  of  the  reign  of  George  nelu,'i'."60 ; 
iV.  were  those  which  immediately  Twiss's  Life 
followed  the  greatest  defeat  his  Gov-  of  Eldon,  ii. 
ernment  had  e.Kperienced.'*  ^^~' 

The  Ministers,  however,  who  were  not  aware 
of  the  commencement  of  this  reac-  go. 

tionary  feeling,  and  looked  only  at  Consterna- 
their  public  position  as  the  King's  Vv""*^'!*^ 
Government,  felt  most  acutely  the  who'**resolve 
defeat  they  had  undei'gone.     It  all  to  remain  at 
but  overturned  the  Administration ;  ">'-''''  posts, 
with  men  of  less  nerve  and  resolution  at  its 
head,  it  unquestionably  would  have  done  so. 
But   Lord   Liverpool,   Lord  Castloreagh,   and 
Lord  Sidmouth,  resolved  to  remain   at  their 
posts,  conscious  that  to  desert  their  Sovereign 
at  this  crisis  would  be  nothing  less  than  for  his 
generals  to  abandon  him  in  the  day  of  battle. 
They  were  well  aware  that  they  were  at  the 
moment  the  most  unpopular  men  in  the  Britisii 
dominions ;  they  were  never  seen  in  the  street 
without  being  reviled  by  the  mob ;  and  anony- 
mous letters  every  day  threatened  them  with 
death,  if  the  proceedings  against  her  Majesty 
were  not  abandoned.*    They  paid  „ 
no  regard  to  these  threats,  and  walk-  mr,ut*ii°  iii!  ' 
ed  or  drove  to  the  House  every  day  332,  340; 
as  if  nothing  had  occurred  ;  and  the  Twiss's  Life 
people,  admiring  their  courage,  ab-  3yg  4y4%5' 
stained  from  actual  violence,  f     Di- 
vision, as  might  naturally  have  been  expected, 
ensued  in  the  Cabinet,  and  more  than  one  re- 
signation was  tendered  to  his  Majesty ;  but  one 
onlj- — that  of  Mr.  Canning,  as  President  of  the 
Board  of  Control — was  accepted,  who  was  suc- 


*  "  The  Whiji  faction  flocked  round  the  Queen,  directly 
after  tlie  abandonment  of  the  bill,  and  her  lawyers,  who 
now  called  themselves  her  constitutional  advisers,  belong- 
ed to  that  faction  who  thought  to  get  possession  of  power 
by  her  instrumentality,  she  having  the  people  at  her  back. 
Hut  the  people,  who  hated  this  faction  more  than  tlie  oili- 
er, the  moment  they  saw  it  about  her,  troubled  her  with 
no  more  addresses.  They  suflered  her  to  remain  very 
tranquil  at  Brandenberg  House  ;  the  faction  agitated  ques- 
tions concerning  her  in  Parliament,  concerning  winch  tho 
people  cared  not  a  straw  ;  what  she  was  doing  soon  be- 
came as  indifterent  to  them  as  what  any  other  person  of 
the  royal  family  was  doing:  the  people  began  to  occupy 
themselves  with  the  business  of  obtaining  a  Parliamentary 
reform  ;  and  her  way  of  liH;,  and  her  final  fate,  soon  be- 
came objects  of  curiosity,  much  more  than  interest,  with 
the  people." — Cobbett'.s  I^i/c  of  (Irorffe  IV.,  404. 

t  "  Matters  here  are  in  a  very  critical  state.  I'"ear  and 
faction  are  actively,  and  not  unsuccessfully,  at  work  ;  and 
it  is  possible  we  may  be  in  a  minority  and  the  fate  of  tho 
Government  determined  in  a  very  few  days." — Lord  Sid- 
mouth  to  Mr.  IUtmurst,  27th  October,  1820.  "1  can 
not  describe  to  you  how  grievously  1  suffer,  and  have  suf- 
ficed, on  account  of  the  dangcTons  and  di^plorable  situa- 
tion in  which  our  country,  the  King's  Coverniiieiit,  and 
indeed  all  of  us,  have  been  placed — a  situation  from  which 
I  profess  to  see  no  satisfactory  or  safe  deliverance." — 
Ditto  to  ditto,  2Hlh  October,  IH20.  "  One  day,  at  this 
time,  whi'ii  Lords  Castlereagh  and  Sidmouth  were  walk- 
ing throu:;h  Parliament  Street,  they  were  violently  hooted 
at  by  th(^  mob.  'Here  we  go,'  said  Lord  .Sidmouth,  'the 
two  most  popular  men  in  Eneland.'  '  Ves,'  replied  Lord 
Castlen  a'.'ti. '  through  a  grateful  and  admiring  multitude. ' " 
—Li/e  of  Sidmouth,  iii.  330,  333. 


S52 


IIISTOIIY    OF   EUROPE. 


oootKul  by  Mr.  Brnpgo  Bftthuist,  niid  tlio  Gov- 
fnimoiit,  as  ii  body,  voiitureJ  to  weulher  the 
storm. 

Tlio  rosvilt  slioweil  that  (hoy  were  right,  and 
hud  not  niisc'iik'iihited  tlie  cliect  of 
Rriiirn  of  J"*^  "'"^^  eouiagoous  ooiuhiot  on  the 
l>i)|iuliirity  Kiiglisli  mind.  Tiiougli  liable  to  oc- 
«>'■  iJovoru-  casionnl  tits  of  fervor,  which  for  the 
im-iii.  luul     ^j        ,  ^^^■^^,^^  looked  like  national 

insanity,  the  Liighsli  mind,  wlun  al- 
lowed time  for  ivtUi'tioii,  an<i  not  precliulod 
from  thinking  by  the  proijsure  of  sull'ering, 
rapidly  in  general  regains  its  equilibrium,  and 
never  so  much  so  as  after  a  decisive  victory. 
In  the  present  instance,  the  change  in  the  pub- 
lic feeling  was  so  rapid  and  remarkable,  that  it 
attracted  the  notice  of  the  King  himself,  and 
his  Ministers  felt  uo  ditliculty  in  meeting  Par- 
liament.*  Kor  is  it  surprising  that  this  was 
so;  for  reflection  soon  taught  the  nation  that 
their  zeal,  how  generous  and  honest  soever, 
had  been  exerted  on  an  unworthy  object;  that 
the  Queen  was  by  no  means  the  immaculate 
character  they  supposed ;  and  that  liowever 
culpable  and  heartless  the  King's  conduct  had 
been  to  h«r  in  the  outset  of  her  married  life, 
latterly  at  least  the  principal  fault  had  been 
on  her  side ;  in  truth,  also,  be  the  fault  where 
it  may,  her  habits  abroad  had  been  such  as 
rendered  her  unfit  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of 
English  society.  The  trial,  they  saw,  was  of 
her  own  seeking;  she  was  offered  the  title  of 
Queen,  and  a  handsome  provision  abroad ;  and 
th-y  eoiild  lot  regard  without  regret  the  en- 
Ihusinsm  which  had  prevailed  in  favor  of  a  wo- 
man whom  the  highest  court  in  the  kingdom, 
upon  evidence  the  force  of  which  all  must  feel, 
liad  virtually  pronounced  guilty.  The  battle 
had  been  a  drawn  one:  the  people  could  pride 
themselves  on  their  victory;  the  Ministers  on 
the  evidence  by  which  they  had  justified  their 
proceedings ;  and  both  parties  having  thus 
something  to  gratify  their  self-love,  their  mu- 
tual irritation  was  lessened,  and  reconciliation 
resulted  from  a  proceeding  which  presaged  at 
first  irreparable  alienation. 

Parliament  met,  after  being  prorogued  in  the 
go  end  of  November,  on  the  23d  Janu- 

Meeting  of  ary,  and  Ministers  were  able  to  con- 
Parliament,  gratulate  the  country  with  reason 
and  first  pro-  q,j  ^^iq  improved  condition  of  the 
people,  and  more  contented  temper 
of  the  public  mind.  In  truth,  the  change  in 
both  respects  was  most  remarkable ;  and  Min- 
isters, who  had  anticipated  a  narrow  division, 
if  not  a  defeat,  on  the  question  of  the  Queen, 
and  their  conduct  in  regai'd  to  her,  were,  to 
tlitir  surprise,  supported  by  large  majorities  in 
both  Houses,  which  on  6tli  February  rose  to 
146  in  the  Commons.  This  great  victory  in  a 
manner  terminated  the  contest  of  parties  on 
that  painful  subject.  It  was  now  evident  that 
the  long  proceedings  which  had  taken  place  on 
the  (jueen's  trial,  and  the  weighty  evidence 
which  had   come  out  against  her,  had  com- 

*  "  It  is  clear  beyond  dispute,  from  the  improvement 
of  the  public  mind,  and  the  loyalty  which  the  country  is 
now  every  where  displayine,  if  properly  cultivated  and 
turned  to  the  best  advantage  by  Ministers,  that  the  Govern- 
ment Will  thereby  be  enaliled  to  repair  to  the  country  and 
to  me  those  evils,  of  the  magnitude  of  which  there  can  be 
but  one  opinion." — George  IV'.  to  Lord  Eldon,  Jan.  9, 
1821  ;  Twiss's  Life  of  Eldon,  ii.  413. 


[Cii.vp.  X. 

pletely  changed  the  public  opinion  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  that  even  the  Uadicalsmust   1  p..i   rj.u 
look  out  for  some  fresh  subject  of  iv.4G0,  50"' 
eonijilaiiiti  in  their  al tempts  to  over-  Ann.  Keg. 
turn  the  Covernnient.'  '^^I,  15,  21. 

Such  a  subject  would,  but  for  the  manly  and 
judicious  course  adoj)ted  by  the  Gov-  93 
ernment,  have  been  atl'orded  by  the  Debates  on 
course  which  foreign  allairs  had  fiiken  foreign  af- 
at  this  period.  'Ihe  revolutions  in  '^''^''' 
Spain,  I'ortugal,  ISii]>lcs,  and  Piedmont,  and 
the  ferment  in  Germany,  had  deeply  agitated 
the  public  mind.  It  was  hard  to  say  whether 
the  hopes  these  events  had  awakened  in  one 
jiarty,  or  the  fears  in  another,  were  most  pre- 
ponderant. All  observed,  many  hoped,  some 
feared,  from  them.  The  Congresses  of  Lajbach 
and  Troppau,  of  which  an  account  has  already 
been  given,"  M'hieh  had  been  assem- 
bled avowedly  to  consider  the  course  yi\^^-,^' 
to  be  adopted  by  the  great  Continental 
powers  in  regard  to  these  portentous  events, 
afforded  a  fertile  field  for  eloquent  declama- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  Liberal  leaders;  and 
Lord  Grey  in  the  L^pper  House,  and  Sir  James 
Mackintosh  in  the  Lower,  in  moving  for  the 
production  of  papers  relative  to  these  events, 
took  occasion  to  inveigh  strongly  against  the 
dangerous  attempts,  evidently  making  by  the 
Continental  powers,  to  stifle  the  growth  of 
freedom,  and  overturn  constitutional  monarch- 
ies in  all  the  lesser  states  around  them.  lilin- 
isters  resisted  the  motion,  but  declared  at  the 
same  time  that  the  English  Government  were 
no  parties  to  these  congresses,  and  that  they 
had  officially  notified  to  the  powers  there  as- 
sembled their  dissent  from  the  princi])les  and 
right  of  interference  there  advanced.  It  was 
known  that  this  statement  was  well  founded, 
and  Parliament,  satisfied  with  having  obtained 
su.ch  an  assurance  from  the  Government,  and 
with  the  strong  declaration  of  English  feeling 
from  the  Opposition,  supported  3  Ann.  Reg. 
Ministers  in  both  Houses  by  large  1621, 102, 
majorities.^  "^*- 

Sir  James  Mackintosh  continued  in  this  Par- 
liament, as  he  had  done  in  the  last, 
his  able  and  indefatigable  eflbrts  gj^  james 
to  obtain  a  relaxation  of  the  mon-  Mackintosh's 
strous  severities  and  anomalies  of  efforts  to  im- 
the  English  criminal  code.  His  in-  cr°mLal  W. 
creasing  success,  though  not  un- 
mixed with  checks,  demonstrated  that  public 
opinion  was  rapidly  changing  on  this  import- 
ant subject,  and  that  the  time  was  not  far  dis- 
tant when,  practically  speaking,  the  punish- 
ment of  death  would  not  be  inflicted  in  any 
case  except  deliberate  murder,  in  which,  both 
on  the  authority  of  the  Divine  law,  and  every 
consideration  of  human  justice,  it  never  should 
be  abrogated.  As  this  blessed  changehas  now 
for  above  ten  years  been  practically  in  opera- 
tion, it  is  superfluous  to  enumerate  all  tlie  steps 
by  which  it  was  effected.  Sufiice  it  to  say, 
therefore,  that  it  was  by  the  efforts  of  Sir 
Samuel  Romilly,  and  after  him  of  Sir  James 
Mackintosh,  that  the  necessity  of  this  great  re- 
form was  first  impressed  on  the  public  mind, 
and  by  the  adoption  of  their  principles  by  Sir 
Robert  Peel  when  he  became  Home  Secretary, 
that  it  was  on  a  large  scale  carried  into  efleet. 
The  o:)!}'  thing  to  be  regretted  is,  that  when 


1821.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


353 


the  penalty  of  death  was  so  justly  taken  away 
for  so  many  offenses,  care  was  not  taken  at  the 
same  time  to  increase  the  certainty  and  enlarge 
the  efficienc}-  of  secondary  punishments;  and 
that  from  the  long-continued  neglect  by  the 
colonial  secrciaries  of  the  obvious  expedient  of 
always  mingling,  in  due  proportion,  the  streams 
of  gratuitous  Government  with  forced  penal 
emii'ration,  the  country  has  in  a  great  measure 
lost  the  immense  advantage  it  might  otiierwise 
have  derived  from  the  possession  of  such  out- 
lets for  its  surplus  population  and  dangerous 
crime ;  and  that  the  colonies  have  been  led  to 
regard  with  horror,  and  strive  to  avert,  a  stream 
■which,  duly  regulated,  might,  and  certainly 
would,  have  been  hailed  as  the  greatest  possi- 
ble blessing. 

Mr.  Plunkett,  on  the  28th  February,  bro'.ight 
gj  forward  a  motion  regarding  lloman 

Mr.  Can  Catholic  Emancipation,  and  it  soon 
nins'sstrik-  became  evident,  that  if  the  mantle 
orf  Camolic  ^^  Romilly  had  descended  on  Mack- 
Emancipa-  intosh,  that  of  Grattan  had  fallen  on 
«'on-  the  shoulders  of  Plunkett.      As  this 

subject  will  be  fully  discussed  in  a  subsequent 
part  of  this  volume,  when  the  passing  of  Catho- 
lic Emancipation  is  narrated,  it  would  be  super- 
fluous to  give  the  arguments  advanced  on  both 
sides ;  but  there  is  one  speech  in  the  Commons, 
and  one  in  the  Lords,  from  which  brief  extracts 
must  be  given,  from  the  importance  of  the  sen- 
timents which  they  conveyed.  Mr.  Canning 
■was  tho  most  eloquent  supporter,  Mr.  Peel  the 
most  determined  opponent,  of  the  measure. 
"We  are,"  said  the  former,  "in  the  enjoyment 
of  a  peace,  achieved  in  a  great  degree  by  Cath- 
olic arms,  and  cemented  by  Catholic  blood. 
For  three  centuries  we  have  been  erecting 
mounds,  not  to  assist  or  improve,  but  to  thwart 
nature;  we  have  raised  them  high  above  the 
waters,  where  they  have  stood  for  many  a  year 
frowning  proud  defiance  on  all  who  attempted 
to  cross  them  ;  but,  in  the  course  of  ages,  even 
they  have  been  nearly  broken  down,  and  the 
narrow  isthmus  now  formed  between  them 
stands  between 

"  Two  kindred  seas, 
Which,  mounting,  viewed  each  other  from  afar, 
And  longed  to  meet." 

Shall  we,  then,  fortify  the  mounds  which  are 
almost  in  ruins?  or  shall  we  leave  tliem  to 
moulder  awa}'  by  time  or  accident? — an  event 
which,  though  distant,  must  happen,  and  which, 
when  it  does,  will  only  confer  a  thankless  fa- 
vor— or  shall  we  at  once  cut  away  the  isthmus 

that  remains,  and  float  on  the  min- 
Iv  Ysii        g^'"K  waves  the  ark  of  our  common 

constitution  ?" ' 
On  the  other  hand,  it  was  argued  by  Mr. 
96_  Peel,  in  words  wliich  subsequent 
Answer  by  events  have  rendered  prophetic:  "I 
Mr.  I'eel.  jg  not  concur  in  the  anticipation  that 
the  emancipation  of  the  Catholics  would  tend 
to  re-establish  harmony  in  the  state,  or  smooth 
down  conflicting  feelings.  I  do  not  wish  to 
touch  prospectively  upon  the  consequences  of 
intemperate  struggles  for  power.  I  do  not  wish 
to  use  language  which  may  be  construed  into 
a  harsh  interpretation  of  the  acts  and  objects 
of  men  who  proceed  in  the  career  of  ambition, 
but  I  must  say  this  much,  that  if  Parliament 
admits  an  equal  eajiacity  for  the  possession  of 
Vol..   '— Z 


power  between  Protestant  and  Catliolic  in  this 
respect,  they  will  have  no  means  of  considering 
the  state  of  the  population,  of  securing  that 
equal  division  of  power  which  is,  in  my  opin- 
ion, essential  to  the  stability  of  the  existing 
form  of  government.  The  struggle  between  the 
Catholic  and  Protestant  will  be  violent,  and  the 
issue  doubtful.  If  they  were  to  be  sent  forth 
together  as  rival  candidates,  with  an  equal  ca- 
pacit}'  for  direct  parliamentary  representation, 
so  far  from  seeing  any  prospect  of  the  allevia- 
tion of  points  of  political  difierences,  I  can  only 
anticipate  the  revival  of  animosities  now  happih/ 
extinct,  and  the  continuance,  in  an  aggravated 
form,  of  angrj'  discussions,  now  happily  gliding 
into  decay  and  disuse.  If,  in  consequence  of 
this  alteration  of  the  constitution,  the  duratio  i 
of  Parliament  should  be  reduced  from  seven  to 
three  years,  then  will  the  frequent  collision  of 
Catholic  and  Protestant  furnish  a  still  greater 
accession  of  violent  matter  to  keep  alive  do- 
mestic dissension  in  every  form  in  which  it  can 
be  arrayed,  against  the  internal  peace  and  coi.- 
cord  of  the  emj)ire.  These  are  my  honest  sen- 
timents upon  this  all-important  question,  unin- 
fluenced by  any  motive  but  an  ardent  i  pari.Deb. 
anxiety  for  the  durability  of  our  hap-  iv.  i002, 
py  constitution."'  -       ^f'^^. 

This  debate  is  memorable  for  one  circum- 
stance— it  was  the  first  occasion   on        97 
which  a  majority  was  obtained  for  Which  is 
Catholic  Emancipation.     The  second  c^irried  in 
T  •    J  r,  •      -i        r    tlie  Com- 

readmg  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  ,„o„s  g„j 

11,  the  numbers  being  254  to  243;  lost  in  the 
and  this  majority  was  increased,  on  I'eers. 
the  third  reading,  to  19,  the  numbers  being  216 
to  197.  The  bill,  accordingly,  went  into  com- 
mittee, and  passed  the  Commons ;  but  it  was 
thrown  out,  on  the  second  reading,  by  a  major- 
ity of  39  in  the  House  of  Lords,  the  numbers 
being  159  to  120.  On  this  occasion  the  Duke 
of  York  made  a  memorable  declaration  of  his 
opinion  on  this  subject.  "  Educated,"  said  his 
Royal  Highness,  "  in  the  principles  of  the  Es- 
tablished Church,  I  am  persuaded  that  her  in- 
terests are  inseparable  from  tliose  of  the  con- 
stitution. I  consider  it  as  an  integral  part  of 
the  constitution.  The  more  I  hear  tiie  subject 
discussed,  the  more  am  I  confirmed  in  the  opin- 
ion I  now  express.  Let  it  not  be  sujiposed, 
however,  that  1  am  an  enemy  to  toleration^  I 
should  wish  that  every  sect  should  have  the 
free  exercise  of  its  religion,  so  long  as  it  does 
not  affect  the  security  of  the  established,  and 
as  long  as  its  members  remained  loyal  subjects. 
But  (here  is  a  great  difference  between  aUoiinng 
the  free  exercise  of  relifjion  and  the  t/ra)iti)if/  of 
political  power.  My  opposition  to  tliis  l)ill  arises 
from  principles  whicli  I  have  embraced  ever 
since  1  have  been  abb;  to  judge  iov  myself,  and 
wliich  I  hope  I  sliall  cherish  to  tlie  last  hour  of  my 
life."  This  decisive  declaration  on  tlio 
part  of  the  heir-apparent  of  the  throne,  j.'],'^''  ''' 
wiiose  early,  accession  seemed  likely 
from  tiie  he.'illh  of  the  reigning  Sovereign,  pro- 
duced u  very  great  impression,  and  carried  the 
popularity  of  his  Royal  Highness  to  the  highest 
point.  H(!  became  the  object  of  enthusiastic 
applause  at  all  the  political  meetings  of  per- 
sons attached  to  the  Kstablished  ('liurch.^^at, 
wliich  the  singular  coincidence  in  numbqifioii 
the  thirty-nine  peers  who  threw  o;tit  the  MU' 


>54 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[CUAP.    X. 


and  the  thirty- niiio  niticlos  of  the  ("Inireh 
^<i  Knv'liind,  lu'vor  failoil  to  lio  ob- 
T  oy'  356  ^*^'"^'^'*'  "">  ""^^  ilicit  iinbouiuled  ap- 
plause.' 
Lord  John  Russell,  about  tlie  same  time, 
brought  forward  a  bill  for  a  grad- 
Lord  John  "'^^  """^  ^•'^'''  -\vstem  of  Parliaiuent- 
llussi-Us  ary  Reform.  It  was  founded  on  res- 
iiiotioii  lor  olutions,  that  there  were  great  com- 
Trf  RtrornV.  ?•"'"'*  «"  ^^^^  subject  of  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  people  in  Parliament ; 
that  it  was  expedient  to  give  such  places  as 
liad  greatly  increased  in  -wealth  and  population, 
and  "at  present  were  unrepresented,  the  right 
of  sending  members  to  serve  in  Parliament ;  and 
that  it  should  be  referred  to  a  committee  to 
consider  how  this  could  be  done,  without  an 
inconvenient  addition  to  the  number  of  the 
House  of  Commons;  and  that  nil  charges  of 
bribery  should  be  effectually  inquired  into, 
and,  if  proved,  such  boroughs  should  be  disfran- 
chised. The  motion  was  rejected  by  a  majority 
of  31,  the  numbers  being  156  to  125;  but  the 
increasing  strength  of  the  minority,  as  well  as 
weight  of  the  names  of  which  it  was  composed, 
indicated  the  change  of  general  opinion  on  the 
subject,  and  might  have  warned  the  support- 
ers of  the  existing  system  of  the  necessity  of 
consenting  to  a  safe  and  prudent  reform,  if 
any  thing  could  convince  men  who  are  main- 
1}'  actuated  by  the  desire  to  retain, 
V  622  623  °''  ^^'®  thirst  to  obtain,  political 
'  '  power.  ^ 
The  various  branches  of  manufactures,  dur- 
gg  ing  this  J'ear,  exliibited  a  marked  and 
Appoint-  gratifying  improvement;  but  in  agri- 
ment  of  a  culture  the  prevailing  distress  was 
commiitee  jjqj  only  unabated,  but  had  become 
into  a<Ti-  greater  than  ever,  and,  in  truth,  had 
cultural  now  risen  to  such  a  height  that  it 
distress^,  could  no  longer  be  passed  over  in 
'**'^''"  '•  silence.  On  7th  March,  Mr.  Gooch 
brought  forward  a  motion  for  the  appointment 
of  a  committee  to  inquire  into  agricultural  dis- 
tress; and  in  the  course  of  the  debate  Mr. 
Curwen  observed,  "  In  the  flourishing  days  of 
the  empire,  the  income  of  the  nation  was 
£400,000,000,  and  the  taxation  was  £80,000,000 
annually.  At  present  the  income  is  only 
£300,000,000,  yet  the  taxation  was  nearly  the 
same.  In  what  situation  was  the  farmer?  The 
average  of  wheat,  if  properly  taken,  was  not 
more  than  G2s.  a  quarter;  the  consequence  of 
which  was,  that  the  farmer  lost  3s.  by  every 
quarter  of  wheat  which  he  grew.  On  the  ar- 
ticle of  wheat  alone,  the  agricultural  interest 
had  lost  £15,000,000,  and  on  barley  and  oats 
£15,000,000  more.  In  addition  to  this,  the 
value  of  farming  stock  had  been  diminished  by 
£10,000,000;  so  that  in  England  alone  there 
was  a  diminution  of  £-40,000,000  a  year.  The 
diminution  on  the  value  of  agricultural  produce 
in  Scotland  and  Ireland  can  not  be  less  than 
£15,000,000;  so  that  the  total  loss  to  the  agri- 
culturists of  the  two  islands  can  not  be  taken 
at  less  than  £55,000,000.  This  is  probably  a 
quarter  of  the  whole  value  of  their  procluc- 
tions;  and  as  their  taxation  remains  the  same, 
it  has,  practically  speaking,  been  increased 
'Pari. Deb.  twenty-six  per  cent,  also."^  The 
Iv.  1147,  truth  of  these  statements,  how  start- 
1151.  ling  soever,  wa*  so  generally  known. 


that  Government  yielded;  and  a  committee 
was  .appointed  to  inquire  into  the  causes  of 
agricultural  distress,  which  made  a  most  val- 
uable repoi't  in  the  next  session  of  Parliament. 

CJreat  light  Avas  thrown  ujion  the  causes  of 
this  distress  in  a  debate  which  took  jqq 
place,  shortly  after,  on  a  bill  of  little  Bank  Cash 
importance,  introduced  by  Govern-  Payment 
ment,  authorizing  the  Bank,  if  they  '' 
chose,  to  resume  cash  payments  on  1st  May, 
1821,  instead  of  May,  1822,  as  had  been  pro- 
vided by  the  bill  of  1819.  The  reason  assigned 
by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  for  giving 
the  Bank  this  option  was,  that  they  had,  at  a 
very  heavj'  expense  to  themselves,  accumulated 
a  very  great  treasure,  and  that  the  paper  circu- 
lation of  the  country  had  been  so  much  con- 
tracted that  cash  payments  might  be  resumed 
with  safety.  Ho  stated  that,  "in  June,  1810, 
the  issues  of  the  Bank  amounted  to  £25,600,000 ; 
and  they  had  been  progressively  diminished, 
till  now  they  were  only  £24,000,000.  The 
country  bankers  had  drawn  in  their  notes  in  a 
still  greater  proportion.  Above  four  millions 
had  been  •withdrawn  from  the  circulation  in 
less  than  two  years — a  state  of  things  which 
amply  justifies  the  present  proposal  to  give  the 
Bank  the  option  of  issuing  gold  coin,  i  pari.  Deb. 
if  they  thought  fit,  a  year  sooner  iv.  1315, 
than  by  law  provided."  *  ^^l^- 

The  effects  of  the  contraction  of  the  currency, 
thus  made  the  subject  of  boast  by  ]oi. 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  Mr.  Baring's 
were  thus  stated  bv  Mr.  Baring  in  speech  on  j 
the  same  debate:  ''In  lookin|  at  t'''^  ^^^J^^'-  i 
this  question,  it  is  very  material  to  consider 
what  is  the  state  of  the  country  in  this  the 
sixth  year  of  peace.  Petitions  are  coming  in 
from  all  quarters,  remonstrating  against  the 
state  of  suffering  in  which  so  many  classes  are 
unhappily  involved,  and  none  more  than  the 
agricultural  class.  When  such  is  the  state  of 
the  country  in  the  sixth  year  of  peace,  and 
when  all  the  idle  stories  about  over-production 
and  under-consumption,  a7id  suchlike  trash, 
have  been  swept  away,  it  is  natural  to  inquire 
into  the  state  of  a  country  placed  in  a  situation 
without  a  parallel  in  any  other  nation  or  tima 
No  country  before  ever  presented  the  continu- 
ance of  so  extraordinary  a  spectacle  as  that  of 
living  under  a  progressive  increase  in  the  value 
of  money,  and  decrease  in  the  value  of  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  people.  It  appears  clear  that, 
from  the  operations  of  the  altered  currency,  we 
have  loaded  ourselves,  not  only  with  an  im- 
mense public  debt,  but  also  with  an  increased 
debt  betroeen  individual  and  individual,  the 
weight  of  which  continues  to  press  upon  the 
country,  and  to  the  continuance  of  which  pres- 
sure no  end  can  be  seen. 

"  The  real  ditEculty  is  to  meet  the  increased 
amount  of  debts  of  every  sort,  public 
and  private,  produced  by  the  late  continued, 
change  in  the  currency.  It  is  an 
observation  than  which  nothing  can  be  more 
true,  that  an  alteration  in  the  value  of  the 
currency  is  what  nobody,  not  even  the  wisest, 
generally  perceive.  They  talk  of  alteration  in 
the  price  of  bread  and  provisions,  never  re- 
flecting that  the  alteration  is  not  in  the  value 
of  these  articles,  but  in  that  of  the  currency  in 
which  they  are  paid.     To  talk  of  the  alteration 


1821.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


3j5 


of  tlie  value  of  moncj'  being  tlireo,  tiVo,  or  six 
per  cent,  is  mere  trilling.  What  we  now  are 
■witnessing  is  the  exaet  converse  of  what  oc- 
curred during  the  war,  from  the  enlarged  issue 
of  paper,  and  over  the  whole  world  from  the 
discovery  of  the  mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru. 
The  misfortune  is,  in  reference  to  agriculture, 
that  what  is  a  rumunerating  price  at  one  time 
becomes  quite  the  reverse  at  another.  For- 
merly it  was  thought  that  oOs.  a  quarter  was  a 
remunerating  price,  but  that  is  not  the  case 
now.  What  is  the  reason  of  that?  It  is  oc- 
casioned by  the  altered  currenc}^,  and  by  the 
produce  of  this  country  coming  into  contact 
with  the  commodities  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  at  a  time  when  the  taxes,  debts,  and 
charges  which  the  farmer  has  to  meet  have 
undergone  no  alteration,  llis  products  did 
not  bring  their  former  price,  while  his  private 
debts  remained  at  their  original  amount.  Be- 
sides this,  there  is  the  great  mortgage  of  the 
National  Debt,  which  sweeps  over  the  whole 
country,  and  renders  it  impossible  for  the  farm- 
er to  live  on  prices  which  formerly  were  con- 
sidered a  fair  remuneration.  The  ditSculties  of 
the  country,  then,  arise  from  this,  that  you  have 
brought  back  your  currency  to  its  former  value, 
so  far  as  I'egards  your  iueome ;  but  it  remains  at 
its  former  value,  so  far  as  regards  your  expen- 
diture." Weighty,  indeed,  are  these  remarks, 
which  subsequent  events  have  so  fully  con- 
lirmed,  and  which  came  then  from  the  first  mer- 
I  Pari  Deb.  chant  in  the  world,  who  afterward 
iv.  131«,  conferred  honor  on,  instead  of  receiv- 
1323.  JQg  it  from,  the  title  of  Ashburton.' 

The  increased  weight  of  debts  and  taxes, 
JQ3  coinciding  with  the  diminished  in- 
Vehement  comes  arising  from  the  contracted 
demand  for  currency,  produced  its  natural  and 
!I<?Jl"f' °"  i^s'-ial  effect  in  inducing  an  additional 
pressure  on  Government  for  the  re- 
duction of  ta.xation.     Mr.  Hume*  brought  this 


*  The  returns  obtained  by  Mr.  Ilnme  presented  the 
following  comparative  statement  of  the  ]Jriti.sh  army,  ex- 

tlu.sive  of  the  troops  in  India,  in  17'J2  and  1B21  respec- 
tively, viz.  : 

1792.  Men. 

Regulars  in  Great  Britain— Infantry  and  cavalry  15,010 

Do.         Ireland 12,UU0 

Colonies  17,323 

Artillery 3,730 

Marines 4,425 

Total  regulars 53,397 

Militia  disembodied 33,410 

86,607 

1821.  Mon. 

Hcgulars  in  Great  Britain— Cavalry  and  infantry  27,852 

Do.        Ireland 20  778 

Do.        Colonies 32^470 

Artillery 7^B72 

Marines 8^000 

Colonial  troops — Cape 450 

Do.              Ceylon .'....'  3,600 

Recruiting  Establishment 497 


Total  regulars 101,539 

Disembodied  militia— England 55,002 

Do.                    Ireland 22,472 

1  comanry— Great  Britain    30.291 

Do.         Ireland 30.780 

yoluntecr  infantry 0,934 

Great  Britain  — Veterans  disembodied 10,000 

I^ast  India  Company's  regiment 750 


Total  irregulars 102,328 

Grand  Toial 2i;3,807 

—Pari.  Papers,  No.  363,  1621  ;  Pari.  Ikh.,  v.  1302. 


subject  before  the  House  of  Commons,  and  the 
whole  finances  of  the  country  underwent  a 
more  thorough  investigation  than  they  had 
ever  previously  done.  His  labors  embraced 
chiefly  the  expenses  of  the  offices  connected 
with  the  army,  navy,  and  ordnance  depart- 
ments; and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he 
rendered  good  service  by  exposing  many  abuses 
that  existed  in  these  departments  ;  and  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  sub- 
ject. In  consequence  of  the  universal  com- 
plaint of  agricultural  distress,  Mr.  Western 
brought  forward  a  bill  to  repeal  the  malt  du- 
ties, which  was  carried,  on  the  first  reading,  by 
a  majorit}'  of  24,  the  numbers  being  140  to  1'26. 
It  was  tlirowu  out,  however,  on  the  second 
reading;  and  so  productive  is  this  tax,  and  so 
widely  is  its  weight  diffused  over  the  commu- 
nity, that  its  repeal  has  never  yet  been  carried. 
The  majority  on  the  leave  to  bring  in  the  bill, 
however,  was  an  ominous  circumstance,  charac- 
teristic of  the  depression  of  the  agricultural 
interest ;  aud  members  were  so  impressed  with 
it  that  they  deemed  it  expedient  to  j-ield  on  a 
surbordinate  point,  and  the  agricul-  :  Ann.  Reg. 
tural  Jiorse-tax  was  accordingly  re-  1821,  84, 
pealed  this  session.^  if^^*- 

The  committee  on  agricultural  distress  pre- 
sented their  report  on  18th  June.     It       jo4. 
was  a  most  elaborate  and  valuable  Agricultu- 
document,  as  it  bore  testimony  to  the  raicomnut- 
fact  established  before  the  committee,  anVstlue  ^' 
that    "  the    complaints   of   the   peti-  of  the  con- 
tioners  were  founded  in  fact,  in  so  sumption 
far  as  they  represented  that,  at  the  o[fu"ur^.^ 
present  price  of  corn,  the  returns  to  ^' 

the  owners  of  occupied  land,  after  allowing 
growers  the  interest  of  investments,  were  by  no 
meana  adequate  to  the  charges  ami  outc/ouir/s  ; 
but  that  the  committee,  after  a  long  and  anx- 
ious inquiry,  liad  not  been  able  to  discover  any 
means  calculated  immediately  to  relieve  the 
present  distress."  *     it  is  by  no  means  surju-is- 


*  "  So  far  as  the  pressure  arises  from  superabundant 
harvests,  it  is  beyond  the  application  ot  any  Ir^iishitive 
provision  ;  so  far  as  it  is  the  result  of  the  incnasi  d  v^iiuc 
of  money,  it  is  not  one  peculiar  to  the  farmer,  but  extends 
to  many  other  classes.  That  result,  however,  is  the 
more  severely  felt  by  the  tenant,  in  consequence  of  its 
coincidence  with  an  overstocked  market.  The  dei>arlure 
from  our  ancient  standard,  in  proportion  as  it  was  per- 
judicial  to  all  creditors  of  money,  and  persons  dejiendent 
on  a  fixed  income,  was  a  benelit  to  the  active  cajntal  of 
the  country ;  and  the  same  classes  have  been  oppositely 
adectcd  by  a  return  to  that  standard.  The  restoration 
of  it  has  also  embarrassed  the  landholder,  in  jiroporllon 
as  his  estate  has  been  encumbered  with  morigagis,  and 
other  fixed  payments  assigned  on  it  during  the  ili|iniia- 
tion  of  the  currency.  The  only  alleviation  for  this  evil  is 
to  be  looked  tor  in  such  a  gradual  reduction  of  the  rate  of 
interest  as  may  lighten  the  burdens  on  the  landed  interest. 
At  present  the  aiiinial  jirodure  of  corn,  the  growth  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  is,  upon  an  average  crop,  equal  to  our 
present  consiiiiiiitioii,  and  that,  with  such  an  average 
crop,  the  present  iiiiport  prices,  below  which  foreign  corn 
is  by  law  altogcllicr  (•\<lMdr(l,  are  fully  KUlllrienl,  more 
especially  since  the  rliaiitri'  in  lli(?  currency,  to  secure  to 
the  British  farmer  the  iumplete  monopoly  of  the  homo 
market.  The  change  in  the  value  of  our  money  is  virtu- 
ally an  advance  upon  our  import  prices  ;  and  the  result 
of  every  such  advance,  supposing  prices  not  to  undergo  a 
corresponding  rise  in  otht^r  countries,  mtist  but  expo.se 
this  country  to  greater  and  more  grcvious  lluctuations  in 
price,  and  tlic  business  of  the  farmer  to  greater  lluctnation 
and  uncertainty.  I'rotection  can  not  be  carried  further 
than  Fnonnpoly,  wliirli  th(!  British  litrmer  has  completely 
enjoyed  for  the  last  two  harvests — the  ports  having  been 
almost  constantly  shut  against  foreign  imports  during 
thirty  months."— r'o/;imonj('  lirpurt,  i\uic  IB,  1821  ;  Pari. 
Deb.,  V.  81,  Appendix. 


V.M  niSTOllY    O 

iiii;  Uint  it  wns  so;  for  ns  thoir  ilifiionltios  all 
arose  from  the  coiitriictiou  of  tlio  currency,  it 
was  impossible  tlioy  ot)uKl  be  removed  till  lliat 
ei)ntr«etioii  was  alleviateil,  a  tliiiit^  which  the 
great  majority  of  the  legislature  was  resolved 
not  to  do.  It  is  remarkable  that  at  the  very 
same  time  Lord  Liverpool  demonstrated  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  that  the  <7<'He?-a/eonsumi)tion  of 
the  country,  in  artieles  of  comfort  and  luxury, 
had  eousiderabh'  increased  in  the  last  year.* 
This  fact  is  important,  as  uti'ording  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  observation  already  made* 
i  \Tii  *42  '"^  ^*'  '''*■'  eternal  law  of  nature,  that 
the  division  of  labor  and  imjirove- 
luent  of  machinery,  capable  of  indefinite  appli- 
cation to  manufacturing  industry,  have  no 
'Ann  Reg.  teudency  to  cheapen  the  production 
lb'21,  73  :  of  the  subsistence  of  man,  and  consc- 
i:oinnions'  quently  that  the  first  and  the  last  to 
?unel8  sutler  from  a  contraction  of  the  cur- 
1621 ;  Pari,  rency,  and  enhancement  of  the  value 
Deb.  V.  79,  of  monc}',  are  the  classes  engaged  in 
■*-PP-  the  cultivation  of  the  soil.^ 

This  long-continued  and  most  severe  depres- 
105.        sion  in  the  price  of  agricultural  prod- 
Increase  of  uce,  coupled  with  the  reiterated  re- 
tlie  desire     fyj^ig  of  rarliament  to  do  any  thing 
for  relorm     ^     ^,    .        ,•   i-     ^  i        ^i  •'^ 

among  the    for  their  relict,  at  length  came  to  pro- 

agricultur-  duce  important  political  efiects.  It 
isis.  spread  far  and  wide  among  the  land- 

owners and  farmers,  who  in  every  age  had  been 
the  firmest  supporters  of  the  throne,  the  con- 
viction that  they  were  not  adequately  repre- 
sented in  Parliament,  and  that  no  relief  from 
their  sufferings  could  be  anticipated,  until,  by 
a  change  in  the  composition  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  their  voice  was  brought  to  bear  more 
directly  and  powerfully  upon  the  measures  of 
Government.  Every  thing  was  favorable :  all 
the  world  was  at  peace ;  trade  had  i-evived ; 
the  seasons  were  fine ;  importation  was  prohib- 
ited, and  had  ceased.  jS'evertheless  j^rices  were 
so  low  that  it  was  evident  that  a  few  more  such 
years  would  exhaust  all  their  capital,  and  re- 
duce them  to  beggary.  Reform  had  become  in- 
<lispensable,  if  they  would  avoid  ruin.  Kow, 
accordingl}',  for  the  first  time,  the  desire  for 
parliamentary  reform  spread  from  the  towns, 
where  it  had  hitherto  prevailed,  to  the  rural 
districts,  and  gave  token  of  an  important  change 
in  this  respect  in  the  landed  interest;  and  the 
ablest  of  the  historians  of  the  time  in  the  Ra- 
dical interest  has  borne  testimony  to  the  fact 
that,  but  for  the  change  in  the  currency^  the 
alteration  of  the  constitution  never  could  have 
taken  place,  f 

Average  of  three 
yenra  ending  Jan-  Year  1821. 

uary,  IS-iO. 

♦  Beer,  barrels 5,356,000   ....     5,599,000 

Candles,  lb 79,810,000  ....  88,350,000 

Malt 23,289,000  ....  24,511,000 

Salt 1,936,000....     1,981,000 

Soap, lb 69,474,000  ....  73,765,000 

Spirits 5,047,000  6,575,000 

Tea 22,186,000   ....  22,542,000 

Sugar 3.117,000....     3,413,000 

—Ann.Reg.,im\,'3. 

t  "In  the  beginning  of  1822,"  say.s  Miss  Martineau, 
"  every  branch  of  manufacturing  industry  was  in  a  flourish- 
ing state  ;  but  agriculture  was  depressed,  and  complaints 
were  uttered  at  many  county  meetings,  both  before  and 
after  the  meeting  of  Parliament.  These  incessant  groan- 
ings,  wearisome  to  tlie  ears,  and  truly  distressing  to  the 
hearts,  were  not  borne  idly  to  the  winds.  The  complain- 
ers  did  not  obtain  from  Parliament  ttie  aid  which  they  de- 
sired, but  they  largely  advanced  the  cause  of  Parliament- 


\-    EUROPE. 


[Cii.\r.  X. 


Lord  Castlereagh,  to  whom  the  mutability  of 
the  ])opulace  was  well  known,  had  ,„„ 
prophesied,  at  the  close  of  the  pro-  Coronation 
ceedings  against  the  C^ueen,  that  "in  ol  George 
six  months  the  King  would  be  the  l^'; 
most  popular  man  within  his  domin- 
ions." 'lliis  prediction  was  verified  to  the  let- 
ter. The  symptoms  of  returning  popularity 
were  so  evident,  that  his  Majesty,  contrary  to 
his  inclination  and  usual  habits,  was  prevailed 
on  by  his  Alinistcrs  to  a]ipear  frequently  in  pub- 
lic, both  in  the  parks  and  i)riiicipal  theulres, 
c>n  which  occasions  he  was  received  with  un- 
bounded ajiplause.  This  favorable  appearance 
induced  Government  to  determine  on  carrying 
into  eti'ect  the  coronation,  which  had  been  orig- 
inally fixed  for  August  in  the  preceding  year,  but 
had  been  j.ostponed  in  consequence  ot  the  pro- 
ceedings against  the  Queen,  and  the  disturbed 
state  ol  the  public  mind  which  ensued.  Her  Maj- 
est}-,  who  w  as  not  aware  that  her  popularity  had 
declined  as  rapidly  as  that  of  her  royal  sjiouse 
had  increased,  was  so  imprudent  as  to  prefer  a 
claim,  both  to  the  King  and  the  Privy  Louneil, 
to  be  crowned  at  the  same  time  as  Queen  Con- 
sort. The  Council,  however,  determined  that 
she  was  not  entitled  to  demand  it  as  a  matter 
of  right,  and  that  in  the  circumstances  they  were 
not  called  on  to  concede  it  as  a  matter  of  court- 
esy ;  and  iier  demand  was  in  consequence  re- 
fused. Upon  this  the  Queen  applied  to  the 
L)uke  of  jSorfolk,  as  Earl-Marshal  of  England, 
and  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  for  a  place 
in  the  Abbey  at  the  coronation ;  but  as  they 
were  subject  to  the  King  in  Council  in  this  mat- 
ter, the  petition  was  of  course  refused,  though 
in  the  most  courteous  manner.  Upon  this  her 
Majesty-  declared  her  resolution  to  appear  per- 
sonally at  the  coronation,  and  deliver  her  }jro- 
test  into  the  King's  ow  n  hand.  This  determ- 
ination, being  known,  ditl'used  a  general  appre- 
hension that  a  riot  would  ensue  on  the  occasion ; 
and  to  such  a  degree  did  the  panic  spread,  that 
places  to  see  the  procession,  Avhich  previously 
had  been  selling  for  ten  guineas,  were  i  nughes 
to  be  had  on  the  morning  of  the  cere-  vi.  469, 470 ; 
mony  for  half-a-crown,  and  all  the  -^'J^"-  ^'"S- 
troops  in  London  and  the  vicinity  J25 .'  ^^^, 
were  assembled  near  Westminster  tineau,  i. 
Abbey  to  preserve  the  peace.'  ^59. 


ary  reform.     If  the  agricultural  interest  had  been  in  a  high 
state  of  prosperity  trom  lt20  to  lb30,  the  great  question 
of  reform  in.  Parliament  must  hare  remained  much  longer  ■ 
afloat  than  it  actually  did,  from  the  inertness  or  opposi- 
tion ol  the  agricultural  classes,  who,  as  it  was,  were  suf- 
ficiently discontented  wilh  Parliament  to  desire  a  change. 
E.\traordinary  as  this  may  appear,  when  we  look  only  to 
the  preponderance  of  the  landed  interest  in  the  House  at  1 
that  time,  we  shall  find,  on  looking  abroad  through  the 
country,  that  it  was  so.     Such  politicians  as  Cobbelt  pre- 
sented themselves  among  the  discontented  larmers,  and  j 
preached  to  them  about  the  pressure  of  the  debt,  a  bad  J 
system  of  taxation,  a  habit  of  extravagant  expenditure,  i 
and  of  a  short  method  of  remedying  these  evils  by  obtain-  j 
ing  a  better  constitution  of  the  House  of  Commons.     It 
was  no  small  section  of  the  agricultural  classes  that  as- 
sisted in  carrying  the  question  at  last ;  and  it  would  be 
interesting  10  know  how  many  of  that  order  of  relormers 
obtained  their  convictions  through  the  distress  ol  these 
years." — Martineau's  Thirti/  Ytars  of  Peace,  i.  -bi  ■  At 
that  period  the  author,  whose  head  was  then  more  full  o4  j 
academical  studies  than  political  speculations,  Irequenily  , 
stated  it  in  company  as  a  problem  in  algebra,  easy  ol  sol-  j 
ution,  "  Given  the  Toryism  of  a  landed  proprietor,  required  I 
to  find  the  period  of  want  of  rents  which  will  reduce  him  J 
to  a  Radical  reformer."    He  little  thought  then  what  mo-i 
menlous  consequences  to  his  country  and  the  world  weroj 
to  ensue  from  the  solution  of  the  problem. 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE, 


1621.] 

The  ceremony  took  place  accordingly,  but  it 
,„,         soon  appeared  that  the  precautions 
Ceremony     and  apprehensions  were  alike  ground- 
on  the  oc-  less.     This  coronation  was  nieraora- 
casion.  \^Iq^   j^q^   only  for   the   unparalleled 

magnificence  of  the  dresses,  decorations,  and 
arrangements  made  on  the  occasion,  but  for  this 
circumstance — it  was  the  last  where  the  gor- 
geous but  somewhat  grotesque  habiliments  of 
feudal  times  appeared,  or  will  ever  appear,  in 
the  realm  of  England.  All  that  the  pomp  of 
modern  times  coiild  produce,  or  modern  wealth 
purchase,  joined  to  the  magnificence  of  ancient 
costume,  were  there  combined,  and  with  the 
most  imposing  effect.  The  procession,  which 
moved  from  the  place  where  it  was  marshaled 
in  Westminster  Hall  to  the  Abbey;  the  cere- 
mony of  coronation  within  the  Abbey  itself, 
which  had  seen  so  many  similar  pageants  from 
the  earliest  da3's  of  English  storj^;  the  splendid 
banquet  in  the  Hall,  where  tiie  Champion  of 
liLngland,  in  full  armor,  rode  in,  threw  down  his 
gauntlet  to  all  who  challenged  the  King's  title, 
and  backed  his  harnessed  steed  out  of  the  Hall 
without  turning  on  his  sovereign,  were  all  ex- 
hibited with  the  most  overpowering  magnifi- 
cence. Sir  Walter  Scott,  whose  mind  was  so 
fraught  with  chivalrous  images,  has  declared 
that  "  a  ceremony  more  august  and  imposing  in 
all  its  parts,  or  more  calculated  to  make  the 
deepest  impression  both  on  the  eye  and  the  feel- 
ings, can  not  possibly  be  conceived.  The  ex- 
'  Sir  Walter  P*^"^*'>  ^^  ^^^  ^^  '^  is  national  or  per- 
Scott's  Ue-  sonal,  goes  directly  and  instantly  to 
seription,      the  encouragement  of  the    British 

EJinburgti  manufacturer.  It  operates  as  a  tax 
Chronicle,  ,.,  ,  .',       ..       ^      ,, 

July  23,  on  wealth,  and  consideration  tor  the 
1821  ;  Ann.  benefit  of  poverty  and  industry — 
2^-^^fa^'  ^  ^'^^  willingly  paid  by  one  class, 
Hughes  'vi.  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  acceptable  to  the  other, 
471°  472;  because  it  adds  a  happy  holiday 
to  the  monotony  of  a  life  of  la- 
bor." ' 

Men  whose  names  have  become  immortal, 
los.        walked — some  of  them,  alas!  for  the 
Aspect  of     last   time — in    that    magnificent   pa- 
Welling-       nreant.     There  was  AVellington,  who 
ton,  Lon-      &  i  •      ,  •     ,        i  ^i      i^ 

donderry,  grasped  in  Ins  hand  the  baton  won 
andCieorge  on  the  field  of  Vitloria,  and  bore  by 
'^  ■  his  side  the  sword  which  struck  down 

Napoleon  on  the  plains  of  Waterloo,  and  whose 
Roman  countenance,  improved  but  not  yet 
dimmed  by  years,  bespoke  the  lofty  cast  of  his 
mind;  there  Lord  Castlereagli,  who  had  recent- 
ly succeeded  to  the  title  of  Londonderry,  in  tlie 
magnificent  robes  of  the  Garter,  with  his  high 
plumes,  fine  face,  and  majestic  person,  appear- 
ed a  fitting  representative  of  the  Order  of  Kd- 
ward  III. ;  and  there  was  the  Sovereign,  tlie 
descendant  of  the  founder  of  the  Garter,  whose 
air  and  countenance,  tiiough  almost  sinking 
under  tlie  weight  of  magnificence  and  jewels, 
revealed  his  high  descent,  and  evinced  the  still 
untarnished  blood  of  the  Plantagenets  and  Stu- 
arts. Nor  was  female  beauty  wanting  to  grace 
the  splendid  spectacle,  for  all  the  noblest  and 
fairest  of  the  nobility  of  England,  tiie  most  love- 

o  C--  „r  .  ly  '■«ce  in  the  world,  were  there,  and 
'  Sir  Wal-    •'--.-  -'....       '     - 


35T 


App.  to 
CUron. 


tcr  Scott, 


added  the  lustre  of  their  diamonds. 


ut  supra;      and  the  still  brighter  lustre  of  their 
Hughes, vi.  (.yes,    to    the    eticliaiitment    of    the 
'  ■  matchless  gceue.' 


But  the  first  and  highest  lady  in  the  realm 
was  not  there;  and  the  disappoint- 
ment she  experienced  at  being  re-  ,j,jjg  oueen 
fused  admittance  was  one  cause  of  js  refused 
her  death,  Avhich  soon  after  ensued,  admittance; 
The  Queen,  with  that  resolution  and  '^^^^j^'l^"'- 
indomitable  spirit  which,  for  good  °' 
or  for  evil,  has  ever  been  the  characteristic  of 
her  race,  though  refused  a  ticket,  resolved  to 
force  her  way  into  the  Abbey,  and  witness,  at 
least,  if  she  was  not  permitted  to  take  part  in, 
the  ceremoii}-.  She  came  to  the  door,  accoi-d- 
ingly,  in  an  open  barouche,  drawn  by  six  beau- 
tiful ba\'s,  accompanied  by  Lord  and  Lady 
Hood  and  Lady  Anne  Hamilton,  and  was  loud- 
ly cheered  by  the  populace  as  she  jiassed  along 
tlie  streets.  When  she  approached  the  Abbey, 
however,  some  cries  of  an  opposite  description 
were  heard ;  and  when  she  arrived  at  the  door, 
she  was  respectfullj-,  but  firml}-,  refused  admit- 
tance by  the  door-keeper,  who  had  the  painful 
duty  imposed  on  him  of  denying  access  to  his 
sovereign.  She  retired  from  the  door,  after 
some  altercation,  deeply  mortified,  amidst  cries 
from  the  people,  some  cheers,  but  others  whicli 
pi-oved  how  much  general  opinion  had  changed 
in  regard  to  her.  Such  was  the  chagrin  she 
experienced  from  this  event,  that,  combined 
with  an  obstruction  of  the  bowels  that  soon 
after  seized  her,  mortification  ensued,  which 
terminated  fatally  in  little  more  than  a  fort- 
night afterward.  The  ruling  passion  appeared 
strong  in  death.  She  ordered  that  i^nn.Rcg. 
her  remains  should  not  be  left  in  i82l,  347, 
England,  but  carried  to  her  native  348 ;  App. 
land,  and  buried  beside  her  ancestors,  i"„V,hes"vi 
with  this  inscription,  "Here  lies  Car-  473° 474'; 
oline  of  Brunswick,  the  injured  Queen  Martineau, 
of  England.'"  *•  ^G"- 

Before  tlie  death  of  the  Queen  Avas  known, 
the  King  had  made  preparations  for         j  j^ 
a  visit  to  Ireland,  and  it  was  not  King's  visit 
thought  proper  to  interrupt  them,  to  Ireland. 
On  Saturday,  11th  August,  his  Ma-  ^"S-  ^^■ 
jesty  embarked  at  Holyhead,  and  on  the  f>.d- 
lowing  afternoon  landed  at  Howth  in  the  B;iy 
of  Dublin,  where  he  was  received  with  the 
loudest  acclamations,  and  the  most  lieartfelt 
demonstrations  of  loyalty,  by  that  warm-heart- 
ed and  easily-excited  jicople.     They  escorted 
him  with  the  most  tumultuous  acclamations  to 
the  vice-regal  lodge,  from  the  steps  of  which  he 
thus  addressed  them:  "This  is  one  of  the  hap- 
piest days  of  my  life.     I  liave  long  wished  to 
visit  you.     My  lieart  has  always  been  Irish: 
from  "the  day  it  first  beat,  I  loved  Ireland,  and 
this  day  has  shown  me  that  I  am  beloved  by 
my  Irish  subjcets.      Ivank,  station,  honors,  are 
nothing;  but  to  feci  that  I  live  in  the  hearts  of 
my  Irish  subjects,  is  to  mo  exalted  hap|)iness." 
These  felicitous  expressions  diffused  universal 
enchantment,  and,  combined  with  the  graceful 
condescension  and  dignified  allability  of  man- 
ner which  the  Sovereign  knew  so  well  to  exhih- 
it  when  inclined  to  do  so,  roused  tlio  loyally  <>f 
the  ]ienple  to  a  jierfect  enthusiasm.     For  the 
week  that  lie   remained   there,  his 
life  was  a  continued  triumph:  re-  jpa^^is'/^ 
views,  theatres,  spectacles,  and  en-  i31;'App. 
tertainments,  succeeded  one  anoth-  to  Cliron. ; 
er  in  brilliant  succession;  and  after  4;!j'''47'5  ^'' 
a  short  sojourn  at  Slanes  Castle,'  the 


ros 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[CUAP.  X. 


seat  of  tlio  Marquis  of  Conynrrhain,  he  returned 
to  Kiii;laikl,  aiiil  soon  after  paid  a  visit  to  Han- 
over, wliere  lie  was  reeeived  in  the  same  cor- 
dial and  sjdendid  manner. 

The  funeral  of  the  Queen  took  plaee  on  the 
,jj  14th  Axigust,  at  the  very  time  when 
Fuiierai  of  the  King  was  receiving  the  impas- 
iiioyuucn,  sioncd  demonstrations  of  loyalty  on 
nmldis-  ^]  pj,,,j  of  his  Irish  subjects;  and  it 
missal  01  ■   .  •    1-  1  ]     1-  3-.    \  1 

SirU.Wil-  caused    a    pamlul    and  discreditable 

son  from  scene,  which  led  to  the  dismissal  of 
ihc  army,  q^q  ^f  x\iq  most  gallant  ofheers  in  the 
Enclish  army  from  the  service  which  his  valor 
and  conduct  had  so  long  adorned.  It  had  been 
directed  by  her  Majesty  that  her  body,  as  al- 
ready mentioned,  should  be  taken  to  Brunswick 
to  be  interred.  Anxious  to  avoid  any  rioting 
or  painful  occurrence  in  conveying  the  body 
from  Brandenberg  House,  where  she  died,  to 
the  place  where  it  was  to  be  embarked,  Rom- 
ford in  Essex,  Ministei"s  had  directed  that  tlie 
hearse  which  conveyed  the  body,  with  attend- 
ants suitable  to  her  rank,  should  proceed  by  a 
circuitous  route  through  the  north  suburbs  of 
London  and  the  new  road  to  Islington.  Tlie 
direct  road  to  Romford,  however,  lay  through 
the  city;  and  the  people  were  resolved  that 
the  procession  should  go  that  way,  that  they 
might  have  an  opportunity  of  testifying  their 
respect  to  the  illustrious  deceased.  As  the  or- 
ders of  the  persons  intru.sted  with  the  direction 
of  the  procession  were  to  go  the  other  way, 
and  they  attempted  to  do  so,  the  populace 
formed  in  a  close  column  twenty  deep,  across 
the  road  at  Cumberland  Gate,  and  after  a  se- 
vere conflict,  both  there  and  at  Tottenham 
Court  Road,  in  the  course  of  which  two  men 
were  unfortunately  killed  by  shots  from  the 
Life-Guards,  the  procession  was  fairly-  forced 
'  \n  Re"  ^"*^°  ^'^^  ^^^^  which  the  people  de- 
1821,126"  sired,  and  proceeded  through  the 
127 ;  App.  city  in  great  pomp,  amidst  an  im- 
I?  '"u'°"'.'  me'nse  crowd  of  spectators,  with  the 
474^475'-  '  Lord  Mayor  and  civic  authorities  at 
Martineau,  its  head,  the  bells  all  tolling,  and  the 
i.  261.  shops  shut.^ 

The.  procession  reached  Romford  without 
further  interruption,  and  the  unhap- 
Dismilsal  VY  Q"een  was  at  length  interred  at 
of  Sir  R.  Brunswick  on  August  2.3d.  But  the 
Wilson  occurrence  in  London  led  to  a  melan- 
froni  the  (>],oiy  i.^gult  in  Great  Britain.  Sir 
arf"y-  Robert    Wilson,    who    had    remon- 

Eti-ated  with  the  military  on  occasion  of  this 
affra}-,  and  taken  an  active  part  in  the  proces- 
sion,"though  not  in  the  riot,  and  the  police  mag- 
istrate who  had  yielded  to  the  violence  of  the 
populace,  and  changed  the  direction  of  the  pro- 
cession, were  both  dismissed,  the  first  from  the 
service,  the  last  from  his  situation.  However 
much  all  must  regret  that  so  gallant  and  distin- 
guished an  officer  as  Sir  Robert  Wilson  should 
have  been  lost,  even  for  a  time,  to  the  British 
army,  no  right-thinking  person  can  hesitate  as 
to  the  propriety  of  this  step.  Obedience  is  the 
fii"st  duty  of  the  armed  force  ;  it  acts,  but  should 
never  deliberate.  He  who  tries  to  make  soldiers 
forget  their  duty  to  their  sovereign,  or  sets  the 
example  of  doing  so,  fails  in  his  duty  to  his 
king,  but  still  more  to  his  country ;  for  the 
cause  of  freedom  has  been  often  thrown  back, 
but  never  yet  was,  in  the  end,  promoted  by 


military  revolt ;  and  it  was  not  a  time  to  pro- 
voke such  a  catastr()i)lic  in  Cireat  Britain,  when 
military  revolution  had  just  proved  ^  ii„„he<, 
so  fatal  to  the  cause  of  liberty  not  vi.  475,4^6; 
less  than  of  order  in  southern  Eu-  Ann.  Reg. 


rope. 


1821,  12B. 


JS'otwithstanding  the  favorable  state  of  gen- 
eral feeling  in  the  country,  and  the  ]]3 
improved  condition  of  the  manufac-  Changes  in 
turing  classes.  Ministers  felt  that  their  i''e  *-abinet. 
position  was  insecure,  and  that  it  was  highly 
desirable  to  obtain  some  further  accession  of 
strength,  both  in  the  Cabinet  and  the  House 
of  Commons.  The  continued  and  deep  distress 
of  the  agricultural  interest  had  not  only  led  to 
several  clo.se  divisions  in  the  preceding  session 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  but  occasioned  sev- 
eral public  meetings,  where  the  voice  of  that 
class  had  made  itself  loudly  heard.  They  had 
actually  resigned  upon  his  Majesty's  demand 
for  a  divorce;  they  had  been  all  but  ship- 
wrecked on  the  Queen's  trial ;  and  on  occasion 
of  the  late  riots  at  her  funeral,  he  had  let  fall 
some  alarming  expressions  as  to  the  way  in 
which  that  delicate  affair  had  been  conducted. 
It  was  deemed  indispensable,  therefore,  to  look 
out  for  support;  and  the  Grenville  party — a 
sort  of  flying  squadron  between  the  Ministe- 
rialists and  Liberals,  but  who  had  liitherto 
always  acted  with  the  Whigs — presented  the 
fairest  prospect  of  an  alliance.  Proposals  were 
made  accordingly,  and  accepted.  Lord  Gren- 
ville, the  head  of  the  party,  was  disabled  by 
infirmities  from  taking  an  active  part  in  public 
life,  and  could  not  be  lured  from  Lis  retreat; 
but  the  Marquis  of  Buckingham  was  made  a 
duke ;  Mr.  Wynne,  President  of  tlie  Board  of 
Control ;  and  Mr.  H.  Wynne,  envoy  to  the 
Swiss  Cantons.  This  coalition  gained  Alinisters 
a  few  votes  in  the  House  of  Commons;  but  it 
was  of  more  importance  as  indicating,  as  changes 
in  the  Cabinet  generally  do,  the  commencement 
of  a  change  in  the  sj'stem  of  government.  The 
admission  of  even  a  single  Whig  into  the  Cab- 
inet indicated  the  increasing  weight  of  that 
party  in  the  country,  and  as  they  were  favor- 
able to  the  Catholic  claims,  it  was  an  important 
change.  Lord  Eldon,  ultimus  Roma-  2  xwiss's 
norwii,  presaged  no  good  from  the  Life,  ii.  446; 
alliance.  "  This  coalition,"  he  said,  Life  of  Sid- 
"  will  have  consequences  very  dif-  3"2"'Ann. 
ferent  fi-om  those  expected  by  the  Reg.i&2],4, 
members  of  the  administration  who  S ;  Hughes, 
brought  it  about.  I  hate  coalitions."^  "*'• '*^2- 

A  still  more  important  change  took  place  ai  ] 
the  same  time,  in  the  retirement  of        jj^ 
Lord  Sidmouth  from  the  onerous  and  Retirement 
responsible  post  of  Home  Secretary,  of  Lord  Sid- 
A  life  of  thirty  years  in  harness,  op-  "J°uecV."deS 
pressed  with  the  cares  of  official  life,  by  Mr.  Peel, 
had  nearly  exhausted  the  phj-sical  as  Home 
strength,  though    they   had   by  no  Secretary, 
means  dimmed" the  mental  energy  of  this  con- 
scientious and  intrepid  statesman ;  and  though 
no  decline  in  his  faculties  was  perceptible  to 
those  around  him,  he  felt  that  the  tinie  liad 
arrived  when  he  should  withdraw  from   the 
cares  and  responsibility  of  office,  and  dedicate 


*  Sir  R.  \yilson~was  after^vard  restored  to  his  rank  in 
the  army,  and  was  for  some  years  Governor  of  Gibraltar  ; 
but  his  military  decorations,  bestowed  by  the  Liiglisn 
Government,  were  never  restored. 


1821.] 


HISTORY   OF  EUROPE. 


359 


his  remaining  yeai's  to  the  enjoyment  of  his 
family,  to  wliich  he  was  strongly  attached,  and 
his  duties  to  his  Maker.  He  deemed  it  a  fitting 
opportunity  to  take  such  a  step,  when  the  in- 
ternal situation  of  the  country  was  so  tranquil 
that  the  public  service  could  sustain  no  detri- 
ment by  his  withdrawing  from  it;  for  had  it 
been  otherwise,  he  would,  at  any  hazard  to  his 
own  health  or  life,  have  remained  at  his  post.* 
lie  was  succeeded  in  his  arduous  duties  by  a 
much  younger  man,  Mr.,  afterward  Sir  Robekt 
Peel,  one  of  greater  abilities,  and  whose  mind 
was  more  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the 
age,  but  not  of  greater  energj'  and  integrity, 
and  by  no  means  of  equal  moral  courage.  Lord 
Bidmouth's  abilities,  though  not  of  the  highest 
order,  were  of  the  most  useful  kind,  and  his 
administrative  talents  stood  forth  pre-eminent. 
His  industry  was  indefatigable,  his  energy  un- 
tiring, his  intrepidity,  both  moral  and  physical, 
such  as  nothing  could  quell.  He  steered  the 
vessel  of  the  state,  during  the  anxious  years 
which  succeeded  the  close  of  the  war,  through 
all  the  shoals  with  which  it  was  beset,  with 
1  Lord  Sid-  exemplary  vigor  and  undaunted 
mouth  to  courage;    and  it  was   not  a  little 

Bishop  Hunt-  owing  to  his  resolution  that  the  cri- 
ingford,  Nov.     .        =  ^    j  •      -.o-.,^       i  •   i 

11,1821 ;  Sid-  SIS  was  surmounted  in  1820,  which 
mouth's  Life,  proved  fatal  to  the  cause  of  liberty 
iii.  388,  391).     a,j(j  order  in  so  many  other  states.' 
This  parliamentary  coalition  was   attended 
j]5  with  still  more  important  changes 

Lord  Welles-  in  Ireland,  for  there  it  commenced 
ley  appointed  an  entire  alteration  in  the  system 
Ireland^  and  ^^  government,  which  has  contin- 
ehange'in  tlie  ued,  with  little  interruption,  to  the 
government  present  day.  As  the  Protestants, 
there.  ^^.gj,  sj^ce  the  Revolution,  had  been 

the  dominant  party  in  that  island,  and  the 
Catholics  were  known  to  be  decidedly  hostile 
both  to  the  British  government  and  alliance, 
the  Viceroy,  and  all  the  officers  of  s'.ati  Avho 
composed  its  government,  had  hitherto  been 
invariably  stanch  Protestants ;  and  Lord  Tal- 
bot, the  present  Viceroy,  and  Mr.  Saurin,  the 
Attorney-general,  were  of  that  persuasion.  But 
as  the  Cabinet  itself  was  now  divided  on  the 
subject  of  concession  of  the  Catholic  claims,  it 
was  tiiought  necessary  to  make  a  similar  parti- 
tion in  the  Irish  administration.  Accordingly, 
Marquis  Wellesley,  a  decided  supporter  of'the 
Catholics,  was  made  Lord-lieutenant  in  room 
of  Lord  Tall)ot;  Mr.  Saurin,  the  champion  of 
the  Orange  party,  maile  way  for  Mr.  Plunkctt, 
the  eloquent  advocate  of  the  Catholic  claims 
ia  the  House  of  Commons ;  and  Mr.  Bushe,  also 
a  Catholic  supporter,  was  made  Solicitor-gen- 
eral; while,  on  the  principle  of  preserving  a 
balance  of  parties,  Mr.  Goulburn,  a  stanch 
Protestant,  was  appointed  Secretary  to  the  gov- 
ernment. Great  expectations  were  formed  of 
the  beneficial  effects  of  this  conciliatory  policy, 
which,  it  was  hoped,  would  continue  (he  una- 
nimity of  loyal  feeling  which  had  animated  the 
country  during  the  visit  of  the  Sovereign.  J}ut 
tlieseJiopes  were  miserably  diga[)pi)inte(l :  ])arty 
strife  was  increased  instead  of  being  diminish- 
ed by  the   first  step  toward  equality  of  gov- 


*  "  Th('  truth  in,  it  was  brraum-  my  odirjal  hod  liad  he- 
come  a  hcd  of  roses,  that  I  (IclcriiiiiKil  to  withdniw  from 
it.  When  strewn  with  lliorns,  1  would  not  have  led  it." 
-~Sidm.uutk's  Life,  iii.  3'Jt). 


ernment,  and  the  next  year  added  another  to 
the  innumerable  proofs  which  the  i  Pearce's 
annals  of  Ireland  have  afforded,  Memoirs  of 
that  its  evils  are  social,  not  polit-  Wellesley,_ 
ical,  and  are  increased  rather  than  ^^^^  ^  ' ' 
diminished  by  the  extension  to  its  1622,  7 ; 
inliabitants  of  the  privileges  of  free  Hughes,  vi. 
citizens.  1  ^^"• 

Entirely  agricultural  in  their  habits,  pursuits, 
and  desires — solely  dependent  for  jjg 
their  subsistence  on  the  fruits  of  cause  of  the 
the  soil,  and  without  manufactures,  wretchedness 
mines,  fisheries,  or  means  of  liveli-  °^  Irt^l^n^. 
hood  of  any  sort,  save  in  Ulster,  except  that 
derived  from  its  cultivation — the  possession  of 
land,  and  the  sale  of  its  produce,  was  a  matter 
of  life  or  death  to  the  Irish  people.  The  natu- 
ral improvidence  of  the  Celtic  race,  joined  to 
the  entire  absence  of  all  those  limitations  on 
the  principle  of  increase  which  arise  from  habits 
of  comfort,  the  desire  of  rising,  or  the  dread  of 
falling,  in  the  world — and  the  interested  views 
of  the  Catholic  priesthood,  who  encouraged 
marriage,  from  the  profits  which  bridals  and 
christenings  brought  to  themselves — had  over- 
spread the  land  with  an  immense  and  redund- 
ant population,  which  had  no  other  means  of 
livelihood  but  the  possession  and  cultivation 
of  little  bits  of  land.  There  were  few  laborers 
living  on  paid  wages  in  any  of  the  provinces  of 
Ireland;  in  Leinster,  Munster,  and  Connaught, 
where  the  Celtic  race  and  Catholic  creed  pre- 
dominated, scarcely  any.  Of  farmers  possessed 
of  capital,  and  employing  farm-servants,  there 
were  in  the  south  and  west  none.  Emigration 
had  not  as  yet  opened  its  boundless  resourceg, 
or  spread  out  the  garden  of  the  Far  West  for  the 
starving  multitudes  of  the  Emerald  Isle.  They 
had  no  resources  or  means  of  livelihood,  but  in 
the  possession  of  little  pieces  of  land,  for  which 
they  bid  against  each  other  with  the  utmost 
eagerness,  and  from  which  they  excluded  the 
stranger  with  the  most  jealous  care.  Six  mil- 
lions of  men,  without  either  capital  or  industry, 
shut  up  within  the  four  corners  of  a  narrow 
though  fruitful  land,  were  contending  with 
each  other  for  the  possession  of  their  patches 
of  the  earth,  like  wolves  inclosed  „  , 

within  walls  for  pieces  of  carrion,  LifcofWel- 
whose  hostility  against  each  other  le,slcy,iii.348; 

was  oidv  interrupted  bv  a  conmion  •^"-  'A"^"-  "^'''2) 

I        •'  ■     ,  11  i  11;  Marnuis 

rush  against  any  hapless  stranger  -weiie-sley  to 
wiio    might   venture   to    apj>roach  Mr.  Secretary 
their  bounds,  and  threaten  to  share  I'^-'-J.  ^^^-  2'J. 
their  scanty  meal.='  ^*^''^^- 

Experience  has  abundantly  proved,  since  that 
time,  what  reason,  not  blinded  by 
party,  liad  already  discovered—  ^haVwould 
what  were  the  real  remedies  for  have  relieved 
such  ati  alarming  and  disastrous  Hn'  country, 
state  of  things,  and  what  alone  could  "["'''''  "'■!»- 
have  given  any  lasting  relief  These 
were,  to  furnish  the  means  of  emigration,  at 
the  j)ublie  cxjiense,  to  (he  most  destitute  of 
the  jicasants  of  tlu;  count ry,  and  form  roads, 
canals,  and  harbors,  to  facilitate  the  sale  of 
the  produce  of  such  as  remained  at  Jiome. 
Having  in  this  way  got  quit  of  the  worst  and 
most  dangerous  part  of  the  population,  and 
lessened  tiie  competition  for  small  farms  atiiong 
such  as  were  still  there,  an  opening  would  havr 
been  afforded  for  farmers,  possessed  of  capital 


S(5v) 


HISTORY    OF    EUROTR 


[Cinr.  X. 


niiil  skill,  from  F.nglniul  nml  Sootlniul,  to  occu- 
py iho  laiul  (if  tlu)!<o  who  Imd  boon  romovod  to 
It  liapi'ior  lioiiiisi<horo  ;  aiul  with  thoin  tlio  re- 
ligion, imlustriiil  liabits,  and  odiioation  of  tlie 
iiiluibitants  of  (iroat  IJritain,  might  gradually, 
and  in  the  course  of  gonorations,  iiave  been  in- 
troduced. But,  unfortunately,  party  ambition 
and  jiolitical  delusion  blindoJ  men  to  ail  these 
rational  views,  which  went  only  to  bless  the 
country,  not  to  elevate  a  now  part\-  to  its  di- 
roction.  Faction  fastened  upon  Ireland  as  the 
arena  whore  the  Ministry  might  be  assailed 
with  effect;  Catholic  enuuicipation  was  cher- 
isfiod  and  incessantly  brought  forward,  as  the 
wedge,  the  point  of  which,  already  inserted, 
might  be  made,  by  a  few  hard  strokes,  to  split 
the  Cabinet  in  pieces;  and  while  motions  on 
tills  subject,  involving  the  entry  of  sixty  gentle- 
men into  Parliament,  enforced  b}'  the  elocjuence 
of  Canning  and  I'lunkett,  and  resisted  by  the 
argument  of  Feel,  never  failed  to  attract  a  full 
attendance  of  members  on  both  sides  of  the 
House,  Mr.  Wilmot  Hortou's  proposals  regard- 
ing emigration,  the  only  real  remedy  for  the 
evils  of  the  unhappy  country,  and  involving 
the  fate  of  six  millions,  were  coldly  listened  to, 
and  generally  got  quit  of  by  the  House  being 
counted  out. 

But  it  was  not  merely  by  sins  of  omission 
118.        that  the  legislature,  at  this  period, 
Ruinous       left  unhealed  the  wounds,  and  imre- 
effect  otthe  iieYe(j  the  miseries,  of  Ireland.  Their 
contraction    i      ,       />  •     •  . -ii 

or  the  cur-    deeds  oi  commission  were  still  more 

rency  upon  disastrous  in  their  effects.  The  eon- 
Irelaad.  traction  of  the  currency,  and  conse- 
quent fall  of  the  prices  of  agricultural  pro- 
duce fifty  per  cent.,  fell  with  crushing  effect 
upon  a  country   wholly  agricultural,    and   a 

Eeople  who  had  no  other  mode  of  existence 
ut  the  sale  of  that  produce.  This  had  gone 
on  now  for  nearly  three  years ;  and  its  effect 
had  been,  not  only  to  suck  the  little  capital 
which  they  possessed  out  of  the  farmers,  but 
in  many  instances  to  produce  a  deep-rooted 
feeling  of  animosity  between  them  and  their 
landlords,  which  was  leading  to  the  most 
frightful  disorders.*  All  the  agrarian  out- 
i  pearee's  rages  which  have  in  every  age  dis- 
Memoirsof  graced  Ireland  have  arisen  from  one 
Weliesley,  cause — the  contests  for  pieces  of  land, 
Ann^kee  *^^^  dread  of  being  ejected  from  them, 
1822,  14,  and  jealousy  of  any  stranger's  inter- 
lo  ;  Mar-  ference.  It  is  no  wonder  it  is  so  ;  for 
quis  \v  el-    j.^  Q^(,j^  jj,  jg  ^  question,  not  of  change 

lesley  to  ,  ■  X     ^      r  l-c  1      .11 

Secretary  ^f  possession,  but  ot  lite  or  death.' 
of  Statu,  The  ruinous  fall  in  the  price  of  agri- 
1822^^'  cultural  produce  of  all  sorts  had  ren- 
dered the  payment  of  rents,  at  least, 
in  full,  wholly  impossible,  and  had  led,  in  con- 
sequence, to  measures  of  severity  having  been 
in  many  instances  resorted  to.  Distrainings 
had  become  frequent ;  ejections  were  beginning 
to  be  resorted  to,  and  the  landlords  were  fain 


*  "  I  request  your  attention  to  the  sugsestions  which  I 
have  submitted  for  the  more  effectual  restraint  of  this  sys- 
tem of  mysterious  engagements,  formed  under  the  solem- 
nity of  secret  oaths,  binding  his  Majesty's  liege  subjects  to 
act  under  authorities  not  known  to  the  law,  nor  derived 
from  the  State,  for  purposes  undefined,  not  disclosed  in 
the  first  process  of  initiation,  nor  until  the  infatuated 
noTice  has  been  sworn  to  the  vow  of  unlimited  and  law- 
IcoiS  obedience." — Marquis  Wellesley  to  Mr.  Secretary 
Peel,  Jan.  29,  1823  ;  U/e  of  WeUeslaj,  lii.  360. 


to  introduce  a  set  of  Scotch  or  English  farmers, 
who  might  succeed  in  realizing  those  rents 
which  tiioy  had  enjoyed  in  former  days,  but 
saw  no  longer  a  chance  of  extracting  from  their 
Celtic  tenant rj'. 

This  was  immediately  met  by  the  usual  sys- 
tem of  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  jjg 
existing  occupants  of  the  soil;  and  Progress  of 
on  this  occasion  it  assumed  a  more  the  agra- 
organizodand  formidable  appearance  y"""''*- 
than  it  had  ever  previously  done,  in  inland. 
Over  the  whole  extent  of  the  three  # 
disturbed  provinces  a  regular  system  of  noc- 
turnal outrage  and  violence  was  commenced, 
and  carried  on  for  a  long  time  with  almost  en- 
tire impunity.  Houses  were  entered  in  the 
night  by  bands  of  ruffians  with  their  faces 
blackened,  who  carried  off  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion, and  cominited  outrages  of  every  descrip- 
tion ;  the  roads  w-ere  beset  by  armed  and 
mounted  bodies  of  insurgents,  who  robbed 
every  person  the}-  met,  and  broke  into  every 
house  which  lay  on  their  way ;  and  to  such  a 
length  did  their  audacit}'  reach,  that  they  en- 
gaged, in  bodies  of  five  hundred  and  a  thousand, 
with  the  yeomanry  and  militaiy  forces,  and 
not  unfrequently  came  off  victorious.  Even 
when,  by  concentrating  the  troops,  an  advan- 
tage was  obtained  in  one  quarter,  it  was  only 
at  the  expense  of  losses  in  another ;  for  the 
"  Bockites,"  as  they  were  called,  dispersed  into 
small  bodies,  and,  taking  advantage  of  the 
absence   of  the    military,    pursued 

their  depredations  at  a  distance.  JS'o  i  ^'^^l^f!? , 
,         .,     i  .  .,  J  Lile  of  \V el- 

less  tlian  two  thousand  men  assem-  lesley,  iii. 
bled  in  the  mountains  to  the  north  334,  335, 
of  Bandon,  and  their  detachments  ?*^'i"^yv'i 
committed  several  murders  and  out-  iggiey  to  Mr. 
rages ;   and  five  thousand  mustered  Secretary 

together,  many  of  them  armed  w-ith  }''^^^<  ■^^^■ 

1     *  ii  J  1      29,  lb23; 

muskets,  near  Macroom,  and  openly  ^,',„  jj^' 

bid  defiance  to  the  civil  and  military  1622,  lo. 
forces  of  the  countr}'.' 

These  frightful  and  alarming  outrages  com- 
manded the  early  and  vigilant  attention  of  the 
Lord-lieutenant.      Isot   content  with   sending 
immediate  succor,  in  men   and   arms,  to   the 
menaced  districts,  he  prepared  and  laid  before 
Government  several  memorials  on  the  measures 
requisite    to    restore   order   in    the 
country,  in  which,  as  the  first  step,        120. 
a  great  increase  in  the  police  estab-  iJ^gfey-g  able 
lishment  of  the  country  was  suggest-  conduct  and 
ed.*     At  the  same  time  the  greatest  impartiali- 
exertions  were  made  to  reconcile  par  '^  • 
ties,  and  efface  Jiarty  distinctions  at  the  Castle 
of  Dublin.       I'ersons  of  respectability  of  all 
parties  shared   in  the  splendid   hospitality  of 
the   Lord-lieutenant ;   Orange  processions  and 


*  One  authentic  document  may  convey  an  idea  of  the 
general  state  of  Ireland,  with  the  exception  of  the  Protes- 
tant province  of  Ulster,  at  this  period.  "The  progress 
of  tins  diabolical  system  of  outrage,  during  the  last  month, 
has  been  most  alarming  ;  and  we  regret  to  say  that  we 
have  been  obliged,  from  want  of  adequate  force,  to  remain 
almost  passive  spectators  of  its  daring  advances,  until  at 
length  many  have  been  obliged  to  convert  their  houses 
into  garrisons,  and  others  have  sought  refuge  in  the 
towns.  We  can  not  expect  individuals  to  leave  their 
houses  and  families  exposed,  while  they  go  out  with 
patrolling  parties ;  and  to  continue  in  such  duty  (or  any 
length  of  time,  is  beyond  their  physical  strength,  and  in- 
consistent with  their  other  duties." — (MemoriiU  oflwenty 
eight  Magistrates  of  County  Cork.)  A)inual  RegisUTt  j 
IvSi,  p.  9. 


1822.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROTE. 


3C1 


commemorations  were  diseourat^eJ  ;  the  dress- 
ing of  King  William's  statue  in  Dublin,  a  par- 
ty demonstration,  -was  prohibited  ;  and  every 
ctl'ort  made  to  show  that  Government  was  in 
earnest  in  its  endeavors  to  appease  religious 
dissensions,  and  heal  the  frightful  discord  which 
had  so  long  desolated  the  country.  But  the 
transition  from  a  wrong  to  a  right  system  is 
often  more  perilous  than  the  following  out  of  a 
wrong  one.  You  alienate  one  party  without 
conciliating  the  other ;  so  much  more  deep  is 
recollection  of  injur}-,  than  gratitude  for  bene- 
lits  in  the  human  breast.  Marquis  "Wellesley's 
administration,  so  different  from  any  thing  they 
,  j^^^  -^  had  ever  experienced,  gave  the  ut- 
18-22,  14,  16.  most  offense  to  the  Orange  party, 
55  ;  Pearce's  hitherto  in  possession  of  the  whole 
Life  of  Wei-  gjtuations  of  influence  and  power  in 
sTs^^Sm';  the  country.  To  such  a  length  did 
Lord  Wei-  the  discontent  arise,  that  the  Lord- 
M^^% '"  lieutenant  was  publicly  insulted  at 
ta?y  PedT  the  theatre  of  Dublin,  and  the  riot 
Jan.  2'J,  '  was  of  so  serious  a  kind  as  to  give 
1823.  i-jge  to  a  trial  at  the  next  assizes.' 

Dreadful  but  necessary  examples  were  made, 
in  many  of  the  disturbed  districts. 
Dreadful  of  the  most  depraved  and  liardy  of 
examples  in  the  depredators.  So  numerous  had 
the  disturb-  j^g^jj  ^i^g  outrages,  that  although  the 
ed  districts,  ^^^^j.  Q^gjoj.jfy  of  them  had  been 
perpetrated  with  impunitj-,  yet  great  numbers 
of  prisoners  had  been  made — prisoners  against 
whom  the  evidence  was  so  clear  that  their  con- 
viction followed  of  course.  In  Cork,  no  less 
than  366  persons  awaited  the  special  commis- 
sion sent  down  in  February  to  clear  the  jail, 
of  whom  thirty-five  received  sentence  of  death. 
Several  of  these  were  left  for  immediate  execu- 
tion. Similar  examples  were  made  in  Limerick, 
Tipperary,  and  Kilkenn}',  where  the  assizes 
were  uncommonly  heav}- ;  and  by  these  dread- 
ful but  necessary  examples  the  spirit  of  insub- 
ordination was,  by  the  sheer  force  of  terror,  for 
the  time  subdued.  One  curious  and  instructive 
fact  appeared  from  tiie  evidence  adduced  at 
these  melancholy  trials,  and  that  was,  that  the 
principal  leaders  and  most  daring  actors  in 
their  horrid  system  of  nocturnal  outrage  and 
murder,  were  the  persons  who  had  been  cast 
down  from  the  rank  of  substantial  yeomen,  and 
reduced  to  a  state  of  desperation  by 
lb2""3(f  3^  the  long-continued  depression  in  the 
price  of  agricultural  produce.^* 

But  cro  long  a  more  dreadful  evil  than  even 
122.        these  agrarian  outrages  broke  out  in 
Deadful        this  unhappy   land ;    and   tlie  south 
t'aininc  in     ^„j  ^^.^^  yj-  {pj^j-ind  was  punished  by 
the  south  1       •■.     ii  i        1 

and  west  of  "•  calamity  the  natural  consequence, 

Ireland.  in  some  degree,  of  its  sins,  but  aggra- 
Ai.ril,l823.  vatcd  to  a  most  frightful  c-vtcnt  by 


*  "  Thn  anthorri  of  the  outrajes  consisted  of  three 
classes  ;  1.  Many  fanners  had  advanced  tlieir  whole  cap- 
ital in  improvements  upon  the  land.  These  men,  by  the 
depression  of  farming  produce,  had  heen  reiluced  from  the 
rank  of  suhstantial  yeomen  to  complete  indiRenco,  and 
they  readily  entered  into  any  project  likely  to  embroil  the 
country,  and,  by  the  share  of  ediicalion  which  they  pos- 
sessed, unaccompanied  by  any  relicious  sentiments,  be- 
came at  once  the  ablest  and  least  restrained  promoters 
of  mischief  2.  The  second  consisted  of  those  who  had 
been  en^azed  in  the  Uclxllion  oflTOH  anil  their  disciples. 
3.  The  third  consisted  of  the  formidable  mass  of  iirno- 
rance  ami  bigotry  which  was  diffused  throuch  the  wliole 
iouth  of  Ireland."— vlnnuai  llc^stcr,  1822,  p.  30,  31. 


a  visitation  of  Providence.  The  disturbea  state 
of  the  country  during  the  whole  of  1822  had 
caused  the  cultivation  of  potatoes  to  be  very 
generally  neglected  in  the  south  and  west, 
partly  from  the  numbers  engaged  in  agrarian 
outrages,  partly  from  the  terror  inspired  in 
those  who  were  more  peaceably  disposed.  In 
addition  to  this,  the  potato  crops  in  the  autumn 
of  1822  failed,  to  a  very  great  degree,  over  the 
same  districts;  and  though  the  grain  harvest 
was  not  only  good,  but  abundant,  yet  this  had 
no  effect  in  alleviating  the  distresses  of  the  peas- 
antry, because  the  price  of  agricultural  produce 
was  so  low,  and  they  had  been  so  thoroughly 
impoverished  by  its  long  continuance,  that  they 
had  not  the  means  of  purchasing  it.  Literally 
speaking,  they  were  starving  in  the  midst  of 
plenty.  "  The  consequence  was,  that  in  Con- 
naught  and  Munster,  in  the  spring  of  1823, 
multitudes  of  human  beings  were  almost  desti- 
tute of  food;  and  the  nocturnal  disturbances 
ceased,  not  so  much  from  the  terrors  of  the  law, 
as  from  the  physical  exhaustion  of  those  en- 
gaged in  them.  What  was  still  worse,  the  suf- 
ferings of  the  present  had  extinguished  the  hopes 
of  the  future;  and  the  absorption  of  three- 
fourths  of  the  seed-potatoes,  in  many  places, 
in  present  food,  seemed  to  presage  a  still  worse 
famine  in  the  succeeding  year.  In  these  melan- 
choly and  alarming  circumstances,  the  conduct 
of  Government  was  most  praiseworthy,  and 
was  as  much  distinguished  by  active  and  well- 
judged  benevolence  as  it  had  previously  been 
by  impartial  administration,  and  the  energetic 
repression  of  crime.  Five  hundred  thousand 
pounds  were  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Irish 
government  by  the  English  cabinet ;  and  roads, 
bridges,  harbors,  and  sucli  objects  of  public 
utility,  were  set  on  foot  wherever  they  seemed 
practicable.  liut  this  melancholy  calamity 
called  forth  a  still  more  striking  jiroof  of  Brit- 
ish kindness  and  generosity,  and  alforded  proof 
how  thoroughly  Christian  charity  can  oblite- 
rate the  fiercest  divisions,  and  bury  in  oblivion 
the  worst  delinquencies  of  this  world.  England 
forgot  the  sins  of  Ireland ;  she  saw  only  her 
suffering.  Sub.scriptions  were  opened  in  every 
church  and  chapel  of  Great  Britain  ;  and  no  less 
than  £350,000  was  subscribed  in  a  few  weeks, 
and  remitted  to  Dublin,  to  aid  the  i  I'mrce's 
efforts  of  the  local  committees,  by  Memoirs  of 
whom  £150,000  had  been  raised  for  j^y'^lri'^'l^.j 
the  same  benevolent  i)urpose.  By  :m'.i  ;  Ann.' 
tlicse  means  the  famine  was  stayed,  _Ke^'.J822, 
and  the  famishing  multitude  was  sup-  '(f' {ll^^^^l^ 
ported,  till  a  favorable  cron,  in  the  sirli.Tay- 
succeeding  year,  restored  tlie  usual  lor,  Jimo 
means  of  subsistence.'*  ^'^'  "*"'^^* 


*  "The  distress  for  food,  arisinR  principally  from  tUn 
want  of  means  to  purchase  it,  continues  to  prevail  in 
various  districts;  and  the  late  accounts  from  the  south 
and  west  are  of  the  most  allliclinj;  characU-r.  CoIdikI 
Palrickson.  whose  roKiment  (the  lild)  has  recently  re- 
lieved the  5Tth  in  fJalway,  reports  the  sciMies  winch  lh:it 
town  presents  to  be  tnily  distressinc.  Hundreds  of  half- 
famished  wretches  arrive  almost  daily  from  ii  distaiii'e  of 
fifty  miles,  many  of  them  so  exhausted  by  want  of  food 
that  the  means  iaken  to  restore  them /«//  nf  (Jl'irl  frum 
tlir  inrak-nrs.i  nf  llir  diprxtivr  nrpnnn,  orrrixuDiid  hi/  li»if! 
fii.stine"—^>r  I).  11a  in  I)  to  Sir  II.  Tavi.oh.  2!lh  .luiie, 
1822:  Memoirs  nf  Lard  Willrsln/.  ill.  313.  314. 

In  .lune,  1822,  there  were  In  Clare  alone  9'.),()3<.)  persons 
subsistlne  on  d.idy  charily  ;  in  Cork,  122,(1(10  ;  in  Limer- 
ick, 20.(1011,  out  of  a  population  not  at  that  period  exceed- 
ing G7,0U0.— yl««.  lUg.,  1822,  p.  'lU. 


Si".2 


II  I  S  T  0  II  Y    0  F   E  U  lU)  P  E . 


[Chap.  X. 


Thoso  awful  scenes,  in  which  tho  visitations 
I'.'S.         olProviilonoo  wore  luiiiglod  witli  the 
Siisivnsidu    orimosniul  jniiiislunont  ot'nian — and 
oiiho  llu-      both  wore  mot,  and  ooidd  bo  soften- 
iH'as  t  oriuis      111,1  ■    1 

All.  ami  In-  *^"  only,  by  tlic  unwoanod  cnortry 
surrtruoa  of  Christian  beiievoK'noe  —  oxeitod, 
Aot.  ns  •well  thov  niiirht,  the  anxious  at- 

tention of  (tovoriunent  and  tlio  IJritisli  Parlia- 
ment. "Whatever  the  )-eniote  causses  of  so  dis- 
nstrous  a  >^tate  of  things  might  be,  it  was  evi- 
dent that  nothing  but  vigorous  measures  of  re- 
pression could  1)0  relied  on  in  the  mean  time. 
Justice  muft  do  its  work  before  wisdom  com- 
menced its  reform.  I'nfortunately  only  tho 
lirst  was  energetically  and  ])romi>tly  done  ;  the 
last,  from  political  blindness  and  party  ambi- 
tion, was  indefinitely  postj)oned.  Lord  Lon- 
donderry (Lord  Castlercagh)  introduced  into 
the  Lower  House  two  bills,  one  for  the  sus- 
pension of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  until  the 
1st  August  following.  This  was  strongly  re- 
sisted bv  the  Opposition,  but  agreed  to  by  a 
large  majority,  the  numbers  being  195  to  CS. 
The  Insurrection  Act,  which  authorized  the 
Lord-lieutenant,  upon  application  of  a  certain 
proportion  of  the  magistrates  of  a  district,  to 
declare  it  by  proclamation  in  a  state  of  insur- 
rection— and  in  that  event  gave  extraordinary 
powers  of  arrest  to  the  magistrates  of  all  per- 
sons found  out  of  their  houses  between  sunset 
and  sunrise,  and  subjected  the  persons  seized, 
in  certain  events,  to  transportation — was  next 
brought  forward,  and  passed  by  a  large  major- 
ity, the  numbers  being  59  to  15.  Two  other 
bills  were  also  passed,  the  one  indemnifying 
persons  who  had  seized  gunpowder  without 
legal  authority  since  1st  iS'ovember,  and  the 
other  imposing  severe  restrictions  on  the  im- 
portation of  arms  and  ammunition.  The  law- 
less state  of  the  country,  and  the  constant  de- 
mand of  the  nocturnal  robbers  for  arms,  ren- 
dered these  measures  absolutely  necessary  in 
this  as  they  have  been  in  every  other  disturbed 
period  of  Irish  history,  and  the  powers  thus 
conferred  were  immediately  acted  upon  by  tho 
Lord-lieutenant.  A  still  more  efficient  meas- 
ure of  repression  was  adopted  by  a  groat  in- 
I  ijuirhes  crease  of  the  police,  who  were 
vi.  4bl ;  An.  brought  to  that  state  of  vigor  and 
^eg-  !''">     efficiency  which  they  have  ever  since 

'     ■  maintained." 

The  Catholic  claims  were  in  this  session  of 
124  Parliament  again  brought  forward 
Divisions  by  ilr.  Canning,  in  the  form  of  a  mo- 
ontheCatli-  tion  to  give  them  seats  in  the  House 
olic  claims.  ^,f  p^  ^„^j  enforced  with  all  the 
April  3U.  ,  ^1-11 

eloquence  oi  which  he  was  so  con- 
summate a  master.*     They  were  as  strongly 

*  On  tliis  occasion  Mr.  Canning  made  a  very  happy  use 
of  the  late  imposing  ceremony  of  the  coronation,  the  splen- 
dor of  which  was  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  his  auditors. 
"Do  you  imagine,"  said  he,  " it  never  occurred  to  the  re- 
presentatives of  Europe,  that,  contemplating  this  imposing 
spectacle,  it  never  occurred  to  the  embassadors  of  Catho- 
lic Austria,  or  Catholic  France,  or  of  states  more  bigoted, 
if  any  such  there  be.  to  the  Catholic  religion,  to  reflect  that 
the  moment  this  solemn  ceremony  was  over,  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  would  become  deprived  of  the  exercise  of  his  priv- 
ileges among  his  fellow-peers— stripped  of  his  robes  of 
office,  which  were  to  be  laid  aside,  and  hung  up  until  the 
distant  (be  it  a  very  distant!)  day,  when  the  coronation 
of  a  successor  to  his  present  and  gracious  sovereign  should 
asain  call  him  forth  to  assist  at  a  similar  solemnization  ? 
Thus,  after  being  exhibited  to  the  peers  and  people  of 
England,  to  the  representatives  of  princes  and  nations  of 


opposed  by  Jlr.  Peel,  who  repeated  his  solemn 
assurances  of  indelible  hostility  to  the  claims 
of  that  bodv.  The  progressive  change  in  the 
public  minil  on  this  question  was  evinced  in 
the  increasing  majority  in  the  Commons,  which 
this  year  rose  to  12,  the  numbers  being  '235  to 
223,  the  largest  the  Catholics  had  yet  obtained 
in  Parliament.  The  bill,  as  was  anticipated, 
was  thrown  out,  after  a  keen  debate,  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  by  a  majority  of  42,  the  num- 
bers being  171  to  129.  But  as  the  Cabinet  was 
divided  upon  the  subject,  and  its  ablest  mem- 
bers spoke  in  favor  of  the  Catholic  claims,  and 
as  the  House  of  Commons,  by  having  the  com- 
mand of  the  i)ublic  purse,  have  the  real  com- 
mand of  the  country,  these  divisions  were  justly 
considered  by  the  Catholic  party  as  decisive 
triumphs  in  their  favor,  and  as  presaging, 
at  no  distant  period,  their  admis-  i  Ann.  Reg. 
sion  into  both  branches  of  the  legis-  lb22,  5(3, 
lature.'  <'"• 

Another  question — that  of  parliamentary  re- 
form— made    a  still   more    import-         ]05 
ant  stride  in  this  session  of  Parlia-  Increasing 
ment;  and  the  increasing  numerical  strength  of 
strength  of  the  majority,  as  well  as  o^^parUa'"^ 
weight  of  the  names  of  which  it  was  mcntary  re- 
composed,  indicated  in  an  unequiv-  ^"'"1. 
oeal  manner  the  turn  which  events  ^ 
were  ere  long  to  fake  on  that  vital  question. 
Several  important  petitions  had  been  presented    • 
on  the  subject,  both  from  boroughs  and  coitn- 
iics,  and  Lord  John  Eussell  was  intrusted  with 
the  motion.     He  dwelt  in  a  ])ecu]iar  manner  on 
the  increasing  intelligence,  wealth,  and  popula- 
tion of  the  great  towns,  once  obscure  villages, 
which  were  unrepresented,  and  the  impossibil- 
ity of  permanently  excluding  them  from  the 
share  to  which  they  were  entitled  in  the  legis- 
lature.   Mr.  Canning  as  decidedly  opposed  him, 
resting  his  defense  of  the  constitution  on  the  ad- 
mirable way  in  which  it  had  practically  work- 
ed, and  the  incalculable  danger  of  substituting 
for  a  system  which  had  arisen  out  of  the  wants, 
and  moulded  itself  according  to  the  wishes  of 
the  people,  one  more  specious  in  theory — one 
which,  oa  that  very  account,  would  in  all  prob- 
ability be  found  on  trial  to  be  subject  to  some 
fatal  defect  in  practice.     As  the  arguments  on 
this  all-important  question  will  be  fully  given 
in  a  future  volume,  they  need  not  be  here  an- 
ticipated;  but  the  peroration  of  Mr.  Canning's 
splendid  reply  deserves  a  place  in  history,  as 
prophetic  of  the  future  career  both 
of  the  noble  mover  and  of  the  coun- 
try-' 

"  Our  lot  is  happily  cast  in  the  temperate 
zone  of  freedom — the  clime  best  suited  to  the 
development  of  the  moral  qualities  of  the  hu- 

the  world,  the  Duke  of  Norfork,  highest  in  rank  among 
the  peers,  the  Lord  Clifford,  and  others  like  him,  repre- 
senting a  long  line  of  illustrious  and  heroic  ancestors,  ap- 
peared as  if  they  had  been  called  forth  and  furnished  for 
the  occasion,  like  the  lustres  and  banners  that  tiained  and 
glittered  in  the  scene  ;  and  were  to  be,  like  them,  thrown 
by  as  useless  and  temporary  formalities  :  they  might,  in- 
deed, bend  the  knee  and  kiss  the  hand  ;  they  might  bear 
the  train  and  rear  the  canopy  ;  they  might  perform  the  of- 
fices assigned  by  Roman  pride  to  their  barbarian  forefa- 
thers, '  Purpurea  tollant  aulcea  Britanni  ;'  but  with  the 
pageantry  of  the  hour  their  importance  faded  away  as  their 
distinction  vanished:  their  humiliation  returned,  and  he 
who  headed  the  procession  to-day  could  not  sit  among 
them  as  thoir  equal  to-niorrow." — Canning's  Speech, 
30th  April,  lb22  ;  Pari.  Ihb.,  vii.  232,  233. 


!  Pari.  Deb. 
vii.  84,  135. 


18-22.] 

mail  race,  to  the  cultivation  of  their  faculties, 
and  to  the  security  as  well  as  ini- 
Peroration     provement  of  their  virtues — a  clime 
of  Mr.  not  exempt,  indeed,  from  variations 

Canning's  ia  the  elements,  but  variations  which 
speech.  purify  while    they  agitate  the    at- 

mosphere which  we  breathe.  Let  us  be  sensi- 
ble of  the  advantages  which  it  is  our  happiness 
to  enjoy.  Let  us  guard  with  pious  care  the 
flame  of  genuine  liberty — that  fire  from  heaven, 
of  which  our  constitution  is  the  holy  deposit- 
ory ;  and  let  us  not,  for  the  chance  of  rendering 
it  'more  intense  and  more  brilliant,  impair  its 
purity  or  hazard  its  extinction.  Tiiat  the  noble 
lord  will  carry  his  motion  this  evening,  I  liave 
no  fear ;  but  with  the  talents  which  he  has  al- 
ready shown  himself  to  possess,  and  with,  I 
hope,  a  long  and  brilliant  parliamentary  career 
before  him,  he  will  no  doubt  renew  his  efforts 
hereafter.  Although  I  presume  not  to  expect 
tiiat  ho  will  give  any  weight  to  observations  or 
warnings  of  mine,  yet  on  this,  probably  tlie  last 
opportunity  I  shall  have  of  raising  my  voice  on 
the  question  of  parliamentary  reform,*  while  I 
conjure  the  House  to  pause  before  it  consents 
to  adopt  the  proposition  of  tlie  noble  lord,  I  can 
not  help  adjuring  the  noble  lord  himself  to  pause 
before  he  again  presses  it  upon  the  country.  If, 
liowever,  lie  shall  persevere,  and  if  his  persever- 
ance shall  be  successful,  and  if  the  results  of  that 
perseverance  shall  be  such  as  I  can  not  help  an- 
ticipating, his  be  the  triumph  to  have  precijii- 
tated  tliese  results,  be  mine  the  consolation  that, 
to  the  utmost  and  the  latest  of  my  power,  I  have 

opposed  them."      The    motion    was 
v^^^'i"^^''   thrown  out  by  a  majority  of  lUo  only 

— the  numbers  being  269  to  104.'f 
Sir  James  Mackintosh  continued  his  benevol- 
J27.  eiit  and  important  eiforts  this  year 
Sir  James  for  the  reformation  of  our  criminal 
Mackin-  \a,-vT,  and  contrasted  with  great  effect 
lion  regard-  *''*®  state  of  our  code,  which  recog- 
ing  the"  cri-  nized  two  hundred  and  twenty-three 
minal  law.  capital  offenses,  with  that  of  France, 
■wliich  contained  only  six.  In  this  country,  tlie 
coavictions  in  the  first  five  years  after  1811 
were  five  times  greater  in  proportion  to  the 
population  than  in  France;  in  tiie  second  five 
ye«ir3  tliey  were  ten  times  greater.  "Tiiis  in- 
crease," lie  added,  "though  in  part  it  might  be 
ascribed  to  the  distress  under  which  the  coun- 
try had  groaned,  and  continued  to  groan,  was 
also  in  part  caused  by  the  cliaracter  of  our 
penal  code.  The  motion  to  take  the  subject 
into  serious  consideration  next  session  was  car- 
ried by  a  majority  of  117  to  lul.  There  can  bo 
no  doubt  that  this  was  a  step  in  the  riii'it  direc- 


IIISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


363 


*  Mr.  Caniiiti^  al  Una  period  expected  to  proceed  imme- 
diately to  India,  as  Governor-general,  a  prospent  which 
was  only  changed  by  his  being  soon  alter  appointed  For- 
eign Secretary. 

t  Lord  John  Russell  on  this  occasion  hrought  fo-Tvard 
a  very  curious  and  important  statiinent  In  nyard  to  the 
newspapars  published  in  ttic  three  kiiiKdoms  in  17H2,  17i)(), 
and  lH-21,  which  ch^arly  indiraled  the  iieccrMslly  of  u  con- 
cussion to  the  great  towns,  where  their  principal  readers 
Were  to  be  found.      It  was  as  follows : 

n«2.  1790.  1821. 

England 50  . . . .  m  ....  135 

Scotland 8   ....  27   . . . .  31 

Ireland     3  27   50 

London— Daily 9   .    ..  14   ....  If. 

"         Twice  a  week 9...  7...  8 

"          Weekly 0   ....  11    ....  32 

British  Islands 0....  0....  6 

—Ann.  Res.,  1622,  p.  OU. 


tion,  and  paved  tlie  waj-  for  those  important 
changes  in  the  criminal  law  of  England  which 
Mr.  Peel  soon  after  introduced.  But  the  result 
has  shown  that  it  was  a  mistake  to  ascribe  the 
superior  rapidity  in  the  increase  of  crime  in 
Great  Britain,  as  compared  to  France,  to  the 
severity  of  our  penal  laws ;  for  the  same  dis- 
proportion has  continued  in  a  still  greater  de- 
gree since  the  punishment  of  death  was  taken 
away,  practically  speaking,  from  all  offenses 
except  deliberate  murder.  The  truth  is,  that, 
like  the  disturbed  state  of  Ireland,  the  increase 
of  crime  arose  mainly  from  the  general  distress 
which  had  prevailed,  with  very  few  exceptions, 
since  the  peace;  and  the  errors  on  this  subject 
afford  only  another  illustration  of  the  truth 
which  so  many  passages  of  contemporary  his- 
tory illustrate,  that  the  great  causes  determin- 
ing the  comfort,  conduct,  and  tranquillity  of 
the  working  classes  are  to  be  found  i  Ann.  Re. 
in  those  which,  directly  or  indirectly,  lb22,  62,  ° 
affect  the  wages  of  labor.'  '•'^• 

But  these  material  distresses  had  increased, 
and  were  increasing  with  a  rapidity  „ 

which  outstripped  all  calculation.  Great  t'all 
and  had  now  reached  a  height  wliich  in  the  price 
compelled  investigation,  and  threat-  o' all  sorts 
ened  to  bear  down  all  opposition.  '' 
The  great  fall  in  the  price  of  the  whole  articles 
of  agricultural  produce,  which  had  gone  on 
without  intermission  from  the  monetary  bill  of 
1819,  and  had  now  reached  50  per  cent,  on 
every  product  of  rural  labor,  had,  at  length, 
spread  to  every  other  species  of  manufacture. 
All,  sharing  in  the  influence  of  the  same  cause, 
exhibited  the  same  effect.  The  long  continu- 
ance of  the  depression,  and  its  universal  appli- 
cation to  all  articles  of  commerce,  excluded  the 
idea  of  its  being  owing  to  any  glut  in  the  mar- 
ket, or  any  exce.^s  in  trading  in  pjirticular  lines 
of  business,  and  furnished  a  valuable  comment- 
ary on  (he  predictions  of  Mr.  Kicardo  and  Mr. 
Peel,  that  the  change  of  prices  could  not  by  pos- 
sibility exceed  3  per  cent.^*  This 
subject  accordingly  engaged  the  re-  I  7i"'J',otg"^' 
repeated  and  anxious  consideration 
of  both  Houses  of  Parliament ;  it  was  made  the 
topic  of  repeated  and  luminous  dcdiates  of  the 
very  highest  interest  and  importance,  and  it 
forced  at  length  a  change  of  the  utmost  moment 
in  our  monetary  system,  which  for  the  next 
three  years  entirely  changed  our  social  condi- 
tion, and  induced  another  .set  of  dangers  tlio 
very  reverse  of  those  under  which  the  nation 
for  the  three  preceding  j-cars  had  been  laboring. 

This  important  debate  was  opened  by  Mr. 
Brougham  on  the  8th  of  February, 
who  in  a  powerful  speech  demon-  Measiirestbr 
stratcd  the  extreme  distress  of  tlie  the  nliefof 
atrrieultural  class,  in  connection  with  ""'  »t-'n<-ul- 
.,       ,  lie  1  1  lural  classes, 

the   heavy   load   of  jioor-riitcs   and 

local  tuxes  with  which  they  were  exclusively 
burdened.  Tiio  motion  he  made  for  the  con- 
sideration of  the  burdens  peculiarly  affecting 
agriculture  was  negatived  by  a  majoiily  of 
212  to  108;  but  this  was  brought  about  only  by 
Lord  Londonderry,  on  the  part  of  tin;  (Jovcrn- 

*    I'UleE.S    OK    WhEAV    in     DECKMIIKU    ok    KACll    VkaK, 
KIIOM    1818  TO    1822. 


1818. 
1819. 
Id20. 


1821 4'.t    0 

1822 38  II 

— 'looKE  OnPricci.ii.  30tt 


864 


II I  STORY    OF    ElllOrE. 


[Cu.w.  X. 


niont,  onijaiiiini  to  introduce  sonic  nicaauros  for 
the  roliofoV  tlint  intorosl.  On  the  l.'ith  of  the 
Bumo  niontli  liis  lonlsliip  reileeineil  his  pleelge, 
liv  iiitrotUu'inir  the  iiioasiires  of  reliof  proposed 
1>V  CJovernnuMit,  wliieh  were,  tlie  repeal  of  ll>e 
BMMual  malt-tax.  whieh  produeod  £1,U(M»,(UI0  a 
year,  andtheadtaneeof  .^;l,u(lO,O^HlinKxehe^Juer 
l)ills  to  tiio  landed  j)roprietors  on  seeurity  of 
their  erops,  until  the  markets  improved.  In 
the  eoui-se  of  hisspeeeh  on  this  suhjeet  Lord  Lon- 
donderry remarked,  and  satisfactorily  proved, 
that  no" diminution  of  taxation  to  any  praeti- 
caMe  amount  could  attbrd  any  adequate  relief 
to  the  agricultural  classes;  and  it  was  no  won- 
der it  was  60,  for  the  utmost  extent  of  any 
such  relief,  supposing  it  conceded,  could  not 
have  amounted  to  more  than  six  or  seven  mil- 
lions yearly,  whereas  their  ditHculties  arose  from 
1,/Vnn.  Reg.  a  depression  ill  the  value  of  their  prod- 
lfe22,  98,  uce,  whieh  could  not  be  estimated 
^^^-  at  less  than  sixty  or  seventy  millions.' 

Lord  Londonderry's  plan  was  laid  before 
130.  rarliament,  with  tlie  report  of  the 
Detailed  committee  on  agricultural  distress, 
Govcrnmeiu  ^^'^"^'^  ^"^  ^^.^"  agreed  to  early  in 
for  the  relief  the  session  without  opposition,  and 
oftheagrl-  was  replete  with  valuable  iiiforma- 
culturisis.  tion  and  suggestions.*  The  leading 
resolutions  proposed  were,  that  whenever  the 
average  price  of  wheat  shall  be  under  COs.  a 
quarter.  Government  shall  be  authorized  to 
issue  £1 ,000,000  on  Exehequcrbills  to  the  landed 
proprietors  on  the  security  of  their  erops ;  that 
importation  of  foreign  corn  should  be  permitted 
■whenever  the  price  of  wheat  shall  be  at  and 
above  70s.  a  quarter;  rye,  peas  or  beans,  46s. ; 
barley,  3os.,  and  oats,  25s.:  that  a  sliding-scale 
should  be  fixed,  that  for  wheat  being  under 
80s.  a  quarter,  12s. ;  above  80s.  but  under  85s., 
5s. ;  and  above  85s.,  only  Is.  Greatly  lower 
duties  were  proposed  for  colonial  grain,  with 
the  wise  design  of  promoting  the  cultivation 
and  securing  the  fidelity  of  their  dependencies. 
They  were  as  follows :  For  colonial  grain — 
wheat  at  and  above  59s.,  rye,  ifcc,  39s.,  barley 
30s.,  and  oats  20s. ;  subject  to  certain  moderate 
rates  of  duty.  Mr.  Huskisson  and  Mr.  Ricardo 
proposed  other  resolutions,  which  were,  how- 
ever, negatived;  and  Lord  Londonderry's  re- 
^Ann.Reg.  solutions,  with  the  exception  of  the 
lb22,  9b,  first,  regarding  the  Exchequer  bills, 
^*'-  whieh  was  withdrawn,*  were  agreed 

*  The  committee  reported  that  the  prices  of  wheat  for 
Bix  weeks  preceding  1st  April,  1822,  the  date  of  their  re- 
port, had  been — 

«.    d. 

March  16 45  u 

9 46  10 

"        2 46  11 

Feb.     23 47     7 

Highest  price  in  1822 50    7 

"And  that  the  quantity  sold,  both  of  wheat  and  oats,  be- 
tween 1  St  .November  and  1  st  March  has,  under  these  prices, 
very  considerably  exceeded  any  quantity  sold  in  the  pre- 
ceding twenty  years.  That  it  is  impossible  to  carry  pro- 
tection fuflher  than  monopoly,  and  this  monopoly  the 
British  grower  has  possessed/or  more  than  three  years, 
which  is  ever  since  February,  1819,  with  the  exception  of 
the  ill-timed  and  unnecessary  importation  of  somewhat 
more  than  700,000  quarters  of  oats,  which  took  place  during 
the  summer  of  1820.  It  must  be  considered  further,  that 
this  protection,  in  consequence  of  the  increased  value  of 
our  currency,  and  the  present  state  of  the  corn  market, 
combined  with  the  prospect  of  an  early  harvest,  may  in 
all  probability  remain  uninterrupted  for  a  very  consider- 
able time  to  come." — Commons'  Report  on  Agriculture, 
1st  April,  1622  ;  Annual  Rigisten,  1822,  p.  438,441. 


to   by  large   majorities  in  both  Houses,   and 
passed  into  law. 

The  great  debate   of  the  session,  however, 
came  on   on   11th  .Itine,  when  Mr. 
Western  moved  for  the  niipointment  MotioiKiiMr 
of  a  eommiltce  to  consider  the  etl'ect  Western  on 
of  the  act  59  Geo.  111.,  c.   14  (the  ""■>-iif^''"y- 
bank  Cash-rayments  Bill),  on  the      '"^ 
agriculture,   commerce,   and   manufactures  of 
the  United  Kingdom.     The  motion  was  nega- 
tived, after   a  long  debate,  b}'  a  majority  of 
194  to   ao.     This   debate  was  remarkable  for 
one   circumstance  —  Lord   Loiidondcn-y  spoke 
against  the  motion,  with  the  whole  Ministers, 
and  Mr.  lirougham  in  support  of  it.     It  led,  as 
all  motions  on  the  same  subject  have  since  done, 
to  no  practical  result,  as  the  House  of  Commons 
has  constantly  refused  to  entertain  any  change 
in  the  monetary  policy  adopted  in  1819;  but 
it  is  well  worthy  of  remembrance,  for  it  elicited 
two  speeches,  one  from  Mr.  Huskisson  in  sup- 
port of  that  system,  and  one  from  Mr.  Attwood 
against  it,  both  of  which  are  models  ,  ^^^  j, 
of  clear  and  forcible  reasoning,  and  ib22,  108, 
Avhich  contain  all  that  ever  has  or  121 ;  Pari, 
ever  can  be  said  on  that  all  impor-  Jl'tl'.y''; 

.        .         ,  .  ,  ■*  0(0,  J  0^7. 

tant  subject.' 

Mr.  Huskisson  argued — "The  change  of  prices 

which  has  undoubtedly  taken  place        130. 

is  only  in  a  very  slight  degree  to  be  Mr.Huskis- 

aseribed  to  the  resumption  of  cash  ^°"'**  '"'S'l- 

i        rr    J.^     J.  ments  in 

payments,     lo  that  measure  we  were  support  of 

in  duty  bound,  as  well  as  policy,  for  the  existing 
all  contracts  had  been  made  under  it.  system. 
Even  if  it  had  been  advisable  not  to  revei't  to 
a  sound  currencj',  the  irrevocable  stej)  has 
been  taken,  and  the  widest  mischief  would 
ensue  from  any  attempt  to  undo  what  has  been 
done.  It  is  said  on  the  other  side,  that  it 
would  be  for  the  benefit  of  all  classes  that  the 
value  of  money  should  be  gradually  diminished, 
and  that  of  all  other  articles  raised.  "What  is 
this  but  the  system  of  Law  the  projector,  of 
Lowndes,  and  of  many  others?  But  it  is  one 
to  which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  this  country  will 
never  lend  its  sanction.  It  is,  in  truth,  the  doc- 
trine of  debtors ;  and  still  more  of  those  who, 
already  being  debtors,  are  desirous  of  becoming 
so  in  a  still  greater  degree. 

"  The  foundation  of  the  plan  on  the  other 
side  is,  that  the  standard  of  value  in 
every  country  should  be  that  which  is  conti^uej 
the  staple  article  of  the  food  of  its  in- 
habitants ;  and  therefore  wheat  is  fixed  upon, 
as  it  is  the  staple  article  of  the  food  of  our 
people.  At  that  rate,  potatoes  should  be  the 
standard  in  Ireland,  rice  in  India,  maize  in 
in  Italy.  To  what  endless  confusion  in  the  in- 
tercourse of  nations  would  this  lead!  Who 
ever  heard  of  a  potato  standard  ?  It  does  not, 
in  the  slightest  degree,  obviate  the  objection, 
that  you  propose  to  make  the  eurrenc}-  net  of 
wheat,  but  of  gold,  as  measured  by  that  stand- 
ard. How  can  a  given  weight  of  gold,  of  a 
certain  fineness,  and  a  certain  denomination, 
which  in  this  country  is  now  the  common  meas- 
ure of  all  commodilies,  be  itself  liable  to  be 
varied  in  weight,  fineness,  or  denomination,  ac- 
cording to  the  exchangeable  value  of  any  other 
commodity,  without  taking  from  gold  the  quali- 
t\'  of  being  monej',  and  transferring  it  to  that 
other  commodity?     All  that  you  do  is,  iu  fact. 


1822.] 

to  make  wheat  the  currency,  and  gold  its  rep- 
resentative, as  paper  now  is  of  gold.  But  to 
say  that  one  commodity  shall  be  the  currency, 
and  another  its  standard,  betrays  a  confusion 
of  ideas,  and  is,  in  fact,  little  short  of  a  contra- 
diction in  terms. 

"Again,  it  is  said  we  ought  to  measure  the 
pressure  of  taxation  by  the  price  of 

^«  ,7„.',„.4    corn ;  and  we  are  reminded  tiiat,  as 

Continued.    .,'  ,  ^,,>,ii 

in  1813,  wheat  was  at  lOSs.  7d.,  and 

the  taxes  £74,674,000,  13,733,000  quarters  of 
wlieat  were  sufficient  for  their  payment;  while 
in  the  present  year,  the  price  being  45s.,  nearly 
double  that  amount  of  quarters  are  necessary 
to  pay  tlie  reduced  taxes  of  £54,000,000.  But 
observe  to  what  this  system  of  measuring  the 
weight  of  taxes  by  the  price  of  wheat,  or  any 
otlier  article  save  gold  itself,  would  lead.  The 
year  1817  was  a  prosperous  year,  for  the  taxes 
were  reduced  to  £55,836,000,  and  wheat  hav- 
ing risen  to  94s.  9d.,  it  follows  that  11,786,000 
quarters  were  sufficient  for  the  payment  of  its 
tuxes.  Was  this  actually  the  case  ?  If  distress, 
bordering  upon  famine — if  misery,  bursting  forth 
in  insurrection,  and  all  the  other  symptoms  of 
wretchedness,  discontent,  and  difficulty,  are  to 
be  taken  as  symptoms  of  pressure  upon  the 
people,  then  is  the  year  1817  a  year  which  no 
good  man  would  ever  wish  to  see  the  like 
again.  On  tlie  other  hand,  the  years  1815  and 
1821,  being  the  years  of  the  severest  pressure 
of  taxation,  according  to  this  new  mode  of 
measuring  its  amount,  are  among  the  years 
when  the  laboring  parts  of  the  community  have 
had  least  reason  to  complain  of  their  situation. 
"The  proposition  now  boldly  made  is  for  a 

depreciation  of  tlie  standard  of  tlie 
Ton  1  ^d  d   '^"'■''^"cy.     How  strange  must  be  tiie 

condition  of  this  country,  if  it  can 
only  prosper  by  a  violation  of  national  faith, 
and  a  subversion  of  private  property;  by  a 
measure  reprobated  by  all  statesmen  and  all 
historians;  the  wretched  and  antiquated  re- 
source of  barbarous  ignorance  and  arbitrary 
power,  and  only  known  among  civilized  com- 
munities as  tiie  last  mark  of  a  nation's  weak- 
ness and  degradation !  Would  not  such  a  meas- 
ure be  a  death-blow  to  all  public  credit,  and  to 
all  confidence  in  private  dealings  between  man? 
If  you  once,  in  an  age  of  intelligence  and  en- 
lightenment, consent,  imder  the  pressure  of 
temporary  difficulty,  to  lower  the  standard,  it 
will  become  a  precedent  which  will  inunediate- 
ly  be  resorted  to  on  every  future  emergency  or 
temporary  pressure,  the  more  readily  as  credit, 
and  every  other  more  valuable  resource,  on 
wiiich  the  country  lias  hitherto  relied,  will  be 
at  an  end.  If  the  House  entertain  such  a  pro- 
position by  vote,  the  country  will  be  in  alarm 
and  confusion  from  one  end  of  it  to  another. 
All  ])ecuniary  transactions  will  be  at  an  end; 
all  debtors  called  on  for  immediate  payment; 
all  holders  of  paper  will  instantly  insist  for 
coin;  all  holders  of  gold  and  silver  be  convert- 
ed into  hoarders!  Neither  the  Bank,  nor  the 
London  bankers,  nor  the  country  bankers,  could 
survive  the  shock!  Wliat  a  scene  of  strif<!,  in- 
solvency, stagnation  of  business,  individual  mis- 
cry,  and  general  disorder,  would  ensue!  All 
'  Pari.  Deb.  this  would  precede  tlie  passing  of  tlie 
vli.  898,  proposed  bill ;  what  would  it  be  after 
"•"■  It  liad  become  a  hnv  V  ' 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


3G5 


"The  fall  of  prices,"  said  Mr.  Attwood  in  re- 
plj-,  "has  not  been  confined  to  any  J35 

one  article,  nor  has  it  been  of  pass-  Reply  by  Mr. 
ing  nature,  as  all  are  which  arise  Attwood. 
from  over-production  or  a  glut  in  the  market. 
It  has  been  uniform  and  progressive  since  the 
monetary  act  of  1819  was  passed,  embracing 
all  commodities,  extending  over  all  periods. 
Who  ever  heard  of  a  fall  in  prices,  arising  from 
over-production,  enduring  for  three  years?  It 
is  invariably  terminated  in  six  or  eight  montlis, 
by  the  production  being  lessened.  In  the  pres- 
ent instance  all  the  leading  articles  of  commerce 
have  undergone  a  similar  reduction,  and  in  all 
it  lias  continued  without  abatement  during  that 
long  period.  Wheat,  which  in  the  year  1818 
was  84s.,  is  now  selling  at  47s.,  showing  a  re- 
duction of  o7s.,  or  45  per  cent.  Iron,  in  1818, 
was  £13  the  ton;  it  is  now  £8,  being  a  fall  of 
40  per  cent.  Cotton,  in  1818,  was  Is.  the  pound ; 
it  is  now  6d.,  being  a  fall  of  50  per  cent.  Wool, 
which  in  1818  was  selling  at  2s.  Id.,  now  sells 
for  Is.  Id.,  being  a  reduction  of  50  per  cent. 
These  are  the  great  articles  of  commerce,  and 
the  average  of  the  f:\ll  upon  them  is  45  per 
cent.,  being  exactl\-  the  reduction  on  the  jirice 
of  grain.  This  is  recommended  to  the  consid- 
eration of  those  who  tell  us  of  over-production 
and  an  excessive  cultivation  of  corn-land.  Mr. 
Tooke  has  compiled  a  table  exhibiting  the  fall 
between  May  1818  and  May  1822,  and  the  fall 
is  the  same  in  all  the  articles,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  indigo.  The  fall,  therefore,  is  not  pecu- 
liar to  agriculture;  it  is  universal,  and  has  em- 
braced every  article  of  industry,  every  branch 
of  commerce.  How  trade  or  production  could 
by  possibility  be  carried  on  with  a  profit,  while 
a  fall  of  sucli  magnitude  was  going  forward,  it 
is  for  the  supporters  of  the  opposite  system  to 
explain. 

"This  fall  of  prices  must  have  been  produced 
by  one  of  two  causes:  either  tlie 
quantity  of  all  commodities  has  in-  comfnued. 
creased,  or  the  quantity  of  all  money 
has  diminislied.  One  of  these  must  of  necessit}' 
have  occurred,  for  the  proportion  is  altered. 
Are  we  to  believe  that  great  changes  have  sud- 
denly taken  place  in  tlie  productive  powers  of 
nature,  or  the  resources  of  art,  so  as  to  account 
for  this  sudden  and  universal  fall  of  prices?  Is 
it  likely  that  production  in  all  branches  of  in- 
dustiy,  agricultural  and  manufacturing,  would 
go  on  for  three  years  constantly  increasing  in 
the  face  of  a  constantly  diniiiiishing  piice  ?  The 
thing  is  evidently  out  of  the  question.  It  is  (ho 
quantity  of  money  that  must  have  been  reduced. 
That  tins  has  really  been  the  case  is  suffieiently 
jiroved  by  authentic  documents,  whi('li  show 
distinctly  where  the  deficieney  is  to  be  found. 
"The  circulation  of  the  cimntry  rests  entire- 
ly upon  tiiat  of  the  Bank  of  England  ; 
anil  its  notes  in  circulation,  imme-  t;ontiiiucd 
diately  jireceding  the  Act  of  1819, 
and  the  fall  of  j)rices,  were,  at  an  average,  from 
twenty-nine  to  thirt,}'  millions.  Tliat  was  II10 
amount  in  cireulation  for  tlio  last  half  of  1817 
and  first  of  1818.  If  wc  take  the  circulation 
in  the  middle  of  each  quarter,  which  Mr.  Ilar. 
man  states- is  tht;  fairest  mode  of  striking  th« 
average,  it  will  apjiear  tliat  the  diminution  of 
the  circulation  lias  been  nearly  a  tliird.  No. 
thing  can  be  more  regular,  gradual,  and  uni- 


SCO 


III  STORY    OF    EUROPE. 


form  than  the  oontrnction  of  tho  currency  iniine- 
diatily  |ircco(lini;  ami  ncconipanyint?  the  great 
rciluction  in  tlio  rate  of  prices.*  ll  was  alto- 
trether  a  forced  and  systematic  contraction.  It 
did  not  take  ]>hice  in  consequence  of  tliefall  of 
]irices;  it  preceded  it.  It  worked  siU'ntly  hut 
unceasingly  through  every  branch  of  industry, 
till  it  had  reduced  them  all  to  the  same  miser- 
ably low  level.  It  was  not  effected  by  means 
of  any  lessened  demand  for  bank-notes;  on  the 
contrary,  it  took  place  in  the  midst  of  a  con- 
stantly Vicreasing  demand  for  them,  when  pop- 
ulation was  rapidly  augmenting,  general  peace 
prevailed,  and  the  growing  commerce  and  trans- 
actions of  men  were  daily  rendering  more  ne- 
cessary an  enlargement  of  the  circulating  me- 
dium by  which  they  were  to  be  carried  on. 
The  requisitions  made  to  the  Bank  by  the  mer- 
cantile community  were  less  at  the  time  of  its 
greatest  circulation,  in  the  last  lialf  of  1817, 
than  they  had  been  at  any  subsequent  period 
when  the  circulation  has  been  so  fearfull}'  con- 
tracted. The  Bank  is  now  under  greater  ad- 
vances to  merchants  with  a  circulation  of  only 
,£•23,000,000  than  it  was  when  its  circulation 
was  £30,000,000.  The  reduction  in  the  circu- 
lation, therefore,  has  taken  place  in  consequence 
of  no  decline  in  the  demands  of  the  mercantile 
community,  but  solely  and  entirely  from  the 
forced  but  j-et  regular  and  persevering  meas- 
ures of  the  Bank  directors  to  reduce  its  circu- 
lation, first  in  preparation  for,  and  next  in  con- 
sequence of,  the  Cash  Payments  Bill  of  1819. 
"  The  reduction  of  prices  has  been  in  a  much 
greater  proportion  than  the  contrac- 
„  '3^-  ,  tion  of  the  currency.  The  bank-notes 
have  been  diminished  by  about  a 
fourth,  but  prices  of  every  article  have  fallen 
a  half.  This  is  a  very  important  fact,  for  it  in- 
dicates how  powerfully — much  more  so  than 
could  have  been  expected — a  reduction  in  tlie 
amount  of  the  currency  affects  prices,  and 
through  them  the  resources  of  all  the  produc- 
ing classes  in  the  community.  The  same  is  ob- 
servable in  regard  to  grain,  or  meat,  or  any 
other  article  in  universal  and  daily  use :  a  fail- 
ure of  the  crop  to  the  extent  of  a  fourth  or 
fifth  doubles  prices,  and  often  more.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  discover  the  cause  of  this  anomaly. 
The  bank-notes  do  work  far  beyond  their 
amount  in  value:  they  conduct  and  turn  over 
the  whole  transactions  of  the  country.  The 
payment  of  taxes  and  dividends,  and  all  the 


*  Amount  i.\  Cikculation  of  all  Notes. 

Au?ust  16,  1817 £30,100,000 

November  13 29,400,000 

February,  1818 26,700,000 

May,  1818 28,000,000 

August,  1818 26,600,000 

November,  1818 26,000,000 

February,  1819 25,600,000 

May,  1819 23,900,000 

Autrust,  1819 26,000,000 

November,  1819 24,000,000 

February,  1820 24,000,000 

May,  1620 23,900,000 

August,  1820 24,400,000 

November,  1620 23,400,000 

Amount  of  £5  Notes  and  upward. 

November,  1617 £19,600,000 

November,  1818 16,900,000 

November,  1819 15,100,000 

November,  1820 15.300,000 

November.  1821 14.800.0(10 

May,  le22 14,600.000 


[ClIAP.  X. 

innumerable  transactions  between  man  and 
man,  are  done  by  their  means.  A  diminution 
of  their  number,  by  lessening  credit  and  the 
means  of  purchase  or  speculation  over  the 
whole  community,  affects  prices  far  more  cx- 
teiisivcl\'  than  the  uoniiiial  amount  of  this 
diminution,  for  it  affects  the  power  of  buying 
among  all  the  persons  tlirough  whose  liaiuis 
the  notes  pass  in  their  circulation  through  the 
communitv. 

"In  addition  to  this,  there  are  a  great  many 
payments  which  do  not  fall  with  a 
diminution  on  the  circulating  medi-  conttniicd 
umof  the  community.  The  great  and 
burdensome  charges  of  the  nation  remain  the 
same,  however  much  the  currency  ma^'  be  con- 
tracted and  prices  fall.  The  taxes,  the  interest  of 
mortgages  and  bonds,  jointures  to  vcidows,  pro- 
visions to  children,  poor-rates,  life  insurances, 
and  the  like,  iindergo  no  dimunition.  Kay, 
there  are  several  articles  of  consumption,  as  salt, 
tea,  malt,  sugar,  and  some  others  of  equal  im- 
portance, in  which  the  tax  bears  so  great  a  j>ro- 
portion  to  the  price  of  the  article,  that  its  i)rice 
can  not  fall  in  any  perceptible  degree  from  a 
diminution  in  the  demand.  These  heavy  fixed 
burdens,  and  extensive  articles  of  cousumpjtion, 
require  the  same  amount  of  bank-notes  for  their 
discharge  or  payment  under  a  reduced  as  amidst 
a  plentiful  circulation.  Thus  the  w  hole  effects 
of  the  reduction  in  the  circulating  medium  are 
run  into,  and  act  upon,  the  sale  of  those  articles 
of  commerce  in  which  a  reduction  of  price  is 
practicable ;  and  as  they  are  not  half  the  entire 
expenditure  of  the  nation,  the  effect  upon  them 
is  proportionally  greater.  It  is  like  a  man  with 
a  fixed  income,  say  £1000  a  J'ear,  who  is  bur- 
dened with  fixed  paj'ments  to  the  extent  of 
£600,  being  deprived  of  one-half  of  the  re- 
mainder, or  £200.  Though  that  reduction  is 
only  of  a  fifth  of  his  entire  income,  it  will  draw 
after  it  a  reduction  of  that  part  of  his  expendi- 
ture over  "which  he  has  a  control  to  the  extent 
of  a  half ;  and  if  he  does  not  draw  in  to  that 
amount,  he  will  verj^  soon  become  bankrupt. 

"The  repaj-ment  of  the  Bank  advances  by 
Govermnent  has  been  the  measure  on 
which  this  reduction  in  the  quantity  continued, 
of  mone}',  and  the  consequent  in- 
crease in  its  value,  was  founded.  Since  1817, 
no  less  than  £15,000,000  has  been  repaid  to  the 
Bank  by  Government.  When  the  Bank  got 
these  repayments  they  did  not  reissue  them 
again,  as  they  had  been  accustomed  to  do  in 
former  days,  but  they  retained  them  in  their  ■ 
coffers,  and  thereby  withdrew  them  from  cir- 
culation. These  proceedings  have  produced  a 
regular  progressive  reduction  of  prices,  irre- 
spective altogether  of  any  excess  in  the  produc- 
tion. If  the  Bank  were  to  advance  again  this 
£15,000,000,  or  any  considerable  part  of  it,  to 
Government,  and  were  enabled  to  do  so  by  tlie 
necessary  alteration  in  the  Act  of  1819,  the 
effect  would  be  an  immediate  return  to  the  scale 
of  prices  which  existed  in  1818  and  during  the 
war. 

"Such  is  the  evil  under  which  we  are  now 
laboring,  and  which  will  suffer  no 
abatement  so  long  as  the  causes  which   Concluded, 
produced  it  continue  in   operation. 
\Ve  have  been  occujiied  with  changes  in  our 
pecuniar}-  s\stem,  and  it  is  preciseh"  since  tliej' 


1S22.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


S67 


were  comnienceil  that  our  difBeuUies  have  been 
cxporieneed.  To  enhance  the  value  of  money, 
to  raise  the  price  of  goUl,  we  have  lowered  that 
of  all  other  commodities,  while  at  the  same  time 
we  have  left  the  great  payments  of  the  nation 
raised  from  the  sale  of  these  commodities! 
Strange,  indeed,  would  it  be  if  such  a  system 
was  not  to  have  produced  the  general  and  long- 
continued  distress  which  we  see  around  us.  The 
reduction  effected  in  the  amount  of  money  in 
circulation  has  been  nearly  one-half  of  that 
employed  in  supporting  agricultural,  commer- 
cial, and  manufacturing  indiistrj^.  Hence  these 
classes  are  unable  to  obtain  much  more  than 
half  the  return  they  obtained  for  their  industry 
before  the  alteration  took  place,  and  yet  all 
their  great  money  engagements  remain  the 
same !  This  is  the  origin  of  that  state  of  things 
which  in  its  result  leaves  the  land-owner  with- 
out rent,  the  merchant  without  profit,  the  la- 
ip  iDb  borer  without  emploj'ment  or  wages, 
vii.  89S,  which  revolutionizes  property,  and 
925,  966,  disorganizes  all  the  different  relations 
1007.  f^u^j  interests  of  societj'."' 

Dr.  Arnold  said  that  Sir  Robert  Peel  "  would 
yield  to  pressure  on  every  thing  cx- 
Repeated  '^^P^  ^^^  currcHci/."  It  is  not  surpris- 
defeats  of  ing  it  was  so ;  for  determination  to 
Ministers  in  adhere  on  that  one  point  necessarily 
(?oinmon^°  drew  after  it  concession  on  every 
other.  The  distress  produced  by  the 
general  fall  of  all  prices  50  per  cent,  had  become 
such  among  the  producing  classes,  that  no  com- 
bination of  the  leaders  of  the  opposite  parties, 
and  no  efforts  on  the  part  of  Ministers,  were 
able  any  longer  to  avert  its  effects.  It  was  in 
the  loud  and  fierce  demand  for  a  reduction  of 
taxation  that  the  public  voice,  in  the  Ilouse  of 
Commons,  first  made  itself  heard  in  an  unmis- 
takable manner.  Several  ominous  divisions, 
presaging  total  defeat  in  the  event  of  any  fur- 
ther resistance  to  the  demands  of  the  country 
in  this  particular,  took  place  in  the  early  period 
of  the  session.  A  motion  by  Mr.  Calcraft,  for 
the  progressive  diminution  of  the  salt-ta.x,  by 
taking  off  a  third  in  each  of  the  next  three 
years,  was  only  thrown  out  by  a  majority  of 
four,  the  numbers  being  1G9  to  165. 
**  '  ■  This  near  approach  to  a  defeat  was  the 
more  remarkable,  that  Lord  Londonderry  and 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  had  loudly  de- 
clared that  this  tax  was  essential  to  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Sinking  Fund,  and  that  its  repeal 
would  be  the  signal  for  the  entire  abandonment 
of  that  fund.  This  doubtful  conflict 
was  soon  followed  by  decided  defeats. 
On  the  very  next  day,  on  a  motion  made  by 
Sir  John  Osborne,  for  a  reduction  of  two  of  the 
junior  lords  of  the  Admiralty,  Ministers  were 
left  in  a  minority  of  54,  the  numbers  being  182 
to  128.  This  was  soon  after  followed  by  an- 
other defeat,  on  the  motion  of  Lord  Normaiiby 
for  the  reduction  of  one  of  the  two  joint  Post- 

,.  ,„     masters-general,     which     was    only 
March  13.     .,  i  i  ■      -i        e  «-    n 

thrown  out  by  a  majority  ot  2o,  tiie 

numbers   being   181   to    159.      The 

„,  Vr'iJi,    same  motion,  i)ut  in  a  diffiTcnt  form, 

VI.  «01,W^i],  .  'J  •     ^       c  i\ 

llli,  vii.      was,   m  a  subsequent  period   ot  the 
.■ii2;  Ann.    session,  carried  against  Ministers  by 
K^cg.  ibi!:,;,    .^  injijority  of  15,  the  numbers  being 
210  to  201.=' 
These  disasters  were  sufficient  to  convince 


Ministers  that,  however  ignorant  they  might 
be  of  the  real  source  of  their  diflfi- 
culties,  and  however  tenacious  they  Q^eat  re- 
might  be  of  the  monetary  bill  of  181 '.i,  auctions  of 
the  distresses  of  the  country  had  be-  taxationia- 
come  such  that  relief,  in  some  form  or  *M°,'j",','ers.^ 
another,  was  indi^ensable;  and  that, 
if  they  would  not  give  it  in  the  form  of  meas- 
ures calculated  to  raise  the  i-emuneration  of 
industry,  they  nmst  give  it  in  the  form  of  a  re- 
duction of  its"^ burdens.  The  effect  of  the  shake 
they  had  received  soon  appeared  in  the  financial 
measures  which,  in  a  subsequent  period  of  the 
session,  they  brought  forward.  Although,  in 
February,  Lord  Londonderry  had  declared  that 
the  retention  of  the  salt-tax  was  indispensable 
to  the  upholding  of  the  Sinking  Fund  to  the 
level  of  £5,000,000,  which  the  House  had  sol- 
emnlj^  pledged  itself,  in  1819,  to  maintain  in- 
violate, he  was  yet  compelled  to  bring  ^ 
forward,  on  24th  Ma}',  a  motion  for  its 
reduction  from  15s.  a  bushel  to  2s.,  which  occa- 
sioned a  loss  to  the  revenue  of  £  1,-300,000,  a 
year.  This  was  followed  by  a  reduction  of  the 
war-tax  on  leather,  which  occasioned  a  further 
loss  of  £600,000  a  year.  The  tonnage-duty  and 
Irish  hearth-tax  were  also  abandoned,  which 
produced  between  them  £400,000  yearly.  These 
great  reductions,  amounting,  with  the  annual 
malt-tax,  which  brought  in  £1,500,000  a  year, 
and  which  Government  had  announced  their 
intention  of  abandoning  at  an  early  period  of 
the  session,  amounted  together  to  £3,500,000 
a  year,  being  half  a  million  more  than  the  amount 
of  the  new  taxes,  imposed  in  1819,  to  keep  up 
the  Sinking  Fund  to  £5,000,000  yearly.^ 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  taxes  [y^lfj"' 
thus  removed  were  judiciously  selected, 
as  they  were  those  which  bore  most  heavily  on 
the  laboring  classes  of  the  community  ;  and  still 
less  that  their  distress  had  become  such  as  to 
render  a  considerable  reduction  of  the  taxes 
pressing  on  them  indispensable ;  for,  measured 
in  quarters  of  wheat,  their  true  standard,  the 
poor-rates  of  England  were  now  twice  as  heavy 
as  they  had  been  in  1812.*  But  the  necessity 
of  removing  these  taxes,  and  thereby  abandon- 
ing the  very  foundation  of  the  Sinking  Fund, 
atibrded  the  most  decisive  evidence  2  An.  Reg. 
both  how  wide-spread  the  distress  1822,  147, 
had  become,  and  how  entire  a  revo-  ^^^^  J'.^'''- 
lution  it  had  already  induced  in  nu;,  nis; 
the  financial  system  and  policy  of  the  Unfiles,  vi. 
country.^                                                     'I'-"'- 

The  budget  was  brought  forwaivl  on  the  1st 
July,  and  its  leading  feature  was  the 
reduction  of  the  Sinking  Fund  from  ,^^^^  budget 
£1.3,000,000  to  £7,500,000,  by  appro- 
priating £5,500,000  to  the  current,  service  of  the 
year.  This  signal  and  calamitous  departure 
from  the  form  even  of  our  former  policy,  in  this 
vital  particular,  was  soiigiit  to  be  justified  by 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  on  various 
grounds;  but  it  was  evident  that  it  was  ini- 

*    Poon-UATES   PAID  IN  MONEY  AND  QUARTERS  OF 

Wheat. 

Venr.  Qimrtera  of  wlont. 

iHii £r,fi:,c^,]o:>  ....   i,'iio,4').5 

1814 5,418,846  ....  I,702,2,'i5 

1621 6,U5'.),24«  ....  2,5.'J7,7f.3 

1822 6,358.7(12  ....  2,940,440 

— IIiKiiiEs,  vi.  490.    Alison's  Europe,  chap,  cvi.,  Ap- 

pcridix. 


scs 


HI  STORY    OF    EITROPE. 


[CiiAr.  X. 


posod  upon  hiiu  by  sheer  neocssity,  ninl  was  t\ 
diivet  al>aiuKiniueut  of  tlic  soloinii  resolution  to 
maiiuain  a  real  surplus  of  £r),0OU.O(»0  oyer  the 
oxpeiuliture,  whieh  railiaiueut  had  uiianiiuous- 
Iv  ado]>ted  only  three  years  before;  for,  as  tiie 
nominal  Sinking  Fund  was  redueed  to  luilf  its 
former  anumnt.  it  was  j)lain  that  the  real  ri- 
demplion  of  debt  was  virtually  abandoned.  The 
expenditure  i>f  the  present  year,  however,  as 
the  irreat  reduction  of  taxation  made  in  tho 
course  of  it  had  not  taken  eliVet,  was  nearly 
£0,000. OUO  below  the  income,  leaving  that  sum 
applicable  to  the  diminution  of  debt — a  striking 
and  melancholy  proof  of  what  the  resources  of 
the  country  really  were  at  this  period,  had  the 
ruinous  contraction  of  the  currency  not  im- 
posed upon  the  present  and  all  future  govern- 
ments the  necessity  of  remitting  the  indirect  tax- 
es, bj-  which  alone  the  Sinking  Fund  could  be 
maintained.  It  is  not  surprising  it  was  so.  A 
hundred  millions  a  year  is  not  cut  off  from  the 
remuneration  of  productive  labor,  in  a  coun- 
1  ^^  Yic  try .  the  source  from  which  its  en- 
1822,  149"  tire  wealth  must  be  drawn,  witli- 
131 ;  Pari,  out  producing  lasting  effects  upon  its 
HH  Ylu  fi"^"cial  situation  and  ultimate  des- 
■  tiny.'* 
Two  measures,  the  one  of  the  most  unques- 
J4Q  tionable,  the  other  of  very  doubtful 
Reduction  wisdom,  were  brought  forward  during 
of  the  5  this  session  of  Parliament,  and  carried 
per  cents,   j^^^^  ^fj-g^^      -jj^^  g,,gj.  ^^  ^j^^gg  .^^j^g  ^^e 

reduction  of  the  navy  5  per  cents,  to  4  per  cent. 
About  £15t). 000,000  stood  in  this  species  of 
stock ;  constM^uently,  any  reduction  in  the  in- 
terest payable  on  it  was  a  very  great  relief  to 
the  national  finances.  The  condition  proposed 
to  the  liolders  was,  that  for  every  £100  of  their 
existing  stock  they  should  be  inscribed  for  £105 
in  a  new  stock  bearing  4  per  cent,  interest. 
Those  who  signified  their  dissent  before  1st 
March,  1823,  were  to  be  paid  off.  So  high  were 
the  Funds,  however,  that  those  wlio  took  ad- 
vantage of  this  were  only  1373,  and  the  stock 
they  held  amounted  to  £2,005,978 — not  a  fifti- 
eth part  of  the  entire  stock ;  so  that  the  meas- 


*  l.\coME  AND  Expenditure  of  the  Yeak  1822. 
INCOME— Nett. 

Customs £12,923,420 

Excise 28,976,344 

Stamps 6.880,494 

Taxes 7,517,643 

Post-Office 2,049,326 

Lesser  Payments 1,451,341 

Total  Taxes £59,798,568 

Loansi   11,872,155 

Grand  Total £71,670,724 

EXPENDITURE. 

Charges  of  Collection £5,688,091 

Interest  on  Funded  Debt 29,490,897 

Interest  on  Unfunded  Debt 1 ,430,596 

Naval  and  .Military  Pensions 1,400,000 

Civil  List  and  Expenses 1,057,000 

Army 7,698,973 

Navy 4,915.642 

Navy  Pensioners 246.000 

Ordnance 1,007,821 

Miscellaneoift 2,105,797 

Lesser  Payments 529,961 

Surplus  applicable  to  Debt 4,915,529 

Grand  Total £60,102,741 

— Parliamentary  Paper  in  Annual  Register,  1823,  p.  215- 
217. 

1  The  loans  w?nt  to  Ii?charpe  Excliequer  Bills. 


lire  was  carried  into  execution  with  the  most 
complete  success.     The  entire  saving  to  the  na- 
tion, including  that  ell'ected  by  a  similar  saving 
on   the    Irish    .">    ])er   cents.,   was   no   less   tluui 
£l,2;io,uiiii  a  year — a  very  greatsum,  and  whieh 
atfoids  the  cieaiest  proof  of  the  justice  of  the 
observations  made  in  a  former  work,*  as  to  tlio 
impolicy  of  the  system  which  Mr.  Pitt  so  long 
pui-sued,  of  borrowing  the  greater  part  of  the 
public  debt  in  the  3  instead  of  the  5  per  cents. ; 
for  if  tlic  whole  debt  had  been  bor-  ,         „ 
rowed  in  the  latter  form,  the  redue-  it>22  127, 
tion  effected  in  the  annual  interest  this  129;  Pari, 
year  would  not  have  been  £1,200,000,  P^p'^V-'q 
but  above  £0,000,000  sterling.!  '    ''^• 

The  next  great  financial  measure  of  the  ses- 
sion, upon  which  a  more  doubtful         147. 
meed  of  praise  must  be  bestowed.  Equalization 

was  that,  as  it  was  eommoidv  call-  °l^^^'[,  ^'^^'J 

1    r      ii  1-     i-  !■  ii      ri      J  Weifint,  and 

ed,  lor  the  eriuahzation  01  the  Dead  military  and 

Weight.  This  was  a  measure  by  naval  pen- 
whieh  the  burden  of  the  naval  and  sions. 
military  pensions,  most  justly  bestowed  upon 
our  gallant  defenders  during  the  late  war,  was 
equalized  for  more  than  a  generation  to  come, 
by  being  spread,  at  an  equal  amount,  over  the 
present  and  the  future.  This  burden  amounted 
to  nearly  £5,000,000  a  year;  and  although,  as 
the  annuitants  expired,  its  amount  would  di- 
minish, and  at  the  end  of  forty  or  fifty  years 
would  be  a  mere  trifle,  yet  that  prospect  proved 
but  a  poor  resource  to  the  present  necessities 
of  a  needy  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  In 
these  circumstances,  when  the  difficulties  of 
Government  to  make  head  against  present  ex- 
igencies were  so  great,  the  expedient  was 
thought  of,  of  granting  a  fixed  annuity,  for 
fortj'-five  years  certain,  to  parliamentary  com- 
missioners, who,  in  consideration  of  that,  were 
to  tmdertake  the  burden  of  the  varying  existing 
annuities.  The  effect  of  this,  of  course,  was  to 
diminish  in  a  great  degree  the  burden  2  An.  Reg. 
in  the  outset,  and  proportionally  aug-  1822,  128, 
ment  it  in  the  end.^  '^'^• 

Government  in  the  first  instance  received 
£4,900,000  from  the  commissioners,  j4g 
and  paid  out  only  £2,800,000,  thereby  Details  of 
effecting  a  present  saving  of  £2,100,-  the  meas- 
000.  But  this  w^as  gained  by  author-  '"^^' 
izing  the  commissioners  to  sell  as  much  of  the 
fixed  sum  of  £2,800,000  a  year,  which  was  di- 
rected to  be  paid  to  them  out  of  the  Consolida- 
ted Fund,  as  might  be  necessary  to  enable  them 
to  meet  the  excess  of  present  payments  over  the 
income  received ;  and  of  course  it  had  the  effect 
of  rendering  the  dead  weight  as  much  heavier 
than  it  otherwise  would  have  been  at  the  close 
of  the  period,  as  it  had  been  lightened  at  its 
commencement.  This  project  received  the  sanc- 
tion of  both  branches  of  the  legislature,  as  did 
a  supplementary  measure  throwing  the  burden 
of  superannuate'd  allowances  on  the  holders  of 
offices  under  Government,  by  stopping  off  their 
salaries  a  sum  adequate  to  insuring  for  its 
amount,  which  effected  a  saving  of  £370,000  a 
year.  These  two  measures  effected  a  reduction 
of  present  expenses  to  the  amount  of  nearly 
£2,500,000  a  year,  but.  like  the  reduction  of 


*  Vide  History  of  Europe,  chap.  xli.  *  62.  The  differ- 
ence of  the  interest  paid  in  the  3  and  the  5  per  cents.,  sel- 
dom exceeded  a  quarter  per  cent. — Ibid.  chap.  xli.  I)  64, 
note. 


1S22.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


369 


the  5  pai'  "cnts,,  by  increasing  the  burden  of 
the  nation  in  future  times;  for  the  first,  at  this 
moment,  W  adding  above  £1,500,000  to  the  an- 
1  An.  Reg.  nual  charges  of  the  nation  above  what 
1822,  130,  it  otherwise  would  have  been,  and 
140;  Pari,  ^jjg  jjjg);  jj^g  added  seven  millions  by 
Deb.  VI.       ,,       _  ,     ,  .  i      ii  •' 

754  783      ^he  o  per  cent,   bonus  given   to   the 

*ii.  739,  holders  of  stock  to  the  amount  of  the 
'^^-  national  debt.' 

Amidei  so  many  measures  which  attracted 
149         general  attention,  and  had  become 
Impona:it      indispensable,  from  the  necessitous 
Bmall  Notes  state  of  the  public  exchequer,  one 
'^"'-  of  the  greatest  importance  was  qui- 

etly introduced  into  the  legislature.     Ministers 
had  not  the  manliness  to  confess  they  had  been 
wrong  in  the  course  they  had  adopted  in  regard 
to  the  bill  compelling  cash  payments  in  1819, 
or  perhaps  tiiey  were  aware  that  the  influence 
of  the  moneyed  interest  in  the  House  of  Commons 
was  too  strong  to  render  it  possible  for  them 
openly  and  avowedly  to  recede  from  that  sys- 
tem.    But  they  did  so  almost  secretly,  perhaps 
unconsciously,  in  the  most  effective  way.     Lord 
Londonderry  alone  had  the  sagacity  to  perceive, 
and  the  courage  to  avow,  t!ie  real  nature  of  the 
measure  introduced,   and  the  evils  it  was  in- 
tended to  obviate.     "He  did  not  treat  it,"  said 
Sir  James  Graham,  a  statesman  subsequently 
well  known,  "  as  a  question  of  fluctuation  of 
prices,  of  want  of  means  of  consumption,  or  of 
2  Sir  James  superabundant  harvests.     The  noble 
Graham  on  marquis  (Londonderry)  said  plainly 
June  3,        and  directly,  'This  is  a  question  of 
Dei)'-    and  currency:   the  currency  of  the  coun- 
Tooke  On    tri/  is  too   contracted  for  its  wants, 
Prices,  ii.     and  our  business  is  to  apply  a  rem- 
'^''  l^S-       edy:  "2 
The  remedy  applied  was  most  effectual,  and 
150.      entirely  successful,  so  far  as  the  evils 
Its  pro-    meant  to  be  remedied  were  concerned, 
visions.    i3y  thg  ^ct  of  igi9  it  iiaJ  been  pro- 
vided that  the  issuing  of  small  notes  by  the 
Bank    of   England    or  country  banks    should 
cease  on  1st  May,  1823,  and  it  was  the  neces- 
sity   of   providing    against    this    contingency 
which  was  one  great  cause  of  the  contraction 
of  the  currency.     On  2d  July,  however,  Loi-d 
Londonderry  introduced  a  bill  permitting  the 
issue  of  £1  notes  to  continue  for  ten  years  lon- 
<jer,  and  declared  the  £1  notes  of  tiie  Bank  of 
England    a   legal   tender  every   where   except 
at  tlic  I5ank  of   England.     This,  coupled  witli 
the  grant  of  £4,000,000  Exchequer  bills,  which 
Government  were  authorized  to  issue  in  aid  of 
the  agricultui-al  interest,  had  a  surprising  effect 
in  restoring  confidence  and  raising  prices;   and 
by  doing  so,  it  repealed,  so  long  as  it  continued 
in  operation,  the  most  injurious  parts  of  the 
Act  of  1819.     It  will  appear  in  a  subsequent 
chapter  how  vast  was  the  effect  of  this  meas- 
ure, what  a  flood  of  temporary  prosperity  it 
spread  over  the  country,  and  in  what  a  dismal 
catastrophe,  from  the  necessity  of  paying  all 
the  notes  at  the  Bank   itself  in  gold,  it  ulti- 
mately terminated.     Yet  so  ignorant  were  the 
legislature  of  the  effects  of  this  vital  measure, 
and  60  little  attention  did  it  excite,  that  tlus 
second  reading  of  it  was  carried  in  a  house  of 
forty-seven   members   oidy   in    the    Commons; 
and  while  so  many  hundred  pages  of  Hansard 
are  on.cupied  with  debates  on  reduction  of  ex- 
Voi .  f  —A  A 


penditure  and  similar  topics,  which  at  the  ut- 
most could  only  save  the  nation  a  few  hundred 
thousands  a  year,  this  measure,  which  restored 
at  least  eighty  millions  a  year  to  the  remunera- 
tion of  industry  in  the  country,  does  ,  p^^.]  p^j, 
not  in  all  occupy  two  pages,  and  can  vii.  1458, 
only  be  discovered  by  the  most  care-  1602 ;  Stat. 
ful  examination  in  our  parliamentary  ^  ^S^'  ' 
proceedings.' 

Si.x  ver3-  important  acts  were  passed  this  ses- 
sion  of  Parliament  at  the   instance 
of  Mr.  Wallace,  the  President  of  the  six  acts  re- 
Board  of  Trade,   for  removing  the  lating  to 
shackles    which   fettered   the   trade  cominereo 
and  navigation  of  the  country,  and  anon'i^'t'*- 
improving  their  facilities.    These  acts 
opened  a  new  era  in  our  commercial  legislation 
— the  era  of  unrestricted  competition  and  free 
trade  in   shipping.     As  such  they  are  highly 
deserving  of  attention;    but  their  provisions 
will  come  with  more  propriety  to  be  considered 
in  a  subsequent  chapter,  when  taken  in  con- 
nection with  the  PiEcii'itociTV  System  in  mari- 
time affairs,  then  introduced  by  Mr.  Iluskisson. 
At  present,  it  is  sufficient  to  observe  the  date 
of  the  commencement  of  the  new  system  being 
the  same  with  that  of  so  many  other  changes 
in  our  social   system   and   commercial  policy, 
and  when  the  general  cheapening  of  articles 
of  all  sorts  had  rendered  a  general  reduction 
of  all  the  charges,  entering  how  re-  2  An.  Reg. 
motely  soever  into  their  composition,  1822, 123, 
a  matter  of  absolute  necessity.*  127. 

Parliament  rose  on  the  6th  August,  and  the 
king   proceeded  shortly  after  on  a        .„ 
visit   to  Edinburgh,   which   he  had  Visit  of  the 
never  yet  seen.     He  embarked  with  king  to 
a  splendid  court  at  Greenwich   on  Eilinburgh. 
board  the  Royal  George  yacht  on     "°' 
the  10th  August,  and  arrived  in  Leith  Roads 
in  the  afternoon  of  the   15th.     No  sovereign 
had  landed  there  since  Queen  Mary  arrived 
nearly  three  hundred  3'ears  before.     The  pre- 
parations for  his  Majesty's  reception,  under  the 
direction  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  were  of  the  most 
magnificent  description,  and  the  loyal  spirit  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Scotland  rendered  it  inter- 
esting in  the  highest  degree.     The  heart-burn- 
ings and  divisions  of  recent  times  were  forgot- 
ten ;  the  Queen's  trial  was  no  more  tliought  of; 
the  Radicals  were  silent.     The  ancient  and  in- 
extinguishable   loyalty    of   the   Scotch    broke 
forlii    with    unexampled   ardor;    the   devoted 
attachment  they  had  shown  to  the  Stuarts  ap- 
peared, but  it  was  now  transferred  to  the  reign- 
ing family.     The  clans  fiom   all  jiarts   of  the 
Highlands  appeared  in  their  pictui-esque  and 
V!iri(Mj  costumes,  with  their  cliieflains  at  their 
head;    the    cjigle's    feather,    their    well-known 
badge,  was  seen   surmounting  many  plumes; 
two  hundred  thousand  strangers  from  ,        _ 
all  parts  of  the  country  crowded  the  1^22  X'df'' 
streets  of  iMlinburgh,  and  forsi  l)ricf    I8(i;  iN-r- 
period  gave  it  tlu!  appeanince  of  a  sonal  ob- 
1       ri.      i  1-3  sorvution. 

K])l('ndid  metropolis.^ 

The  entry  of  the  Sovereign  into  the  ancient 
city  of  his  ancestors  was  extremely  J53 
striking.  The  heights  of  the  (_'al-  Tarticulnrs 
ton  Hill,  and  the  cliffs  of  Salisbury  of  the  royal 
Crags,  which  overhang  the  city,  ^""  ' 
were  lined  with  cannon,  and  ornamented  with 
stiuidarils;  a:id  fi-oni  tlie-e  battei'ies,  as  well  as 


s:o 


11  isTo  u  V  OF  Knioi'i:. 


[CllAI-.   X. 


llio  iruns  (if  tlio  Cnstlo.  niwl  tiie  slii[>s  in  the 
roiuls.  niul  Loith  Fort,  ii  n>yal  salute  was  lirid 
as  the  monarcli  t«nu'lioil  tin-  shore.  The  j^ro- 
cession  passed  tlirougli  an  imuimerable  crowd 
(.•t'  sjH'ctators,  wlio  loudly  niul  oiithusiasticallj^ 
cheered,  up  Leith  Walk,  and  by  York  I'hiee, 
St.  Andrew  Square,  and  Waterloo  I'laoe,  to 
llolyrood  House,  where  a  Iovl'c  and  drawintf- 
room  were  held  a  few  days  after.  On  the  night 
followinir,  the  city  was  illuminated,  and  the 
puns  of  the  Castle,  firing  at  ten  at  night,  rcal- 
i.;ed  the  sublimity  witlunit  the  terrors  of  actual 
warfare.  At  a  magnificent  banquet  given  to 
the  Sovereign  by  the  magistrates  of  Edinburgh 
in  the  rarliament  House,  at  •which  the  Lord 
Provost  acted  as  chairman,  and  Sir  Walter 
Scott  as  vice-cbairman,  the  former  was  made 
a  baronet,  with  that  grace  of  manner  and  fe- 
licity of  expression  for  which  the  King  was 
so  justlj-  celebrated.  A  review  on  Portobello 
Sands  exhibited  the  gratifying  spectacle  of  3000 
yeomanry  cavalry,  collected  from  all  the  south- 
ern counties  of  Scotland,  marching  in  proces- 
sion before  their  Sovereign.  Finally,  the  King, 
who  during  bis  residence  in  Scotland  bad  been 
magnificently  entertained  at  Dalkeith  Palace, 
the  seat  of  the  Duke  of  Buccleueb,  embarked 
on  the  27tli  at  Hopetoun  House,  tbe  beautiful 
residence  of  the  Earls  of  Hopetoun,  -where  he 
conferred  the  honor  of  knighthood  on  Henry 
llaeburn,  the  celebrated  Scottish  artist,  and 
arrived  in  safety  in  the  Thames  on  the  30th, 
,  .     T>        charmed  with  the  reception  he  had 

1  An    Rc*^  • 

]t^22  1:9"  niet  with,  and  having  left  on  all  an 
]bO;  Per-  indelible  impression  of  the  mingled 
sonal  ob-  dignity  and  erace  of  his  manners,  and 
servation.     j.  P-   -.•'     r  1  •  ■        1 

felicity  of  his  expressions.' 

His  return  was  accelerated  by  a  tragical 
event,  which  deprived  England  of 
Death  of  o^^  of  her  greatest  statesmen,  and 
Lord  Lon-  the  intelligence  of  which  arrived 
donderry.  amidst  these  scenes  of  festivity^  and 
"=■  ■  rejoicing.  Lord  Londonderr}-,  upon 
whose  shoulders,  since  the  retirement  of  Lord 
Sidmouth,  the  principal  weight  of  government, 
as  well  as  the  entire  labor  of  the  lead  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  had  fallen,  had  suffered 
severely  from  the  fatigues  of  the  preceding 
session,  and  shortly  after  exhibited  symptoms 
of  mental  aberration.  He  was  visite<l  in  con- 
sequence by  his  physician,  Dr.  Bankhead,  at 
his  mansion  at  North  Cray  in  Kent,  by  whom 
he  was  cupped.  Some  relief  was  experienced 
from  this,  but  he  continued  in  bed,  and  the  men- 
tal disorder  was  unabated.  It  was  no  wonder 
it  was  so:  Romilly  and  Whitbread  had,  in  like 
manner,  fallen  victims  to  similar  pressure  on  the 
brain,  arising  from  political  etibrt.  On  the 
morning  of  the  12th  August,  Dr.  Bankhead, 
who  slept  in  the  house,  being  summoned  to  at- 
t.;nd  his  lordship  in  his  dressing-room,  entered 
just  in  time  to  save  him  from  falling.  He  said, 
"  Bankhead,  let  me  fall  on  your  arms — 'tis  all 
over,"  and  instantly  expired.  He  had  cut  his 
throat  with  a  penknife.  The  coroner's  inquest 
brought  in  a  verdict  of  insanity'.  His  remains 
were  interred  on  the  20th  In  Westminster 
Abbey,  Vjetween  the  graves  of  Pitt  and  Fox. 
The  most  decisive  testimony  to  liis  merits  was 
borne  by  some  savage  miscreants,  who  raised 
a  horrid  shout  as  the  body  was  borne  from  the 
hearse  to  its  last  resting-place  in  the  venerable 


]iile;  a  shout  which,  to  the  disgrace  of  ]MlgF^h 
literature,  lias  since  been  re-echoed 
by  some  wlK)se  talents  might  have  i(iy!j"|j,i)'^''' 
led  them  to  a  more  generous  appre-  ib2;'Mar'ii- 
ciationof  a  political  antagonist,  and  nt'aii,  1.287; 
tlieir  sex  to  a  milder  view  of  the  most  ^[ja*^'"-'^'  ^'• 
fearful  of  human  infirmities.'* 

Ciiateaubriand  has  said,  that  while  all  otlier 
contemporary  reputations  are  declin-  155. 
ing,  that  of  Mr.  Pitt  is  hourly  on  the  Ilischarac- 
increase.  The  same  is  ecpially  true  of  "■''• 
Lord  Londonderry  ;  the  same  ever  has,  and 
ever  will  be,  true  of  the  first  and  greatest  of 
the  human  race.  Their  fame  with  posterity  is 
founded  on  the  very  circumstances  which,  with 
the  majority  of  their  contemporaries,  constitu- 
ted their  unpopularity  ;  they  are  revered,  be- 
cause they  had  wisdom  to  discern  the  ruinous 
tendencj^  of  the  passions  with  which  they  were 
surrounded,  and  courage  to  resist  them.  The 
reputation  of  the  demagogue  is  brilliant,  but 
fleeting,  like  the  meteor  which  shoots  athwart 
the  troubled  sky  of  a  wintery  night ;  that  of  the 
imdaunted  statesman,  at  first  obscured,  but  in 
the  end  lasting  like  the  fixed  stars,  which,  when 
the  clouds  roll  awa}',  shine  forever  the  same 
in  the  highest  firmament.  Intrcpiditj-  in  the 
rulers  of  men  is  the  surest  passport  to  immor- 
tality, for  it  is  the  quality  which  most  fasci- 
nates the  minds  of  men.  All  admire,  because 
few  can  imitate  it. 

"  Justum  et  tcnaccm  propositi  virum 
Non  civium  ardor  prava  jubentiuiri, 
Non  voltus  instantis  tyranni 
Menle  quatit  solida  nerjue  Auster, 
Dux  inquieti  lurbidus  lladritE, 
Nee  fulininantis  magna  inanus  Jovis  : 
Si  fractus  illabatur  orbis, 
Impavidum  ferient  ruinae." 

Never  was  there  a  human  being  to  whom 
these  noble  lines  were  more  applica-  155. 
ble  than  to  Lord  Londonderry.  His  Itsindomit- 
whole  life  was  a  continual  struggle  ''^'^  ^''"^" 
with  the  majority  in  his  own  or  for- 
eign lands ;  he  combated  to  subdue  and  to 
bless  them.  He  began  his  career  by  strenuous 
efforts  to  effect  the  Irish  Union,  and  re.=cue  his 
native  country  from  the  incapable  legislature 
by  which  its  energies  had  so  long  been  re- 
pressed. His  mature  strength  was  exerted  in 
a  long  and  desperate  conflict  with  the  despo- 
tism of  revolutionary  France,  which  his  firm- 
ness, as  much  as  the  arm  of  Wellington,  brought 
to  a  triumphant  issue  ;  his  latter  dajs  in  a 
ceaseless  conflict  with  the  revolutionary  spirit 
in  his  own  country,  and  an  anxious  eflbrt  to 
uphold  the  dignity  of  Great  Britain,  and  the 
independence  of  lesser  states  abroad.     The  un- 


*  "  Tlie  news  of  Lord  Londondcrrj's  death  struck  the 
despots  of  Europe  aghast  upon  their  thrones — newswhjcli 
was  hailed  with  clasped  hands  and  glistening  eyes  hy 
aliens  in  many  a  provincial  town  of  England,  and  witi 
imprudent  shouts  by  conclaves  of  patriots  abroad.  There 
are  some  now,  who  in  mature  years  can  not  rfmemfcer 
without  emotion  what  they  saw  and  heard  that  day. 
They  could  not  know  how  the  calamity  of  one  man— a 
man  amiable,  winning,  and  generous  in  the  walk  of  daily 
life — could  penetrate  the  recesses  of  a  world  but  as  a  ray 
of  hope  in  the  midst  of  thickest  darkness.  This  man 
was  the  screw  by  which  England  had  riveted  the  chains 
of  nations.  The  screw  was  drawn,  and  the  immovable 
despotism  might  now  be  overthrown  There  was  abund 
ant  reason  for  the  rejoicing  which  spread  through  the 
world  on  the  death  of  Lord  Londonderry,  and  the  shout 
which  rang  through  the  .\bl)ey  when  his  coffin  was  taken 
from  the  hearse;  was  natural  enoueh,  though  neither  de- 
cent nor  humane."— .Miss  .Maetineau,  i.  2&7,  2fc6. 


182-2.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


371 


compromising  antagonist  of  Radicalism  atliomo, 
he  was  at  the  same  time  the  resolute  opponent 
of  despotism  abroad.  If  Poland  retained,  after 
the  overthrow  of  Napoleon,  any  remnant  of 
nationality,  it  was  owing  to  his  persevering 
and  almost  unaided  efforts ;  and  at  the  very 
time  when  the  savage  wretches  who  raised  a 
shout  at  his  funeral  were  rejoicing  in  his  death, 
he  had  been  preparing  to  assert  at  Verona,  as 
he  had  done  to  the  Congresses  of  Laybach  and 
Troppau,  the  independent  action  of  (jroat  Brit- 
ain, and  her  non-accordance  in  the  polic}-  of  tbe 
Continental  sovereigns  against  the  efforts  of  hu- 
man freedom. 

His  policy  in  domestic  affairs  was  marked 

157  ^y  *'^*^  same  far-seeing  wisdom,  the 
His  policy  same  intrepid  resistance  to  the  blind- 
in  domestic  ness  of  present  clamor.  He  made 
affairs.  ^j^g  most  strenuous  efforts  to  uphold 
the  Sinking  Fund,  that  noble  monument  of  Mr. 
Pitt's  patriotic  foresight :  had  those  efforts  been 
successful,  the  whole  national  debt  would  have 
been  paid  oft"  by  the  year  1845,  and  the  na- 
tion/oreyer  have  been  freed  from  the  payment 
of  thirty  millions  a  year  for  its  interest.*  He 
resisted  with  a  firm  liand,  and  at  the  expense 
of  present  popularity  with  the  multitude,  tiie 
efforts  of  faction  during  the  seven  trjing  years 
which  followed  the  close  of  the  war,  and  be- 
queathed the  constitution,  after  a  season  of  pe- 
culiar danger,  unshaken  to  his  successors.  The 
firm  friend  of  freedom,  he  was  on  that  very 
account  the  resolute  opponent  of  democracy, 
the  insidious  enemy  which,  under  the  guise  of 
a  friend,  has  in  every  age  blasted  its  progress, 
and  destroyed  its  substance.  Discerning  the 
principal  cause  of  the  distress  which  had  occa- 
sioned these  convulsions,  his  last  act  was  one 
that  bequeathed  to  his  country  a  currency  ade- 
quate to  its  necessities,  and  which  he  alone  of 
Jiis  Cabinet  had  the  honesty  to  admit  was  a 
departure  from  former  error.  Elegant  and  cour- 
teous in  his  manners,  with  a  noble  figure  and 
finely-chiseled  countenance,  he  was  beloved  in 
his  family  circle  and  by  all  his  friends,  not  less 
than  respected  by  the  wide  circle  of  sovereigns 
and  statesmen  with  whom  he  had  so  worthily 
upheld  the  honor  and  the  dignity  of  England. 

Three  years  only  had  elapsed  since  the  great 

158  monetary  change  of  1819  had  been 
Political  carried  into  effect,  and  already  it  had 
changes  in  become  evident  that  that  was  the 
FroifiTho'  turning-point  of  English  history,  and 
resumption  that  an  entire  alteration  would  ere 
ofcaslipay-  long  be  induced  in  its  external  and 
riiunts.  internal  policy.  Changes  great,  de- 
cisive, and  irremediable,  had  already  occurred, 
or  were  in  progress.  The  cutting  off  of  a  hun- 
dred millions  a  year  from  the  ivtnuncration  of 
industry,  agricultural  and  manufacturing,  while 
the  public  and  private  debts  remained  vhe  same, 
had  changed  the  whole  relations  of  nocictj",  al- 
tered all  the  views  of  men.  Reduction  in  ex- 
penditure, when  so  great  a  clia.sm  had  been 
effected  in  income,  was  the  universal  cry.  In 
1810,  the  House  of  Commons  ha<l  soleiiirdy  re- 
solved that  the  Sinking  Fund  should  tmder  no 
circumstances  be  reduced  Ijelow  £r>,()flO,000 
a  year,  and  laid  on  .£.'i,000,000  of  indirect  taxes 
to  bring  it  up  to  that  amount ;  Init  already  tlie 


*  Vide   Hislnry  of  Europe,  cliap.   xll.  Hect.  24,  where 
tbis  is  dcmon.strated,  and  the  calculation  given. 


system  was  abandoned,  taxes  to  the  amount  of 
£3,500,000  had  been  repealed  in  a  single  year, 
and  the  doctrine  openly  promulgated  by  Gov- 
ernment, which  has  since  been  so  constantly 
acted  upon,  that  the  nation  should  instantly 
receive  the  full  benefit  of  a  surplus  income  in  a 
reduction  of  taxation,  instead  of  a  maintenance 
of  the  Sinking  Fund.  The  fierce  demand  for  a 
reduction  of  expenditure,  which  made  itself 
heard  in  an  unmistakable  manner  even  in  the 
unreformed  House  of  Commons,  had  rendered  it 
indispensable  to  reduce  the  land  and  sea  forces 
of  the  state  to  a  degree  inconsistent  with  the 
security  of  its  vast  colonial  dependencies,  and 
the  maintenance  of  its  position  as  an  independ- 
ent power. 

Changes  still  more  important  in  their  ulti- 
mate efl'ects  were  already  taking  .^^ 
place  in  the  social  position  and  bat-  internal 
anee  of  parties  in  the  state.  The  dis-  changes, 
tress  in  Ireland — a  purely  agricul-  ^^^^^^f^^ 
tural  state,  upon  which  the  fall  of  g^^g  cause. 
50  per  cent,  in  its  produce  fell  with 
unmitigated  severitj- — had  I)ecome  such  that  a 
change  in  the  system  of  government  in  that 
country  had  become  indispensable ;  and  the 
altered  system  of  Lord  Wellesley  presaged,  at 
no  distant  period,  the  adndssion  of  the  Roman 
Catholics  into  the  legislature,  and  the  attempt 
to  form  a  harmonious  legislature  out  of  the 
'.inited  Celt  and  Saxon — the  conscientious  serv- 
ant of  Rome,  and  the  sturdy  friend  of  Protest- 
ant England.  The  wide-spread  and  deep  dis- 
tress of  the  manufacturing  classes,  and  the  in- 
ability of  the  legislature  to  afford  them  any 
relief,  had  rendered  loud  and  threatening  the 
demand  for  reform  in  those  great  liives  of  in- 
dustr}',  while  the  still  greater  and  more  irre- 
mediable sufferings  of  the  agriculturists  had 
shaken  the  class  hitherto  the  most  firmly  at- 
tached to  existing  institutions,  and  diffused  a 
very  general  opinion  that  things  could  not  be 
worse  than  they  were,  and  that  no  alleviation 
of  the  evils  under  which  the  country  labored 
could  be  hoped  for  till  the  representation  of 
the  people  was  put  on  a  different  footing. 
Lastly,  the  general  necessity  of  cheapening 
every  thing,  to  meet  the  reduced  price  of  prod- 
uce, had  extended  itself  to  freigiits,  and  sev- 
eral acts  had  already  passed  the  legislature 
which  foreshadowed  the  repeal  of  the  Naviga- 
tion Laws,  and  the  abandonment  of  the  system 
under  which  England  liad  won  tlie  sceptre  cf 
the  seas,  and  a  colonial  em|iire  which  encirc]c<l 
the  earth.  The  dawn  of  Iho  whole  future  of 
England  is  to  be  found  in  these  tiirec  years. 

The  Marquis  of  Londonderry  was  the  last 
minister  in  (Jreat  Britain  of  the  rul-         jf.o. 
ers  who  really  governed  the  state ;  I-orJ  I-nn- 

that  is,  of  men  who  took   counsel  l""''"''*',    , 
,         r   ,,     •  .  ,  1    •         was  the  last 

onl^'  of  their  own  ideas,  and  im-  orthcrcMl 
printed  them  on  the  internal  and  rulcr.soiKn- 
extcrnal  policy  of  tlicir  ecMintry.  K'""''- 
Thenceforwar(r  statesmen  were  guided  on  both 
sides  f>f  the  Channel,  not  by  wliat  they  deem- 
ed right,  but  what  llicy  found  practicable;  the 
ruling  power  was  found  elsewhere  than  cither 
in  the  enf)in(t  or  the  legislature,  (.^'"'rulous 
and  desponding  men,  among  whom  Chateau- 
briand stands  foremost,  ])ercciving  this,  nn<l 
comparing  the  ]iast  with  the  present,  concludc<l 
that  this  was  because  the  period  of  greatness 


11  ISTOR  Y    OK   EUROPE. 


[Chap.  X. 


liiul  piis^oil,  because  the  ago  of  giants  liad  boon 
»;iK'oooilod  by  tliat  of  pigmies;  and  that  men 
wore  not  ilireetoii,  bceauso  no  one  able  to  lead 
them  appeared.  Hut  this  was  a  mistake:  it 
was  not  that  the  age  of  great  men  had  eeased, 
but  llie  age  of  great  eausos  had  sueeeeded. 
I'ublic  opinion  had  become  irresistible — the 
press  ruled  alike  the  cabinet  and  the  legislature 
i>n  important  questions  ;  where  the  jieople  were 
strongly  roused,  their  V(.>iee  had  become  om- 
nipotent; on  all  it  gradually  but  incessantly 
aeied,  and  in  the  cud  modilied  the  opinions  of 
government 

The  Vox  Fopnli  is  not  alwaj's,  at  the  mo- 
ment, the  Vox  Dei :  it  is  so  only  when 
Increased  *'^^  period  of  action  has  passed,  and 
ascendant  that  of  reflection  has  arisen — when 
of  the  rul-  the  storms  of  passion  are  liushed,  and 
thou'''tit  *''^  whisperings  of  interest  no  longer 
"  '  heard  ;  but  when  the  still  small  voice 
of  experience  s[)eaks  in  i)ersuasive  tones  to  fu- 
ture generations  of  men,  it  will  be  shown 
whether  the  apparent  government  of  the  many 
is  more  beneficial  in  its  effects  than  the  real 
government  of  a  few;  but  this  much  is  certain, 
that  it  is  their  apparent  government  only.  Men 
seek  in  vain  to  escape  from  the  iirst  of  human 
necessities — the  necessity  of  being  governed  by 
establishing  democratic  institutions.  They  do 
not  change  the  direction  of  the  many  by  the 
few:  by  the  establishment  of  these  they  only 
change  the  few  who  direct.  The  oligarchy  of 
intellect  and  eloquence  comes  instead  of  that 
of  property  and  influence;  happy  if  it  is  in 
reality  more  wise  in  its  measures  and  far-see- 
ing in  its  policy  than  that  which  it  has  sup- 
planted. But  it  is  itself  directed  by  the  leaders 
of  thought:  the  real  rulers  of  men  appear  in 
those  who  direct  general  opinion;  and  the  re- 
sponsibility of  the  philosopher  or  the  orator  be- 
comes overwhelming  when  he  shares  with  it 
that  of  the  statesman  and  the  sovereign. 

No  doubt  can  remain,  upon  considering  the 
1C2.        events  in  the  memorable  years  1819 
Simultane-     and  1820  in  Europe,  that  they  were 
ous  outbreak  i\^q  result  of  a  concerted  plan  among 
01  the  revo-   -i  i    i-      •  x     •     o      •      -n 

luiionary  ''^^  revolutionists  in  Spain,  1*  ranee, 
spirit  in  dif-  Italy,  Germany,  and  England;  and 
lerent  coun-  that  the  general  overthrow  of  gov- 

"^'  erninents,  which  occurred  in  1848, 

had  been  prepared,  and  was  expected,  in  1820. 
The  slightest  attention  to  dates  proves  this  in 
the  most  decisive  manner.  The  insurrection  of 
lliego  at  Cadiz  broke  out  on  1st  January,  1820 
— that  at  Corunna  on  24th  February  in  the 
same  year — the  king  was  constrained  to  accept 
the  Constitution  on  7th  March ;  Kotzebue  was 
murdered  in  Germany  on  2l6t  March ;  the  revo- 
lution of  Naples  took  place  on  'Jth  March,  that 
of  Piedmont  on  7th  June;  the  Duke  de  Berri 
was  assassinated  on  13th  March;  hneutes  in 
Paris,  which  so  nearly  overturned  the  Govern- 
ment, broke  out  on  7th  June,  the  military  con- 
spiracy on  19th  August;  the  assassination  of 
the  English  Cabinet  was  fixed  for  19th  Febru- 
ary  by  the  Cato  Street  conspirators ; 
\vao.  '  *'^*^  insurrection  at  Glasgow  took  place 
on  3d  April.     So  many  movements  of 


ft  rovolulioiuiry  character,  occurring  so  near 
each  other  in  point  of  time,  in  so  many  dif- 
ferent countries,  demonstrates  either  a  simul- 
taneous agency  of  ditl'erent  bodies  acting  un- 
der one  common  central  authority,  or  a  com 
iiuin  sense  of  the  ailvent  «)f  a  period  in  an  es- 
pecial manner  favoi'able  to  the  designs  which 
they  all  had  in  contemplation.  And  when  it  is 
recollected  that  the  Chambers  of  France  had,  by 
the  operation  of  the  coxpn  d'itat  of  5th  Septem- 
ber, 1810,  and  Mai'ch,  1819,  been  so  thoroughly 
rendered  democratical  that  the  dethronement 
of  the  king  and  establishment  of  a  republic,  by 
vote  of  the  legislature,  was  with  contidenee  an- 
ticipated when  the  next  fifth  had  been  elected 
for  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  and  that  distress 
in  Great  Britain  had  become  so  general,  by  the 
operation  of  the  monetary  law  of  1819,  that  in- 
surrectionaiT  movements  were  in  preparation 
in  all  the  great  manufacturing  towns,  and  had 
actually  broken  out  in  several — it  must  be  con- 
fessed, that  a  more  favorahle  time  for  such  a 
general  outbreak  could  hardly  have  been  se- 
lected. 

And  yet,  although  these  revohitionaiy  move- 
ments were  obviously  made  in  pur-  ie3. 
suance  of  a  common  design,  and  for  Difli?rcnt 
a  common  purpose,  yet  the  agents  in  •^'•apcters 
them,  and  the  parties  in  each  state  volts  in  the 
to  which  their  execution  was  intrust-  difl'erent 
ed,  were  widely  different.  In  Great  states 
Britain,  they  were  entirely  conducted  bj'  the 
very  lowest  classes  of  societj';  and  although 
they  met  with  apologists  and  defenders  more 
frequently  than  might  have  been  expected  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  from  a  portion  of 
the  press,  yet  no  person  of  respectability  or 
good  education  was  actually  imjilicated  in  the 
treasonable  proceedings.  The  whole  respect- 
able and  influential  classes  were  ranged  on  the 
other  side.  But  the  case  was  widely  difl'erent 
on  the  Continent.  The  French  revolutionists 
embraced  a  large  part  of  the  t.alent,  and  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  the  education  of  the  coun- 
try; and  it  was  their  concurrence,  as  the  event 
afterward  proved,  which  rendered  any  insur- 
rectionary movement  in  that  country  so  ex- 
tremely formidable.  In  Fpain  and  Portugal, 
the  principal  merchants  in  the  seaport  towns, 
the  most  renowned  generals,  and  almost  the 
whole  officers  in  the  army,  were  engaged  on 
the  revolutionary  side,  and  their  adhesion  to 
its  enemies  in  the  last  struggle  left  the  throne 
without  a  defense.  In  Italy,  the  ardent  end 
generous  youth,  and  nearly  the  whole  educated 
classes,  were  deeply  imbued  with  Liberal  ideas, 
and  willing  to  run  any  hazard  to  secure  their 
establishment ;  and  nearly  the  whole  youth  edu- 
cated at  the  German  universities  had  embraced 
the  same  sentiments,  and  longed  for  the  period 
when  the  Fatherland  was  to  take  its  place  as 
the  first  and  greatest  of  representative  govern- 
ments. Such  is  the  difference  between  the 
action  of  the  revolutionary  principle  upon  a 
constitutional  and  a  despotic  monarchy,  and 
such  the  security  which  the  long  enjoyment  of 
freedom  affords  for  the  continuance  of  that 
blessing  to  future  times. 


1821.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


873 


CHAPTER  XI. 


ENGLAND,    FRANCE,    AND   SPAIN,    FROM   THE   ACCESSION    OF   TILLEI.E   IN    1819    TO    THE   CONGRESS    OF 

VERONA    IN    1822. 


France  and  England,  since  the  peace  of  1815, 
J.  had  pursued  separate  paths,  and 

Divergence  of  their  governments  had  never  as  yet 
France  and  been  brought  into  collision  ■with 
re"ard"to'ttie  ^^"■'^^  other.  Severally  occupied 
Spanish  Rev-  with  domestic  concerns,  oppressed 
olution.  with  the  burdens  or  striving  to  heal 

the  wounds  of  war,  their  governments  were 
amicable,  if  not  cordially  united,  and  nothing 
had  as  yet  occurred  which  threatened  to  bring 
them  into  a  state  of  hostility  with  each  other. 
But  the  Spanish  revolution  ere  long  had  this 
effect.  It  was  viewed  with  very  different  eyes 
on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  Channel.  Justly 
proud  of  their  own  constitution,  and  dating  its 
completion  from  the  Revolution  of  1G88,  which 
had  expelled  the  Stuarts  from  the  throne — for 
the  most  part  ignorant  of  the  physical  and  po- 
litical circumstances  of  the  Peninsula,  which 
rendered  a  similar  constitution  inapplicable  to 
its  inhabitants,  and  deeply  imbued  with  the 
prevailing  delusion  of  the  day,  that  forms  of 
government  were  every  thing,  and  differences 
of  race  nothing — the  English  had  hailed  the 
Spanish  revolution  with  generous  enthusiasm, 
and  anticipated  tlie  entire  resurrection  of  the 
Peninsula  from  the  convulsion  which  seemed 
to  have  liberated  them  from  their  oppressors. 
These  sentiments  were  entirely  sliared  by  the 
numerous  and  energetic  party  in  France,  which 
aimed  at  expelling  the  Bourbons,  and  restoring 
a  republican  form  of  government  in  that  coun- 
try. But  for  that  very  reason,  opinions  dia- 
metrically opposite  were  entertained  by  the 
Bupporters  of  the  monarchy,  and  all  who  were 
desirous  to  save  the  country  from  a  repetition 
of  the  horrors  of  the  first  Revolution.  They 
were  unanimously  impressed  with  the  belief 
that  revolutionary  governments  could  not  be 
established  in  Spain  and  Italy  without  endan- 
gering to  the  last  degree  the  existing  institutions 
ia  France ;  that  the  contagion  of  democracy 
would  speedily  spread  across  the  Alps  and  the 
Pyrenees;  and  that  a  numerous  and  powerful 
party  set  upon  overturning  the  existing  order 
of  things,  already  witli  difficulty  held  in  subjec- 
tion, would,  from  the  example  of  success  in  the 
neigliboring  states,  speedily  become  irresistible. 
Tliis  divei'gence  of  opinion  and  feeling,  coup- 
led witli  tiie  immin(nit  danger  to 
France  from  the  convulsions  in  the 
adjoining  kingdoms,  and  the  com- 
which  aug-  parative  exemption  of  (ircut  Britain 
divergence.  '™"i 't,  in  consequence  of  I'einoteness 
of  situation,  and  difference  of  national 
temperament,  must  inevitably,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, have  led  to  a  difference  in  tiie  j)<i]- 
icy  of  the  two  countries,  and  spriouKJy  endan- 
gered their  amicable  rclafions.  But  this  danger 
was  much  increased  in  France  and  Kngland  at 
this  period,  in  consccjueiiee  of  the  recent  events 
which  had  occurred  in  the  Peuinsula,  and  tlic 


2. 

Peculiar 
cau.scs 


character  of  the  men  who  were  then  placed,  by 
the  prevailing  feeling  in  the  two  countries,  at 
the  head  of  affairs.  Spain  and  Portugal  were 
the  theatre  of  Wellington's  triumphs ;  thej'  had 
been  liberated  by  the  arms  of  England  from  the 
thraldom  of  Napoleon;  they  had  witnessed  the 
first  reverses  which  led  to  the  overthrow  of  his 
empire.  The  French  beheld  with  envy  any 
movement  which  threatened  to  increase  an  iu- 
fluence  from  which  they  had  already  suffered 
so  much;  the  English,  with  jealousy  any  at- 
tempt to  interrupt  it.  In  addition  to  this,  the 
two  Ministers  of  Foreign  Affairs  on  the  opposite 
sides  of  the  Channel,  when  matters  approached 
a  crisis,  were  of  a  character  and  temperament 
entirely  in  harmony  with  the  ideas  of  the 
prevailing  influential  majoritj'  in  their  respect- 
ive countries,  and  both  alike  gifted  with  the 
genius  capable  of  inflaming,  and  destitute  of 
the  calmness  requisite  to  allay,  the  ferment  of 
their  respective  people. 

George  Canning,  who  was  the  Foreign  Jlia- 
ister  that  was  imposed  upon  the  King  3 
of  England,  on  Lord  Londonderry's  ciiaractcr 
death,  by  the  general  voice  of  the  oi'Mr.  Can- 
nation,  rather  than  selected  by  his  "'"*^' 
choice,  and  who  took  the  lead,  on  the  British 
side,  in  the  great  debate  with  France  which 
ensued  regarding  the  affairs  of  the  Peninsular 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  that  ever 
rose  to  the  head  of  affairs  in  Great  Britain.  Of 
respectable  but  not  noble  birth,  he  owed  no- 
thing to  aristocratic  descent,  and  was  indebted 
for  his  introduction  to  Parliament  and  political 
life  to  the  friendships  which  he  formed  at  col- 
lege, where  his  brilliant  talents,  both  in  tlie 
subjects  of  study  and  in  conver?ation,  early  pro- 
cured for  him  distinction.*     It  is  seldom  that 


*  (jeorgc  Canning  was  born  in  London  on  lllh  April, 
1770.  lie  waa  descended  from  an  ancient  family,  which, 
ill  the  time  of  Edward  HI.,  had  comineiiced  wilh  a  mayor 
of  Bristol,  and  had  since  been  one  of  the  most  respected 
of  the  county  of  Warwick.  IIis  father,  George  (;aiiiiiii(;, 
the  third  sou  of  the  family,  was  called  to  the  bar,  but 
being  a  man  of  more  literary  than  legal  tastes,  he  never 
got  inio  practice,  and  died  in  1771  in  very  needy  circum- 
stances, leaving  Mrs.  Canning,  an  Iri.sli  lady  ol  great 
beauty  and  accomplishments,  in  such  d(^stitution  that  she 
was  obliged  for  a  short  time  to  go  on  the  stage  for  her 
subsistence.  Voung  (banning  was  educated  at  Eton  out 
ol' the  proceeds  of  a  small  Irish  estate  be<iueathed  to  hitn 
by  his  grandfather,  and  there  his  talents  and  assiduity 
soon  procured  for  him  distinction.  He  joined  there  sev- 
eral of  his  KchooUi-llows  in  getting  up  a  literary  work, 
which  attained  considerable  classical  eminence,  entitle(l 
the  Microcosm.  Mr.  (banning  was  its  avowed  editor,  ami 
principal  contributor.  In  I7S8,  in  his  eighteenth  year,  he 
left  Eton,  already  preceded  by  liis  literary  reputation,  and 
was  entered  at  ("hrist  Church,  Oxford.  The  continued 
Industry  and  brilliant  parts  which  he  there  exhibited  gained 
for  liiin  the  highest  honors,  and,  what  proved  of  still  more 
importance  to  him  in  after-life,  the  frieiKlship  ol'  iii:iiiy 
eminent  men,  among  whom  was  Lord  llawkesbury,  who 
afterward  brionie  Earl  of  Liverpool.  On  leaving  Oxford 
he  enlrri'd  Liiicnlu's  Inn,  but  rather  with  the  design  of 
strengtliciiiiig  his  mind  by  legal  argumint  than  following 
the  law  as  a  profession.  He  there  formed  an  accinainlanco 
with  Mr.  .Sheridan,  which  soon  ripened  into  a  friendship 
that  continued  through  life. 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[Chap.  XT. 


oniforii-nl  nml  lito::»rv  tnloiits  siu-li  as  ho  pos- 
sossod  fail  ill  lU'tiiiiring  ilistiiU'tioii  iit  ii  uni- 
voi-#ity,  tlioiii^li  still  ii;roatei-  powiTs  luul  nioro 
prolV'und  onpaoity  rnrely  do  iittniii  it.  Bacon 
iiuuio  no  figure  at  college;  Aiiani  Smith  was 
»:nkno\vn  to  aoaileniio  fume;  Burke  was  never 
lieard  of  at  Trinity  (."ollege,  Dublin;  l.oeke  was 
ixpolleil  from  C'ambriilge.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  has  been  scarcely  a  great  orator  or  a  dis- 
tinguished minister  in  England  for  a  century 
and  ft  half  whoso  reputation  did  not  precede 
him  from  the  univcrsitj'  into  Parliament.  The 
reason  is,  that  there  is  a  natural  connection  be- 
tween eminence  in  scholarship  and  oratorical 
power,  but  not  between  that  faculty  and  depth 
i)f  thought ;  both  rest  upon  the  same  mental  fac- 
ulties, and  can  not  exist  without  them.  Quick- 
ness of  perception,  retcntiveucss  of  memory,  a 
brilliant  imagination,  fluent  diction,  self-con!i- 
dence,  presence  of  mind,  are  as  essential  to  the 
debater  in  Parliament  as  to  the  scholar  in  the 
university.  Both  are  essentially  at  variance 
with  the  solitary'  meditation,  the  deep  reflec- 
tion, the  distrust  of  self,  the  slow  deductions, 

Ills  literary  and  oratorical  distinction  was  much  en- 
hanced by  the  brilliant  appearances  he  made  in  .several 
private  societies  in  London,  and  this  led  to  his  introduc- 
tion into  public  life.  Mr.  Pitt,  having  heard  of  his  talents 
as  a  speaker  and  writer,  sent  for  him,  and  in  a  private  in- 
terview stated  to  him  that,  if  he  approved  of  the  general 
policy  of  Government,  arrangements  would  be  made  to 
procure  him  a  seat  in  Parliament.  Mr.  Canning  declared 
Ins  concurrence  in  the  views  of  the  minister,  acting  in 
this  respect  on  the  advice  of  Mr.  Sheridan,  who  dissuaded 
him  from  joining  the  Opposition,  which  had  nothing  to 
offer  him.  Mr.  Canning's  previous  intimacies  had  been 
chietly  with  the  Whigs  ;  and,  like  Pitt  and  Fo.\,  he  had 
hailed  the  French  Revolution  at  its  outset  with  uncjualified 
hope  and  enthusiasm.  He  was  returned  to  Parliament 
in  1793  for  the  close  borough  of  Newport,  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  entering  thus,  like  all  the  great  men  of  the  day, 
public  life  through  the  portals  of  the  nomination  boroughs. 

His  first  speech  was  on  the  31st  January,  1794,  in  liivor 
of  a  loan  to  the  King  of  Sardinia ;  and  it  gave  such  prom- 
ises of  future  talent  that  he  was  selected  to  second  the 
Address.  In  spring  1796  he  was  appointed  I'nder-Secre- 
tary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs  ;  and  on  1st  .March,  1799, 
delivered  a  speech  against  the  slave-trade,  w-hich  has  de- 
servedly obtained  a  place  in  his  collected  speeches.  At 
this  time  he  became  the  most  popular  contributor  to  the 
Anti- Jacobin  iJftior,  of  which  Mr.  GifTordwasthe  editor. 
His  pieces  are  chiefly  of  the  light,  sportive,  or  satirical 
kind,  and  contributed  to  check,  by  the  force  of  ridicule, 
the  progress  of  French  principles  in  the  country.  In  1799 
he  delivered  two  brilliant  speeches  in  favor  of  the  union 
with  Ireland,  which  led  to  his  afterward  becoming  the 
warm  and  consistent  advocate  of  the  Catholic  claims  in 
Parliament  ;  and  in  1801  went  out  of  office  with  Mr.  Pitt. 
He  did  not  oppose  Mr.  Addington's  administration,  but 
neither  did  he  support  it,  and  wisely  discontinued  almost 
entirely  his  attendance  in  Parliament  during  its  continu- 
ance. In.Fuly,  1800,  he  married  Miss  Joan  Scott,  daughter 
and  co-heiress  of  General  Scott,  who  had  made  a  colossal 
fortune  chiefly  at  the  gaming-table.  This  auspicious  union 
greatly  advanced  his  prospects.  Her  fortune,  which  was 
very  large,  made  him  independent,  her  society  happy,  her 
connections  powerful  ;  for  her  eldest  sister  had  recently 
before  married  the  Marquis  of  Titchfield,  eldest  son  of, 
and  who  afterward  became,  Duke  of  Portland. 

In  spring  1603,  Mr.  Canning  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
scries  of  resolutions  condemnatory  of  the  conduct  of  min- 
isters, which  led  to  the  overthrow  of  Mr.  Addington's  ad- 
ministration, and  on  the  return  of  Mr.  Pitt  to  power  was 
appointed  Treasurer  of  the  Navy,  an  office  which  he  held 
till  the  death  of  that  great  man,  in  December,  1605.  On 
the  accession  of  the  Whigs  to  office  he  was  of  course  dis- 
placed, and  became  an  active  member  of  that  small  but 
indefatigable  band  of  opposition  which  resisted  Mr.  Fo.x's 
administration.  Such  was  the  celebrity  which  he  thus 
acquired,  that  when  the  Tories  returned  to  power,  in  April, 
1807,  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Foreign 
Department,  and  for  the  first  time  became  a  Cabinet  Min- 
ister. 

In  this  elevated  position  he  not  only  took  the  lead  in 
conducting  the  foreign  aflTairs  of  the  country,  but  was  the 
main  pillar  of  administration  in  resisting  the  attacks  with 


the  laborious  investigation,  the  gencrali/ing 
turn  of  mind,  which  are  rcipiisite  to  the  discov- 
ery of  truth,  and  are  invariably  found  united 
in  those  destined  ultimatcl}'  to  be  the  leaders 
of  opinion.  The  first  set  of  qualities  fit  their 
possessors  to  be  the  leaders  of  senates,  the  last 
to  be  the  rulers  of  thought. 

AVhen  Mr.  C'aniiiiig  first  entered  Parliament, 
the  native  bent  of  his  mind,  and  the  ^ 

aspirations  which  naturally  arise  in  H»s  peculiar 
the  breast  of  one  conscious  of  great  style  of  elo- 
iiitellectual  power  and  destitute  of  'l"'^"ce. 
external  advantages,  inclined  him  to  the  Liberal 
side.  But  as  its  leaders  were  at  that  jieriod  iu 
opposition,  and  Mr.  Canning  did  not  possess  an 
independent  fortune,  they  generously  advised 
him  to  join  the  ranks  of  J\li\  Pitt,  then  iu  the 
midst  of  his  struggle  with  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, lie  did  so,  and  soon  became  a  favorite 
I'live  of  that  great  man.  It  was  hard  to  say 
whether  his  poetr}-  in  the  Anti-Jacobin,  or  his 
speeches  in  Parliament,  contiibuted  mo?t  to  aid 
his  cause.  Gradually  he  rose  to  very  high  euii- 
nenee  in  debate — an  eminence  which  went  on 


which  it  was  assailed,  particularly  on  the  Orders  in  Coun- 
cil and  the  Copenhagen  e.vpedilion.  The  breaking  out  of 
the  Spanish  war  in  .May,  1608,  and  the  active  part  which 
Great  Britain  immediately  took  m  that  contest,  gave  him 
several  opportunities  for  the  display  of  his  eloquence  in 
the  generous  support  of  Liberal  principles  and  the  inde- 
pendence of  nations,  of  which  through  life  he  had  been 
the  fervent  supporter.  To  the  vigor  ol  his  counsels  in  the 
cabinet,  and  the  influence  of  his  eloquence  in  the  senate, 
is,  in  a  great  degree,  to  be  ascribed  the  energetic  part 
which  England  took  in  that  contest,  and  its  ultimately 
glorious  termination.  He  conducted  the  able  negotiation 
with  the  Emperors  Alexander  and  Napoleon,  when,  alter 
the  interview  at  Erfurth  in  1608,  they  jointly  proposed 
peace  to  Great  Britain  ;  and  the  complicated  diplomatic 
correspondence  with  the  American  government  relative 
to  the  afl'air  of  the  Chesapeake,  and  the  many  points  of 
controversy  concerning  maritime  rights  which  had  arisen 
with  the  people  of  that  country.  In  all  these  negotiations 
his  dispatches  and  state  papers  were  a  model  of  ckar, 
temperate,  and  accurate  reasoning.  Subsequent  lo  this 
he  became  involved  in  a  quarrel  with  Lord  Casllercagh, 
arising  out  of  the  failure  of  the  Walchercn  expedition  in 
1609,  and  Mr.  Canning's  attempts  to  get  him  removed 
from  the  Ministry,  which  terminated  in  a  duel,  and  led  lo 
the  retirement  ol  both  from  office  at  the  very  time  when 
the  dangers  of  the  country  most  imperatively  called  lor 
their  joint  services.  He  did  not,  however,  on  resigning, 
go  into  opposition,  but  continued  an  independent  mtnibtr 
of  Parliament ;  and  it  was  after  this  that  he  made  his  cel- 
ebrated speech  in  support  of  the  Bullion  Report — a  speech 
which  displays  at  once  the  ease  with  which  he  could  di- 
rect his  great  powers  to  any  new  subject,  however  intri- 
cate, and  the  decided  bias  which  inclined  him  to  Liberal 
doctrines. 

At  the  dissolution  of  Parliament,  in  the  close  of  1812, 
Mr.  Canning  stood  for  Liverpool,  on  which  occasion  he 
made  the  most  brilliant  and  interesting  speeches  of  his 
whole  career  ;  for  they  had  less  of  ihe  fencing  common  in 
Parliament,  and  more  of  real  eloquence  in  them  than  his 
speeches  in  the  House  of  Commons.  In  1814  he  was  sent 
into  a  species  of  honorable  banishment  as  embassador  at 
the  court  of  Lisbon,  from  whence  he  returned  in  1610; 
and  in  the  beginning  of  1617  he  was  appointed  President 
of  the  Board  of  Control  on  the  death  of  the  Earl  of  Buck- 
inghamshire. In  the  spring  of  1620  he  sustained  a  severe 
loss  by  the  death  of  his  eldest  son  George,  who  expired  on 
the  31st  March.  Overwhelmed  with  this  calamity,  and 
desirous  to  be  absent  during  ihe  discussions  on  the  yueeii, 
he  took  but  little  part  in  public  affairs  during  1621  and 
1622,  during  which  years  he  resided  chiefly  in  France  and 
Italy  ;  but  the  capacity  he  evinced  as  President  of  the 
Board  of  Control,  coupled  with  a  secret  desire  on  the  part 
of  the  Prince  Regent  lo  get  him  removed  from  the  Cabinet, 
pointed  him  out  as  a  fit  person  to  be  appointed  Governor- 
general  of  India,  which  situation  he  had  agreed  to  accept, 
and  even  attended  the  farewell  dinner  of  the  East  India 
directors  on  his  appointment,  when  the  unexpected  death 
of  Lord  Londonderry,  and  the  general  voice  of  the  publigj 
on  the  20th  August,  in  a  manner  forced  him  upon  Ihe  Gov- 
ernment as  Foreign  Secretary.— .Wc/nojr  o/"iUr.  Launnig, 
i.  29.     Li/e  and  •Speeches,  vol.  i. 


1821.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


375 


contlimally  increasing  till  lie  obtained  the  en- 
tire mastery  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
commanded  its  attention  to  a  degree  whicli 
neither  ilr.  Burke,  Mr.  Pitt,  nor  Mr.  Fox  had 
done.  The  reason  was,  that  his  talents  ■were 
more  completely  suited  to  the  peculiar  temper 
and  average  capacity  of  that  assembly:  they 
neither  fell  short  of  it,  nor  went  beyond  it.  Less 
philosophical  than  Burke,  less  instructive  than 
Pitt,  less  impassioned  than  Fox,  he  was  more 
attractive  than  any  of  them,  and  possessed  in 
a  higher  degree  the  faculty,  by  the  exhibition 
of  his  varied  powers,  of  permanently  keeping 
alive  the  attention.  He  neither  disconcerted 
Ills  audience  by  abstract  disquisition,  nor  ex- 
hausted them  by  statistical  details,  nor  terrified 
them  by  vehemence  of  declamation.  Alternate- 
ly serious  and  playful,  eloquent  and  fanciful, 
sarcastic  and  sportive,  he  knew  how  to  throw 
over  the  most  uninteresting  subjects  the  play  of 
fauev,  and  the  light  of  original  genius.  What- 
ever the  subject  was,  he  touched  it  with  a  fe- 
licity which  no  other  could  reach.  He  never 
rose  without  awakening  expectation,  nor  sat 
down  without  exciting  regret.  Gifted  by  na- 
ture with  a  poetic  fancy  and  a  brilliant  imagin- 
ation, an  accomplished  scholar,  and  a  felicitous 
wit,  lie  knew  how  to  enliven  everj^  subject  by 
the  treasures  of  learning,  the  charms  of  poetry, 
and  the  magic  influence  of  allusion.  At  times 
he  rose  to  the  very  highest  strains  of  eloquence ; 
and  if  the  whole  English  language  is  searched 
for  the  finest  detached  passages  of  splendid 
orator}',  they  will  be  found  in  the  greatest 
number  in  his  collected  speeches. 

If  Mr.  Canning's  reach  of  thought  and  con- 
sistency of  conduct  had  been  equal 
His  defects.  ^^  these  brilliant  qualities,  he  would 
have  been  one  of  the  very  greatest 
statesmen,  as  unquestionably  he  was  one  of  the 
first  orators  that  England  ever  produced.  But 
imfortunately  this  was  very  far  from  being  the 
case ;  and  he  remains  a  lasting  proof  that,  if 
literary  accomplishment  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant elements  in  oratorical  power,  it  is  very 
far  from  being  the  same  in  statesmanlike  wis- 
dom. Perhaps  they  can  not  co-exist  in  the 
same  mind.  Mr.  Burke  himself,  the  greatest 
of  political  philosophers,  was  by  no  means  an 
equally  popular  speaker — his  voice  seldom  fail- 
ed to  clear  the  House  of  Commons.  Mr.  Can- 
ning had  too  much  of  the  irritability  of  genius 
in  his  temper,  of  the  fervor  of  poetry  in  his 
thought,  of  the  restlessness  of  ambition  in  his 
disposition,  to  be,  when  intrusted  with  tlio  <li- 
rection  of  affairs,  either  a  safe  or  a  judiciou.< 
statesmen.  Passionately  fond  of  popularity, 
accustomed  to  receive  its  incense,  and  reap  at 
once  the  rewards  of  genius  by  the  admiration 
which  his  brilliancy  in  conversation,  his  versa- 
tility in  debate,  awakened,  ho  forgot  that  im- 
mediate applause  is  in  general  the  precursor, 
not  of  lasting  fame,  but  of  dangeroiis  innovation 
and  permanent  condemnation.  He  mistook  the 
cheers  of  the  multitude  for  tlie  voice  of  iiges. 
He  forgot  the  reproof  the  Greek  philosopher, 
when  his  pupil  was  intoxicated  with  the  nj)- 
plause  of  tiie  mob:  "My  son,  if  you  had  spoken 
wisely,  you  wouhl  have  met  with  no  such  ap- 
probation." Hence  he  yieldi'd  with  too  much 
facility  to  the  bent  of  the  age  in  which  he  wa.** 
called  to  power;  he  increased,  instead  of  mod- 


erating, its  fervor.  His  career  as  a  statesman, 
in  mature  life,  is  little  more  than  a  contrast  to 
his  earlier  speeches  as  a  legislator.  He  was  the 
first  of  that  school,  unfortunately  become  so 
numerous  in  later  times,  who  sacrifice  principle 
to  ambition,  and  climb  to  power  by  adopting 
the  principles  which  they  have  spent  the  be^t 
part  of  their  life  in  combating.  Unbounded 
present  applause  never  fails  to  attend  the  un- 
looked-for and  much-prized  conversion.  Time 
will  show  whether  it  is  equally  followed  by  the 
respect  and  suffrages  of  subsequent  ages. 

Mr.  Canning  rose  to  power  in  England,  b}-^ 
embodying  in  the  most  effective  and        5 
brilliant  form  the  spirit  and  wishes  of   Viscount 
his  country  at  the  time:   as  Napoleon  Chateau- 

•  T     i-  1  ■         ir   i.Ti  1     -i.  i      ■  brianci. 

said  of  himself,     11  man^hait  toujours 

avec  I'opinion  de  cinq  millions  d'homnies."  By 
a  singular  coincidence,  another  man  of  similar 
talents  and  turn  of  mind  at  the  same  time  was 
elevated  by  the  influence  of  the  ruling  party 
at  the  moment  in  France  to  the  direction  of  its 
foreign  affairs,  and,  equally  with  his  English 
rival,  embodied  the  ideas  and  wishes  of  the 
ruling  majority  on  the  other  side  of  the  Chan- 
nel. Viscount  Ciiate.\ubriand  has  attained  to 
such  fame  as  a  writer,  that  we  are  apt  to  forget 
that  he  was  also  a  powerful  statesman  ;  that  he 
ruled  the  foreign  affairs  of  his  country  during 
the  most  momentous  period  which  had  elapsed 
since  the  fall  of  the  empire ;  and  achieved  for 
its  arms  a  more  durable,  if  a  less  brilliant  con- 
quest than  the  genius  of  Napoleon  had  been 
able  to  eft'eet.  Like  Mr.  Canning,  he  was  a 
type  of  the  "  literary  character."  Mr.  Disraeli 
could  not,  in  all  history,  discover  two  men 
whose  productions  and  career  evince  in  more 
striking  colors  its  peculiarities,  its  excellences, 
and  defects.  His  imagination  was  brilliant, 
his  disposition  elevated,  his  soul  poetical.  De- 
scended of  an  ancient  and  noble  family- — bred 
in  early  life  in  a  solitary  chateau  in  Brittany, 
washed  by  the  waves  of  the  Atlantic,  the  gloomy 
imagery  which  first  filled  his  youthful  mind 
affixed  a  character  upon  it  which  subsequently 
was  rendered  inefFaeeable  by  the  disasters  and 
sufferings    of  the   Revolution.*      He   had   the 


*  Francols  RfcNfc  DE  Chateaudkiand  was  born  on 
4th  September,  ITti'.l,  Itie  same  year  Willi  Marslial  Ney, 
and  which  Naiiolcon  ilcchired  waH  hi.s  own.  His  iiiuther, 
like  these  of  alniDsi  all  criiinent  men  recorded  in  history, 
was  a  very  reriiarkabli;  woman,  gilled  with  an  ardent  im- 
agination and  a  wonderful  memory,  qualities  which  sha 
transmitted  in  ^real  perfection  to  her  son.  His  family 
was  very  ancient,  fiolrig  back  to  the  tenth  century;  but, 
till  immortalized  by  Francois  Rene,  they  lived  in  unob- 
trusive privacy  on  their  paternal  acres.  After  receiving 
the  rudunents  of  education  at  home,  he  was  sent  at  the 
ajje  of  seventeen  into  tlic;  army  ;  he  was  engaged  in  the 
c-ampalRii  of  171(2,  under  the  j'rince  of  Conde,  and  the 
I'riissluns  under  the  Duke  of  Uruiiswick,  aijainst  Dumou- 
rier.  lie  there,  as  he  was  marchiiiK  aloiiK  In  his  unllbrm 
as  a  private,  with  his  knapsack  on  Ills  back,  accideiilally 
met  the  King  of  I'russia.  .Struck  with  his  appearance, 
tlio  king  asked  him  where  he  was  k')'"R  :  "  Wherever 
datiKer  is  to  be  found,"  was  the  reply  of  the  ynmiK  soliller. 
"  Ity  that  answer,"  said  the  kinj;,  touching  his  hat,  "  I 
reco(;iii/.e  the  noblesse  of  Trance. "  His  regiment  hoon 
alter  rc^volted,  in  consequence  of  which  he  resigned  his 
commission,  and  came  to  I'aris,  wliere  ho  witnessed  tho 
storming  of  tlie  TuilerieH  on  Kith  August,  1792,  and  tho 
massacres  in  the  prisons  on  2d  .September.  Many  of  his 
neareil  relations,  in  particular  his  sistcr-in-law,  Madame 
d(^  ( 'haleaubriand,  and  his  sister,  Madame  Ilosnmbo,  were 
executed  along  with  Maleshcrbes.  shortly  before  the  full 
of  Kolpespierre.  Obliged  now  to  lea'e  Tranci!  to  avoid 
death  himself,  he  escaped  to  and  took  n^fuge  In  England, 
where  he  lived  for  some  years  in  extreme  poverty  and 


S7G 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[r.iAi-.  XT. 


spirit  of  ohivftlrv  in  liis  soul,  but  not  tho  pay- 
«iv  of  till'  troiiliiuloiir  in  iiis  heart.  tJonerous. 
liii;h-iniiuK'(l.  luul  disiiitorosted  in  the  oxtrvnio, 
ho  was  so  inurt-il  in  voutii  to  tho  spoetaflo  of 
woo,  tliat  it  was  stripped  of  most  of  those  tor- 
rors  which  render  it  so  appallini;  to  less  expe- 
rienced sufferers.  Kike  tlie  veteran  who  lias 
sern  his  comrades  for  years  fall  around  him, 
the  iinaiie  of  ileath  had  been  so  often  before  his 
eyes,  that  it  had  ceased  to  atfeet  his  iniai;ina- 
t.on.  lie  was  ever  ready  at  the  call  oi  duty, 
or  the  imjndse  of  chivalrous  feelintr,  to  imiH-rii 
his  life  or  his  fortune  even  in  behalf  of  a  cause 
wliieh  was  obviously  hopeless.  "Fais  cc  que 
til  dois,  advienne  ce  que  pourra,"  was  his  max- 
im, as  it  ever  has  been,  and  ever  will  be,  of  the 
i-eally  great  and  noble  in  every  ape  and  country. 
He  evinced  this  intrepidity  alike  in  braviiitr 
the  hostility  of  Napoleon  in  the  zenith  of  his 
jH)\ver,  on  occasion  of  the  murder  of  the  Duke 
d'Enghien,  and  in  opposing  the  government  of 


nbscure  lodgings  in  London,  supporting  himself  entirely 
by  his  pen,  and,  like  Johnson,  ollen  scarce  able,  even  by 
it.s  aid,  to  earn  his  daily  meal.  He  there  wrote  his  first 
and  least  creditsble  work,  the  Essai  Historique,  many 
passages  in  which  prove  that  even  his  ardent  spirit  had 
lor  a  imie  been  shaken  by  the  infidelity  and  dreams  of  the 
Ucvolution. 

Hut  he  soon  awakened  to  better  feelings,  and  regained 
amidst  suflering  his  destined  and  glorious  career.  Tired 
of  his  obscure  and  monotonous  life,  and  disconcerted  by 
the  issue  of  a  love  all'air  in  England,  he  set  out  for  Amer- 
ica with  the  Quixotic  idea — indicative,  however,  of  a 
mind  as  aspiring  as  that  of  Columbus — of  discovering  by 
land  the  long-sought  northwest  passage  to  the  Pacific. 
He  failed  in  That  attempt,  for  which,  indeed,  he  was  pos- 
sessed of  no  adequate  means  ;  but  he  saw  the  Falls  of 
Niagara,  dined  with  Washington;  and  in  the  solitudes 
of  the  Far  West  inhaled  the  spirit,  while  his  eye  painted 
on  his  mind  the  scenes,  of  savage  nature.  Many  of  the 
finest  descriptions  and  allusions  which  adorn  his  works 
arc  drawn  from  the  scenes  which  then  became  impressed 
on  his  memory  ;  and,  combined  with  those  of  the  East, 
which  he  afterward  visited,  constitute  not  the  least  charm 
of  his  writings.  Finding  that  there  was  nothing  to  be 
done  in  the  way  of  geographical  discovery,  with  his  lim- 
ited means,  in  America,  he  returned  to  England  in  1798, 
from  whence,  on  the  pacification  of  France,  on  the  fall  of^ 
the  Directory  and  accession  of  Napoleon,  he  returned  to 
Paris,  and  began  his  literary  career. 

He  was  now  in  the  thirty-second  year  of  his  age,  and 
the  mingled  ardor,  information,  and  poetic  fervor  of  his 
mind  appeared  in  their  full  perfection  in  the  works  which 
lie  gave  to  the  public.  Attala  and  Rene,  a  romance,  of 
which  the  scene  was  laid  in,  and  the  characters  drawn 
from  America,  exhibited  in  the  most  brilliant  form  the 
imagery,  ideas,  and  scenery  of  the  Far  West,  seen  through 
the  eyes  of  chivalrous  genius  ;  while  the  Genie  du  Chris- 
tianUme  presented,  on  a  larger  scale,  and  in  an  immortal 
work,  the  combined  fruits  of  study,  observation,  and  ex- 
perience, in  illustrating  the  blessings  which  Christianity 
has  conferred  upon  mankind.  Such  was  the  celebrity 
which  these  %vorks  almost  immediately  acquired,  that 
they  attracted  the  attention  of  Napoleon,  who  was  anx- 
ious to  enlist  talent  of  all  kinds  in  his  service.  He  sent 
for  Chateaubriand  accordingly,  and  offered  him  the  situa- 
tion of  .Minister  to  the  Republic  of  the  Valais,  as  a  first 
step  in  diplomatic  service.  He  at  once  accepted  it ;  but 
ere  he  had  time  to  set  out  on  his  proposed  mission,  the 
murder  of  the  Duke  d'Enghien  occurred,  and  while  all 
Europe  was  in  consternation  at  that  dreadful  event,  he 
had  the  courage,  while  yet  in  Paris,  to  brave  the  Emper- 
or's wrath  by  resigning  his  appointment. 

His  friends  trembled  for  his  life  in  the  first  burst  of  Na- 
poleon's fury  ;  but  he  was  sheltered  by  the  Princess  Eliza, 
and  having  made  his  escape  from  Paris,  he  turned  his 
Bteps  to  the  East,  the  historic  land  on  which,  from  his 
earliest  years,  his  romantic  imagination  had  been  fixed. 
He  visited  Greece  and  Constantinople,  the  isles  of  the 
jEgean  and  the  stream  of  the  Jordan,  Jerusalem  and 
f-'airo.  the  p>Tamids,  Thebes,  and  the  ruins  of  Carthage. 
From  this  splendid  phantasmagoria  he  drew  the  materials 
of  two  other  great  works,  which  appeared  soon  after  his 
return  to  Paris  ;  Les  Martyrs,  which  embodied  the  most 
striking  images  which  had  met  his  eye  in  Greece  and 
Egypt,  and  the  Itineraire  de  Paris  a  Jerusalem,  which 


the  Restoration,  when  it  sought,  in  its  palniy 
days,  to  impose  shackles  on  the  freedom  of 
tliought;  and  in  adhering  to  it  with  noble  con- 
staiu-v  amidst  a  nation's  defection,  when  it  was 
biid  in  the  dust  on  the  accession  of  Louis  I'hil- 

Chateaubriand  s  merits  as  an  author — by  far 
tho   most   secure   passport   he   lias  7. 

obtained  to  immortality — w-ill  be  His  merits 
considered  in  a  subsequent  chajtter,  as  an  orator, 
which  treats  of  the  literature  of  France  during 
the  Restoration.  It  is  with  his  qualities  as  an 
orator  and  a  statesman  that  we  are  here  con- 
cerned, and  they  were  both  of  no  ordinary  kind. 
Untrained  in  youth  to  parliamentary  debate, 
brought  for  the  first  time,  in  middle  life,  into 
senatorial  contests,  he  had  none  of  the  facility 
or  grace  of  Mr.  Canning  in  extempore  debate. 
This  was  of  tlie  less  consequence  in  France,  that 
the  speeches  delivered  at  the  tribune  were  al- 
most all  written  essays,  with  scarcely  any  alter- 


gave  the  entire  details  of  his  journey.  The  wrath  of  Na- 
poleon having  now  subsided,  as  it  generally  did  after  a 
time,  even  when  most  strongly  provoked,  he  was  allowed 
to  remain  at  Paris,  which  he  did  in  privacy,  supporting 
himself  by  literary  contributions  to  the  few  reviews  and 
journals  which  the  despotism  of  the  Emperor  permitted 
to  exist,  and  by  the  sale  of  his  acknowledged  w  orks,  until 
1814,  when,  as  the  approach  of  the  Allies  gave  rational 
hopes  of  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  he  composed  in 
secrecy,  and  published  within  a  few  days  after  their  entry 
into  Paris,  his  celebrated  pamphlet,  Bonaparte  tt  Its 
Bourbons,  which  had  almost  as  powerful  an  efl'ect  as  the 
victories  of  the  Allies  in  bringing  about  the  restoration  of 
the  exiled  family. 

On  the  accession  of  Louis  XVTII.  parties  were  too  much 
divided,  and  the  influence  of  Talleyrand  w  as  too  para- 
mount, to  allow  of  his  being  admitted  into  the  Govern- 
ment, but,  with  his  usual  fidelity  to  misfortune,  he  ac- 
companied Louis  during  the  Hundred  Days  to  Ghent, 
where  he  powerfully  contributed  by  his  pen  to  keep  alive 
the  hopes  of  the  Royalists,  and  hold  together  the  fragments 
of  their  shipwrecked  party.  On  the  second  restoration 
the  real  or  supposed  necessity  of  taking  Fouche  into 
power  made  him  decline  any  office  under  Government, 
although  he  was,  at  the  earnest  request  of  the  Count 
d'Artois,  created  a  peer  of  France  in  1815.  Subsequently 
the  principles  and  policy  of  M.  Decazes  and  the  Duke  de 
Richelieu  were  so  much  at  variance  with  those  which  he 
professed,  and  had  consistently  maintained  through  life, 
that  he  not  merely  kept  aloof  from  the  Government,  but 
became  an  active  member  of  the  Royalist  Opposition, 
which,  as  usually  happens  in  such  cases,  occasionally 
found  themselves  in  a  strange  temporary  alliance  with 
their  most  formidable  antagonists  on  the  Liberal  side.  As 
they  were  in  a  minority  in  both  Chambers,  their  only  re- 
source was  the  press,  of  the  freedom  of  which  Chateau- 
briand became  an  ardent  supporter,  as  well  from  the  con- 
sciousness of  intellectual  strength  as  from  the  necessities 
of  his  political  situation.  This  added  as  much  to  his 
literary  fame  as  it  diminished  his  popularity  with  Gov- 
ernment. Power  has  an  instinctive  dread,  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, of  the  unrestrained  exercise  of  intellectual 
strength.  He  only  obtained,  under  the  semi-liberal  ad- 
ministration of  the  Restoration,  the  temporary  appoint- 
ment of  an  embassy  to  Prussia ;  and  it  was  not  till  the 
Royalists  in  good  earnest  succeeded  to  power,  on  the 
downfall  of  the  Duke  de  Richelieu's  second  administra- 
tion, that  he  was  appointed  embassador  to  London,  in  the 
beginning  of  1822,  a  situation  which,  in  the  following 
year,  was  exchanged  for  that  of  Minister  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  which  brought  him  into  direct  collision  with  Mr. 
Canning,  in  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  momentous 
periods  of  the  history  of  France  and  England.  He  held 
that  situation  onlv  for  two  years  :  he  had  too  much  of  the 
pride  of  intellect  in  his  mind,  of  the  irritability  of  genius 
in  his  disposition,  to  be  a  practicable  minister  under  an- 
other leader.  His  noble  and  disinterested  conduct  in 
refusing  the  portfolio  of  Foreign  Afl'airs  on  the  accession 
of  Louis  Philippe,  and  preferring  exile  and  destitution  to 
power  and  rule  obtained  by  the  sacrifice  of  principle  and 
honor,  will  form  an  interesting,  and,  for  the  honor  of  hu- 
man nature,  redeeming  episode  in  a  subscciuent  volume 
of  this  History.— it/f77!0;>fs  d'Ovtre-Tombe,  par  M.  le 
^'icointe  de  Chateaubkiand,  vols.  i.  to  viii.  ;  and  Biog- 
raphie  dcs  Homines  Vivaiita,  ii.  144-149. 


I 


1821.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


37Y 


ation  made  at  the  moment.  But,  independently 
of  this,  his  turn  of  mind  was  essentially  differ- 
ent from  that  of  his  English  rival.  It  was  equal- 
ly poetical,  brilliant,  and  imaginative,  but  more 
e'arnest,  serious,  and  impassioned.  The  one  was 
a  hi"h-bred  steed,  which,  conscious  of  its  pow- 
ers, and  reveling  in  their  pacific  exercise,  cant- 
ers with  ease  and  grace  over  the  greensward 
turf;  the  other,  a  noble  Arab,  which  toils  have 
inured  to  privation,  and  trained  to  efforts  over 
tlie  sterile  desert,  and  which  is  any  day  pre- 
pared to  die  in  defense  of  the  much-loved  mas- 
ter or  playmates  of  its  childhood.  Many  of  his 
speeches  or  political  pamphlets  contain  pas- 
sages of  surpassing  vigor,  eloquence,  and  pa- 
thos; but  we  shall  look  in  vain  in  them  for  the 
light  touch,  the  aerial  spirit,  the  sportive  fancy, 
which  have  thrown  such  a  charm  over  the 
speeches  of  Mr.  Canning. 

As  a  practical  and  consistent  statesman,  we 
a  shall  find  more  to  applaud  in  the 

His  charac-  illustrious  Frenchman  than  the  far- 
ter as  a  famed  Englishman.  It  was  his  good 
statesman,  fortune,  indeed,  not  less  than  his 
merit,  which  led  to  his  being  appointed  Minis- 
ter of  Foreign  Affairs  in  France  at  the  liiqe 
whea  its  external  policy  was  entirely  in  har- 
mony with  his  recorded  opinions  through  life. 
Mr.  Canning's  evil  star  placed  him  in  the  same 
situation,  when  his  policy  was  to  be  directly  at 
variance  with  those  of  his.  But,  unlike  Can- 
ning, Chateaubriand  showed  on  other  occasions, 
and  on  decisive  crises,  that  he  could  prefer  con- 
sistency, poverty,  and  obloquy,  to  vacillation, 
riches,  and  power.  His  courageous  defense  of 
the  liberty  of  the  press  alone  prevented  his  ob- 
taining a  minister's  portfolio  during  the  minis- 
try of  the  Duke  of  Richelieu.  His  generous 
adherence  to  the  fallen  fortunes  of  Henry  V. 
caused  him  to  prefer  exile,  poverty,  and  desti- 
tution, to  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs,  which 
ho  was  offered  on  the  accession  of  Louis  Phil- 
j  r;i,.,p-„.  ippe.'  He  was  in  general  to  be  found 
briand,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  ruling  ma- 
Menioircs,  jority,  botii  in  numbers  and  infiuence, 
viii.  3/2.  around  him — the  sure  sign  of  a  pow- 
erful and  noble  mind.  Power  came  for  a  brief 
season  to  him,  not  he  to  power;  he  refused  it 
when  it  could  be  purchased  only  at  the  expense 
of  consistency. 

Yet  with  all  these  great  and  lofty  qualities, 
Chateaubriand  was  far  from  being  a 
ir  d^'f'  ts  perfect  character,  and  many  of  liis 
qualities  were  as  pernicious  to  him 
as  a  statesman  as  they  were  valuable  to  liim  as 
a  romance  or  didactic  writer.  He  had  far  too 
much  of  the  irritability  of  genius  in  his  temper 
— that  unfortunate  peculiarity  which  is  so  often 
conspicuous  where  the  forci;  of  intellect  is  not 
equal  to  the  brilliancy  of  imagination,  and 
which  so  generally  disqualifies  imaginative 
writers  from  taking  a  permanent  lead  in  tiie 
government  of  mankind.  He  had  a  great  store 
of  historical  knowledge  at  command,  but  it  was 
of  the  striking  and  attractive  more  than  the 
solid  and  the  useful  kind  ;  ami  there  is  no  trace, 
citiier  in  his  speeches  or  writings,  of  his  having 
paiil  any  attention  to  statistics,  or  the  facts  con- 
nected with  the  social  amelioration  of  mankind. 
In  that  respect  he  was  <lecidedly  inferior  to  Mr. 
Canning,  who,  although  not  inclined  by  nature 
to  that  species  of  information,  was  yet  aware 


of  its  importance,  and  could  at  times,  when  re- 
quired, bring  out  its  stores  with  the  happiest 
effect.  Above  all,  he  was  infected  with  that 
inordinate  vanity  which  is  so  peculiarly  the 
disgrace  of  the  Very  highest  class  of  French 
literature,  and  whicli,  if  it  at  times  sustained  his 
courage  in  the  most  trying  circumstances,  at 
others  led  him  into  the  display  of  the  most  pu- 
erile weaknesses,  and  renders  his  memoirs  a 
melancholy  proof  how  closely  the  magnanimity 
of  a  great  can  be  connected  with  the  vanities 
of  a  little  mind. 

M.    DE  ViLLELE,  who  was  the  head  of  the 
new  and  purely  Royalist  Ministry         jo. 
which  succeeded  the  second  one  of   M.  de  Vil- 
the    Duke    de    Richelieu,    and    who  'cle. 
played  so  important  a  part  in  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  Restoration,  was  a  very  remark- 
able  man.*     He   had  no  natural  advantages, 


*  Joseph  de  Villele  was  born  at  Toulouse  in  1773, 
of  an  ancient  Languedoc  family.  He  entered,  at  a  very 
early  age,  the  service  of  ttie  marines,  and,  under  .M.  de  St. 
Felix,  served  long  in  the  Indian  seas.  On  the  breaking 
out  of  the  revolutionary  war,  the  crew  of  the  vessel  in 
which  he  was  revolted  against  their  officers,  who  held 
out  faithfully  for  their  captive  king,  and  in  consequence  he 
was  brought,  with  M.  de  St.  Felix,  a  prisoner  into  the 
Isle  of  France,  where  the  latter  escaped  and  was  sheltered 
by  a  courageous  friend,  while  the  revolutionary  authorities 
in  the  island  put  a  price  on  his  head.  .  M.  de  Villele  was 
acquainted  with  the  place  ^(  his  retreat,  and  as  this  was 
known,  he  was  seized,  thrown  into  prison,  and  threatened 
with  instant  death  if  he  did  not  reveal  it ;  but  neither 
menaces  nor  offers  could  prevail  upon  him  to  be  unfaithful 
to  his  friend.  Meanwhile  M.  de  St.  Felix,  informed  of 
his  danger,  voluntarily  quitted  his  retreat,  and  surrender- 
ed himself  to  the  revolutionary  authorities,  by  whom  he 
was  brought  to  trial  along  with  M.  de  Villele.  The  latter, 
however,  defended  himself  with  so  much  courage,  ability, 
and  temper,  that  he  excited  a  general  interest  in  his  be- 
half, which  led  to  his  acquittal.  As  he  could  not  rejoin 
his  vessel,  which  was  entirely  under  the  guidance  of  re- 
volutionary officers,  he  remained  in  the  island,  where  his 
amiable  manners,  and  the  universal  esteem  in  which  he 
was  held  among  its  inhabitants,  procured  for  him  the 
hand  of  the  daughter  of  a  respectable  planter,  and  with  it 
a  considerable  fortune.  He  fixed  liis  residence  in  conse- 
quence there;  made  himself  acquainteil  with  its  local  af- 
fairs ;  and  from  the  attention  which  he  bestowed  upon 
them,  and  the  ability  he  displayed,  he  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  colonial  legislature,  and  obtained  nearly  its  en- 
tire direction. 

He  returned  to  France,  in  1807,  with  a  moderate  fortune, 
and  fixed  his  residence  at  his  paternal  estate  of  iMarviUe, 
near  his  native  town  of  Toulouse,  where  he  devoted  him- 
self to  agricultural  pursuits,  without  losing  sight  of  the 
colonial  interests,  of  which  he  had  become  so  entire  a 
master.  In  1814,  when  the  Ilourbons  were  first  restored, 
he  evinced  the  strength  of  his  Hoyalist  principles  by  the 
publication  of  a  pamphlet,  in  which  he  protested  against 
the  charter  as  an  unwarrantable  eiicroacliiiient  on  the 
rights  of  the  crown.  His  conduct  subsequently,  on  the 
return  of  Napoleon  from  KIha,  was  so  couniiieotis,  that  it 
attracted  the  notice  of  the  Duke  of  AngoiiUnie,  who  re- 
commended him  to  the  king  for  the  situation  of  mayor  of 
Toulou.se,  which  he  accordingly  obtained.  His  conduct 
in  that  capacity  was  so  firm,  temperate,  and  judicious, 
that  it  procured  for  him  the  esteem  of  all  classes  of  citi- 
zens, and  led  to  his  being  chosen,  in  a  short  lime  after,  to 
represent  that  city  in  the  (Chamber  of  Deputies.  He  did 
not  rise,  like  a  meteor,  to  sudden  eminence  there,  but 
slowly  acquired  confidence,  and  won  Ihe  ascendency 
which  is  never  in  the  end  dcnieil  to  men  who  save  their 
more  indolent  hut  not  less  impassioned  associates  the 
labor  of  thinking  and  the  trouble  of  study.  He  ilirl  not 
shine  by  his  eloquence  or  fervor  at  the  tribune,  but  by  de- 
grees won  respect  and  confidence  by  the  infdrmatioii 
whirh  his  speeches  always  displayed,  the  moderation  by 
which  they  were  distinguishecl,  and  the  thorough  ac- 
quaintance which  they  evinced  with  the  pressing  wants 
and  material  interests  of  the  dominant  middle  class  of  so- 
ciety. It  was  easy  to  see  how  much  he  had  proliticl  by 
the  salutary  misfortunes  which  hail  remlered  him  liir  so 
many  years  a  planter  in  the  Isle  of  France.  Tlieiiccfiir- 
wanl  ins  biography  forms  part  of  iIk;  history  of  France. 
—  llinernphir  di x  Hommfs  Vivniits.  v.  511,  .113;  and 
La.vahtink's  lU'titirc  de  la  licstauratum,  vii.  9,  11. 


S78 


11  ISTOll  Y    or   EUROPE. 


eitlur  of  rank,  family,  or  person.  \Vliat  ho 
l»i'i-«inc  lio  owed  to  tlio  native  viiror  of  Iiis 
n.inil.  luul  the  pruetieal  furee  of  his  viinler- 
stiuulinir,  luul  to  them  alone.  Diminutive  in 
tiguro,  tliin  in  person,  and  in  his  later  years 
ulmost  enmeinted,  with  a  stoop  in  liis  shoiililcrs, 
and  a  feeble  stop,  ho  was  not  qualilied,  like 
Miiabeau  or  Danton,  to  overawe  popular  as- 
sondilies  by  a  look.  His  voice  was  harsh — 
even  squeaking;  and  a  nasal  twang  rendered 
it  in  a  peeiiliar  manner  unpleasant.  'I'lie  keen- 
ness of  his  look,  and  jienetration  of  his  eye, 
alone  revealed  tiie  native  jiowcrs  of  his  mind. 
When  speaking,  he  generally  looked  down,  and 
was  often  fumbling  among  the  papers  before 
him — the  most  unfortunate  habit  whieh  a  per- 
son destined  for  public  speaking  can  possibl}' 
acquire.  But  all  these  disadvantages,  which, 
in  the  case  of  most  men,  Avould  have  been  al- 
together fatal,  were  compensated,  and  more 
than  compensated,  by  the  remarkable  powers 
of  his  mind.  Thought  gave  expression  to  his 
countenance,  elocution  supplied  the  want  of 
,"oicc,  earnestness  made  up  for  the  absence  of 
physical  advantages.  Intelligence  revealed  it- 
self in  spite  of  ever}-  natui'al  defect.  His  au- 
ditors began  by  being  indifferent;  they  soon 
became  attentive ;  they  ended  by  being  ad- 
mirers. A  clear  and  penetrating  intellect, 
great  powers  of  expression,  its  usual  concom- 
itant, a  just  and  reasonable  mind,  and  an  en- 
lightened understanding,  were  his  chief  char- 
acteristics. He  did  not  carry  away  his  audi- 
ence l)y  noble  sentiments  and  eloquent  language, 
like  Chateaubriand  ;  nor  cliarm  them  by  felic- 
itous imagery  and  brilliant  ideas,  like  Canning; 
but  he  succeeded  in  the  end  in  not  less  forcibly 
commanding  their  attention,  and  often  more 
durably  directed  tlieir  determinations.  The 
reason  was,  that  he  addressed  himself  more  ex- 
clusively to  their  reason:  the  considerations 
which  he  adduced,  if  less  calculated  to  carry 
away  in  the  outset,  were  often  more  effective 
in  prevailing  in  the  end,  because  they  did  not 
admit  of  a  reply.  He  was  a  decided  Royalist 
in  principle;  but  his  lo^'alty  was  that  of  the 
reason  and  the  understanding,  not  the  heart  and 
tlie  passions,  and,  therefore,  widely  different 
from  the  unreflecting  violence  of  the  ultras,  or 
the  blind  bigotry  of  the  priests.  He  was  a 
supporter  of  the  monarchy,  because  he  was 
convinced  that  it  was  the  form  of  government 
alone  practicable  in  and  suited  to  the  necessi- 
ties of  France ;  but  he  was  well  aware  of  the 
difficulties  with  which  it  was  surrounded,  from 
the  interests  created  by,  and  tlie  passions 
evolved  during,  the  Revolution ;  and  it  was  his 
,  Q  ^ij  great  object  to  pursue  such  a  mod- 
209,260;  erate  and  conciliatory  policy  as 
Larn.  vii.  7,  could  alone  render  such  a  system 
^-  durable.' 

His   penetrating    understanding   early   per- 
jj  ceived  that,  in  this  view,  the  most 

His  peculiar  pressing  of  all  considerations  was 
mm  of  .Tiind,  the  management  of  the  finances. 
l^J^Jy^^''"^  ^'■ya.Te  that  it  was  the  frightful 
state  of  disorder  in  which  they  had 
become  involved  which  had  been  the  immedi- 
ate cause  of  the  Revolution,  he  anticipated  a 
similar  convulsion  from  the  recurrence  of  sim- 
ilar difficulties,  and  saw  no  security  for  the 
monarchy  but  ia   such   a   prudent  course  as 


[CUAT.  XI. 

might  avoid  the  end)arrassments  which  Imd 
formerly  proved  so  fatal.  He  saw  not  less 
clearly  that,  as  the  territorial  aristocracy  had 
been  destroved,  and  the  Church  siiorn  of  its 
whole  temjioral  influence,  dui'ing  the  Revolu- 
tion, it  was  neilher  by  the  sentiments  of  honor 
which  tiirilled  tiie  hearts  of  the  nobility,  nor 
the  jiious  devotion  which  conciliated  the  pow- 
er of  the  Church  in  tlie  olden  time,  that  attadi- 
ment  to  the  throne  was  now  to  be  secured. 
The  land,  divided  among  four  millions  of  little 
proprietors,  the  majority  of  whom  could  not 
read,  had  ceased  to  maintain  an  influential 
body  in  the  stale;  literary  talent,  all-powerful 
in  directing  otiiers,  had  no  separate  interests 
save  that  of  conse(pience  and  j)lace  for  its  pos- 
sessors, and  its  enei'gies  were  directed  to  the 
support  of  the  wishes  of  the  really  ruling  class 
in  societj".  It  was  in  tiie  burgher  class  that 
power  was  now  in  reality  vested ;  and  it  was 
by  attention  to  their  interests  and  wishes  that 
durability,  either  for  any  administration  or  for 
the  monarchy  itself,  was  to  be  secured.  Econ- 
omy in  expenditure,  diminution  of  burdens, 
were  the  great  objects  on  which  they  were 
set ;  no  argument  was  so  convincing  with  them, 
no  appeal  so  powerful,  as  that  which  ])romiscd 
a  reduction  of  taxation.  Penetrated  with  these 
ideas,  M.  de  Yillele,  from  the  outset  of  his  par- 
liamentary career,  devoted  himself,  in  an  espe- 
cial manner,  to  the  subject  of  finance,  and  by 
his  close  attention  to  it,  and  the  store  of  statis- 
tical information  which  his  vast  powers  of  ap- 
plication enabled  him  to  accumulate,  and  his 
retentive  memory  to  bring  forth  on  every  occa- 
sion, he  soon  acquired  that  superiority  in  de- 
bate which  ultimately  led  to  his  being  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  Government.  He  was,  inj 
every  sense,  the  man  of  the  age;  but  he  waai 
the  man  of  that  age  only.  He  had  no  great  or 
enlarged  ideas:  he  saw  the  present  clearly, 
with  all  its  necessities;  but  he  was  blind  to 
the  future,  with  its  inevitable  accessories.  Ilisj 
mind  had,  in  the  highest  perfection,  the  poweraj 
of  the  microscope,  but  not  of  the 
telescope.  He  fell  skillfully  in  with,  aag'^abo'-'' 
and  worked  out  admirably,  present  Lam.  vii! 
ideas;  but  he  was  not  their  director,  8, 11  ;  Lac. 
and  never  could  have  become  the  jm'"*'' 
ruler  of  ultimate  thought' 

M.  de  Yillele  was  the  life  and  soul  of  the  new  j 
Ministrj',  but  he  had  several  coadju-  jg 

tors,  who,  though  not  of  equal  capac-  m.  de  Cor- 
ity,  were  j'et  important  in  their  sev-  biere,  M. 
eral  departments.  M.  de  Corbiere,  in  SJJ^'^'j''^" '^^ 
the  important  situation  of  Minister  of  cy,  M.  de 
Finance,  displayed  qualities,  not  only  Peyronnet, 
of  the  most  suitable,  but  the  most  ^'I'^'o'"- 
marketable  kind.     Though  of  good  family,  hel 
was  essentially  bourgeois  in  his  character;  hel 
had  its  virtues,  its  industrj',  its  perseverance,! 
but  at  the  same  time  its  contracted  views,  self-i 
ishness,  and  jealousy.     The  aristocracy  was  notj 
less  the  object  of  his  animositj',  than  it  was  of  J 
the  most  democratic  shopkeeper  in  the  Fau- 
bourg St.  Antoine.     His  morals  were  austere,! 
his   probity  universally   known;  his  manners! 
harsh,  his  conversation  cynical ;  respected  byj 
all,  he  was  beloved  by  none;  but  he  was  a  fa-T 
vorite  with  the  Liberal  deputies,  and  possessed^ 
great  weight  in  the  Chamber,  because  he  w« 
the  enemy  of  their  enemy — the  noblesse.     Kc 


1821.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


879 


contrast  could  be  more  striking  than  the  Min- 
ister of  Foreign  Affairs,  M.  Mathieu  de  Mont- 
morency, exhibited.  Born  of  the  noblest  fam- 
ily in  France,  inheriting  from  his  historic  ances- 
tors their  courage,  their  elevation  of  mind,  and 
grace  of  manner,  he  had  united  to  these  quali- 
ties of  the  olden  time  the  libei'al  ideas  and  en- 
larged views  of  modern  society.  Carried  away, 
like  so  many  of  the  young  noblemen  of  the  day, 
by  the  deceitful  colors  of  the  Revolution,  he  had 
at  first  been  the  warm  supporter  of  its  doc- 
trines; and  when  their  fatal  tendency  had  been 
demonstrated  by  experience,  he  fled  from  France, 
and  consoled  himself  on  the  banks  of  the  Leman 
Lake  with  the  intellectual  conversation  of  Ma- 
dame de  Stael,  the  fascinating  grace  of  Ma- 
dame Recamier.  Latterly,  he  had  become  de- 
vout, and  was  the  steady  supporter  of  the  Par- 
ti-Pretre  ;  but  he  did  not  possess  the  habits  of 
business  or  practical  acquaintance  with  affairs 
requisite  for  his  office,  and  was  more  fitted  to 
shine  in  the  saloons  than  the  cabinet  of  the 
Foreign  Office.  M.  de  Pcyronnet,  the  Minister 
of  Justice,  had  been  a  barrister  who  had  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  courage  at  the  side  of 
the  Duchess  of  Angouleme  at  Bordeaux  in  1815, 
and  by  his  ability  in  pleading  the  cause  of  Ma- 
dame Du  Cayla,  when  claiming  her  children 
and  fortune  from  her  inexorable  husband.  His 
talent  was  remarkable,  his  fidelity  to  the  royal 
cause  undoubted,  his  zeal  great,  his  firmness 
equal  to  any  emergency.  But  his  prudence 
and  capacity  were  not  equal  to  his  resolution ; 
and  it  wi-s  already  feared,  what  the  result  too 
clearly  proved  to  be  the  case,  that  he  might 
ruin  the  royal  cause  while  wishing  to  save  it. 
Finall}',  Marshal  Victor,  Duke  of  Belluno,  in 
the  important  situation  of  Minister  at  War,  pre- 
sented a  combination  of  qualities  of  all  others 
the  most  important  for  a  ministry  of  the  Res- 
toration. A  plebeian  by  birth,  a  soldier  of  for- 
tune who  had  raised  himself  by  his  courage 
and  capacity,  a  marshal  of  Napoleon,  he  con- 
ciliated the  suffrages  of  the  Liberals;  a  resolute 
,  .  character,  a  determined  minister,  a 

12, 17;  Cap.  fiiithful  Royalist,  a  man  of  intrcpid- 
vii.  25.3, 257;  ity  and  honor,  he  carried  witii  him 
Lac.  iii.  190,  tjjQ  esteem  and  respect  of  the  aristo- 
cratic party.' 
The  first  difficulty  of  the  new  Ministry  was 
j3  with  the  laws  regarding  the  press, 

Law  regard-  and  tliis,  situated  as  they  were,  was 
ingthepress  ^  difficulty  of  a  very  serious  kind. 
The  administration  of  the  Duke  de  Richelieu 
had  been  overthrown,  as  is  usually  the  case 
with  a  legislature  divided  as  that  of  France 
was  at  that  period,  by  a  coalition  of  extreme 
Royalists  and  extreme  Lib»!rals,  who  for  tiie 
moment  united  against  their  common  enemy, 
tlie  moderate  Centre.  But  now  tluit  the  vic- 
tory was  gained,  it  was  not  so  easj'  a  matter  to 
devise  measures  which  should  prove  acceptable 
to  both.  The  first  question  which  presented 
itself  was  that  of  the  press,  the  eternal  subject 
of  discord  in  France,  and,  like  that  of  Catholic 
emancipation  in  England,  the  thorn  in  the  side 
of  every  administration  that  was  or  could  be 
formed,  and  which  gencrjilly  proved  fatal  to  it 
before  any  considerable  period  had  elapsed.  It 
Was  the  more  difficult  to  adjust  any  measure 
which  should  prove  sati.sfactor}',  that  the  for- 
mer Ministry  had  been  inuinly  overthrown  by 


the  press,  and  M.  Chateaubriand,  who  held  a 
distinguished  place  in  the  new  appointments, 
had  always  been  the  ardent  supporter  of  its 
libei-t}',  and  owed  his  great  popularity  mainly 
to  his  exertions  in  its  behalf.  Nevertheless,  it 
was  obviously  necessary  to  do  something  to 
check  its  licentiousness ;  the  example  of  success- 
ful revolution  in  Spain,  Portugal,  Naples,  and 
Piedmont,  was  too  inviting  not  to  provoke  imi- 
tation in  France;  and  it  was  well  known  to  the 
Government  that  the  secret  societies,  which 
had  overturned  every  thing  in  those  countries, 
had  their  affiliated  branches  in  France.  It  was 
foreseen  also,  what  immediately  happened,  that 
the  great  majority  of  the  journals,  true  to  the 
principle  "to  oppose  every  thing,  and  turn  out 
the  ministry,"  would  speedily  imite  in  a  tierce 
attack  upon  the  new  administration.  The  ne- 
cessity of  the  case  prevailed  over  the  dread  of 
being  met  by  the  imputation  of  inconsistency, 
or  the  lingering  qualms  of  the  real  friends  of 
freedom  of  discussion ;  and  a  law  was  brought 
forward,  which,  professing  to  be 
based  on  the  charter,  in  reality  ^^i  223  ' 
tended  to  abridge  the  liberty  of  the  Cap.vii.2T8, 
press  in  several  most  important  par-  27'J;  Ann 
ticulars.^  ^  ^         Hist  V  6,7. 

By  this  law,  which  was  brought  forward  by 
M.  de  Peyronnet  on  the  2d  January,  14 

it  was  enacted  that  no  peiiodical  Its  stringent 
journal  could  appear  without  the  provisions, 
king's  authority,  excepting  such  as  were  in  ex- 
istence on  the  1st  of  January,  1822;  the  delin- 
quencies of  I  he  press  were  declared  to  fall  ex- 
clusively under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  royal 
courts,  which  decided  without  a  jury :  they 
were  authorized  to  suspend,  and,  in  serious 
cases,  suppress  any  journal  which  published  a 
series  of  articles  contrary  to  religion  or  the 
monarchy;  the  pleadings  were  permitted  to  be 
in  private,  in  cases  where  the  court  might  be 
of  opinion  that  their  publication  might  be  dan- 
gerous to  order  or  public  morality.  In  the 
event  of  serious  offenses  against  the  law,  during 
the  interval  of  the  session  of  the  Chambers,  the 
king  was  authorized  to  re-establish  the  censure 
by  an  ordonnance,  countersigned  by  three  min- 
isters ;  but  this  power  was  to  be  transitory  only, 
and  was  to  expire,  if,  within  a  month  alier  the 
meeting  of  the  Chambers,  it  was  not  converted 
into  a  law.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these 
jirovisions  imposed  very  great  restrictions  upon 
the  press,  and,  by  withdrawing  the  olfenses 
regarding  it  from  the  cognizance  of  juries,  ren- 
dered the  punishment  of  them  more  expeditious 
and  certain.  Still,  as  it  did  not  re-establish 
the  censorship,  and  left  untouched  p\d)licalion8 
exceeding  twenty  leaves,  it  did  not  iiifringo 
upon  the  most  valuable  part  of  public  discus- 
sion, that  which  was  addresscil  to  ^ 
the  understanding,  however  galling  2TH  280  • 
it  might  bo  felt  l)y  lliat  which  was  Ann.  Hist, 
most  dancrerous,  being  addressed  to  v.  (i,  7;  Lac. 
,,      .        -2  °  ill.  222, 223. 

tlie  passions.''  ' 

Tlie  "  Gauche"  in  the  Chambers,  the  Liberals 
in  the  coiintr}',  rose  up  at  once,  and  15. 
m  ntassn,  upim  the  ])roject  of  n  law  Discussion 
being  submitted  to  the  (leputics.  "It  o" ''• 
is  the  slavery  of  the  jtress,  the  entire  B>ij)iirc?- 
sion  of  its  freedom,  which  j^ou  dcitnand.  l>(;t  tcr 
live  in  Constnntinople  tluiii  in  P'rance,  under 
such  a  government."    Nothing  could  exceed  tho 


8S0 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[C 


XT. 


viuloneo  with  wliiih  tho  project  wns  nssnilod, 
botli  l>v  llio  (>jijH)sition  in  the  (.'hniiihers  and 
the  preVs  in  the  eountrj-.  M.  tie  Serves  on  lliis 
oeejision  rejoined  tlie  ranks  of  the  Liberals,  from 
wliieh  he  hail  so  Ions;  been  separated:  lie  dis- 
tinijnished  himself  by  an  eloquent  speech  against 
tiiat  i>art  <.)f  the  project  which  proposed  to  with- 
draw otVcnscs  against  the  laws  of  tlie  press  from 
the  cognizance  of  juries.  "  The  mask  has  fallen," 
paid  lie;  "  we  arc  ju'csented  with  a  law  destruct- 
ive of  the  liberty  of  the  jiress — one  whieli,  under 
pretense  of  saving  our  institutions,  in  reality 
eubverts  them.  The  proposed  law  strikes  at  tlie 
root  of  representative  institutions,  for  it  goes 
to  destroy  intelligence  in  those  who  are  to  ex- 
ercise them.  What  is  the  present  condition 
of  society  i  Democracy  overwhelms  us  like  a 
epring-tide.  Legitimate  monarchy  has  nothing 
to  fear  from  a  power  which  places  the  press 
under  its  safeguard ;  it  is  our  adversaries  who 
have  exposed  it  to  its  real  danger,  by  holding 
out  its  liberty  as  inconsistent  with  monarchical 
institutions.  The  press  is  a  social  necessity 
which  it  is  impossible  to  uproot.  The  proposed 
law  tends  to  destroy  its  utility  by  subjecting  it 
to  arbitrary  restrictions.  In  vain,  however,  do 
you  attempt  this :  its  power  will  resist  all  your 
attacks,  and  only  become  the  more  dangerous 
from  being  directed  against  the  throne,  not  the 
ministers  who  abuse  its  powers."  "  "We  wish 
the  charter,"  replied  M.  Oastelbajac  in  a  voice 
of  thunder,  "but  still  more  we  wish  the  king: 
we  wish  for  liberty,  but  it  is  liberty  without 
license:  unrestrained  freedom  of  discussion  is 
another  word  for  anarchy :  the  law  presented 
to  us  is  peculiar!}'  valuable,  for  it  brings  back 
this  difficult  subject  to  the  principles  of  the 
charter.  Respect  religion,  the  laws,  the  mon- 
arch— such  are  the  laws  which  order  demands; 
the  liberty  of  the  press  can  only  be  maintained 
bv  the  laws  which  prevent  its  abuse.  Such  re- 
pression is  the  soul  of  real  freedom."  It  is 
doubtful  how,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
this  difficult  matter  might  have  been  determ- 
ined ;  but  the  example  of  the  ruin  of  monarchy 
in  the  adjoining  states  proved  all-powerful  with 
the  majority  in  both  Houses  —  the  majority, 

however,  a  curious  circumstance,  be- 
'  Ann.  Hist.    •  i       ■      ii       <-<  ..i 

V  54  76         '"S  greater  in   the  Commons  than 

60 ;  Cap.'vii.  the  Peers.  In  the  former  it  was 
261,296;  82,  the  numbers  being  219  to  137; 
Lac.  m.  225,  j^^  ^j^^  ^^^^^^.  ^^^  ^j^^^,  ,^^jj,g  ^24  to 

83.1 
This  victory  on  the  part  of  the  administration 
was  immediately  followed  by  a  gen- 
Rise  of  the  ®^^^  organization  of  secret  societies 
Carbonari  over  all  France,  and  the  turning  of 
and  secret  the  energy  of  democratic  ambition 
societies  in  jj,j.q  ^.jjg  dangerous  channel  of  occult 
r ranee  •  " 

conspiracj-.     Ever  since  the  second 

Restoration  and  the  Royalist  severities  of  1815, 
these  societies  had  existed  in  France,  and  many 
of  the  leading  men  of  Opposition  were  initiated 
in  them,  Ijut  the  events  of  this  stormy  j'ear  gave 
them  redoubled  activity  and  importance.  The 
example  of  government  overturned,  and  the 
Liberals  universally  installed  in  power  in  Spain 
and  Italy,  was  sufficient  to  turn  cooler  heads 
than  the  ardent  republicans  of  France.  The 
Carbonari  of  Italy  estaVjIished  corresponding 
societies  over  all  the  country,  with  the  same 
signs,  the  same  oaths,  the  same  objects,  the  same 


awful  denunciations  of  vengeance,  in  the  event 
of  the  secrets  of  their  fraternity  being  revealed. 
The  existence  of  these  societies,  which  were  llio 
chief  means  b}'  ^\hich  the  revolutions  of  lf-i!o 
were  brought  about,  was  strenuously  denied  at 
the  time,  on  both  sides  of  the  Channel,  while  the 
designs  of  the  conspirators  were  in  progress; 
but  they  have  been  fully  revealed  i  ^^^^^  ^j. 
since  1830,  when  they  were  entirely  20,21 ;  Cap. 
successful.     ICvery  one  was  then  for-  vii.  3()I, 
ward  to  claim  a  ^hure  in  the  move-  ^'l^'  '^'"ula- 
ment  which  liad  placed  a  new  dynas-   Societcs 
tj'  on  the  throne,  and  which  none   Secretes, 
then  dared  call  treason.'  '•  ^''■ 

This  most  ])erilou3  and  demoralizing  system 
was  first  introduced  from  Ital}-  into  ,- 
France  in  the  end  of  1820,  and  the  RiscoiCar- 
autumn  of  the  succeeding  j-ear  was  bonarism 
the  time  when  it  attained  its  highest  '"  Trance 
development,  and  when  it  became  a  foimidnble 
power  in  the  state.  Nothing  could  be  conceived 
more  admirable  for  the  object  to  which  it  was 
directed,  or  better  calculated  to  avoid  detection, 
.than  this  system.  It  was  entirely  under  tlie 
direction  of  a  central  power,  the  mandates  of 
which  were  obej'ed  with  implicit  faith  by  all 
the  initiated,  though,  who  composed  it,  or  where 
it  resided,  was  unknown  to  all  save  a  very  few. 
Every  person  admitted  into  the  ranks  of  the 
Carbonari  was  to  provide  himself  with  a  nui.-ket, 
bayonet,  and  twenty  rounds  of  ball-cartridge. 
All  orders,  resolutions,  and  devices  were  trans- 
mitted verbally  ;  no  one  ever  put  pen  to  paper 
on  the  business  of  the  association.  Any  revela- 
tion of  the  secrets  or  objects  of  the  fraternity 
was  punished  with  death,  and  they  had  bravoes 
ready  at  any  time  to  execute  that  sentence, 
which  was  pronounced  only  by  the  central  com- 
mittee, or  to  assassinate  any  person  wliom  it 
might  direct.  The  members  were  bound  1)y  the 
most  solemn  oaths  to  obey  tliis  invisible  au- 
thority whatever  it  might  enjoin,  without  delay, 
hesitation,  consideration,  or  inquiry.  The  as- 
sociation borrowed  the  illusions  of  the  melo- 
drama to  add  to  the  intensity  of  its  impressions: 
it  had,  like  the  German,  its  Geheim-gcruht  noc- 
turnal assemblages,  its  poniards, directed  against 
the  breast,  its  secret  courts  of  justice,  its  sen- 
tences executed  by  unknown  hands.  It  was 
chiefly  among  the  students  at  colleges,  the  sub- 
officers  in  the  army,  and  the  superior  classes  of 
mechanics  and  manufacturers,  that  this  atro- 
cious system  prevailed,  and  it  had  reached  its 
highest  point  in  the  end  of  1821.  It  has  since 
spread  across  the  Channel,  and  those  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  machinations  of  the  Rib- 
bonmen  in  Ireland,  and  the  Morst  1  A'aulabtUe, 
of  the  trades-unions  in  Great  Brit-  Societes 
ain,  will  have  no  difficulty  in  rec-  fg^^'^^Lp 
ognizing  features  well  known  to  vii. 3oi,3t5; 
them,  perhaps  by  dear-bought  ex-  Lam.  vii.  21, 
perience.' 

M.  Lafayette,*  Manuel,  and  d'Argcnson  were 

*  "Cettc  fois,  i\I.  Lafayette,  prcsse  sans  <.'oi:lc  1  :ir  I'S 
annees  qui  s"accumulaieiit,  tt  craignant  que  la  n.orl  no 
lui  ravit,  comme  a  Moise,  la  terre  promise  de  la  liberie, 
avail  manque  a  son  role  de  tribun  legal,  a  son  caraclcrc, 
a  son  serment  civique  de  depute,  a  ses  habitudes  d  0|  po- 
sition en  pleiii  jour  ;  et  il  avail  consenti,  au  risque  de  la 
securite  de  sa  vie,  et  de  sa  conscience,  a  devenir  le  mote ur, 
le  centre,  etle  chef  d'une  tenebreuse  conspiration.  Toutes 
les  societes  secretes  des  ennemis  des  Bourbons,  tt  le  (ar- 
bonarisme  qui  les  resuma't  toutes  en  ce  moment,  parlairnt 
de  ses  menees,  et  aboutissaient  a  lui." — Laxartike,  His- 


\ 


1S21.] 

at  the  head  of  these  secret  societies  in  France, 
and   they  had  attained  such  an  ex- 
Abortive       iQ^^  and  consistency  in  tlie  end  of 
conspiracy    1821  that  it  was  tiiought  the  time  for 
at  Beibrt.      action  had  arisen,  tlie  more  especially 
January  1,    as  the  revolutions  of  Spain  and  Naples, 
■\vhioh  were  mainly  their  work,  had 
strongly  excited  men's  minds,  and  the  accession 
of  the  Royalist  Ministry  in  France  threatened 
danger  if  the  execution  of  their  measures  was 
anj'  longer  aela^'ed.   '  It  was  determined  to  make 
an  outbreak  in  several  different  places  at  once, 
ill  order  to  distract  the   attention  of  Govern- 
ment, and  inspire  a  belief  of  the  conspiracy  hav- 
ing more  extensive  ramifications  than  it  really 
liad.      Sauinur,  Thouars,   Befort,    Nantes,   Ro- 
clielle,  and  Toulon,   were  the  places  where  it 
was  arranged  insurrections  should  take  place, 
and  to  which  the  ruling  committee  at  Paris  trans- 
mitted orders  for  immediate  risings.     So  confi- 
dent were  they  of  success,  that  General  Lafay- 
ette set  out  from  Paris  to  Befort,  to  put  himself 
at  its  head,  and  only  turned  back  when  near 
that  town,  on  liearing  that  it  had  broken  out, 
and  failed  of  success.     Befort,  in  effect,  was  so 
filled  with  conspirators,  and  they  were  so  con- 
fident of  success,  that  they  at  length  were  at  no 
pains  to  conceal  their  designs,  and  openly  armed 
themselves  with  sabres  and  pistols,  and  mounted 
the  tricolor  cockade.     The  vigor  and  vigilance 
of  the  governor,  however,  and  the  fidelity  of 
the  garrison,  caused  the  attempt  to  miscarry.  M. 
do  Tourlain,  the  governor,  was  shot  bj'  one  of 
them ;  but  the  rest,  including  M.  do  Corcelles 
and  Carrel,  fled  on  the  road  to  Paris,  and  met 
General  Lafayette  a  few  leagues  from  the  gate, 
just  in  time  to  cause  him  to  turn  back  to  his 
chateau  of  La  Grange,  near  that  capital.     Such 
was  the  energy  with  which  the  Carbonari  re- 
moved all  traces  or  proofs  of  the  conspiracy, 
that  Colonel  Pailius  Tellier,  and  two  or  three 

others,  who  had  been  caught  in  the 
I  Lara.  vn.  ,      ,  i  i  i.  i     • 

36,40;  Cap.  Very  act,  alone  were  brought  to  jus- 

vii.30^,30J;  tice,  and  escaped  with  the  iiiade- 
La:.  iii.  233,  quate  punishment  of  three  years'  im- 
prisonment.' 
A  more  serious  insurrection  broke  out,  to- 
ward tiie  end  of  February,  at  Thouars, 
Berton's  where  general  Berton  was  at  tlie  head 
conspiracy  of  the  conspirators.  In  the  night  of 
a'Thouars.  the  2.3d  February  he  set  out  from 
Parthenay,  and  surprised  Thouars, 
where  he  made  prisoners  the  brigade  of  gendar- 
merie, and  published  a  proclamation  <leclaring 
the  establishment  of  a  provisional  governiuenl, 
composed  of  Generals  Foj-,  Deniarcay,  and  La- 
fayette, M.  Bcnjamia  Constant,  Manuel,  and 
d'Argenson,  at  Paris.  He  next  attempted  an 
attack  upon  Saumur,  but  in  that  he  was  foiled 
by  the  intrepidity  of  the  m.ij'or,  at  the  head 
of  a  body  of  young  Royalists,  at  the  mili- 
tary school,  and  the  commander  of  the  castle. 
Obliged  to  retreat,  the  insurgents  soon  lost 
heart,  and  dispersed  ;  and  Berton  himself  sought 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


381 


t'tire  de  la  Rentnuration.  vii.  20.  .See  also,  to  the  Hamo 
efTjct,  Capefiguk,  Jlixtnire  de  la  Rrstnvrntinn,  vii.  30H. 
The  chiefs  of  thi.s  dark  con.spiracy  were  (;(mcnil  Lafaytttc 
nnd  hi.s  son,  M.  Manuel,  Dupont  <Je  I'Eure,  M.  d'Argenson, 
Jacques  Kochler,  Cornte  Thiard,  General  Taragre,  Gen- 
eral Corbineau,  M.  de  Lascelles,  and  M.  Mcrithou.  Gen- 
eral Lafayette  was  by  all  acknowledged  to  be  the  head  and 
soul  of  the  conspiracy.— Lamahtine, //<s<.  rfe /a  y{(.«/au- 
ration,  vii.  29,  30. 


refuge  in  the  marshes  of  Rochefort,  where  he 
was  at  length  arrested,  along  with  several  of  his 
accomplices.  Their  guilt  Avas  self-evident;  they 
had  made  themselves  masters  of  Thouars,  and 
proclaimed  a  provisional  government.  Six  of 
the  leaders,  including  Berton  and  a  physician, 
Caffe,  were  sentenced  to  death  ;  but  the  lives 
of  all  were  spared,  at  the  intercession  of  the 
Duchess  d'Angouleme,  excepting  the  two  last. 
Caffe  anticipated  the  hands  of  justice  lAnn.  Hist 
by  committing  suicide  in  prison  ;  but  v.  67,  90; 
Berton  was  brought  to  the  scaffold,  g-^f  i'i;,'^"*^' 
and  died  bravely,  exclaiming  with  Lam.viV.Sfi 
his  last  breath,  "Vive  la  France!  58; Cap. vii. 
Vivelalibertel"!  311,312. 

Still  more  important  consequences  followed 
a  conspiracy  at  Rochelle.  It  orig-  go 
inated  at  Paris,  on  the  instigation  of  Conspiracy 
General  Lafaj'ette,  who  directed  a  of  La  Ro- 
youngandgallantman, namedBories,  '^'i^"^- 
a  sub-oflicer  in  the  45tli  regiment,  to  proceed 
from  Pau,  with  some  of  the  privates  of  his  reg- 
iment, whom  he  had  enrolled  in  the  ranks  of 
the  Carbonari,  to  that  city,  in  order,  with  the 
aid  of  the  affiliated  there,  to  get  up  a  revolt. 
They  were  betrayed,  however,  before  the  plot 
could  be  carried  into  execution,  by  one  of  their 
accomjdices,  at  the  very  time  when  the}'  were 
concerting  with  the  emissaries  of  General  Ber- 
ton a  joint  attack  upon  Saumur.  Most  import- 
ant articles  of  evidence  were  found  upon  them, 
or  from  the  information  to  which  their  appre- 
hension led ;  among  others,  the  cards  cut  in 
two,  and  the  poniards,  marked  with  their  num- 
ber in  the  ventc  or  lodge,  which  had  been  put 
into  their  hands  by  Lareche,  an  agent  of  Lafay- 
ette. From  the  declarations  of  these  prisoners, 
and  others  apprehended  with  them,  a  clew  was 
obtained  to  the  whole  organization  of  the  Car- 
bonari in  France,  ascending,  through  vai'ioas 
intermediate  stages,  to  the  central  committee 
in  Paris,  presided  over  by  Lafayette  himself. 
These  revelations  were  justly  deemed  of  such 
importance  that  the  trial  of  the  accused  was 
transferred  to  the  capital,  and  conducted  bv  M. 
Marchangy,  the  King's  Advocate,  himself  Tiio 
oath  taken  by  the  affiliated  bound  them  to  face 
any  peril,  even  death  itself,  in  support  of  lib- 
erty, and  to  abandon,  at  a  momont's  warning, 
their  own  brothers  by  blood  to  succor  tlieir 
brethren  among  the  Carbonari.*  The  object 
of  the  association  was  to  overturn  tlie  existing 
government  in  every  country,  and  cstablisli 
purely  republican  forms  of  government.  To 
carry  it  into  complcf e  effect,  tlioro  was  a  ccnti-al 
committee  of  three  persons  at  Paris,  whose  man- 
dates were  supreme,  and  which  all  the  inferior 
lodges  throughout  the  kingdom  were  bound  in- 
stantly, and  at  all  hazards,  to  obey  ;  and  subor- 
dinate committees  of  nine  members,  whose  man- 
dates were  equally  supreme  within  their  re- 
spective districts."  A  mon;  formi- 
dable conspiracy  n<!ver  was  brought  n^r^^H'^yp". 
to  light,  or  one  more  calculated,  if  Ann.  Ilist. ' 
successful,  to  tear  society  in  pieces,  v.  777, 802; 
and  elevate  the  most  ambitious  and  ''.am.  vii. 45, 
unscrupulous  characters  to  its  dircc- 


*  The  oath  was  in  these  tiTins  :  "  Je  jure  de  tenir  avant 
toute  chose  a  la  liberto  ;  d'afTronter  la  mort  en  toutes  les 
occasions  pour  les  Carbonari  ;  d'nbandonner  an  premier 
signal  lo  trosor  de  mon  propre  sang,  pour  aider  ct  sccourir 
inea  lYcres." — Annuaire  Historiquc,  v.  777 


882 


11  ISTOII  Y    OV    EU  ROPE. 


b' 


XI. 


tion.  It  is  nulanclioly  to  think  llmt  I.nfayetto, 
d'Arjjoiison,  Manuel,  and  tlio  lonilors  of  the  Lib- 
eral i>arty  in  the  logislatiiro,  were  nt  tlie  head 
of  siu'h  a  perilous  and  destructive  nssoeiatioii.* 
IJories  and  his  associates  made  a  gallant  de- 
o,  fense   when   l)roiii;iit    to    trial;    and 

Their  trial  t'l*'  former  mcltetl  every  heart  by 
and  cxccu-  the  noble  effort  which  he  made,  wlieii 
iiou.  ^jn.  pj^g^  jijjj  obviously  become  des- 

perate, to  draw  to  himself  the  whole  responsi- 
l)ilitv  of  the  proceedings,  and  exculpate  entire- 
Iv  his  unhajipy  associates.  "You  have  seen," 
said  he,  in  the  conclusion  of  Iiis  address  to  the 
jury,  "  whether  the  evidence  has  produced  any 
thing  which  could  justify  tlic  severity  of  the 
public  prosecutor  in  my  instance.  You  have 
heard  liim  yesterday  pronounce  the  words,  'AH 
the  powers  of  oratory  will  prove  unavailing 
to  withdraw  Bories  from  public  justice;'  the 
King's  Advocate  has  never  ceased  to  present 
me  as  the  chief  of  the  plot :  well,  gentlemen,  I 
accept  the  responsibility — happy  if  my  liead,  in 
falling  from  the  scaffold,  can  save  the  life  of  my 
comrades."  The  trial,  which  took  place  at 
I'aris,  lasted  several  days,  during  the  course  of 
which  the  public  interest  was  wound  up  to  the 
very  higliest  pitch,  and  every  effort  was  made, 
by  crowds  surrounding  the  court-house,  anony- 
mous threatening  letters  to  the  jury,  and  other 
means,  to  avert  a  conviction.  But  all  was  un- 
availing; Bories,  Gouben,  Pommier,  andRautre, 
were  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  death.  They 
received  the  sentence  with  calmness  and  intrep- 
idit}-.  Determined  to  make  a  great  example 
of  persons  deeply  implicated  in  so  wide-spread 
and  dangerous  a  conspiracy,  Government  was 
inexorable  to  all  applications  for  mercy.  An 
effort  was  made,  with  the  approbation  of  Lafay- 
ette, to  procure  their  escape  by  corrupting  the 
jailer;  be  agreed,  and  the  money  was  raised, 
and  brought  to  the  prison  gates ;  but  the  per- 
sons in  the  plot  were  seized  bj^  the  police  at 
the  very  moment  when  it  was  counting  out. 
As  a  last  resource,  twelve  thousand  of  the  Car- 
bonari of  Paris  bound  themselves  by  an  oath  to 
station  themselves  behind  the  files  of  gendarmes 
who  lined  the  streets  as  the  accused  were  led 
to  execution,  armed  with  poniards,  and  to  effect 
their  deliverance  by^  each  stabbing  one  of  the 


*  "  II  exi.ste  a  Paris  un  grand  comite  d'orateurs,  qui 
entretient  des  correspondances  avec  tous  les  departe- 
nients.  11  y  a  dans  chaque  departement,  un  comite  de 
neuf  membres,  dont  I'un  est  president. 

"  Ce  comite  correspond  avec  ceux  de  I'arrondissement, 
et  avec  le  grand  comite.  U  y  a  dans  chaque  arrondisse- 
rnent  un  comite  compose  de  cinq  membres,  dont  l"un  est 
president. 

"  Les  chevaliers  de  I'ordre  doivent  etre  pris  :  1.  Parmi 
les  jeunes  gens  mstruits  des  villes  et  des  campagnes.  2. 
Les  etudianls  des  colleges,  et  des  ecoles  de  droit,  de  mede- 
cine  et  d'autres.  3.  Les  anciens  militaires  reformes,  re- 
traites  ou  a  demi-solde.  4.  Les  possesseurs  de  biens 
nationaux.  5.  Les  gros  proprietaires  dont  les  opinions 
sont  parfaitement  connues.  6.  Ceux  qui  professent  les 
arts  liberaux,  avocats,  medecins,  et  autres.  7.  Les  soiis- 
officiers  de  I'armee  active,  rarement  les  officiers,  a  moins 
qu'ils  n'aient  donne  des  preuves  non  equivoques  de  leur 
manicre  de  pen.ser. 

"Le  recipiendaire  sera  instruit  verbalement  de  I'exis- 
tence  de  la  societc,  du  but  qu'elle  se  propose,  ensuite  il 
pretera  le  serment  suivant ; 

"Je  jure  d'etre  fidele  aux  statuts  de  I'ordre  des  cheva- 
liers de  la  liberte.  Si  je  viens  a  les  trahir,  la  mort  sera 
ma  punition. 

"  C.  signifie  chevalier ;  V.,  vente ;  V.  II.,  haute  vente  ; 
V.  C,  vente  centrale  ;  V.  P  .  vente  partlculicre  ;  P., 
Paris  :  15.  C.  bon  cousin." — Proris  ile  Bories,  &c.,  No. 
ix.     Annuaire  Hmtori/iue,  v.  fcOl,  fe()2. 


executors  of  the  law.  They  were  on  the  slrcel  s, 
accordingly,  on  the  day  of  execution,  and  tlie 
unhappy"  men  went  to  the  scatVold  expecting 
every  moment  to  be  delivered.  But  the  ]n\- 
paralions  of  Government  were  so  com]ilcle  that 
the  conspirators  were  overawed;  not  an  aiiu 
was  raised  in  their  defense  ;  and  the  assembled 
multitude  had  the  pain  of  beholding  i  proccsde 
four  gallant  young  men,  the  victims  Iloriis,  &c.; 
of  deluded  enthusiasm,  beheaded  on  -^"r: ''''^'.: 
the  scaffold,  testifying  with  their  i,a,n.vi  1.451 
last  breath  their  devotion  to  the  47  ;  Lac  in! 
cause  for  which  they  suffered.'  262,  2fi4. 

It  is  impossible  to  read  the  account  of  four 
young  men  suffering  death  for  pui-ely  gg 
political  offenses,  under  a  Govern-  Reflections 
mcnt  founded  on  moderation  and  on  those 
equity,  without  deep  regret,  and  the  e'^ents. 
warmest  commiseration  for  their  fate.  Yet 
must  justice  consider  what  is  to  be  said  on  the 
other  side,  and  admit  the  distinction  between 
persons  openly  levying  regular  war  again.«t 
their  sovereign,  who  may  be  perhaps  entitled 
to  claim  the  right  of  prisoners  taken  in  ex- 
ternal warfare,  and  those  Avho,  like  these  un- 
happy young  men,  belong  to  secret  societies, 
having  for  their  object  to  overturn  Govern- 
ment by  murder,  and  sudden  and  unforeseen 
outbreaks,  vailed  in  their  origin  in  studious 
obscurity.  It  is  the  ver}'  essence  of  such  secret 
societies  to  be  vailed  in  the  deepest  darkness, 
and  to  accomplish  their  objects  by  assassination, 
fire-raising,  and  treason.  Every  man  who  en- 
ters into  them  surrenders  his  conscience  and 
freedom  of  action  to  an  unseen  and  unknown 
authority,  whose  mandates  he  is  bound  instant- 
ly to  otey,  be  they  what  they  may.  lie  is 
never  to  hesitate  to  plunge  a  dagger  in  the 
heart  of  his  king,  his  father,  bis  wife,  his  bene- 
factor, or  his  son,  if  the  orders  of  this  unseen 
authority  require  him  to  do  so.  Such  institu- 
tions convert  the  society  which  thej'  regulate 
into  a  disciplined  band  of  bravoes,  ready  to 
murder  any  man,  burn  any  house,  fire  any 
arsenal,  or  commit  any  other  atrocious  act 
that  may  be  enjoined.  It  is  impossible  to  hold 
that  death  is  too  severe  a  penalty  for  the  chiefs 
who  establish  in  any  country  so  atrocious  and 
demoralizing  a  conspiracy ;  and  the  example 
of  the  Ribbonmen  in  Ireland,  and  some  of  the 
trades'  unions  in  Great  Britain,  too  clearly 
prove  to  what  abominable  excesses,  when  once 
established,  they  inevitably  lead.  The  onlj' 
thing  to  be  regretted  is,  that  these  chiefs  so 
often  escape  themselves,  while  the  penaltj-  of 
the  law  falls  upon  their  inferior  and  less  guilty 
agents.  But  their  guilt  remains  the  same ;  and 
it  was  not  the  less  in  this  instance  that  those 
chiefs  were  Lafayette,  Manuel,  d'Argenson, 
Benjamin  Constant,  and  the  other  leaders  of 
the  Liberal  party  in  France,  whose  declama- 
tions were  so  loud  in  the  legislature  in  favor 
of  the  great  principles  of  public  morality.^ 


*  It  is  fully  admitted  now  by  the  French  historians  of 
both  parties,  that  these  men  were  the  the  chiefs  of  the 
Carbonari  in  France,  and  that  the  statements  of  M.  Mar 
changy  on  the  subject,  in  the  trial  of  the  Rochelle  prison- 
ers, were  entirely  well  founded  :  "  Le  requisitoire  de  M. 
de  Marchangy  restera  comme  un  monument  de  verite  his- 
torique  et  de  courage  ;  son  tableau  du  carbonarisme  n'etait 
point  un  roman,  comme  on  le  di.sait  alors,  mais  de  I'his- 
toire,  comme  on  I'avoue  aiijourd'hui.  II  avail  parfaite- 
ment penctre  dans  le  mystere  des  societis  secretes  ;  il  en 
avait  conqris  la  portee  et   les  desseins.''— Capefioie. 


1821.] 


niSTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


383 


The  insurrections  at  Befort,  Thouars,  and  La 
Roolielle  were  not  the  only  ones 
InsJrmion  ^^'^^^  Lafayette  and  the  Cai'bonari 
at  Colmar,  committee  projected,  and  tried  to 
Marseilles,  carry  into  execution  during  this 
ami  Toulon,  eventful  year.  A  few  days  after 
"  ^    ■  the  outbreak  at  Befort  had  failed, 

Colonel  Caron,  a  half-pay  officer,  deeply  im- 
plicated in  their  designs,  with  the  aid  of  Roger, 
another  discontented  ex-military  man,  attempt- 
ed to  excite  an  insurrection  in  a  regiment  of 
dragoons  stationed  at  Colmar.  It  in  effect  re- 
ceived him  with  cries  of  "  Vive  Napoleon  II. !" 
and  Caron  led  them  from  village  to  village  for 
some  time  trying  to  excite  an  insurrection  ;  but 
they  every  where  failed,  and  the  regiment 
which  had  revolted,  seeing  the  affair  was  hope- 
less, ended  by  arresting  him,  and  delivering 
him  over  to  the  police,  who  were  all  along 
privy  to  the  design.  lie  was  brought,  after 
the  manner  of  Kapoleon,  before  a  military 
council,  b}^  whom  he  was  condemned,  and  shot 
in  one  of  the  ditches  of  the  citadel  of  Colmar. 
Similar  attempts,  attended  with  no  better  suc- 
cess, were  made  about  the  same  time  at  Mai*- 
seilles  and  Toulon,  but  they  were  all  frusti'ated 
by  the  vigilance  of  the  police  and  military',  and 
terminated  in  similar  judicial  tragedies,  which 
every  friend  of  humanity  must  deeply  regret, 
but  which  were  absolutely  necessary  to  extin- 
guish the  mania  for  secret  societies  and  con- 
spiracies which  had  so  long  been  the  scourge 
of  France,  and  had  been  encouraged  in  so  flagi- 
tious a  manner  by  the  Liberal  leaders  in  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  and  Lafayette,  Manuel, 
and  Koehlin,  the  central  chiefs  at  I'aris.  Happi- 
ly the  failure  of  these  conspiracies,  and  the 
executions,  had  the  desired  effect,  and  France, 
during  the  remaining  years  of  the  Restoration, 
,  ^jj  jjjgj  was  freed  from  a  political  disease  of 
V.  210, 21G;  all  others  the  most  fatal  to  public 
Lam.  vii.  morality  and  the  ultimate  interests 
40,62.  of  general  freedom. ' 

Tlie  interest  excited  by  these  events  dimin- 
24.       ished   the   importance  of  the  parlia- 
nu.igetof  mentary  proceedings  in  this  year:  it 
1022.         ^yr^g^  useless  to  attempt  legislative  meas- 
ures when  the  Liberal  leaders  were  every  day 


ItiaUnrc  de.  ta  lieslaurattdii.  vu.  312.  "  J.e  voiie  loiigwiiiiis 
epais  par  la  (lissirniilatioii  parlcrnentaire  dcs  oratcurs  dc 
1«22  a  1«2'.),  (|ui  couvraiciit  <l(!s  conspirations  actives  dii 
noiii  d'oppo.sition  loyale  et  inofll-nsive,  s'cst  declijru  depuis 
J»3().  Les  meneurs,  les  plans,  les  coini)lots,  Ics  insti(»a- 
tturs,  les  acteurs,  les  sieffc.i,  les  vicliniosde  ccs  conspira- 
tions ont  apparu  dans  toute  la  franchise  dc  leurs  roles, 
l.es  Casernes,  les  socictus  secretes,  les  prisons,  les  cclia- 
Cauds  iriemes,  ont  parle.  Sous  cctle  opposilion  a  haute 
voix.et  a  visage  dccouvcrt,  qui  luuait  contre  les  niitiislres, 
en  allichant  le  respect  ct  I'inviolahilite  de  la  royaule  dcs 
liourhons,  on  a  vu  (lUcUes  trames  obstinccs  cl  irnplacables 
s'ourdissaient  pour  la  renverser,  les  uncs  nu  profit  de 
Napoleon  11.,  les  autres  au  profit  de  la  repnhliiiue,  celles- 
ci  au  profit  des  pretoriens  suballernes.  celles-la  au  profit 
d'un  I'rince  eiranger,  d'autn^s  au  jirolit  d'un  I'rince  de  la 
Maison  Koyale,  d'autrcs  ctifin  au  liasard  do  loutes  les 
anarchies  pouvant  clever  on  engloutir  dc  temeraires  dic- 
tateurs  coinnie  M.  dc  La  Fayette.  Nnuit-mimes  nous 
nvnns  rr';ic  d'artrurs  principaux,  une  partie  de  ces  mys- 
lorieuses  coiilidences.  Nous  ernpruntons  Ic  reste  a  des 
historiens  initus  par  eux-mernes  ou  leur  parti  a  ccs  con- 
spirations, ou  ils  furcnt  confidents.  Instruments,  ou  com- 
plices: surtout  a  un  historien  consciencieux,  cxacle,  et 
pour  ainsi  dire  juridiqiie,  M.  de  Vaulabelle,  tenioignagc 
d'autant  rrioins  recusahlc  qua  ses  jugemfints  sur  la  Hestau- 
ration  sont  plus  scveres,  ct  que  son  opinion  et  ses  sen- 
timents conspiral'Tit  invnlontairemenl  avec  les  opinions  et 
l.is  sentiments  des  conspirateiirs,  pour  lesquels  il  reclame 
'a  glorie  ct  la  reconnaissance  dcvant  la  pnsterite." — La- 
MARTINE,  UisUnre  de  La  lUstHurattan,  vii.  '.1,  22. 


expecting  the  Government  to  be  overturned, 
and  a  republican  regime  established,  of  which 
they   themselves   Avere   to   be  installed  as  the 
primary  leaders.     Thus,   after  the   grand   dis- 
cussion on  the  restriction  of  the  press,  which 
lasted  six  weeks,  had  terminated,  the  parlia- 
mentarj-  history  of  France,  during  the  remainder 
of  the  session,  exhibits  nearly  a  blank.     The 
budget  alone  called  forth  an  animated  discus- 
sion, and  the  details  which  the  Finance  Minis- 
ter brought  forward   on    this  subject  proved 
that  the  country  Avas  in  as  prosperous  a  condi- 
tion, so  far  as  its  material  interests  were  con- 
cerned, as  it  was  in  a  disturbed  one,  as  regards 
its  political  feelings  and  passions.     From  these 
details  it  appeared  that  the  revenue  of  the  year 
1823  was  estimated  at  909,130,000  francs  (£30,- 
-150,000),  and  the   expenditure  at  900, ■I'? 5,000 
francs  (£36,025,000),  leaving  a  surplus  of  above 
8,000,000  francs,  or  £320,000.     The  vote  of  the 
supplies  for  8000  Swiss  in  the  army  was  the 
subject  of  impassioned  invective  on  the  part 
of  the  Liberal  Opposition :  they  dreaded  a  re- 
petition, on  a  similar  crisis,  of  the  fidelity  of 
10th  August,  1*792.     The  revenue  of  1822' was 
915,591,000  francs  (£30,600,000);  the  expendi- 
ture 882,321,000  francs  (£35,960,000),  leaving  a 
surplus  of  33,270,000  francs  (£1,320,000)  dispo- 
sable in  the  hands  of  Government.     To  what 
object   they   destined    this   large    surplus  Avas 
obvious  from  the  magnitude  of  the  sums  A^oted 
for  the  army,  Avhich  amounted  to  250,000,000 
francs  (£10,000,000),  from  a  supple-  i  An.  Hist. 
mentary  credit  for  13,000,000  francs  v. 023,639; 
(£520,000),  put  at  the  disposal  of  the  "anc""!^^^ 
Minister  of  Finance,  and  a  IcA'y  of  20,1622; 
40,000  men  for  the  army,  authorized  Moniteur, 
by  an  ordonnance  on  20th  November.'   ^°''-  -'• 

The  annual  election  of  the  fifth  of  the  Cham- 
ber, in  the  autumn  of  this  }ear,  in-  ^ 
dicated  the  great  change  Avliich  the  j.-,.,vorai)lc 
law  of  the  preceding  liad  made  in  result  of  ihc 
the  constituency,  and  the  increased  elections  to 
ascendency  of  property  and  superior  ^^^^^  Hoyal- 
education  Avliich  the  c/dxsifi/iiuj  the 
electors  into  colleges  of  the  arrondisscnienfs  and 
the  departments,  and  the  throwing  those  pay- 
ing the  highest  amount  of  direct  taxes  in  the 
department  into  the  latter,  and  forming  it  of 
them  exclusively,  had  occasioned.     In  the  col- 
leges of  arrondissemcnts,  the  Royalists  gained 
twenty-eight  seats,  the  Liberals  seventeen;  in 
the   colleges   of  departments,   the   former   had 
twenty-four,  the  latter  only  five.*     Thus,  upon 
the  Avhole,  the  gain  Avas  thirty  to  the  monarch- 
ical party.    So  consiilerable  an  acquisition,  and, 
still  more,  the  fact  of  the  majority  being  de- 
cided in  both  colleges,  ])roves  tiiat  the  result 
Avas  OAving  to  more  than  thi^  change,  great  as  it 
had  been,  in  the  IMci'ldral   Law  ;  and  that  the 
example  of  suceessful  revolutions  in  2  y^,,,,   jijst. 
the  two  adjoining  |)eninsulas,^  and  v.  25'J,  260 ; 
the  numerous  plots  Avhieh  had  bro-  ''np-  y"- 
ken   out  in    variou.s   parts   of  their  330,331. 


*  The  election  showed  the  following  results  : 
Voted. 

Voted  in  the  Colleges  d' A rondisscmcnl  13,804  . 

Tor  Uoyalist  candidates 9,058  . 

For  Liberal  "  5,751  . 

Voted  in  Colleges  dc  Dopartcment  ....     3,158  . 

For  Royalist  candidates 2,418  . 

For  IJberal  "  740  . 

— Ainiuaire  Historiquc,  v.  200. 


Totnl 
Kk'cloni. 
16,000 


4,420 


SS4 


HIST  0  U  Y  OF  K  U  R  O  r  E. 


[Chap.  XI. 


own  country,  lind  lironpht  n  large  portion  of 
tlio  lioldoi-s  of  i>rojH'ity,  who  lornierly  wore 
noiitriil,  or  iiu'liiicil  to  bo  Liberal,  to  vote  with 
the  nionarehieal  party. 

Jvolwithstandinp  these  favorablo  appearances 
n,-,  in  tlie  eleelions,  aiui  the  imlieatioii 

SiaU'ofpub-  they  aflonletl  oftlie  state  of  opinion 
1r-  opinion,  jh  tbc  wealthier  classes,  in  whom 
the  snlTrage  wa.s  exclusively  vested,  the  tone 
of  general  feeling  Avas  very  imieh  opposed  to 
this;  and  the  results  of  the  elections  tended 
only  to  augment  the  discontent  generally  felt 
in  the  towns,  at  least  in  the  middle  classes  of 
eoeietv.  Those  important  classes,  who  alone 
had  emerged  unscathed  from  the  storms  of  the 
Ilovolntion,  were  extremely  ambitious  of  enjoy- 
ing the  powers  and  the  freedom  of  self-govorn- 
ment.,  and  felt  proportionate  jealousy  of  an  ad- 
ministration which  was  based  on  aristocratic 
influences,  and  closely  connected  with  the  ultra 
party  in  the  Church.  It  was  the  latter  eireum- 
slance  which,  more  than  any  other,  tended  to 
depopularize  the  Government  of  the  llestora- 
tion,  and  in  its  ultimate  results  induced  its  fall. 
The  reason  was,  that  it  ran  counter  to  the 
strongest  passion  of  the  Revolution,  and  the 
one  which  alone  had  survived  in  full  vigor  all 
i;s  convulsions.  That  passion  was  the  desire 
of  freedom  of  t/iou/jf/it — the  strongest  wish  of 
emancipated  man — the  source  of  all  social  im- 
provement, and  all  advances  in  science,  litera- 
ture, or  art,  but  the  deadly  enemy  of  that  des- 
t 01  ism  of  opinion  which  the  Romish  Church 
a  I  so  long  ( stablished,  and  sought  to  continue 
over  its  vot.-i.ies.  The  Royalists  committed  a 
c;ipital  mistake  in  allying  themselves  with  this 
power — the  declared  and  inveterate  enemy  of 
all  real  intelligence,  and  therefore  the  object  of 
its  unceasing  and  unmeasured  hostility.  Those 
Lest  acquainted  with  the  state  of  France  during 
the  Restoration  are  unanimous  in  ascribing  to 
this  circumstance  the  increasing  unpopularity 
of  Government  during  its  later  j-ears,  and  its 
ultimate  fall.*  And  —  markworthy  circum- 
stance!— at  the  very  same  time,  it  was  in  the 
support  of  the  clergy,  and  the  identitj-  of  feel- 
ing between  them  and  the  vast  majority  of  the 
educated  classes  of  society,  that  the  British  gov- 
ernment found  their  firmest  bulwark  against 
the  efforts  of  the  revolutionists — a  clear  proof 
that  there  is  no  real  antagonism,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  the  closest  national  alliance  between 
the  powers  of  thought  and  the  feelings  of  devo- 
tion, and  that  it  was  the  ambition  and  despot- 
ism of  the  Church  of  Rome  that  alone  set  them 
at  variance  with  each  other.  The  French  Rev- 
olution, in  all  its  phases,  was  mainly  a  reaction 
against  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes ; 
and  had  Louis  XIY.  not  sent  half  a  million  of 
J  ..     innocent  Protestants  into   exile,  his 

322  325."     descendants    would   not  have   been 
now  suppliants  in  foreign  lands.' 

While  France  and  England  were  thus  Vi-ith 
difficulty  struggling  with  the  fresh  outbreak  of 
the  revolutionary-  passions  which  had  resulted 
from  the  overthrow  of  the  government  in  Spain, 
the  monarch  of  that  country  was  sinking  fast  into 


*  "  Religieux  par  nature,  je  dis  avec  douleur,  ce  qui  lit 
le  plus  de  mat  a  la  Rcstauration,  ce  fut  precisement  cette 
idee  qu'on  parvint  a  inculqut-r  au  peuple,  que  les  Bourbons 
s'identifiaient  avec  le  clerge." — Capefigle,  Histoire  de 
la  Restauration,  vii.  322. 


that  state  of  impotence  and  degradation  which 
in  troublous  times  is  the  invariable  07. 
precursor  of  final  ruin.  After  the  Attempted 
liuniiliation  expcrioiictd  in  the  affair  rL-storation 
of  the  gmirds  at  Ma.lrid.  which  has  !Jul,,ori"/;;J 
been  recounted  in  a  former  chapter,'  Madrid, 
the  king  ]!erceived  that  a  vigorous  '^'"I"-  1^21. 
effort  had  become  necessary  to  vindi-  '  Ante,  c. 
cate  his  fallen  power,  and  he  resolved  ^''''  *  "-• 
to  make  it  in  i>ei'son.  lie  came  suddenly,  accord- 
ingly, into  the  hall  of  the  Council  of  State,  when 
its  members  (a  sort  of  permanent  Coites)  were 
assembled,  and  in  a  lotig  and  impassioned  speech 
detailed  the  series  of  humiliations  to  which  his 
Liberal  Ministry  had  subjected  him.  He  paint- 
ed his  autliority  set  at  notight,  his  complaints  dis- 
regarded, his  dignity  saciiticed.  He  recounted 
the  long  course  of  sulfering  which  he  had  under- 
gone, and  concluded  with  declaring  that  the  lim- 
its of  human  endurance  had  been  readied,  and 
that  he  was  resolved  to  deliver  himself  from 
his  oppressors.  Stupefied  at  this  sudden  out- 
break, the  Council  directed  the  Ministers  to  be 
called  in,  that  they  might  be  heard  in  their  de- 
fense ;  but  when  they  arrived,  instetid  of  vindi- 
cating themselves,  they  commenced  an  attack 
upon  the  king,  recapitulated  all  his  violent  and 
illegal  acts,  and  even  accused  him  of  having 
violated  his  oath,  and  conspired  to  overturn 
the  constitution.  Furious  at  this  unexpected 
resistance  to  his  authorifj-,  the  king  rushed  out 
of  the  hall,  and  signed  an  order  for  the  immedi- 
ate arrest  of  his  Ministers.  But  his  attendants 
and  famil}'  represented  to  him  in  such  strong 
colors  the  extreme  peril  of  such  a  step,  of  which 
no  one  could  foresee  the  consequences,  that  the 
order,  before  it  could  be  executed,  was  revoked, 
and  the  Ministers  remained  in  power.  But  as 
the  king's  secret  intention  had  now  been  re- 
vealed, the  seeds  of  irreconcilable  jealousy  had  JB 
been  sown  between  him  and  his  Ministers;  and  J| 
the  executive,  toin  by  intestine  divisions,  ceased  ^^ 
to  be  any  longer  the  object  either  of  resj.ect  or 

a])preliension  to  the  ambitious  Lib-  ,  .,    ,.    „„ 
II  ■  11     J         •        .      ^  Martignac, 

erals,  who  were  rapidly  drawing  to  j.  aes,  2TO; 
themselves  the  whole  power  and  con-  Ann.  Hist, 
sidcration  in  the  state. ^  '^-  '*^®'  ^^^• 

The  result  soon  appeared.  The  session  of  the 
Cortes  opened  on  1st  March,  1821,  and  gs 
the  king,  who  had  adopted  from  his  Opening  of 
Ministers  his  opening  speech,  added  tlie  Cortes, 
to  it  several  sentences  of  his  own  gg^'o/^jJe^ 
composition.  In  the  first  part  of  it  Ministers, 
he  astonished  the  Royalists  by  an  un-  March  l, 
equivocal  approbation  of  the  revolu-  ^*'^^- 
tions  of  Naples  and  Piedmont,  blamed  the  King 
of  Naples  for  having  gone  to  the  congress  of 
sovereigns  at  Laybach,  and  openly  condemned 
the  threatened  invasion  of  the  Neapolitan  States 
by  the  Austrian  forces.  The  Liberals  were  in 
tran.sports ;  they  could  scarcely  believe  their 
own  ears;  the  king  seemed  at  last  to  have 
identified  himself  in  good  earnest  with  the 
cause  of  revolution,  and  loud  applause  testified 
the  satisfaction  of  the  majority  at  the  senti- 
ments which  had  proceeded  from  the  throne. 
But  what  was  their  surprise  when,  after  this 
concession  to  the  demoerac}',  the  king  suddenly 
began  on  a  new  key,  and,  raising  his  voice  as 
he  came  to  the  sentences  composed  by  himself 
or  his  secret  advisers,  recapitulated  the  repeat- 
ed attempts  made  to  represent  him  as  insincere 


1321.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


385 


fn  his  career  as  a  constitutional  sovereign,  the 
insults  to  which,  in  his  person  and  his  govern- 
ment, he  had  so  often  been  subjected — "  in- 
sults," he  added,  "  to  which  he  would  not  be  sub- 
jected if  the  executive  power  possessed  the  ener- 
gy which  the  constitution  demands,  and  which, 
if  continued,  will  involve  the  Spanish  nation  in 
unheard-of  calamities."  The  audience  were  stu- 
pefied by  these  unexpected  words ;  the  Ministers 
felt  themselves  struck  at ;  they  re- 
>^439  4^4o''  collected  the  former  scene  in  the 
Lac.  ill.  32oi  Council  of  State,  and,  deeming  them- 
321 ;  Martig-  selves  secure  of  victory  ij  they  held 
nac,  i.  275,  ^^^.^  j^  ^.j^g  game  evening  they,  in  a 
bod}',  tendered  their  resignations.' 
With  so  little  foresight  or  consideration  were 
29.  the  king's  measures  pursued,  that 
Conduct  of  though  it  might  have  been  antici- 
the  Cortes,  pated  that  a  resignation  of  Ministers 
point^m'ent  would  follow  such  an  outbreak,  no 
of  a  new  arrangements  whatever  had  been 
Ministry,  made  for  appointing  their  successors. 
For  several  dajs  the  country  remained  without 
a  government,  during  which  the  capital  was  in 
the  most  violent  state  of  agitation ;  the  clubs 
resounded  with  declamations,  the  journals  were 
in  transports  of  indignation,  and  the  hall  of 
the  Cortes  was  the  scene  of  the  most  violent 
debates.  They  carried,  by  a  large  majority,  a 
resolution,  that  tJie  late  ministers  had  deserved 
well  of  the  nation,  and,  in  proof  of  their  grati- 
tude, settled  on  each  of  them  a  pension  of 
60,000  reals  (£600).  To  allay  the  tempest  he 
had  so  imprudently  conjured  up,  the  king  re- 
quested the  Cortes  to  furnish  him  with  a  list 
of  the  persons  whom  they  deemed  fit  for  the 
situation ;  but  they  refused  to  do  so,  alleging 
that  the  responsibility  of  choosing  his  ministers 
rested  with  the  king.  At  length  he  made  his 
choice,  and  he  was  compelled  to  choose  them 
among  the  Liberal  leaders.  Among  them  was 
Don  liamon  Felix,  who  had  long  been  imprison- 
ed (since  1814)  for  his  violent  conduct,  who 
was  appointed  minister  of  the  Trans- 
marine Provinces:  and  Don  Eusebio 
Bardaxi,  who  had  been  Minister  of 
Foreign  Aft'airs  to  the  Cortes  at  Cadiz, 
was  reinstated  in  the  same  office.- 
It  was  now  evident  that  the  king  had  not  in 
reality  the  choice  of  his  ministers ; 
and  in  order  to  conciliate  the  major- 
ity, he  addressed  a  message  of  con- 
dolence to  them  on  the  overthrow  of 
the  revolution  in  Naples  and  Pied- 
mont, which  soon  after  ensued,  and 
promised  the  fugitives  from  these 
countries  a  safe  asylum  in  Spain,  where,  in  ef- 
fect, great  numbers  of  tlieta  soon  after  arrived, 
and  were  very  hospitably  received.  These  ex- 
ternal events  produced  a  very  deep  impression 
in  Spain;  for  ilic  hopes  of  the  Liberals  had 
been  unbouii(led  upon  the  first  outbreak  of 
these  convulsions,  and  their  depression  was 
proportionally  great  upon  their  overthrow. 
They  produced,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  a  fresh 
burst  of  the  revolutionary  jiassioti  over  tlie 
whole  country.  Terror,  as  it  had  done  in 
France  wlicn  the  advanc(!S  of  tiie  Duke  of 
Brunswick  into  Ciiampagne  induced  tiie  mas- 
sacre in  the  prisons  of  Paris,  produocul  cruelty  ; 
and  tlie  actions  of  the  secret  societies  occasion- 
ed a  Ttieas\ire  so  extraordinary,  and  of  such  cx- 
VoL.  I. — B  li 


a  An.  Hist 
iv.  441, 
44 J;  Mar- 
tignac,  i. 
27S,  281. 


30. 
Effect  pro 
duced  in 
Spain  by 
tlie  crush- 
ing of  tiiu 
revolution 
in  Italy. 


tent,  that  nothing  in  the  whole  annals  of  his- 
tory is  to  be  compared  to  it. 

At  once,  and  at   the  same  moment,  in  all 
places,  a  vast  number  of  individuals,         gj 
of  both  sexes,  and  of  all  ranks  and  Extraordl- 
classes  of  society,  chiefly  on  the  east  nary  out- 
coast  of  Spain,  who  were  suspected  ^^'^^^  p*" 

-      ,        ■  ^    .   '  .,  1-1  revolution- 

01  a  leaning  to  the  monarcnical  par-  ary  fury  in 
ty,  were  arrested,  chiefly  during  the  the  east  of 
night,  hurried  to  the  nearest  seaport  ^P^'"- 
by  bands  of  armed  men  acting  under  the  orders 
of  self-constituted  societies,  and  put  on  ship- 
board, from  whence  they  were  conveyed,  some 
to  the  Balearic  Islands,  and  some  to  the  Cana- 
ries, according  to  the  caprice  of  the  imperious 
executors  of  the  popular  will.  There  was  no 
trial,  no  legal  warrant  of  arrest,  no  conviction, 
no  condemnation.  With  their  own  hands,  of 
their  own  authority,  under  their  own  leader.^ 
the  people  executed  what  they  called  justice 
upon  their  enemies.  Several  hundred  persons 
— many  of  them  of  high  rank — were  in  this 
manner  torn  from  their  families,  hurried  into 
exile,  without  the  hope  of  ever  returning, 
chiefly  from  Barcelona,  Valencia,  Corunna, 
Carthagena,  and  the  neighborhood  of  these 
towns.  With  such  secrecy  was  the  measure 
devised,  with  such  suddenness  carried  into  ex- 
ecution, that  no  resistance  was  any  where  either 
practicable  or  attempted  ;  and  the  unfortunate 
victims  of  this  violence  had  scarcely  awakened 
from  the  stupor  into  which  they  had  been 
thrown  by  their  seizure,  when  they  found 
themselves  at  sea,  on  board  strange  vessels, 
surrounded  by  strange  faces,  and  sailing  they 
knew  not  whither  I  The  annals  of  the  Roman 
proscriptions,  of  Athenian  cruelty,  of  French 
atrocity,  may  be  searched  in  vain  iMartignac 
for  a  similar  instance  of  general,  de-  i.  284,  290 ;' 
liberate,  and  deeply-devised  popular  ^""- ^''f  • 
vengeance.' 

Deeds  of  violence  on  the  side  of  the  populace 
seldom  fail  to  find  apologists.  The 
illegal  seizure  and  deportation  of  Revolution- 
such  a  number  of  persons  at  the  ary  laws 
same  time  in  various  parts  of  Spain  passed  by 
was  a  public  and  notorious  event,  ^prli'J"'^^' 
which  could  not  be  concealed;  while 
the  secrecy  with  which  it  had  been  devised, 
and  the  suddenness  with  which  it  had  been  ex- 
ecuted, indicated  the  work  of  occult  and  highly 
dangerous  societies.  It  was  accordingly  made 
the  subject  of  discussion  in  the  Cortes,  but  the 
turn  which  the  debate  took  was  very  curious, 
and  eminently  characteristic  of  the  slavish 
cowardice  which  successful  revolutionary  vio- 
lence so  often  induces.  JS'o  bhunc  whatever 
was  thrown  on  tlie  authors  or  executors  of  this 
atrocious  proceeding;  not  one  of  them  was 
even  accused,  tliougji  tlicy  were  as  Avell  known 
as  the  commanders  of  the  provinces  where  the 
violence  had  occurred.  The  whole  blame  Avas 
thrown  on  the  judges  and  civil  authorities  in 
the  provinces,  whose  eupincncss  or  dilatory 
conduct  in  bringing  the  enemies  of  the  people 
to  justice  hail  obliged  them,  it  was  said,  to 
take  the  aflair  into  tlicir  hands.  All  that  was 
done,  to  avert  himilar  ai^ts  of  violence  by  sclf- 
con.'^tituted  autiiorities  in  future,  was  to  pass 
two  laws,  worthy  to  be  placed  beside  those 
con.stituting  tlie  revolutionary  tribunal  at  Pans 
in  point  of  atrocity.     By  the  first  of  these  the 


ssa 


IIISTOIIY    OF    EUnOPE. 


[Ciur.  XI. 


|nini>hmont  of  death  wns  docrood  against  nil 
porsi'iis  who  should  bo  convietcil  of  offenses 
ucuinst  oithor  roliiiion  or  the  constitution  ;  and 
h\  tlio  soeond,  those  charped  vitli  such  ntleiises 
were  to  bo  arrested  by  tlio  aimed  force,  and 
brouijht  before  a  council  of  war  chosen  out  of 
the  corps  which  had  ordered  the  arrest.  This 
judgnieiit  was  to  be  pronounced  in  six  days,  to 
lie  tinal  and  without  apjieal,  and  carried  into 
execution,  if  contirined.  by  the  military  gov- 
ernor of  the  jtrovince  w  itlnn  forty-eight  hours. 
And  the  only  reparation  made  to  the  transport- 
ed victims  was,  that  government,  when  they 
1  .^„  jiij,,  learned  the  places  to  which  they 
iv.  Hi,  453 ;  had  been  conveyed,  secretly  brought 
Manigiiac.  some  of  them  back,  one  by  one,  to 
I.  -i'M,  294.     jjj^jj.  ^j^.j^  country.' 

As  the  military  force  of  ^pain  was  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  the  Liberals — at  least 
narbarous  ^"^  ^"'"  ''^  ^^^^  officers  were  concerned — 
murder  of  and  it  had  been  the  great  agent  which 
the  priest  brought  about  the  Revolution,  these 
\  inuesa.  ganguinary  laws,  in  effect,  put  all  at  the 
mercy  of  the  revolutionists,  by  whom, 
as  by  the  Jacobin  clubs  at  Paris,  death  to  any 
extent,  and  under  no  limitation,  might  with  im- 
punity be  inflicted  on  their  political  opponents 
or  personal  enemies.  But  the  proceedings  of 
the  courts-martial,  summary  and  final  as  they 
were,  appeared  too  slow  for  the  impatient 
wratli  of  the  populace;  and  an  instance  soon 
occurred  in  which  they  showed  that,  like  the 
Parisian  mob,  they  coveted  the  agreeable  junc- 
tion, in  their  own  persons,  of  the  offices  of  ac- 
cuser, judge,  and  executioner.  A  fanatic  priest, 
named  Viiiuesa,  had  published  at  Madrid  a  crazy 
pamphlet  recommending  a  counter-revolution. 
Tor  this  offense  he  was  brought  before  the  court 
intrusted  with  the  trial  of  such  cases  at  Madrid, 
and  sentenced  to  ten  years  of  the  galleys — a 
dreadful  punishment,  and  the  maximum  which 
law  permitted  for  crimes  of  that  description.  But 
this  sentence,  which  seemed  sufficient  to  satisfy 
their  most  ardent  passions,  was  deemed  inade- 
-,  quale   by  the   revolutionists.     "  Blood, 

*^  ■  blood!"  was  the  universal  cry.  On  the 
day  following,  an  immense  crow'd  assembled  in 
the  Puerto  del  Sol,  the  principal  square  of 
Madrid,  where  a  resolution  was  passed  that 
they  should  themselves  execute  the  sentence  of 
death  on  their  victim.  This  was  at  noon ;  but 
so  deliberate  were  the  assassins,  and  so  secure 
of  impunit}',  that  they  postponed  the  execution 
of  the  sentence  till  four  o'clock.  At  that  hour 
they  reassembled,  after  having  taken  their  siesta, 
and'  proceeded  to  the  prison-doors.  Ten  soldiers 
on  guard  there  made  a  show  of  resistance,  but 
it  was  a  show  only.  They  soon  submitted 
to  the  mandates  of  the  sovereign  people,  and 
withdrew.  The  doors  of  the  prison  were  speed- 
ily broken  open ;  the  priest  presented  himself, 
with  a  crucifix  in  his  hand,  and  in  the  name 
of  the  Kedeemer  prayed  for  his  life.  His  en- 
treaties were  disregarded ;  one  of  the  judges 
J  i^iartjg.  of  the  Puerto  del  Sol  advanced, 
nac,  i.  293,  ^^'^  beat  out  his  brains  with  a 
296;  Ann.  sledge-hammer  as  he  lay  prostrate 
Ilist-  iv.  before  them  on  the  pavement  of  his 
"^  cell.'  ^ 

Barbarous  and  uncalled-for  as  this  murder 
was,  it  has  too  many  parallel  in.-tanees  in 
cruelty,    aristocratic   and    democratic,    in   all 


ages  and  in  all  countries.  But  what  follows 
is  the  infamy  of  Spain,  and  of  the 
cause  of  revolution,  and  of  them  institution 
alone.  Having  dispatclied  their  vie-  ot'tlie  Onlcr 
tim  in  jtrisou,  the  mob  proceeded,  ol'thelluin- 
with  loud  shouts,  to  the  house  of  the  ""'^' 
judge  who  had  condemned  him  to  ten  years 
of  the  galleys,  with  the  intention  of  murdering 
him  also;  but  in  this  they  were  disappointed, 
for  he  had  heard  of  his  danger,  and  escaped. 
In  the  evening  the  clubs  resounded  with  songs 
of  triumph  at  this  act  of  popular  justice;  the 
better  class  of  inhabitants  trembled  in  silence; 
the  violent  revolutionists  were  in  ecstasies. 
Martinez  de  la  Rosa  had  the  courage  in  the 
Cortes  to  denounce  the  atrocious  act,  but  a 
great  majority  drowned  his  voice  and  applaud- 
ed it.  The  press  was  unanimous  in  its  aiijiro- 
bation  of  the  glorious  deed.  To  commemorate 
it  for  all  future  times,  an  order  of  chivalry  was 
instituted  bj-  the  assassins,  entitled  the  Order 
of  the  Hammer,  which  was  received  with  gen- 
eral applause.  Decorations  consisting  of  a 
little  hammer,  for  those  who  were  admitted 
into  it,  Avere  prepared,  and  eagerly  bought  up 
by  both  sexes;  and  to  the  disgrace  of  Spain  be 
it  said,  the  insignia  of  an  order  intended  to 
commemorate  a  deliberate  and  cold-blooded 
murder  were  to  be  seen  on  the 
breasts  of  the  brave  and  the  bosoms  \  ^oyf^'f^g*^' 
of  the  fair.'  '  *    ' 

This  cruel  act,  and  still  more  the  general  ap- 
probation  with   which   it   was   re-         35. 
ceived  in  the  clubs,  and  by  the  press  Insurrection 
of  Madrid,  opened  the  eyes  of  the  '"  Navarre, 
,    ,^  ,'     ^  ill!  and  appoint- 

better  and  more  respectable  classes  mentoiMu. 
over  the  whole  country  to  the  fright-  rillo  at  Ma- 
ful  nature  of  the  ab\'ss  into  whicli  '^''^• 
all  the  nation,  under  its  present  rulers,  was 
hurrying.  A  reactionary  movement  broke  out 
in  ISavarre,  at  the  head  of  which  was  the  curate 
Merino,  already  well  known  and  celebrated  in 
the  war  with  Napoleon.  He  was  soon  at  the 
head  of  eight  hundred  men,  with  which,  after 
having  been  successful  in  several  encounters, 
he  was  marching  on  Yittoria,  when  he  was  met 
and  defeated  at  Ochandiano  by  the  captain- 
general  of  the  province.  Four  hundred  prison- 
ers were  made,  and  sent  to  Pampeluna;  the 
chiefs — nearly  all  priests  or  pastors — were  im- 
mediately executed.  Taking  advantage  of  the 
consternation  produced  by*  these  events,  the 
king  ventured  on  the  bold  step  of  appointirg 
Don  Pablo  Murillo,  the  celebrated  general  under 
"Wellington  in  the  war  with  Kapoleon — the  un- 
daunted antagonist  of  Bolivar  in  that  of  South 
America — to  the  situation  of  captain-general  at 
Madrid.  Murillo  was  very  unwilling  to  under- 
take the  perilous  mission,  but  at  length,  at  the 
earnest  solicitation  of  the  king,  who  s  Ann.  Hist, 
represented  that  he  was  his  last  re-  iv.  454, 455 ; 
source  against  the  revolution,  he  J,'f".'f"*'='»- 
aereed  to  accept  it.-" 
"The  knowledge  of  Murillo's  firm  and  resolute 
character  had  for  some  time  a  con-  36. 

siderable  effect  in  overawinc  the  fac-  Proceedings 
tions  in  the  capital ;  for  though  the  "^ "'^  ^""e^- 
army  was  the  focus  of  the  revolution,  such  was 
known  "to  be  his  ascendency  with  the  troops, 
that  it  was  feared,  under  his  orders,  they  would 
not  hesitate  to  act  in  support  of  the  royal  au- 
thority.    But  unhappily  his  influence  did  not 


i3:i.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


extend  over  the  Cortes,  and  the  proceedings  of 
tliat  body  ■were  daily  more  and  more  indicative 
of  the  growing  ascendency  of  an  extreme  fac- 
tion, whose  ideas  were  inconsistent,  not  merely 
with  monarchical,  but  with  any  government 
wliatever.  The  clubs  in  Madrid,  as  they  had 
been  during  the  first  Revolution  at  Paris,  were 
the  great  centres  of  this  violent  p:irt\-,  and  it 
was  througli  them  that  the  whole  jM-ess  had  been 
ranged  oa  tlie  democratic  side.  Fatigued  with 
a  perpetual  struggle  with  their  indefatigable 
adversaries  in  the  Cortes,  the  galleries,  the 
clubs,  and  the  press,  the  moderate  party  in  the 
legislature  at  length  gave  way,  and  submitted 
to  almost  every  thing  which  their  adversaries 
chose  to  demand  of  them.  So  far  did  this 
yielding  go,  that  they  consented  to  pass  a  law 
which  entirely  withdrew  the  clubs  from  the 
cognizance  both  of  the  government  and  the 
magistrates;  forbade  any  persons  in  authority 
to  intrude  upon  the  debates;  and  by  declaring 
the  responsibility  of  the  president  for  what 
there  took  place,  in  effect  declared  the  irre- 
sponsibility of  every  one  else.  So  obvious  was 
the  danger  of  this  law,  that  the  king,  in  terms 
of  the  constitution,  and  relying  on  the  sup- 
port of  Murillo,  refused  his  sanction.  A  few 
days  after  he  did  the  same  with  a  law  which 
1  n.r,,ii„r,o„  passed  the  Cortes,  tending  to  de- 
i.  3i)4,  335,  prive  the  cluei  proprietors  ol  a  con- 
310;  Ann.  siderable  part  of  their  seignorial 
Hist. iv. 469.   j.igi^t3_i 

The  finances  were  daily  falling  into  a  more 
,,  deplorable  condition;  the  necessary 

Deplorable  result  of  the  imsettled  state  of  the 
state  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  extreme  terror  re- 
finances, and  garding  the  future  which  pervaded 
measures  re-    '',,.,     ^  i.   i  i      i  r 

garding  them.  ^'^  the  more  respectatilo  classes,  trom 
the  violence  of  the  Cortes  and  the 
absence  of  any  effective  control  upon  their  pro- 
ceedings. Though  a  half  of  the  tithes  of  the 
clergy  had  been  approjniated  to  the  service  of 
the  state,  and  half  only  left  for  the  support  of 
the  Church,  the  budget  exhibited  such  a  deficit 
that  it  became  necessary  to  authorize  a  loan  of 
301,800,000  reals  (£3,600,000),  being  more  than 
half  the  whole  revenue  of  the  state ;  but  such 
was  the  dilapidated  state  of  public  credit,  that, 
notwithstanding  the  utmost  efforts  of  the  Lib- 
erals, oidy  a  fourth  part  of  the  sum  was  sub- 
scribed by  the  end  of  the  year.*  Insurrections 
were  constantly  breaking  out  in  the  provinces, 
which  were  ordy  suppressed  by  the  armed 
force,  and  a  great  effusion  of  blood.  Ko  sooner 
were  they  put  down  in  one  quarter  than  they 
broke  out  in  another;  and  tlie  countr}',  as  in 
the  war  with  N'apoleon,  was  infested  by  guerrilla 
bands,  who  plundered  alike  friend  and  foe.  In 
the  midst  of  this  scene  of  desolation  and  disas- 
ter, the  king,  on  :i(Jth  June,  closed  llu!  sitting 
of  tlie  Cortes,  with  a  speecii  com[)Osed  by  his 
Ministers,  in  which  lie  pronounced  the  most 
[)Oinpou3  eulogium  on  the  wisdom,  justice,  and 
'Ann  Hist  niagnaniinity  of  their  proceedings, 
iv.  4.'»7,  458;  the  flourisiimg  state  of  the  finances, 
M;irti({nac,  and  the  general  prosperity  which 
pervad(,'d  all  parts  of  tli(!  kingdom. - 


310,  317. 


The  expcmlilure  was.   750,214,217  reals,  or  £7,500,000 
The  revenue   075,000,000      ••     or     6,750,000 


Deficit   HI. 214.217      "      or     £610,000 

-Budget,  1621  ;  Annuairr  Ilmturique,  iv.  403. 


'  Ante,  c. 
vii.  ti  112. 


The  event  soon  showed  how  far  these  praises 
of  tlie  revolutionary  regime  were  ,8 

well  founded.  Ever  since  the  mur-  Fresh  tumults 
der  of  the  priest  Viuuesa,  it  had  in  Madrid, 
been  the  practice  of  the  mobs  in  -^^^S"*'  2. 
Madrid  to  assemble  every  evening  under  the 
windows  of  such  persons  as  were  suspected  of 
anti-revolutionary  principles,  and  there  sine 
the  Trnr/a  la  Pcrro,  the  Marseillaise  of  the 
Spanish  revolution,  accompanied  in  the  chorus 
with  the  strokes  of  a  hammer  on  a  gong,  to  put 
them  in  mind  of  that  tragic  event.  In  the  begin- 
ning of  August,  an  unhappy  prisoner,  charged 
with  anti-revolutionary  practices,  and  con- 
demned to  the  galleys,  was  l\'ing  imprisoned 
in  a  convent,  awaiting  the  execution  of  his 
sentence,  along  with  the  soldiers  apjirehended 
some  months  before  on  the  charge  of  assault- 
ing the  people,  while  dispersing  the  mob  who 
insulted  the  king  in  his  carriage,  as 
narrated  in  a  former  chapter.'  It 
was  determined  in  the  club  of  the  I'on- 
tana  d'Oro  that  they  should  all  be  executed 
summarily  in  prison;  and  bands  were  already 
formed  for  this  purpose,  when  Murillo  appeared 
with  a  body  of  troops  and  dispersed  the  assas- 
sins. This  prompt  vindication  of  the  law  oc- 
casioned the  most  violent  ebullition  of  wratli 
in  the  clubs,  and  it  was  resolved  to  act  more 
decidedly  and  with  greater  force  on  the  next 
occasion.  Accordinglj',  on  the  20th 
August  an  immense  crowd  assembled  °'  '''' 
around  the  convent  where  the  soldiers  were 
confined,  singing  the  Trarja  la  Pcrro,  and  beat- 
ing the  hammers  as  usual ;  and  when  the  guard 
interfered,  and  tried  to  make  them  disperse, 
they  were  surrounded  and  overpowered.  In- 
formed of  the  danger,  Murillo  hastened  to  the 
spot  with  a  strong  body  of  trooi)s,  j  g^^^  jjj^^j 
and,  drawing  his  sword,  charged  iv.  400, 461; 
the  mob,  who  immediately  dis-  Martignac, 
persed.=  '•  ^^^'J.  3^"- 

This  fresh  act  of  vigor  completed  the  exas- 
peration of  the  Liberals  at  the  in-  gg 
irepid    general    who    had    coerced  RcRignation 
their  excesses.     Next  morning  the  oftJcncrai 
clubs  resounded  with  declamations  '^'"'■'""■ 
against  the  bloody  tyrant  who  had  dared  to 
insult  the  majesty  of  the  sovereign  people;  the 
journals  were  unanimous  in  their  condemiuition 
of  his  conduct;  seditious  crowds  uttering  men- 
acing cries  were  formed,  and  every  thing  in- 
dicated an  apjjroaciiing  convulsion.     Conscious 
of  the  rectitude  ami  integrity  of  his  conduct, 
and  desirous  of  allaying  a  ferment  which  threat- 
ened in  its  results  to  compromise  the  throne, 
.Murillo  anlici])aled  the  sentence  of  the  clubs, 
and  resigned   his  cormnaiid.    declaring,  at  the 
same  time,  he  would  not  resume  it  till  he  was 
cleared  of  the  charges   brought  against   him. 
This  courageous  act   produced   an   inmiodiate 
reaction  in  public  opinion   in  lii.s  favor;    and 
the    accusation   against    him    beinir  im    .• 
proved,    on    exatmnalion,    entindy  i.  331,  .■):):! ; 
groun<lless,  he  resunu'd  his  functions  Ann.  Hist, 
with  general  approbation.^                    '^-  '^''''  '""''■^• 

Meanwhile    the    secret    societies,    styled    in 
S[)fiin    "  (JiimmuiirroR,"    which    had 
gone  so  far  to  shake  society  to  its  •^'ho  secret 
centre  in  France,  had  spread  ccjually  soeiciics, df 
to  the  south  of  the  Pyrenees.      Vio-  f'onmmne- 
lent  a;  the  proceedings  of  the  open  '^'"'' 


ais 


11  1ST(.)UY    OF    EU  UUTK. 


[CUAl-.   XI. 


l.ibcrnls  in  possession  of  the  government  at 
.Miuh°ii.l  ImJ  been,  tiiev  were  notliing  compared 
to  the  de*ii;iis  formeJ  by  tliese  secret  nssoeiii- 
tions,  wliieli  were,  not  merely  tlic  destruction 
of  the  moimrehy  and  of  the  I'ortes,  but  tlie  es- 
tablishment of  ft  republic  on  the  basis  of  an 
etiual  division  or  conununity  of  property,  and 
all  the  projects  of  the  Socialists.  The  oath 
taken  by  these  political  fanatics  bound  them, 
as  elsewhere,  to  obey  all  the  mandates  of  the 
chiefs  of  tlio  association  at  the  peril  of  their 
lives,  and  to  put  at  their  disposal  their  swords, 
jiroperty,  and  existence.*  This  tremendous  as- 
sociation had  its  chief  ramifications  in  Madrid, 
Barcelona,  Saragossa,  Corunna,  Valencia,  and 
Carthagena;  and  it  was  by  their  agency  that 
the  extraordinary  measure  of  seizing  and  trans- 
porting such  a  number  of  persons  in  these  cities 
had  recently  been  effected.  Murillo  was  well 
aware  of  the  secrets  and  designs  of  these  con- 
spirators, and  was  in  possession  of  a  number 
of  important  papers  establishing  them.  It  was 
mainly  to  get  these  papers  out  of  his  hands,  as 
well  as  on  account  of  his  known  resolution  of 
character,  that  the  public  indignation  was  so 

strongly  directedagainsthim  on  ocea- 
i  32o"327*^'  ^^"°  "'  '*'*  conduct  in  repressing  the 

recent  disturbances  in  Madrid.' 
Riego,  who,  as  already  mentioned,  had  been 

reinstated  in  his  command  in  Arra- 
Riego's  plot  go°  .^ftci"  I'fiving  been  temporarily 
at  Saragos-  deprived  of  it,  was  closely  connected 
sa,  and  his  with  the  clubs  in  Saragossa,  and 
Seof' 18         ^''^  suspected  by  the  government, 

not  without  reason,  of  having  lent 
himself  to  their  extravagant  designs.  His  prin- 
cipal associate  was  a  French  refugee  named 
ilontarlot)  who  employed  himself  at  Saragossa 
in  writing  proclamations  which  were  sent  across 
the  Pyrenees,  inviting  the  French  troops  to  re- 
volt and  establish  a  republic.  Government 
having  received  intelligence  of  the  conspiracy, 
took  the  bold  step  of  ordering  Moreda,  the  po- 
litical chief  at  Saragossa,  to  arrest  Eiego.  He 
was  apprehended,  accordingly,  as  he  was  re- 
turning to  that  city  from  a  tour  in  the  pro- 
•^inces,  where  he  had  been  haranguing  and  ex- 
citing the  people,  and  conducted  a  prisoner  to 
Lerida.  Immense  was  the  excitement  which 
this  event  produced  among  the  Liberals  over  all 
Spain-  His  bust  was  carried  at  the  head  of  a  tri- 
umphal procession  through  Madrid ;  the  clubs  re- 
sounded with  declamations;  the  press  was  unan- 
imous in  denj'ing  his  ciiminality ;  and  to  give 
venttothepublictransports,  a  picture  was  paint- 

*  "  Je  jure  de  me  soumettre  sans  reseri-e  a  tous  les 
dccrets  que  rendra  la  confederation,  et  d'aider  en  toute 
circonstance,  tous  les  chevaliers  Communeros,  de  mes 
liiens,  de  mes  ressources,  ct  de  mon  epee.  Et  si  quelque 
homme  puissant,  ou  quelque  tyran,  voulait,  par  la  force 
ou  d'autres  moyens,  detruire  en  tout  ou  en  partie  la  con- 
federation, je  jure  en  union  avec  les  confederes  de  defen- 
dre,  les  arrnes  a  la  main,  tout  ce  que  j"ai  jure,  et  comme 
les  illustres  Communfrox  de  la  bataille  de  ViUalar.  de 
mourir  plutot  que  de  ceder  a  la  tyrannic  ou  a  I'oppression. 
Je  jure  si  quelque  chevalier  Communcro  manquait  en  tout 
ou  en  partie  a  son  serment,  de  le  mettre  a  mort,  des  que 
1 1  confederation  I'aura  declare  iraitre  ;  et  si  je  viens  a  man- 
qujr  a  tout  ou  partie  de  mes  serments  sacres,  je  me  de- 
ctjrs  moi-meme  traiire,  meritant  que  la  confederation  me 
condamne  a  une  mort  infame  ;  que  les  portes  et  les  grilles 
d-js  chateaux  et  des  tours  me  soient  ferrnees,  et  pour  qu'il 
nj  reste  rien  de  moi  apres  mon  trepa.s,  que  Ton  me  briile, 
ct  que  Ton  jetle  me.s  cendres  au  vent." — Engagement  des 
Communrros.  Sur  la  Revolution  d'Espagne — .Mabtiq- 
Kal,  1.  3JJ,  320. 


ed,  intended  to  be  carried  in  procession  tlirougb 
the  streets,  representing  Kiego.  in  the  costume 
wiiich  he  wore  on  occasion  of  the  revolt  in  the 
island  of  l^eon,  liolding  in  one  hand  , ,, 
the  liook  of  the  Constitution,  and  j.  339,  -il^' 
overturning  with  the  other  the  fig-  Ann.  Hist.' 
ures  of  Despotism  and  Ignorance.'  '^'  ^''^'  '*''''■ 
The  moment  was  decisive.  Anarchy  or  law 
must  triumph ;  and  the  victory  of  42 
the  former  was  the  more  to  be  apjire-  Suppres- 
hended,  as  it  was  known  that  the  '*"'"  "'  "^^ 
military  were  undecided,  and  that  S.'Jarig, 
some  regiments  had  ojienlv  declared  ingatiMad- 
they  would  take  part  with'  the  insur-  """>• 
gents.  But  in  this  crisis  Murillo  was  not  want- 
ing to  himself  or  the  cause  with  which  he  wa3 
intrusted.  Having  assembled  the  civic  guard, 
he  harangued  thein  on  the  necessity  of  crush- 
ing the  advance  of  the  factions;  and  having 
previously  given  orders  to  the  militar}-  to  stop 
the  procession,  he  put  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  national  guard  to  support  them.  The  revo- 
lutionists, however,  declared  that  they  would 
proceed  with  the  procession  carrying  the  pic- 
ture ;  and  when  they  arrived  at  the  Puerto  del 
Sol,  the  royal  guard  stationed  there  refused  to 
stop  them;  and  the  regiment  of  Saguntum, 
stationed  in  another  part  of  the  city,  broke  out 
of  their  barracks  to  advance  to  their  support 
All  seemed  lost;  but  then  was  seen  what  can 
be  done  by  the  firmness  of  one  man.  Murillo 
advanced  at  the  liead  of  the  national  guard; 
San  Martin,  his  intrepid  associate,  seized  the 
picture  with  his  own  hands,  which  he  threw 
down  on  the  ground ;  and  at  the  same  time 
Murillo  charged  the  head  of  the  procession 
with  the  bayonet.  Struck  with  consternation 
at  a  resistance  which  they  had  not  anticipated, 
the  mob  fled  and  dispersed,  and  Madi-id  was 
for  the  time  delivered  from  the  efforts  „,,  . 
of  a  faction,  which  threatened  to  in-  i.' 341. '343";' 
volve  the  country  in  anarchy  and  Ann.  Hist, 
devastation. 2  Jv.  463. 

In  the  midst  of  these  civil  dissensions,  a  fi-esh 
scourge  broke  out  in  Spain,  which 
threatened  to  involve  the  country  in  yenow  fe- 
the  evils,  not  merely  of  political  trou-  ver  at  Bar 
bles,  but  of  physical  destruction.  The  ctlona. 
yellow  fever  appeared  in  the  end  of  ^'^P''  ^'^'■ 
July  in  Barcelona,  and  b}'  the  middle  of  August 
it  had  made  such  progress  that  all  the  authori- 
ties quitted  the  town,  and  a  military  cordon  '^| 
was  established  within  two  leagues  of  the  walla  ^B 
around  it.  In  spite  of  this  precaution,  or  per- 
haps in  consequence  of  the  greater  intensity 
which  it  occasioned  to  the  malady  in  the  in- 
fected districts,  the  disease  soon  appeared  in 
various  quarters  in  the  rear  of  the  cordon,  par- 
ticularly Tortosa,  Mequinenza,  and  Lerida. 
By  the  middle  of  October,  when  the  fever  waJ 
at  its  height,  9000  persons  had  been  cut  off  by 
it  in  Barcelona  alone,  out  of  a  population  not 
at  that  period  exceeding  80,000  persons,  and 
.300  died  every  day.  So  terrible  a  mortality 
struck  terror  through  ever}'  part  of  Spain  ;  and 
the  French  government,  under  pretense  of  estab- 
lishing a  sanitary  cordon,  assembled  an  army 
of  30,000  men  on  the  eastern  frontier  of  the 
Pyrenees,  but  which  was  really  intended  chiefly 
to  prevent  communication  between  the  revolu- 
tionary party  in  the  Spanish  towns  and  the  se- 
cret societies  in  France.     In  the  midst  of  these 


1821.] 


ins  TORY   OF   EUROPE. 


3S9 


alarms,  plij'sical  and  moral,  twu  ciasM-s  nt'  the 

IK'ojile  aloue  were  insensible  to  the  peril,  and 
lastened,  at  tlie  ri^k  of  their  lives,  to  the  scene 
of  danger.  The  French  physicians  flocked  over 
of  their  own  accord  to  the  theatre  of  pestilence, 
and  brought  to  its  alleviation  the  aid  of  their 
science  and  the  devotion  of  their  courage  ;  and 
the  Sisters  of  Charity  appeared  in  the  scenes 
of  woe,  and  were  to  be  seen,  amidst  the  perils 
of  the  epidemic,  by  the  bedside  of  the  sick,  and 
assisting  at  the  supreme  unction  of  the  dying. 
Their  exertions  were  not  unavailing  in  allevia- 
ting individual  distress;  and  the  cool  weather 
having  set  in,  the  epidemic  gradually  abated, 
and  by  December  had  entirely  disappeared,  but 

,  , „.  ,    not  before  it  liad  cut  off  20,000  per- 

•  Ann.  Hist.  .    T-,         1  j_    r  n  -^  A^,-.  1 

iv.  467, 469;  sons  in  liarcelona,  out  ot  80,000;  and 
Martignac,  in  Tortosa  six  out  of  twelve  tliou- 
I.  347,  349.     gjjjj^j  inhabitants.^ 

The  terrors  of  the  epidemic  did  not  allay  for 
44.  any  considerable  time  the  political 
Fresh  agi-  agitation  of  Spain.  The  club  of  the 
tatiou.  Fontana  d'Oro  resounded  with  dec- 

lamations, of  which  the  arrest  of  Kiego  was 
the  principal  subject;  and  its  orators  declared 
"  that  the  political  atmosphere  would  never  be 
purified  but  by  the  blood  of  twelve  or  fifteen 
thousand  inhabitants  of  Madrid."  The  Govern- 
ment felt  itself  unable  to  coerce  these  excesses; 
and  the  extreme  democrats  in  the  provinces, 
seeing  the  impotence  of  the  executive,  erected 
themselves,  with  the  aid  of  self-constituted  jun- 
tas, into  separate  powers,  nearly  as  independent 
of  the  central  government  at  Madrid  as  they 
had  been  during  the  war  with  Napoleon.  Sar- 
agossa  continued  the  theatre  of  such  violent 
agitations  that  Moreda,  the  intrepid  officer  who 
had  arrested  Riego,  was  obliged,  on  the  sum- 
mons of  the  municipality  and  clubs,  to  resign 
his  post  and  retire.  At  Cadiz,  the  Government 
dismissed  General  Jauregui,  and  having  ap- 
pointed the  Marquis  de  la  Reunion,  a  nobleman 
of  moderate  principles,  to  the  command,  the 
Liberals  refused  to  receive  him.  The  Baron 
d'Andilla  having  upon  this  been  substituted  in 
his  room,  he  too  was  rejected,  and  General  Jau- 
regui, a  noted  Liberal,  who  was  entirely  in 
their  interest,  forcibly  retained  in  his  post.  The 
municipality  and  people  of  Seville,  encouraged 
by  this  example  of  successful  resistance,  revolt- 
ed also  against  the  central  authorit}-;  and  ]\Ia- 
nucl  de  Velasco,  the  captain-general,  and  Es- 
covedo,  the  political  chief  of  the  province,  ad- 
dressed the  king  in  the  .same  style  as  the  Lib- 
erals at  Cadiz,  and  caused  their  names  to  be 
inscribed  in  the  national  guard  of  the  city,  "  in 
order  to  die  at  their  post,  if  necessary,  in  de- 
fense of  their  country."  Nor  was  Valencia  in 
a  more  tranquil  condition,  for  (Jcncral  Elio,  a 
gallant  veteran  of  the  war,  flic  former  governor 
of  the  province,  iiad  been  condemned  to  death 
by  tlie  revolutionary  authorities  in  that  city, 
as  having  acted  in  1H14  against  the  Constitution 
J  -,        of  1812,   and  tlie   sontenco   having 

iv.  45.i  470  "^*'  "^^  y^^  been  executed,  tlic  clubs 
471 ;  MartiK-  resounded  with  incessant  dcclama- 
nac,  i.  303,  tions,  detnanding  his  instant  execu- 
tion.' 

Matters  had  now  come  to  such  a  pass  that 
the  (jovernmcnt  at  Madrid  saw  tliey  had  no  al- 
ternative but  to  tjiko  a  decided  line,  or  to  al)di- 
cate  in  favor  of  the  provincial  authorities.  They 


accordingly  transmitted  orders  to  Earon  d'An- 
dilla to  proceed  to  Cadiz  and  take 
the  command.    But  they  soon  found  Refusal  of 
that  their  real  power  was  confined  Cadiz  and 
to   the  walls  of  Madrid.      The  au-  Seville  to 
thorities  at  Cadiz  continued  Jaure-  ^Ing'sVo'^v. 
gui  in  the  command,  refused  to  admit  ernors,  and 
the  baron  within  their  gates,  put  the  revolt  at  Co- 
citj-  in  a  posture  of  defense,  and  sent  ''"""*• 
orders  to  all  the  towns  in  Andalusia  to  stop  and 
arrest  him  wherever  he  might  appear.     The 
same  thing  was  done  at  Seville,  where  General 
Moreno  Davix,  sent  from  Madrid  to  assume  the 
command,  was  stopped  at  Ecija,  on  his  way  to 
that  city,  and  sent  back.  Meanwhile  Meria  at  Co- 
runna,  who  had  been  replaced  by  General  Latre, 
sent  from  Madrid,  revolted,  and  having  secured 
the  garrison  in  his  interest,  expelled  Latre,  and 
declared  himself  independent   of  the  central 
government.     But  Latre  was  not  discouraged. 
He  raised  the  militia  of  the  province  of  Galicia, 
which   was  thoroughly  loyal,  and   appearing 
with  an  imposing  force  before  the  gates  of  Co- 
runna,  compelled  Meria  to  surrender  and  depart 
to  Seguenza,  the  place  assigned  for  his  exile. 
At  the  same  time  troubles  broke  out  in  Estre- 
madura,  Navarre,  and  Old  Castile,  where  guer- 
rilla bands  appeared,  ravaged  the  country,  and 
rendered  all  collection  of  the  revenue  impossible. 
To  such  straits  was  the  treasury  in  consequence 
reduced,  thattheMinisterofp'inance  i  Mcmoriasde 
was  obliged  to  open  a  fresh  loan  General  Mina, 
of  200,000,000  reals  (£2,000,000)  in  i,'-  3*5,  3b9  ; 
foreign  states,  which  was  only  in  355  35; .  ^'^„ 
part  obtained,  and  that  at  a  most  Hist.  iv.'470, 
exorbitant  rate  of  interest.'  ^"l- 

The  distracted  state  of  the  country  rendered 
an  early  and  extraordinary  convo-  .- 

cation  of  the  Cortes  necessary,  in  Opening  of  an 
the  hope  of  obtaining  that  moral  extraordinary 
support  from  its  votes  which  was  t""^"^!',. 
sought  in  vain  in  the  affections  of 
the  country.  It  met  accordingly  on  the  25th 
November,  and  the  king,  in  his  opening  speech, 
deeply  deplored  the  events  at  Cadiz,  and  earn- 
estly invoked  the  aid  of  the  Cortes  to  snjiport 
him  in  his  endeavor  to  cause  the  royal  author- 
ity to  be  respected.*  The  Cortes,  in  re])ly,  ap- 
pointed two  commissioners,  one  charged  with 
prci)aring  an  answer  to  the  royal  address,  the 
otiier,  with  considering  what  was  to  be  done  to 
support  the  roj'al  authority.  The  reports  were 
presented  on  tlie  l)th  December,  and  al-  _ 
though  drawn  in  the  most  cautious  style, 
and  with  theanxious  wish  to  avoid  givingoircnse 
to  the  Liberals,  they  did  so  most  cflectually, 
for  they  bore  tiiatthe  authorities  at  Seville  and 
Cadiz  should  be  brought  tt>  trial — a  resolution 
which  was  adopted  by  the  Cortes  by  a  nuijority 
of  DiO  to  48.  This  <iecision  excited  the  most 
violent  animosity  in  the  clubs,  the  journals,  and 
tho  cofTee-houses:  cries  of  "  ]>ong  live  Riego! 


*  "  <7eHt  danw  la  plUH  profondc  amertuinc  do  mon  ca;ur, 
que  j'ai  appriH  Ioh  dirnierK('>vriicincnlH  de  Oniliz,  oil,  sous 
!(•  pretexte  d'ninour  pour  la  roiiHljtutlon,  on  I'a  foulec  nux 
pieiJH  en  mtconnainBant  leH  droilH  ijuVllc  ni'accorde.  J'ai 
ordoniio  a  ines  HccrfclaireH  d'etat  do  presenter  aux  Cortes, 
la  nouvclle  d'un  tvenement  aussi  I'acheux,  dans  la  con- 
fiance  interne  qirils  eooptreront  avee  ciiergie,  d'accord 
aver  mon  gouvcrncinent,  a  fairo  en  sorto  (|ue  les  preroga- 
tives de  la  couronne.  ainsi  que  les  libertes  publiques,  qui 
Hoiit  urie  de  kch  garanties.  soient  conservees  intacles."— - 
l)i.irnnr.i  du  Rni,  2.')lli  Nov..  Ih'JI.  Moiiitcur,  2d  Decem- 
ber, lb21.     Ann.  Hut.,  iv.  471,  472. 


S90 


II  1ST  OH  Y    OV    V.V  HO  !'K 


Down  witli  Iho  Ministers!  down  with  ttio  Ser- 
viK's!"  were  heard  on  all  sides;  and  so  com- 
pU'telv  were  tlie  majority  of  tlie  fortes  iiitinii- 
dated  by  these  proeeedings,  tliat  a  few  days 
after  an  amendment  was  earried  by  a 
majority  of  104  to  59,  wiiieli  bore, 
■•  that  as  ihe  Miiiialers  did  not  possess  the  moral 
force  requisite  to  conduct  the  afl'airs  of  the 
'  Ann.  Hist.  "»t'on,  they  implored  tlie  king  to 
ii!47ti,  4T7;  adopt  the  measures  impcrativch' 
iManigimc,  called  for  by  such  a  state  of  iniblic 
'3^'-'.  307.      „rt.^i,,.u       ^ 

This  vote  of  want  of  confidence  in  Ministers 
.-  coming  so  soon  after  a  solemn  con- 

Contradictor>'  demnation  of  their  adversaiies,  in- 
resoluiioiis  of  dieated  in  the  clearest  manner  the 
ilie  Cortes.  prostration  of  the  executive  and 
disastrous  state  of  the  monarchy,  reeling  like  a 
sinking  ship  alternately  before  one  wind  and 
another.  Immense  was  the  general  exultation 
in  the  great  cities  at  this  direct  vote  of  censure 
on  Ministers.  The  authorities  at  Cadiz  and 
Seville  were  so  encouraged  by  it  that  they  cai*- 
ried  their  audacity  so  far  as  openly  to  bid  de- 
tiance  to  the  Cortes  and  the  king,  and  sent  an 
address  to  the  latter,  stating  that  they  would 
receive  or  execute  no  order  or  appointment 
from  the  king  till  the  present  Ministers  were 
dismissed.  On  this  occasion  the  Cortes  re- 
scinded virtually  their  last  resolution:  their 
amour  propre  was  wounded  by  this  open  defi- 
^  j,„  anee  of  their  authority ;  and  after  a  long 
and  stormy  debate,  in  which  the  lead- 
ing orators  on  the  Liberal  side  took  part  with 
2Marti<'nac  *''^  Government,  it  was  deterujined 
i.  3GG,  §70;'  by  a  majority  of  112  to  36  that  all 
Amu  Hist,  those  who  had  signed  this  seditious 
iv.  4i,,  4/9.  ajjjress  should  be  prosecuted.'' 

Being  bow  supported  by  the  Cortes,  and 
4g  sure  of  the  protection  of  a  part,  at 
Irresolute  least,  of  the  military,  the  king,  had  he 
conduct  of  possessed  firmness  adequate  to  the  un- 
and'rm^-  'dertaking,  had  a  fair  opportunity  for 
ist  insur-  asserting  the  royal  authority,  and 
rection  in  rousing  the  vast  majority  of  the  eoun- 
i.'ie  north,  ^j.^  ^^  check  the  urban  faction  which 
had  turned  the  revolution  into  such  a  down- 
ward channel.  But  he  had  no  consistency  in 
his  character,  and  was  as  vacillating  in  his 
acts  as  the  Cortes  in  their  votes.  Hardly  was 
his  authority  in  some  degree  reinstated  by  this 
last  vote  of  the  Cortes,  than  he  gave  the  fac- 
tions a  triumph  by  dismissing  four  of  his  Minis- 
ters, the  most  decided  in  the  intrepid  conduct 
which  had  lately  been  pursued.  Two  others 
resigned,  so  that  one  only  remained  and  con- 
tinued in  the  new  administration,  which  was 
composed  entirely  of  the  most  moderate  of  the 
patriots  of  1812.  This  act  of  weakness  renewed 
the  resistance  of  Cadiz  and  Seville  at  the  very 
time  when  the  vote  of  the  Cortes  had  disarmed 
it.  Meanwhile,  insurrections  of  an  opposite 
character,  in  favor  of  religion  and  the  monarchy, 
broke  out,  and  were  daily  gaining  ground  in 
2>'avarre,  Arragon,  Galicia,  and  Biscay,  and  the 
year  closed  with  Spain  torn  in  all  quarters — it 
3  ^„  jjigt  ■was  hard  to  say  whether  most  by  the 
iv.  480,482;  furious  democrats  of  the  cities  in  the 
Martjgnac,  south,  or  the  hardy  royalists  of  the 
1.  367,  372.    valleys  in  the  north.^ 

The  action  of  the  secret  societies  styled  Com- 
muneros  and  Descamisados  ("communists"  and 


[Chap.  XL 

"shin  I  s- '  )  In'tanie  more  violent  and  danger- 
ous w  h<  n  till'  eieelior.s  for  the  new 
CtM-tes,  whieli  hail  to  take  place  in  pmno  d 
tlie  first  nioiilh  of  LS22,  drew  near.  lawsnpainBt 
To  counteract  liieir  inilueiice,  which  tlie prtsK and 
was  daily  becoining  more  formi-  P"""'"'''- »>"- 
dable,  Martinez  de  la  Itosa,  Toreno, 
Calatravn,  and  some  of  the  other  moderate 
Liberals,  set  up  another  society,  styled  "The 
Society  of  the  Friends  of  the  Constitution," 
or  of  "the  King."  It  at  first  met  with  some 
success;  but,  as  usual  in  times  of  vehement 
excitement,  it  soon  declined,  and  was  no  more 
heard  of.  "When  the  ])assions  are  excited,  mod- 
eration is  considered  on  all  sides  as  a  species 
of  common  enemj-,  and  nothing  has  any  chance 
of  influence  but  such  associations  as,  by  aliment- 
ing, inflame  them.  The  evils  of  a  licentious 
press,  of  the  unrestrained  ripht  of  presenting 
petitions  to  the  Cortes,  and  of  the  extreme  vio- 
lence in  the  clubs,  at  length  became  so  flagrant 
that  the  Government  submitted  three 
laws  for  their  repression  to  the  legisla-  j^."^  '  ' 
ture.  As  they  proposed  to  impose  very 
eftectual  checks  on  these  evils,  they  were  re- 
sisted with  the  whole  strength  of  the  anarchists, 
and  gave  rise  to  serious  disturbances  ,  .„  „:,, 
HI  Madrid,  which  still  further  im-  v.4(i8,413; 
paired  the  royal  axithoritj',  and  pro-  Martignac, 
claimed  its  weakness.^  '■  ■^'^•3"- 

These  proposals  came  to  be  discussed  in  the 
Cortes  under  very  peculiar  circum-        50. 
stances.    Ihe  resignation  of  the  for-  Riots  in 

mer  ministers  had  been  acceiited,  but  ■^'a^^'"'''  "n 
,,     .  1      1         i    1  the  passing 

their  successors    liad   not    been    ap-  of  a  bill 

pointed  —  the  places  "were  vacant,  against  the 
The  leading  orators  on  the  Liberal  press, 
side  then  conceived  hopes  that  they  might  be 
selected  as  their  successors,  and  to  improve 
their  chances  of  success,  they,  for  the  most 
part,  joined  in  the  debate  in  favor  of  the  pro- 
posed laws.  Martinez  de  la  Kosa  and  Toieiio 
particularly  distinguished  themselves  in  this 
manner,  and  a  motion  made  by  Calatrava,  to 
throw  out  at  once  the  whole  three  proposed 
laws,  was  rejected  by  the  narrow  majority  of 
90  to  84.  This  unexpected  result  inflamed  the 
clubs  and  the  anarchists  to  the  very  greatest 
degree:  every  means  to  excite  the  public  mind 
were  instantly  adopted  without  reserve;  and 
so  successful  were  tliej-  in  rousing  the  passions 
of  the  multitude,  that  a  furious  crowd  sur- 
rounded Toreno  as  he  left  the  hall  of  the  As- 
sembly after  the  decisive  vote,  pursued  him 
with  groans  and  hisses  to  his  own  house,  which 
they  "broke  into,  and  wounded  some  of  the 
domestics.  Toreno  escaped  \yy  a  back  door, 
upon  which  the  crowd  proceeded  with  loud 
shouts  to  the  house  of  Martinez  de  la  Rosa, 
which  they  were  piroceeding  to  attack,  when 
Murillo  and  San  Martin  arrived  with  a  body 
of  cavalry,  by  whom  the  mob  was  dispersed, 
amidst  the  most  violent  cries  and  imprecations. 
The  laws  against  the  offenses  of  the  press,  and 
against  the  seditious  petitions,  were  adopted 
by  considerable  majorities.  It  was  observed 
that  the  whole  deputies  from  South  America, 
about  thirty-eight  in  number,  voted  on  all 
these  occasions  with  the  Opposition,  which 
swelled  their  ranks  to  eighty,  or  nearly  the 
half  of  the  Cortes.  The  extraordinary  session 
closed   on  the  12th  February,  having,   durii:g 


1822.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


391 


its  long  and  momentous  sittings,  effected  great 
changes,  exhibited  many  acts  of  courage,  and, 
on  the  whole,  done  less  to  pull  down  the  entire 
fabric  of  society  than  might  have  been  cxpect- 
1  An  list  ^^  from  the  excited  state  of  the  pub- 
V.  4 15, 419;  lie  mind  when  it  was  elected,  and 
Martignac,  the  universal  suffrage  on  which  it 
i.  379,  380.    ^r^s  founded.' 

The  new  Cortes  was  elected  under  darker 
5,  auspices,  and  the  incurable  vices  of 

Composition  the  electoral  system  developed  them- 
of  the  new  selves  in  stronger  colors.  Tlie  king- 
Cortes.  Jqqj  ^yjjg  distracted  in  all  its  parts 
when  the  elections  took  place  ;  in  some  by  the 
triumph  of  the  Liberals,  in  others  b}'  the  efforts 
of  the  Royalists.  The  former  had  been  everj-- 
where  active,  and  in  most  places  successful; 
the  latter  had  in  great  part  abstained  from 
voting,  to  avoid  all  responsibility  in  the  form- 
ation of  a  legislature  which  they  plainly  fore- 
saw would  terminate  only  in  disaster.  In  some 
places,  especially  Granada,  open  violence  was 
einploj'ed  at  the  elections ;  the  multitude  broke 
into  the  place  of  voting,  and  by  force  imposed 
their  favorites  on  the  electors.  But,  in  general, 
open  violence  did  not  reqxiire  to  be  resorted  to ; 
the  clubs  and  universal  suffrage  rendered  it 
unnecessary.  Tlie  extreme  Liberals  got  every 
thing  their  own  way.  The  result  was  soon  ap- 
parent. In  the  whole  Cortes  there  was  not 
one  single  great  proprietor  or  bishop.  The 
noblesse  were  represented  only  by  a  few  nobles 
of  ruined  fortunes  and  extreme  democratic 
opinions:  the  Duke  del  Parque,  a  leading  ora- 
tor at  the  Fontana  d'Oro,  was  the  onl}'  grandee 
in  the  assembly.  The  majority  was  composed 
of  men  who  had  signalized  themselves  by  op- 
position to  the  Government  dui-ing  the  sitting 
of  the  last  Cortes — governors  who  had  taken 
part  with  the  people,  and  refused  to  execute 
the  laws  or  obey  the  injunctions  of  the  Govern- 
ment; magistrates  who  had  betraj-ed  their 
trust,  soldiers  who  had  violated  their  oaths. 
Among  the  most  dangerous  of  these  characters, 
who  readily  found  a  place  in  the  new  legisla- 
ture, were  the  monk  Rico,  who  had  been  pro- 
scribed in  1814,  and  had  since  been  involved 
in  every  seditious  movement ;  Manuel  Bertrand 
du  Lys,  a  man  of  the  most  violent  temper  and 
extreme  principles;  Galiano,  a  brilliant  orator 
but  rebellious  magistrate,  wlio  was  under  ac- 
cusation as  such  when  lie  was  elected  ;  Burnaga, 
a  leading  speaker  at  the  Fontana  d'Oro;  Esco- 
vedo-,  the  chief  of  the  revolt  at  Seville,  also 
saved  from  prosecution  by  liis  return;  finally, 
Riego,  also  delivered  from  trial  by  being  made 
a  member  of  the  legislature,  an<l  who  was  im- 
mediately chosen  its  president.  Uniformity 
of  qualification  had  done  its  usual  work ;  it 
had  practically  diisfranchincd  evcrji  class  except 
the  very  lowest  intrusted  with  the  sitffraf/e,  wliicii, 
as  the  most  numerous,  gained  nearly  all  the 
returns,  and  the  government  of  the  country 


^Martipnac, 


was   intrusted   to   the    uncontrolled 


i.  3S1,  3b3  ;  direction  of  the  most  ignorant,  the 
Ann.  Hist,  most  dangerous,  and  the  most  am- 
V.  419,  420.  ijitiijug  ^.ia33  ^,f  t|,(>  community.' 
The  first  duty  of  tlie  king,  before  tlie  new 
52.  Cortes  met,  was  to  fill  up  the  six 
New  Min-  vacant  places  in  the  Administra- 
'^""y-  tion;  and  as  the  temper  of  the  new 

aijcuibly  was  not  fully  known,  the  moderate 


party  obtained  the  appointments.  Martinez  de 
la  Rosa  was  Prime  Minister,  and  had  the  port- 
folio of  foreign  affairs,  and  the  choice  of  his 
colleagues.  Aware  of  the  difficulty  of  conduct- 
ing the  government  in  presence  of  a  Cortes  of 
which  Riego  had  been  chosen  president,  he 
long  refused  the  perilous  post,  and  only  j-ielded 
at  length  to  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  king. 
Don  Isicolas  Garotti,  an  ex-professor  of  law  iii 
Valencia,  was  appointed  Minister  of  Justice ; 
Don  Jose  de  Alta  Mira  of  the  Interior;  Don 
Diego  Cloruineneros,  Director  of  the  Royal 
Academy  of  History,  Colonial  Minister;  Don 
Philippe  Sierra-Pambley  to  the  Finances;  Bria- 
adier  Balanzat,  Minister  at  War;  Don  Jacii.ii 
Romorate  for  the  Marine.  These  persons  all 
belonged  to  the  Moderate  party — that  is,  they 
were  the  first  authors  of  the  revolution,  but 
had  been  passed  in  the  career  of  innovation  by 
their  successors.  It  was  a  circumstance  chai- 
aeteristic  of  the  times,  and  ominous  to  the 
nobilit}',  that  two  of  the  most  im-  ,  j^^  jj:,., 
portant  ministers — those  of  Justice  v. 419;  Mar- 
aud the  Interior — were  professors  in  tignac,  i. 
universities.'  ^^^'  ^^■ 

The  Cortes  opened  on  the  1st  March;  and 
the  opening  speech,  and  reply  of  the         53. 
President  Riego,  were  more   auspi-  Opening  o! 
cious  than  could  have  been  antici-  the/^ortei;, 
.     .     1  1  •      1       i.        •  and  Qisas- 

pated,  and  promised  returning  pros-  trous  state 

perity  to  the  country.  The  report  oi'the  finan- 
of  the  Finance  Minister  was  the  first  '^'^^• 
to  dispel  these  flattering  illusions.  It  exhibited 
a  deficit  of  197,428,000  reals  (£1 ,974,000),  which 
required  to  be  covered  by  loans;  and  as  no 
money  could  be  got  in  the  country,  thcv  re- 
quired to  be  borrowed  in  foreign  states.*  They 
were  nearly  all  got,  though  at  a  very  high  rate 
of  interest,  in  London;  the  prosi)ect  of  higli 
profits,  and  the  belief  in  the  stability  of  po[>u- 
lar  institutions,  inducing  our  capitalists  to  shut 
their  eyes  to  the  obvious  risks  of  lending  their 
money  to  such  unstable  governments  as  those 
which  then  ruled  in  the  Peninsula.  This  cir- 
cumstance deserves  to  be  especially  noted,  as 
the  commencement  of  numberless  disasters  both 
to  the  Peninsula  and  this  counti-}-.  It  gave  a 
large  and  influential  body  of  foreign  creditors 
ail  interest  in  tipholdinr/  the  revolulionari/  gov- 
ernment in  the  I^cninsula,  because  no  other  one 
would  recognize  the  loans  it  had  C(uitraeted. 
Their  influence  was  soon  felt  in  the  public 
press  both  of  France  and  England,  which,  with 
a  few  exceptions,  constantly  siipi)orted  the  cause 
of  revolution  in  Spain  and  Portugal;  and  to 
this  circumstance  more  than  any  other  the 
long  and  bloody  civil  wars  which  distracted 
both  nation.s,  and  the  entire  igno-  3  ^^p,,  iijf,t 
ranee  which  pervaded  this  country  v.  421,  422- 
as  to  their  real  situation,  arc  to  bo  Martignac, 
ascribed.^  '•  ^'^^'  ^^■ 

Tlie  entire  divergence  of  opinion  between  the 
Cortes  and  the  Government  was  not  54 

long  of  proclaiming  itself.  The  Cor-  Ocmral  liis- 
tes  insisted  that  the  execution  of  the  iiirlianecs  jn 
royal  decrees  should  be  intrusted  to  ^1'=""- 


*  The  public  accounts  for  the  year  1822  were— 

Receipts Cfi4, 102,000  reals,    or    i;0,0r)4,n00 

Expenditure t)01,5yi,000     "        or       8,015,000 

nenelt 197,42P,000     "         or        1,974.280 

-Vinunce  Report,  March,  12, 1822  ;  Ann.  Ui!st.,y. 421,423. 


892 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


the  nutlioritios  in  the  IsK'  of  Leon  niul  SoviUe, 
who  liad  revoltod  iigninst  tlie  Coveniineiit. 
This  wns  resisted  by  the  ftdiiiinistriition,  and 
the  division  K'd  to  niiimiited  iiiul  inipnssionod 
debates  in  the  leirishiture.  lint  while  these 
were  yet  in  proijre^^s,  disorders  broke  out  in 
every  "part  of  tlic  country,  which  were  not  only 
serious  in  themselves,  but  presaged,  at  no  dis- 
tant time,  ft  universal  civil  war  in  the  country. 
The  extreme  leadei-s,  or  "Exaltados,"  us  they 
were  called,  were  in  such  a  state  of  excitement 
that  they  could  not  be  kept  from  coming  to 
blows  in  all  the  principal  towns  of  the  king- 
dom. At  Barcelona,  Valencia,  Tampeluna,  and 
Madrid  itself,  blood}'  encounters  took  place  be- 
tween the  military,  headed  by  the  magistrates 
of  municipalities,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  peas- 
antry of  the  country  and  royalists,  led  on  by 
the  priests,  on  the  other.  "Viva  Riego!  Viva 
cl  Constitucion!"  broke  out  from  the  ranks  on 
one  side ;  "  Viva  Murillo !  Viva  el  Rey  Asso- 
luto!"  resounded  on  the  other.  Riego  was  the 
very  worst  person  that  could  have  been  select- 
ed to  moderate  the  Cortes  in  such  a  period  of 
effervescence.  Himself  the  leader  of  the  revo- 
lution, and  the  acknowledged  chief  of  the  vio- 
lent party,  how  was  it  possible  for  him  to  re- 
strain their  excesses?  "I  call  you  to  order," 
said  he  to  a  deputy  who  was  attacking  that 
party  in  the  assembly;  "you  forget  I  am  the 
chief  of  tlie  Exaltados." — "To  refuse  to  hear 
the  petitioners  from  Valencia,"  said  another, 
"is  to  invite  the  people  to  take  justice  into 
their  own  hands  in  the  streets."  To  such  a 
length  did  the  disorders  proceed  that  the  Cortes 
appointed  a  committee  to  inquire  into  them, 
which  reported  that  the  state  of  the  kingdom 
was  deplorable.  The  King's  Ministers  were 
ordered,  by  the  imperious  majority  in  that  as- 
sembly, to  the  bar  of  the  Cortes,  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  their  conduct;  the  military  were  as 
much  divided  as  the  people;  and  under  the 
M  h'>4  '^^^y  ^y®  °f  ^^^^  legislature  a  combat 
took  place  between  the  grenadiers  of 
the  guard,  who  shouted,  "Viva  Murillo!"  and 
the  regiment  of  Ferdinand  VII.,  who  replied, 
"  Viva  Riego  I"  which  was  only  ended  by  a 
general  discharge  of  musketry  by  the  national 
guards,  who  were  called  out,  by  which  several 
persons,  including  the  standard-bearer  of  the 
guard,  were  killed.  Intimidated  by  these  dis- 
orders, which  he  was  wholly  powerless  to  pre- 
vent, the  king  left  Madrid,  and  went  to  Aran- 
juez,  from  whence  he  went  on  to  pass  Easter 
iManignac,  ^*  Toledo;  and  his  departure  re- 
i.  391,  393;  moved  the  only  restraint  that  ex- 
Ann.  Hist,     isted  on  the  excesses  in  the   cap- 

The  first  proceedings  of  the  Cortes  related  to 
the  trial  of  various  persons  on  the 
Proceedings  Royal  side  who  had  taken  a  part  in 
ofthe  Cor-  the  late  tumults.  It  was  never 
tes,an(lpro-  thought  of  prosecuting  any  person 
^v^wL!"^  on  the  Liberal.  A  committee  of  the 
Cortes,  to  whom  the  matter  was  re- 
ferred, reported  that  the  ex-Minister  of  War, 
Don  Sanchez  Salvador,  and  General  Murillo, 
should  be  put  on  their  trial;  and  the  resolu- 
tion was  adopted  by  the  assembly  as  to  the 
former,  and  only  rejected  as  to  the  latter  by  a 
narrow  majority.  A  new  law  also  was  passed, 
submitting  offenses  of  the  press  to  the  decision 


[CnAP.  XI 

of  the  juries,  which,  in  the  present  state  of  the 
country,  wns  securing  for  them  alternately  total 
impunity,  or  subjecting  them  to  vindictive  in- 
justice. A  bill  was  also  brought  in,  and  passed, 
for  the  reduction  of  llie  ecclesiastical  establish- 
ment, which  w-as  certainly  excessive,  notwith- 
standing all  the  reforms  which  had  taken  place. 
It  was  calculated  that,  when  it  came  into  full 
operation,  it  would  effect  a  reduction  of  13,000 
ecclesiastics,  and  000,000  reals  (£0000)  a  day. 
The  knowledge  that  these  great  changes  were 
in  progress,  which  went  to  strike  so  serious  a 
blow  at  the  influence  and  possessions  of  the 
Church,  tended  to  augment  the  activity  and 
energy  of  the  royalist  party  in  the  provinces. 
The  civil  war  soon  became  universal ;  the 
conflagration  spread  over  the  whole  countr}'. 
Every  considerable  town  was  wrapt  in  flames, 
every  rural  district  bristled  with  armed  men. 
In  Kavarre,  Quesada,  at  the  head  of  six  liun- 
dred  guerrillas,  was  in  entire  possession  of  the 
country  up  to  the  gates  of  Pampeluna,  and 
although  often  driven  by  the  garrison  of  that 
fortress  into  the  French  territory,  yet  he  always 
emerged  again  with  additional  followers,  and 
renewed  the  war,  and  united  with  the  Royalists 
in  Biscay.  In  Catalonia,  Misas  led  a  band  of 
peasants,  which  soon  got  the  entire  command 
of  the  mountain  district  in  the  north ;  while 
the  Baron  d'Erolles,  well  known  in  the  War 
of  Independence,  secretly,  in  the  south  of  the 
province,  organized  a  still  more  formidable  in- 
surrection, which,  under  the  personal  direction 
of  Antonio  Maranon,  surnamed  the"Trappist," 
soon  acquired  great  influence.  This  singular 
man  was  one  of  the  decided  charac-  jMartjcnac  ■ 
ters  whom  revolution  and  civil  war  i.  396,  398; 
draw  forth  in  countries  of  marked  Ann.  Hist, 
native  disposition.^  _   "■  ^^'^'  ^^^■ 

Originally  a  soldier,  but  thrown  into  the  con- 
vent by  misfortunes,  in  part  brought  56. 
on  by  his  impetuous  and  unruly  dis-  Tlie  Trap- 
position,  the  Trappist  had  not  with  P^^Vance"^" 
the  cowl  put  on  the  habits,  or  be-  anj  charac- 
come  endued  ■with  the  feelings  of  ter,  and  fol- 
the  Church.  He  carried  with  him  lowers, 
into  the  cloister  the  passions,  the  desires,  and 
the  ambition  of  the  world.  He  was  now  about 
forty-five  years  of  age — a  period  of  life  when 
the  "bodily  frame  is,  in  strong  constitutions,  yet 
in  its  vigor,  and  the  feelings  are  steadily  direct- 
ed rather  than  enfeebled  by  age.  His  eye  was 
keen  and  piercing,  his  air  confident  and  in- 
trepid. He  constantly  wore  the  dress  of  his 
order,  but  beneath  it' burned  all  the  passions 
of  the  world.  Arrayed  in  his  monkish  costume, 
with  a  crucifix  on  his  breast  and  a  scalp  on  his 
head,  he  had  pistols  in  his  girdle,  a  sabre  by 
his  side,  and  a  huge  whip  in  his  hand.  Mount- 
ed on  a  tall  and  powerful  horse,  which  he  man- 
aged with  perfect  address,  he  galloped  through 
the  crowd,  which  always  awaited  his  approach, 
and  fell  on  their  knees  as  he  passed,  and  dis- 
pensed blessings  to  the  right  and  left  with  the 
air  of  a  sovereign  prince  acknowledging  the 
homage  of  his  subjects.  He  never  commenced 
an  attack  without  falling  on  his  knees,  to  im- 
plore the  protection  of  the  Most  High;  and, 
rising  up,  he  led  his  men  into  fire,  shouting, 
"Viva  l>io!  Viva  el  Rey!"  In  April,  1822,  he 
was  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  band  of  men, 
animated  by  his  example,  and  electrified  by  his 


1822.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROrE. 


393 


speeches.  Monks,  priests,  peasants,  smugglers, 
curates,  landowiiei's,  hidalgos,  were  to  be  seen, 
side  by  side,  in  his  bands,  irregularly  armed, 
scarcely  disciplined,  but  zealous  and  hardy,  and 
animated  with  the  highest  degree  of  religious 
entliusiasm.  Their  spirit  was  not  so  much  that 
of  the  patriot  as  of  the  crusader;  they  took  up 
arms,  not  to  defend  their  homes,  but  to  uphold 
the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  Individually  brave, 
they  met  death,  whether  in  the  held  or  on  the 
scaffold,  with  equal  calmness;  but  their  want 
of  discipline  exposed  them  to  frequent  reverses 
wlien  brought  into  collision  with  regular  troops 
— which,  however,  were  soon  repaired,   as  in 

1  Martjffnac  ^'"^  w'ars  of  Sertorius,  the  Moors, 
i.  398,°4U1;  and  Napoleon,  by  the  uneonquer- 
Ann.  Hist,  able  and  persevering  spirit  of  the 
^'  peasantry.  '■ 

The  insurgents,  after  a  variety  of  lesser  suc- 
cesses, had  made  themselves  masters 
Desperate  ^^  Cervera,  where  they  had  estab- 
assaiilt  of  lished  their  head-quarters.  TheTrap- 
Cervera.  pjgt,  after  sustainmg  several  gallant 
"^  actions,  was  driven  back  into  that 

town  by  General  Bellido,  who  attacked  him  with 
three  regiments  drawn  out  of  Lerida,  and  on  the 
18th  May  made  a  general  assault  on  the  town. 
To  distract  the  enemj'^,  he  set  it  on  fire  in  four  dif- 
ferent places,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  conflagra- 
tion, which  spread  with  friglitful  rapidity,  his 
troops  rushed  in.  The  Trappist  made  a  gallant 
and  protracted  defense :  but  after  a  conflict  of 
tea  hours'  duration,  from  house  to  house,  and 
from  street  to  street,  his  men  were  driven  out 
with  great  slaughter,  though  with  heavy  loss 
to  the  victors.  Twelve  hundred  of  the  Royal- 
ists fell  or  were  made  prisoners,  among  whom 
were  one  hundred  and  fifty  monks,  and  nearly 
half  the  number  of  the  Constitutional  troops 
were  lost.     Tiie  Trappist  himself  escaped  with 

2  Ann.  Hist.  a.  few  followers  to  the  mountains, 
V.  428,  429 ;  where  his  powerful  voice  soon  as- 
^^4o\'^402'-  scmbled  a  second  band,  not  less  gal- 
Monit'cur  '  ^^^^  ^^'^  devoted  tiian  that  which 
May  25,  had  perished  amidst  the  ruins  and 
1823.  flames  of  Cervera.^ 

Meanwhile  Misas,  who  had  been  driven  into 
jg  France,  re-entered  Spain,  drew  together 
Defeat  of  several  desultory  bands  to  his  stand- 
Misas.  ard,  and  carried  the  Avar  to  the  very 
.May  26.  gates  of  Barcelona.  He  was  attacked, 
liowever,  by  the  regular  troops  in  that  fortress, 
driven  back  to  Puyccrda,  where  he  was  utterly 
routed,  and  the  remains  of  his  band  driven  back 
a  second  time  into  France,  where  they  again 
found  an  asylum — an  ominous  circumstance  for 
the  republican  r6gimc  in  Spain.  Rut  in  other 
quarters  the  Royalists  appeared  witli  indefati- 
gable activity:  Galicia  was  almost  entirely,  in 
its  mountain  districts,  in  their  hands;  Navarre 
was  overrun  l>y  their  adherents;  and  in  the 
neighborliood  of  ^lurcia,  Jaimes,  a  noted  par- 
tisan, had  again  raised  iiis  fitatidard  anil  drawn 
together  a  considerable  number  of  followers. 
The  king,  meanwhile,  was  at  Aranjuez,  and  on 
May  30  ^'"^  ''''^*"'  ^^^y>  being  tlie  day  of  liis  fete, 
an  immense  crowd  of  peasantsassernbli'd 
m  the  gardens  of  the  palace  shouting  "  l']l  Rcy 
Assoluto!"'  which  was  caught  up  and  re[)cntc(l 
by  the  soldiers  of  tlie  guard.  The  national 
guard  upon  this  was  called  out  by  the  Liberal 
(•- I'Jiorities,  and  dispersed  the  crowd;    in  the 


course  of  which  one  of  them  drew  his  sal-io 
against  the  Infant  Don  Cai-los,  and  was  wiiU 
ditheultv  saved  by  that  jirinee  from  the  fale 
which  awaited  him  at  the  hands  of  the  enraged 
soldiery.  On  the  same  day  a  still  more  serious 
tumult"  broke  out  at  Valencia,  where  a  great 
mob  assembled,  shouting,  ''Long  live  Elio! — 
Down  with  the  Constitution!"  and  proceeded 
to  the  citadel  where  that  general  still  laj'  in 
prison,  having  never  been  brought  to  trial. 
They  got  possession  of  the  stronghold  by  the 
aid  of  the  gari-ison  by  which  it  was  held,  but 
were  immediately  invested  there  by  the  national 
guard  and  remainder  of  the  garrison  of  the 
place,  and  being  without  provisions,  they  were 
soon  obliged  to  surrender.  The  victors  now 
proceeded  to  Elio's  dungeon,  sliouting  "  Death 
to  Elio !"  and  his  last  hour  seemed  to  have  ar- 
rived ;  but  he  was  reserved  for  a  still  more 
mournful  end.  A  little  gold  which  he  had  about 
him  occupied  the  first  attention  of  the  assassins, 
and  meanwhile  the  address  of  the  i  ^^^  jjjgj 
commander  of  the  place  got  him  ex-  v.  434,  43G; 
trieated  from  their  hands  and  cou-  Martignac, 
veyed  to  a  place  of  safety.'  '•  '*"^'  "•'*• 

The  intelligence  of  these  events  worked  the 
Cortes  up  to  a  perfect  fury ;  and  in  jg 

the  first  tumult  of  passion  they  passed  Severe  laws 
several  decrees  indicating  their  ex-  passed  by 
treme  exasperation,  and  which  con-  jy^^'a"''^' 
tributed  in  a  great  decree  to  the  san- 
guinary character  which  the  civil  war  in  the 
Peninsula  soon  afterward  assumed,  and  has  un- 
happily ever  since  maintained.     It  was  decreed 
that  "  all  towns,  villages,  and  rural  districts, 
which  should  harbor  or  give  shelter  to  the  fac- 
tious, should  be  treated  as  enemies  with   the 
whole  rigor  of  military  law ;  that  those  in  which 
there  were  factious  juntas  should  be  subjected 
to  military  execution ;  that  every  convent  in 
which  the  factious  were  found  should 
be  suppressed,  and  its  inmates  put  at 
the  disposal  of  the  political  authorities."     Such 
extreme  measures  necessarily  produced  reprisals 

on  the  other  side,  and  led  to  a  war  where  , 

..,  .  i  1         June  16 

quarter  was  neither  given  nor  taken. 

A  few  days  after,  a  decree  was  passed  putting 

20,000  of  the  militia  on  permanent  duty,  and 

establishing   national  guards  throughout   the 

kingdom  on  the  same  footing  as  in  France  during 

the  Revolution — that   is,  with  the  otficers  of 

every  grade  appointed  b}'  the  privates.     They 

at  the  same  time  Bummoned  the  Ministers  to 

their  bar  to  give  an  account  of  the  state  of  the 

kingdom,  and  supplicated  the  king  in  the  most 

earnest  terms  to  change  his  advisers,  and  intrust 

every  thing  to  the  jiil)eral  party — a  demand 

which  he  iiad  the  address  in  the  mean  time  to 

evade.*     The  wisdom  of  this  determination  on 


*  "  Que  Ic  pouplc  voic  lo  pouvoir  confie  a  (lea  liomnics 
quiainieiitleHliljerlcspubliqucH,  que  la  Nation  Espagiiolo 
voie  que  Ic  litre  el  U'n  vcrlUM  du  veritable  patriole  sont  le 
Heiil  droit,  lo  Heul  rlieinin,  pour  monter  jUN(|u"a  Voire  Ma- 
jewto,  pour  m6ritrr  la  Caveur,  I't  pour  obteiiir  IcH  honueiirs 
qu'elie  pcul  accorder,  et  que  toute  la  rinucur  de  la  jiiKtiec 
et  rindi^nation  du  roi  retombeiit  8ur  los  niecliantH  qui 
ONCiit  profuner  Hon  nom  bukuhIc  et  saere,  pour  opprinier 
la  patricct  la  liberie.  Lcs  Cortes  supplieraient  V.  M.  iii- 
Htaniuiciit,  pour  faire  ccHser  les  craintes  uu.\<|UellcH  nous 
HornrncH  livruH,  et  prevenir  leH  rnaux  <iuc  nous  avouH  in- 
di(|urH,  lie  vouloir  birn  ordonncr  que  la  niilicc  nationale 
voloiitaire  Hoit  immeiliatcmcnt  BU(;nienlec  et  arinee  dans 
tout  le  royaume.  Kn  momo  teini)S  les  Cortes  rspOrent 
que  V.  M.  feni  oonnnilrc  a  tout  gouvcninnnil  cinnif^n 
qui,  ilirecternent  ou  indircctement,  voudrait  prendre  jiurt  d 


SM 


HISTORY    OF    EUROri:. 


hi*  pnrt  wns  soon  njipnroiit ;    for  ft  fow  days 
nfUT.  on  ft  roprosi'iitfttidii  h\  tlio  Ministers  ofthe 
uliiriiiiiiij;  ftiul  distnu-lod  stuto  of  the  kiiii^iloiii, 
1  \       II  St    ''"^  (.'orti'if  tliciiisolvos  iiftw  tlie  ne- 
v.^ifi,  4:i5,    cossilY  of  ooiifiTrintc  upon  tlioni  the 
437;  Miir-     extraordinnry    jiowoi-s    wliioli     the 
Vf-"  413         P"l»lie    exigencies    imperiously   dc- 
niftiided.' 
In  truth  the  state  of  the  country  had  now  be- 
.„        come  such,  that  sucli  a  measure  could 
Great  ex-  "o  longer  be  delayed  if  the  shadow 
tension  of  even  of  jioaec  and  tranquillity  was  to  be 
the  civil     preserved  in  the  kingdom.     The  Roy- 
alists in  the  noi-th,  far  from  being  dis- 
couraged b}- their  reverses,  were  daily  increasing 
in  numbers  and  audacity,  and,  sheltered  by  the 
mountain  ridges  which  in  that  quarter  intersect 
Spain  in  every  direction,  they  had  come  to  ex- 
tend their  ramifications  over  half  the  kingdom. 
Eguia,  Nunez,   and  Cjuesada,  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  France  after  the  disaster  at  Cervera, 
issued  from  theuce  a  proclamation  in 

"""^  ■  the  name  of  the  Royalist  provisional 
government  iu  which  they  oftered  160  reals 
(32s.)  to  every  Spaniard  who  should  repair, 
armed  and  in  uniform,  to  the  head-quarters  of 
the  Army  of  the  Faith  at  Roncesvalles  before 
the  end  of  the  month.  This  proclamation  [)ut 
every  part  of  Navarre,  Biscay,  and  the  north  of 
Catalonia  on  fire.  In  a  few  days  Quesada  was 
at  the  head  of  fifteen  hundred  men,  with  which, 
ascending  the  Pass  of  Roncesvalles,  he  entered 
the  valley  of  Bastan ;  and  as  General  Lopez- 
B;.nos,  with  1  he  regular  troops  from  I'ampeluna, 
which  had  1  een  considerably  reinforced,  suc- 
ceeded in  cutting  him  off  from  France  and  Biscay, 
he  boldly  threw  himself  into  Arragon,  where 
nearly  the  whole  rural  popul^ation  joined  him. 
Meanwhile  a  still  more  important  success  was 
gained  in  Catalonia,  where  Miralles,  Romagosa, 
and  the  Trappist,  having  united  their  forces, 
to  the  amount  of  five  thousand  men,  suddenly 
moved  upon  La  Sue  d'Urgel,  a  fortified 

"^"^     ■  town  on  the  frontier,  iu  which  were 
deposited  large  stores  of  artillery  and  ammuni- 
tion.     Encouraged  by  their  partisans 

'"'^  ■  within  the  town,  the  Royalists  in  a  few 
days  ventured  upon  an  assault  by  escalade. 
The  attempt  was  made  at  dead  of  night:  the 
Trappist,  with  a  huge  cross  in  one  hand  and 
his  whip  in  the  other,  was  the  first  man  of  the 
assaulting  columns  that  ascended  the  ladders ; 
and,  after  a  sanguinary  contest  of  several  hours' 
duration,  the  whole  forts  and  town  were  taken, 
with  sixty  pieces  of  cannon,  sixteen  hundred 
muskets,  and  large  stores  of  ammunition.  Great 
part  of  the  garrison  were,  in  retaliation  for 
i  j^j^j^  jjjgj  the  massacre  at  Cervera,  and  subse- 
V.  43»,  43'J;  quent  decrees  of  the  Cortes  prohib- 
Martignac,  iting  quarter,  put  to  death  without 
'•«■»' 415-     mercj-!^  ^ 

This  great  success,  by  far  the  most  important 
which  had  yet  attended  the  Royalist  arms, 
gave  an  entirely  new  character  to  the  war,  by 
diffusing  universal  encouragement  among  their 
partisans,  and  giving  them  a  base  of  operations, 


[Chap.  XI. 

the  muniments  of  war,  and  a  secure  place  of 
refuge  in  case  of  di>astcr.  It  in  a 
iiuinner  stilled  the  jiassions  of  the  p,.,,iorahlo 
Cortes,  which,  after  voting  extraor-  Kiutfofihc 
dinary  powers  to  the  Ministiy  to  meet  i^pumsh 
the  d'anger.  was  i)roiogued,  shortly  juuc'so^' 
after  the  intelligence  was  received, 
without  opposition.  Even  before  the  session 
was  closed,  however,  several  quarrels,  attended 
with  bloodshed,  of  sinister  augury,  had  taken 
place  between  the  royal  guards  and  the  national 
guards  of  the  capital ;  and  the  budget  exhibit- 
ed a  nu'lancholj'  proof  of  the  dei)lorable  slate 
of  destitution  to  which  the  treasury  had  been 
reduced  by  the  distrust  and  convulsions  conse- 
quent on  the  Revolution.*  Though  the  army 
had  been  reduced  to  02,000  men  from  80,000, 
and  the  expense  of  the  navy  from  104,000,000 
reals  (f  l,04u,000)  to  80,000,000  reals  (£800,000), 
it  was  found  necessary  to  contract  a  loan  of 
102,000,000  reals  (£1,020,000),  to  cover  the  or- 
dinary expenses  calculated  on  for  1823.  The  in- 
terest ofthe  debt  contracted  by  the  Cortes  since 
1820  amounted  to  65,586,000  reals  (£655,800), 
and  the  interest  of  the  national  debt  was  no  less 
than  148,894,000  reals  (£1,488,000),  although 
three-fifths  of  it  had  been  held  as  extinguished 
by  Church  confiscation,  and  of  what  remained 
no  less  than  2,(169,333,613  reals  (£20,693,336) 
had  been  set  down  without  interest,  i  Finance 
as  having  been  also  provided  for  by  Moniteur 
the  Church  property  confiscated  to  ^•''f'°g^' 
the  state,  which  was  estimated  at  j^ijg.  ^nn. 
eight  milliards  of  reals  or  £80,000,000  Hist]v.440, 
sterling.^  441. 

Such  a  state  of  the  Spanish  finances  said  but 
little  either  of  the  benefits  which  the 

nation  had  derived  from  the  revolu-  „    ... 

.  -    ■        J      ■       ♦!     .1  Riot  ni  Ma- 

tionary  regime  during  the  three  years  drid,  and 

it  had  endured,  or  of  the  resources  deaih  of 
either  in  warlike  preparations  or  na-  Landabura. 
tioual  credit  to  meet  the  difficulties 
with  which  it  was  on  every  side  beset.  But 
the  march  of  events  was  so  rapid  as  to  outstrip 
the  convulsions  inevitable  under  such  a  state 
of  the  national  finances,  and  induce  a  crisis 
much  sooner  than  might  have  been  expected 
from  the  comparative!}'  slow  progress  of  pecun- 
iary embarrassment.  On  the  very  day  on  which 
the  Cortes  was  prorogued  a  melanchol}-  event 
occurred,  which  brought  matters  to  a  crisis. 
An  immense  crowd  assembled  and  accompanied 
the  king's  carriage  from  the  hall  of  the  Cortes 
to  the  palace,  part  shouting  "Yiva  el  Rey 
Nettol  Viva  el  Rey  Assoluto!"  part  "Yiva 
Riego!  Yiva  Libertade."  To  such  a  length  did 
the  mutual  exasperation  proceed  that  it  reach- 
ed and  infected  the  royal  guard  itself,  which 
was  nearly  as  much  divided  and  inflamed;  and 


nos  affaires  dornestiques,  que  la  Nation  n'est  pas  dans  le 
ca.s  de  recevoir  des  lois  ;  qu'elle  a  des  forces  et  des  res- 
sources  pour  se  faire  respecter,  et  que  si  elle  a  su  defendre 
son  independance  et  son  roi  avec  gloire.  c'est  avec  la  nieme 
gloire  et  avec  de  plus  grands  efforts  encore  qu'elle  saura 
toujours  defendre  son  roi  et  sa  liberie. "' — Adrcsse  des 
Cortes  au  Roi,  24th  .Mav,  1822  ;  Ann.  Hist.,   v.  433,  434. 


*  The  entire  debt  of  Spain  m  1822  was  thus  disposed 
of  by  the  finance  committee  of  this  session  ofthe  Cortes: 

Reals.  £. 

Total  Debt 14,020,572,^91   ..   140,205,725 

Extinguished  by  confisca- 
tion of  church  and  char- 
itable funds  by  decrees 
of  the  Cortes 8,459,896,260  . .     84,598.962 

Remained 5,560,076,331   . .     55,606,7f3 

Of  which  bore  no  interest.     2,069,333,613..     £0,G93.3i6 

Remained  bearing  interest.  3,491,342,718  ..  34,913.427 
—  Finance  Commissioners'  Report,  June  21,  1P22;  Annu- 
aire  Historique,  v.  440,  441. 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


1822.] 

as  Landabiira,  an  officer  of  tlio  gnaivl,  of  de- 
1  A  irn  '-■'^'^'^^  Liberal  feelings,  endeavored  to 
V.  41-2,  445;  appease  the  tumult  among  his  men, 
Mariiijiiac,  he  was  shot  in  the  breast,  and  in- 
i.  410,  417.    stantly  expired.^ 

This  atrocious  murder,  for  such  it  really  was, 

P3  though   disguised  under  the  name 

Commence-    of  a  homicide  in  rixa,  excited  the 

m„-at  of  ili3  most  violent  feelings  of  indignation 

sir.ff  be-        among  the  Liberals  of  all  classes  in 

twei'il  the         ,,,?',..       .  n-        i 

puard  and  Madrid  ;  tor  However  willing  to  ex- 
tiii  garrison,  cuse  such  crimes  when  committed 
June  30.  ^^^  they  were  by  no  means  equally 
tolerant  of  them  when  perpetrated  on,  them- 
selves. The  whole  city  was  immediately  in  a 
tumult ;  the  militia  of  its  own  accord 
"  ^  ■  turned  out,  the  troops  of  the  line  and 
artillery  joined  them;  the  municipality  declared 
its  sitting  permanent,  and  every  thing  presaged 
an  immediate  and  violent  collision  between  the 
Court  and  royal  guard  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
Cortes,  soldiers  of  the  line,  and  militia,  on  the 
other.  The  night  passed  in  mutual  suspense, 
botli  parties  being  afraid  to  strike  the  first 
blow;  and  next  day  nothing  was  done,  except 
an  order  on  the  part  of  the  king  to  have  the 
murderers  of  Landabura  punished,  and  a  decree 
settling  a  pension  on  his  widow.  Meanwhile 
tile  royal  guard,  against  which  the  public  feel- 
ing in  the  metropolis  was  so  violently  excited, 
remained  without  orders,  and  knew  not  how  to 
act.  Being  more  numerous  and  better  disci- 
plined than  the  regiments  in  the  garrison,  and 
ia  possession  of  all  the  principal  posts,  it  might 
witli  ease  have  made  itself  master  of  the  park 
of  artillery  in  the  arsenal — an  acquisition  which 
would  iiave  rendered  it  the  undisputed  master 
of  the  city.  Uad  Napoleon  been  at  its  head, 
he  would  at  once  have  done  so :  the  seizure  of 
the  [)ark  of  artillery  near  Paris  by  Murat,  under 
liis  orders,  on  occasion  of  the  revolt  of  the  Sec- 
tions in  October,  1795,  determined  the  contest 
2l[i.stoi'Eu-  there  in  favor  of  the  Directory.^ 
rope,  chap.  But  there  was  no  Napoleon  in  Spain  ; 
xi-t.  t)  GO.  and  the  indecision  of  the  Govern- 
ment, by  leaving  the  guard  without  orders,  ex- 
3  ^j^j^  jjjgj  posed  them  to  destruction,  and  lost 
V.  444J  445 ;  the  fairest  opportunity  that  ever  oc- 
Martignac.i.  curred  of  reinstating,  Arithout  for- 
41S,  419.  gjgij  jjjj^  j^jjQ  royal  authority.^ 
Two  of  the  six  battalions  of  wliich  tlie  guard 

was  conqiosed  were  on  service  at  the 
Departure  ^'"^'^  palace ;  tiie  remaining  four 
of  the  royal  were  in  barracks,  detached  from  each 
guard  from  other,  in  the  city.     Fearful  of  being 

shut  up  there  by  the  troops  of  th(! 

line  and  militia,  they  took  the  reso- 
lution, of  their  own  accoril,  of  leaving  the  cap- 
ital and  encanq)ing  in  the  neigliboriiood — a 
resolution  which  was  carried  into  effect,  wilh- 
out  tumult  or  opposition,  at  niglitfall  on  the 
1st  Jul3'.  Meanwliilo  tlie  most  energetic  pre- 
parations were  made  by  the  inunici|)ality  to 
meet  the  crisis  wliich  was  apjjroachiiig,  niid  a 
fi-e.sh  corps,  called  the  '•Sacred  JJattalion,"  was 
formed  of  volunteer.s,  consisting  for  tlie  most 
part  of  the  most  desperate  and  energetic  revo- 
lutionary characters,  who  tlireatened  to  be  even 
more  formidable  to  their  friends  tlian  their 
enemies.  The  Government  and  permanent  de- 
putation of  tlie  Cortes  were  in  consternation, 
and  fearing  alike  the  success  of  either  of  tiie 


395 


Madrid 
July  1 


extreme  parties  now  arrayed  against  each 
other,  they  sought  only  to  temporize,  and  if 
possible  effect  an  accommodation  between  them. 
Murillo,  who,  as  captain-general  of  New  Castile, 
liad  the  entire  command  of  the  military  and 
militia  in  the  province,  was  the  natural  chief 
upon  whom  it  devolved  to  make  head  against 
the  insurrection.  He  was  distracted  by  oppo- 
site feelings  and  duties,  for,  in  addition  to  his 
other  appointments,  the  king  had  recently 
named  him  commander  of  the  guard ;  and  it 
was  hard  to  say  whether  ho  should  i  An.  llist. 
attendtohis  public  duties,  as  the  head  v.  446,  447; 
of  the  armed  force  in  the  capital,  or  ^^'^"^''"g^g''- 
the  whisperings  of  his  secret  inclina-  ^^^^  Reo-.' 
tions,  which  led  him  to  devote  himself  1822,  241, 
to  the  personal  service  of  the  king.'  242. 

Riego  was  clear  to  attack  the  guards  instant- 
ly, and  in  person  urged  that  advice         55. 
on  Murillo.     "Who  are  you?"  asked  Progress  of 
the  general,  with  an  ironical  expres-  ihenegotia- 
°    <.T         1)1  1-    J   ,i..\      1        tions  with 

sion.     "lam,    he  replied,   '  the  uep-  {ijg  j^gur. 

uty  Riego."  "  In  that  case,"  replied  gents, 
the  general,  "you  may  return  to  the  Ju'V  1-" 
congress;  you  have  nothing  to  do  here."  Six 
days  passed  in  fruitless  negotiations,  in  the 
course  of  which,  however,  the  Liberals  gained 
a  decided  advantage  ;  for  the  Sacred  Battalion, 
during  the  night  of  the  3d,  got  possession  of 
the  park  of  artilleiy  at  St.  Gol,  which  proved 
of  the  utmost  importance  in  the  contest  which 
ensued.  The  roj'al  treasury,  meanwhile,  was 
emptj',  and  so  low  had  the  credit  of  the  Gov- 
ernment fallen  that  no  one  in  Madrid  would 
advance  it  a  real.  Public  anxiety  was  much 
increased,  during  this  period  of  suspense,  by 
the  intelligence  that  a  regiment  of  carabineers 
had  revolted  in  Andalusia,  that  several  corps 
of  militia  had  joined  it,  and  that  their  united 
force  was  advancing  into  La  Mancha,  to  join 
the  insurgent  guards  in  the  capital,  amidst 
cries  of  "Viva "el  Rey  Assoluto."  Meanwhile 
the  opposite  forces  were  in  presence  of  each 
other  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Royalist  camp, 
and  frequent  discharges  of  musket-shots  from 
the  outposts  at  each  other  kept  the  public  in 
an  agony  of  apprehension,  fiom  the  belief  that 
the  impending  conflict  had  commenced.  In  ef- 
fect, a  combined  movement  was  soon  found  to 
be  in  preparation  ;  for  early  on  the  morning  of 
the  7th,  while  it  was  yet  dark,  the  guards 
broke  up  in  silence  and  the  best  order,  and  ad- 
vanced rapidly  to  the  capital.  They  ellVcte.l 
their  entrance,  without  ditliculty,  l)y  a  l>arrier 
wliich  was  not  guarded,  and  wlien  within  the 
city  divided  into  three  columns.  Tiio  2  Martig- 
first  advanced  to  take  possession  of  nac.  i.  427, 
the  park  of  artillery  i)osted  at  the  jj^,^'/)""- 
gate  of  St.  Vincent,  the  second  to  the  454^  455  ; 
I'uerta  del  Sol,  the  third  to  the  Place  Ann.  Keg. 
of  tlie  Constitution.^'  '^^a,  242. 

From  the  secrecy  with  which  this  movement 
was  executed,  and  the  success  witli         f,o. 
wiiicli   in   the   first    instance  it  was  Attack  of 
attended,  it  was  evident  that  it  was  J,',',"  ^""frld 
the  result  of  a  well-laid  design  ;  and  „,„)  jjy  jg! 
if  it  had  Ix'cii  carried  through  with  liat. 
as  much  resolution  as  it  was  planned  -'"'y  7. 
with  ability,  it  would  in  all  probability  have 
met  with  success,  and  might  liavc  altereil  tho 
whole  course  of  the  revolution.     But  one  of 
tliojc  panics  so  frequent  in   nocturnal  enter- 


S'JG 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[CuAi-.  XL 


jirisos  eoizeil  two  of  the  columns  when  tlicy 
oamo  ill  contnot  with  the  ononiy,  and  caused 
the  whole  uiulertakiiii;  to  teriniiinto  in  disaster. 
The  corps  directed  to  attack  the  jiark  of  artil- 
lery never  reached  its  destination.  Assailed 
by  a  few  musket-shots  from  the  Sacred  Battal- 
ion as  they  approached  the  gate  of  St.  Vincent, 
they  turned  about,  iltd  out  of  the  town,  and 
disbanded  in  the  wood  of  La  Monda.  Tiic 
second  column  was  more  successful ;  it  gained 
possession  of  the  I'uerta  del  Sol,  after  a  vigor- 
ous resistance  from  a  body  of  cavalry  stationed 
there  to  guard  tiie  entrance.  But  instead  of 
moving  on  to  the  general  point  of  rendezvous 
in  the  Place  of  the  Constitution,  it  marched  to 
the  palace  to  rally  the  two  battalions  of  the 
guard  stationed  there.  The  third  reached  the 
Place  of  the  Constitution  without  opposition ; 
but  there  they  found  Murillo,  Lallasteros, 
Iliego,  and  Alava,  at  the  head  of  the  militia, 
and  two  guns.  Though  met  by  a  brisk  fire, 
both  from  the  troops  and  the  .artiller}',  they 
replied  by  a  vigorous  and  well-sustained  dis- 
charge of  musketry,  and  forced  their  way  into 
the  square,  where  they  maintained  themselves 
for  some  time  with  great  resolution.  But  at 
length,  hearing  of  the  rout  of  the  corps  des- 
tined for  the  attack  of  the  artillery',  and  dis- 
couraged by  the  non-arrival  of  the  corps  which 
had  gained  the  Puerta  del  Sol,  but  gone  on  in- 
stead to  the  palace  to  obtain  the  aid  of  the 
battalions  in  guard  there,  who  were  under  arms 
ready  to  succor  them,  they  broke  their  ranks 
and  retreated  in  disorder  toward  the  palace, 
closely  followed  by  Ballasteros,  who  with  his 
guns  kept  up  a  destructive  fire  on  their  ranks. 
At  length  the  whole  guard,  with  the  exception 
of  the  corps  which  had  disbanded,  found  itself 
united  in  front  of  the  palace,  but  in  a  state  of 
extreme  discouragement,  and  in  great  confusion. 
There  they  were  speedily  assailed  by  ten  thou- 
sand militia,  with  a  large  train  of  artillery, 
who  with  loud  shouts  and  vehement  cries 
1  An.  Ilist.  crowded  in  on  all  sides,  and  had  al- 
V.  454, 455 ;  ready  pointed  their  guns  from  all  the 
^gqg'  l^^-,^'  adjacent  streets  on  the  confused  mass, 
243 ;'  iMa'r-  ■^'hen  the  white  flag  was  hoisted,  and 
tignac,  i.  intelligence  was  received  that  the 
429,  431.      guard  had  surrendered.' 

This  ill-conducted  attempt  to  reinstate  the 
g-  royal  authority  had  the  usual  effect 

Destruction  of  all  such  efforts  when  terminating 
of  the  royal  in  miscarriage :  it  utterly  destroyed 
f^fy^'l.-  it.     The  7tirjuly,  1822,  was  as  fatal 

to  the  crown  in  Spain  as  the  10th 
August,  1792,  had  been  to  that  of  Louis  in 
France.  The  fjermanent  committee  of  the 
Cortes,  which  had  been  entirely  unconnected 
with  these  events,  immediately  took  the  direc- 
tion, and  tacitly,  without  opposition,  usurped 
the  entire  powers  of  Government.  Their  first 
care  was  that  of  the  guards,  who  had  laid 
down  their  arms  without  any  regular  capitula- 
tion. The  committee  compelled  the  king  to 
impose  upon  the  four  battalions  which  had 
combated  the  hard  condition  of  a  surrender  at 
discretion ;  the  two  at  the  palace,  which  had 
not  fought,  were  to  retire  from  Madrid  with 
their  arms,  but  without  ammunition,  to  distant 
quarters  assigned  them,  after  delivering  up  the 
murderers  of  Landabura.  The  two  last  battal- 
ions departed  in  silence,  armed  and  dowp.cas'  ; 


but  the  four  others,  foreseeing  in  a  surrcndir 
at  discretion  only  a  snare  to  involve  them  in 
destruction,  adopted  at  the  eleventh  hour  the 
desperate  resolution  of  resistance.  Doterniined 
to  sell  their  lives  dearly,  they  opened  a  geneiul 
voile}'  on  the  corps  of  militia  which  advanced 
to  disarm  them,  and,  instantl}'  leveling  bayo- 
nets, charged  in  close  column  down  the  street 
leading  to  the  nearest  gate  of  the  city.  AH 
opposition  was  quickly  overthrown,  and  the 
entire  column  succeeded  in  forcing  its  way  out 
of  the  town,  closely  pursued,  however,  bv-  two 
squadrons  of  the  regiment  of  Almanza,  some 
companies  of  militia,  the  Sacred  Battalion,  and 
a  few  guns.  They  sustained  great  loss  during 
the  pursuit,  which  was  continued  until  night- 
fall without  intermission.  A  considerable  body 
of  them  scaled  the  walls  of  the  Casa  del  Cavipo, 
a  country  palace  of  the  king,  and  for  some  time 
resisted  the  pursuers ;  but  being  destitute  of 
provisions,  they  were  obliged  to  surrendei',  to 
the  number  of  360  men  and  9  officers,  at  two 
on  the  following  morning.  Such  of  the  re- 
mainder as  were  unwounded  escaped.  The 
entire  loss  of  the  guard  in  these  disastrous 
daj's  was  371  killed,  700  wounded,  and  600  pris- 
oners ;  and  the  brilliant  corps  which  a  few 
daj's  before  seemed  to  hold  the  destinies  of  Spain 
in  their  bands,  disappeared  forever  i  An.  Hist, 
from  its  annals.  Conducted  with  v.  457, 459; 
more  skill,  led  with  greater  cour-  ■^""-  ^^S- 
age,  they  might,  with  half  the  loss,  244' Mar- 
have  re-established  the  monarchy  tignac,  i. 
and  averted  the  French  invasion.*       ^31,  433. 

The  same  day  which  witnessed  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  royal  guard  at  Madrid, 
was  marked  by  the  suppression  of   ppj-   [  „<• 
the  military  revolt  in  the  south  of  the  insur- 
Spain.      The    Royalist    carabineers  gents  in 
and  their  adherents  were  attacked  Andalusia 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Montero  by 
General  O'Donoghu,  at  the  head  of  a  greatly 
superior   body   of  Constitutional   troops,   and 
completely  routed.     The  fugitives  escaped  to 
the  vicinity  of  Ciudad  Real,  where  they  were 
again  attacked  on  the  16th,  and  obliged 
to  surrender.     About  the  same  time  a    ^^ 
conspiracy  of  a  totallj'  different  character  was 
discovereci  and  defeated  at  Cadiz.     This  had 
been  set  on  foot  by  Don  Alphonso  Gueriera,  Don 
Ramon  Ceruti,  and  a  number  of  others,  the  chiefs 
of  the  ultra-revolutionary  party  in  that  city,  the 
object  of  which  was  to  depose  all  the  constitu- 
ted authorities,  proclaim  a  republic,  and  divide 
among  themselves  all  its  places  and  emoluments. 
The  civil  and  military  authorities  in  the  island 
of  Leon,  having  received  intelligence 
of  the  plot,  and  having  put  the  gar-  j^"^"'  ^|^' 
rison  and  militia  under  arms,  appre-  Ann!  Hist, 
heuded  the  whole  conspirators  with-  v.  459,460  . 
out  opposition  on  the  night  of  the  ^^^"'^"?^ 
9th  July.^ 

These  repeated  successes  utterly  prostrated 
the  roj-al  authority  in  Madrid,  and 
deprived  the  king  of  the  shadow  change  of 
of  respect  which  had  hitherto  be-  Ministry,  and 
longed  to  him.  The  violent  party,  complete  tri- 
supported  by  the  clubs,  the  press,  J'J^P|>,°^^'^^,3. 
and  the  secret  societies,   became 
omnipotent.    For  some  days  the  king  remained 
sliut  up  in  his  palace  wfthout  ministers;    his 
:'i)rnitr  ones  liad  resigned,  and  no  one  in  such 


1822.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


397 


a  crisis  was  -willing  to  incur  the  danger  of  be- 
coming their  successors.  At  length  the  abso- 
lute necessity  of  having  some  government  pre- 
vailed over  the  terrors  of  those  offered  the  ap- 
pointments, and  a  new  ministry  was  appointed, 
consisting,  as  might  be  expected  in  such  cir- 
cumstances, entirely  of  the  leaders  of  the  ex- 
treme Liberal  party.  The  king,  wholly  power- 
less, agreed  to  every  thing  demanded  of  him. 
provided  he  were  allowed  to  leave  Madrid,  and 
take  up  his  residence  at  St.  Ildefonso,  whieli 
was  agreed  to.  San  Miguel,  formerly  ciiief  of 
tlie  staff  to  Riego  during  the  revolution  in  the 
island  of  Leon,  was  made  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  with  the  lead  in  the  Cabinet ;  Lopez- 
Banos,  another  chief  of  the  Isle  of  Leon,  was 
iippointed  Minister  at  War;  and  M.  Gasco, 
one  of  the  nftost  violent  members  of  the  Oppo- 
sition, in  the  last  Cortes,  of  the  Interior;  M. 
Benicio  Navarro,  another  deputy  of  the  same 
stamp,  received  the  portfolio  of  Justice;  and 
31.  Mariano,  Egoa,  and  Cassaj%  of  the  Finances 
,,,     .  and  the  Marine  respectively.     The 

i  436  437-  triumph  oi  tlie  extreme  Liberals 
Ann.  Hist,  was  complete;  their  adherents,  and 
V.  4aO;Ann.  those  of  the  most  determined  kind, 

246!'  ^^^~'     ^^^^"^    ^^^    ^^1*^    offices    ^^    Govern- 
ment.' 
The  first  care  of  the  new  Cabinet  was  to 
^^  make  an  entire  change  in  the  I'oyal 

Tha  new  household,    and  to   banish,  or  de- 

Ministry,  and  prive  of  t!ieir  commands,  all  the 
l)rorincial  ap-  leadinar  men  of  the  country  whose 
pointments.  .•    ^    ,  .   •  •'     j 

'  sentiments  were  not  in  accordance 

with  their  own.  Murillo,  notwithstanding  the 
determined  stand  he  had  made  at  the  head  of 
the  Constitutional  troops  against  the  ro3'al  guard, 
was  deprived  of  his  offices  of  Captain-general 
and  Political  Chief  at  Madrid,  which  were  be- 
stowed ou  General  Copons,  a  stanch  revolution- 
ist ;  Quiroga  was  made  Captain-general  of  Ga- 
licia,  and  Mina  of  Catalonia.  The  Duke  del  In- 
fantado,  the  Marquis  las  Amarillas,  General  Lon- 
ga,  and  several  other  noblemen,  who,  altliough 
Liberals,  were  known  to  belong  to  tlie  Moderate 
party,  were  exiled,  some  to  Ceuta,  some  to  the 
Canaries;  and  in  the  palace  an  entire  change 
took  place.  The  Uukc  do  Montemart,  Major 
d'Uomo,  Count  Torcno,  and  tiie  Duke  do  Bel- 
gide,  were  dismissed  ;  and  the  Marquis  do  Santa- 
Cruz,  General  Palafox,  and  Count  Onate,  sub- 
stituted in  their  room.  In  a  word,  the  extreme 
party  was  every  where  triumphant;  tlie  Jaco- 
*Ann.  Ilist  '^'"^  of  tlie  Revolution,  as  is  usually 
V.  461,402;  the  case  wlien  the  malady  is  not 
Martifsnac,    checked,  had  supidanted  tlie  Giron- 

It  soon  appeared  wliat  the  new  Government 
7]_  was  to  be,  and  whether  the  Jacobins 
Murder  of  of  Spain  wei'c  to  be  behind  tlieir  pre- 
Geoi(reu.x.  decessors  of  Franco  in  their  thirst  for 
blood.  The  soldiers  of  the  guard  wlio  had  been 
implicated  in  tlie  murder  of  Laiidabiira  Iiad  al- 
ready been  condemned  \6  dealh,  init  tiie  revolu- 
tionists demanded,  witli  loud  cries,  tli(!  head  of 
Colonel  Geoiffeu.v,  an  officer  of  the  guard,  and 
who,  although  neith-^r  connected  with  the 
death  of  that  man,  nor  the  revolt  of  the  guards, 
as  he  was  with  the  two  battalions  which  re- 
mained at  the  palace,  was  known  to  entertain 
decided  Royalist  sentiments,  and  as  such  was 
selected  as  the  object  of  popular  indignation. 


He  was  arrested  accordingly  at  Butrago,  when 
on  his  way  back  to  France,  of  which  he  was  a 
native.  When  taken,  his  name  was  not  known, 
and  a  falsehood  might  have  saved  him;  but 
when  asked  who  he  was,  he  at  once  answered, 
''  Geoiffeux,  first-lieutenant  in  the  guard."  He 
was  immediately  brought  back  to  Madrid, 
taken  before  a  court-martial,  and  condemned 
to  death.  His  character,  however,  was  gener- 
all}^  esteemed,  his  innocence  known.  His  cour- 
age on  his  trial  excited  universal  admiration ; 
sj'nipathy  was  warmly  excited  in  his  behalf, 
and  even  the  revolutionary  municipality  was 
preparing  a  petition  in  his  favor.  The  anarch- 
ists feared  lest  their  victim  should  escape ;  the 
clubs,  the  press,  the  mob  in  the  street,  were 
jHit  in  motion,  and  the  innocent  victim  was  led 
out  to  death.  His  courage  on  the  scaffold  made 
even  his  enemies  blush  with  shame,  and  shed  a 
lustre  on  the  cause  for  which  he  suffered.  Gen- 
eral Copons,  who,  as  military  commander  at 
Madrid,  had  confirmed  the  sentence,  soon  after- 
ward gave  the  clearest  proof  of  its  illegality 
by  declaring  the  tribunal  which  had  tried  him 
incompetent  in  the  case  of  some  other  officers 
charged  with  a  similar  offense,  who  were  not 
marked  out  for  destruction ;  a  decision  which 

excited  so  great  a  clamor  in  refer-  ,  .,„„. 

4.      i\       e  i  •   1     *i     i.    1         Martignac, 

ence   to   the   lormer   trial,  that    lie  i.  440, 441; 

was  obliged  to  resign  his  appoint-  Ann.  Hist, 
ment'  "■ '^'^^■ 

Elio  was  the  next  victim.    This  distinguished 
general  and  ii.trepid  man  had  been  ^„ 

three  years  in  prison,  charged  with  Second  trial 
alleged  offenses  committed  when  in  and  execu- 
command  at  Valencia;  but  though  t'O'i  "f  Elio. 
convicted  by  the  revolutionary  tribunal,  he  had 
never  been  executed:  so  flagrant  and  obvious 
was  the  iniquity  of  punishing  a  military  com- 
mander for  acts  done  in  direct  obedience  to  the 
orders  of  Government.  The  cry  for  his  blood, 
however,  was  now  so  vehement  that  he  was  again 
brought  to  trial,  not  on  the  former  charges,  but 
for  alleged  accession  to  the  riot  of  oUtli  May, 
when  an  attempt,  as  already  mentioned,  had  been 
made  by  a  Royali.>;t  mob  to  effect  his  libei'ation 
from  prison.  The  absurdity  of  charging  him  with 
participation  iu  that  affray,  when  at  the  time 
he  was  a  close  pri.soner,  carefully  watched  un- 
der military  guard  in  the  citadel,  made  as  little 
impression  on  his  iniquitous  accusers  as  did  his 
jiatriotic  services  and  glorious  career.  Is'osmall 
difficulty  was  experienced  in  iiiuling  military 
officers  who  would  descend  to  the  infaiu}'  of 
becoming  his  judicial  murderers.  The  Count 
d'Almodavar,  the  Captain-general,  resigned  his 
office  to  avoid  it;  Baron  d'Andilla,  aj)pointed 
in  his  stead,  feigned  sickness  to  escape.  Kone 
of  the  generals  or  colonels  in  Valencia  would 
sit  on  the  commission;  and  they  were  at  last 
obliged  to  take  for  its  president  a  lieutenant- 
coloiu'l,  named  Valterra.  I'A'ery  effort  was 
made  to  suljorn  or  falsify  evidence,  but  in  vain. 
The  cannoiieers  accused  of  being  concerned  in 
the  jilot  for  his  liberation  were  offered  their 
lives  if  they  would  declare  tlu-y  had  hcc.u  iii- 
stigat<Hl  by  Klio;  none  would  consent  to  live 
on  such  terms.  An  alleged  letter  was  ])ro(liiced 
by  the  general  to  liis  sister,  avowing  his  j^'ir- 
ticipation  in  the  offense;  it  was  ])roved 
he  liad  no  itixter.  The  acnnised  had  no 
counsel,  but  he  defended  himself  with  courago 


Sv>9 


HISTORY    OF    F.UROrE. 


[Cuxv.  XT. 


niul  spirit  for  two  hours.  Kvoii  Vulterrft  lonij 
lu-sitatotl  to  siirn  ii  conviction  wholly  uiisiip- 
iH>rtcd  bv  oviilcnco,  but  the  revolutionists  were 
inoxorablo.  Tlio  inunicii>iility  thrciitoneil  to 
inako  Vultcrrn  rc.<i>onsiblc  with  his  head  if  lie 
did  not  instantly  siirn  the  conviction;  the  clubs 
resounded  with  declamations;  a  furious  mob 
surrounded  the  court  house;  he  trembled  and 
obeyed.  Klio  was  led  out  to  the  scatl'old,  erect- 
ed on  a  public  promenade  with  which  he  had 
embellished  Valencia  during  his  gov- 
v*Vo3-  \i'in.'  ernment.  He  died  with  the  courage 
Reg.'lV'Ji!,  which  had  marked  his  life,  firm  in 
247;  Mariig-  his  religious  and  politieal  principles, 
413  '  ^^''  ""^^  praying  for  tlie  forgiveness  of  his 
murderers.' 
Meanwhile,  the  civil  war  in  the  northern  pro- 
vinces assumed  a  more  regular  and 
Civu'war  in  systematic  aspect,  by  the  solemn  in- 
the  northern  stallation  of  a  regency  at  Sec  d'Urgel 
provinces,  on  the  14th  September,  consisting  of 
August  14.  ^jjjj  Archbishop  of  Tarragona  and 
the  Baron  d'Erolles,  which  appointed  minis- 
ters to  all  the  offices  of  state,  and  professed  to 
administer  the  government  of  the  state  in  the 
name  of  Ferdinand  VII.  during  his  captivity.  It 
soon  found  itselfat  the  head  of  an  imposing  force: 
a  considerable  park  of  field  artillery  had  been 
collected,  uniforms  and  arms  in  great  quantities 
purchased,  officers  for  a  powerful  army  had  re- 
paired to  the  royal  standard,  and  twenty  thou- 
sand men  were  enrolled  under  their  banners. 
Ko  less  than  four  hundred  and  fifty  towns  and 
villages  in  the  northern  provinces  had  over- 
turned the  pillar  of  the  constitution.  Already, 
on  the  23d  July,  Mequinenza  had  been 
■  "  ■  carried,  and  the  garrison,  four  hundred 
strong,  massacred  with  savage  cruelty,  in  re- 
venge for  the  slaughter  at  Cervera.  Lerida  and 
Yich  were  threatened,  and  the  whole  of  Cata- 
lonia, with  the  exception  of  the  fortresses,  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Eoyalists.  In  JS'a- 
.  varre,  Quesada  had  been  defeated  by- 

Lopez-Banos,  who  surprised  bis  troops 
by  a  nocturnal  attack ;  but  he  retreated  to  Ron- 
cesvalles,  where  his  dispersed  men  rejoined  his 
standard ;  reinforcements  poured  in  from  Biscay, 
and  he  was  soon  in  a  situation  to  resume  the 
offensive,  and  establish  himself  in  a  fortified 
camp  at  Irali,  where  he  maintained  himself  dur- 
ing the  whole  remainder  of  the  campaign.  The 
regency  issued  proclamations  in  the  name  of 
the  king,  in  which  they  declared  null  all  his 
acts  since  he  had  been  constrained  to  accept 
J  the  Constitution  of  1812,  called  on 

V.  405  466-  ^^^^  troops  to  abandon  the  standard 
Ann.  keg. '  of  treason,  and  engaged  to  establish 
1822,  246  ;  a  constitutional  monarchy  based  on 
443"^^"^'  ^^^^  ancient  laws  and  customs  of  the 
'       '        state.  ^* 


*  The  proclamation  of  the  Baron  d'Erolles  bore  :  "AVe, 
too,  wish  for  a  constitution,  a  fi.xed  law  to  govern  the 
stale  ;  but  we  do  not  wish  it  to  serve  as  a  pretext  for 
license,  or  to  take  crime  for  its  ally.  After  the  example 
of  their  ancestors,  the  people,  legally  assembled,  shall  en- 
act laws  adapted  to  iheir  manners  and  to  the  times  in  which 
they  live.  The  Spanish  name  shall  recover  its  ancient 
glory,  and  we  shall  live,  not  the  vile  slaves  of  factious 
anarchists,  but  subject  to  the  laws  which  we  ourselves 
shall  have  established.  The  king,  the  father  of  his  people, 
■will  swear  as  formerly  to  the  maintenance  of  our  liberties 
and  privileges,  and  we  shall  thus  have  him  legally  bound 
by  his  oath." — Proclamation  of  Baron  d'Erolles,  18th 
August,  1622  ;  Ann.  Reg.  Ib22,  p.  249. 


The  government  at  Madiid  was  seriously 
alnrmeilat  t  hcse  successes  of  the  Ivoy- 

alists  in  the  north;  the  establishment  •■•.  „' 

f  ,  ,  •     .1  Vigorous 

ot  a  regular  government  in  the  name   measuns  of 
of  the  king  at  Seo  d'l'rgel,  in   par-  the  revolu- 
tieular.  struck 'them  with  consterna-  »"">ai-y  ;;ov. 
..  n'l  i    1      -,1      •        .  1      crnnimi. 

tion.    1  hey  acted  witii  vigor  to  make 

head  against  the  danger.     Mina,  apjiointed  cap- 
tain-general of  the  seventh   military  division, 
which   comprehended  the  whole  of  Catalonia 
and  part  of  Arragon,  repaired  to  liis  post  in  the 
beginning  of  September,  and  having  drawn  to- 
gether a  considerable  force  at  Lerida,  advanced 
toward  Cervera  on  the  'ilh  September.     It  was 
high  time  he  should  do  so,  for  the  Constitu- 
tional forces  had  recently  before  been  defeated 
in  an  attempt  upon  Seo  d'Urgel  by  the 
Baron  d'Krolles,  and  driven  back  with      "^'     ' 
great  loss  into  Lerida.    The  Trappist,  who  had  re- 
ceived orders  to  penetrate  into  isavarre  in  order 
to  effect  a  junction  with  Quesada,  after 
sustaining  a  severe  check  on  the  19th       "■ 
from  Zarco  del  Valle,  had  succeeded  in  rally- 
ing his  troops  in  the  mountains,  and   .    „  p, 
joined    Quesada    on    the    23d.      Their       "'  * 
united  force  defeated  a  division  of  the  enemy 
at  Benavarra,  commanded  by  Tabuenca,  w  ho 
was  shot  in  cold  blood.      From  thence  tliey 
proceeded  against  Jaca,  an  import-  Sept.  18. 
ant   fortress   on    the   frontier   com-  1  Ann.  Hist- 

mandinrr   one    of    the    chief  passes  y.-  '^'^'^'  ^^'^' 
■    i.     T-  V    ..  ii         r  -1    1   •     ii       Martignac, 

uito  l*rance;    but  they  tailed  in  the  i.  447  ;  Ann. 

attempt,  and  retired  to  the  mount-  Keg.  ib22, 
ains.'  251. 

These  alternative  victories  and  defeats,  in 
which  success  was  nearly  equally  bal- 
anced between  the  contending  par-  capture  of 
ties,  and  cruelty  was  unhappily  prac-  castilibilit, 
ticed  alike  by  both,  determined  no-  and  savage 
thing.    The  arrival  of  5lina,  however,  |',J,°''o^"'.^na^ 
speedily  altered  the  face  of  affairs, 
and,  combined  with  the  destruction  of  the  royal 
guard  at  Madrid,  and  the  general  establishment 
of  the  most  violent  revolutionary  authorities 
in  all  parts  of  the  country  where  the  E03  alista 
were  not  in  force,  caused  the  balance  to  incline 
decisively  to  the  Liberal  side.     He  first  laid 
seige  to   Castelfollit,  a  considerable  town   on 
the  river  Bregas,  wliieh  he  took  after  a  „      „ . 
siege  of  six  days.     Five  hundred  of  the 
garrison  escaped  before  the  assault;    the  rest 
were  put  to  the  sword  after  having  surrendered. 
The  town  was  sacked,  burned,  and  totally  des- 
troyed.    This  was  done,  although  Mina  hinj- 
Pelf,  in  a  proclamation  after  the  assault,  said, 
"The  defense  had  been  long,  firm,  and  obstinate ; 
thegarrisonhad  performed  prodigiesof  valorand 
acts  of  heroism  equal  to  the  most  noble  which 
history  has   recorded."     This  frightful  massa- 
cre diffused  the  utmost  consternation  in  Cata- 
lonia, which  was  not  a  little  increased  ^^ 
by  a  pioclamation  issued  immediately 
after,*  in  which  Mina  theatened  the  same  fate 

*  "  1.  Every  town  or  village  which  shall  yield  10  a  b.':nd 
of  rebels,  amounting  in  number  to  less  than  one-ihird  of 
its  population,  shall  be  .sacked  and  burnt. 

"2.  Every  town  or  village  which  shall  surrender  10  a 
band  of  rebels,  greater  in  number  than  one-tiiird  of  the  in- 
habitants, and  the  greater  part  of  which  inhabitants  shall 
join  the  insurgents,  shall  also  be  sacked  and  burnt. 

"3.  Every  town  or  village  which  shall  furnish  succor 
or  the  means  of  subsistence  to  rebels  of  any  kind,  who  do 
not  present  themselves  in  a  force  equal  to  a  third  of  the 
inhabitants,  shall  pay  a  contribution  of  one  thousand  Cata- 


1822.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


SCO 


to  all  who  should  still  resist  the  Liberal  forces, 
oll'ering  a  free  pardon  to  such  as  should  desert 
with  their  arms  before  the  2Uth  of 
'  '^."".'  ^^°'  November.      The   cruel   resolution 
Marti|nac,     to  put  all  to  the  sword  who  were 
i.  447^449*;    found  in   arms   contending   against 
Ann.  Hist.     ^]^q  Liberal  forces,   was  too   faith- 
monas'del"  fully  executed.    All,  whether  monks, 
Espoz-y-       priests,  peasants,   or  soldiers,  were 
Miua,  iii.  5,  ghot  in  cold  blood,  after  having  sur- 
rendered.' 
Upon   receiving  intelligence  of  the  fall  of 
-g  CastelfoUit,  the  Baron  d'Erolles  hast- 

Continued  ened  to  unite  himself  to  the  remains 
disasters  of  of  the  garrison,  with  five  thousand 
the  Royal-  u^gjj  -^-hom  he  had  collected  in  the 
ists,  and  .  , 

flight  of  tUe  mountains.  Mina  advanced  to  meet 
regency  him:  the  opposite  forces  met  be- 
from  Urgel.  t^yggn  Tora  and  Sanchaga,  and  the 
Royalists  were  surprised  and  totally  defeated. 
From  thence  Miua  advanced  to  Balaguer,  and 
its  garrison,  one  thousand  strong,  fearing  the 


Ionian  livres,  and  the  members  of  the  municipality  shall 
be  shot. 

"4.  Every  detached  house  in  the  country,  or  in  any 
town  or  village  which  may  be  abandoned  on  the  approach 
of  the  Constitutional  troops,  shall  be  saclied,  pulled  down, 
or  burnt 

"  5.  TKe  municipal  councilors,  magistrates,  and  cures, 
■who  shall,  being  within  three  hours"  march  of  my  head- 
quarters, neglect  to  send  me  daily  information  of  the  move- 
ments of  the  rebels,  shall  be  subjected  to  a  pecuniary  con- 
tribution ;  and  if  serious  disadvantage  shall  arise  from  the 
neglect  of  this  duty,  they  shall  be  shot. 

"6.  Every  soldier  from  the  rebel  ranks  who  shall  pre- 
sent himself  before  me,  or  one  of  my  generals  of  division, 
before  20th  November  next,  shall  be  pardoned. 

"MiNA." 

—Ar,nua}.  Register,  1822,  p.  251. 


fate  of  that  of  CastelfoUit,  evacuated  the  place, 
and  withdrew  to  the  mountains  on  his  ^^^^  3 
approach.     Quesada,  a  few  days  before, 
had  been  worsted  in  an  encounter  with 
Espinoza  in  ISavarre,  his  corps,  three  thousand 
live  hundred  strong,  dispersed  in  the  mountains, 
and  he  himself  obliged  to  take  refuge  i^  q  ,  00 
Baj'onne.     In  Old   Castile   the  curate 
Merino  had  about  the  same  time  been  defeate<l, 
and  his  band  dispersed  near  Lernia.     The  Roy- 
alist cause  seemed  every  where  desperate,  and 
the  regency  at  Urgel,  despairing  of  being  able 
to  maintain  their  ground  in  t>pain,  had  .^, 
evacuated  that  town,  and  taken  refuge 
in  Puycerda,  close  to  the  French  frontier.     The 
Trappist,  after  vainly  endeavoring  to  ^^^.  j^ 
make   head    against    greatly  superior  ^ 

forces,  now  concentrated  against  him 
in   Catalonia,  liad  been  obliged  also  to  take 
refuge  within  the  French  frontier,  and  had  re- 
paired Toulouse,  where  he  was  the  object  of 
of  almost  superstitious  Veneration  and  dread ; 
and  the  Baron  d'Erolles  himself,  closely  follow- 
ed by  Mina,  was  obliged  to  accept  battle  from 
his  indefatigable  pursuer,  and  being  defeated, 
and  his  corps  dispersed,  had  also  found  an  asylum 
within  the  friendly  lines  af  France.     The  sole 
strongholds  now  remaining  to  the   Royalists 
in  the  north  of  Spain,  in  the  end  ,  ^„^  jy^^i 
of  November,  were  the  forts  of  Urgel  v.  494,  496 ; 
and  Mequinenza,   which   were   im-  Ann.  Reg. 
mediately  invested  by  Mina;    and  o53~'Memo- 
although  the  guerrilla  contest  still  rias'dcl 
continued  in  the  mountains,  every  Epoz-y- 
thing  like  regular  warfare  was  at  M'na, iii.24. 
an  end  throughout  the  Peninsula.' 


■loO 


II I  ST  O  11  Y    or   EUKOPE. 


[CuAr.  XU. 


CII AFTER  XII. 

CONGRESS    OF  VERONA FRENCil    INVASION    OK    SPAIN DEATH    OP  LOUIS    XVITT. 


These  decisive  successes  on  the  part  of  the 
Spiuiish  revolutionists  demonstrated 
Grea'Vfll'ct  *''*^  immense  ndvautages  tliey  pos- 
iiroilured  by  sessed  from  the  cominnnd  of  the  (iov- 
ilicse  sue-  eminent,  tlie  army,  the  treasury,  and 
Lbtris""'  '^'^  fortified  places,  and  rendered  it 
more  than  doubtful  ■whether,  Avith 
all  the  support  Aviiich  the  rural  population 
could  give  it,  the  lloyalist  cause  would  ever 
be  able,  without  external  aid,  to  prevail.  Ex- 
perience had  now  suflieientlj'  proven,  that  how- 
ever individually  brave,  ardent,  and  indefati- 
gable the  detached  corps  of  the  loyalists  might 
be,  and  however  prolonged  and  harassing  the 
warfare  they  might  maintain  in  the  mountains, 
they  could  not  venture  bej-ond  their  shelter 
without  incurring  the  most  imminent  hazard 
of  defeat.  It  was  impossible  to  expect  that  a 
confused  and  undisciplined  band  of  priests, 
monks,  cures, peasants,  hidalgos,  and  smugglers, 
hastily  assembled  together,  in  general  without 
artillery,  always  without  magazines  or  stores, 
could  make  head  against  regular  armies  issuing 
out  of  fortresses  amply  supplied  with  both,  and 
conducted  by  generals  trained  in  the  campaigns 
of  'Wellington.  Immense  was  the  impression 
which  these  successes  produced  on  botli  sides 
of  the  Pyrenees.  There  was  no  end  to  the  ex- 
ultation of  the  Liberals,  in  most  of  the  French 
and  Spanish  towns,  at  victories  which  appeared 
to  promise  a  lasting  triumph  to  their  cause. 
Great  as  they  had  been,  they  were  magnified 
tenfold  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Liberals  in 
the  press  of  both  countries;  it  was  hard  to  say 
whether  the  declamations  of  their  adherents  in 
the  Spanish  Cortes  or  the  French  Chamber  of 
Deputies  were  the  most  violent.  On  the  other 
band,  the  Royalists  in  both  countries  were  pro- 
portionally depressed.  A  ghastly  crowd  of  live 
or  six  thousand  fugitives  from  the  northern 
provinces  had  burst  through  the  passes  of  the 
Pyrenees,  and  escaped  the  sword  of  their  pur- 
suers only  by  the  protection  of  a  nominally 
neutral  but  really  friendly  territory.  They 
were  starving,  disarmed,  naked,  and  destitute 
of  every  thing,  and  spread,  wherever  they  went, 
the  most  heart-rending  accounts  of  their  suffer- 
14  jj.j  iugs.  They  had  lost  all  in  the  contest 
v.'49T,498  ;  for  their  religion  and  their  king — all 
Martignac,  but  the  remembrance  of  their  wrongs 
i.  452,  453.    ^^^j  j-jjg  resolution  to  avenge  them.^ 

These  events  made  the  deepest  impression 
2  iipon  the  Government  and  the  whole 

Effect  of  Royalist  party  in  France.  The  ex- 
these  events  ultation  of  the  Liberals  in  Paris, 
'"Je"'^''  and  the  open  Jo  Pceans  sung  daily 
in  the  journals,  filled  them  with  dis- 
may. The  conviction  was  daily  becoming 
stronger  among  all  reflecting  men,  that  how- 
ever calamitous  the  progress  of  the  revolution 
had  been  to  Spain,  and  however  much  it  threat- 
ened the  cause  of  order  and  monarchy  in  both 
countries,  it  could  not  be  put  down  without 


foreign  interferenee,  and  that  the  Royalists,  in 
combating  it,  would  only  ruin  themselves  and 
their  country,  but  ettect  nothing  against  the 
organized  forces  of  their  enemies.  The  ques- 
tion was  one  of  life  or  death  to  the  French 
monarchy ;  for  how  was  roy-alty  to  exist  at 
Paris  if  cast  down  at  Madrid?  The  necessity 
of  the  case  can  not  be  better  stated  than  in  the 
words  of  a  celebrated  and  eloquent  but  candid 
historian  of  the  Liberal  school.  "Whatever," 
says  Lamai-tine,  "may  have  been  the  faiilts  of 
the  Government  of  the  Restoration  at  that 
period,  it  is  imjiossible  for  an  impartial  liisto- 
I'ian  to  disguise  the  extreme  danger  against 
whicli  Louis  XA'III.  and  his  ministers  liad  to 
guard  themselves  from  the  revolutions  in  the 
adjoining  countries  of  Spain,  Portugal,  Naples, 
and  Piedmont,  from  whicli  the  contagion  of 
military  revolutions  and  secret  societies  had 
spread  into  the  armies,  the  last  support  of 
thrones.  It  was  not  the  cause  of  the  French 
Bourbons  which  tottered,  it  was  that  of  all 
kings  and  of  all  thrones.  Even  more,  it  was 
the  cause  of  all  the  ancient  institutions  which 
were  sapped  in  all  the  south  of  Europe  by  the 
new  ideas  and  institutions.  The  north  itself — 
German}-,  Prussia,  Russia — felt  tliemselves pene- 
trated in  their  inmost  veins  by  that  passion  for 
a  renewal  of  things,  that  pouring  of  youthful 
blood  into  the  institutions,  that  participation 
of  the  people  in  the  government,  which  is  the 
soul  of  modern  times.  Entire  nations,  which 
had  slept  for  centuries  in  their  fetters,  gave 
symptoms  of  returning  life,  and  even  on  the 
confines  of  Asia  hoisted  the  signal  of  the  resur- 
rection of  nations.  All  was  the  work  of  seven 
years  of  peace,  and  of  the  freedom  of  thought 
in  France. 

"The  Bourbons  had  given  freedom  to  the 
press  and  to  the   tribune  in  their  , 

countiT;  and  thatliberty  of  thought,  Larmartine's 
re-echoed  from  Paris  and  London  in  observations 
Spain,  Itah',  and  Greece,  had  occa-  °"  '^"^  ^^^' 
sioned  the  explosion  of  the  revolu- 
tionary elements  which  had  been  accumulating 
for  centuries  in  the  capitals  of  those  countries. 
By  a  natural  rebound,  these  revolutions — re- 
strained at  Kaples  and  Turin,  fermenting  and 
combating  in  Greco-Moldavia  and  "Wallachia, 
triumphant  and  exasperated  in  Spain — reacted 
with  terrible  effect  on  the  press,  the  tribune, 
the  y-outh,  and  the  army  of  France.  The  Con- 
stitution proclaimed  at  Cadiz,  which  left  only 
the  shadow  of  roy^alty,  which  surpassed  in 
democracy  the  constitution  of  1791  in  France, 
and  which  was  nothing  in  reality  but  a  repub- 
lic masked  by  a  throne,  threw  into  the  shade 
the  Charter  of  Louis  XVIIL  and  the  mixed 
constitution  of  Great  Britain.  Revolutionary 
France  blushed  for  its  timidity  in  the  career 
of  innovation  in  presence  of  a  nation  which, 
like  the  Spanish,  had  achieved,  at  the  first  step, 
the  realization  of  all  the  visions  of  the  philoso- 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


1822.] 

pli}'  of  1*789 ;  ■which  had  establislioil  freedom 
of  worsliip  ia  the  realm  of  the  Inquisition, 
vindicated  the  land  from  the  priesthood  in  a 
state  of  monastic  supremacy-,  and  dethroned 
kings  in  a  nation  where  absolute  rojalty  was 
a  dogma,  and  kings  a  faith.  Every  audacious 
step  of  the  revolution  at  Madrid  was  applauded, 
and  proposed  to  the  imitation  of  the  French 
army.  Tlie  most  vehement  speeches  of  the 
orators  in  the  Cortes,  the  most  violent  articles 
in  the  revolutionary  journals,  were  reprinted 
and  eagerly  read  in  France;  the  insurrection, 
the  anarchy  of  the  Spanish  revolution,  were  the 
subject  of  enthusiasm  in  Paris;  every  triumph 
of  the  anarchists  at  Madrid  over  the  throne  or 
tlie  clergy  was  publicly  celebrated  as  a  triumph 
by  the  Frencli  revolutionists.  Spain  was  on 
the  verge  of  a  republic ;  and  a  republic  pro- 
claimed on  the  other  side  of  the  Pyrenees  could 
not  fail  to  overturn  the  Bourbons  in  France. 
Europe  was  slipping  from  beneath  the  mon- 
archies; all  felt  it,  and  most  of  all  the  revolu- 
tionists of  Paris.  Was  it  possible  that  the  Bour- 
bons and  their  partisans  should  alone  not  per- 
ceive it?  War  was  declared  between  their 
,,  ..  enemies  and  themselves;  the  field 
Ilistoiredela  ot  battle  was  bpain :  it  was  there 
Restaura-  they  must  conquer  or  die.  Who 
tiou,  vii.  fi4,  ca^  blame  them  for  having  not  con- 
sented to  die?"^ 
But  while  the  considerations  here  so  elo- 
.  quently  set  forth  demonstrate  the 

Opposite  views  absolute  necessity  of  French  in- 
which  prevail-  tervention  in  Spain,  and  vindi- 
edin  Great  Bri-  ^^^^  ^j^g  gj-^p^  tjjgy  ^qq^.  accord- 
tain.  •      1       i.1 

ingly,  there  were  many  reasons, 

equally  cogent  and  well-founded,  which  caused 
a  very  different  view  to  be  taken  of  the  subject 
in  Great  Britain.  The  first  of  these  was  the 
general,  it  may  be  said  invariable,  sympathy 
of  the  English  with  any  other  people  struggling 
for  freedom,  and  their  constant  conviction  that 
the  cause  of  insurrection  is  that  of  justice,  wis- 
dom, and  ultimate  happiness.  This  is  not  a 
mere  passing  conviction  on  the  j>art  of  the  in- 
habitants of  this  country — it  is  their  firm  and 
settled  belief  at  all  times,  and  in  all  places,  and 
under  all  circumstances.  No  amount  of  exper- 
ience of  ruin  in  other  states,  or  suffering  in 
theii-  own,  from  the  effect  of  such  convulsions, 
is  able  to  lessen  their  s^'rnpathy  for  tiie  persons 
engaged  in  them,  or  shake  their  belief  in  their 
ultimately  beneficial  consequences.  Justly 
proud  of  their  own  freedom,  and  tracing  to  its 
effects  the  chief  part  of  the  grandeur  and  pros- 
perity which  this  country  has  attained,  they 
constantly  think  that  if  other  nation.^  could 
win  for  themselves  similar  institutions,  they 
would  attain  to  an  cqinil  degree  of  felicity. 
They  never  can  be  brought,  generally  speaking, 
to  believe  that  there  is  an  essential  difference 
in  race,  piiysical  circumstances,  and  degree  of 
civilization,  and  that  fhe  form  of  government 
which  is  most  beneficial  in  one  situation  is  ut- 
terly ruinous  in  another.  Their  sympathy  is 
alwa^-s  with  tlio  rebels;  their  wisiies,  in  the 
f>utset  at  least,  for  the  people  and  against  the 
government.  This  was  the  case  in  178'.),  Avhen 
nearly  all  classes  in  (Jrtxit  Britain  were  carried 
away  by  the  deceitful  dawn  of  the  French 
Revolution,  and  Mr.  I'ittliimself  hailed  it  with 
rapture;  and  the  same  disposition  led  them. 
Vol,,  T. — C  c 


401 


with  a  few  exceptions  of  reflecting  men,  to 
augur  well  of  the  Spanish  revolution,  and  to 
sympathize  warmly  with  its  fortunes. 

In  addition  to  this,  there  was  another  cir- 
cumstance, strongly  rooted  in  the  g 
national  feelings,  which  rendered  Repugnance 
the  thoughts  of  any  French  inter-  'o  French 
vention  in  Spain  peculiarly  ob-  '"'^^^'^■"ion- 
noxious  to  every  person  actuated  by  pa1  ri- 
otic  dispositions  in  Great  Britain.  Spain  had 
been  the  battle-field  of  England  and  Frai.ce 
during  the  late  war;  it  had  been  the  theatre 
of  Wellington's  victories — the  most  glorious 
victories  her  arms  liad  ever  gained.  The  hist 
time  the  French  ensigns  had  been  seen  in  ihe 
P^'renees  was  when  they  were  retiring  before 
the  triumphant  host  which  the  English  general 
led  in  pursuit;  the  last  time  the  English  flag 
had  waved  in  Roncesvalles  was  when  they  were 
preparing  to  carry  a  war  of  retaliation  into  tiie 
heart  of  France.  To  think  of  all  this  being 
reversed;  of  a  hundred  thousand  French  i  e- 
traeing  their  steps  as  conquerors  through  tho  e 
defiles  where  they  had  so  latelj'  fled  before  a 
hundred  thousand  English,  Spaniards,  and  Por- 
tuguese, was  insupportable.  Most  of  all  did  it 
appear  so,  when  the  invading  host  Avas  now 
thought  to  be  arraj'ed  in  the  cause  of  despots 
against  the  liberties  of  mankind,  and  tho  de- 
fensive bands  of  the  Spanish  were  united  i.i 
the  great  cause  of  civil  freedom  and  national 
independence. 

Add  to  this  another  consideration,  not  so  ob- 
vious to  the  general  feelings  of  the  p 
multitude,  influenced  by  present  im-  Danger  of  a 
pressions,  but  perhaps  still  more  co-  renewal  of 
gent  with  the  far-seeing  statesman,  J.o^p"(.'t  ^ 
guided  by  ultimate  results.  England  between 
had  repeatedly,  during  tho  course  of  France  and 
the  eighteenth  century,  been  brought  "I'"'""- 
to  the  brink  of  ruin  by  the  superiority  of  the 
French  and  Spanish  fleets,  taken  togetlicr,  to 
her  own:  the  admirable  skill  of  her  admirals, 
the  heroic  resolution  of  her  seamen,  liad  alone 
enabled  her  to  make  head  against  the  o<lds. 
The  fatal  error  committed  by  the  Tories,  in  tho 
days  of  Marlborough,  in  allowing  the  Sjianish 
crown  to  remain  on  the  head  of  a  Bourbon 
prince,  had  become  apparent  to  all  reflecting 
men:  it  was  equaled  only  by  the  error  of  the 
Whigs,  in  the  days  of  Wellington,  in  doing 
tlieir  utmost  to  allow  it  to  remain  on  the  head 
of  a  brother  of  Napoleon.  Tho  "family  com- 
pact" in  cither  case  might  prove  fatal  to  tho 
independence  of  Great  Britain.  Such  a  com- 
pact was  in  an  especial  manner  to  be  dreaded, 
if  it  became  an  alliance  of  feeling  and  interest, 
not  less  than  blood  and  cabinets;  and  a  liour- 
bon  king,  restored  to  his  throne  i)y  the  arms 
of  a  Bourbon  prince,  was  thrown  into  a  eloso 
alliance  with  our  here<litarv  enemies  by  iden- 
tity of  cause  and  necessity  of  situation,  not  less 
than  family  connection  and  the  danger  of  com- 
mon enemies. 

These  eonsidernl ions  must  ever  be  entitled  to 
respect,  for  thcj'  were  founded  on  the  7. 

generous  feelings,  a  sincer(\  though  Intlucnrcof 
perhaps  inistak<>n  zeal  for  the  iiaiiiii-  ''"'  •'^"""' 
ness  of  mankinij,  and  a  just  appreeia-  i,,,,!  sjian- 
tion  of  our  political   situation,  and  i.sli  liond- 
the  dangers  which  might  ultimately  ''ol''"-''''*. 
conic  to  threaten   our  indc[)cndence.     But  in 


40-J 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


[CuAr.  xn. 


ndilitioi)  to  this  thorc  wore  otliors  loss  oiititkHl 
to  ri'S]>vot,  lu'oiuisi'  l)u<oii  (.'iitiri'ly  on  (icltish  lU'- 
i^iros.  l>iit  not  on  that  aoooiitit  tlio  loss  likol_\-  to 
puiiio  llio  opiiiioiis  and  form  the  wislioa  of  a 
jioworful  jHirtiou  of  sooioty.  InlluonooJ  ])art- 
Iv  bv  tlioir  constant  synijiatliy  Avitli  revolution- 
ary otVorts,  and  partly  by  the  thirst  for  the  cx- 
travatrant  pains  oll'orod  lor  loans  by  the  rulers 
<>f  revolutionary  states,  the  capitalists  of  En- 
trland  had  larijely  embarked  in  adventures  con- 
neetod  with  the  independence  of  South  America. 
The  idea  of  "  healthy  young  republics"  arising 
in  those  immense  regions,  and  equaling  those 
of  North  America  in  rapidity  of  growth  and 
extent  of  consimiption  of  our  manufactures,  in- 
thienced  some;  the  prospect  of  seven,  eight, 
and  nine  per  cent.,  offered  for  loans,  and  for  a 
few  years  regularly  paid,  attracted  others;  the 
idea  of  the  cause  of  liberty  and  indepenilence 
spreading  over  the  whole  of  the  New  World 
carried  away  a  still  greater  multitude.  No  one 
doubted  that  these  young  republics,  which  had 
been  mainly  rescued  from  the  colonial  oppres- 
sion of  Spam  by  the  sympathizing  aims  of  En- 
gland, and  the  valor  of  Wellington's  disband- 
ed veterans,  would  speedily  become  powerful 
states,  in  close  alliance,  political  and  commer- 
cial, with  Great  Britain,  paying  Avith  regular- 
ity and  thankfulness  the  ample  interest  duo 
upon  their  debts,  consuming  an  immense  and 
daily  increasing  amount  of  our  manufactures, 
and  enriching  in  return  the  fortunate  share- 
liolders  of  the  mining  companies  that  were 
daily  springing  up,  with  a  large  share  of  the 
riches  of  Mexico  and  Peru. 
The  sums  expended  by  the  capitalists  of 
8.  Great    Britain   in   advances  to   the 

Immense  revolutionary  governments  of  the 
extent  of  Peninsula  and  their  revolted  colonies 
the  .Spanish  ,  i         ^    ^  i 

and  South    'Were  so  great  as  almost  to  exceed 

American  belief.  They  were  stated  by  Lord 
loans.  Palmerston,  in  his  place  in  Parlia- 

ment, at  £150,000,000  between  1820  and  1850; 
and  a  considerable  part  of  this  immense  sum 
had  been  advanced  before  the  «nd  of  1822. 
Payment  of  the  interest  even  of  those  vast 
loans  was  thought,  and  not  without  reason,  to 
be  entirely  dependent  on  support  being  given 
the  revolutionary  governments  in  the  Peninsula 
and  South  America.  It  was  well  known  that 
the  independence  of  the  revolted  colonies  had 
been  mainly  secured  by  the  insurrection  of  the 
army  assembled  in  the  island  of  Leon,  which 
had  also  overturned  the  monarchy  of  Spain; 
and  it  was  expected,  with  reason,  that  the  ut- 
most exertions  would  be  made  by  the  royal 
government,  if  once  restored,  to  regain  their 
sway  over  regions  with  which  so  lucrative  a 
commerce  was  wound  up,  and  from  which  so 
large  a  part  of  the  royal  revenues  was  derived. 
Great  fears  were  entertained,  which  were  af- 
terward amply  justified  by  the  event,  that  the 
king,  if  restored  to  unrestricted  authority, 
would  not  recognize  the  loans  contracted  by 
the  Cortes,  nearly  the  whole  of  which  had  been 
supplied  from  London.  Influenced  by  these 
considerations,  the  large  and  powerful  body  of 
English  capitalists  implicated  in  these  advances, 
made  the  greatest  efforts,  by  means  of  the  press, 
public  meetings,  and  detached  publications,  to 
keep  alive  the  enthusiasm  in  regard  to  Spanish 
freedom   and  South    American   independence; 


and  willi  such  .'uccess  wore  their  efforts  attend- 
ed, that  the  pet>ple  of  England  wei'e  kept  al- 
most entirely  in  the  ihuk  as  to  the  real  nature 
and  ultimate  results  of  the  contest  in  both 
hemispheres,  and  the  enthusiasm  iu  their  favor 
was  all  but  universal. 

A  feeling  so  general,  and  supported  Ly  so 
many  heartslirriiig  recollections  and 

warm  anticiiiations,  could  not  fail,  in  v;  ,„.    „r,i 

'.      .       ' ,  1       ,.  ^  lews  ol  the 

a  countr}'  enjoying  the  j)opular  form  cabinet  and 
of  government  which  England  did,  to  Mr.  Canning 
communicate  itself  to  tlie  House  of  ""  "i*^  '*"''■ 
Commons  ;  and  so  powerful  was  the 
current,  that  it  is  probable  no  ministry  could 
have  been  strong  enough  to  w"ithstand  it.  But, 
in  addition  to  this,  there  were  many  circum- 
stances at  that  i)eriod  which  rendered  any  le- 
sistance  to  llie  {popular  wishes  in  this  respect 
impossible.  The  Sliiiistry,  which  had  narrow- 
ly escaped  shipwreck  on  the  question  of  the 
queen's  trial,  was  only  beginning  to  recover  its 
popularity,  and  the  king,  who  had  so  long  la- 
bored under  the  load  of  unpopularity,  had  for 
the  first  time  recentlj"^  experienced,  in  Dublin 
and  Edinburgh,  the  intoxication  of  popular  ap- 
plause. It  was  not  the  time  to  check  these  fa- 
vorable disjiositions,  bj^  running  counter  to  the 
national  wishes  on  a  great  question  of  foreign 
policy.  Add  to  this,  that  the  Cabinet  itself  was 
divided  on  the  subject,  and  a  considerable  por- 
tion, probably  a  majoritj',  were  inclined  to  go 
along  with  the  popular  view^s  regarding  it.  Mr. 
Canning,  in  particular,  who,  on  Lord  London- 
derry's death,  had  exchanged  the  office  of  Gov- 
ernor-general of  India,  to  which  he  had  been 
appointed,  for  the  still  more  important  one  of 
Foreign  Secretary,  was  an  ardent  supporter  of 
these  views.  He  was  actuated  in  this  alike  by 
sentiment,  ambition,  and  necessit}-.  Ilis  feel- 
ings had  originally  led  him  to  take  part  with 
the  Whigs;  and  although  on  his  entrance  into 
public  life,  he,  by  the  advice  of  their  leaders, 
joined  Mr.  Pitt,  and  became  one  of  the  most 
ardent  opponents  of  the  French  Revolution,  yet 
it  was  its  excesses,  not  its  original  principles, 
which  he  condemned.  His  first  inclinations 
never  deserted  him  through  life.  The  steady 
supporter  of  Catholic  emancipation,  he  had  also 
warmly  embraced  the  new  views  in  regard  to 
freedom  of  trade  which  were  then  beginning, 
not  only  to  prevail  in  Parliament,  but  to  influ- 
ence Government.  During  his  keen  contest  for 
Liverpool,  he  had  been  thrown  much  among, 
and  been  on  the  most  intimate  terms  with,  the 
leading  merchants  of  that  city,  and  become  ac- 
quainted with  all  their  sanguine  expectations 
as  to  the  immense  benefits  which  would  accrue 
to  this  country  from  the  esta-blishment  of  South 
American  independence.  A  stead}'  supporter 
of  Wellington  during  the  war,  the  idea  of  the 
work  he  had  achieved  being  undone,  and  French 
influence  re-established  in  the  Peninsula,  was 
utterly  abhorrent  to  his  mind:  a  politician  in- 
fluenced rather  by  feeling  and  impulse  than 
reasoning  and  reflection,  he  did  not  see  that  the 
cause  he  was  now  so  anxious  to  support  in  Spain 
was  precisely  the  same  as  that  Avhich  he  had 
formerly  so  energetically  combated  in  Franco. 
Finally,  he  was  ambitious,  and  a  great  career 
lay  open  before  him;  he  was  the  man  of  the 
])cople,  and  they  had  placed  liira  in  power;  he 
was  the  champion  of  England,  and  his  present 


i822.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


403 


greatness,  as  ■well  as  future  renuwii,  was  wound 
(ij)  with  the  mainteiiaiice  of  its  interests  auJ  the 
furtherance  of  its  do^ires. 

When  views  so  utterly  opposite  were  enter- 
tained on  a  great  question  of  European 
,,  ^^-  politics,  upon  which  it  was  indispensa- 
of  Verona  We  that  a  decision  should  be  immedi- 
agreed  on  ately  adopted  by  the  powers  most  im- 
by  all  the  uiediately  interested,  and  by  whose 
jiowers.  amity  the  peace  of  the  world  had  hith- 
erto been  preserved,  it  was  not  surprising  that 
the  other  powers  should  have  become  anxious 
for  tlie  result,  and  eagerly  sought  after  every 
means  of  avoiding  the  dreaded  rupture.  If  En- 
gland and  France  came  to  blows  on  the  Spanish 
question,  it  was  obvious  to  all  that  a  desperate 
European  strife,  possibly  equaling  the  last  in 
duration  and  blood,  would  be  the  result.  For 
although  the  military  strength  of  France,  back- 
ed by  that  of  the  Nothern  powers,  was  obvious- 
ly far  greater  than  that  of  Spain  supported  by 
Groat  Britain  and  Portugal,  yet  who  could  say 
how  long  this  would  last,  and  how  soon  an 
outbreak  at  Paris  might  overturn  the  Govern- 
ment there,  and  array  the  strength  of  France 
on  the  side  of  revolution?  The  throne  of  Louis 
XVIII.  rested  on  a  volcano;  any  day  an  erup- 
tion of  the  fires  smouldering  beneath  the  sur- 
face might  blow  it  into  the  air;  and  if  such  a 
catastrophe  should  occur,  what  security  was 
there  either  for  the  independence  of  other  na- 
tions, or  the  ability  of  the  Northern  powers  to 
withstand  the  advances  of  revolution  supported 
by  the  united  strength  of  France  and  England? 
These  considerations  were  so  obvious,  that  they 
forced  themselves  on  every  mind ;  and  in  order 
to  avert  the  danger,  a  congress  was  resolved  on, 
and  Veron.v  fixed  on  as  the  place  of  its  assem- 
blage. 

It  was  originally  intended  that  Lord  London- 
jl  derry,  tiien  Foreign  Minister,  should 

Members  himself  have  proceeded  to  this  im- 
of  the  Con-  portant  congress;  but  his  unhappy 
gressiherc.  j^ath  rendered  this  impossible,  and 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  was  appointed  to  go  in 
his  stead.  It  was  thought  with  justice  that 
England,  in  an  assembly  where  the  leading  ob- 
ject of  deliberation  wouhl  be  the  French  inter- 
vention in  Spain,  could  not  be  so  appropriately 
or  efficiently  represented  as  by  the  illustrious 
warrior  who  had  effected  its  liberation  from  the 
thraldom  of  Napoleon.  He  was  accompanied 
by  Lord  Strangford,  the  English  embassador  at 
Constantinople,  tiie  present  Marquis  of  London- 
derry, and  Lord  Burghersh.  France  was  rep- 
resented by  lier  Foreign  Ministers,  M.  do  Mont- 
morency, M.  de  la  Fcrronnaj',  who  was  highly 
esteemed  by  the  Emperor  Alexander,  at  whose 
court  he  was  embassador,  and  M.  dc  Oliateau- 
briand,  who  was  a<lmired  by  all  fhe  worhi,  and 
who,  at  his  own  request,  had  left  the  situ.ifion 
of  embassador  at  London  to  share  in  the  excite- 
ment and  deliberation  of  the  Congress.  From 
his  known  semi-liberal  opinions,  as  well  as  his 
f^reat  reputation,  he  was  Rcleoted  to  be  in  some 
degree  a  check  on  M.  de  Montmorency,  who 
y.'as  the  representative  of  the  extreme  Royalists 
111  France,  and  might,  it  was  fearo.j,  unnecessa- 
rily precipitate  hostilities.  The  EmjM-ror  Alex- 
ander was  there  in  person,  aecorrqianied  bv  Nes- 
selrode,  M.  de  TakichefF,  M.  <le  SfrogonofT,  his 
embassadors  at  Vienna  and  Constantinople,  and 


Count  Pozzo  di  Borgo.     Capo  d'Istria,  on  ac- 
count of  his  known  interest  in  the  Greek  insur- 
rection, was  absent.     Mctternieh,  who  soon  be- 
came the  soul  of  the  negotiations,  was  there  on 
the  part  of  Austria,  with  Count  Lebzeltern,  the 
embassador  at  St.  Petersburg;  and  Prussia  was 
represented  bj'  its  veteran  diplomatists.  Prince 
Ilardenberg   and  Count  Bernstortf.     Florence 
was  at  first  thought  of  as  the  place 
of  meeting ;   but  at  the  request  of  365*37,v"' 
the  Emperor  Alexander  it  was  ex-  Lam.  v'ii! 
changed  for  Verona,  on  account  of  9-4,  90 ;  Lac 
the  latter  city  being  a  sort  of  mid-  '}}■  ^^''  i^^  • 
way    station    between    Spam    and  and,  Con- 
Greece,  the  two  countries  which  it  gres  de  Ve- 
was  foreseen  would  principally  oc-  g""*^'  '•  '"' 
cupy  the  attention  of  the  Congress.' 

Verona,   a  city  celebrated  alike  in  ancient 
and  modern  times,  is  situated  at  the  1-2. 

foot  of  the  Alps,  at  the  place  where  Description 
the  Adige,  after  forcing  its  way  of^'erona. 
through  the  defile  of  Chiusa,  immortalized  by 
Dante,  first  emerges  into  the  smiling  plain  of 
Lombard}'.  It  is  chiefly  known  to  travelers 
from  its  noble  amphitheatre,  second  only  to  the 
Coliseum  in  solidity-  and  grandeur,  and  the  in- 
terior of  which  is  still  as  perfect  as  when  it  was 
filled  with  the  admiring  subjects  of  the  Roman 
emperors.  Its  situation,  at  the  entrance  of  the 
great  defile  which  leads  from  Germany  into 
Italy,  has  rendered  it  the  scene  since  that  time 
of  many  memorable  events,  when  rival  generals 
contended  for  the  mastery  of  the  Empire,  and 
the  Gothic  hordes  descended  from  the  north  to 
slake  their  thirst  for  spoil  with  the  riches  of 
the  fairest  part  of  Europe.  The  great  contest 
between  Otho  and  Vitcllius,  which  Tacitus  has 
immortalized,^  was  decided  under  its  2  Tacitus 
walls;  the  hordes  of  Alaric,  the  le-  Hist.  11.  30, 
gions  of  Theodorie,  defiled  through  its  24. 
gates;  and  it  was  from  thence  that  Napoleon 
set  out  at  the  head  of  the  redoubtable  grena- 
diers who  decided  the  terrible  strife  between 
France  and  Austria  on  the  dikes  of  Areola. 
Nor  is  the  charm  of  imagination  wanting  to 
complete  the  interest  of  these  histoi-ic  recol- 
lections, for  it  contains  the  tomb  of  Juliet,  and 
has  been  immortalized  by  the  genius  of  Shak- 
speare.*  The  modern  city  presents  an  interest- 
ing assemblage  of  the  relics  of  ancient  and  mod- 
ern times ;  for  if  the  stately  remains  of  its  am- 
phitheatre carry  us  back  to  the  days  of  the 
Koman  emperors,  its  fortified  bridges,  curious 
arches,  and  castellated  towers,  remind  us  not 
less  forcibly  of  the  times  of  Gothic  strife  ;  while 
its  spacious  squares,  elegant  piazzas,  and  deco- 
rated theatres,  l)cs[)eak  the  riches 
and  luxury  which   have  crown  up     •^'''"sonai 

•  ,,    ,,        ■'  -         ,        '^      •   ,     1'    observation, 

witli  the  j)eace  of  modern  society.^ 

Before  going  to  \'erona,  M.  de  Montmorency 
repaired  to  Vienna,  where  ho  luul 
several  eontldeiitial  interviews  with  vjews  of  tlic 
M.  de  Metternich.   'I'hcir  views  wei'e   dilP'rent 
entirely  in  tinison  ;  and  as  it  was  an-   powers  at  the 
tieipate<l  that  the  intentions  of  the  l^l^l^';^!,, 
cahitK-t  of  J>erlm  would  b(>  niaiiuy 
influenced  by  those  of  the  luiqirror  Alexander, 
who  was  known  to  have  the  utmost  dread  of 
the  military  revolts  of  Southern  Europe,  it  was 


*  Sec  "  The  Toinl)  in  Verona,"  a  fVagmeiit,  but  one  of 
the  iTiost  intereslinc  of  the  many  interesting  monuments 
of  Sir  E.  H.  Lytton'H  genius. 


404 


11  ISTOll  Y    OF    EU  UOl'R 


[ClIAl-.    XII, 


wiili  ronton  oxpoeted  that  the  ri'si>liitioiis  of  tho 
nsjoiuMod  powers  wouKi  be  all  Imt  uiiaiiimoiis. 
Kiiiilaiul,  imlooil,  it  was  well  known,  would  be 
htrolij^lv  oj)jH)^ed  to  any  armed  intervelilion  of  j 
IVaneeiii  (lie  I'eninsula;  but,  oppressed  as  she  I 
was  with  debt,  nnd  absorbed  in  paeilio  objects,  | 
it  was  not  anticipated  that  she  would  draw  the  1 
sword   in   its   behalf,  in  opposition   to  the  de- 
clared resolution  of  all  the  ijreat  jiowers  on  the 
Continent;  and  the  extreme  division  of  opinion  j 
in  Spain  and  TortUiral  themselves,  on  the  sub-  ' 
ject  of  tho  revolution,  encouraged  the  hope  that 
their  governments  would  fall  to  the  ground  of 
themselves,  without  the  necessity   of  military 
operations.    Yet,  notwitlistanding  the  favorable 
circumstances  which  augured  so  well  for  vigor- 
ous measures,  the  Cabinet  of  Louis  XVllI.  was 
much  divided  on  the  subject.     The  king  him- 
self, with  M.  do  Yillole,  his  Prime 
OT^^STfl"       ilinister,  strongly  inclined  to  a  pa- 
Lac.  ii'i.  405,  citic  policy,  and  deprecated  war  as 
•107;  Lam.      a  last  resource  to  be  avoided  as  long 
vii.00,99.      as  possible.' 

Verona  exhibited,  when  the  Congress  opened 

within  its  walls,  even  more  than  the 
Brilliant  as-  "^"^1  union  of  rank,  genius,  celeb- 
scmblageof  rity,  and  beauty,  which  are  usually 
princesses  attracted  b}-  such  assemblages.  The 
«!' v™'"'  Empress  of  Austria  was  present,  the 

ex-Empress  Marie-Louise  was  there, 
and  enjoyed  the  happiness  of  being  again  united 
to  her  august  family ;  but  the  brilliant  dream 
of  her  life  had  already  passed  away,  and  the 
■widow  of  Napoleon  had  sunk  into  the  obscure 
wife  of  her  own  chamberlain.  The  Queen  of 
Sardinia,  with  the  princesses  her  daughters, 
the  princesses  of  Tuscany,  Modena,  and  several 
of  the  German  powers,  embellished  the  saloons 
by  their  beauty,  or  adorned  them  by  their 
cliarms.  IS'ever  had  any  town  in  Italy  exhib- 
ited such  a  combination  of  every  thing  that 
could  distract  the  thoughts  of  the  diploniatisti5, 
or  dazzle  the  eyes  of  the  multitude.  The  prin- 
cipal actors  and  actresses  from  Paris  and  Vien- 
na had  arrived,  and  added  by  their  talents  to 
the  general  enchantment;  splendid  balls  suc- 
ceeded each  other  in  rapid  succession,  inter- 
mingled with  concerts,  in  which  the  genius  of 
Piossini  shone  forth  with  the  highest  lustre.  In 
the  midst  of  all  this  pomp  and  splendor,  the 
business  of  diplomacy  proceeded  abreast  of  that 
of  amusement ;  the  embassadors  were  as  much 
occupied  as  the  chamberlains;  and  a  liidden 
but  most  formidable  power — that  of  the  Jes- 
s  J  ..-  uits,  and  the  extreme  religious  party 
408,  411 ;  — carried  on  a  series  of  intrigues  des- 
Cap.  Yii.'  lined  to  produce  the  most  important 
373,  375.     results. » 

The  first  matter  brought  under  the  consider- 
ation of  the  Congress  was  the  in- 
Treatv^for  the  s^irrection  in  Greece,  and  the  com- 
evacuation  of  plicated  relations  of  Russia  and  the 
Piedmont  and  Porte ;  but  they  must  be  reserved 
Naples.  forasubsequentchapter,  when  that 

Dec.  14,  1822.    .  ,       J  ■*     1  •      i       Ml  1      r   n       T 

important  subject  will  be  fully  dis- 
cussed. The  state  of  Piedmont  next  came  un- 
der discussion,  and  as  it  presented  much  fewer 
difScultie.'!,  it  was  soon  adjusted.  The  King 
of  Sardinia  declared  that  the  time  had  now  ar- 
rived when  the  state  of  his  dominions  was  so 
satisfactory  that  he  could  dispense  with  the 
presence  and  protection  of  the  auxiliary  Aus- 


trian force.  The  allied  sovereigns  acceded  to 
his  re(piest  for  its  removal,  and  a  treaty  was  in 
eonse(iuenee  eoneluded,  by  which  it  was  stipu- 
lated that  the  Au.'-trian  tiooj>s  should  begin  to 
evacuate  his  territories  on  the  olst  Dccend)er, 
and  tiiut  the  evacuation  should  be  completed 
by  the  delivery  of  the  fortress  of  Alessandria  on 
the  30th  Septend)er,  lU'l'i.  By  a  separate  con- 
vention, concluded  at  the  same  time,  it  was 
agreed  that  the  auxiliary  Austrian  force  which 

oeeU|<ied    Xaides   and   Sicily,   and     ^  ^ 

11  .1        4  •     1        *    '  Treaty,  Dec. 

winch    was   supported   entirely  at  j^  it22Ann. 

the  cost  of  their  inhabitants,  should  llist.  v.  707; 

be  reduced  by  seventeen  thousand  *-'"P-  ^■"-  3"5, 

1  •'  37G. 

men.' 

A  strenuous  and  most  praiseworthy  attempt 
was  made  by  the  Duke  of  ^Velling- 
ton,  under  iMr.  Canning's  instrue-  Resolution  of 
tions,  to  procure  some  resolution  the  Congress 
from  the  allied  powers  against  the  regarding  the 
slave-trade.  He  stated,  iii  his  note  slave-trade, 
on  this  subject,  that  of  the  eight  powers  who, 
in  1815,  had  signed  a  declaration  against  that 
atrocious  traffic,  and  expressed  a  desire  to  "put 
a  period  to  a  scourge  Avhich  had  so  long  deso- 
lated Africa,  disgraced  Europe,  and  afflicted 
humanity,"  seven  had  passed  laws  with  the 
design  of  prohibiting  their  subjects  entirely 
from  engaging  in  it;  but  Portugal  and  Brazil 
continued  to  carry  it  on  to  an  tmprecedented 
extent.  To  such  a  length  was  this  trade  now 
pushed,  that  during  seven  months  of  the  year 
1821  above  38,000  human  beings  liad  been  torn 
from  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  thrown  into  hope- 
less and  irremediable  slaver}-;  and  from  the 
month  of  July,  1820,  to  that  of  October,  1821, 
no  less  tlian  S32  vessels  had  entered  the  rivers 
of  Africa,  to  the  north  of  the  equator,  to  buy 
slaves,  each  of  which  could  caiiy  500  or  600 
slaves,  which  would,  if  they  were  all  filled,  im- 
ply a  transportation  of  nearly  200,000  human 
beings.  Great  part  of  this  detestable  traffic 
w'as  stated  to  be  carried  on  under  the  Fi'cnch 
flag.  Notwithstanding  these  appalling  facts, 
which  could  neither  be  denied  nor  controverted, 
the  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  French  govern- 
ment to  any  decisive  measure  which  might  ex- 
clude them  from  a  share  of  this  lucrative  com- 
merce was  so  great,  that  all  that  Great  Britain 
could  obtain  from  the  Congress  was  a  vague 
declaration  from  the  five  great  powers,  "  that 
they  have  never  ceased,  and  will  never  cease,  to 

regard  the  slave-trade  as  a  traffic  „  ,„  „.    .    , 
1-11        A       ^  J       1  i    1    A  f    °  Wellington's 

which  has  too  long  desolated  At-  ^gig^  ^gy^  24, 

rica,  disgraced  Europe,  and  afflict-  l&22;Reponce 
ed  humanity;  and  that  they  are  '^'^P^";f"il"' 
read}',  by  all  means  in  their  power,  j^gs  ;  Resolu- 
to  concur  in  all  measures  which  tions'dcs  Con- 
may  insure  and  accelerate  the  en-  gres,  Nov.  28, 
tire  and  final  abolition  of  that  ^^foof^OT.'^'' 
commerce.^ 

Another    subject    was    brought   under   the 
notice  of  the  Congress  by  Great  j^ 

Britain,  upon  which  the  views  NoteofEngland 
of  its  Cabinet  and  of  that  of  the  regarding  South 
Tuileries  were  still  more  at  vari-  ^^^l"^^^^^  '"''^■ 
anee,  and  which  presaged  great 
and  lasting  changes  in  both  hemispheres.  This 
was  the  all-important  one  of  South  American 
Independence.  The  Duke  of  Wellington  pre- 
sented a  note  to  the  Congress,  in  which  it  was 
stated,  "  The  connection  subsisting  between  the 


I 


18-2 'J.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


405 


subjects  of  his  Britannic  Majesty  and  the  other 
parts  of  the  globe  has  for  long  rendered  it  ne- 
cessary for  him  to  recognize  the  existence  de 
facto  of  governments  formed  in  different  places, 
BO  far  as  was  necessarj'  to  conclude  treaties 
with  them;  the  relaxation  of  the. authority  of 
Spain  in  her  colonies  in  South  America  has 
given  rise  to  a  host  of  pirates  and  adventurers 
— an  insupportable  evil,  which  it  is  impossible 
for  England  to  extirpate  without  the  aid  of  the 
local  authorities  which  occupy  the  adjacent 
coasts  and  harbors ;  and  the  necessity  of  this 
co-operation  can  not  but  lead  to  the  recogni- 
tion de  facto  of  a  number  of  governments  of 
their  own  creation."  Veiled  under  a  desire  to 
suppress  the  undoubted  evil  of  piracy,  this 
was  an  attempt  indirectly  to  obtain  from  the 
Congress  some  act  or  declaration  amounting  to 
a  recognition  of  the  independence  of  South 
America.  The  other  powers,  accordingly,  saw 
the  object,  and  immediately  took  the  alarm. 
Austria  answered,  "that  England  was  perfect- 
ly entitled  to  defend  her  conmiereial  interests 
from  piracy ;  but  as  to  the  independence  of  the 
Spanish  colonies,  Austria  would  never  recognize 
it,  so  long  as  his  Christian  Majesty  had  not 
formally  renounced  the  rights  of  sovereignty 
heretofore  exercised  over  these  provinces." 
Prussia  and  Russia  answered  the  note  in  the 
same  terms;  and  in  a  long  and  able  note, 
drawn  by  M.  de  Chateaubriand,  on  the  part 
of  France — "  In  so  grave  a  question,  France 
feels  that  Spain  should,  in  the  first  instance,  be 
consulted  as  sovereign  de  jure  of  these  colonies. 
France  concurs  with  England  in  holding  that, 
when  intestine  troubles  have  long  prevailed, 
and  the  law  of  nations  has  thereby  been  prac- 
tically abrogated,  on  account  of  the  weakness 
of  one  of  the  belligerent  powers,  natural  right 
resumes  its  empire.  She  admits  that  tliere  are 
inevitable  prescriptions  of  some  rights,  and 
that,  after  a  government  has  long  resisted,  it  is 
sometimes  obliged  to  yield  to  overbearing  ne- 
cessitj-,  in  order  to  terminate  many  evils,  and 
prevent  one  state  from  alone  reaping  advant- 
ages in  which  other  states  are  entitled  to  par- 
ticipate. But  to  prevent  the  jealousies  and 
rivalries  of  commerce,  which  might  involve 
governments  against  their  will  in  hostilities, 
some  general  measure  should  be  adopted  ;  and 
perhaps  it  would  be  possible  to  reconcile  the 
interests  of  Spain,  of  its  colonies,  and  of  the 
European  states,  by  a  measure  which,  founded 
on  the  broad  basis  of  equality  and  reciprocity, 
might  bring  into  harmony  also  the  rights  of 
legitimacy  and  the  necessities  of  policy."  The 
proposed  measure,  as  a  matter  of  course,  came 
to  nothing;  but  the  circumstance  of  its  being 
I  Chateau-  broaclicd  at  all  proved  what  adverse 
briaiid,  Con-  interests  were  arising  in  the  world, 
gres  de  Ve-  and  the  seeds  of  what  divisions  were 
rone,  i.  89,  gorminating  bencat  h  the  treacherous 
surface  of  tlie  Euro|)pan  alliance.' 
But  all  these  subjects  of  division,  important 
jg  and   pregnant  witii   future  changes 

Instruc-  as  they  were,  yielded  to  the  Spanish 
tionsof  M.  question,  for  tiio  sobition  of  wiiich 
M.deMont"  ^'^^  Congress  had  been  assembled, 
morency  and  wliicii  required  imme<liate  de- 
regarding  cision.  Tiie  instructions  of  M.  de 
Spain.  Villele   on   this   subject   were   very 

cautiously  worded,  and  intended,  above  all,  to 


avoid  the  appearance  of  France  requesting  from 
the  otlier  powers  iristructions  how  to  act  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Peninsula.  They  bore,  "  We 
have  not  determined  to  make  war  on  Sjiain  ; 
the  Cortes  would  carr\-  Ferdinand  back  to  Cadiz 
rather  than  suffer  him  to  be  conducted  to 
Verona.  The  situation  of  France  is  not  such 
as  to  oblige  us  to  ask  for  permission  for  a  war 
of  invasion,  as  Austria  was  at  Laybach  ;  for  we 
are  under  no  necessity  of  declaring  war  at  all, 
nor  of  asking  for  succor  to  carry  it  on  if  we 
do;  and  we  could  not  admit  of  it,  if  it  should 
lead  to  the  passage  of  foreign  troops  through 
our  territory.  The  opinion  of  our  plenipoten- 
tiaries upon  the  question  of  what  the  Congress 
should  determine  on  in  regard  to  Spain  is,  that 
France  is  the  sole  power  ivhich  should  act  with  its 
troops,  and  that  it  must  be  the  sole  judge  of 
when  it  is  neccssari/  to  do  so.  The  French 
plenipotentiaries  must  never  consent  that  the 
Congress  should  prescribe  the  conduct  which 
France  should  pursue  in  regard  to  Spain.  They 
should  accept  of  no  pecuniary  succor  nor  aid 
from  tlie  passage  of  troops  through  our  tori'i- 
tory.  They  should  be  firm  in  considering  the 
Spanish  question  in  its  general  aspect,  and  en- 
deavor to  obtain  from  the  Congress  a  contin- 
gent treaty,  honorable  and  advantageous  to 
France,  either  for  the  case  of  a  1  chateau- 
war  between  herself  and  Spain,  or  briand,  Con- 
for  the  case  of  the  powers  recog-  gres  do  Ve- 
nizing  the  independence  of  South  j""'''  '•  ^"^' 
America} 

On  the  other  hand,  the  instructions  of  En- 
gland to  her  plenipotentiary  were 

equally  decided,  and  such  as  an-  .,    J'^'  .     , 
^  A     ,  T        ,         ,  .',     Mr.  CanninK's 

parently  to  render  almost  unavoid-  instrucuons  to 
able  a  rupture  between  the  two  I>uke  oi'  Wel- 
powers.  Lord  Londonderry,  be-  ''"S'"": 
fore  his  death,  had  drawn  up  a  '^'-'l''-^'- '''^2. 
note  for  our  plenipotentiaries,  which  repudia- 
ted, in  tlie  strongest  manner,  any  interference 
in  the  domestic  concerns  of  Spain.*  Mr.  Can- 
ning had  only  been  forty-eight  hours  in  office 
when  he  was  called  on  to  give  his  instructions 
to  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who  was  appointed 
successor  to  that  lamented  nobleman  as  the 
plenipotentiary  of  England;  but  he  had  no 
difficulty  in  at  once  drawing  them  up.  His 
private  inclination,  not  less  than  his  ]>ublic 
<luty,  led  him  to  adhere  to  tlie  line  marked  out 
by  Lord  Loiiilondorry.  His  instructions  to 
Wellington,  accordingly,  on  this  ])oint  were, 
"  If  there  be  a  determined  project  to  interfere, 
by  force  or  by  menace,  in  the  present  struggle 
in  Spain,  so  convinced  are  his  Majesty's  Minis- 
ters of  the  uselessness  and  danger  of  any  such 
interference,  soobjectionable<loes  2  ^j^  raiuiiiid'a 
it  appear  to  them  in  principle,"  histniciions  10 
as  well  as  utttM-ly  im])raclical>le  ^.^''"'I'K'"";,, 
in  execution,  that,  when  (he  ne-  "^'Jjlj;  Urg'^f^iia, 
cessity  arises — or,  I  would  rather  97;  i'ublipdoai- 
say,  when  an  opportunity  pre-  •"'""i'*' "'"'Ann. 
sents   itself— I    am    to    instruct  ""*'•''• '*'*^- 


♦  "  With  rnsprct  to  Spain,  there  ReemH  nothlni;  to  uilil 
to,  or  var) ,  in  \\w.  rourMc  of  policy  hitherto  pursued.  So- 
licitude' lor  I  he  royal  family,  observuncc  of  our  cncajio- 
inciits  Willi  Torlutfal,  and  «  r/^/f/  nhstinrnce  from  any  in- 
trrfirnirr  m  Ihr  intrrnnl  ajfatrs  of  that  rouhtri/,  inuHt  be 
coriHiilcrcd  at*  loriniriK  the'liinitH  of  liiH  Majesty's  policy." 
— .\]ar(|UiH  I.oNDoNDKKRv's  histrurtions,  traiiKferrcd  lo 
tlie  Duke  of  VVclliiiKlon,  Sept.  14,  IH'J'J.  Annual  licffir 
tcr,  lb;!2,  p.  yo.    (I'ulilic  Documents.) 


4Cfl 


11 1ST  I)  11 Y  t»i'  i:r  ROPE. 


[Chap.  XII. 


voiir  Grnof  nt  onco  frankly  and  dociJcilly  to 
ilcolart',  that  to  ant/  such  inttrfcrcnce  his  Ma- 
jtxty  will  not  be  a  party." 

When   instructions  so   directly  at  variance 
wore   given   to   the   English  and 
•^-  French    plenipotentinries    uiion   a 

a.loi.u-.l  by  the  great  iniblio  question,  on  which 
majority  61  the  nn  instant  decision  required  to  be 
rongrcsson  taken  by  the  powers  iinniediatelv 
tue  subject.  <>„„e^.,.„;>j  it  need  not  be  said  that 
the  peace  of  Europe  was  seriously  threatened. 
Ill  effect,  the  divergence  of  opinion  upon  this 
point,  as  well  as  the  ulterior  one  of  recognizing 
the  independence  of  the  revolted  colonies  in 
Si>tith  America,  was  so  great,  that  it  probably 
would  have  been  broken,  and  a  calamitous  war 
ensued,  if  the  other  powers  had  been  less  unan- 
imous and  decided  than  the}'  were  in  support- 
ing the  French  view  of  the  necessity  of  an 
armed  intervention.  The  Emperor  Alexander, 
from  the  first,  both  officially  through  his  pleni- 
potentiaries, and  privately  in  societj',  expressed 
his  opinion  in  the  strongest  manner  on  this  sub- 
ject, and  declared  his  readiness  to  support  any 
measures  which  France  might  deem  essential 
for  its  safety.  Prussia  adopted  the  same  views : 
the  obligations  contracted  in  1813  rendered  no 
other  course  practicable  to  the  Cabinet  of  Berlin. 
Austria  was  more  doubtful:  Metternich  had  a 
mortal  dread  of  the  northern  Colossus,  and  in 
secret  urged  M.  de  Yillele  to  adopt  no  measures 
which  should  give  the  Emperor  of  Russia  a 
pretext  for  again  moving  his  troops  across 
Germany.  But  as  he  was  fully  impressed 
with  the  danger  to  Europe  from  the  revolu- 
tionary principles  acted  upon  in  Spain,  and  he 
had  himself  coerced  them  in  the  most  vigorous 
manner  in  Italy,  he  could  not  ostensibly  devi- 
ate from  the  other  Continental  powers  on  a  sub- 
ject so  vital  to  their  common  welfare.  Ac- 
cordingly, after  several  conferences,  in  the 
course  of  which  the  Duke  of  "Wellington 
strongly  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  limiting 
their  interference  with  Spain  to  resistance  to 
its  external  aggressions  or  attempts  at  propa- 
gandism,  but  not  attempting  any 
Verbar^Oct.  armed  interference  with  its  domes- 
20.  and  Nov.  tic  concerns,  the  matter  came  to  this, 
IT,  1822 ;  An.  that  the  Duke  of  Wellington  refu/ied 
6S5^  Cha-*  '  ^'^  *^5''*  ^^^  procts  verbaux  of  the  con- 
ference, when  the  opinions  of  the 
other  powers  were  expressed  in  fa- 
vor of  an  intervention,  in  certain 
events,  in  the  Peninsula.' 
The  mode  of  deliberating  on  this  subject  was 
01  very  peculiar,  but  well  calculated 

Questions  to  cut  short  the  usual  evasions 
proposed  by  and  subterfuges  of  diplomatic  inter- 
I-.  course.     France,  through  its  minis- 

ter, proposed  three  questions  to  the 
Congress,  which  were  as  follows : 
J|pwers  and  <.  j  Jq  p^gg  France  should  find  her- 
jDg  an  .  g^jj  under  the  necessity  of  recalling 
her  embassador  from  Madrid,  and  interrupting 
all  diplomatic  relations  with  Spain,  are  the 
great  powers  disposed  to  adopt  similar  stepr., 
and  to  break  off  their  intercourse  with  that 
country  also?  2.  If  war  should  break  out  be- 
tween France  and  Spain,  in  what  waj',  and  by 
what  acts,  would  the  great  powers  give  France 
their  moral  support,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  in- 
ftijirc  a  salutary  terror  into  the  revolutionists 


teaubriand, 
Congres  de 
Verone,  i. 
lOi,  12U. 


France,  and 
answers  of 
the  Conti- 
nental 


of  all  countries?  3.  What,  in  fine,  are  the  in- 
tentions of  the  great  powers  in  regard  to  the 
extent  of  the  material  succor  which  they  are 
disposed  to  give  to  France,  in  case,  on  lier  re- 
quisition, such  assistance  might  appear  neces- 
sary ?"  To  tlic^e  questions  "the  three  Conti- 
nental powers  answered,  on  the  30th  October, 
that  they  would  follow  the  example  of  France 
in  respect  to  their  diplomatic  relations ;  tliat 
tliey  would  take  the  same  attitude  which  France 
took  ;  and  that  they  would  give  all  the  succor 
of  which  it  might  stand  in  need.  A  treaty 
was  to  fix  the  period  and  mode  of  that  co- 
oi)eratioii."  The  Duke  of  Wellington  answer- 
ed, on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  "that  having 
no  information  as  to  the  causes  of  this  mis- 
understanding, and  not  being  in  a  situation  to 
form  a  judgment  on  the  hypothetical  case  put, 
it  was  impossible  for  him  to  answer  any  of  the 
questions."  It  was  afterward  agreed  that,  in- 
stead of  a  joint  note  being  prepared  by  the  four 
Continental  powers,  and  signed  by  their  respect- 
ive plenipotentiaries,  each  should  address  a 
separate  note  to  the  Cabinet  of  Madrid  of  the 
same  general  import,  but  contain-  j  -wg^jn^. 
ing  in  detail  the  views  by  which  ton's  Memo- 
they  were  severally  actuated;  which  randum, 
was  accordingly  done:  while  the  J^^gV  ind 
Duke  of  Wellington  addressed  a  note  Questions 
to  the  Congress,  stating  the  reasons  of  France ; 

why  his  Government  abstained  from  ■*""-.^if'- 
•'        ,    .    ^  ^-        ,«  V.  b84,  660. 

any  such  mtervention.'* 

*  The  notes  of  the  four  Continental  powers  were  all  of 
the  same  import  ;  that  of  Prussia  was  the  most  e.xphcit, 
and  was  in  these  terms  :  "  The  Prussian  Government 
sees  with  grief  the  Spanish  Government  enter  tipon  a 
career  which  menaces  the  tranquillity  of  Europe  ;  it  re- 
collects the  title  to  the  admiration  of  the  world  which  the 
Spanish  nation  has  given  during  so  many  ages,  and  the 
heroic  perseverance  with  which  it  has  triumphed  over  the 
ambitious  and  oppressive  efforts  of  the  usurper  of  the 
throne  of  France.  The  moral  state  of  Spain  is  such  at 
present,  that  the  foreign  powers  must  necessarily  find 
themselves  disturbed  by  it.  Doctrines  subversive  of  all 
social  order  are  there  openly  preached  and  protected ; 
daily  insults  against  all  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  fill  its 
journals  with  impunity.  The  clubs  of  Spain  have  their 
emissaries  in  all  quarters,  to  associate  with  their  dark  de- 
signs conspirators  in  every  country  against  the  public 
order  and  the  legitimate  authority.  The  inevitable  effect  of 
these  disorders  is  seen  in  the  interruption  of  the  relations 
between  France  and  Spain.  The  irritation  to  which  it 
gives  rise  is  such  as  to  inspire  the  most  serious  alarm  as 
to  the  preservation  of  peace  between  the  two  countries. 
That  consideration  itself  would  suffice  to  determine  tho 
united  sovereigns  to  break  silence  on  a  state  of  things 
which  from  day  to  day  threatens  to  compromise  the  tran- 
quillity of  Europe.  It  is  not  for  foreign  powers  to  de- 
termine what  institutions  answer  best  for  the  character, 
manners,  and  real  necessities  of  the  Spanish  nation  ;  but 
it  belongs  to  them  undoubtedly  to  judge  of  the  effects 
which  experience  has  taught  them  such  changes  produce 
I  upon  themselves,  and  to  fix  their  determination  and  future 
:  position  in  regard  to  Spain  on  these  considerations." — 
j  Chateaubriand,  Congres  de  Verone.  i.  130,  131. 
I  On  the  other  hand,  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  in  his  note 
'  to  the  Continental  sovereigns,  said,  '-The  origin,  circum- 
I  stances,  and  consequences  of  the  Spanish  Revolution. 
'  the  existing  state  of  affairs  in  Spain,  and  the  conduct  of 
\  those  who  have  been  at  the  head  of  the  Spanish  Govern- 
ment, may  have  endangered  the  safety  of  other  countries, 
and  may  liave  excited  the  uneasiness  of  the  Governments 
whose  Ministers  I  am  now  addressing,  and  those  Govern- 
ments may  think  it  necessary  to  address  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment upon  the  topics  referred  to  in  their  dispatches. 
But  1  would  request  those  Ministers  to  consider  whether 
the  measures  now  proposed  are  calculated  to  allay  the  ir- 
ritation against  France,  and  to  prevent  a  possible  rupture, 
and  whether  thev  might  not  with  advantage  be  delayed  to 
a  later  period.  They  are  certainly  calculated  to  irritate 
the  Government  of  Spain  :  to  afford  ground  for  a  belief 
that  advantage  has  been  taken  of  the  irritation  which  sub- 
sists between  that  Government  and  France  10  call  down 


1822.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


407 


The  business  of  the  Congress  at  Verona  was 

now   eoneluded,  and  it  liad  turned 

vi^..Z\r     »Jut    entirely    to    the    advantaire    of 
\iews  of  r    -^       .        1111        °-       1 

what  had     r  ranee  ;  tor  not  only  had  she  gained 

occurred  in  the  consent  of   all   the   Continental 
this  Con-      states  to  the  policy  which  she  doem- 
ed  it  expedient  to  adopt,  but,  what 
was  of  equal  importance,  she  had  been  allowed 
to  remain  the  judge  of  that  policy:  the  other 
powers  had  agreed  to  follow  in  her  wake,  not 
take  the  lead.     For  the  first  time  for  a  very 
long  period,  England  found  herself  isolated  on 
tile  Continent,  and  doomed  to  be  the  impotent 
spectator  of  operations  wliich  she  neither  ap- 
proved of  nor  could  prevent.     Without  follow- 
ing out  further  the  thread  of  the  negotiations, 
which  were   now   substantially  decided,   it  is 
more  material  to  show  what  were  the  secret 
views  of  the  French  diplomatists  in  this,  for 
them,   auspicious   state  of  atl'airs.     ''  The  dis- 
patch of  AI.  de  Montmorenc}',"  said  Chateau- 
briand to  M.  de  Villele,  "  will  show  you  the 
conclusion  of  the  affair  of  Spain,  which  has 
turned  out  entirely  as  j^ou  wished.     This  even- 
ing we  are  to  have  a  conference,  to  determine 
on  the  mode  of  making  known  the  sentiments 
of  the  Alliance  to  Europe.     Russia  is  marvel- 
ously  favorable;  Austria  is  with  us  on  this, 
though  on  other  points  inclined  to  the  English 
policy ;  Prussia  follows  Austria.     The  wish  of 
the  powers  is  decidedly  pronounced  for  a  war 
with  Spain.     It  is  for  you,  my  dear  friend,  to 
consider  whether  you  ought  not  to  seize  the 
occasion,  perhaps  unique,  to  replace  France  in 
the  rank  of  military  powers;    to  restore   the 
white  cockade  in  a  war,  in  short,  almost  with- 
out danger,  to  which  the  opinions  of  the  Roy- 
alists and  the  army  strongly  incline.     There  is 
no  question  of  the  occupation  of  the  Peninsula, 
but  of  a  rapid  movement  which  would  restore 
power  to  the  true  Spaniards,  and  take  away 
from  j'ou  all  disquietude  for  the  future.     The 
last  dispatches  of  M.  Lagarde  prove  how  easy 
I  Ch  ^''*''  s'^'^'^6^''  would  be.'     All  conti- 

briand  lo  nental  Europe  would  be  for  us;  and 
M.  de  Vil-  if  England  took  umbrage,  she  would 
Ifle,  Vero-  jjq^  even  have  time  to  throw  herself 
na,  Oct.  31,  ,  A     »     .1      ^.1        1 

1822    Con-  ^'^  ^  colon}'.     As  to  the  Chambers, 
gresdeVe-  success  covers  every  thing.     Doubt- 
rone,  i.  J44,  less  commerce  and  tiie  finances  would 
suffer  for  a  moment,  but  nothing  great 


npon  Spain  the  power  of  the  Alliance,  and  thus  to  embar- 
rass still  more  the  difficult  position  of  the  FriMich  Gov- 
ernment. His  iMajcsty's  Government  is  of  opinion,  that 
to  animadvert  upon  the  internal  transactions  of  an  inde- 
pendent state,  unless  such  transactions  alTect  the  essen- 
tial interests  of  his  Majesty's  subjects,  is  inconsistent 
with  those  principles  onwtiichhis  Majesty  has  invariably 
acted  on  all  (jucstions  concerninj;  the  iritcriiiil  concerns  of 
other  countries  :  that  such  animadversions,  if  made, 
must  involve  his  Majesty  in  serious  responsibility  if  thi'y 
should  produce  any  eirict,  and  must  irritate  if  they  should 
not ;  and  if  addressed  as  pcoposed,  to  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment, are  likely  to  be  injurious  to  the  best  interests  of 
Spain,  and  to  produce  the  worst  consequences  upon  the 
probable  discussion  between  that  country  and  France. 
The  King's  (Jovernment  must  therefore  decline  to  advise 
his  Majesty  to  hold  a  common  languaae  with  his  allies 
upon  this  occasion  ;  and  it  Is  so  necessary  for  his  Majesty 
not  to  be  supposed  to  participate  In  a  measure  of  this  de- 
scription, and  calculated  to  produce  such  consequences, 
that  his  Government  must  e(|ually  refrain  from  advising 
his  Majesty  lo  direct  that  any  communication  should  be 
made  to  the  Spanish  Government  on  the  subject  of  its  re- 
lations with  France." — Duke  of  Wei.mnoton's  Note  to 
the  Allird  PoKvT.v,  2fllh  November,  |h22  ;  Annual  Regis- 
ter, 1822,  p.  lUl.     (I'ublic  Uoeumenls.J 


can  be  done  without  some  inconveniences.  To 
destroy  a  focus  of  Jacobinism,  to  re-establish  a 
Bourbon  on  the  throne  b}'  the  arms  of  a  Bour- 
bon— these  are  results  which  outweigh  all  con- 
siderations of  a  secondary  nature." 

But  while  M.  de  Chateaubriand,  M.  de  Mont- 
morency, and  the  war  party,  were 
with  reason  congratulating  them-  viewsofM 
selves  on  the  success  of  France  at  de  ViUele 
the  Congress,  very  different  views  yy,.^""'^ 
were  entertained  by  Louis  XVIII. 
and  M.  de  Villele  at  Paris.  They  were  sincere- 
I}'  pacific  in  their  ideas,  and,  not  without  rea- 
son, extremely  apprehensive  of  the  possible  con- 
sequences of  a  war  with  Spain.  It  was  not  ex- 
ternal, but  internal,  danger  that  they  dreaded. 
They  wore  well  aware  that  Spain,  in  its  dis- 
tracted state,  would  be  wholly  unable  to  with- 
stand the  arms  of  France,  if  these  arms  were 
united ;  but  who  could  answer  for  this  una- 
nimit}'  prevailing  in  a  war  of  opinion,  when  tlie 
French  troops  grouped  round  the  white  flag 
were  to  be  met  by  the  Spanish  arrayed  under 
the  tricolor  standards?  The  recent  disasters 
of  the  Royalists  in  Spain  had  shown  how  little 
reliance  was  to  be  placed  on  their  support  in 
any  serious  conflict ;  and  was  there  no  reason 
to  apprehend  that,  if  the  arms  and  the  Liberal 
press  of  England  were  engaged  on  the  side  of 
the  republicans  in  the  Peninsula,  a  convulsion 
fatal  to  the  reigning  dynasty  might  ensue  to 
the  south  of  the  Channel?  These  considera- 
tions weighed  much  both  with  the  king  and 
his  Prime  Minister;  and  although,  on  his  re- 
turn from  the  Congress,  M.  de  Montmorency 
was  made  a  duke,  yet  grave  doubts  were  still 
entertained  whether  it  was  either  prudent  or 
safe  to  go  into  the  measures  agreed  on  by  the 
Congress.  Tliey  were  confirmed  in  these  opin- 
ions by  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who,  on  his 
way  back  from  Verona,  had  a  long  and  confi- 
dential interview  with  Louis  XVI II.  at  Paris, 
in  which  he  represented  to  him  in  the  strongest 
manner  the  extreme  danger  which  France  would 
run  in  the  event  of  a  rupture,  both  from  inter- 
nal dissension  and  the  loss  of  the  alliance  and 
moral  support  of  England.  The  great  personal 
influence  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  the  services 
he  had  rendered  to  the  royal  cause,  and  the  ob- 
vious weight  of  his  arguments,  produced  such  an 
eftect,  that  the}'  liad  well-nigh  over-  ,  r^^^  yjj 
turned  every  thing  done  at  Verona,  io7,  108; 
and  detached  France  from  (he  alii-  <"ap.  viii. 
ance  of  the  Continental  sovereigns.'  *  ^'  "• 

Tlie  first  effect  it  produced  was  to  overturn 
M.  de  Montmorenev,  and  place  M.  de         21. 
Chateaubriand  in  liis  stead.     So  un-  Secret  cor- 
easy  was  the  king  at  wluit  the  Duke  ri'«l">"'.l- 
of  Wellington  had  ropresciited,  lliat  .'ill'vjiu.j;!' 
he  demanded  a  distinct  explanation  and  M.  de 
from    M.    do    Montmorency    of    the  ^•^V.^tilc. 
causes  of  complaint  which  lie  had  against  tho 
Spanish  government.     Tho  latter  replied,  "  tliat 

•  The  duke's  Instructions  on  this  occasion  were  as  fol- 
lows :  "  'i'he  Uiike  of  WelliiiRlon  may  declare  openly  to 
Ins  Majesty  the  King  of  France,  that  the  GoverniiMiit  of 
His  Hritaiinic  Majesty  has  always  been  opposed  to  any 
foreign  interventnm  In  the  Internal  aflairs  of  Spain.  The 
Spanish  Government  has  given  no  cause  of  complaint  to 
any  power,  and  l\u'.  defects  of  Us  constilullon  are  a  matter 
ol  iiilernal  politics,  with  which  no  foreign  power  has  any 
title;  to  InlerK're."— Mr.  Canning's  Minwrandnm  to  the 

Dl'KE  OK  WtLLINGTON,  Nov.  4,  1822  J    CAPliFlO  I  E,  VIU. 

5,  0. 


408 


HISTORY    OF    ElROrE. 


tlio  causes  of  iHlTorcnco  botwoon  Fnuioo  nml 
b>p:iiu  wore  not.  of  so  i>reoiso  a  kiiul  as  to  lulinit 
of  an  exact  niul  spoeial  dofinilion;  tliat  a  lu-w 
8t«to  of  tilings  liail  lu'on  formed  by  the  relations 
of  the  two  eoiintries;  that  the  opinions  in  the 
nseendant  in  Spain  were  such  as  to  eiulaiiger 
his  Majesty's  dominions,  and  that  France  would 
rather  ineiir  all  the  risks  of  war  than  expose  it- 
polf  to  the  ineonvenienees  of  the  other  altcrnn- 
tivo."  Meanwhile  the  journals  in  the  interest 
of  the  respective  ministers  commenced  a  violent 
contest  on  tlie  subject,  the  Journal  des  Dcbats 
maintaining  the  necessit}'  of  preserving  peace, 
the  Qttoiidiciiiie  the  imperative  duty  of  going 
to  war.  In  this  state  of  division,  both  in  re- 
spect of  j>ublic  opinion  and  in  his  own  Cabi- 
net, the  king,  with  the  concurrence  of  M.  de 
Villcle,  adopted  the  questionable  step  of  open- 
ing, through  the  Prime  Minister,  a  secret  cor- 
respondence with  M.  de  Lagardc,  the  embassa- 
dor at  iladrid,  unknown  to  the  Foreign  Minis- 
ter, in  which  he  recommended  a  conciliatory 
course  of  policy,  entirely  at  variance  with  what 
had  been  agreed  upon  at  the  Congress,  and  very 
nearly  in  accordance  with  the  views  of  England 
on  the  subject.  The  idea  of  Louis  XYIIL,  and 
wliich  flattered  his  secret  vanity,  was,  that  Fer- 
dinand VII.  should  follow  his  example,  and  c/ive 
a  constitution  to  his  subjects,  which  might  es- 
tablish a  representative  monarchy  in  harmony 
with  that  existing  to  the  north  of  the  Pyrenees. 
It  never  occurred  to  him  that,  without  the  sup- 
1  Cap  vjij  port  of  the  allied  bajonets,  that  con- 
7, 10;  Lam.  stitution  never  would  have  been  ac- 
•vii.  107, 108.  cepted  in  his  own  dominions.'  * 

*  The  note  of  M.  de  Villele  approved  of  by  Louis  XVllI. 
82t  forth — ••  Since  the  revolution  which  occurred  in  Spain 
in  April,  1 620,  France,  regardless  of  the  dangers  with  which 
she  herself  was  threatened  by  that  revolution,  has  used  its 
best  endeavors  to  draw  closer  the  bonds  which  unite  the 
two  kings,  and  to  maintain  the  connections  which  unite 
the  two  people.  But  the  influences  which  had  led  to  the 
changes  in  the  Spanish  monarchy  have  become  more  pow- 
erful Chan  the  changes  themselves,  as  it  was  easy  to  fore- 
see would  be  the  case.  A  constitution  which  King  Ferdi- 
nand had  neither  recognized  nor  accepted  in  resuming  his 
crown,  was  imposed  upon  him  by  a  military  insurrection. 
The  natural  consequence  of  that  has  been,  that  every  dis- 
contented Spaniard  has  conceived  himself  entitled  to  seek 
by  the  same  method  an  order  of  things  more  in  harmony 
with  his  opinions  and  principles,  and  the  use  of  force  has 
caused  it  to  be  regarded  as  a  right.  Thence  the  movement 
of  the  guard  at  .Madrid,  the  appearance  of  armed  corps  in 
different  parts  of  Spain.  The  provinces  adjoining  France 
have  been  the  principal  theatre  of  that  civil  war.  Thence 
arose  the  necessity  on  the  part  of  France  to  take  measures 
for  its  own  security.  The  events  which  have  taken  place 
since  the  establishment  of  the  army  of  observation  at  the 
foot  of  the  Pyrenees  have  sufficiently  justified  the  foresight 
of  his  .Majesty  in  forming  it.  The  precautions  of  France 
have  appeared  just  to  its  allies  ;  and  the  Continental  pow- 
ers have  adopted  the  resolution  to  unite  themselves  to  her, 
if  it  should  become  necessary,  to  maintain  her  dignity  and 
ropose.  France  would  have  been  contented  with  a  resolu- 
tion at  once  so  friendly  and  honorable  to  her  ;  but  Austria, 
Prussia,  and  Russia  have  deemed  it  necessary  to  add  to 
that  act  of  the  Alliance  a  manifestation  of  their  own  senti- 
ments. Diplomatic  notes  have  in  consequence  been  ad- 
dressed to  the  representatives  of  these  powers  at  Madrid, 
who  will  follow  the  instructions  of  their  respective  courts. 
As  for  you,  M.  le  Comte,  you  will  say  that  the  government 
of  the  king  is  intimately  united  with  his  allies  in  the  firm 
determination  to  repel  by  every  means  the  revolutionary 
principle ;  and  that  it  participates  equally  strongly  with 
them  in  the  desire  which  they  feel  that  the  noble  Spanish 
nation  may  find  a  remedy  of  itself  for  the  evils  which  af- 
flict It — evils  which  are  of  a  kind  to  disquiet  the  govern- 
ments of  Europe,  and  impose  upon  them  precautions  al- 
ways painful.  Vou  will  assure  them  that  the  people  of 
the  Peninsula,  restored  to  tranquillity,  will  always  find  in 
their  neighbors  sincere  and  loyal  friends.  The  succor  of 
all  kinds  which  France  can  dispose  of  in  favor  of  Spain 


[ClI.M-.  XII. 

As  soon  as  M.   de  Montmorency  was  made 
acquainted  with  this  seci-et  intrigue,  25. 

which  virtuidlv  superseded  him  in  Pcbate  on  it 
his  own  department  in  the  most  iin-  "'  .""'  V"''' 
nortaiit  liranch  ot  state  policy,  he  signution  of 
insisted  on  a  meeting  of  the  Cabinet  M.  de  Mont- 
being  called.  The  point  submitted  """•'^n'-y. 
,      .?  1     Ji  J      'J    1   who  IS  sue- 

to  thtin  was,  wliether  a  decided  ccededbyM. 
note  prepared  by  M.  de  Montmo-  de  Chateau- 
rency,  in  accordance  with  wliat  had  t>r'and. 
been  agreed  on  at  ^'el■ona,  and  to  which  his 
personal  honor  as  well  as  the  faith  of  France 
stood  pledged,  should  be  forwarded  to  Madrid, 
to  supersede  the  conciliatory  and  temporizing 
one  prepared  by  M.  de  Villele?  A  majority 
of  the  council  ajqiroved  of  M.  de  Montmorency's 
note;  in  particular,  Pcyronnet  and  Clermont- 
Tonnerre  were  energetic  in  its  sujiport.  The 
Duke  of  Belluno  (A'ietor)  strongly  advocated 
the  same  side.  lie  represented  the  state  of 
opinion  in  the  army,  which  he  as  war  minister 
had  peculiar  means  of  knowing;  that  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Spanish  revolution  was  extremely 
dangerous  for  the  throne  of  France;  that  the 
impression  it  had  already  produced  upon  the 
soldiers  might  prove  prejudicial  to  the  tran- 
quillity of  the  countr}' ;  that  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  act,  to  extirpate  by  force  that 
mania  for  military  revolutions;  that  the  army 
was  well  affected,  and  would  become,  in  a  cam- 
paign, devoted  to  the  Bourbons,  but  that  it 
was  extremely  dangerous  to  leave  it  at  rest  on 
the  frontier.  "Nothing,"  he  added,  "is  so  easy 
of  corruption  as  a  body  of  troops  in  a  state  of 
inaction :  when  they  advance,  they  become 
animated  with  one  spirit,  and  are  inciipable  of 
treachery."  On  the  other  hand,  M.  de  Villele, 
M.  de  Lauriston,  and  M.  de  Corbiere  argued  in 
favor  of  the  pacific  note,  as  likely  to  conciliate 
matters,  and  avoid  the  serious  risks  of  a  war 
of  opinion,  which  might  involve  all  Europe  in 
conflagration.  The  matter  was  still  in  sus- 
pense, and  the  issue  doubtful,  when  Louis  cut 
the  matter  short  by  declaring  that  the  note  of 
M.  de  Villele  appeared  to  bim  to  express  with 
more  prudence  than  that  of  M.  de  Montmorency 
the  ojiinion  of  his  Cabinet  The  consequence 
was,  that  M.  de  Montciorency  tendered  his 
resignation,  which  was  accepted ;  and  M.  de 
Chateaubriand,  whom  public  opinion  j  ^  .^j^ 
rather  than  the  private  favor  of  the  n,  h- 
monarch  had  already  designed  for  his  Lam.  vii. 
successor,  was  appointed  in  his  stead. '  ^^*^'  ^^^' 

Although,  however,  M.  de  Chateaubriand  was 

borne  forward  to  the  portfolio  of  .g 

foreign   afi'airs  by  a  movement  in  i\\c  wariike 

the  Cabinet  which  implied  an  entire  preparations 

change   of  national   policy   on   the  "'  France 
■  ^   .f?         ^.  '.       ■  1     .  continue, 

vital  question  now  at  issue  between 

France  and  Spain,  yet  no  such  alteration  in 


will  always  be  offered  to  insure  its  happiness  and  increase 
its  prosperity  ;  but  you  will  declare  at  the  same  time,  that 
France  will  relax  in  none  of  its  protective  measures  so  long 
as  Spain  shall  be  torn  by  factions.  His  Majesty's  govern- 
ment will  not  hesitate  to  recall  you  from  Madrid,  and  to 
seek  for  guarantees  in  more  effective  dispositions,  if  his 
essential  interests  continue  to  Ire  compromt-sed,  and  if  he 
loses  all  hope  of  an  ameliorccon,  which  he  still  hopes  from 
the  sentiments  which  ^ave  so  long  united  the  French  and 
Spaniards  in  the  love  of  their  kings  and  of  a  wise  liberty.'' 
—Le  President  du  Consul  du  Mtnistres  au  M.  le  Comte 
De  la  Garde,  AmbcssMeur  a  Madrid,  Paris,  25th  Dec, 
1622  ;  Lactjetelle.  Histnirc  de  la  Rtstauration,  lii  4^-' 
479.     Pieces  JustiJicMifs. 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


1823.] 

effect  took  place;  and  he  was  compelled,  no- 
thing loth,  to  fall  into  the  sj-stem  of  his  prede- 
cessor. The  pacific  note  drawn  xip  bj-  M.  dc 
Vill^le,  and  approved  of  by  Louis  XVIIL,  was 
sent  to  M.  de  Lagarde,  at  Madrid,  on  the  25th 
December,  soon  after  the  more  decided  notes 
of  the  other  Continental  powers  had  been  pre- 
sented; bi^  the  warhke  preparations  were  not 
for  a  moment  suspended,  and  the  march  of 
troops  to  the  foot  of  the  Pj'renees  continued 
without  intermission.  In  truth,  the  current  of 
public  opinion  in  France  ran  so  strongly  in 
favor  of  war,  that,  like  similar  transports  wliich 
liave  prevailed  in  other  countries  on  similar  oc- 
casions, it  was  irresistible,  and,  for  good  or  for 
evil,  must  work  out  its  destined  effects.  The 
war  party  in  tiie  legislature,  always  strong,  had 
been  greatly  augmented  by  the  result  of  the 
annual  election  of  a  fifth  in  the  preceding  au- 
tumn, and  it  now  comprehended  five-sixths  of 
the  entire  Chamber  of  Deputies.  On  this  oc- 
casion, too,  for  the  first  time  since  the  Restora- 
tion, it  carried  a  vast  majority  of  the  French 
nation  with  it.  All  classes  concurred  in  de- 
manding hostilities.  The  Royalists  felt  their 
blood  roused  at  the  prospect  of  strife,  as  the 
war-horse  does  at  the  sound  of  the  trumpet. 
The  army  rejoiced  at  the  prospect  of  a  contest, 
and  joj'fuUy  wended  their  way  to  the  l^yrenees, 
hoping  to  efface  the  disgrace  of  Baylen  and 
Vittoria ;  the  peasants  trusted  that  the  days 
of  the  Empire  and  of  glory  were  about  to  re- 
turn, and  the  fields  of  Spain  to  be  laid  open  to 
their  ambition  or  their  plunder ;  the  mercantile 
classes  and  shopkeepers  apprehended,  indeed, 
a  diminution  of  their  profits  from  a  rupture 
of  peace,  and  approved  the  cautious  policy  of 
AL  de  Villele,  but  they  were  not  in  sufiicieut 
strength  to  withstand  the  general  current.  Tlie 
revolutionists  and  democrats  in  secret  were 
not  disinclined  to  hostilities ;  they  hoped  that 
the  troops,  when  brought  into  collision  with 
the  tricolor  standard,  would  desert  their  colors, 
'  Cap.  vii.  and  that,  in  an  attempt  to  restore  the 
23,25;  Lum  throne  of  another  monarch,  Louis 
vii.  Ill,  112.  ^vould  lose  his  own.' 

The  British  government,  however,  aware  of 
„_  the  division  on  the   subject  which 

Failure  of  prevailed  in  the  French  cabinet,  and 
the  negotia-  of  the  aversion  of  the  king  to  war, 
tions  at  Ma-  jij  all  that  was  possible  to  avert 
parturc  of  '  hostilities.  Sir  William  A'Court,  the 
the  FnMich  embassador  at  Madrid,  received  in- 
embassador.  structions  to  exert  himself  to  the 
Jan.  la.  utmost  to  procure  sucli  a  modifica- 

tion of  the  Constitution  from  tiie  Cortes  itself 
as  might  take  away  ail  pret<!xt  for  French  in- 
terference; and  Lord  Fitzroy  SonuM'sct  was,  in 
the  first  week  of  January,  dispatched  from  I'aris 
by  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  in  order  to  co-oper- 
ate in  the  same  olyect.  Ail  their  efforts,  iiow- 
ever,  were  in  vain.  Tiie  Spanish  government, 
with  tiiat  confidence  in  itself,  and  insensil)ility 
to  external  danger,  whicli  is  so  characteristic; 
of  the  nation,  obstinati-ly  rtfuswl  to  make  any 
concession,  or  modify  tiio  Constitution  in  tiic 
smallest  particular.  The  consequence  was,  liiat 
the  embassadors  of  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Austria, 
after  liaving  delivered  their  respective  notes 
as  agreed  on  at  the  Congress,  witlidrew  from 
Madrid  ;  and  although  the  French  minister  re- 
mained b'liiuJ,  and  with  Sir  W.  A'Court  coii- 


409 


tinned  his  good  offices,  yet  the}-  came  ta  no- 
thing; and  ere  long  M.  de  Chateaubriand  dis- 
patched a  note  to  Itl.  de  Lagarde,*   i  Duke  of 
recapitulating  all  the  grounds  of  Wcliinsion 
complaint  which  France  had  against  '"    sonf-r-''' 
Spain,  and  directing  him  forthwith  spt,  Jan.  6, 
to  demand  his  passport.     This  was  1823;  Ann 
accordinsrlv  done,  and  the  rapid  con-  }''*'•  ^''•"05; 

.      .  •  ^  '  r.  /■  ii,     11  ham.  VII. 

centration  of  lorces  on  the  Pyrenees  n^  ]i4 . 

left  no  doubt  that  war  in  good  earn-  c^p.  vui'.  30, 
est  was  approaching.'  *'•*• 

The  French  Chambers  met  on  the  2Sth  Jan- 
uary, and  the  speecli  of  the  king, 
delivered  with  great  solemnity  to  gpeggj,  ^f  the 
a  crowded  assembly,  resounded  like  king  at  the 
a  clap  of  thunder  throughout  Eu-  opening  of  the 
rope.  "  France  owed  to^Europe  a  y!|n 'o'^'^"' 
prosperity  which  no  nation  can 
ever  obtain  but  by  a  return  to  religion,  legiti- 
macy, order,  and  true  liberty.  It  is  now  giving 
that  salutary  example;  but  the  Divine  justice 
permits  that,  after  having  made  other  nations 
long  feel  the  terrible  effects  of  our  discoi'd,  we 
siiould  ourselves  be  exposed  to  the  dangers 
arising  from  similar  calamities  in  a  neighboring 
kingdom.  I  have  tried,"  said  the  king,  in  a 
firm  accent,  "  every  thing  to  secure  the  peace 
of  my  people,  and  to  preserve  Sjiain  herself 
from  the  last  misfortunes;  but  all  in  vain.  The 
infatuation  with  which  my  efforts  have  been 
rejected  at  Madrid  leaves  little  hope  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  maintaining  peace.  I  have  ordered 
the  recall  of  my  minister.  A  hundred  thousand 
men,  commanded  by  a  prince  of  my  family  (the 
Duke  d'Angoulcme),  are  ready  to  march,  in- 
voking the  God  of  St.  Louis  to  preserve  the 
throne  of  Spain  to  a  descendant  of  Henry  IV., 
to  save  that  fine  kingdom  from  ruin,  and  recon- 
cile it  to  Europe.  Should  war  prove  inevitable, 
I  shall  use  my  best  endeavors  to  restrict  its 
circle  and  abridge  its  duration  ;  it  shall  only  be 
undertaken  to  conquer  that  peace  which  tlie 
jn-esent  state  of  Spain  renders  impossible.  Let 
Ferdinand  VII.  be  free  to  give  to  his  people 
the  institutions  which  they  can  never  hold  but 


*  "  I.e  Gouverncnient  Espagiiol  rejetait  toiilo  mesure 
dc  conciliation  ;  nonseulcinent  il  nc  inonirait  aucun  cspoir 
de  I'amolioration  que  Ton  puurrait  altendre  des  .sentiments 
qui  avaient,  pendant  si  longteinps,  uni  les  E.spagriol8  et 
les  Francai.s  ;  niais  il  allail  jusqu'a  exiger  que  la  France 
relirat  son  armee  d'otjscrvation,  ct  expulsat  les  utrangers 
qui  lui  avaient  demandc  asile.  La  France  n'est  pas  ac- 
coutuince  a  entendre  un  pareil  langage,  et  elle  ne  le  par- 
donne  a  son  auteur  qu'en  considtrralion  de  I'exasperation 
r|ui  regne  en  Espagne.  Quiconcjuc  met  li^  pie<l  .sur  le  tcr- 
riloire  Irani^ais  est  libre,  et  jouit  des  droits  d'une  tionpi- 
talite  inviolable.  Les  victinies  des  conimolions  qui  agi- 
taient  I'Espagne  s'y  ^talent  refligioes,  et  (laic'nt  trailecs 
avec  tous  Ich  egards  dus  an  inalheur.  L'Espngne  s'est- 
rlle  conduitc  d'nnc  plus  mauvaisc  tnnniero  cnvers  la 
France?  Nonseulenient  elle  a  doiino  asile  a  des  honimcs 
loiipaliles,  condaiiincN  par  les  trilinnaux,  niais  encore  olio 
li'Ur  a  promis  des  emplois  dans  ses  armees.  La  confusion 
qui  regne  en  Espagne  aetuellenient  est  prejudiciabic  a 
quel(|ues-uiis  dc  noH  plus  grands  inlcrels.  ^;a  Majcslu 
avait  desire  que  son  niinistre  put  rester  a  Madrid  apres 
le  ill  part  dps  anibassaileurs  d'Autrirlic,  dc  Prusse,  et  do 
KuHsie  ;  niais  ses  derniers  vo'iix  n'ont  pas  etO  ecoutes  ; 
Hiideriiiere  esperance  a  etc  dc^uc;  le  inauvais  genie  des 
riviilulions  preside  maintenant  aux  ronseils  de  I'Espagne, 
lout  cspoir  est  eloigne  ;  connno  IVxpresHion  des  senli- 
niinls  les  pins  nioderes  nc  m.us  ntliro  qui;  de  nouvelles 
provocations,  il  ne  pent  convenir,  M.  le  comte,  ;ila  dignilo 
ilii  roi.  It  a  riioiiiieur  ile  la  France,  que  vons  reslii-/,  plus 
longlenips  ii  Madrid.  En  consequence,  veuille/.  deniander 
vos  passe-ports  pour  vous-meino  et  tonte  voire  legation, 
ct  parte/,  sans  perdrc  de  teni)m  immediateinent  apres  qu'ils 
vous  auront  eli;  rcniis." — .1/.  de  Chatcaxibridnd  a  M.  le 
rimile  dr.  Jjni^nrdr,  Paris,  Jan.  .'i,  1S53  ;  CapLFIOIJE,  His- 
tutrc  de  la  Rcstaura/"tiu  viii.  37,  38. 


■110 


11  isTo  i:  V  OF  K r  iiori:. 


[CiiAv.  xir. 


of  him.  mill  wliioli.  ii»  ns.<uriii!;  the  i-oj^-'so,  w  ill 

di-sii'iito  tlio  jii>t  ilisquii'ttuUs  of  Fruiue ;  iVoiii 

tliiit  iKoinoiit  hoi^tilitios  shall  coaso.     I  vonturi' 

to  take  in  your  prosoiioo.  pontlomon,  tliat  80I- 

eimi  I'liirniit'MU'iit.     I  have  consult- 

RmS'ss!''  ^'^  <1"^  ^lil;l.ily  of  my  ciown,  the 

l!*03;  Mon]-'     honor  anil  sooiirity  of  France.    Wc 

uur,  Jan.  2'J.    arc   Frenchmen,  ami  we   shall  nl- 

'?"'■  -^"Vao     wnvs  be  united,  to  defend  such  in 
Hist.  VI.  008.   K      •'  ,    „, 
Xerosis.  ' 

Such  was  the  war-cry  of  the  Royalists  in 
France,  and  the  aristocratic  party 
KineofEne-  f'l'^i'pl'out  Europe,  against  the 
lands  speech  Spanish  revolution,  in  the  compo- 
at  opening  of  sition  of  which  the  fervent  e;enius 
J'arlian.rnt.  |     ^  j;    j„i„j  ^,f  ^j    j     Chateau- 

February  i.       .    .    '  ,  ,   ,  11,1 

bruiiiu  appeared  tempered  bj-  the 

statesmanlike  caution  of  M.  de  Villele.  It  was 
first  responded  to  on  this  side  of  the  channel, 
in  the  king's  speech,  delivered  by  commission, 
at  the  opening  of  Parliament  on  4th  February. 
"Since  you  last  met,"  it  said,  "his  Majesty's 
efforts  have  been  unceasingly  exerted  to  pre- 
serve the  peace  of  Europe.  Faithful  to  the 
prineii>les  which  his  Majesty  has  promulgated 
to  the  world,  as  constituting  the  rules  of  liis 
conduct,  his  lilajestj'  declined  being  a  party  to 
any  proceedings  at  Yerona  which  could  be 
deemed  an  interference  in  the  internal  concerns 
of  Spain  on  the  part  of  foreign  powers.  And 
liis  Majesty  has  since  used,  and  continues  to 
use,  his  most  anxious  endeavors  and  good  offices 
to  allay  the  irritation  unhappily  subsisting  be- 
tween the  French  and  Spanish  governments, 
and  to  avert,  if  possible,  the  calamity  of  a  war 
between  I'rance  and  Spain.  Discussions  have 
been  long  pending  with  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment respecting  depredations  committed  on  the 
commerce  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  in  the  West 
Indian  seas,  and  other  grievances,  and  those 
discussions  have  terminated  in  an  admission  by 
2  \nn  Reg  ^"''^  Spanish  government  of  the  jus- 
1S23, 4,  5  ;  tice  of  his  Majesty's  complaints,  and 
Pari.  Deb.  in  an  engagement  for  satisfactory" 
viii.  1,2.        reparation."' 

The  official  reply  of  the  Spanish  Government 
to  the  French  declaration  was  not 
Replv  of  the  gi^'^n  till  the  opening  of  the  session 
Spanish  gov-  of  the  ordinary  Cortes  on  1st  March, 
ernment.  "  The  Continental  powers,"  said 
March  1.  Ferdinand's  ministers,  "  have  raised 
their  voice  against  the  political  institutions  of 
that  country  which  has  conquered  its  independ- 
ence at  the  price  of  its  blood.  Spain,  in  so- 
lemnly answering  the  insidious  accusations  of 
these  powers,  has  rested  on  the  principle  that 
its  fundamental  laws  can  be  dictated  only  by 
itself.  That  clear  and  luminous  principle  can 
not  be  attacked  but  by  sophisms  supported 
by  the  force  of  arms;  and  those  who  have 
recourse  to  these  methods  in  the  nineteenth 
century  give  the  most  complete  proof  of  the 
injustice  of  their  cause.  His  most  Christian 
Majesty  has  declared  that  a  hundred  thousand 
French  shall  come  to  regulate  the  domestic 
affairs  of  Spain,  and  correct  our  institutions. 
"When  did  soldiers  receive  the  mission  of  cor- 
recting laws?  In  what  code  is  it  written  that 
military  invasions  are  the  precursors  of  the 
felicity  of  people?  It  would  be  unworthy  of 
reason  to  attempt  the  refutation  of  such  anti- 
social errors;  and  it  does  not  become  a  consti- 


tutional king  iif  Sjiain  to  make  an  apology  fi>r 
the  iiatiipiial  cause,  in  order  lo  defend  it  against 
those  who  cover  themselves  with  the  vail  of 
the  most  det»'stable  li^-pocrisy  to  trample  under 
foot  all  sentiments  of  shame.  I  hope  that  the 
energy  and  perseverance  of  the  Cortes  will  fur- 
nish the  best  reply  to  the  speech  of  his  most 
Christian  Majesty;  I  hope  that,  firm  in  their 
Iirinei])le,  they  will  continue  to  march  in  the 
))ath  of  their  duty — that  they  will  always  re- 
main the  Cortes  of  the  'Jth  and  11th  January, 
worthy  of  the  nation  which  has  intrusted  to 
them  its  destinies.  I  hope,  in  fine,  that  reason 
and  justice  wijl  be  not  less  powerful  than  the 
genius  of  oppression  and  servitude.  The  nation 
which  enters  into  negotiation  with  an  enemy 
whose  bad  faith  is  known  is  ali'cady  subdued: 
to  receive  the  law  from  one  who  j)retends  to 
iTni)ose  it  with  arms  in  his  hand  is  the  greatest 
of  ignominies.  If  war  is  an  evil  without  a  rem- 
edy, the  nation  is  magnanimous:  it  will  com- 
bat a  second  time  for  its  independence  and  its 
rights.  The  path  of  glory  is  not  imknown  to 
it,  and  the  sacrifices  it  reqinres  will  be  cheer- 
fully made.  The  removal  of  my  person,  and  of 
the  Cortes,  into  a  place  less  exposed  to  military 

operations  will  defeat  the  proieets     „ 

:■  •  J  i    ii       '  Discours  du 

ot   our  enemies,  and   prevent  the  j^^j  Madrid 

suspension  of  acts  of  the  Govern-  March  1,1823; 
ment  which  should  be  known  in  Ann.  Hist.  vi. 
every  part  of  the  monarch}-."^*        '^^■ 

M.  Hyde  de  Neuville,  in  the  address  of  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  which  he 
prepared  in  answer  to  the  speech  ,,  ,j^V  , 
from  the  throne,  even  exceeded  M.  Ncnviiie's  ad- 
de  Chateaubriand  in  warlike  zeal,  dress  in  reply 
"  Faction,"  said  he,  "has  at  length  '"'he  speech 
,     .   ,,      ,  r  •  -i.        ■!-•  of  the  King. 

lost  the  liope  01  impunity.    France 

has  shown  to  Europe  how  public  misfortunes 
repair  themselves.  Destined  by  Providence 
to  close  the  gulf  of  revolution,  the  king  has 
tried  every  thing  which  can  give  security  to  his 
people,  and  save  Spain  from  the  consequences 
of  a  revolution  induced  by  a  body  of  perjured 
soldiers.  A  blind  obstinacy  has  rendered  them 
deaf  to  the  counsels  of  the  chief  of  the  Bour- 
bons.    Sire  1   we  are  Frenchmen ;  no  sacrifice 


*  The  best  statement  of  the  Spanish  side  of  the  question 
is  contained  in  a  previous  state  paper,  by  M.  Miguel,  the 
Foreign  Secretary,  to  the  Russian  minister. 

"1.  La  nation  Espagnole  est  gouvernee  par  una  con- 
stitution reconnue  solennellement  par  I'empereur  de  toutes 
les  Russies,  dans  I'annee  1812. 

"  2.  Les  Espagnols  amis  de  leur  patrie  qui  ont  pro- 
clame,  au  commencement  de  1812,  cette  constitution,  re- 
noncee  par  la  violence  de  1814,  n'ont  point  ete  parjures, 
mais  lis  ont  la  gloire  que  personnc  ne  pent  souiUer,  d'avoir 
ete  les  organes  du  vceu  general. 

"  3.  Le  roi  constitutionnel  des  Espagnols  jouit  du  librc 
e.xcrcice  des  droits  que  lui  donne  le  code  fondamental,  et 
tout  ce  qu'on  allegue  au  contraire  de  cette  assertion  est 
une  invention  des  ennemis  de  I'Espagne  qui  la  calomnient 
pour  I'avilir. 

"  4.  La  nation  Espagnole  ne  s'est  jamais  melee  des  in- 
stitutions ni  du  regime  interieur,  ni  d'aucun  autre. 

"  5.  Et  le  remede  a  apporter  aux  maux  qui  peuvent 
I'affliger,  n'interesse  qu'elle  seule. 

"  6.  Ces  maux  ne  sont  pas  reflet  de  la  constitution, 
mais  nous  viennent  des  ennemis  qui  veulent  la  dctruire. 

'•  7.  La  nation  Espagnole  ne  reconnaitra  jamais  a  au- 
cune  puissance  le  droit  d'intervenir  ni  de  se  meter  de  ses 
affaires. 

"  8.  Le  goHvernement  de  sa  Majcstc  ne  s'ecartera  pas 
de  la  ligne  que  lui  tracent  son  devoir,  I'honneur  national, 
et  son  adhesion  invariable  au  code  fondamental  jure  dans 
raiinee  1812." — E.  S.  Miguel,  Circulmre  addressee  par 
le  Ministre  des  affaires  etrurti^eres  a  Madrid  aux  charges 
d'affaires  pour  les  cours  de  Vienne.  Berlin,  et  St.  ntcrs- 
bourg,  9th  Jannary,  1£23  ;  Ann.  Hist.,  vi.  698. 


18-23.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


411 


will  be  regarded  by  your  people  which  may  be 
necessary  to  sustain  the  dignitj'  of  your  crown, 
the  honor  and  dignitj-  of  Franco.  It  is  your 
part  to  conquer  peace  b}'  stifling  anarchy,  to 
restore  liberty  to  a  prince  of  j-our  blood,  to  de- 
liver from  oppression  a  people  who  will  aid  you 
to  break  their  chains.  Your  army  is  courage- 
ous and  faithful:  that  army,  which  knows  how 
to  repel  the  cowardly  invitation  to  revolt, 
starts  forward  with  ardor  xinder  the  Fleur-de- 
lis  standard  at  your  voice :  it  has  not  taken  up, 
it  will  not  take  up  arms,  but  to  maintain  social 
oi'der,  and  to  preserve  from  a  fatal  contagion 
our  country  and  our  institutions."  This  ad- 
dress was  carried  by  a  majority  of  109,  the 
I  Moniteur,  numbers  being  202  to  93,  and  pre- 
Feb.  10, 1823  ;  sented  to  the  king  amidst  unbound- 
Ann.  Hist.  vi.  ed  acclamations  on  the  9th  Feb- 
30.33.  ruary.'* 

It  was  in  the  debates  on  the  subject,  how- 
32.  ever,  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  of 

Speech  on  France  and  the  English  Parliament, 
tti3  vvar  in  tji^t;  t)^^  subject  was  brought  out  in 
Commona  its  true  colors;  and  in  these  mighty 
by  .\lr.  assemblies,  from  whence  their  voices 

Brougham,    rolled  over  the  globe,  the  great  Par- 
^  ■    ■  liamentary  leaders,  on  either  side, 

adduced  every  consideration  which  could  by 
possibility  be  urged  upon  it.  Mr.  Canning,  in 
consequence  of  his  recent  appointment  as  For- 
eign Secretary,  was  not  in  the  House  when  the 
debate  came  on,  but  his  place  was  ably  filled 
b}'^  his  antagonist,  Mr.  Brougham,  who,  in  a 
speech  of  extraordinary  power  and  vigor,  un- 
trammeled  by  the  restraints  of  office,  gave  vent 
to  English  opinion  on  the  subject.  lie  said 
that  he  "joined  with  the  mover  of  the  address, 
and  with  every  man  who,  deserved  the  name 
of  Briton,  in  abhorrence  and  detestation  at  the 
audacious  interference  of  the  allied  powers  in 
the  internal  affairs  of  Spain;  a  detestation 
equaled  only  by  contempt  for  the  hypocrisy 
by  which  their  principles  liad  been  promul- 
gated to  the  world.  The  communication  made 
in  the  king's  speech  will  be  tidings  of  joy  and  a 
signal  for  e.vultation  for  England ;  it  will  spread 
joy  and  exultation  over  Spain,  will  be  a  source 
of  comfort  to  all  other  free  states,  and  will 
bring  confusion  and  dismay  to  the  Allies,  who 
with  a  pretended  respect  for,  but  a  real  mock- 
ery of,  religion  and  morality,  make  war  upon 


*  M.  Ilydede  NeuviUe,  one  of  Ihc  moMt  brillianl  anddi.s- 
tingui.shed  cliaracters  of  the  Restoration,  had  devoted  to 
the  e.xiled  famdy,  when  in  mi.slbrtune,  his  youth,  his  for- 
tune, and  put  in  hazard  his  lile.  Descended  from  Engli.sli 
ancestry,  he  had  inherited  from  his  Cavalier  forefathers 
that  generous  devotion  to  the  royal  family  which  in  them 
had  become  a  species  of  worship,  to  which  honor,  religion, 
and  country  alike  summoned,  and  to  which  exile  and  llie 
scaffold  seemed  only  the  appropriate  sacrifice.  During 
the  Republic  and  the  Empire  he  was  actively  engaged  iti 
all  the  conspiracies  for  the  restoration  of  the  llourbons. 
During  the  latter  years  of  the  Empire,  when  ul!  hopes  of  u 
restoration  seemed  lost,  and  Kiiropr  could  no  longer  pre- 
sent a  safe  asylum,  he  took  refugr;  in  America,  where  he 
learned  to  mmgic  respect  for  popular  frectdom  with  a  de- 
voted respect  to  the  principles  of  loyally  to  the  sovereign. 
Returning  to  France  in  1814  with  the  exiled  princes,  he 
was  elected  deputy  for  Herry,  his  native  province  ;  and  In 
the  Chamber  he  soon  signalized  himself  among  the  Roy- 
alists by  his  ardent  loyalty,  coupled  with  a  manly  elo- 
quence and  decision  of  character,  which  bespoke  the  man 
of  action  as  well  as  the  orator.  His  noble  figure,  martial 
air,  and  erect  carriage — his  numerous  adventures,  the 
dungeons  he  had  occupied,  his  persecutions,  his  exile — 
threw  an  air  of  romance  about  his  character,  and  aug- 
mented the  infliienci!  due  to  his  loyalty,  iloquence,  aid 
courage.— La.martine,  Htsl.  dc  la  lUsl.,  vii.  1^2,  123. 


liberty  in  the  abstract,  endeavor  to  crush  na. 
tional  independence  wherever  it  is  to  W  found, 
and  are  now  preparing  with  their  armed  hordes 
to  carry  their  frightful  projects  into  execution. 

"The  internal  situation  of  the  country  is  cer- 
tainly one  of  deep  distress,  especially 
so  far  as  regards  that  most  important  continued 
and  useful  branch  of  the  community, 
the  farmers ;  and  I  am  the  last  man  who  would 
not  recommend  continued  and  unsparing  econ- 
omy in  everv  department:  but  the  time  has 
now  come,  when,  to  assert  our  principles  and 
maintain  our  independence,  not  only  no  further 
diminution,  but  probably  a  great  increase,  of 
our  naval  and  military  establishments  has  be- 
come indispensable.  Our  intervention,  in  some 
shape,  will  probably  be  found  to  be  unavoid- 
able ;  and  if  war  is  once  begun,  perhaps,  for 
the  protection  of  our  old  all}-  I'ortugal,  it  must 
be  carried  on  with  the  whole  strength  of  the 
empire.  I  am  rejoiced  that  the  ominous  words 
'  strict  neutrality'  did  not  escape  from  the  lips 
of  either  the  mover  or  seconder  of  the  address. 
A  state  of  declared  neutrality  on  our  part 
would  be  nothing  less  than  a  practical  admis- 
sion of  those  principles  which  we  all  loudly 
condemn,  and  a  license  to  the  commission  of 
the  atrocities  which  we  arc  all  unanimous  in 
deprecating.  It  is  obviously  the  duty  of  his 
Majesty's  Ministers,  witli  whom  the  whole 
House  on  this  occasion  will  be  ready  to  co- 
operate, in  certain  events  to  assist  the  Span- 
iards— a  co'.ir.?o  which  we,  though  most  averse 
to  war,  mu^t  be  the  first  on  this  occasion,  and 
to  avert  greater  evils,  to  support. 

"To  judge  of  the  danger  of  the  principles 
now  shamelessly  promulgated,  let 
any  one  read  attentively,  and,  if  he  continued, 
can,  patientl}-,  the  notes  presented 
by  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Russia,  to  the  Spanish 
government.  Can  any  thing  more  absurd  or 
extravagant  be  conceived?  In  the  Prussian 
note  the  Constitution  of  1812,  restored  in  1820, 
is  denounced  as  a  system  '  which,  confounding 
all  elements  and  all  power,  and  assuming  only 
the  principle  of  a  permanent  and  legal  opposi- 
tion to  the  Government,  necessarily  destroyed 
that  central  and  tutelary  authority  which  con- 
stitutes the  essence  of  the  monarchical  sj-stem.' 
Tlio  Emperor  of  Russia,  in  terms  not  less  strong, 
called  the  constitutional  government  of  the 
Cortes  'laws  which  the  public  reason  of  all 
Europe,  enlightened  ]>y  the  experience  of  ages, 
lias  stamped  with  the  disajqiroljation  of  tlio 
pulilic  reason  of  Europe.'  What  is  this  but 
following  the  example  of  the  autocrat  C'ather- 
iiie,  who  first  stigmatized  (ho  constitution  of 
Poland,  and  then  jiourcd  in  her  hordes  to  waste 
province  after  province,  an<l  finally  hewed  their 
way  to  Warsaw  tiirongh  myriads  of  unotrcnd- 
ing  Pules,  and  then  ordcrcil  'J'c  JJeuin  to  be  sung 
for  Iter  success  over  the  onemies  of  Poland? 
Such  doctrines,  jiromulgated  from  such  quai> 
ters,  are  not  only  menacing  to  Spain  ;  they 
llir(!atcii  every  indej^endent  country;  they  are 
level(!d  at  every  free  constitution.  Where  is 
tlio  rightr  of  interference  to  stop,  if  these  armed 
despots,  tlicKo  self-constitut(Hl  judges,  are  at 
lilx'rly  to  invade  independent  states,  enjoying 
a  form  of  government  difTereiit  from  tlieii-  own, 
on  [)retcn8e  of  the  principle  on  wliicli  it  is 
founded  being  not  such  us  they  appro\  e,  or 


413 


HISTORY    0  V    E  U  R  0  P  E. 


[Chap.  XII. 


wliioh  tlioy  <lcom  dnnsjorous  to  the  frame  of 
sooiofy  fstnblislu'd  anionic  tlioiusolvos? 

"It  is  tnu",  there  have  been  civil  war  niul 
blooilshed  in  Snnin,  but  how  have 
ConwiucJ.  ^'"'y  ^'*''^"  excited?  l?y  an  ally. 
Tlu'V  wore  produced  by  those  cor- 
dons of  troojis  which  were  stationed  along  the 
frontiers  armed  with  gold  and  steel,  and  atl'ord- 
ing  shelter  and  as.*istancc  to  those  in  whose 
minds  disatVection  had  been  excited  by  bribery. 
It  is  true,  blood  has  been  shed  ;  but  what  blood 
was  it  ?  AVhv,  it  was  the  blood  of  persons  who 
attacked  the  existing  Government,  which  Alex- 
ander and  all  the  Allies  had  recognized  in  1812, 
and  who  were  repulsed  in  direct  rebellion 
against  the  Royal  authority.  As  well  might 
the  people,  Parliament,  and  Crown  of  England 
be  charged  with  causing  blood  to  flow,  because 
the  sentinels  at  St.  James's  fired  on  some  per- 
sons attempting  to  force  the  palace  or  assassi- 
nate the  king.  And  who  is  it  that  uses  this 
monstrous  language  ?  It  is  Russia,  a  power 
onl\'  half-eivilized,  that  with  all  her  colossal 
mass  of  physical  strength  is  still  as  much  Asi- 
atic as  European,  whose  principles  of  policj', 
both  foreign  and  domestic,  are  completely  des- 
potic, and  whose  practices  are  almost  entirely 
Oriental  and  barbarous.  Its  language  is,  when 
unvailed,  nothing  but  this — '  We  have  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  hired  mercenaries,  and  we  will 
not  stoop  to  reason  with  those  whom  we  would 
insult  and  enslave.' 

•'  It  is  impossible  not  to  admire  the  equal 
frankness  with  which  this  haxighty 
ConUnued.  language  has  been  met  by  the  Span- 
ish government;  the  papers  which  it 
sent  forth  were  plain  and  laconic.  They  said, 
'  We  are  millions  of  freemen,  and  will  not  stoop 
to  reason  with  those  who  would  enslave  us.' 
They  hurled  back  the  menaces  upon  the  head 
which  uttered  it,  little  earing  whether  it  were 
Goth,  Ilun,  or  Calmuck,  with  a  frankness  that 
outwitted  the  craft  of  the  Bohemian  and  defied 
the  ferocity  of  the  Tartar.  If  they  found  all 
the  tyrants  of  the  earth  leagued  against  them, 
they  might  console  themselves  with  the  reflec- 
tion, that  wherever  there  was  an  Englishman, 
either  of  the  Old  or  New  World — wherever 
there  was  a  Frenchman,  with  the  exception  of 
that  miserable  little  band  which  now  for  the 
moment  swayed  the  destinies  of  France,  in  op- 
position to  the  wishes  and  sentiments  of  its 
liberal  and  gallant  people — a  people  who,  after 
wading  through  the  blood  of  the  Revolution, 
were  entitled,  if  any  ever  were,  to  enjoy  the 
blessings  of  freedom — wherever  there  breathed 
an  Englishman  or  a  true-born  Frenchman,  wher- 
ever there  existed  a  free  heart  and  a  virtuous 
mind,  there  Spain  had  a  natural  ally,  and  an 
unalienable  friend. 

"  When  the  allied  powers  were  so  ready  to 
interfere  in  the  internal  concerns  of 
Continued,  '^pain,  because  they  were  afraid  of  its 
freedom,  and  when  the  most  glaring 
attempts  were  made  in  all  their  stale  papers  to 
excite  rebellion  among  its  inhabitants,  what  is 
BO  easy  as  to  retort  upon  them  with  the  state- 
ment of  some  of  their  domestic  misdeeds  ?  What 
was  to  hinder  the  Spaniards  to  remind  the 
Prussian  monarch  of  the  promises  which,  in  a 
moment  of  alarm,  he  made  to  his  subjects  of 
giving  them  a  free  constitution,  and  to  ask  him 


what  has  come  of  the  pledges  then  given  to  his 
loyal  and  gallant  subjects,  by  whose  valor  lie 
has  regained  his  lost  crown?  Might  they  not 
ask  wlicther  it  would  not  have  been  better  to 
have  kept  these  promises,  than  to  have  kept  on 
foot,  at  liis  people's  cost,  and  almost  to  tluir 
ruin,  a  prodigious  army,  only  to  defend  him  in 
violating  them?  Could  any  thing  have  been 
more  natural  than  to  liavc  asked  the  Emperor 
of  Austria  whether  he,  who  professed  such  a 
regard  for  strict  justice  in  Ferdinand's  case, 
wlicn  it  cost  him  notliing,  had  always  acted 
with  equal  justice  toward  others  when  he  him- 
self was  concerned?  that,  before  he  was  gener- 
ous to  Ferdinand,  he  should  be  just  to  George, 
and  repay  some  part  of  the  £20,000,000  he  had 
borrowed  of  him,  andwhidi  alone  had  enabled 
him  to  preserve  his  crown  ?  Might  he  not  be 
called  to  account  for  the  noble  and  innocent 
blood  he  had  shed  in  the  Milanese,  and  the 
tortures,  stripes,  and  dungeons  he  had  inflicted 
on  the  flower  of  his  subjects  in  his  Italian  prov- 
inces? Even  the  Emperor  Alexander  himself, 
sensitive  as  he  was  at  the  sight  of  blood  flowing 
in  a  foreign  palace,  might  call  to  mind  some- 
thing which  had  occurred  in  his  own.  How- 
ever pure  in  himself  and  however  fortunate  in 
having  agents  equally  innocent,  was  he  not  de- 
scended from  an  illustrious  line  of  ancestors, 
who  had  with  exemplar}-  uniformity  dethroned, 
imprisoned,  and  slaughtered  husbands,  broth- 
ers, children?  Not  that  he  could  dream  of  im- 
puting these  enormities  to  the  parents,  sisters, 
or  consorts;  but  it  somehow  happened  that  those 
exalted  and  near  relations  never  failed  to  reap 
the  whole  benefit  of  the  atrocities,  and  had 
never,  in  one  single  instance,  made  any  attempt 
to  bring  the  perpetrators  of  them  to  justice. 

"  I  rejoice  that  the  Spaniards  have  such  men 
only  to  contend  with.  I  know  there 
are  fearful  odds  when  battalions  are  conj'jnugj 
arraj-ed  against  principles;  but  it  is 
some  consolation  to  reflect,  that  those  embodied 
hosts  are  not  aided  by  the  talents  of  their  chiefs, 
and  that  all  the  weight  of  character  is  happily 
on  the  other  side.  It  is  painful  to  think  that 
so  accomplished  and  enlightened  a  prince  as  the 
King  of  France  should  submit  to  make  himself 
the  tool  of  such  a  jimta  of  tj'rants.  I  would 
entreat  him  to  reflect  on  the  words  of  the  most 
experienced  statesman,  and  one  of  the  greatest 
philosophers  of  antiquity,  in  his  recently  dis- 
covered work,  De  Republica — '  Non  in  ulla  civi- 
tate,  nisi  in  qua  summa  potestas  populi  est,  ullum 
domicilium  libertas  habet.'  When  called  on  to 
combat  one  of  the  most  alarming  conspiracies 
that  ever  man  was  exposed  to,  he  had  recourse 
only  to  the  Roman  constitution;  he  threw  himself 
on  the  good-will  of  his  patriotic  countrj-men ;  he 
put  forth  only  the  vigor  of  his  own  geidus,  and 
the  vigor  of  the  law  ;  he  never  thought  of  calling  « 
in  the  assistance  of  the  Allobroges.  Teutoiies,  or  ^ 
Scythians  of  his  day.     And  now  I  say.  that  if  " 

the  King  of  France  calls  in  the  modern  Teut  on  e.«, 
or  the  modern  Scj'thians,  to  assist  him  in  this 
unholy  war.  judgment  will  that  moment  go 
forth  against  him  and  his  famil}',  and  the  dy- 
nasty of  Gaul  will  be  changed  at  once  and  forever. 

"The  principles  on  which  this  band  of  con- 
gregated   despots  have  shown  their 
readiness  to  act  are  dangerous  in  the  concluded 
extreme,  not  only  to  free,  but  to  every 


1823.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


413 


independent  state.  If  the  Czar  were  met  with 
his  coiisistory  of  tyrants  and  armed  critics,  it 
would  be  in  vain  for  tlie  Ulema  to  plead  that 
their  government  was  one  of  the  most  sacred 
and  venerable  description  ;  that  it  had  antiquity 
in  its  favor;  that  it  was  replete  with  'grand 
truth ;'  that  it  had  never  listened  to  '  the  fatal 
doctrines  of  a  disorganized  philosophy;'  and 
that  it  had  never  been  visited  by  any  such 
things  as  '  dreams  of  fallacious  libertj'.'  In  vain 
would  the  Ulema  plead  tliese  things ;  the  '  three 
gentlemen  of  Verona'  would  pry  about  for  an 
avenue,  and  when  it  suited  his  convenience  to 
enter,  the  Czar  would  be  at  Constantinople,  and 
Prussia  would  seek  an  indemnity  in  any  prov- 
ince England  might  possess  adjacent  to  their 
territory.  It  behoves  every  independent  state 
to  combine  against  such  monstrous  pretensions. 
Already,  if  there  is  any  force  in  language,  or 
any  validity  in  public  documents,  we  are  com- 
mitted to  the  defensive  treaties  into  which  we 
have  entered.  If  Spain  is  overun  by  foreign 
invaders,  what  will  be  the  situation  of  Portu- 
gal ?  And  are  we  not  bound,  by  the  most  ex- 
press treaty,  as  well  as  by  obvious  interest,  to 
defend  that  ancient  ally  ?  Above  all  things, 
we  ought  to  repeal,  without  delay,  the  Foreign 
Enlistment  Bill — a  measure  which  ought  never 
to  have  been  passed.  Let  us,  in  fine,  without 
blindly  rushing  into  war,  be  prepared  for  any 
emergency;  speak  a  language  that  is  truly 
British,  pursue  a  policy  which  is  truly  free; 
look  to  free  states  as  our  best  and  natural  allies 
against  all  enemies  whatever;  quarreling  with 
none,  whatever  be  their  form  of  government ; 
keeping  peace  whenever  we  can,  but  not  leav- 
ing ourselves  unprepared  for  war;  not  afraid 
of  the  issue,  tut  calmly  determined  to  brave 
its  hazards;  resolved  to  support,  amidst  any 
sacrifice,  the  honor  of  the  crown,  the  independ- 
ence of  the  country,  and  every  prin- 
via^4i)^64  c'pl^  considered  most  valuable  and 
'  sacred  among  civilized  nations."' 
This  animated  and  impassioned  harangue 
40_  contained  the  sentiments  merely  of 
Mr.  Canaing  an  individual,  who,  how  eminent 
adopts  the  soever,  did  not  in  the  general  case 
iion-Vnterfcr-  °^  necessity  implicate  any  one  but 
ence.  himself,  or,   at  most,   the    political 

Feb  24.  party  to  which  he  belonged.  But 
on  this  occasion  it  was  otherwise.  Mr.  Brough- 
am's speech  was  not  merely  the  expression  of 
liis  own  or  his  party's  opinion ;  it  was  tlie  chan- 
nel by  which  the  feelings  of  a  whole  nation 
found  vent.  The  cheers  with  which  it  was 
received  from  bolii  sides  of  a  most  crowded 
House,  the  vast  impression  it  made  on  the 
country,  tlie  enthusiasm  it  every  wiicre  excited, 
proveu,  in  the  clearest  manner,  that  it  carried 
the  universal  mind  with  it.  Mr.  Canning  was 
not  in  the  House  wlicn  this  importa'it  debate 
occunVid,  having  vacated  his  scat  upon  liis  ap- 
pointment as  Foreign  Minister,  and  not  been 
yet  again  returned ;  but  Jie  gave  liis  sanction 
to  the  principles  it  contained  on  24l!i  Febru- 
ary, when  he  observed,'  "I  am  compelled  in 
justice  to  say  that,  when  I  entered  upon  tlio 
office  I  have  the  lionor  to  fill,  I  found  tlie  prin- 
2  Lord  Lon-  ^iples  on  which  tlie  {government 
donderry'8  was  acting  reduced  into  writing, 
Memoir;  An-  and  tiiis  state  paper  formed  what 
te,c.xu.  419.  I  n,aybc  allowed  to  call  the  po- 


litical creed  of  Ministers.  Upon  the  execution 
of  the  priucii)les  tliere  laid  down,  and  upon  it 
alone,  is  founded  any  claim  I  may  have  to  credit 
from  the  House."  And  again,  on  14th  April, 
in  the  debate  on  the  Spanish  negotiation,  ho 
suid,  "  I  cast  no  blame  upon  those  who,  seeing 
a  great  and  powerful  nation  eager  to  crush  and 
overwhelm  witii  its  vengeance  a  less  numerous, 
bat  not  less  gallant  people,  are  anxious  to  join 
tlie  weaker  part}'.  Such  feelings  are  honorable 
to  those  who  entertain  them.  The  bosoms  ia 
whicli  they  exist,  unalloyed  by  any  other  feel- 
ings, are  much  more  happy  than  those  in  which 
that  feeling  is  chastened  and  tempered  by  con- 
siderations of  prudence,  interest,  and  expedi- 
ence. I  not  only  know,  but  absolutel}'  envy, 
the  feelings  of  those  who  call  for  war,  for  the 
issue  of  which  they  are  not  to  be  responsible ; 
for  I  confess  that  the  reasoning  by  which  the 
war  against  Spain  was  attempted  to  be  justi- 
fied appears  to  me  to  be  much  more  calculated 
than  the  war  itself  to  excite  a  strong  feeling 
against  those  wlio  had  projected  it.  There 
is  no  analogy  between  the  case  of  England  in 
1793  and  France  in  1823.  "What  country  had 
Spain  attempted  to  seize  or  revolutionize,  as 
France  did  before  our  declaration  of  19th  No- 
vember, 1792?  England  made  war  against 
France,  not  because  she  had  altered  her  own 
government,  or  even  dethroned  her  own  king, 
but  because  she  had  invaded  Geneva,  Savoy, 
and  Avignon ;  because  she  had  overrun  Bel- 
gium, and  threatened  to  open  the  mouth  of  the 
Scheldt,  in  defiance  of  treaties ;  and  because 
she  openly  announced,  and  acted  upon,  the  de- 
termination to  revolutionize  every  adjoining 
state.  But  this  country  is  not  prepared  to  give 
actual  and  efficient  support  to  Si)ain ;  absolute 
bond  fide  neutrality  is  the  limit  to  which  it  is 
prepared  to  go  in  behalf  of  a  cause  i  p^ri.  Deb. 
to  which  its  Ministers  can  never  viii.  242,  b90, 
feel  indifi'erent."'  ^^^• 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  maintained  by 
M.  de  Chateaubriand  in  the  French  41. 
Chamber,  in  a  speech  worlliy  of  liim-  M.  do  cha- 
self  and  of  these  great  antagonists:  aJJlJ'J,'",,,,!., 
"Has  a  government  of  one  country  in  the 
a  right  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  French 
another?  That  great  question  of  in-  t.'ha'n'Jers- 
ternational  law  has  been  resolved  by  diflVrent 
writers  on  tlie  subject  in  dilfercnt  wa3s.  Those 
who  incline  to  tlie  natural  right,  such  as  Bacon, 
Fulfendorf,  Grotius,  and  all  tlie  ancients,  main- 
tain tiiat  it  is  lawful  to  take  up  arms  in  tiio 
name  of  the  iiuman  race  against  a  society  which 
violates  tlie  ])rincipies  on  wiiicii  the  social  order 
reposes,  on  tiie  same  ground  on  whieli,  in  par- 
ticular states,  you  punisii  an  individual  nialc- 
fuetor  who  disturbs  llie  pulilic  repose.  Tlioso 
again  who  consider  tlie  (piest  ion  as  one  deiiend- 
iiig  on  civil  right,  are  of  opinion  that  no  one 
government  has  a  riglit  to  interfere  in  the  afi'airs 
of  another.  Thus  the  first  vest  the  right  of  in- 
terv(!ntion  in  duty,  the  last  in  interest.  I  adopt 
in  the  abstract  the  pi'inciples  of  the  last.  I 
maintain  that  no  government  has  a  right  to  in- 
terfere in  the  afhiirs  of  another  government, 
in  truth,  if  this  principle  is  not  admitted,  and 
above  all  by  people  wlio  enjoy  a  free  constitu- 
tion, no  nation  could  be  in  security.  It  would 
always  be  possible  for  the  corruption  of  a  min- 
ister or  the  ambition  of  a  king  to  attack  a  state 


414 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[("IIAI-.     XII. 


wliiih  nttemptotl  <o  nmoliordte  its  condition. 
Ill  many  oiiscs  wars  woulil  bo  imiltinlit'il ;  jou 
would  adopt  a  principle  of  eternal  liostility — 
a  principle  of  which  every  oiio  wouM  consti- 
tute iiini!:clf  judirc,  since  every  one  might  say 
to  hi?  nciiriibor.  Your  institutions  displease  me; 
change  them,  or  I  declare  war. 

"liut  wlicu  1  present  myself  in  (his  tribune 
to  defend  the  riglit  of  intervention  in 
Continued.  *'**'  atVairs  of  Spain,  how  is  an  excep- 
tion to  be  made  from  the  principle 
which  I  Jiave  so  broadly  announced?  It  is 
thus:  When  the  modern  political  writers  re- 
jected the  right  of  intervention,  by  taking  it 
out  of  the  category  of  natural  to  place  it  in 
that  of  civil  right,  they  felt  themselves  very 
much  embarrassed.  Cases  will  occur  in  wliicli 
it  is  impossible  to  abstain  from  intervention 
without  putting  the  state  in  danger.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  Revolution,  it  vras  said, 
'  Perish  the  colonies  rather  than  one  principle,' 
and  the  colonies  perished.  Shall  we  also  say, 
'  Perish  the  social  order,'  rather  than  sacrifice 
a  principle,  and  let  the  social  order  perish  ?  In 
order  to  avoid  being  shattered  against  a  prin- 
ciple which  themselves  had  established,  the 
modern  jurists  have  introduced  an  exception. 
The}"  said — '  No  government  lias  a  right  to  in- 
terfere in  the  aftairs  of  another  government, 
except  in  the  case  where  the  security  and  imme- 
diate interests  of  the  first  government  are  com- 
promised' I  will  show  you  immediately  where 
the  authority  for  that  exception  is  to  be  found. 
The  exception  is  as  well  established  as  the  rule; 
for  no  state  can  allow  its  essential  interests  to 
perish  without  running  the  risk  of  perishing 
itselt  Arrived  at  that  point  of  the  question, 
its  aspect  entirely  changes ;  we  are  transported 
to  another  ground ;  I  am  no  longer  obliged  to 
combat  the  rule,  but  to  show  that  the  case  of 
the  exception  has  accrued  for  France. 

''I  shall  frequently  have  occasion,  in  the  se- 
quel of  this  discourse,  to  speak  of  En- 
Contiiiued.  g'^'^d  \  for  it  is  the  country  which 
our  honorable  antagonists  oppose  to 
us  at  every  turn.  It  is  Great  Britain  which 
singly  at  Verona  has  raised  its  voice  against 
the  principle  of  intervention ;  it  is  that  coun- 
try which  alone  is  ready  to  take  up  arms  to 
defend  a  free  people ;  it  is  it  which  denounces 
an  impious  war,  at  variance  with  the  rights  of 
^  nations — a  war  which  a  small,  servile,  and  big- 
oted faction  undertakes,  in  the  hope  of  being 
able  to  burn  the  Charter  of  France  after  having 
torn  in  pieces  the  Constitution  of  Spain.  Well, 
gentlemen,  England  is  that  country ;  it  alone 
lias  respected  the  rights  of  nations,  and  given 
us  a  great  example.  Let  us  see  what  England 
has  done  in  former  days. 

"That  England,  in  safety  arnidst  the  waves, 
and  defended  by  its  old  institutions 
Continued.  — that  England,  which  has  neither 
undergone  the  disasters  of  two  in- 
vasions, nor  the  overturnings  of  a  revolution  of 
thirty  years,  conceives  it  has  nothing  to  fear 
from  the  Spanish  revolution,  is  quite  conceiva- 
ble, and  no  more  than  was  to  be  expected.  But 
does  it  follow  from  that,  that  France  enjoys 
the  same  security,  and  is  in  the  same  position? 
When  the  circumstances  were  different — when 
the  essential  interests  of  Great  Britain  were 
compromised — did  it  not — justly,  without  doubt 


— depart  from  the  juineiples  which  it  so  louiUv 
invokes  at  this  time?  Kngland,  in  entering  o.i 
the  war  with  Friincc,  piililished  in  17'.i;i  llio 
famous  declaration  of  Whitehnll,  from  which  [ 
read  the  following  extract:  'The  iiitcntion  an- 
nounced to  reform  the  abuses  of  the  French 
government,  to  establish  personal  freedom  and 
the  riglits  of  property  on  a  solid  basis,  to  secure 
to  a  numerous  people  just  and  moderate  laws, 
a  wise  legislature,  and  an  equitable  adminis- 
tration— all  these  salutary  views  have  unhap- 
pily disappeared.  They  liave  given  place  to  a 
system  destructive  of  nil  public  order,  sustain- 
ed by  proscriptions,  exiles,  and  confiscations 
without  number,  by  arbitrary  imprisonments 
without  number,  and  by  massacres  the  memory 
of  which  alone  makes  us  shudder.  The  inhab- 
itants of  that  unhappy  country,  so  long  de- 
ceived by  promises  of  happiness,  everlastingly 
renewed  at  every  fresh  accession  of  public  suf- 
fering, the  commission  of  every  new  crime,  liave 
found  themselves  plunged  in  an  abyss  of  calam- 
ities without  example. 

"'Such  a  state  of  things  can  not  exist  in 
France  without  involving  in  danger 
the  countries  which  adjoin  it,  with-  continued, 
out  giving  them  the  right,  and  im- 
posing on  them  the  duty,  of  doing  every  thing 
in  their  power  to  arrest  an  evil  which  subsists 
only  on  the  violation  of  all  laws  which  unite 
men  in  the  social  union.  Ilis  Majest}^  has  no 
intention  of  denying  to  France  the  rights  of 
reforming  its  laws;  never  will  he  desire  to  im- 
pose by  external  force  a  government  on  an  in- 
dependent state.  He  desires  to  do  so  now  only 
because  it  has  become  essential  to  the  repose 
and  security  of  other  states.  In.tJiese  circum- 
stances, he  demands  of  France — and  he  demands 
it  with  a  just  title — to  put  a  stop  to  a  sj'stem 
of  anarchy,  which  has  no  power  but  for  evil, 
which  renders  France  incapable  of  discharging 
the  first  duties  of  government,  that  of  repress- 
ing anarchy  and  punishing  crime,  which  is  daily 
multiplying  in  all  parts  of  the  countiy,  and 
which  threatens  to  involve  all  Europe  in  sim- 
ilar atrocities  and  misfortune.  He  demands  of 
France  a  legitimate  and  stable  government, 
founded  on  the  universally  recognized  princi- 
ples of  justice,  and  capable  of  retaining  nations 
in  the  bonds  of  peace  and  friendship.  "The  king 
engages  beforehand  instantly  to  stop  hostilities, 
and  give  protection  to  all  those  who  shall  ex- 
tricate themselves  from  an  anarchy  which  has 
burst  all  the  bonds  of  societj-,  broken  all  the 
springs  of  social  life,  confounded  all  duties,  and 
made  use  of  the  name  of  Liberty  to  exercise 
the  most  cruel  tyranny,  annihilate  all  charters, 
overturn  all  property,  and  deliver  over  entire 
provinces  to  tire  and  sword.' 

'•  It  is  true,  when  England  made  that  famous 
declaration,  Louis  XVL  and  Marie  ^^ 
Antoinette  were  no  more.  I  admit  continued, 
that  Marie-Josephine  is  as  yet  only 
a  captive ;  that  her  tears  only  have  been  caused 
to  flow.  Ferdinand  is  still  a  prisoner  in  his 
palace,  as  Louis  XVI.  was  in  his  before  being 
led  to  the  Temple  and  the.scafFold.  I  have  no 
wish  to  calumniate  the  Spaniards,  but  I  can 
not  esteem  them  more  than  m}'  own  country- 
men. Revolutionary  France  gave  birth  to  a 
Convention  ;  why  should  not  revolutionary 
Spain  do  the  same?    England  has  murdered  ita 


1823.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


Charles  I.,  France  Its  Louis  XVI.;  if  Spain  fol- 
lows their  example,  a  series  of  precedents  in 
favor  of  crime  will  be  established,  and  a  body 
of  jurisprudence  of  people  against  their  sover- 
eigns. 

'•  England  herself  has  admitted  the  principle 
for  which  I  contend,  in  recent  times. 
Continued  ^^®  '^"*  conceded  to  others  the  right 
for  which  she  contended  herself.  She 
did  not  consider  herself  entitled  to  interfere 
i:i  the  case  of  the  Italian  revolution,  but  she 
judged  otherwise  for  Austria  ;  and  accordingly 
l.oi-d  Castlereagh,  while  repudiating  the  right 
of  intervention  in  that  convulsion  claimed  by 
Austria,  Prussia,  and  Russia,  declared  expressly, 
i  1  his  circular  from  Laybach  of  19th  January, 
1S21 — 'It  must  be  clearly  understood  that  no 
government  can  be  more  disposed  than  the  Brit- 
ish to  maintain  the  right  of  any  state  or  states 
to  intervene  when  its  immediate  security  or  essen- 
tial ititerests  are  seriously  compromised  by  the 
transactions  of  another  state.'  Kothing  can  be 
more  precise  than  that  declaration ;  and  Mr. 
Peel  has  not  been  afraid  to  say  on  a  late  occa- 
sion in  the  House  of  Commons,  that  Austria 
'  was  entitled  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  Na- 
ples, because  that  country  had  adopted  the 
Spanish  Constitution:'  no  one  can  contest  the 
right  of  France  to  interfere  in  those  of  Spain, 
wiien  it  is  menaced  by  that  Constitution  itself 
'■  Can  any  one  doubt  that  we  are  in  the  ex- 
ceptional case — that  our  interests  are 
Couiriued.  essentially  injured  by  the  Spanish 
revolution?  Our  commerce  is  ham- 
pered by  the  suffering  consequent  on  that  con- 
vulsion. We  are  obliged  to  keep  vessels  of  war 
i'.i  t!ie  American  seas,  which  are  infested  by 
pii'atps  who  have  sprung  out  of  the  anarchy  of 
Kurope;  and  we  have  not,  like  England,  mari- 
time forces  to  protect  our  ships,  many  of  which 
have  fallen  into  their  hands.  The  provinces 
of  France  adjoining  Spain  are  under  the  most 
pressing  necessity  to  see  order  re-established 
beyond  the  Pyrenees.  Our  consuls  have  been 
menaced  in  their  persons,  our  territory  three 
times  violated:  are  not  their  'essential  duties' 
compromised?  And  how  has  our  territory  been 
violated?  To  massacre  a  few  injured  Royal- 
ists, who  thought  themselves  in  safety  under 
tiie  shadow  of  our  generous  country.  We  have 
been  obliged,  in  consequence,  to  maintain  a 
large  army  of  observation  on  the  frontier ;  with- 
out tiiat,  our  southern  provinces  could  not  en- 
joy a  moment's  security.  That  state  of  semi- 
lio^tility  has  all  the  inconveniences  of  war 
witliout  the  advantages  of  peace.  Shall  we, 
in  obedience  to  the  partisans  of  peace,  with- 
draw the  army  of  observation  ?  Certcs,  we  are 
not  yet  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  flying  before 
the  chevaliers  of  the  Hammer,  or  giving  place 
to  the  Landaburian  bands.  England  herself 
has  recognized  the  necessity  of  our  army  of 
observation,  for  the  Duko  of  Wellington  said 
at  the  Congress  of  Verona,  'Considering  that 
a  civil  war  has  been  lighted  on  the  whole  ex- 
tent of  tlie  frontier  whidi  separates  the  two 
kingdoms,  no  one  can  contest  the  necessity  of 
establishing  the  army  of  observation.' 

"It  was  not  I  who  spoke  first  of  the  moral 

-  contarfion,  l)ut  since  it  lias  been  mcn- 

Continasd.   tioncd  by  our  adversaries,  I  confess 

that  it  is  the  most  serious  and  alarm- 


413 

ing  of  all  the  dangers.  Is  any  one  ignorant  tluit 
the  revolutionists  of  Spain  are  in  correspond- 
ence with  our  own  ?  Have  they  not  by  public 
proclamations  invited  our  soldiers  to  revolt  ? 
Have  they  not  threatened  to  bring  down  the 
tricolor  flag  from  the  summit  of  the  Pyrenees, 
to  restoi-e  the  son  of  Bonaparte?  Do  we  not 
know  the  plots,  the  conspiracies  of  those  trai- 
tors who  have  escaped  from  the  hands  of  jus- 
tice in  this  country,  and  now  pretend  to  invade 
us  in  the  uniform  of  the  brave,  unworthj'  to 
cover  their  treacherous  hearts?  Can  a  revo- 
lution which  rouses  in  us  such  passions,  and 
awakens  such  recollections,  ever  fail  to  com- 
promise our  essential  interests?  Can  it  be  said 
to  be  shut  up  in  the  Peninsula,  when  it  has 
already  crossed  the  Pyrenees,  revolutionized 
Italy,  shaken  France  and  England?  Have  the 
occurrences  at  Naples  and  Turin  not  sufficient- 
ly proved  the  danger  of  the  moral  contagion  ? 
And  let  it  not  be  said  the  revolutionists  in  these 
states  adopted  the  Constitution  of  the  Cortes 
on  account  of  its  excellence.  So  far  from  that 
being  the  case,  the  tirst  thing  they  were  obliged 
to  do,  after  having  adopted  the  Spanish  Con- 
stitution, was  to  appoint  a  commission  to  ex- 
amine what  it  was.  Thus  it  soon  passed  away, 
as  every  thing  docs  which  is  foreign  to  the  cus- 
toms of  a  country.  Ridiculous  from  its  birth, 
it  expired  in  disgrace  between  an  Austrian  cor- 
poral and  an  Italian  Carbonari. 

"  Whence  this  extraordinary  passion  for  En- 
gland, and  praise  of  its  constitution,  ^^ 
which  has  suddenly  sprung  up  among  continued, 
us?  A  year  has  not  elapsed  since 
the  boulevards  were  covered  with  caricatures, 
which  insulted  in  the  grossest  manner  every 
thing  connected  with  London.  In  tiieir  love 
of  revolution,  the  same  persons  have  forgotten 
all  their  hatred  for  the  soldiers  who  were  for- 
tunate at  Waterloo:  little  docs  it  signify  what 
they  have  done,  provided  now  they  aid  them 
in  supporting  the  revolutionists  of  Spain  against 
a  Bourbon.  How  has  it  happened  that  the 
Allies,  now  so  much  the  object  of  animadver- 
sion, were  not  then  regarded  in  the  same  light? 
Where  was  their  jealousy  of  the  Continental 
powers  when  they  paraded  with  so  much  sat- 
isfaction their  apjiroval  of  the  coup  detat  of 
nth  September,  which  revolutionized  the  legis- 
lature; or  the  prosecutions  of  the  Royalists, 
M-hich  shook  the  foundation  of  the  throne?  Wlio 
heard  tlien  of  the  dignity  of  France,  or  its  being 
unworthy  of  her  to  t^eck  support  in  the  appro- 
bation o'f  foreign  states?  When  wc  had  no 
army — when  wo  were  counted  as  nothing  in 
tho  estimation  of  foreign  states— wlicn  little 
(Jerman  states  invaded  us  with  impunity,  and 
we  did  not  venture  to  utter  a  complaint— no 
one  said  that  we  were  slaves.  But  now,  when 
our  military  resurrection  has  astonished  Eu- 
rope— now,  when  wc  raise  a  voice  in  the  coun- 
cils of  kings  which  is  always  attended  to— now, 
when  new  and  honorable  conventions  exjiiate 
tliose  in  which  we  expiated  our  victories,  we 
are  now  for  the  first  time  told  that  we  arc 
placing  our  necks  under  a  Imniiliating  yoke 

"  I  admit  at  once.  France  has  no  title  to  in- 
termeddle  in   the  internal  conecrns         ,. 
of  Spain.      It  is  for  tlie  Spaniards  to  coniinued. 
determine  what  species  of  constitu- 
tion befits  thein.    I  wish  them,  from  the  bottom 


41G 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


of  iiiv  heart,  lihortica  coiniiionsurale  to  their 
iiioi'iil.s  iiislitulioiis  which  may  put  tlieir  vir- 
tui'S  lu'voiul  tlu>  roaoli  of  fortune  or  the  eupriee 
of  men.  Spaniards!  It  is  no  enemy  of  yours 
who  thus  speaks;  it  is  he  who  liad  predicted 
the  return  of  your  nobk'  destinies,  when  all  be- 
lieved you  forever  disappeared  from  the  scene 
of  tlie  world.*  You  have  surpassed  my  pre- 
dictions; you  have  rescued  Europe  from  a  yoke 
wliich  the  most  powerful  empires  had  soui^lit 
in  vain  to  break.  You  owe  to  France  your 
misfortunes  and  your  glory ;  she  has  sent  you 
these  two  scourges,  iJouaparte  and  the  Revo- 
lution. Deliver  yourselves  from  the  second,  as 
you  have  delivered  j'ourselves  from  the  first. 
"As  to  the  Ministers,  the  speecli  of  the  Crown 

has  traced  the  line  of  their  duties. 
Concluded    '^ '"^J ^^^'^  never  cease  to  desire  peace, 

to  invoke  it  from  the  bottom  of  their 
hearts,  to  listen  to  every  proposition  compati- 
ble with  the  honor  and  security  of  France ;  but 
it  is  indispensable  that  Ferdinand  should  be 
free ;  it  is  necessary  that  France,  at  all  hazards, 
should  extricate  itself  from  a  position  in  which 
it  would  perish  more  certainly  than  from  all 
the  dangers  of  war.  Let  us  never  forget  that, 
if  the  war  with  Spain  has,  like  every  other  war, 
its  inconveniences  and  perils,  it  has  also  for  us 
this  immense  advantage:  it  will  have  created 
an  armj- ;  it  will  have  caused  us  to  resume  our 
military  rank  among  nations ;  it  will  have  de- 
cided our  emancipation,  and  re-established  our 
independence.  Something  was  perhaps  awant- 
ing  to  the  entire  reconciliation  of  Frenchmen ; 
that  something  will  be  found  beneath  the  tent; 
companions  in  arms  ai'e  soon  friends;  and  all 
recollections  are  lost  in  the  remembrance  of  a 
common  glory.  The  king,  that  monarch  so  wise, 
so  pacific,  so  paternal,  has  spoken.  He  has 
thought  that  the  security  of  France  and  the 
dignity^  of  the  Crown  rendered  it  imperative 
on  him  to  have  recourse  to  arms,  after  having 
exhausted  the  counsels  of  peace.  He  has  de- 
clared liis  wish  that  a  hundred  thousand  men 
should  assemble  under  the  orders  of  a  prince 
J  who,  at  the  passage  of  the  l)rome 

iii.  ^  si.  '  showed  himself  as  valiant  as  Henry 
IV.'  With  generous  confidence  he 
v"^38'4^-^*'  ^*^®  intrusted  the  guard  of  the  white 
Lam.'vii.'  flag  to  the  captains  Avho  have  tri- 
J29,  137;        umphed  under  other  colors.     They 

Fe^uT^'}5    ^^^^  ^^^^^^  *"'"  ^^^  I^^^'^^  °^  victory; 
1823.  '  ^^  ^^^^  never  forgotten  that  of  hon- 

or."^ 
This    splendid    speech    made    a    prodigious 
sensation  in  France,  greater  perhaps 
immense    ^^^^^  ^^Y  other  since  the  days  of  Mir- 
sensation  abeau.     It  expressed  with  equal  force 
produced    and  felicity  the  inmost  and  best  feel- 
speech.      ^"S®  of  the  Royalists;  and  those  feel- 
ings were  on   this  occasion,  perhaps 
for  the  first  time,  in  unison  with  the  sentiments 
of  the  great  majorit}'  of  Frenchmen.     The  na- 
tion had  become  all  but  unanimous  at  the  sound 

*  M.de  Chateaubriand  alluded  to  the  following  passage 
in  his  Genie  du  CArisiianisTne,  published  in  1803  :  "  L'Es- 
pagne,  separee  des  autres  nations,  presenfe  encore  a  I'his- 
torien  un  caractereplus  original.  L'especede  stagnation 
de  mtrurs  dans  laquelle  elle  repose,  lui  sera  pcut-etre  utile 
un  jour  ;  et  lorsquc  les  peuples  curopeens  seront  uses  par 
la  corruption,  elle  sevle  poiirm  reparnitre  arcc  eclat  sur 
la  scene  du  mnnde,  parce  que  le  fond  dcs  mopurs  subsiste 
Chez  elle." — Genie  du  Christianisme,  panic  iii.  t.  iii.  c.  4. 


[ClIAP.  XII. 

of  the  trumpet.  The  inherent  adventurous  and 
warlike  spirit  of  tiie  Franks  had  reappeared  in 
undiminished  strength  at  the  prospect  of  war. 
Chance,  or  tiie  skilli'ul  direction  of  Government, 
had  at  last  found  an  object  in  which  all  classes 
concurred — in  which  the  ardent  loyalty  of  the 
Royalist  coincided  with  the  buoyant  ambition 
of  the  people.  In  vain  the  Liberal  chiefs,  who 
anticipated  so  much  from  the  triumph  of  their 
allies  beyond  the  ryrcnees,  and  dreaded  utter 
discouifiture  from  tlieir  defeat,  endeavored  to 
turn  aside  the  stream,  and  to  envenom  patriotic 
by  party  feelings.  The  attempt  wholly  failed: 
the  Chambers  were  all  but  unani-  ,  ^^^  ^y 
inous  in  favor  of  the  war;  and  their  130,  137 ; 
feelings  were  re-echoed  from  Calais  -'Vnn.  Hist, 
to  the  Pyrenees.'  vi.  34,41. 

M.  Talleyrand  made  a  remarkable  fpeech  on 
this  occasion,  which  deserves  to  be 
recorded,  as  one  of  the  most  uufortu-  m.  Taljey- 
nate  prophecies  ever  made  by  a  man  rand's 
of  ability  on  the  future  issue  of  af-  ^■"•'^'^l'  °" 
fail's.  "  It  isjust  sixteen  years  to-daj',"  ^^^'■• 
said  he,  "since  I  was  called  by  him  who  then 
governed  the  world  to  give  him  my  advice  on 
the  struggle  in  which  he  was  about  to  engage 
with  Spain.  I  had  the  misfortune  to  displease 
him  because  I  revealed  the  future — because  I 
unfolded  the  misfortunes  which  might  arise 
from  an  aggression  as  unjust  as  it  was  inex- 
pedient. Disgrace  was  the  reward  of  ni}'  sin- 
cerity. Strange  destiny  ! — which  now,  after  so 
long  an  interval,  leads  me  to  give  the  same 
counsels  to  a  legitimate  sovereign !  It  is  my 
part,  who  have  had  so  large  a  share  in  the 
double  Restoration — who,  by  my  efforts,  I  may 
say  by  my  success,  have  wound  up  my  glory 
and  my  responsibility  entirely  with  the  alli- 
ance between  France  and  the  house  of  Bour- 
bon— to  contribute  as  much  as  lies  in  my  power 
to  prevent  the  work  of  wisdom  and  justice  from 
being  compromised  by  rash  and  insane  pas- 
sions." "When  this  counsel  on  the  Spanisli  war 
is  compared  with  the  result  which  occurred  a 
few  months  afterward,  the  difference  is  suflB- 
ciently  striking.  Talleyrand,  with  his  sagacity 
and  experience,  proved  a  more  fallacious  coun- 
selor than  Chateaubriand,  with  his  poetry  and 
romance.  "Wisdom  was  found  in  the  inspira- 
tions of  genius  rather  than  the  deductions  of 
experience.  The  reason  is,  that  Tallyj-iand 
thought  the  result  would  be  the  same,  because 
it  was  an  attack  by  France  on  Spain,  forgetting 
that  the  circumstances  were  materially  differ- 
ent, and  that  the  Bourbon  invasion  had  that  in 
its  favor  which  in  that  of  Kapoleon  was  alto- 
gether awanting — viz.,  the  support  of  the  great 
body  of  the  people.  A  memorable  example  of 
the  important  truth,  that  events  in  history  are 
not  to  be  drawn  into  a  precedent  unless  the  ma- 
terial circumstances  attending  them  are  simi- 
lar ;  and  that  it  is  in  the  faculty  of  2  ^gj,,  ^.^^ 
discerning  where  that  similarity  ex-  120 ;  Ann. 
ists  that  the  highest  proof  of  political  Hist.  vi.  34, 
wisdom  is  to  be  found.  ^ 

The  enthusisam  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 
in  favor  of  the  war  did  not  evaporate         ^^ 
merely  in  vehement  harangues  from  vote  of 
the  tribune ;  substantial  acts  testified  credit  of 
their  entire  adhesion  to  the  system  of  KiO.COO,CCO 
the  Government.     The}'  voted,  by  a    '■^"'^®- 
very  lai'ge  majority,  a  supplementary  credit  of 


1823.] 

100,000,000  francs  (£4-,000,000)  for  carrj-ing  on 
the  war,  to  be  put  at  the  disposal  of  the  min- 
ister. The  state  of  the  revenue  this  year  was 
very  flattering,  and  dsmonstrated  how  rapidly 
the  national  resources  were  augmenting  un- 
der the  influence  of  the  peace,  freedom,  and 
security  of  property  which  France 
vi^39  4o'^*  was  enjoying  under  the  mild  rule  of 
'     '       the  Bourbon  princes.'  * 

In  the  course  of  the  debate  on  this  grant,  an 
56.  incident  occurred,  which,  in  a  more 

Affair  of  .M.  unfavorable  state  of  the  public  mind, 
^h^'rh'' '"  might  liave  overturned  the  mon- 
berofDep-  archy.  M.  Manuel  was  put  forward 
uties;  his  by  the  Opposition  to  answer  the 
speech.  speech  of  M.  Chateaubriand,  he  be- 

ing the  orator  on  the  Liberal  side  whose  close 
and  logical  reasoning,  as  well  as  powers  of  elo- 
quence, were  deemed  most  capable  of  deaden- 
ing the  sensation  produced  by  the  splendid  ora- 
tion of  the  Foreign  Minister.  He  said,  in  the 
course  of  his  speech — "The  Spaniards,  it  is 
said,  are  mutually  cutting  each  other's  throats, 
and  we  must  intervene  to  prevent  one  party 
from  destro3ung  the  other.  It  is  without  doubt 
a  singular  mode  of  diminishing  the  horrors  of 
civil  war,  to  superinduce  to  them  those  of  for- 
eign hostilities.  But  suppose  you  are  success- 
ful. The  insurrection  is  crushed  in  Spain ;  it  is 
annihilated ;  the  friends  of  freedom  have  laid 
down  their  arms.  What  can  you  do  ?  You 
can  not  forever  remain  in  the  Peninsula ;  you 
must  retire;  and  when  you  do  so,  a  new  explo- 
sion, more  dangerous  than  the  former,  will 
break  fortli.  Consult  history:  has  ever  a  re- 
volution in  favor  of  civil  liberty  been  finally 
subdued  ?  Crushed  it  may  be  for  the  moment ; 
but  the  genius  which  has  produced  it  is  imper- 
ishable. Like  Antieus,  the  giant  regains  his 
strength  every  time  he  touches  the  earth. 

"The  civil  war  which  recently  raged  in  Spain 
was  mainly  your  own  work;  the  sol- 
Conanued.  ^^'^rs  'of  the  faith'  onl^  took  up 
arms  m  the  belief  they  would  be 
supported  by  you.  How,  then,  can  you  find 
in  the  consequences  of  your  own  acts  a  justifi- 
cation of  your  intervention?  Can  you  justify 
deeds  of  violence  by  perfidy?  You  say  you 
wish  to  save  Ferdinand  and  his  family.  If  you 
do,  beware  of  repeating  the  same  circumstances 
which,  in  a  former  age,  conducted  to  the  scaffold 
victims  for  whom  you  daily  evince  bo  warm 
and  legitimate  an  interest.  Have  you  forgotten 
that  the  Stuarts  were  only  overturned  because 
they  sought  support  from  the  stranger ;  that  it 
was  in  consequence  of  tlie  invasion  of  the  hos- 
tile armies  that  Louis  XV'^I.  was  precipitated 
from  the  throne?  Are  you  ignorant  that  it 
was  tlie  protection  accorded  by  France  to  tiie 
Stuarts  which  caused  the  ruin  of  that  race  of 
p.-inces?  That  succor  was  clandestine,  it  is 
true ;  but  it  was  sufficient  to  encourage  the 
ituarts  in  their  rosLstance  to  public  opinion ; 
Uience  the  resistance  to  that  opinion,  and  tlie 
misfortunes  of  that  family — misfortunes  whicli 
it  would  have  avoided  if  it  had  sought  its  8U|)- 
port  in  tlie  nation.  Nee<l  I  remind  you  th;il 
the  dangers  of  the  royal  family  have  been  fear- 

*  It  exhibited  a  surplus  of  12, 015,907  frnnrN(i'l,f)Hn,onO), 
so  that  the  extraordinary  rredit  only  rc(juircd  to  he  oprr- 
ated  upon  to  the  cxloiit  of  57,U51,0'j:i  francs  (£2,3-10,000). 
—Budget,  1823;  Annuaire  Ihstori/jue,  vi.  3J,  40. 
Vol    I— 1»  r. 


HISTORY   OF  EUROPE. 


417 


fullj'  aggravated  when   the  stranger  invaded 

our  territory,  and  that  revolution-  ,  ,   „  rr-  . 
-''     .         ,  •,        f     A""-  If 'St- 

ar}' trance,  leeling  the  necessity  of  vi.  72,  73; 

defending  itself  by  new  forces  and  Lam.  vii. 

a  fresh  energy — "  *  ^^^'  ^*^^- 

At  these  words  a  perfect  storm  arose  In 
the  Chamber.  "Order,  order!"  was  ,„ 
sliouted  on  the  Right ;  "  this  is  regi-  storm  in 
cide  justified  and  provoked."  "Ex-  the  Chain- 
pulsion,  expulsion!"  "Let  us  chase  '^^'^s- 
the  monster  from  our  benches!"  exclaimed 
a  hundred  voices.  The  president,  M.  Ravcz, 
seeing  the  speaker  had  been  interrupted  in 
the  midst  of  a  sentence,  and  that  the  offence 
taken  arose  from  a  jncsumcd  meaning  of  words 
which  were  to  follow,  not  of  what  had  actually 
been  used,  hesitated  with  reason  to  act  upo:i 
such  speculative  views,  and  contented  himself 
with  calling  M.  Manuel  to  order.  So  far  wore 
the  Ro^-alists  from  being  satisfied  with  this 
moderate  concession,  that  they  instantly  ruse 
up  in  a  bod}',  surrounded  the  president's  chair 
with  loud  cries  and  threats,  demanding  that  the 
apologist  of  regicide  should  be  instantly  expel- 
led from  the  Chamber ;  while  one  of  them,  moi  e 
audacious  than  the  rest,  actually  pulled  M.  Man- 
uel from  the  tribune,  and,  mounting  in  his  stead, 
demanded  in  a  stentorian  voice  the  vengeance 
of  France  on  the  advocate  of  assassin.s.  Mean- 
while M.  Manuel,  conscious  that  the  sentence 
which  had  been  interrupted,  if  allowed  to  be 
completed,  would  at  once  dispel  the  storm,  was 
calm  and  impassible  in  the  midst  of  the  ujn-oar  ; 
but  that  only  made  matters  worse  with  the 
infuriated  majorit}' ;  and  at  length 
the  president,  finding  all  his  ertorts  '  j'^ljfj-  l^^'" 
to  appease  the  tumult  fruitless,  Moniteur,  ' 
gave  tlie  well-known  signal  of  dis-  Feb.  27,  182.1; 
tress  by  covering  his  head,  and  J'il"'-  '*"■  "'-' 
broke  up  the  meeting." 

This  scene  had  already  been  sufliciently  vio- 
lent, and  indicative  of  the  risks  59 
which  the  representative  system  Expuhijon  oi' 
ran  in  France  from  the  excitable  ^'-  Manuel, 
temper  of  the  people;  but  it  was  as  notliing  to 
that  which  soon  after  ensued.  The  lvoyalist.s, 
when  the  meeting  was  dissolved,  rushed  in  a 
body  out  of  the  Chamber,  and  broke  into  sep- 
arate knots,  to  concert  ulterior  operations; 
while  the  Liberals  renniined  on  their  benches, 
in  the  midst  of  which  M.  Manuel  wrote  a  letter 
to  the  president,  in  which  lie  stated  how  the 
sentence  Avhich  had  been  interrupted  was  to 
liave  been  concluded,  and  contended  for  his 
right  to  finish  the  sentence,  and  tiien  let  its 
import  be  judged  of  by  the  Chamber.*  Tlie 
sitting  was  resumed,  to  consider  this  explana- 
tion ;  but  a  heated  Ko3alist  fi-om  the  south,  M. 
Forbin  des  I^ssarts,  instantly  ascended  tlie  trib- 
une, and  demanded  the  expulsion  of  the  orator 


*  "  Je  dcmandaiH  Hi  on  aviiit  ouhlic;  qu'en  France  la  iiiort 
de  I'infortuno  LouIh  XV'l.  avail  elo  precedcn  par  I'lnter- 
vcnlion  armeedcs  I'runsienH  et  des  Ailtrichiciis,  el  je  rap- 
[iclais  coninie  un  fait  connu  de  tout  lu  mondc  que  eV.sl  alors 
(jue  lii  I-'raiiee  rovolutionnaife,  scntant  le  hcsoin  de  w.  de- 
liniln-  par  dc-H  forces  et  une  encruio  nouvelles."  C'csi  jci 
ipirj'aii  ti  inlerrompu.  .Sije  ncl'eussc  pas  etc.  ma  phrase 
cNl  1  i(pr()nimc(;cainsi— "Alors  la  France  revolutionnairo, 
Hi-ntant  Ic-  Ijcsoin  do  He  defendre  par  des  forces  et  utie  eii- 
er^ie  nouvellcy,  viit  rn  rnnuvrmint  loulc.i  Ics  mas.irx,  rx- 
alia  limlis  Irs  jian.tions  jmpalidrcs,  H  amcna  aiiisi  (If  Icr- 
rililf.i  cxcrs  il  vnr  (Ir/ihirnhlr  rntastrnphc  nu  viiliru  it'une 
Henircust;  risistann:."~M.  Manuel  an  President,  2filll 
Feb.,  1823  ;  Annuaire  Jli.it-irii/uf,  vi  ICH.  Monilcur,  27lh 
Feb. 


41S 


II I  ST  GUY    OF   EUROPE. 


[Chap.  XII. 


"  who  \\aA  pronounced  s>i(li  infaniona  expres- 
sions, sooini^  no  rules  of  proeo.lure  eould  oon- 
Jenin  an  iissenibly  to  tlio  punishment  of  hoiir- 
iiu;  n  r.iiin  whoso  innxiius  and  sjieeeh  reeoni- 
juended  or  justitied  retiioide."  ^1.  JIanuel  at- 
tempted to  justify  liiuiself;  but  ho  was  again 
interrupted  bj'  the  eries  of  tlie  lloyalists,  and 
the  president,  hoping  to  gain  time  tV)r  the  pas- 
sions to  cool,  adjourneil  the  sitting  to  the  fol- 
lowing day.  l>ut  in  this  hope  he  was  disap- 
pointed, as  is  gonerall}'  the  ease  when  consid- 
eration succeeds  after  the  feelings  have  been 
thoroughly  roused.  "What  is  called  reflection 
is  then  only  listcninff  to  the  re-echo  of  passion  ; 
one  onlj-  voice  is  lieard,  one  only  key  is  touch- 
ed, one  onl}-  sentiment  felt.  A  lover,  who  is 
contending  with  himself,  rises  from  his  sleepless 
couch  coutirmed,  uot  shaken,  in  his  preposses- 
sions. During  the  night,  a  formal  motion  for 
tlie  expulsion  of  the  supposed  delinquent,  for 
the  remainder  of  the  session,  was  prepared  bj' 
il.  de  la  Bourdonuaye,  the  acknowledged  lead- 
er of  the  extreme  lloyalists ;  and  although  the 
justice  or  shame  of  the  Chamber  permitted  M. 
Manuel  to  be  heard  in  his  defense,  and  the  de- 
bate was  more  than  once  adjourned,  to  enable 
the  numerous  speakers,  who  inscribed  their 
names  on  the  tribune,  to  be  heard  on  the  ques- 
tion, the  torrent  was  irresistible.  The  determ- 
ination of  the  Royalists  only  increased  with 
the  effervescence  of  the  public  mind;  and, 
amidst  agitated  crowds  which  surrounded  the 
Assembly  on  all  sides,  and  under  the  protection 
of  squadrons  of  cavalry,  the  expulsion  of  M. 
Manuel,  during  the  remainder  of  the  session, 
was  voted,  oa  the  evening  of  4th 
Mai'ch,  by  a  majority  of  fully  two 
'A""-  JJ^^'-  to  one,  the  whole  Centre  coalescing 
Moniteur  '  '^ith  the  Right.  The  agitation 
March  5,'  which  prevailed  rendered  it  im- 
1823  ;  Lam.  possible  to  take  the  vote  otherwise 
YH.  loy,  m.  ^^^^  ^y  acclamation.' 

The  exclusion  of  a  single  member,  during  the 
J.Q  remainder  of  a  single  session,  was  no 
Dramatic  very  serious  injury  to  a  party,  or 
scene  at  his  blow  leveled  at  the  public  liberties; 
expulsion,  j^^j  ^}jq  passions  on  both  sides  were 
so  strongly  excited  by  this  imprudent  abuse  of 
power  bj"  the  Royalist  majority,  that  the  Lib- 
erals resolved  to  resist  it  to  the  very  uttermost. 
It  was  determined  to  compel  the  majority  to 
use  force  for  his  expulsion;  and  the  recollec- 
tion of  the  risk  w^hieh  ensued  to  the  throne 
from  the  dragging  of  M.  d'Espremenil  from  the 
Parliament  of  Paris,  at  the  commencement  of 
J  Hist  of  ^"'^^  ^^^^  Revolution,^  was  of  sinister 
Europe,  c.  augury  as  to  the  effects  of  enforcing 
iii.  «^  107,  the  present  decree  by  similar  means. 
The  Government,  however,  was  firm, 
and  resolved,  at  all  hazards,  to  carry  the  decree 
of  the  Chamber  into  execution.  Every  jjrepa- 
ration  was  accordingly  made  to  overawe,  and, 
if  necessarj',  to  subdue  resistance.  The  Liberal 
leaders,  however,  were  determined  to  have  a 
scene,  and,  instead  of  yielding  obedience  to  the 
decree  of  the  Chamber,  M.  Manuel  appeared 
next  morning  in  the  Hall,  and  took  his  seat. 
IVhen  invited  by  tlie  president  to  retire  with- 
out disturbance,  he  replied,  "I  told  you  yes- 
terday I  would  only  yield  to  force;  I  come  to 
roaie  good  my  word,"  and  resumed  his  scat. 
The  president  then   desired  the  Assembly  to 


evacuate  the  hall,  and  retire  into  their  respect- 
ive apartnu'iits,  which  was  immcdiatcl}'  done 
b}-  the  whole  Kiglit  and  Centre,  but  the  entire 
Left  remained  in  their  places,  grouped  around 
Manuel.  Presently  the  folding-doors  oj)ened, 
and  the  chief  of  the  bar-oflicers,  followed  by  a 
numerous  staff  of  his  colleagues,  advanced,  and 
read  to  Manuel  the  decree  of  the  Chamber. 
"Your  order  is  illegal,"  replied  he;  "I  will 
not  obey  it."  The  peace-officers  then  retired, 
and  the  anxiety  in  the  galleries,  and  the  crowd 
around  the  Chamber,  arose  to  the  highest  point, 
for  the  '■  measured  step  of  marching  men"  was 
heard  in  the  lobb}-.  Presently  the  folding- 
doors  again  opened,  and  a  detachment  of  na- 
tional guards  and  troops  of  the  line,  with  fixed 
bayonets,  slowly  entered,  and  drew  up  in  front 
of  the  refractory  deputy.  The  civil  officer  then 
ordered  the  sergeant  of  the  national  guard,  M. 
Morrier,  to  execute  the  warrant;  but,  overcome 
by  the  violence  of  the  crisis,  and  the  cries  of  the 
deputies  around  Manuel,  he  refused  to  obey. 
"Vive  la  Garde  Rationale!"  instanti}'  burst  in 
redox'.bled  shouts  from  the  opposition  benches; 
"  Honneur  a  la  Garde  Kationale!"  was  heard 
above  all  the  din  in  the  voice  of  Lafayette.  But 
the  difficulty  had  been  foreseen  and  pro\ided 
for  by  the  Government.  The  national  guard 
and  troops  of  the  line  were  instantly  with- 
drawn, and  thirty  gendarmes,  under  M.  de  Fou- 
cault,  an  officer  of  tried  fidelity  and  courage, 
were  introduced,  who,  after  in  vain 
inviting  Manuel  to  retire,  seized  him  igi^'Jgo^."' 
by  the  collar,  and  dragged  him  out,  Ann.  Hist, 
amidst  vehement  gesticulations  and  vi.  107,  109; 

cries  from  the  Left,  which  were  heard  i^J"""/^",  c'no 
,,      ,.   .       ,  Mar.  5,  lb2j. 

across  the  beine.' 

These  dramatic  scenes,  so  well  calculated  to 
excite  the  feelings  of  a  people  so 
warm  in  temperament  as  the  French,  Qg,.,g^^j 
might,  under  different  circumstances,  tliusiasm 
have  overturned  the  monarchy,  and  e.xcited  by 
induced  i«  1823  the  Revolution  of  t^e^Spanish 
1830.      They    were    followed   next 
day  by  a  solemn  protest,  signed  by  sixty  depu- 
ties who  had  adhered   to  M.  Manuel  in  the 
struggle,  among  which  the  signatures  of  Gen- 
eral Lafayette,  General  Foy,  and  M.  Casimir 
Perier  appeared  consi)icuous.     But   no   other 
result  took  place.     The  public  mind  is  inca- 
pable of  being  violently  excited  by  two  pas- 
sions at  the  same  time  ;  if  the  national  feelings 
have  been  roused,  the  social  ones  are  little  felt. 
It  was  a  perception  of  this  truth  which  caused 
the   Empress   Catherine  to   say,   at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  French  Revolution,  that  the 
only  way  to  combat  its  passions  was  to  go  to 
war.^      The   din,   great   as   it   was,  2  nist.  of 
caused  by  the  dragging  M.  Manuel  Europe, 
out  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  was  1789-1815, 
lost  in  the  louder  sound  of  marching  "^^  ^"''  '  '• 
men  pressing  on  to  the  Pyrenees.     The  civic 
strife  was  heard  of  no  more  after  it  had  termi- 
nated;  nothing   was  thought  of  but  the  ap- 
proaching conflict  on  the  fields  of  Spain.     In- 
cessant was  the  march  of  troops  toward  Bay- 
onne  and  Perpignan,  the  two  points  from  which 
the  invasion  was  to  be  made.     The  roads  were 
covered  by  columns  of  infantry,  cavalry,  and 
artiller}',  moving  forward  toward  the  Spanish 
frontier,  in  the  finest  order,  and  in  the  highest 
spirits;    and   Ihe   warlike   enthusiasm    of  the 


1823.  J 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


-no 


French,  always  strong,  -was  roused  to  the  very 
highest  pitch,  by  the  prospect  of  viudicating 
March  15.  the  tarnished  honor  of  their  arms  on 
1  Lam.  vii.  the  fields  of  Castile,  and  re-entering 
A ^'  ^H  St  ^^^'^'"^^  ''^  conquerors.  The  Duke 
vi.  108, 112;  of  Angouleme  set  out  from  Paris, 
Moniteur,  to  take  the  command  of  the  armj-, 
I'soq'^^'r^'  '^^  *''®  ^■^'^'^  March;  and  as  war  was 
vii"  120  ^^'  "o  longer  doubtful,  the  anxiety  on 
126,  145,  both  sides  arose  to  the  very  highest 
146-  pitch.  ^ 

On  their  side,  the  Liberals,  both  in  France 
62.         and   Spain,    were    not   idle.     Their 
Prepara-      chief  reliance  was  on  the  presumed  or 
tionsofthe  hoped-for  disaffection  of  the  French 
Liberals  to         "^  ».       .i  n  ii     i 

sow  disaf-  *ii'™y  i  'or  they  were  well  aware  that 
fection  in  if  the//  i-eraained  united,  the  forces  of 
the  army.  Spain,  debased  by  misgovernment, 
and  torn  by  civil  war,  would  be  unable  to  op- 
pose any  effectual  resistance  to  their  incursion. 
The  most  active  measures,  however,  were  taken 
to  sow  the  seeds  of  disaffection  in  the  French 
army.  Several  secret  meetings  of  the  Liberal 
chiefs  in  Paris  took  place,  in  order  to  concert 
tlie  most  effectual  means  of  carrying  this  de- 
sign into  execution ;  and  it  was  at  first  determ- 
ined to  send  M.  Benjamin  Constant  to  Madrid 
to  superintend  the  preparations  on  the  revolu- 
tionary side,  it  being  with  reason  supposed  that 
his  great  reputation  and  acknowledged  abilities 
would  have  much  influence  witli  the  revolution- 
ists in  Spain,  and  be  not  without  its  effect  on 
the  feelings  of  the  French  soldiery.  But  this 
design,  like  many  others  formed  by  persons 
who  are  more  liberal  of  their  breath  than  their 
fortunes,  failed  from  want  of  funds.  Benjamin 
Constant,  whose  habits  of  expense  were  great, 
and  his  income  from  literary  effort  considerable, 
refused  to  undertake  the  mission  unless  not  only 
his  expenses  were  provided  for,  but  an  indem- 
nity secured  to  him,  in  the  event  of  failure,  for 
the  loss  of  his  fortune  and  the  means  of  repaii-- 
ing  it,  which  liis  position  in  Paris  afforded. 
This,  however,  the  Liberals,  though  many  of 
them  were  bankers  or  merchants,  possessed  of 
great  wealth,  declined  to  undertake ;  tlie  Duke 
of  Orleans  was  equally  inexorable ;  and  the 
consequence  wa.s,  that  Constant  refused  to  go, 
and  the  plan,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  broke 
down.  All  that  was  done  was  to  send  a  few 
hundred  political  fanatics  and  refugees,  who 
were  to  be  under  tlic  command  of  Colonel  Fab- 
vier,  and  who,  though  of  no  importance  as  a 
military  reinforcement,  might,  it  was  hoped, 
wlien  clothed  in  the  uniforni  of  the  Old  (luard, 
and  grouped  round  the  tricolor  standard,  siiake 
the  fidelity  of  the  French  soldiers  on  the  baidis 
of  the  Bidassoa.  Tiieir  first  step  was  to  issue 
a  proclamation  in  tlic  name  of  Napoleon  II. 
2  L^^  yji  to  the  Frencli  soldiers,  calling  on 
195,  1U7 ;  them  to  desert  their  colors,  and 
Chateau-         join  the  revolutionary  ho.st,  a  pro- 

rone,  1.  252,  ted,  if  it  had  been  required,  tlie 
254 ;  Cap.  necessity  of  the  French  interven- 
vii.  147,  148.   ti,,„_a* 


While   hostilities  were   thus  evidently  and 
rapidly   approaching   on  tlie   Couti-         03 
nent,  and  the  dogs  of  war  were  held  Feelings  cf 

only  in  the  leash,  ready  to  be  let  loose  '^''"-  ''^"," 
,   ■'  ^>  •         i       1       1   i      ning  and 

at  a  moments  warning,  to  desolate  the  English 
the  world,  England,  indignant  and  people \t 
agitated,  but  still  inactive,  remained  '^I's  crisis, 
an  anxious  spectator  of  the  strife.  Never  wero 
the  feelings  of  the  nation  more  strongly  roused, 
and  never  would  a  war  have  been  entered  into 
by  the  Government  with  more  cordial  and  en- 
thusiastic support  on  the  part  of  the  people. 
This  is  always  the  case,  and  it  arises  from  the 
strength  of  the  feelings  of  liberty  which  are 
indelibly  engraven  on  the  minds  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race.  Their  sympathy  is  invariably 
with  those  whom  tliej'  suppose  to  be  oppress- 
ed; their  impulse  to  assist  the  insurgents 
against  the  ruling  power.  They  would  sup- 
port the  colonies  of  all  countries,  except  their 
oivn,  in  throwing  off  their  allegiance  to  the 
parent  state :  those  who  attempt  the  same  sys- 
tem in  regard  to  their  own,  they  regard  as 
worse  than  pirates.  They  consider  revolution 
a  blessing  to  all  other  countries  except  En- 
gland: there  the  whole  classes  possessed  of 
property  are  resolute  to  oppose  to  it  the  most 
determined  resistance.  Tlie)'  think,  with  reason, 
they  have  already  gone  through  the  ordeal  of 
revolution,  and  do  not  need  to  do  so  a  second 
time ;  other  nations  have  not  yet  passed  through 
it,  and  they  can  not  obtain  felicity  until  they 
have. 

Mr.  Canning,  whose  temj)erament  was  warm, 
his  sympathy  with  freedom  sincere,  . 

and  his  ambition  for  his  country  yjews  of 
and  himself  powerful,  shared  to  the  Mr.  canning 
very  full  in  all  these  sentiments,  "t  this  junc- 
jS'o  firmer  friend  to  the  cause  of  "'^'" 
liberty  existed  in  the  British  dominions  at  that 
eventful  crisis,  and  none  whose  talents,  elo- 
quence, as  well  as  political  position,  enabled 
liim  to  give  it  such  ett'cctual  support.  In  truth, 
at  that  period  it  may  be  said  that  he  held  the 
keys  of  the  cavern  of  ^Eolus  in  his  hands,  and 
that  it  rested  with  him  to  unlock  the  doors  and 
let  the  winds  sweep   round   the  globe.     But 


*  "  VainqiireiirH  dc  F'lcurus,  de  Icna,  d'AuHtcrlitz,  de 
Wa^ram,  voiis  lai.sserez.vous  aller  a  leurH  InninuationH 
perlides  !  Scellerez-vouH  de  votre  Bang,  I'lnraniie  dont  on 
veut  V0U8  couvrir,  et  la  servitude  de  I'Europe  rntiere  ? 
Obuirez-vous  a  la  voix  des  lyrans,  pour  romhattre  conirc 
V03  droits,  au  lieu  de  les  dcfendre  ;  et  ne  vjenilre/.-vons 
dans  nos  rangs  que  pour  y  apporter  la  destruction  ct  la 


mort,  lorsqu'ils  vous  sont  ouvcrts  pour  la  libertc  sainte 
qui  vous  appelle  du  haut  de  I'cnseigne  trii-olorc  qui  Ilotte 
sur  les  monts  Pyrenees,  ct  dont  clle  briile  d'ombr.igcr 
encore  une  fois  vos  nobles  fronts  converts  de  tanl  d'lionor- 
ables  cicatrices  ?  Uraves  de  toute  artne  de  rarniee  tVan- 
Caise,  qui  conservez  encore  dans  voire  sein  retiiicelle  du 
feu  sacre  I  c'est  a  vous  que  nous  faisons  un  pcnureux 
appcl  ;  embrassc/.  nvec  nous  la  cause  majcstueuse  du 
pcuple,  centre  celle  d'uiie  poignee  d'oppresseurs ;  la 
I'alrie,  I'honncur,  voire  propre  Interut  le  commandcnt ; 
venez,  vous  trouverez  dans  nos  rangs  tout  ce  qui  consti- 
tue  la  force,  et  des  compatriotes,  descompagnonsd'arines, 
qui  jurcnt  de  defendre  jus()u'a  la  deriiicre  goutle  de  leur 
sang,  leurs  droits,  la  liberie,  I'independance  natlonale. 
Vive  la  liberie  1  Vive  Napoleon  II.  !  Vivent  les  braves  I" 
— CiiATliAUDniAND,  Cnngrcs  de  Verone,  i.  254,  255. 

In  the  Oliservateur  K.ipaffnul  of  Ist  Oct.,  1822,  before 
tli(^  Congress  of  Voroiui  was  opened,  it  was  said — 
"  L'epee  de  Damocles  qui  est  suspendue  sur  la  tele  des 
Bourbons,  va  bienlol  les  atteindre.  .Nas  nioyens  de  ven- 
geance sont  do  toute  evidence.  Outre  la  valilante  armco 
cspagnole,  n'avons-nous  pas  dans  cettc  armee  sanitaire 
dix  mjlle  chevaliers  dc  la  liberie,  prcts  a  se  jolndre  a  lours 
anciens  ollicicTs,  ct  a  tourncr  leurs  arines  contre  les  op- 
prcsseurs  <le  la  Prance !  N'avons-nous  pas  cent  niiUe  dc 
CCS  chevaliers  dans  I'inlerieur  dc  cc  royaume,  dont  vingt 
cinq  rnjlle  au  moins  dans  rarmce,  et  plus  de  mdlc  dans 
la  garde  royalo  1  N'avons-nous  pas  pour  nous,  cctlc 
baine  excusable,  quo  les  neuf  dixiemcs  de  la  France  ont 
vouoc  a  d'exocrables  tyrans  ?" — L'Vbscrvateur  Espagnol, 
Ist  Oct.,  1822. 


420 


HISTORY    OF    EUllorE. 


[ClIAl-.  XII. 


tliougli  nl>inulftntly  impelled  (as  his  private 
oouvorsatioiis  and  oorrespondence  at  tills  j)oriod 
deiiioiistrato)  by  liis  ardent  disposition  to  steji 
forward  as  the  foremost  in  this  great  coiilliet, 
vet  his  experieiiee  and  wisdom  as  a  statesman, 
joined  to  the  intliietieo  of  Mr.  I'eel,  w  ho  threat- 
ened to  resign  if  an  aetive  intervention  was 
attempted,  restrained  him  from  taking  the  ir- 
recoverable step,  and  preserved  the  peace  of 
the  world  w  hen  it  appeared  to  be  most  serious- 
ly menaced.*  Resolutely  determined  to  abstain 
from  all  intervention  in  the  affairs  of  Spain,  and 
to  do  his  utmost  to  prevent  France  from  taking 
that  step,  he  was  not  the  less  determined  to 
abstain  from  actual  hostilities,  and  to  keep 
aloof  from  the  conflict  so  long  as  it  was  con- 
» Marcellus  ^^^^'^  ^^  continental  Europe.  He 
Politique  '  bail  too  vivid  a  recollection  of  what 
de  la  Res-  the  last  Peninsular  war  had  been,  to 
p"^".^!""'  engage  without  absolute  necessity 
Cailnins's  i"  ^  second ;  and  if  he  had  been 
Li;V,  334;  otherwise  inclined,  the  majority  of 
Martineau,  ^\^q  Cabinet  would  not  have  sup- 
j.  296.  t    1  t  ■      li 

ported  lum.'-)- 


*  "  Leave  ttie  Spanish  revolution  to  burn  itself  out 
within  its  own  crater.  You  have  nothing  to  apprehend 
from  the  eruption,  if  you  do  not  open  a  channel  for  the 
lava  through  the  Pyrenees.  It  is  not  too  late  to  save  the 
world  from  a  Hood  of  calamities.  The  key  to  the  flood- 
pate  is  yet  in  your  hands ;  unlock  it,  and  who  shall 
answer  for  the  extent  of  devastation?  'The  beginning 
of  strife  is  as  the  letting  out  of  waters.'  So  says  inspired 
wisdom.  Genius  is  akin  to  inspiration  ;  and  1  pray  that 
it  may  be  able  on  this  occasion  to  profit  by  the  warning 
of  the  parable,  and  pause." — Mr.  Canning  to  M.  de  Cha- 
teaubriand (confidential),  27th  January,  1623;  Congres 
de  Veronf,  i.  475. 

"  Well,  then,  to  begin  at  once  with  what  is  most  un- 
pleasant to  utter  :  You  have  united  the  opinions  of  this 
whole  nation  as  one  man  against  France.  You  have  ex- 
cited against  the  present  sovereign  of  that  kingdom  the 
feelings  which  were  united  against  the  usurper  of  France 
and  Spain  in  1808.  Nay,  the  consent,  I  grieve  to  say,  is 
more  perfect  now  than  on  that  occasion  ;  for  then  the 
Jacobins  were  loth  to  inculpate  their  idol ;  now  they  and 
the  Whigs  and  Tories,  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the 
other,  are  all  one  way.  Surely  such  a  spontaneous  and 
universal  burst  of  national  sentiment  must  lead  any  man, 
or  any  set  of  men.  who  are  acting  in  opposition  to  it,  to 
reflect  whether  they  are  acting  quite  right.  The  Govern- 
ment has  not  on  this  occasion  led  the  public — quite  other- 
wise. The  language  of  the  Government  has  been  pecu- 
liarly measured  and  temperate  ;  so  much  so,  that  the 
mass  of  the  nation  was  in  suspense  as  to  the  opinion  of 
Government  till  it  was  actually  declared  ;  and  that  portion 
of  the  press  usually  devoted  to  them  was  (for  reasons 
perhaps  better  known  on  your  side  of  the  water  than  on 
ours)  turned  in  a  directly  opposite  course." — Mr.  Can- 
ning to  Viscount  Chateaubriand,  7th  February,  1623  ; 
Congres  de  Verone,  i.  475. 

t  "  J'apprends  a  I'instant,  et  de  tres-bonne  source, 
qu'avant-hier,  dans  un  conseil  secret  des  Ministres,  M. 
Canning  a  pretendu  qu'on  ne  pouvait  luttercontre  I'opin- 
ion  generale,  et  que  cette  opinion  demandait  imperieuse- 
ment  de  secourir  I'Espagne.  M.  Peel  a  declare,  alors, 
que  rhonneur  de  I'Angleterre,  Pinttret  deses  institutions 
et  de  son  commerce  etaient  de  maintenir  une  stride  neu- 
Iralite  ;  et  il  a  termine  en  disant  que  si  une  conduite  op- 
posee  a  celle  que  I'Angleterre  avait  toujours  suivie  envers 
la  Revolution,  venait  a  etre  adoptee,  il  devait  a  sa  con- 
science, de  se  retirer  du  ministere  aussitot.  Ce  jeune 
mmistre  Va  emporte.  La  grande  majorite  du  conseil  s'e.st 
reunie  a  lui,  et  M.  Canning  a  decide  au  nombre." — M. 
Marcellus,  Charge  d' Affaires  a  Londres,  a  M.  de  Cha- 
teaubriand, 28  Fevrier,  1823  ;  Marcellus,  152. 

Notwithstanding  the  divergence  on  political  subjects  of 
their  opinions,  which  the  opposite  sides  they  espoused 
on  the  Spanish  question  much  augmented,  Mr.  Canning 
and  -M.  de  Chateaubriand  had  the  highest  admiration  for 
each  other,  and  mutually  lamented  the  circumstances 
which  had  drawn  them  out  of  the  peaceful  domain  of  lit- 
erature to  the  stormy  and  fleeting  arena  of  politics.  The 
inmost  thoughts  of  the  former  were  revealed  in  the  fol- 
lowing conversation  at  this  period  with  M.  Marcellus,  for 
whom  he  had  a  very  high  regard.  "  C'est  done  a  cette 
petite  pouss'ere  de  la  tombe  que  vont  aboutir  inevitable- 


The  peculiar  position  of  Mr.  Canning  at  ihij 

period    has   never  been   so  well  de-         ,- 

scribed  as  by  one  who  knew  him  in-  portrait  of 

timalely,  and  had  become,  as  it  were,  Mr.  Can- 

1  he  dei>()silarv  oi  his  inmost  thoughts.  "'"?'  \}'  ^'- 

I  .         .  cj     .      Marcellus 

■■  Let  US  not  deceive  ourselves,"  said 

M.  Marcellus,  "in  regard  to  Mi\  Canning.  Still 
undeciiled,  he  as  yet  is  in  suspense  between  the 
monarchical  opinions,  which  have  made  h'u 
former  renown,  and  the  popular  favor  which 
has  recent Iv  borne  him  forward  to  power;  but 
as  he  attends,  above  all,  to  the  echo  of  ])ublic 
opinion,  and  spreads  his  sails  before  the  wind 
which  blows,  it  is  easy  to  foresee  to  which  side 
he  will  incline.  An  e/evc  of  Pitt,  Tory  down  to 
this  time,  he  will  become  half  a  Whig,  and  will 
adopt  the  democratic  principles  if  they  appear 
to  be  in  the  ascendant.  Ilis  secret  inclinations 
lead  him  to  the  aristocracy,  and  even  the  high 
opposition  society;  he  is  feared  rather  i  j^  j^j^^, 
than  beloved  by  the  king;  but  the  cellustoM. 
people  are  with  him.  Tlie  people,  ^^  <^'"'- 
dazzled  by  his  talents,  have  put  him  London," 
where  he  is ;  and  the  people  will  sup-  Jan.  20,' 
port  him  there  as  long  as  he  obeys  1^23 ;  Mar- 
ti ■•  i  »  i  °  •'  cellus,  120. 
their  wishes.    '  y-  ^  =, .-". 

Mr.  Canning  at  this  period  was  decidedly  of 
opinion  that  the  Peninsular  war,  if 

once  commenced,  would  be  of  very  jjjg  opinion 

long    duration — as    long,    possibly,  as  to  the 

as  that  with  revolutionary  France,  probable  du- 

II  Ttri         T  1   "       •  1   1        «  „f  4i  „  ration  of  the 

'\Vhen  I  speak,    said  he,  '  ot  the  .^.^ 

dangers  of  war  to  France,  do  not 
suppose  I  undervalue  her  resources  or  power. 
She  is  as  brave  and  strong  as  she  ever  was  be- 
fore ;  she  is  now  the  richest,  the  most  abound- 
ing in  resources,  of  all  the  states  in  Europe. 
Hers  are  all  the  sinews  of  war,  if  there  be  the 
disposition  to  employ  them.  You  have  a  mill- 
ion of  soldiers,  you  say,  at  your  call:  I  doubt 
it  not;  and  it  is  double  the  number,  or  there- 
abouts, that  Bonaparte  buried  in  Spain.  You 
consider  'un  premier  succes  au  moins  commo 


ment  nos  inutiles  eflorts.  Qu"ai-je  gagne  a  tant  de  com- 
bats? De  nombreuxennemis,  et  miUecalomnies.  Tantot 
retenu  par  le  defaut  d'intelligence  de  mes  partisans,  tou- 
jours gene  par  le  deplaisir  du  Roi,  je  ne  puis  rlen  execu- 
ter,  rien  essayer  menie  de  ce  qu'une  voix  interne  et  solen- 
ncUe  semble  me  dieter.  Je  le  disais  recemment  dans  ma 
tristesse  ;  je  me  prends  quelquefois  pour  un  oiseau  des 
hauteurs  qui,  loin  de  voter  sur  les  hauteurs  et  sur  les 
precipices  des  montagnes,  ne  vole  que  sur  des  marais,  et 
rase  a  peine  le  sol.  Je  me  consume  sans  fruit  dans  des 
discussions  intestines,  et  je  mourrai  dans  un  acces  de 
decouragement,  comme  mon  predecesseur  et  mon  mal- 
heureux  ennemi  Lord  Castlereagh.  Combien  de  fois  n'ai- 
je  pas  ete  tente  de  fuir  loin  des  hommes,  I'ombre  meme 
du  pouvoir,  et  de  me  refugier  dans  le  sein  des  lettres,  qui 
ont  nourri  mon  enfance,  seul  abri  ventablement  inacces- 
sible aux  mensonges  de  la  destinie.  La  litterature  est 
pour  moi  plus  qu'une  consolation,  c'est  une  esperance  et 
un  asile.  Je  I'ai  en  outre  toujours  eonsideree  comme  la 
franc-maconnerie  des  gens  bien  eleves.  C'est  a  ce  signe 
qu'en  tout  pays  la  bonne  corapagnie  se  distingue  et  se  rc- 
connait.  Ne  vaudrait-il  pas  mieux  pour  M.  de  Chateau- 
briand et  pour  moi,  que  nous  n'eussions  jamais,  ni  I'un 
ni  I'autre,  approche  de  nos  levres  la  coupe  empoisonnee 
de  ce  pouvoir  qui  nous  enivre,  et  nous  donne  des  veriiges  ? 
La  litterature  nous  eiit  rapproches  encore,  mais  cette  fois 
sans  arriere-pensee,  et  sans  amertume,  car  il  est  comme 
moi  I'amant  des  lettres,  et  bien  mieux  que  moi  il  protege 
de  ses  preceptes.  Combien  de  fois  n'ai-je  pas  voulu  aban- 
donner  le  monde  politique  si  turbulent,  la  societe  des 
hommes  si  mediants,  pour  me  vouer  tout  entier  a  la  rc- 
traite  et  a  mes  Uvres,  seuls  amis  qui  ne  se  trompent 

^^    ^    '  'Oh  God!  oh  God! 

How  wearj'.  stale,  flat,  and  unprofitable  ^ 
Seem  to  me  all  the  uses  of  this  world  !"  " 

—Marcellus,  Politique  de  la  Restauration,  25,  26. 


JS23.] 

certain.'  I  dispute  it  not.  I  grant  you  a  French 
army  at  Madrid;  but  I  venture  to  ask,  Wliat 
then,  if  the  King  of  Spain  and  tlio  Cortes  are 
by  that  time  where  tlie}'  infallibly  will  be — in 
the  Isle  of  Leon  ?  I  see  plenty  of  war,  if  j-ou 
once  get  into  it;  but  I  do  not  see  a  legitimate 
beginning  to  it,  nor  an  intelligible  object.  You 
would  disdain  to  get  into  such  a  war  through 
the  side  door  of  an  accidental  military  incur- 
sion. You  would  enter  in  front,  with  the  cause 
of  war  on  j-our  banners :  and  what  is  that  cause  ? 
It  is  vengeance  for  the  past,  and  security  for 
the  future — a  war  for  the  modification  of  a 
political  constitution,  for  two  Chambers,  for 
the  extension  of  legal  rights.  That  passes  my 
comprehension.  You  are  about  to  enter,  and 
you  believe  the  war  will  be  short:  I  believe 
otherwise,  and  I  am  bordering  on  old  age.  In 
I  Mr  cannin"  1793,  Mr.  Pitt,  with  the  '  patriot's 
to  Chateau-  "  heart,  the  prophet's  mind,' declared 
briand,  Jan.  ^^  jj^g  t^^t  tiie  war  then  declared 
grds  do  Ve-"'  against  a  great  people  in  a  state 
rone,  i.  453 ;  of  revolution  would  be  short ;  and 
MarceUus,  17.  that  war  outlived  Mr.  Pitt."  ' 
Tliese  anticipations  were  not  peculiar  to  Mr. 
g-  Canning  at   that   time;    they   were 

Views  of  shared  by  probably  nine-tenths  of 
George  IV.  the  educated  classes,  and  probably 
c'uke'^of  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  the  entire 
Wellington  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain.  Yet 
on  the  sub-  were  there  not  awanting  those  in  the 
J^*^'-  most  elevated  rank  wlio  were  not 

carried  away  by  the  general  delusion,  and  an- 
ticipated, very  nearly  as  it  turned  out,  the  real 
march  of  events.  "Do  not  allow  yourself,"  said 
George  IV.  to  M.  MarceUus,  "to  be  dazzled  by 
our  representative  sj'stem,  which  is  represented 
as  so  perfect.  If  it  has  its  advantages,  it  has 
also  its  inconveniences ;  and  I  have  never  for- 
got what  a  king  and  a  man  of  talent  said  to 
me:  'Your  English  constitution  is  good  only 
to  encourage  adventurers,  and  discourage  hon- 
est men.'  For  the  happiness  of  the  world,  we 
should  not  wish  any  otlier  peojde  to  adopt  our 
institutions.  That  which  succeeds  admirably 
with  us  would  have  very  different  success  else- 
where. Every  country  does  not  bear  the  same 
fruits,  nor  the  same  minerals  beneatli  its  sur- 
face. It  is  the  same  with  nations,  their  tem- 
perament, and  character.  Reflect  on  tliis,  my 
dear  MarceUus:  my  conviction  on  the  subject 
is  unalterable ;  I  wish  you  to  know  that  you 
have  the  king  on  your  side.  It  is  my  part  to 
be  so;  and  when  my  Ministers  become  Radi- 
cals, I  may  be  excused  if,  on  my  side,  I  become 
an  ultra-Royalist."  Tlie  Duke  of  Wellington, 
at  the  same  period,  thus  expressed  himself  at 
the  Foreign  Office,  when  the  chance  of  a  par- 
liamentary majority  on  the  question  of  war 
was  under  discussion  with  Lord  Liverpool  and 
Mr.  Canning:  "I  am  not  so  au  fait  of  parlia- 
mentary majorities  as  my  colleagues,  but  I  know 
Spain  better  tlian  them.  Advance  without  de- 
lay, without  hesitation,  and  you  will  succeed. 
There  is  no  majority,  believe  me,  to  be  com- 
pared to  cannon  and  a  good  army."  With 
these  words  he  took  his  hat  and  went  out. 
"Tlie  words,"  said  Lord  Liverpool,  "of  a  man 
of  war,  but  not  of  a  statesman."  "The  Duko 
of  Wellington,"  rejoined  Mr.  Canning,  "thinks 
himself  alwavs  on  tlie  field  of  battle;  and  yet 
he  has  himself  put  a  ])eriod  to  tlie  bloody  era 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


421 


of  conquest.     lie  understands  nothing  of  co:i- 
stilutioiial  dominations,  u'hic/i  arc  yet 
the   on/i/   ones   which    now  have   any  ,„'  gl*^^."®' 
chance  of  duration."  ^  * 

The  war  which  divided  in  this  manner  the 
opinions  of  the  most  eminent  men  „ 

and  the  strongest  heads  of  Europe,  Difficulties  of 
at  length  began  in  good  earnest,  the  French  at 
The  Duke  d'Angouleme,  as  already  the  entrance  of 
noticed,  left  Paris  for  the  army  on  ^  campaign, 
loth  March.  At  the  very  threshold,  however, 
of  his  career,  an  unexpected  difficulty  presented 
itself  Inexperienced  for  the  most  part  in  ac- 
tual warfare,  from  the  peace  of  eight  years 
which  had  now  continued,  the  commissaries 
and  civil  functionaries  attached  to  the  French 
army  were  in  a  great  measure  ignorant  of  the 
vast  scale  on  which,  when  a  hundred  thousand 
men  are  to  be  put  in  motion,  supplies  of  every 
sort  must  be  furnished.  Considerable  maga- 
zines of  corn  had  been  formed  at  Bayonne  and 
other  places  on  the  frontier;  but,  by  a  strange 
oversight,  nothing  had  been  done  to  provide 
forage  for  the  horses,  and  the  means  of  trans- 
port were  wholly  awanting.  A  hundred  mill- 
ions of  francs  (£4:,000,000)  had  been  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  the  general-in-chiof  for  the  ]>ur- 
chase  of  provisions  on  the  march  to  Madrid — 
for  Is'apoleon's  system  of  making  war  maintain 
war  was  no  more  to  be  thought  of — but  no  cor- 
respondence had  been  opened  with  the  persons 
along  the  route  who  were  to  furnisli  the  sup- 
plies. In  these  circumstances,  it  seemed  impos- 
sible for  the  troops  to  move  forward;  and  so 
great  was  the  alarm  produced  in  Paris  by  the 
reports  transmitted  by  the  Duke  d'Angouleme 
when  ho  reached  head-quarters,  that  Govern- 
ment took  the  most  vigorous  measures  to  apply 
a  remedy  to  the  evii.  The  Minister  of  War 
(Victor)  was  directed,  by  an  ordonnance  of  23d 
March,  to  proceed  immediately  to  the  army, 
invested  with  ample  powers,  and  the  title  of 
Major-general;  all  the  soldiers  who  had  ob- 
tained leave  of  absence  down  to  the  31st  De- 
cember, 1822,  were  recalled  to  their  standards; 
and  a  law  was  brought  forward  by  the  interim 
war-minister  (Count  Digeon)  to  authorize  the 

king  to  call  out,  in  tlie  course  of 

..     °  i  41  ■    i     '  Ann.  Hist. 

the    present  year,  tlie    conscripts  y^  139  i^y. 

pertaining  to  the  year  1823,  wlio.  Lam.  vii.  1!)0, 

by  the  existing  law,  would  not  be  '-^'/[J ;  <""!>  ^■"■ 

required  before  the  sju-ing  of  182  ).=  ^^^'  '^■*- 


*  At  this  jiincturo  tlic  following  highly  interesting  con- 
versaliijn  took  place  between  Mr.  Canning  and  M.  Mar- 
ceUus :  "A  quoi  bon,"  disait  M.  Canning,  "soutenir  un 
principe  qui  prete  tant  a  la  discussion,  ct  sur  lequel  vous 
voycz  que  nous  soinme.s  cnlln,  vous  ct  moi,  si  pcu  d'ar- 
cord  ?  Un  Uourbon  va  au  secours  d'un  Bourbon  !  Voiia 
reveille/,  ainsi  en  nous  niille  souvenirs  d'iiiimitio,  I'inva- 
sion  de  Louis  XIV.  en  Espagne,  rinnbilitc  dc  nos  rflbrls 
pour  eloigner  sa  puissante  dynastic  du  trone  de  Madrid. 
Jiigez.-en  quand  un  roi  donnc  au  peuple  les  iiislitutioiis 
dont  le  peuple  a  besoin,  quel  a  ele  le  procede  le  I'Aiigli'- 
terre  ?  Elb;  expulsa  ce  roi,  et  mil  li  sa  ))lace  un  roi  d'une 
faniille  alliee  sans  dome,  mais  qui  se  Irouvc  ainsi  non 
plus  ;  un  fils  de  la  royauto  connaiit  dans  les  droits  rlc;  si'S 
ancetres,  niais  le  flls  des  insliliitions  nationales,  tiraiit 
tous  ses  droits  de  cette  seule  origine.  Puiscpie  Ferdinand, 
eomme  .lacqiii's  II.,  resiste  aux  vo'ontus  do  sa  nation, 
app!i(|uoiis  la  mttbode  anglalse  ii  11.  .pagiie.  tju'en  re- 
siilte-t-il  ?  L'expulsion  de  Ferdinand.  Eeoute/.-moi  ;  cet 
evi'inple  peut  s'etrndre  jusr/n'ri  vnu.i.  Vous  n'ignore/.  pas 
qii'un  dcsordre  du  ilogin(!  de  legitiniite  prr.tque  parrille  a 
la  ?iiilre  .le  Icve  rt  cmide  en  France  en  re  moment.  Vous 
save/,  quel  progres  die  fait  dans  le  parti  d'une  opposition 
pretendue  mndirie.     La  tetc  a  couronticr  est  ta." — MaR' 

CELLUS,  19,  20. 


422 


IIISTOIIY    OF    EUROPE. 


These  nionsuros,  however,  though  cnlculatod 
-(J  to  provide  for  the  future,  liad  no  in- 

\Vlii,h  iirt>ob-  tluenee  on  tlie  present ;  they  "would 
vi:iii-il  by  M.  neither  foed  the  starving  horses,  nor 
Duvranl.  drag  ahuig  the  jwndorous  guns  and 

hasrcage-wagons.  In  tliis  extroinity.  tht-  fortune 
of  the  expedition,  and  with  it  the  destiny,  for 
tiie  time  at  least,  of  the  llestoration,  was  de- 
termined by  the  vigor  and  capaeity  of  one  man 
(M.  OvvRAisn) — a  great  French  capitalist,  who 
had  concluded  a  treaty  with  the  King  of  t^pain, 
which  secured  to  him  in  1805  the  treasures  of 
the  Indies,  and  wliieh,  after  liaving  enabled 
jSapoleon  to  tit  out  the  army  which  conquered 
at  Austerlitz,  excited  his  jealousy  so  violently  as 

1  Hist,  of  Eu-  for  the  time  occasioned  Ouvrard's 
ro|>e,  c.  l.vii.  ruin.'  He  stepped  forward,  and 
«>  10, 13.  offered — on  terms  advantageous  to 
himself,  without  doubt,  but  still  more  advan- 
tageous to  the  public — to  put  the  whole  supplies 
of  the  army  on  the  most  satisfactory  footing, 
and  to  charge  himself  with  the  conveyance  of 
all  its  artillery  and  equipages.  The  necessity 
of  the  case,  and  the  obvious  inefHciency  of  the 
existing  commissaries,  left  no  time  for  deliber- 
ation :  the  known  capacity  and  vast  credit  of 
il.  Ouvrard  supported  his  offer,  how  gigantic 
soever  it  may  have  at  first  appeared;  and  in  a 
few  days  a  contract  was  concluded  with  the 
adventurous  capitalist,  whereby  the  duty  of 
supplying  entire  furnishings  for  the  army  was 
devolved  on  him.  By  the  influence  of  the 
Duchess  d'Angouleme,  and  the  obvious  neces- 
sity of  the  case,  the  contract  was  ratified  at 
Paris;  and  although  it  excited  violent  clamors 
at  the  time,  as  all  measures  do  which  disappoint 
expectant  cupidity,  the  event  soon  proved  that 
never  had  a  wiser  step  been  adopted.  The 
magic  wand  of  M. 'Ouvrard  overcame  every 
thing ;  his  golden  key  unlocked  unheard-of  ma- 
gazines of  every  sort  for  the  use  of  the  troops ; 
in  a  few  days  plenty  reigned  in  all  the  maga- 
zines, the  means  of  transport  were  amply  pro- 
vided, and  confidence  was  re-established  at 
head-quarters.  So  serene  was  the  calm  which 
succeeded  to  the  storm,  that  the  discord  which 
had  broken  out  in  the  Duke  d'Angouleme's 
staff  was  appeased ;  General  Guilleminot,  who 
had  been  suspended  from  his  command,  was 
restored  to  the  confidence  of  the  commander-in- 
chief;  Marshal  Victor,  relinquishing  his  duties 

2  A  H'  t  ''^  major-general,  returned  to  the 
vi.  139, 140  war-office  at  Paris;  and  the  army, 
376 ;  Cap.  vii.  amply  provided  with  every  thing, 
^•"^''am'ofi^"'   advanced  in  the  highest  spirits  to 

'  *  ■  the  banks  of  the  Bidassoa.^ 
Tiie  preparations  on  both  sides  were  of  the 
most  formidable  description,  and 
Force's  and  seemed  to  prognosticate  the  long 
their  disposi-  and  bloody  war  which  Mr.  Can- 
t:on  on  both  ning's  ardent  mind  anticipated  from 
the  shock  of  opinions,  which  was  to 
pet  all  Europe  on  fire.  The  forces  with  which 
France  took  the  field  were  very  great,  and,  for 
the  first  time  since  the  catastrophe  of  Waterloo, 
enabled  her  to  appear  on  the  theatre  of  Europe 
as  a  great  military  power.  Wonderful,  indeed, 
had  been  the  resurrection  of  her  strength  under 
the  wise  and  pacific  reign  of  Louis  XVIII.  The 
army  assembled  at  Bayonne  for  the  invasion 
of  Spain  by  the  Western  Pyrenees  mustered 
ninety-one  thousand  combatants.    It  was  divid- 


[Cii.vr.  XII. 

ed  into  four  corps,  the  command  of  which  was 
intrusted  with  generous,  but,  as  the  event 
proved,  not  undeserved  confidence,  to  the  vic- 
torious generals  of  Xajioleon.  The  first  corps, 
tinder  the  command  of  Marshal  Oudinot,  with 
Counts  d'Atitichamp  and  Borout  under  him, 
was  destined  to  cross  the  Bidassoa,  and  march 
direct  by  the  great  road  upon  Madrid.  The 
second,  which  was  commanded  by  Count  Moli- 
tor,  was  destined  to  support  the  left  fiank  of  the 
first  corps,  and  advance  by  the  Pass  of  Ilonces- 
A'alles  and  tlie  Valley  of  Bastan  upon  Pampe- 
luna.  Prince  Ilohenlohe  commanded  the  third 
corps,  whicli  was  to  protect  the  right  flank  of 
the  first,  and  secure  its  rear  and  communica- 
tions during  the  advance  to  Madrid  from  the 
Bidassoa.  The  fourth  corps,  under  the  orders 
of  the  Duke  of  Cornigliano  (Marshal  Moncey), 
was  to  operate,  detached  from  the  remainder 
of  the  army,  in  Catalonia;  while  the  fifth,  un- 
der the  orders  of  General  Count  Bordesol, 
composed  of  a  division  of  the  guard  under 
Cotint  Bourmont,  and  of  two  divisions  of  cav- 
aby,  was  to  form  the  reserve  of  the  grand 
army — but,  in  point  of  fact,  it  was 
almost  constantly  with  the  advanced  ^1^374'  377!' 
posts.' 

The  Spanish  forces  intended  to  meet  this  po- 
litical crusade  were  not  less  formi-  -j 
dable,  so  far  as  numerical  amount  The  Spanish 
was  considered ;  but  they  were  a  forces, 
very  different  array  if  discipline,  equipments, 
and  unanimity  of  feeling  were  regarded  as  the 
the  test.  They  consisted  of  123,000  men,  of 
whom  15,000  were  cavalry-,  and  a  new  levy  of 
30,000,  who  were  thus  disposed.  In  Biscay, 
opposite  to  the  Bidassoa,  were  20.000,  under  Bal- 
lasteros;  in  Catalonia,  under  Mina,  20,000;  in 
the  centre,  18,000  under  d'Abisbal ;  in  Galicia, 
10,000;  in  garrison,  in  the  fortresses,  52,000. 
The  forces  on  eitlier  side  were  tbus  not  unequal 
in  point  of  numerical  amount ;  but  there  was  a 
vast  difference  in  their  discipline,  organization, 
and  equipment.  On  the  French  side  these  were 
all  perfect,  on  the  Spanish  the}'  were  very  de- 
ficient. Many  of  the  corps  were  imperfectly 
disciplined,  ill  fed,  and  worse  clothed.  Tho 
cavalry  was  in  great  part  ill  mounted,  the  ar- 
tillery crazy  or  worn  out,  the  commissariat 
totally  inefficient.  Penury  pervaded  the  treas- 
ury; revolutionary  cupidity  had  squandered 
the  resources  of  the  soldiers,  scanty  as  they 
were.  Above  all,  the  troops  were  conscious  that 
the  cause  they  were  supporting  was  not  that 
of  the  nation.  Eleven-twelfths  of  the  people, 
including  the  whole  rural  population,  were 
hostile  to  their  cause,  and  earnestly  prayed 
for  its  overthrow;  and  even  the  inhabitants  of 
Madrid  and  the  seaport  towns,  who  had  hither- 
to constituted  its  entire  support,  ^ 
were  sensibly  cooled  in  their  ardor,  cor^es.Jaii'."'! 
now  that  it  became  a  hazardous  iS23;Ann. 
one,  and  called  for  sacrifices  in-  H^t.  vi.  379, 
stead  of  promising  fortune.' 

On  the  5th  of  April,  the  French  were  group- 
ed in  such  force  on  the  banks  of  ' 
the  Bidassoa,  that  it  was  evident  a  theatrical 
passage  would  be  attempted  on  the  scene  at  the 
following  day.  The  French  ensigns  passage  of 
had  last  been  seen  there  on  7th  be-  ^^^  ""*=*^- 
tober,  1813,  when  the  passage  was 
forced  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington.     In  anticipa- 


1823.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


423 


tion  of  this  movement,  tlie  Spaniards  had  made 
1  jfjgt  Qf  great  preparations.'  A  considerable 
Europe,  force  was  drawn  up  on  the  margin  of 
c.  Ixxxiii.  the  stream ;  but  it  "was  not  on  them 
'  that   the  principal  reliance    of  their 

commanders  was  placed.  It  was  on  the  corps 
of  French  refugees  bearing  the  uniform  of 
the  Old  Guard,  and  clustered  round  the  tri- 
color flag,  that  all  their  hopes  rested.  Colonel 
Fabvier,  however,  who  commanded  them, 
found  the  array  very  different  from  what  he  ex- 
pected. He  had  been  promised  a  corps  of  eight 
hundred  veterans  of  Napoleon  in  admirable 
order;  he  found  only  two  hundred  miserable 
refugees,  half-starved,  ^ho  had  been  involved 
in  the  conspiracies  of  Saumur  and  Befort, 
and  found  in  Spain  an  asylum  for  their  crimes. 
They  were  clothed,  however,  in  the  old  and 
well-known  uniform,  with  the  huge  bear-skins 
of  the  grenadiers  of  the  Guard  on  their  heads; 
tlie  tricolor  flag  waved  in  the  midst  of  them, 
and  as  the  French  advanced  posts  approached 
the  bridge,  they  heard  the  Mai*seillaise  and 
other  popular  airs  of  the  Revolution  chanted 
from  their  ranks.  The  moment  was  critical,  for 
the  French  soldiers  halted  at  sight  of  the  un- 
expected apparition,  and  gazed  with  interest 
on  the  well-known  and  unforgotten  ensigns. 
But  at  that  moment  General  Vallin,  who  com- 
manded the  advanced  guard,  galloped  to  the 
front,  and  ordered  a  gun  to  be  discharged  along 
the  bridge.  The  first  round  was  fired  over  the 
heads  of  the  enemy,  in  the  hope  of  inducing 
them  to  retire  ;  and  the  refugees,  seeing  no  shot 
took  effect,  thought  the  balls  had  been  drawn, 
and  shouted  loudly,  "Vive  I'Artillerie!"  Upon 
this,  General  Vallin  ordered  a  point-blank  dis- 
charge, which  struck  down  several;  a  third 
round  completed  their  dispersion,  and  tlie  pass- 
age was  effected  without  further  resistance. 
Louis  XVIII.  did  not  exaggerate  the  import- 
ance of  this  decisive  conduct  on  this  critical 
3  Lam.  vii.  occasion,  when,  on  the  general  who 
206,  209 ;      Commanded    on    the   occasion  being 

■*"!I;i'i.-'^  presented  to  him  after  the  campaign 
VI  37/   3T9'  L      ~ 

Moniteur  '  ^'^^  over,  he  said,  "General  Val- 
Apnl  12,'  lin,  )-our  cannon-shot  has  saved  Eu- 
1853.  rope."* 

This  bold  act  was  decisive  of  the  fate  of  the 

campaign.  The  French  army  hav- 
Progre'ss  of  '"?  effected  their  passage,  their  right 
the  French,  wing,  after  a  sharp  action,  drove 
and  thfiir  back  the  garrison  of  St.  Sebastian 
^^ta  *'"'''     "^^'ithin  the  walls  of  that  fortress,  and 

established  tiie  blockade  of  tlie  place ; 
while  the  centre,  supported  by  the  whole  re- 
serve, in  all  40,000  strong,  pusiied  on  rapidly 
.  on   the  great  road   to  Madrid.     On 

the  10th  tliey  reached  Tolosa,  on  tiie 
nth  Villareal,  and  on  the  ITtli  their  colunuis 
entered  Vittoria  in  Iriumjih,  aiiiii!.«t  an  im- 
mense concourse  of  inhabitants  and  unbouml- 
ed  joy  and  acclamation.  How  different  from 
the  ceaseless  booming  of  the  Engli.'^h  cannon, 
■which  rung  in  their  ears  wlien  they  last  were 
in  that  town,  flying  before  the  bloody  En- 
glish sabres  on  21st  .June,  1813!  At  tlie  same 
time,  witli  the  left  wing,  Oudinot  crossed 
the  Ebro  and  advanced  to  Burgos,  after  hav- 
ing made  himself  master  of  I'ancorbo;  and 
the  extrcTie  right,  under  Qiiesada,  composed 
of  Spanit^li  ati.xiliaric.s,  reached  Bilboa,  whicli 


opened  its  gates  without  opposition.  Every 
where  the  French  troops  Avere  received  as  de- 
liverers; as  they  advanced,  the  pillars  of  the 
Constitution  were  overthrown,  the  revolution- 
ary authorities  dispossessed,  and  the  ancient 
regime  proclaimed  amidst  the  acclamations  of 
the  people.  The  invaders  observed  the  most 
exact  discipline,  and  paid  for  every  thing  they 
required — a  wise  policy,  the  very  reverse  of 
that  of  Xapoleon — which  confirmed  the  favor- 
able impression  made  on  the  minds  of  the 
Spaniards.  The  ancient  animosity  of  the  peo- 
ple of  France  and  Spain  seemed  to  be  lulled ; 
even  the  horrors  of  the  late  war  had 
for  the  time  been  buried  in  oblivion ;  yj  ^^i  3^2 '. 
three  years  of  revolutionary  govern-  Moniteur, 
ment  had  caused  them  all  to  be  for  Feb.  1G\ 
gotten,  and  hereditary  foes  to  be  vif^i^sj^^ias.' 
hailed  as  present  deliverers.' 

The  main  body  of  the  French  army,  encour- 
aged by  this  flattering  reception,  ad- 
vanced wth  vigor,  and  that  celerity  Advance  of 
which  in   all  wars  of  invasion,  but  the  Duke 
especially  those  which  partake  of  the  d'Angou- 
nature  of  civil  conflict,  is  so  import-  'eme  to  .Ma- 
ant  an  element  in  success.     Resist- 
ance   was    nowhere    attempted,    so    that    the 
march  of  the  troops  was  as  rapid  as  it  would 
have  been  through  their  own  territory-.     The 
guards  and  first  corps  entered  Burgos  on  the 
9th  May,  where  they  were  received  with 
the  utmost  enthusiasm,  and  thence  pro-      ^^ 
ceeded   in   two  columns   toward  Madrid — the 
first,    under   the   generalissimo   in  person,   by 
Aranda  and  Buytrago;    the  latter  by  Valla- 
dolid,  where  the  reception  of  the  troops  was  if 
possible  still  more   flattering.     At   the  latter 
place,  where  head-quarters  arrived  on 
the  1.7th  May,  a  flag  of  truce  arrived  ^^^^  "■ 
from  the  Conde  d'Abisbal,  who  had  been  left  in 
command  at  Madrid  by  the  Cortes,  they  having 
retired  toward  Seville,  taking  the  king  a  pris- 
oner with  them.     In  vain  had  the  monarch  de- 
clared he  would  not  abandon  his  capital;  the 
imperious    Cortes   forced   him    away,    and   he 
set  out  accordingly  under  an  escort  or 
guard  of  GUOO  men,  leaving  Madrid  to       ^^ 
make  the  best  terms  it  could  with  the  conqueror. 
Saragossa,  Tolossa,  and  all  the  towns  occupied 
by  the  French  in  the  course  of  tiieir  advance, 
instantly,  on  their  approach,  overturned  tiie 
pillar  of  tlie  Constitution,  rein.stated  Ihe  Roy- 
alist authorities,  and  received  the  invaders  as 
deliverers.        Literally    speaking,     the     Duke 
d'Angouleme  advanced   from    Irun  to  Madrid 
amidst  the  acclamations  of  the  people,  and  un- 
der triumphal  arches.     Nor  was  the  success  of 
the  French  less  decisive  in  Upper  Catalonia, 
where   the  retreat  of  Miiia  and  the  Constitu- 
tional troops  was  so  rapid  that  IMonccy  in  vain 
attempted  to  bring  them  to  action;  and  with- 
in a  month  after  the  frontiers  had  been  crossed, 
nearly  all  tiie  fortified  places  in  the  j  ^^^^  ^^^^^ 
province,  except  Barcelona  and  Le-  vi.  3t:4,  387; 
rida,  had  opened  their  gates  and  re-  I-am.  vii. 
ccived  the  French  with  transports.*  225,220. 

Nothing   could    be    more    agreeable   to   the 

Duke  d'Angouleme  than  the  offer  on 

the  part  of  the  Conde  <rAbisbal  and  Adv.ince  of 

the  municipality  of  Madrid  to  capitu-  t'l"  Trench 

late  on  favorable  terms,  and  accord-  VJ  '^''''''''"^• 

,       ,  '  May  2-1. 

ingly  he   at  once   agreed  to  every 


424 


II  I  S  T  O  11  Y   O  F  K  U  R  O  r  E. 


[Chap.  Xll. 


tliiiisr  roquostod  by  tliom.  It  wns  aprocd  tlint 
IJoiu-rul  Zavnsi  slioiiUl  remnin  with  ii  iVw  scjmul- 
roiis  to  prosi-rvo  order  in  the  ciipilal  till  it  was 
occiipii-ii  l>y  tlio  KroiK'h  troops,  wliioli  was  nr- 
raiiirod  to  tako  ]>laco  on  tlu-  '^Ith  May.  The 
j;naril  loft,  howtvor,  proved  inadiMjuato  to  the 
task  ;  the  revolutionists,  who  were  niueh  stron- 
sjer  in  Madrid  than  in  any  other  town  the 
Vieneh  had  yet  entered,  rose  in  insiirreelioii, 
and  d'Abishal  oidy  saved  his  life  by  llyinij  in 
di^lruise,  and  taking  refuge  with  Marshal  Ou- 
dinot.  Tlio  moment  was  eritieal,  for  jMadrid 
was  in  a  state  of  great  exeitement,  and  u  spark 
might  have  liglited  a  flame  which,  by  rousing 
the  national  feelings  of  the  !>pauairds,  might, 
as  in  1808,  have  involved  the  whole  Peninsula 
in  conflagration.  But  at  this  decisive  moment 
the  wisdom  of  the  Duke  d'Angoulemo  and  his 
militarv  counselors  solved  the  difliculty,  and 
at  once  detached  the  extreme  revolutionary 
from  the  patriotic  party.  M.  de  MAUTiGNAr,  a 
young  advocate  of  liordeaux,  destined  to  celeb- 
rity in  future  times,  drew  up  a  proclama- 
tion,* which  the  prince  signed,  which  soothed 
the  pride  of  the  Castilians,  gratified  the  feelings 
lAnn  Hist,  of  the  Royalists,  and  disarmed  the 
vi.  3!?'J,  392  ;  wTath  of  the  revolutionists.  Every 
2.f,"'227'-  tiling  was  accordingly  arranged  in 
Moniteur,  concord  for  the  entry  of  the  prince 
June  1,  2,  generalissimo  and  his  army  on  the 
^'''^^-  morning  of  the  24th.i 

Early  on  the  morning  of  that  day  an  im- 
mense crowd  issued  from  the  gate  b}- 
Entry  of  '^^'bicli  it  was  understood  the  prince 
the  Duke  was  to  make  his  entry,  with  boughs 
d'Angou-  (,f  trees  and  garlands  of  flowers  in 
Madrid.'"  tlieir  hands,  and  every  preparation 
as  for  a  day  of  festivity  and  rejoicing. 
The  windows  were  all  hung  with  tapestry  or 
rich  carpeting;  the  handsomest  women  in  their 
gala-dresses  were  there,  and   beautiful  forms 


*  "  Espagnols  I  Avant  que  I'armee  fran^aise  franchil 
les  Pyrenees,  j'ai  declare  a  voire  genereuse  nation  que 
nous  n'etions  pas  en  guerre  avec  elle.  Je  lui  ai  annonce 
que  nous  venions  comme  amis  et  auxiliaires  I'aider  a  re- 
Icvcr  ses  autels,  a  delivrer  son  roi,  a  retablir  dans  son 
Bern  la  justice,  I'ordre,  et  la  paix.  J'ai  promis  respect 
aux  proprietes,  siirete  aux  personnes,  protection  aux 
hornmes  paisibles.  L'Espagne  a  ajoute  foi  a  mes  paroles. 
Les  provinces  que  j'ai  parcourues  ont  re^u  Ics  soldats 
lran(;'ais  comme  des  freres,  et  la  voix  publique  vous  aura 
appris  s'ils  ont  justilie  cet  accueil,  et  si  j'ai  tenu  mes  en- 
gagements. Espagnols  I  si  votre  roi  etait  encore  dans  la 
capilale,  la  noble  mission  que  le  roi  mon  oncle  m'a  con- 
fiee,  et  que  vous  connaissez  tout  entiere,  serait  deja  prete 
a  s'accomplir.  Je  n'aurais  plus,  apres  avoir  rendu  le 
inonarque  a  la  liberie,  qu'a'appeler  sa  paternelle  soUici- 
tude  sur  les  maux  qu'a  souflerts  son  peuple,  sur  le  besoin 
qu'il  a  de  repos  pour  le  present,  et  de  securite  pour  I'av- 
enir.  L'absence  du  roi  m'impose  d'autres  devoirs.  Dans 
ces  conjonclurcs  dilRciles,  et  pour  lesquelles  le  passe 
n'ofTre  pas  d'exemple  a  suivre,  j'ai  pense  que  le  moyen  le 
plus  convenable  et  le  plus  agreable  au  roi,  serait  de  con- 
voquer  I'antique  conseil  supreme  de  la  Castille,  et  le  con- 
seil  supreme  des  Indes,  dont  les  hautes  et  diverses  attri- 
butions embrassenl  le  royaume  et  ses  possessions  d'outre- 
mer,  et  de  confier  aux  grands  corps  independants  par  leur 
elevation,  et  par  la  position  politique  de  ceux  qui  les  eom- 
poscnt,  le  soin  de  designer,  eux-memes,  les  membres  de 
la  regence."  And  on  the  day  after  his  entrance,  as  the 
two  councils  did  not  conceive  themselves  authorized  by 
the  laws  to  appoint  a  regency,  but  only  to  recommend 
one  to  the  French  commander-in-chief,  to  act  during  the 
captivity  of  Ferdinand  VII.,  he  nominated,  on  their  re- 
commendation, as  members  of  the  regency,  the  Duke  del 
Infantado,  the  Duke  de  Montemart,  the  Baron  d'EroUes, 
the  Bishop  of  Orma,  and  Don  Antonio  Gomez  Calderon. 
who  on  4th  June  issued  a  proclamation  as  the  Council 
of  Regency  to  the  Spanish  nation. — Annuaire  Historique, 
vi.  721,  722,  Appendix. 


adorned  witli  diaplots  of  flowers  graced  the 
spectacle.  I'reeisely  at  nine,  the  Duke  d'An- 
gouleme,  surrounded  b}-  a  brilliant  staff,  made 
his  api)earanee  at  the  gate  of  Recoil  et  Is,  where 
a  triumphal  arch  had  been  erected,  at  the  head 
of  tlio  guards  and  reserve;  while  Marshal 
Oudinot  at  the  same  time  entered  b}'  the  gate 
of  Segovia,  from  which  side  he  had  approached 
at  the  head  of  ids  corps.  Both  w  ere  received 
with  the  loudest  demonstrations  of  jo}-,  amidst 
the  acclamations  of  the  peojile,  the  ringing  of 
bells,  and  the  heart-stirring  strains  of  military 
music.  The  general  enthus-iafm  was  increased 
by  the  sitlendid  njipearance  of  the  troops,  their 
martial  air,  the  exact  discijdine  and  perfect  order 
they  every  where  maintained.  'Iney  were  sa- 
luted with  loud  acclamations  in  all  the  streets 
through  which  they  passed,  and  in  the  even- 
ing a  general  illumination  gave  vent  to  the 
universal  joy.  Kever  was  seen  so  clear  a  proof 
that  revolutions  are  brought  about  by  bold 
and  turbulent  minorities  overriding  supine 
and  timorous  majorities.  The  universal  joy 
equaled  that  of  the  Parisians,  when  theii* 
Revolution  Avas  closed  by  the  en-  ,  ^j^j^  jjjgj 
trance  of  the  Emperor  Alexander  vi.  3'j'2,  393- 
and  allied  sovereigns  on  31st  March,  Moniteur, 
•^gj^  I  June 2, 1623. 

AVell  aware  of  the  importance  of  following 
up  with  all  possible  rapidity  the  im-         ..j 
portant  advantages  thus  gained,  the  Advance  of 
Duke  d'Angouleme  did  not  repose  on  the  French 
his  laurels.     Two  columns,  one  com-  ,'"'"  ■^""^' 
nianded  by  General  Bordesoult,  the 
other  by  General  Bourmont,  set  out  immedi- 
ately in  pursuit  of  the  revolutionary   forces, 
which,  taking  the  king  a  prisoner  along  with 
them,  were  hastening  by  forced  marches  to- 
ward Seville.     So  rapid  was  their  flight,  that 
the  French  troops  endeavored  in  vain  to  come 
up  with   them.     Bordesoult,  who  with   eight 
thousand  men  followed  the  direct  road  from 
Madrid  bj'  Aranjuez  to  Seville,  never  got  sight 
of  their  retiring  columns ;  and  although  a  show 
of  resistance  was  made  to  Bourmont,  who  with 
an  equal  force  took  the  road   to  Badajoz,  at 
Talavera  de  la  Reyna,  yet  it  was  but  a  show. 
The  enemy  retreated  as  soon  as  the  French 
troops,    aided  by  the    Spanish    Royalists,  ap- 
peared   in   sight.     A   corps  of  fifteen  . 
hundred  men  was  attacked  and  routed 
near  Santa  Cruz  by  General  Dino;  another  of 
equal  size  dispersed  near  the  mountains  ,         . 
of  Villiers  the  next  day  by  the  same 
general,  and  three  hundred   prisoners  taken; 
the  bridge  of  Arzobisbo  was  seized  two  j^^^  ^^ 
days  after:  and  on  the  same  day  Gen- 
eral Bordesoult,  who  had  never  fired  a  shot, 
arrived  at  Cordova,  beyond  the  Sierra-AIorena, 
where,  the  moment   the  revolutionary  troopa 
withdrew,    a   vehement    demonstra-  ^  Moniteur, 
tion,  accompanied  with  the  most  en-  June  24, 
thusiastic    ebullition    of   joy,    took   1^23;  Ann. 
place    in    support    of    the    Royalist  ggg*  ^yg 
cause." 

Meanwhile    the   Cortes,    whose   sole  power 
consisted,  as  often  was  the  case  in  78. 

the  days  of  feudal  anarchy,  in  the  Proceedings 
possession  of  the  person  of  the  sov-   °4"and'de- 
ereign,  had  established  themselves  position  of 
at  Seville,  where  a  show  of  respect-   Ferdinand 
ability  was  still  thrown  over  their  ^'^- 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


1823.] 

proceedings  by  the  presence  of  the  English  em- 
bassador, who  followed  the  captive  monarch  in 
liis  forced  peregrinations.  This  circumstance, 
joined  to  the  presence  of  a  considerable  English 
squadron  in  the  bay  of  Cadiz,  led  for  some 
time  to  the  belief  that  the  English  government, 
which  had  evinced  so  warm  a  sympathy  for  the 
cause  of  the  revolution,  would  at  length  give  it 
some  more  effectual  support  than  by  eloquent 
declamations  in  Parliament.  But  these  hopes 
soon  proved  illusory.  It  was  no  part  of  the 
policy  of  the  English  Cabinet  to  go  beyond  the 
l)0unds  of  a  strict  neutrality ;  and  even  the 
liberal  ardor  of  Mr.  Canning  had  been  sensibly 
cooled  by  the  sight  of  the  unresisted  march  of 
the  French  troops  to  Madrid,  and  the  decisive 
demonstrations  afforded  that  the  cause  of  the 
revolution  was  hateful  to  nine-tenths  of  the 
Spanish  people.  Even  if  he  had  been  other- 
wise inclined,  the  violence  of  the  Cortes  them- 
selves, which  increased  rather  than  diminished 
Avith  the  disasters  which  were  accumulating 
round  them,  ere  long  rendered  any  further 
alliance  impossible.  On  hearing  of  the  ap- 
proach of  the  French  forces,  they  proposed  to 
J       ..    the  king  to  move  with  them  to  Cadiz, 

so  as  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
French  troops  and  the  Royalist  reaction.  The 
king,  however,  who  foresaw  the  approaching 
downfall  of  the  revolutionary  government,  and 
had  heard  of  the  rapid  approach  of  his  de- 
liverers, positively  refused,  after  repeated  sura- 
j       ..    mouses,  to  leave  Seville.*     Upon  this 

the  Cortes  held  an  extraordinary  meet- 
ing, in  which,  on  the  motion  of  M.  Galliano, 
they  declared  the  king  deposed,  appointed  a 
provisional  regency  to  act  in  his  stead,  and, 
now  no  longer  attempting  to  disguise  his  cap- 
tivity, forced  him  and  the  royal  family  into 
Jun    12    carriages,  which  set  out  attended  by 

eight  thousand  men  for  Cadiz,  where 
they  arrived  three  days  afterward. f  Only  si.x 
members  of  the  Cortes  had  courage  enough  to 
vote  against  the  motion  for  deposing  the  king: 
Seiior  Arguelles,  and  all  the  influential  mem- 
bers, were  found  in  the  majority.  Tlie  English 
embassador.  Sir  W.  A' Court,  refused  to  accom- 
1  Ann.  Hist.  I»i"y  the  deposed  monarch,  and  re- 
vi.  410,  411 ;  mained  at  Seville,  from  whence  he 
nrfi^nM,'.''       wcut    to    Gibraltar    to   await    the 


425 


298,  2y'J. 


orders  of  his  (Government.' 


This  violent  act  completed  tlie  ruin  of  the 
Cortes  and  tlie  cause  ot  tlie  revolution  in  Eu- 


*  "  La  deputation  des  CortcH  a  reprosente  de  nouveau 
a  sa  Majfiste,  que  sa  consr.ienco  nc  pouvait  etrc  compro- 
mise ou  blessee  en  cette  niaticre  ;  que  H'il  pouvait  errer 
en  qualite  d'liomme,  il  n'ctiiit  cotrmic  roi  coiiNlitulionntI 
sujet  a  aurune  re«ponHat)ilitc ;  qu'il  ne  fallait  que  se 
ranger  a  I'avis  de  sea  conseillerH  et  des  rcpruHcnlants  dii 
pcuple,  8ur  qui  reposait  le  fardcau  de  la  reKpotisabilili^ 
pour  le  salut  du  pays.  Lc  roi  ayant  BiKnifie  a  la  deputa- 
tion qu'il  avait  sa  reponse,  ct  la  mission  donnecacelle-(^i 
6tant  remplie,  il  ne  lui  restail  qu'a  dticlarer  aux  (tortus 
qu'il  ne  jugeait  pas  la  translation  convcniible." — Prnces 
Verbal  des  Cortes,  10th  June,  lb23  ;  Annuaire  Jlislorif/uc, 
vi.  400,410. 

+  "  Je  pric  les  Cortes,  qu'cn  ronsoqucnce  du  rofus  de  sa 
Majeste  de  metlre  sa  personne  royale  et  sa  f'amille  en 
surete  a  I'approclie  de  I'invasion  de  I'ennemi,  il  soit  dv,- 
Clare  que  le  cas  est  arrive  de  rcnardcr  sa  Majesto  oonunn 
dtant  dansuu  efat  iVemperkement  moral  provu  pnrrarlirle 
187  de  la  constitution,  et  qn'd  soit  nonune  une  ref^rnre 
provisoire  qui  sera  investie  sculement  jiour  lc;  cas  de,  ou 
pendant  la  translation  de  la  plenitude  du  pouvoir  (utOcutil." 
—Prnpisitiim  de  M.  fiALLUNO,  Wlk  June,  1823;  Annu- 
aire  Uisturique,  vi.  410. 


rope,  and  immediately  subverted  it  in  Spain. 

Jso  sooner  had  the  last  of  the  revolu-        79. 

tionary  troops  taken  their  departure  Violent 

on  the  eveninec  of  the  12th  for  Cadiz,  '''='^!''"''J 

■  •      Qt  Seville 

than  a  violent  reaction  took  place  in  ^^Jj  over' 

Seville,   which  soon   extended   to  all  all  Spain, 
the  towns  in  Spain  that  still  adhered  June  13. 
to  the  cause  of  the  revolution.     Vast  crowds  as- 
sembled in  the  streets,  shouting  "  Viva  el  Rey 
Assoluto!   A'iva  Ferdinand!     Viva  el  Inquisi- 
tion!"    Disorders  speedily  ensued.     Several  of 
the  Liberal  clubs  were  broken  open  and  pillaged, 
and  the  pillars  of  the  Constitution  were  broken 
amidst  frantic  demonstrations  of  jo}'.     Two  days 
after,  a  corps  of  the  revolutionists  under  Lopez- 
Banos  entered  the  city,  engaged  in  a  friglitful 
contest  in  the  streets  with  tlie  Roj-alists,  in  the 
course  of  which  two  hundred  of  the  lat- 
ter  perished;  and  having  gained  tempo- 
rary possession  of  its  principal  quarters,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  plunder  the  churches  of  their  ])late, 
with  which  he  set  out  for  Cadiz;   but  finding 
the  road  in  that  direction  occuj)icd  by  General 
Bordesoult,  he  made  for  the  confines  of  Portu- 
gal with  his  booty,  where  he  joined  a  corps  of 
revolutionists  under  Villa  Campa.     Two  days 
after.  General  Bourmont  entered  Seville,  where 
he  permanently  re-established  the  royal  author- 
ity ;  and  the  forces  of  the  Cortes,  abandoning 
Andalusia  on  all  sides,  took  refuge  witiiin  the 
walls  of  Cadiz,  where  twenty  thousand  men, 
the  last  stay  of  the  revolution,  were  now  as- 
sembled.    Every  where  else  the  cause  of  the 
revolution  crumbled  into  dust.     General  Mu- 
rillo,  who  commanded  at  Valencia,  passed  over 
with  half  his  forces  to  the  Royalists;  Ballas- 
teros,  after  sustaining  a  severe  defeat  at  Cara- 
bil,  was  obliged  to  capitulate,  with  seven  thou- 
sand men,  to  the  French.     Carthagena,  Tarra- 
gona, and  all  tlie  other  fortresses,  with  tlie  ex- 
ception of  Barcelona,  Corunna,  and  1  Mcmorias 
Ferrol,  soon  after  opened  their  gates,  del  General 
and  ere  long  there  remained  only  jF,'^'"'''".^' 
to  the  Liberal   leaders   the  forces  170   17^. 
shut  up  witiiin  the  walls  of  Cadiz  Lam.  vii'. 
and  Barcelona,  and  a  few  guerrillas.  --^'  ''j-'; 
who,    under   Mina,    still    prolonged  vi"4i."i  4^15  • 
the  war  in  the  mountains  of  Cata-  Cap.  vii. 
Ionia.'  202,  203. 

Still  the  position  of  the  revolutionists  in  Cadiz 
was  strong,  for  the  fortress  itself  liad  on 
been  proved  in  tlie  late  war  to  be  ini-  .state  of 
pregnable;  the  iniiabilants  were  zeal-  nllairs  in 
ous  in  their  supixirt;  and  tiie  priiici-  *-'"'l'^- 
pal  leaders  and  otlicers  of  the  garrison  of  twen- 
ty thousand  men  were  so  deeply  implicated  in 
the  cause,  tliat  they  had  no  chance  of  safety 
but  in  tile  most  <leteriiiined  resistance.  Above 
all,  tlie  coniniand  of  tli(^  person  of  tlie  king  and 
the  royal  faniily,  for  who.se  lives  tlio  most  seri- 
ous apprehensions  wore  eiilcrtniiKMl,  gave  them 
the  means  of  negotiating  with  advantage,  and 
ill  a  manner  imposing  tlieir  own  terms  on  the 
eoiupicrors.  Ferdinand,  thougli  nominally  re- 
stored to  his  functions,  in  order  to  give  a  color 
to  their  proceedings,  was  in  reality  detained  a 
close  prisoner  in  tlie  jialncc,  or  ratlu'r  |)rison, 
in  whicli  he  was  lodged,  and  not  allowed  to 
walk  out  even  on  tlio  terrace  of  his  abode,  cx- 
ce])t  under  a  strong  guard,  and  witiiin  very  nar- 
row precincts.  Meanwhile  Riego  issued  from 
tlie  Isle  of  Leon,  as  he  had  done  during  the  re- 


426 


HISTORY    OF    EUROl'E. 


[Chap.  XII. 


volt  in  lS'i<>,  to  oiulonvor  to  rouse  tlic  inhiibit- 
aiit*  of  tlio  inouutiiins  in  tlio  rear  of  the  French 
nnnie-:;  suul  every  preparation  was  iiiaJe  with- 
in the  walls  for  liie  most  vii^orons  defense.  I>ut 
ull  flit  that  the  eause  was  liopeless.  The  more 
inotlerate  members  of  the  t'ortes  had  withdrawn 
and  taken  refuge  in  tJibraltar;  and  even  the 
violent  part}-  of  Flxaltados,  who  still  incul- 
cated the  necessity  of  prolonging  the  contest, 
did  so  rather  from  the  hope  of  securing  favor- 
,  J  ^^^  ^.  able  terms  of  capitulation  for  thein- 
2-J'.i,' •j;io ;  selves,  than  from  any  real  belief 
Ann.  Hist,  that  it  could  much  longer  be  niain- 
vi.  433,  437.    (^i„ed.' 

Encouraged  bj-  the  favorable  reports  which 
g]  he  received  on  all  sides  of  the  defeat 

Advance  of  or  dispersion  of  the  Ilevolutionists, 
the  Uuke  and  the  general  submission  to  the 
l!im"m"to  "'^y'''^  authority,  the  Duke  d'Angou- 
And;Uusia,  lenic  resolved  to  proceed  in  person 
and  detrce  vith  the  great  bulk  of  his  forces  to 
of  Andujar.  Andalusia,  in  order  to  bring  the  war 
at  once  to  a  close  by  the  reduction  of  Cadiz. 
J        „    lie    set  out,    accordingly,  on  the  18th 

•  "■  July,  from  Madrid,  taking  with  him 
the  guards  and  reserve,  and  leaving  only  four 
thousand  men  to  garrison  the  capital.  The  Re- 
gency had  issued  a  decree  annulling 
all  the  acts  of  the  revolutionary  gov- 
ernment since  the  Constitution  had  been  foi'ced 
upon  the  king  on  7th  March,  1820,  contracted 
a  considerable  loan,  and  made  some  progress 
in  the  formation  of  a  Royalist  corps,  to  be  the 
foundation  of  a  guard  ;  but  the  extreme  penury 
of  the  exchequer,  the  inevitable  result  of  the 
political  convulsions  of  the  last  three  years, 
rendered  its  equipment  very  tardv.  Meanwhile, 
disorders  of  the  most  serious  kind  were  accu- 
mulating in  the  provinces;  the  Royalist  reaction 
threatened  to  be  as  serious  as  the  revolutionar}' 
action  had  been.  In  Saragossa  fifteen  hundred 
persons  had  been  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison 
by  the  Royalists,  and  great  part  of  their  houses 
pillaged ;  and  similar  disorders,  in  man}- instances 
attended  with  bloodshed,  had  taken  place  in  Va- 
lencia, Alicante,  Carthagena,  and  other  places 
vhich  had  declared  for  the  royal  cause.  Struck 
■with  the  accounts  of  these  atrocities,  which 
went  to  defeat  the  whole  objects  of  the  French 
intervention,  and  threatened  to  rouse  a  national 
war  in  Spain,  the  Duke  d'Angouleme  published 
on  the  8th  August,  at  Andujar,  the  mem- 
orable proclamation  bearing  the  name 
of  that  place,  one  of  the  most  glorious  acts  of 
2Capvii.202,  ^^®  Restoration,  and  a  model  for 
203;  Lam.'vil!  all  future  times  in  those  unhappj- 
231;  .\n.Hist.  -wars  which  originate  in  difference 
VI.     /,  43y.     of  political  or  religious  opinion.^ 

By  this  ordonnance  it  was  declared,  "  that 
the  Spanish  authorities  should  not 
Its  provisions  ^^  at  liberty  to  arrest  any  person 
without  the  authority  of  the  French 
officers ;  the  commanders-in-chief  of  the  corps 
under  the  orders  of  his  royal  highness  were  in- 
stantly to  set  at  liberty  all  persons  who  had  been 
arbitrarily  imprisoned  from  political  causes, 
and  especiall}-  those  in  the  militia,  who  were 
hereby  authorized  to  return  to  their  homes, 
with  the  exception  of  such  as  after  their  en- 
largement might  have  given  just  cause  of  com- 
plaint. The  commanders-in-chief  of  the  corps 
were  authorized  to  arrest  every  person  who 


Aug.  8. 


should  contravene  this  decree;  and  the  editors 
of  periodical  publications  were  put  under  the 
direction  of  tiu-  eonnnanders  of  eorjjs."  Though 
this  ordonnance  was  dictated  by  the  highest 
wisdom  as  well  as  humanity,  seeing  it  ])ut  n 
stop  at  once  to  the  Roj-alist  reaction  which  had 
become  so  violent,  and  threatened  such  dan- 
gerous consequences,  yet  as  it  took  the  govern- 
ment in  a  manner  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Span- 
ish authorities,  and  seemed  to  presage  a  pro- 
longed military  occupation  of  the  country,  it 
excited  the  most  profound  feelings  of  indigna- 
tion at  Madrid,  and  among  the  ardent  Ro^'alists 
over  the  whole  country.  "With  them,  loj-alty 
to  their  sovereign  was  identical  with  thirst  for 
the  blood  of  his  enemies.  The  whole  members 
of  the  Regency  sent  in  their  resig-  ,  cap.vii.2C4, 
nations,  and  were  only  prevailed  205;  An.  Hist! 
on  to  withdraw  them  by  explana-  vi.437;  Ordon- 
tions  offered  of  the  real  object  of  nance d'Andu- 
1  1  1,1      T    1  ,■     jar,  August  o, 

the  ordonnance;  and  the  diplomatic  n^os-^  .\ioni- 
body  made  remonstrances,  which  teur,  Aug.  24 ; 
were  only  appeased  in  the  same  ;^""•  i''*"-  ^'• 
manner.'* 

The  condition  of  Spain  at  this  time  was  such 
as  to  call  forth  the  utmost  solici-  gj 

tude,  and  threatened  the  most  violent  irrita- 
frichtful  consequences.  The  war  tion  of  the  Roy- 
still  lingered  in  GaUcia,  where  Sir  alists  in  Spam. 
R.  Wilson  had  appeared,  accompanied,  not,  as 
was  expected,  by  ten  thousand  men,  but  bj'  a 
single  aide-de-camp;  and  a  harassing  guerrilla 
warfare  was  yet  kept  up  by-  Mina,  and  the  forces 
under  his  command  in  Catalonia.  The  Roj-al- 
ists  in  Madrid  had  been  in  a  state  of  the  highest 
exultation,  in  consequence  of  a  rumor  which 
had  obtained  credit,  that  the  king  had  been  set 
at  liberty,  when  the  decree  of  Andujar  fell  upon 
them  like  a  thunderbolt,  and  excited  universal 
indignation.  The  same  was  the  case  in  all  the 
provinces.  Such  is  the  force  of  passion  and  the 
thirst  for  vengeance  in  the  Spanish  character, 
that  nothing  inflames  it  so  violently  as  being 
precluded  from  the  gratification  of  these  ma- 
lignant feelings.  The  army  employed  in  the 
blockade  of  Pampeluna  prepared  and  signed 
an  address  to  the  Regency,  in  which  this  wise 
decree  was  denounced  as  worse  than  any  act 
of  Napoleon's. f  In  such  an  excited  state  of  the 
public  mind,  no  central  authority  could  be  es- 
tablished.   AH  recognized  the  Regenej-  at  Mad- 

*  "Jamais  I'intention  de  S.  A.  R.  ne  fut  d'arreter,  \i 
cours  de  la  justice  dans  les  poursuites  pour  des  delits  or- 
dinaires  sur  lesquels  le  magistral  doit  conserver  toute  la 
plenitude  de  son  autorite  ;  les  mesures  prescrites  dans 
1  ordre  du  8  Aoiit  n'ont  d'autre  objet  que  d'assurer  les 
effets  de  la  parole  du  prince,  par  laquelle  il  garantissait  la 
tranqutUite  de  ceuxqui,  en  la  foi  de  promessesde  S.  A.  R.. 
se  separent  des  rangs  des  ennemis.  Mais  en  meme  temps, 
I'indulgence  pour  la  passe  garantit  la  severite  avec  la- 
quelle les  nouveaux  delits  seront  punis,  at  consequemmeiit 
les  commandants  fran^ais  devront  non-seulemenl  laisser 
asir  les  tribunaux  ordinaires  auxquels  il  appartient  de 
piinir  suivant  la  rigneur  des  lois,  ceux  qui,  a  I'avenir,  se 
rendront  coupables  de  desordres  et  de  desobeissance  aux 
lois,  mais  encore  lis  devront  agir  d'accord.  avec  les  autoritcs 
locales,  pour  toutes  les  mesures  qui  pourront  interesser 
la  conservation  de  la  paix  publique." — Lettre  du  General 
Guilleminot  a  la  Regence  a  Madrid,  26th  August,  1823  ; 
Annuaire  Historiqiie,  vi.  724. 

t  "  Un  attentat  que  n'osa  pas  commettre  le  tjTan  du 
monde,  doit  etre  reprime  a  I'instant,  quelles  qu'en  soient 
les  consequences,  et  dussions-nous  etre  e.xposes  aux  plus 
grands  dangers.  Que  I'Espagne  soit  couvertede  cadavres 
plutot  que  de  vivre  avilie  par  le  deshonneur,  et  de  subir 
le  joug  de  I'etranger." — Adresse  de  I'armie  de  Navarre  a 
la  Regence,  20tU  August,  1623;  Annuaire  Historique, 
vi.  441. 


1823.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


421 


ri.l;    none  obej'ed  it.     Provincial  juntas  -were 
I'apiclly  formed,  as  in  the  conimeucetiient  of  the 
war  in  1809,  composed  of  the  most  violent  Roy- 
alists, who  soon  acquired  the  entire  direction 
of  affairs  within  their  respective  prov- 
"°'     ■  inces.     The   surrender  of  Corunua  on 
Aug.  27.  jgjj^  August,  followed  by  the  capitula- 
tion of  all  the  Liberal  corps  in  the  province,  and 
that  of  San  Sebastian,  Ferrol,  and  Pampeluna, 
soon  after  terminated  the  war  in 
iofi"; Ji'^inli'  the  north  and  west  of  Spain,  and 

4  JO,  442;  Lam.    ,         ....  ,.  1  1       •       ,. 

vii.  230, 231;  hostihties  continued  only  in  Ca- 
Cap.  vii.  204,  talonia  and  round  the  walls  of 
soe-  Cadiz.' 

In  this  distracted  state  of  the  country,  it  was 
g4  plain  that  nothing  could  produce 

Progress  of  the  concord  but  the  authority  of  the 
siege  of  Cadiz,  sovereign,  and  to  effect  his  libera- 
tion the  whole  efforts  of  the  Duke  d'Angouleme 
were  directed.  The  siege  of  Cadiz  had  been 
undertaken  in  good  earnest,  but  it  was  no  easy 
matter  to  prosecute  it  with  effect.  The  distance 
of  the  nearest  points  on  the  bay  from  the  city 
was  so  considerable  that  nothing  but  bombs  of 
the  largest  calibre  and  the  longest  range  could 
reach  it,  and  the  dykes  which  led  across  it  into 
the  fortress  were  defended  by  batteries  of  such 
strengtii  that  all  attempts  to  force  the  passage 
were  hopeless.  Two  thousand  pieces  of  cannon, 
and  ammunition  in  abundance,  were  arraj'ed 
in  defense  of  the  place.  A  grand  sortie, 
"  ^  ■  undertaken  to  drive  the  French  from 
tlieir  posts  around  the  bay,  led  to  a  warm  action, 
and  was  at  length  repulsed  with  the  loss  to  the 
besieged  of  seven  hundred  men.  About 
^  ■  the  same  time  the  Minister  at  War,  Don 
Sanchez  Salvador,  cut  his  throat  after  having 
burned  all  his  papers.  lie  left  a  writing  on 
his  table,  in  which  he  declared  that  he  did  so 
"  because  life  was  every  day  becoming  more 
insupportable  to  him,  but  that  he  descended  to 
the  tomb  without  having  to  reproach  himself 
with  a  single  fault."  The  approach  of  the  prince- 
generalissimo  soon  led  to  more  important  oper- 
ations. His  first  care  was  to  send  a 
'■  ■  letter  to  the  President  of  the  Cortes, 
e.Kpressing  the  anxious  wish  of  the  French  gov- 
ernment that  "  tlie  King  of  Spain,  restored  to 
liberty  and  practicing  clemency,  should  accord 
a  general  amnesty,  necessary  after  so  many 
troubles,  and  give  to  liis  people,  by  the  convo- 
cation of  the  ancient  Cortes,  a  guarantee  for  the 
reign  of  justice,  order,  and  good  administration; 
an  act  of  wisilom  to  which  he  pledged  himself 
to  obtain  tlio  concurrence  of  all  luirope."  But 
to  this  noble  and  touching  letter,  the  Cortes, 
sLettreduDuc  witli  the  mi.xture  of  pride  and  ob- 
d'Angoulerne,  stinacy  which  seems  inherent  in 
Aug.  17,  1H23,  ^iijj  Spanish  character,  returned 
et  Reponsc  clus  '  .  ,     . 

Gortcs  Au".  •*"  answer  in  sucli  terms  as  ren- 
18;  Ann.  ifiHt.  dered  all  hope  of  pacilic  adjust- 
vi.  44'J,  45U.        ,fn.„t  out  of  the  question.^" 

Continued  hostilities  being  tlius  resolved  on, 
t!ie  French  engineers  directed  all  their  efforts 

*  "  L(;  roi  est  libre  ;  Ich  nialtieurH  ile  I'KHpaKire  vieniient 
tous  de  l"invasion  ;  retatdiHscineiit  deH  iinriennes  (/'orlos 
est  aussi  incompatible  avcc  la  dignite  de  la  couroniie 
qu'avec  I'otat  aetuel  du  monde,  la  situation  politiiiue  des 
choses,  les  droits,  les  usaKes,  ct  le  hjeu-etre  do  la  nation 
espagnole.  Si  S.  A.  II.  atmsalt  de  la  force,  elle  serail  re- 
sponsabjc  des  maiix  (ju'elle  pourrait  atlirer.'siiT-  la  pcrsonne 
du  roi,  sur  la  famille  royali:,  et  sur  cette  cite  bien  mcri- 
lanle." — Rcyiinse  dcx  Cortes,  18th  August,  1823;  Annu- 
aire  Hisloriquc,  vi.  420. 


against  the  fort  of  the  Trocadero.  This  out- 
work of  Cadiz,  situated  on  the  land 
side  of  the  bay,  is  placed  at  the  ex-  Assault  of 
tremitv  of  a  sandy  peninsuhi  running  the  Troca- 
into  it,  and  was  of  great  importance  '^ero- 
as  commanding  the  inner  harbor,  and  "^"®'  " 
enabling  the  mortar  batteries  of  the  besiegera 
to  reach  the  city  itself  It  had  been  fortified, 
accordinglj-,  with  the  utmost  care — was  mount- 
ed with  tifty  pieces  of  heavy  cannon,  garrisoned 
with  seventeen  hundred  men;  and  as  a  ditch, 
into  which  the  sea  flowed  at  both  ends,  had  been 
cut  across  the  peninsula,  the  fort  stood  on  an 
island,  with  a  front  of  appalling  strength  to- 
ward the  land.  Against  this  front  the  whole 
efforts  of  the  French  were  directed:  the  ap- 
proaches were  pushed  with  incredible  activity, 
and  on  the  24t]i  the  first  parallel  had  been 
drawn  to  within  sixty  yards  of  the  ditch.  A 
tremendous  fire  was  kept  up  from  the  batteries 
of  the  assailants  on  the  works  of  the  place  dur- 
ing the  six  following  daj-s,  and  on  the  31st  the 
cannonade  was  so  violent  as  to  induce  the  gar- 
rison to  apprehend  an  immediate  assault.  The 
day,  however,  passed  over  without  its  taking 
place,  and  the  Spaniards  began  to  raise  cries 
of  victory.  But  their  triumph  was  of  short 
duration.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  31st, 
while  it  was  still  dark,  the  assaulting  column, 
consisting  of  fourteen  companies,  defiled  in 
silence  out  of  the  trenches,  and  stood  within 
forty  paces  of  the  enemy's  batteries.  With 
such  order  niiJ  regularity  was  the  movement 
executed,  that  the  besiegers  were  not  aware  of 
their  having  emerged  from  the  trenches  till 
just  before  the  rush  commenced.  They  were 
seen,  however,  through  the  gray  of  the  morn- 
ing as  they  were  beginning  to  move,  and  a  vio- 
lent fire  of  grape  and  musketry  was  immedi- 
ately directed  against  the  living  mass.  On 
they  rushed.  di.;regarding  the  fire,  plunged  into 
the  ditch,  with  the  water  up  to  their  arms,  and 
ascending  the  opposite  side  under  a  shower  of 
balls,  broke  through  the  chevaux-de-frise,  and 
mounted  the  ramparts  with  the  utmost  resolu- 
tion. The  Spaniards  stood  their  ground  brave- 
ly, and  for  some  minutes  the  strugglt!  was  very 
violent,  but  at  length  the  imi)etuosity  of  tho 
French  prevailed.  Great  numbers  of  the  Span- 
iards were  bayoneted  at  their  guns;  the  re- 
mainder fled  to  fort  St  Louis,  the  last  fortified 
post  on  the  peninsula.  There,  however,  they 
were  speedily  followed  by  the  French,  who 
scaled  the  ramparts  and  carried  every  thing 
before  them.  By  nine  o'cloc^k  the  conquest  was 
complete — the  entire  peninsula  had  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  victors,  with  all  its  forts  and 
artillery.  Tiie  Duke  d'Angouleme  exposed  him- 
self, in  this  brilliant  affair,  to  the  enemy's  fire, 
like  a  simple  grenadier;  and  tlu!  Prince  of  Carig- 
nan,  eldest  son  of  the  King  of  Sai'- 
•linia,  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  for-  '  M""'"'"/. 
1  1  1  <      1  .1       I  I       Aii(;u.sl  I J  ; 

lorn  hope  wiio  mounted  the  breacii.   ^nn.  Hist. 
Strange  destiny  of  the  same  prince  vl.  452,  453; 
to  be  within  two  years  the  leader  i'.:l,"'^y.l'; 
of  a  democratic  revolt  in  his  own   jjulu!  d'An- 
counti-y,    and    a   gallant    volunteer  pouleme's 
with   the   assaulting   party  of  the  Di-spatdies, 
Royalist    army    wliicli     combated  jyaj""''   ' 
it !  ■' 

Disaster  also  attended  the  ojierations  of  Ri- 
ego,  who  had  left  the  Isle  of  Leou  iu  order  to 


428 


II  ISTOII  Y    OV    i:U  IIOI'E. 


collect  the  scnttcroil  bands  of  the  Libenils  in 
the  nioiintnins  of  (irnniidii  and  An- 
Omraiions  ^hilusiii,  luid  operate  in  tlie  rear  of  tlu> 
01  Kn'so  in  Freneh  nriny.  Tlie  t'orte;»,  wlio  were 
ihf  ri'ur  oi"  too  glad  to  j;et  qnit  of  hitn,  gave  him 
ilicKmica.  the  coninmnd  of  all  the  troops  he  could 
collect :  he  eluded  the  vigilance  of  the  French 
cruisers,  and  disembarked  at  Malaga  on  the 
17th  August  with  ample  powers,  but  no  money. 
lie  there  took  the  command  of  two  thousand 
men  who  remained  to  Zayas  in  that  place,  and 
soon  made  amends  for  his  want  of  money  by 
forced  contributions  from  the  whole  merchants 
and  opulent  inhabitants  of  the  place,  without 
excepting  the  English,  whom  he  imprisoned, 
transported,  and  shot  without  mercy,  if  they 
•withstood  his  demands.  The  loud  complaints 
•which  they  made  throughout  all  Europe  went 
far  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  people  of  England 
to  the  real  tendency  of  the  Spanish  revolution. 
On  the  3d  September  he  set  out  from 

^^  '  '  Malaga  at  the  head  of  two  thousand 
five  hundred  men,  carrj-ing  with  him  the 
■whole  plate  of  the  churches  and  of  all  the  re- 
spectable inhabitants  in  the  place,  and  made 
for  the  mountains,  with  the  view  of  joining  the 
remains  of  the  corps  of  General  Ballasteros, 
•which  he  effected  a  few  days  after.  He  was 
closely   followed  by  Generals   Bonne- 

*^  ■  ■  maine  and  Loverdi,  whom  Molitor  had 
detached  from  Granada  in  pursuit.  Though 
the  troops  of  Ballasteros  had  capitulated,  and 
passed  over  to  the  Royalist  side,  yet  they 
were  unable  to  stand  the  sight  of  their  old  en- 
signs and  colors,  and,  like  the  soldiers  of  Napo- 
leon at  the  sight  of  the  imperial  eagles,  they 
Bpeedilv  fraternized  with  their  old  comrades. 
Cries  oi'  "Viva  el  Union!  Viva  Riego!  Viva  la 
Constitucioa !  "  were  heard  on  all  sides,  and  Bal- 
lasteros himself,  carried  away  by  the  torrent, 
found  himself  in  Riego's  arms.  Concord  seemed 
to  be  established  between  the  chiefs,  and  they 
dined  together,  apparently  in  perfect  amity ; 
but  in  realit}'  the  seeds  or  distrust  were  irrevo- 
cabl}-  sown  between  them.  Ballasteros  quietly 
gave  orders  to  his  troops  to  separate  from  those 
of  Riego:  the  latter,  penetrating  his  designs, 
made  the  former  a  prisoner,  but  was  compelled 
to  release  him  by  his  officers.  Discord  having 
DOW  succeeded  to  the  temporary  burst  of  una- 
nimity, the  two  armies  were  separated,  and  the 
greater  part  of  Riego's  two  best  regiments  de- 
serted in  the  night,  and  joined  Ballasteros' 
troops.  The  expedition  had  entirely  failed,  and, 
instead  of  raising  the  country'  in  the  rear  of  the 
French  army  before  Cadiz,  nothing  remained 

,  .  ...  to  Riego  but  to  seek  bv  hill-paths 
» Ann.  }Ii8t.  t.      a    4.      •       ,.■  -..u'ln-  u 

Ti.  454  456    ''**  effect  a  junction  with  Mina,  who 

Lam.  vii.       still   maintained   a   desultory  war- 

253,  255.        f-jrg  j„  tjjg  mountains  of  Catalonia.' 

lie  set  out  accordingly  with  two  thousand 

._         men;  but  destitute  of  every  thing, 

Defeat  and   ^"^  unable   to   convey  their  heavy 

capture  of    spoil  with  them,  the  march  proved 

Riego.  nothing  but  a  succession  of  disasters. 

^^  '     ■       Bonnemaine,  who  closely  followed  his 

footsteps  with  a  light  French  division,  came  up 

■with  him  on  the  heights  near  Jaen,  and  after  a 

short  action  totally  defeated  him,  with  the  loss  of 

five  hundred  of  his  best  troops.  The  day 

^  '     '  following  he  was  again  assailed  with 

such  vigor  that  his  troops,  no  longer  making 


[(•ii.M-.   XIT. 

even  a  show  of  resistance,  dispersed  on  all  s-idcs, 
leaving  their  chief  himsi-lf  attended  only  by  a 
few  followers,  who  still  adhered  with  hoi'or- 
uhle  tidelitj'  to  his  det^peiate  fortunes.  Riego 
himself  was  wounded,  and  in  that  pitiable  state 
fled,  accompanied  onl}'  by  three  officers,  toward 
the  Sierra-Morcna.  Fl\liausted  by  fatigue,  he 
was  obliged  to  rest  at  a  farm-house  near  Caro- 
lina d'Arguellos,  where  he  was  recognized,  and 
information  sent  to  his  pursuers  of  his  retreat, 
by  whom  he  was  arrested.  Conducted  under 
a  strong  escort  to  Andujar,  he  was  assailed  by 
a  mob  with  such  \iolent  imprecations  and 
threatening  gesticulations,  that  the  French  gar- 
rison of  the  j)lacc  were  obliged  to  turn  out  to 
save  his  life.  As  M.  do  Coppons,  an  officer  of 
Marshal  Moncey's  staff,  covered  him  with  his 
body  at  the  hazard  of  his  life,  he  said,  "The 
people  who  are  now  so  excited  against  me — 
the  people  who,  but  for  the  succor  of  the 
French,  would  have  murdered  me — that  same 
people  last  jear,  on  this  very  spot,  bore  me  in 
their  arms  in  triumph  :  the  city  forced  upon  me, 
against  my  will,  a  sabre  of  honor:  the  night 
which  I  passed  here  the  houses  were  illumin- 
ated: the  people  danced  till  morn-  ,  ^^^  -^^^^ 
ing  under  my  windows,  and  prevent-  vi.  437,  4ib ; 
ed  me,  by  their  acclamations,  from  Lam.  vii. 
obtaining  a  moment  of  sleep."  '  ' 

These  repeated  disasters,  and  the  accounts 
received  from  all  quarters  of  the         gg_ 
general  submission  of  the  country.  Resumed  ne- 
at length  convinced  the  Cortes  of  gotiation  at 
■  v      V         1  r  it  i     J.   •     Cadiz,  ami  as- 

the  hopelessness  of  the   contest  in  g^^n  g,-  y^j,. 

which  they  were  engaged.  They  got  ta  Petri. 
Ferdinand,  accordingly,  to  sign  a  September  4. 
letter  to  the  Duke  d'Angouleme,  in  ■which  he 
requested  a  suspension  of  arms,  with  a  view  to 
the  conclusion  of  a  general  peace.  The  duke 
replied,  that  it  was  indispensable,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, that  the  king  should  be  set  at  liberty, 
but  that,  as  soon  as  this  was  done,  "  he  would 
earnestly  entreat  his  Majesty  to  accord  a  gen- 
eral amnesty,  and  to  give  of  his  own  will,  or  to 
promise,  such  institutions  as  he  may  deem  in 
his  wisdom  suitable  to  their  feelings  and  char- 
acter, and  which  ma}'  seem  essential  to  their 
happiness  and  tranquillity."  The  Cortes,  upon 
this,  asked  what  evidence  he  would  require 
that  the  king  was  at  liberty  ?  To  which  the 
duke  answered  that  he  would  never  regard 
him  as  so  till  he  saw  him  in  the  middle  of  the 
French  troops.  This  answer  broke  off 
the  negotiation,  and  soon  after  the  ar-  "'^'^  ' 
rival  of  Sir  R.  Wilson  revived  the  hopes  of  the 
besieged,  who  still  clung  to  the  expectation  of 
English  intervention.  But  these  hopes  proved 
fallacious;  and  ere  long  the  progress  of  the 
French  was  such  that  further  resistance  was  ob- 
viously useless.  On  the  20th,  a  French 
squadron  of  two  ships  of  the  line  and  ^P  ■  -  ■ 
two  frigates  opened  a  heavj-  fire  on  the  fort  of 
Santa  Petri,  on  the  margin  of  the  bay,  and  with 
such  effect,  that  on  preparations  being  made 
for  an  assault,  the  white  flag  was  hoisted,  and 
the  place  capitulated  on  condition  of  the  gar- 
rison being  permitted  to  retire  to  Cadiz.  From 
the  advanced  posts  of  the  Trocadero  and  Santa 
Petri  thus  acquired,  a  bombardment  of  the  town 
itself  was  three  days  after  commenced, 
while  the  ships  in  the  bay  kept  up  a  '"P  ■ "  ■ 
fire  with  uncommon  vigor  on  the  batteries  on 


I 


1823.] 


HISTORY    OF    EUROrE. 


429 


the  sea-side.  Tlie  eftect  of  this  bombardment, 
which  brought  the  reality  of  war  to  their 
liomes,  was  terrible.  The  regiment  of  8an 
Marcial,  heretofore  deemed  one  of  tlie  steadiest 
in  support  of  the  Revolution,  revolted,  and  was 
only  subdued  by  the  urban  militia.  Terror 
prevailed  on  all  sides;  cries  of  "Treason!"  be- 
came general;  every  one  distrusted  his  neigh- 
1  ^j,^  jjjgj  bor ;  and  that  universal  discourage- 
vi.  467,  468 ;  ment  prevailed  which  is  at  once  the 
Lam.  vii.  effect  and  the  forerunner  of  serious 
233.  -^34.        disaster.! 

Subdued  at  length  by  so  many  calamities, 

89.  the  special  commission  of  the  Cortes 

Deliverance   entered  in  good  earnest  into  negotia- 

01  the  king,  tions.     In  a  special  meeting,  called 
and  dissolu-  .,      „„.,   o      ^       i_  ^ 
tion  of  the      "n  the  28th  September,  a  report  was 

Cortes.  laid  before  the  Cortes  by  the  Gov- 

Ssptem.  28.  ernment,  which  set  forth  that  all 
their  means  of  defense  were  exhausted,  that  no 
hope  of  intervention  on  the  part  of  England 
remained,  and  that  it  was  indispensable  to  come 
to  terms  with  the  enemy.  The  Cortes,  accord- 
ingly, declared  itself  dissolved  the  same  day ; 
and  the  king  sent  a  message  to  the  Duke  d'An- 
pouleme,  declaring  that  he  was  now  at  liberty; 
that  he  was  making  dispositions  to  embark  at 
Port  Santa  Maria ;  that  he  had  engaged  to  dis- 
quiet no  one  on  account  of  his  political  conduct ; 
and  that  he  would  reserve  all  public  measures 
till  he  had  returned  to  his  capital.  Three  da^'s 
J  afterward,  accordinglj%  on  the  1st  Octo- 
ber, every  preparation  having  been  com- 
pleted, and  the  king  having  published  a  pro- 
clamation, in  which  he  promised  a  general  am- 
nesty, and  every  thing  the  Constitutionalists 
wished,  the  embarkation  of  the  king  and  royal 
family  took  place  at  Santa  Maria  with  great 
pomp,  and  amidst  universal  acclamation,  and 
tlie  thunder  of  artillery  from  all  the  batteries, 
both  on  the  French  and  Spanish  side  of  the 
bay.*  The  embarkation  was  distinctly  seen 
from  the  opposite  coast,  where  the  Duke  d'An- 
gouleme,  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  splendid  staff,  awaited  his  ar- 
rival ;  and  every  eye  watched,  with  speecliless 
anxiety,  the  progress  of  the  bark  which  bore  the 

2  Ann  Hist  f^yiil  fiimily  of  Spain  from  the  scene 
vi.  471,  474j  of  their  captivity,  and  with  them 
Lam.  vii.  restored,  as  was  hoped,  j)eace  and 
235,  236.        liappiness  to  the  entire  Peninsula.^ 

Trained  by  long  misfortunes,  not  less  than 
go  the   precepts   of   his  confessors,   to 

Scene  at  his  perfect  hahits  of  dissinmlation,  Fer- 
dellverance.  dinand,  even  Aviicii  rowing  across 
cio  er  1.  j^iig  jj,j^.^  j.^p^  ^jj^  j^Ij^  mask  of  gener- 
osity, lie  conversed  with  Valdcz  and  Alava, 
who  accompanied  him,  down  to  tlie  la.st  mo- 
ments, of  the  gratitude  whicli  he  felt  to  them ; 
of  the  need  in  which  lie  stood  of  experienced 
and  popular  ministers  to  guide  him  in  liis  new 
reign  ;  he  invit(Ml  tlicm  to  trust  to  his  inagna- 

*  "  Le  roi  promet  I'oubli  complct  ft  absolu  do  cc  qui 
est  passe,  la  reconnaissance  des  dcttes  conlractOes  par  U; 
gouvernement  actucl,  Ic  mainticn  des  grades,  cmplois, 
traitements  ct  honneiirs,  niilitaires  ou  civils,  accordes 
sous  le  regime  conMtitiitionnel,  declarant  d'aillcurs  dc  sa 
volonte  lihro  et  spontanoe,  sur  lafoi  de  la  parole  royalc, 
(jue  s'il  fallait  ahsolumcnt  modifier  les  iriHlitutions  poli- 
tiques  actuelles  do  la  monarcliio,  .S.  M.  a<lo[iterait  un  gouv- 
ernement, qui  iiiit  faire  le  bonlieur  de  la  nation,  en  garan- 
tissant  les  personncs,  Ics  proprictes,  ot  la  liberto  civile 
di;s  Espagnols." — I'Torlamntinn  ilu  Rni  Ferdinnnd,  30lh 
September,  1B23  ;  Annuaire  Ihnlnrtjue,  vi.  471,  472. 


nimit^- — to  land  with  him,  and  quit  forever  a 
city  where  their  kindness  to  him  would  be  im- 
puted to  them  as  a  crime.  They  distrusted, 
however,  the  sincerity  of  the  monarch,  and  as 
soon  as  the  royal  family  landed,  pushed  off 
from  the  shore.  "Miserable  wretches!"  ex- 
claimed the  king,  "  they  do  well  to  withdraw 
from  their  fate!"  The  Duke  d'Angouleme  re- 
ceived the  king  kneeling,  who  immediately 
raised  him  from  the  ground,  and  threw  him- 
self into  his  arms.  The  tJiunder  of  artillery, 
waving  of  standai'ds,  and  cheers  of  the  troops, 
accomj)aiiied  the  auspicious  event,  which,  in 
terminating  the  distraction  of  one,  seemed  to 
promise  peace  to  both  nations.  But  from  the 
crowd  which  accompanied  the  royal  i  Lam.  vii. 
cortege  to  the  residence  provided  236, 237, 
for  them,  were  heard  cries  of  a  less  ^j'^'  -'^""• 
pleasing  and  ominous  import — "Viva  471  472; 
el  Rey !  Viva  el  Religion!  Muera  Cap.  vii. 
la  Kacion  1     Mueran  los  Negros !" '  *  ^^^'  ~^^- 

The  first  act  of  the  king  on  recovering  his 
liberty  was  to  publish  a  proclaiiia-  , 
tion,  in  which  he  declared  null  all  First  acts 
the  acts  of  the  Government  which  of  the  new- 
had  been  conducted  in  iiis  name  from  Govcrn- 
7th  March,  1820,  to  1st  October,  1823,  """"'• 
"  seeing  that  the  king  had  been  during  all  that 
period  deprived  of  his  liberty,  and  obliged  to 
sanction  the  laws,  orders,  and  measures  of  the 
revolutionary  government."  By  the  same  de- 
cree he  ratitied  and  approved  every  thing  which 
had  been  done  by  the  regency  installed  at  Oy- 
arzun,  on  the  9th  April,  1822,  and  by  the  re- 
gency established  at  Madrid  on  the  20tli  May, 
1823,  "  until  his  Majesty,  having  made  himself 
acquainted  with  the  necessities  of  his  people, 
vany  be  in  a  situation  to  give  them  the  laws 
and  take  the  measures  best  calculated  to  insure 
their  happiness,  the  constant  object  of  his  so- 
licitude." In  vain  the  Duke  d'Angouleme  coun- 
seled measures  of  moderation  and  humanity: 
the  voice  of  passion,  the  thirst  for  vengeance, 
alone  were  listened  to.  An  entire  change  of 
course  took  place  in  the  king's  household  ;  the 
Duke  del  Infanlado  was  placed  at  its  head,  and 
the  liegency  in  tlie  mean  time  continued  in  its 
functions.  The  dissolution  of  tiie  Cortes  and 
deliverance  of  Ferdinand  put  an  end  to  tlio 
war;  for  the  disaffected,  however  iiuligiiant, 
had  no  longer  a  head  to  which  tliey  could  look, 
or  an  object  for  wliicli  tliey  Avere  to  contend. 
Before  the  end  of  October  all  the  fortresses 
which  still  held  out  for  the  revolu- 
tionary governiiHMit  had  hoisted  the  vi"^""),  470  • 
royal  flag,  and  all  the  cor]is  which  i.nui.  vii. 
were  in  arms  for  its  support  had  237,23'.t,250; 
sent  in  their  adhesion  to  the  new  i'"''-  ^"'• 
Government.' 

A  great  and  glorious  career  now  lay  before 
Ferdinand,  if  he  had  possessed  m;ig- 

nariiniity  Mifiicicnt  to  follow  it.    The  t^,.  i''''i, 

,,-,,,  -IT    Lond  calls 

revolution    had    been    cxtinguislied  on  Kcniin- 
with  very  little  effusion  of  blood;  and  lor  mod, 
the    angry  passions   had   not  been  •'['"i"'"  ""J 

ened    tiy    general    massacres ; 
the  revolutionary  government  had  been  over- 
turned as  easily,  and  with  nearly  as  little  loss 
of  life,  as  tiu!  royal  authority  at  Paris,  hy  the 
taking  of  llie  Bastile  on  lltli  June,  1789.     The 


*  "  Long  live  the  King  I     I,ong  live  Ileligion  I     Death 
to  the  Nation  I     Death  to  the  Liberals !" 


480 


HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


[CUAl-.  XII. 


king  lintl  ploilsioil  his  roytd  word  to  nn  nbso- 
hito  iiiul  iiiK'oiulitioiml  uinnesty.  I'lenioncy 
niiil  iiunloration  wore  ii:?  easy,  and  as  loiully 
eallid  for,  in  the  one  case  as  tlie  otlior;  and  if 
tliis  wise  and  generous  course  had  been  ftdo]>t- 
od,  what  a  U>ng  train  of  cahiiuities  wouUl  liave 
been  spared  to  both  countries!  The  rcTohi- 
tionists  and  the  king  iiad  alike  many  faults  to 
regret,  many  injuries  to  forgive;  and  it  would 
have  been  worthy  of  the  first  iu  rank  and  the 
first  in  power,  to  take  the  lead  iu  that  glorious 
emulation.  But  unhappily,  in  the  Spanish  ehar- 
neter,  the  desire  for  vengeance  and  the  thirst 
for  blood  are  as  inherent  as  the  spirit  of  adven- 
ture and  the  heroism  of  resistance ;  and  amidst 
all  the  declamations  in  favor  of  religion,  the 
priests  who  surrounded  the  throne  forgot  that 
the  forgiveness  of  injuries  is  the  first  of  the 
Christian  virtues.  The  consequence  was,  that 
tiie  royalist  government  took  example  from  the 
revolutionary  in  deeds  of  cruelty  ;  the  reaction 
was  as  violent  as  the  action  had  been;  and 
Spain  was  the  victim  of  mutual  injuries,  and 
torn  by  intestine  passions  for  a  long  course  of 
years,  uutil  the  discord  ceased  bj*  the  exhaus- 
tion of  those  who  were  its  victims. 

Iliego  was  the  first  victim.    Cries  wei'e  heard, 
93.         which  showed  how  profound   was 
Sentence  of  the  indignation  and  wide-spread  the 
Uiego.  thirst  for  vengeance  iu  the  Spanish 

mind.  The  first  step  taken  was  to  bring  him 
to  trial.  No  advocate  could  be  found  bold 
enough  to  undertake  his  defense;  the  court 
was  obliged  to  appoint  one  to  that  perilous  duty. 
During  the  whole  time  the  trial  was  going  on, 
a  furious  crowd  surrounded  the  haU  of  justice 
with  cries  of  "iluera  Riego!  Muera  el  Tradi- 
dor!  Viva  el  Rey  Assoluto!"  His  conviction 
followed  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  he  was 
sentenced  to  death  amidst  the  same  shouts  from 
an  excited  audience,  whom  even  the  solemnity 
1  ^^  Yiist.  °^  ^^^^  awful  occasion,  and  the  very 
vi.4sl,4b2;  magnitude  of  the  offense  with  which 
Lam.  vii.     i]^q  prisoner  was  charged,  could  not 

261    "62  *  •  -11 

'  *■  ■  overawe  into  temporary  Silence.' 
His  execution  took  place  a  few  days  after- 
94  ward,  and  under  circumstances  pe- 
Ilis  esecu-  culiarly  shocking,  and  which  reflect- 
tion.  __  ed  the  deepest  disgrace  on  the  Spau- 
Nov.  7.  jgjj  government.  Stript  of  his  uni- 
form, clothed  iu  a  wrapper  of  white  cloth,  with 
a  green  cap,  the  ensign  of  liberty,  on  his  head, 
he  was  placed  with  his  hands  tied  behind  his 
back,  on  a  hurdle  drawn  by  an  ass,  in  which 
he  was  conveyed,  surrounded  by  priests,  and 
with  the  Miserere  of  the  dying  unceasingly 
rang  in  his  ears  by  a  chorister,  to  the  place  of 
execution.  The  multitude  gazed  in  silence  on 
the  frightful  spectacle.  The  memorable  reverse 
of  fortune,  from  being  the  adored  chief  of  the 
revolution  to  becoming  thus  reviled  and  reject- 
ed, for  a  moment  subdued  the  angry  passions. 
Arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  scaffold,  which  was 
constructed  upon  an  eminence  in  the  Plaza  de 
la  Cebaba,  forty  feet  high,  so  as  to  be  seen  from 
a  great  distance,  he  received  absolution  for  his 
crimes,  and  was  lifted  up,  still  bound, 
2M 'ae/"  V^^^  ^°*i  attenuated,  already  half 
Ann.  Hist,  dead, to  thetop  of  the  scaffold,  where 
vi.  463 ;  Mo-  the  fatal  cord  was  passed  round  his 
ll'Tbas^"^  neck,  and  he  was  launched  into  etern- 
'  it}'.*     A  monster  i:i  the  human  form 


gave  a  buffet  to  his  countenance  after  death;'* 
a  shudder  ran  through  the  crowd,  Avhich  was 
soon  drowned  in  cries  of  "Viva  el  Rey  1  \'iva 
el  Rey  Assoluto  1"' 

The  King  and  Queen  of  Spain  made  their 
triumphal  entry  into  Madrid  six 
days  after  that  melancholy  execu-  Entry  of 
tiou,  amidst  an  immense  crowd  of  tliekingand 
spectators,  and  surrounded  by  every  queen  into 
demonstration  of  joy.  Their  niajes-  iv;"y'^'j3 
ties  Were  seated  on  an  antique  and 
gigantic  chariot,  twenty-five  feet  high,  which 
was  drawn  b}-  a  hundred  J'oung  men  elegantly 
attired,  surrounded  by  groups  of  dancers  of 
both  sexes,  in  the  most  splendid  theatrical  cos- 
tumes, whose  operatic  display  elicited  bound- 
less applause  from  the  spectators.  The  spirit 
of  faction  appeared  to  be  dead ;  one  only  feel- 
ing seemed  to  animate  every  breast,  which  was 
joy  at  the  termination  of  the  revolution.  But 
it  soon  appeared  that,  if  the  convulsions  had 
ceased,  the  passions  it  had  called  forth  were  far 
from  being  appeased.  The  long-wished-for  am- 
nesty, so  solemnly  promised  b\'  the  king  before 
his  liberation  at  Cadiz,  and  which  would  have 
closed  in  so  worthy  a  spirit  the  wounds  of  the 
revolution,  had  not  j'et  been  promulgated,  and 
it  was  looked  for  with  speechless  anxiety  by 
the  numerous  relatives  and  friends  of  the  per- 
sons compromised.  For  several  days  after  the 
king's  arrival  in  the  capital  it  did  not  make  its 
appearance,  and  meanwhile  arrests  continued 
daily,  and  were  multiplied  to  such  a  degree 
that  the  prisons  were  soon  overflowing.  At 
length  the  public  anxiety  became  so  great  that 
the  Government  were  compelled  to  publish  the 
amnesty  on  the  19th.  It  contained,  .. 
however,  so  many  exceptions,  that  it 
was  rather  a  declaration  of  war  against  the 
adverse  party  than  a  healing  and  pacific  meas- 
ure. It  excepted  all  the  persons  who  had  taken 
a  leading  part  in  the  late  disturbance,  and  their 
number  was  so  great  that  it  was  evident  it  laid 
the  foundation  of  interminable  discords  and 
certain  reaction.     On  the  2d  December,  ^ 

the  list  of  the  new  Ministry  appeared, 
constructed,  as  might  have  been  expected,  from 
amongst  the  persons  who  had  been  most  instru- 
mental in  promoting  the  return  to  the  ancient 
regime. f  The  Duke  del  Infantado  was  dismiss- 
ed from  the  presidency  of  the  Privy  Council, 
which  was  bestowed  on  Don  Ignace  Martinez 
de  la  Rosa ;  and  the  council  itself  was  com- 
posed of  ten  persons,  all  devoted  Royalists.  At 
the  same  time,  however,  on  the  urgent  repre- 
sentation of  Count  Pozzo  di  Borgo,  who  bore  a 
holograph  letter  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia  ou 
the  subject,  a  pledge  was  given  of  an  intention 
to  revert  to  more  moderate  councils,  iMoniteur, 
by  the  dismissal  of  Don  Victor  Laez,  Dec.  10, 
the  organ  of  the  violent  apostolic  ^.^f^g'us'^''" 
party,fromtheimportantofficeofcon-  213;  Ann. 
fessoV  to  the  king,  who  was  succeeded  Hist.  vi. 
by  a  priest  of  more  reasonable  views.'  ^^^'  ^^^- 

*  The  same  thing  was  done  to  the  beautiful  head  of 
Charlotte  Corday  after  she  had  been  guiUotined.--See 
History  of  Europe,  former  series,  chap.  xii.  ^  76.  How 
identical  is  the  passion  of  pany  and  the  spirit  of  venge- 
ance in  all  ages  and  countries  ! 

t  Marquis  Casa-Irugo,  Premier  and  Foreign  Affairs  ; 
Don  Narcisso  de  Hondia,  Minister  of  Grace  and  Justice  ; 
Don  Jos6  de  la  Crux,  War ;  Don  Luis  Lopez-Ballasteros, 
Finances  ;  Don  Luis-Maria  Salazar,  Marine  and  Colonics 
— Annuaire  tli-tjriquc,  vi.  464. 


1S23.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


431 


The  revolution  was  now  closed,  and  the  royal 
government  re-established  in  Spain, 
Distracted  supP'^rted  by  ninety  thousand  French 
and  miser-  soldiers,  in  possession  of  its  principal 
able  state  fortresses,  and  so  disposed  as  to  be 
of  Spaia.  ^^^q  at  once  to  crush  any  fresh  rev- 
olutionary outbreak.  But  it  is  not  by  the 
mere  cessation  of  hostilities  that  the  passions 
of  revolution  are  extinguished,  or  its  disastrous 
eiTects  obliterated.  Deplorable  to  the  last  de- 
gree was  the  condition  of  Spain  on  the  termin- 
ation of  the  civil  war,  and  deep  and  unap- 
peasable the  thirst  of  vengeance  with  which 
the  different  parties  were  animated  against 
each  other.  Tlie  finances,  as  usual  in  such 
eases,  gave  woeful  proof  of  the  magnitude  of 
the  general  disorder,  and  the  extent  to  which 
it  had  sapped  the  foundations  alike  of  public 
and  private  prosperity.  In  the  greater  part  of 
the  provinces  the  collection  of  revenue  had  en- 
tirely ceased ;  where  it  was  still  gathered,  it 
came  in  so  slowly  as  not  to  deserve  the  name 
of  a  national  revenue.  The  5  per  cents  were 
down  at  IG  ;  loans  attempted  to  be  opened  in 
every  capital  of  Europe  found  no  subscribers. 
The  effects  of  the  clergy,  the  revenues  of  the 
kingdom  offered  in  security  of  advances,  failed 
to  overcome  the  terrors  of  capitalists.  Recog- 
nition of  the  loans  of  the  Cortes  was  every 
where  stated  as  the  first  condition  of  further 
accommodation,  and  this  the  disastrous  state 
of  the  finances  rendered  impossible,  for  they 
were  wholly  inadequate  to  meet  the  interest  of 
these.  The  only  activity  displayed  in  the  king- 
dom was  in  the  mutual  arrest  of  their  enemies 
by  the  different  parties ;  the  only  energy,  in 
preparing  the  means  of  wreaking  vengeance  on 
each  other.  But  for  the  presence  of  the  French 
army,  they  would  have  flown  at  each  other's 
throats,  and  civil  war  would  in  many  places 

^      ,„    have  been  renewed.     Peace  and  protec- 

Dec.  18.   ,.  1-1 

tioa  were    every    where    experienced 

under  the  white  flag;  and  so  general  was  the 

sense  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  its  shelter, 

that  no  opposition  was  made  any 
vi.  487  '^  where  to  a  convention  by  which  it 
488  ;  Lam.  was  stipulated  that  for  a  year  longer 
vii,  204 ;  thirty-five  thousand  French  troops 
211^213'      should  remain  in  possession  of  the 

principal  Spanish  fortresses.' 

Portugal  has  in  recent  times  so  entirely  fol- 
97.         lowed  the  political  changes  of  S])ain, 
.State  of       that  in  reading  the  account  of  the 
rortucal      Qjjg  yo^  -would  imagine  vou  are  pe- 
flunng  this  •  •'    .1     i     cii        iP  hm  i- 

year.  Roy-  rusing  tliat  ot  tlie  other.     ihe])arties 

alist  insur-  were  the  same,  tiio  objects  of  conten- 
rection.  i\q^  ^Jjq  game,  tlieir  alternate  tri- 
umphs and  disastei's  the  same.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  year  the  Cortes  were  still  uU-pow- 
erful,  and  a  long  lease  of  power  was  ])resaged 
for  tlie  constitutional  government.  When  the 
French  invasion  of  Spain  appeared  certain,  an 
army  of  observation  was  formed  on  the  fronlicr 
without  opposition.  lint  civil  war  noon  appear- 
ed.  On  the  2.'5d  ]''ebniary,  the  Conde 
Feb.  23.  d'Amarante,  at  Villa-Ileal.  raisc<l  the 
standard  of  insurrection,  and  ](ublished  a  pro- 
clamation, in  which  ho  called  on  all  loyal  suli- 
jects  to  unite  with  him  in  "dc^livering  tlie  coun- 
try from  the  yoke  of  the  Corf  es,  tlie  scourge  of 
revolution,  the  religion  of  their  enemies),  and 


to  rescue  the  king  from  captivity."  The  pro- 
clamation was  received  with  enthusiasm  ;  in  a 
few  daj's  the  whole  province  of  Tras-os-Montes 
was  in  arms,  several  regular  regiments  joined 
the  Royalist  standard,  and  in  the  beginning  of 
March  a  formidable  force  appeared  on  the  banks 
of  the  Douro.  There,  however,  they  were  met 
by  the  Constitutional  generals  at  the  head  of 
eight  thousand  men  ;  and  after  a  variety  of  con- 
flicts with  various  success,  in  the  course  of  which 
the  Conde  d'Amarante  was  often  worsted,  the 
Royalists  were  driven  back  into  Tras- 
os-Montes  with  considerable  loss,  from 
whence  Amarante  was  fain  to  escape  into  Spain, 
where  he  joined  the  curate  Merino,  who  had 
hoisted  the  white  flag,  with  four  thousand  men 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Valladolid.  The  insur- 
rection seemed  subdued,  and  tlie  ses-  ^pj.ji  4 
sion  of  the  Cortes  concluded  amidst  1  Ann.  Hist. 
lo  Pceans  and  congratulatory  ad-  vi.  498,  501 ; 
dresses  on  the  part  of  the  Constitu-  Ann.  Keg. 
tionalists.1  1""^^'  ^"_''- 

But  these  transports  were  of  short  duration  ; 
the  French  invasion  speedily  altered 
the  aspect  of  aftairs,  not  less  in  I'ortu-  loyalist 
gal  than  in  Spain.  On  the  27tli  May,  counter- 
one  of  the  regiments  in  the  army  of  revolution, 
observation  on  the  frontier  raised  the  ''J ' '  • 
cry  of  "Viva  el  Rey!"  and  on  the  following 
night  the  lufont  Doxi'Migvel,  the  acknowledged 
head  of  the  royalist  party,  escaped  from  Lisbon, 
and  joined  the  revolted  corps  at  Villa-Franea. 
The  prince  immediately  published  a  proclama- 
tion, in  which  he  declared  that  his  object  was 
to  free  the  nation  from  the  shameful  ydka  which 
had  been  imposed  on  it,  to  liberate  the  king, 
and  give  the  people  a  constitution  exempt  alike 
from  despotism  and  license.  A  great  number 
of  influential  persons  immediately  joined  him, 
and  the  Court  at  Villa-Franca  became  a  rival 
to  that  at  Lisbon.  On  the  29th,  Scpulveda, 
with  part  of  the  garrison  of  Lisbon,  declared 
for  the  royal  cause  ;  and  the  Cortes,  which  had 
assembled,  was  thrown  into  the  utmost  conster- 
nation by  the  same  cry  being  repeated  in  vari- 
ous quarters  of  tlie  city.  At  length  the 
infection  spread  to  the  royal  guard ;  ''^ 
cries  of  "Viva  el  Rey  Assohitoj"  broke  from 
their  ranks;  the  cockades  of  the  Constitution 
were  every  where  torn  off  and  tram])lcd  un<ler 
foot,  and  the  king  himself,  who  had  come  out 
to  appease  the  tumtdt,  was  obliged  to  jdin  in 
the  same  cry,  and  to  detach  the  Constitutional 
cockade  from  his  breast.  In  the  evening  a  pro- 
clamation was  published,  dated  from  the  roy- 
alist head-qtiarters,  in  which  he  announced  a 
change  of  government  and  modification  of  the 
constitution.  The  Cort^'s  was  dissolved  ,  „ 
on  the  2d  of  June;  on  the  same  day  a 
proclamation  was  juibli.-ihed,  denouncing  in  se- 
vere terms  the  vices  of  the  revolutionary  sys- 
tem ;  and  two  days  after  the  counter-revolution 
was  rendered  irrevocable  by  the  king  moving 
to  the  Royalist  head-quarters  at  Villa-Franca. 

Three  days  after,  he  returned  in  trreat   , 

,      :'.  ,  ,  ,  ^.       ■,  June 5. 

pomp  to  Lisbon,  where  he  was  received 

with  universal  acclamations;  the  Ministry  was 
changed;  the  Infant  l>om  Miguel  wjis  declared 
generalissimo  of  the  army,  the  Count  de  I*al- 
mella  appointed  Premier  and  Minister  of  For- 
eign Affair.'*,  and  the  whole  Cabinet  composeil 
of  royalist  chiefs.    I'^very  thing  immediately  re- 


4SS 


HISTORY    OF  EUROPE. 


[Cn.vr.  XII. 


said,    the 

I  An.  Reg. 
i>-i3.  ITS, 
I'JO;  Ann. 
Hist.  vi. 
SlH,  M-2. 


tiirnoil  into  tho  oKloliiuiiuls;  the  rovoluticnnry 
niitlioritit'j  all  eonl  in  tlioir  luilu'siuii  or  woro 
di>iuissed:  aiul  to  the  honor  of  rortuiial  be  it 
eoiinter-revohitiou    was    completed 
without    lilood.^hed,  and   no  severer 
penalties  than  the  exile  from  Lisbon 
of  thirty  of  the  most  violent  members 
of  the  Cortes,  and  the  loss  of  office  by 
a  few  of  the  Liberal  chiefs.' 
The  return  of  the  Duke  d'Angoulome,  and  the 
90.  iireater  part  of  his  army,  after  this 

Triuinphant  memorable  campaign,  was  a  contin- 
J?'V."'i""'"^  ual  triumph.  It  was  no  wonder  it 
Eouionie  to  ^^'"^  ^^'  '^  ^^^^  proved  one  of  the 
Pans.  most  remarkable   recorded   in   his- 

Dee.  2.  tory.     In  less  than  six  months,  with 

the  loss  of  onl}-  four  thousand  men,  as  well  by 
sickness  as  the  sword,  with  an  expenditure  of 
only  200.000,000  francs  (£8,000,000),  they  had 
subdued  and  pacified  Spain,  delivered  the  king, 
arrested  the  march  of  revolution,  and  stopped 
the  convulsions  of  Europe.  The  campaigns  of 
Jvapoleon  have  no  triumphs  so  bloodless  to  re- 
count. Great  preparations  had  been  made  in 
Paris  to  receive  them  in  a  manner  worth}'  of 
the  occasion.  On  the  2d  December,  the  anni- 
versary of  the  battle  of  Austerlitz,  the  prince 
made  his  triumphal  entry  into  Paris  on  horse- 
back, at  the  head  of  the  elite  of  his  troop.s,  sur- 
rounded by  a  splendid  staff,  among  whom  were 
to  be  seen  Marshals  Oudinot,  Marmont,  and 
Lauriston,  General  Bordesoult,  the  Duke  de 
Guiche,  and  Count  de  la  Kochejaquelein.  The 
aspect  of  the  troops,  their  martial  air  and 
bronzed  viz::ges,  recalled  the  most  brilliant 
military  spectacles  of  the  Empire.  They  pass- 
ed under  the  magnificent  triumphal  arch  of 
Keuilly,  finished  for  the  occasion,  and  thence 
through  the  Champs  Elysees  to  the  Tuileries, 
through  a  double  line  oV  national  guards,  and 
an  immense  crowd  of  spectators,  who  rent  tlie 
air  with  their  acclamations.  The  municipality 
and  chief  public  bodies  of  Paris  met  the  prince 
at  the  barrier  de  I'Etoile,  and  addressed  him  in 
terms  of  warm  but  not  undeserved  congratula- 
tion on  his  glorious  exploits.*  The  prince, 
modestly  bowing  almost  to  his  charger's  neck, 
replied,  "  I  rejoice  that  I  have  accomplished  the 
mission  which  the  king  intrusted  to  me,  re-es- 
tablished peace  and  shown  that  nothing  is  im- 
possible at  the  head  of  a  French  army."  Ar- 
rived at  the  Tuileries,  he  dismounted,  and  has- 
tened to  the  king,  who  stood  in  great  pomp 
to  receive  him.  "My  son,"  said  the  monarch 
with  solemnity,   "I  am  satisfied  with  you;" 


*  "  '  Nos  vtBux  vous  suivaient  a  votre  depart,'  lui  dit  le 
prefetde  Paris, '  nos  acclamations  vous  attendaient  a  votre 
heureux  retour.  Depuis  yente  ans,  le  nom  de  guerre 
n'etait  (lU'un  cri  d'ellroi,  qu'un  signal  de  calamiliJs  pour 
les  peuples  ;  la  population  des  etals  envahis,  cornme  celle 
des  etats  comjuerants,  se  precipitant  I'une  sur  I'autre,  of- 
fraient  aux  yeux  du  sago,  un  spectacle  lamentable.  Au- 
jourd"hui  la  guerre  releve  les  nations  abattue.s  sur  tous  les 
points  d"un  vaste  empire.  EUe  apparait  humaine,  protcc- 
trice  tt  gtnercuse,  guerriere  sans  peur,  conqueraiite  sans 
vengeance.  Votre  vaillante  epee,  a  la  voix  d'un  puissant 
Monarque,  vient  de  consacrer  le  noble  et  le  legitime  emploi 
de  la  valeur  et  des  armes.  Les  trophees  de  la  guerre,  de- 
venus  la  consolation  d'un  peuple  opprime,  le  volcan  de  !a 
Revolution  fermc  pour  jamais,  la  reconciliation  de  notre 
patrie  cimentee  aux  yeux  du  monde,  la  victoire  rendue  a 
nos  marins  comrne  a  nos  guerriers,  et  la  gloire  de  tous  les 
enfanls  de  la  France  confondue  dans  un  nouveau  faisceau  ; 
tcis  sont,  Monseigneur,  les  resultats  de  cette  campagne, 
telb  est  I'ceuvre  que  vous  avcz  accomplie.''' — Moniteur, 
Dec.  3,  1823. 


and,  taking  him  by  tho  hand,  he  led  him  to 
the    balfonv,    where    an     immense   ,  ,  .. 

crowd,  with  redoubled  acclamations,  207,  270; 
testified  their  sympathy  with  the  Ann.  Hist, 
scene.'  '■  ■'^^'  *^^- 

This  triumphant  career  of  the  French  army 
in  S|>ain  was  viewed  with  very  dif- 
ferent eyes  by  the  powers  in  Europe  offer  of  as- 
most  interested  in  the  issue.  The  sistance  by 
Em]>eror  of  Russia,  who  had  warmly  Russia  to 
supported  the  project  of  the  interven-  France  rc- 
tion  at  Veroim,  and  anxiously  watch- 
ed the  progress  of  the  enterprise,  offered  to  move 
forward  his  troops  from  the  Vistula  to  the  Rhine, 
and  to  cover  the  eastern  frontier  of  France  with 
his  armed  masses.  Mr.  Canning,  justly  alarmed 
at  so  open  an  assertion  of  a  right  of  protectorate 
over  Europe,  strongly  opposed  the  proposal. 
"France,"  said  he,  "  conceiving  her  safety  men. 
aced,  and  her  interests  compromised,  by  the  ex- 
isting state  of  things  in  the  Peninsula,  we  have 
not  opposed  her  right  to  intervene;  but  she 
should  only  act  singly,  and  the  strictest  neu- 
trality should  be  observed  by  the  other  pow- 
ers. If,  in  defiance  of  all  stipulations,  the  Eu- 
ropean cabinets  should  act  otherwise,  England 
would  feel  herself  constrained  to  enforce  the 
observance  of  existing  engagements,  and  would 
at  once  consider  the  cause  of  Spain  as  her  own." 
M.  de  Chateaubriand  cordially  seconded  these 
remonstrances,  and  respectfully  declined  the 
proffered  succor — 

"Non  tali  auxilio,  nee  defensoribus  istis." 
The  armed  intervention  of  Russia   was  thus 
averted  by   the    union   of  the   two    western 
powers;    and   as   the   revolution   of  Portugal 
threatened  the  influence  of  England  in  that 
country,  Mr.  Canning  and  the  Prince  de  Polig- 
nac,  the  French  embassador  in  London,  came 
to  an  understanding  that  France  was  ^ 
not  to  interfere  between  the  Cabinet  209^  214." 
of  St.  James's  and  its  ancient  ally.' 

It  was  with  undisguised  vexation  that  Mr. 
Canning  beheld  the  triumphant  pro-         joi. 
gress  of  the  French  arms  in  Spain;  Views  of  Mr. 
and  deeming,with  reason,  the  throne  Canning  in 
of  the  Bourbons  greatly  strength-  [herepublics 
ened,  and  the  influence  of  France  on  of  South 
the  Continent  in  a  great  degree  re-  America, 
established  by  the  successful  issue  of  the  cam-        ^ 
paign,  he    resolved    upon    a   measure    which        H 
should    re-establish   the   balance,   and  at  the 
same  time,  as  he  hoped,  materially  benefit  the 
commercial  interests  of  England.     This  was  the 
Recognition  of  the  Republics  of  South  America. 
His  intention  in  this  respect  had  been  long  be- 
fore divined  by  the  able  diplomatist  who  con- 
ducted the  French  interests  in  London  ;*  and 


*  "  II  est  temps  de  jeter  un  regard  serieux  sur  I'avenir, 
et  sur  le  dangereux  ministre  qui  est  venu  se  placer  a  la 
tete  des  destinees  de  I'Angleterre.  11  nous  faut  sa  chute 
ou  sa  conversion.  11  ne  tombera  pas  ;  ses  ennemis  n'ont 
pu  lexiler  sur  le  trone  des  Indes.  M.  Peel,  jeune,  forme, 
et  populaire,  s'avance  sans  impatience  vers  le  ministere, 
fiui  ne  pent  lui  manquer  un  jour.  Lord  Wellington, 
guerrier  peu  redoutable  sur  le  champ  de  I'intrigue,  a  du 
ceder  aux  talents  et  a  I'habilite  de  M.  Canning.  II  ne 
tombera  pas  ;  il  faut  done  pour  nous  qu'il  change  de  con- 
duce, et  que  de  Briton  qu'il  est,  il  se  fasse  Europeen  ; 
faltes  rcluire  a  ses  yeux  I'eclat  d'une  grandc  gloire  diplo- 
matique :  assemblez  un  nouveau  congres,  qu'il  vienne  y 
traiter,  a  son  tour,  des  intertts  de  I'Orient,  des  colnnirs 
Americainrs,  denos  quatre  dernieres  revolutions  cteintes 
en  deu\  ans.  la  Grece,  I'ltalie,  le  Portugal,  TEspacne  I 
Que  I'Europe  le  couvre  de  faveurs  I     Inaccessible  a  lor. 


1823.] 


HISTORY   OF   EUROPE. 


43S 


■we  now  possess  the  historj^  of  his  views  from 
the  best  of  all  sources — his  own  recorded  state- 
ment. "When  the  French  armj-,"  said  he, 
"was  on  the  point  of  entering  Spain,  we  did 
all  we  could  to  prevent  it;  we  resisted  it  by 
all  means  short  of  war.  "We  did  not  go  to  war, 
because  we  felt  that,  if  we  did  so,  whatever  the 
result  might  be,  it  would  not  lead  to  the  evacu- 
ation of  Spain  by  the  French  troops.  In  a  war 
against  France  at  that  time,  as  at  any  other, 
you  might  perhaps  have  acquired  military 
glory ;  you  might  perhaps  have  extended  your 
colonial  possessions;  3-ou  might  even  have 
achieved,  at  a  great  loss  of  blood  and  treasure, 
an  honorable  peace;  but  as  to  getting  the 
French  out  of  Spain,  that  is  the  one  object 
which  you  would  certainly  not  have  accom- 
plished. Again,  is  the  Spain  of  the  present  day 
the  Spain  whose  puissance  was  expected  to 
shake  England  from  her  sphere?  No,  sir;  it 
was  quite  another  Spain :  it  was  the  Spain 
within  whose  dominions  the  sun  never  sets;  it 
was  'Spain  tvith  the  Indies'  that  excited  the 
jealousies  and  alarmed  the  imagination  of  our 
ancestors.  When  the  French  ai*my  entered 
Spain,  the  balance  of  power  was  disturbed,  and 
we  might,  if  we  chose,  have  resisted  or  resented 
that  measure  by  war.  But  were  there  no  other 
means  but  war  for  restoring  the  balance  of 
power?  Is  the  balance  of  power  a  fixed  and 
invariable  standard ;  or  is  it  not  a  standard 
perpetually  varying  as  civilization  advances, 
and  new  nations  spring  up  to  take  their  place 
among  established  political  communities? 
"To  look  to  the  policy  of  Europe  in  the  time 

of  William  and  Anne,  for  the  purpose 
Continued    ^^  regulating  the  balance  of  power  in 

Europe  at  the  present  day,  is  to  dis- 
regard the  progress  of  events,  and  to  confuse 
dates  and  facts,  which  throw  a  reciprocal  light 
upon  each  other.  It  would  be  disingenuous 
not  to  admit  that  the  entry  of  the  French  army 
into  Spain  was,  in  a  certain  sense,  a  disparage- 
ment—an affront  to  the  pride,  a  blow  to  the 
feelings,  of  England;  and  it  can  hardly  be  sup- 
posed that  the  Government  did  not  sympathize 
on  that  occasion  with  the  feelings  of  the  people. 
But,  questionable  or  unquestionable  as  the  act 
might  be,  it  was  not  one  which  necessarily 
called  for  our  direct  and  hostile  opposition. 
Was  nothing  then  to  be  done? — was  there  no 
other  mode  of  resistance  but  by  a  direct  attack 
upon  ?'rance,  or  by  a  war  undertaken  on  the 
soil  of  Spain  ?  What  if  tiie  possession  of  Spain 
might  b(!  rciidcreil  harmless  in  rival  liands — 


ll  ne  Test  pan  a  la  louaiii^c :  eiilin  reconciliez-le  avcc  hos 
ancicnncs  opinions  nioriarchiques,  ct  pardoiinci-moi  si, 
malgrc  mon  joune  a^e,  jo  parlo  8i  librcnienl  avec  vouHdcH 
plus  hauls  intunils  do  inon  pays." — M.  Marc-ei.i.us  a  M. 
DE  CuATEAUnniAND,  I'lli  Ucccmbcr,  Ibi!2.  "  No  comp- 
tez  pas  sur  I'Anglcterre.  Ello  se  rofuscra  a  toule  mcsurc 
merne  paciliqud,  et  cactinra  sous  I'apparenou  de  (|iiolijues 
dcmandes  sans  force  rcelle,  son  indillcronre  profondc  dcs 
intcrets  purermml  rontincntaux.  Ce  systciiiu  d(!  separa- 
tion ou  d'cKoisino  Kst  impose  a  M.  (banning  par  scs  amis, 
<;t  surtout  par  son  intcrcH.  Cet  inlonH  iiiunio  pent  U; 
pousscr  a  dcs  conrcssions  d'opinion  personnrllc,  f/tt'on 
n' cut  jamais  nbtnnws  du  Man/uimlr  Lonilondtrry.  Ainsi 
on  le  verra  rcr.o7i,naitre  la  t'oloinhte.  pour  gagncT  le  cmn- 
merce,  6pousor  la  cause  dcs  Noirs  pour  plain:  au  I'arlc- 
ment,  puis  suspcmlrt;  son  action  juscjii'ici  f'avorablo  a  la 
reforme  calliolKjui-.  Enlin  il  fcra  lout  pour  accroitre  ccui; 
popularity  a  la<iii<lle  il  dcvra  son  rnainticn,  coinuie  II  lul 
doit  .son  elevation. "—M.  Marckli.us  a  M.  de  ('hatead- 
HRIAND,  Londres,  3  Octobrc,  1832;  Marcellus,  Poli- 
/■r/iir  de.  la  Rrslnurntion.  'JO;  and  LamaRTI.''E,  Htstoire 
dc  la  Ilr.ttaiiration,  vii  222. 
Vol.   '.— Ei-; 


harmless  as  regarded  us,  and  valueless  to  the 
possessors?  Might  not  compensation  for  dis- 
paragement be  obtained,  and  the  policy  of  our 
ancestors  vindicated,  by  means  better  adapted 
to  the  present  time  ?  If  France  occupied  Spain, 
was  it  necessar}',  in  order  to  avoid  the  conse- 
quences of  that  occupation,  that  we  should 
blockade  Cadiz?  No:  I  looked  another  way; 
I  sought  materials  for  compensation  in  another 
hemisphere.  Contemplating  Spain  such  as  our 
ancestors  had  known  her,  I  resolved  that,  if 
France  had  Spain,  it  should  not  be  Spain  '  with 
the  Indies.'  /  called  the  New  World  i  parl.  Dei. 
into  existence,  to  redress  the  balance  xvi.  394, 
of  the  Old."  '  3^^- 

It  is  one  of  the  most  curious  truths  apparent 
from  history,  how  identical  arc  the         j^g 
impulses  of  the  human  mind,  at  all  Mr.  canning 
times  and  in  all  countries,  in  similar  did  not  give 

circumstances,  and  how  insensible  '"'^^^"i'J;,,,,, 
,'  ,     ,  if   eneetobouth 

men  are  to  the  moral  character  ot  America,  but 
actions  when  pursued  for  their  own  only  ac- 
benefit,  to  which  they  are  sensibly  knowledged 
alive  when  undertaken  for  the  ad- 
vantage of  others.  The  English  had  loudly 
exclaimed  against  the  iniquity  of  the  Northern 
powers  in  pretending  to  preserve  the  balance 
of  power  in  the  east  of  Europe,  by  dividing  tha 
spoils  of  Poland  among  each  otiier;  and  they 
dwelt  on  the  selfishness  of  Austria,  in  after 
times,  which  held  out  the  Russian  acquisition 
of  Wallachia  and  Moldavia  a  sufficient  ground 
for  giving  them  a  claim  to  Scrvia  and  Bosnia ; 
but  they  thought  there  was  nothing  unjusti- 
fiable in  our  upholding  the  balance  of  power 
in  the  West,  not  by  defending  Spain  against 
France,  but  by  sharing  in  its  spoils,  and  loudly 
applauded  the  minister  who  proposed  to  seek 
compensation  for  the  French  invasion  of  the 
Peninsula,  by  carving  for  British  profit  inde- 
pendent republics  out  of  the  Spanish  dominions 
in  South  America,  at  the  very  time  wlicn  lie 
professed  the  warmest  interest  in  its  independ- 
ence. But  be  the  intervention  of  England  in 
South  America  justifiable  or  unjustifiable,  no- 
thing is  more  certain  than  that  neitiier  it.^ 
merit  nor  its  demerit  properly  belongs  to  Mr. 
Canning.  Tlic  independence  of  Columbia  was 
decided  by  a  charge  of  Englisli  baj'onets  on  the 
field  of  Carabobo,  on  14th  June,  1821,  more 
tlian  a  year  before  Mr.  Canning  was  called  to 
the  Foreign  Office.^  It  was  the  ten  2  mst.  of 
thousand  British  auxiliaries,  most  of  Europe,  c. 
them  veterans  of  Wellington,  who  '•''^■"-  *  "•*• 
sailed  from  tlio  Tiiames,  the  Mersey,  and  the 
Clyde,  under  the  e3-e  of  Lord  Castlereagh,  in 
1818,  1819,  and  1820,  who  really  accomplished 
the  emancipation  of  South  America.  Mr.  Can- 
ning did  not  call  the  New  World  into  3  jij„t.  of 
existence,  he  oidv  recognized  it  when  Europe,  c. 
already  existing!  =•  Ixvii. « ti'j. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  this 
recognition  was  of  essential  import- 
ance to   the  infant   republics,   nn^\  ^cJ^Lon 
tliat  it  was  the  8ta])ility  and  credit  of  hk.  souili 
wliirh  they  actpiirctd  from  it  which  American 
enabled  them  to  fit  out  the  mcmor-  '''""/."'^''y 
able  expeditif)n  wlueli  in  tiie  next 
year  crossed  the  Andes,  and  at.  the  foot  of  the 
elilfs  of  Ayacnelio  aclii('ved  the  in-  4  jjj^,,  of  Eu- 
dependcnceof  Peru.*  Mr.  Canning's  rope,  c.  ixvii 
measures,  when  h'j  liadoncedeterm-  ^^  TO,  7". 


4S4 


II  IS  TORY    OF   EUROPE. 


incil  on  ne.itralizinjj  the  oft'orts  of  France  in 
this  wftv,  wore  lioitliov  fooblo  nor  undecided. 
On  the  ijiith  Felnunry,  lS2;i,  he  ohtained  from 
the  Uritish  govointnent,  l>y  order  in  council, 
a  revocation  of  the  proliibition  to  export 
nrnis  nnd  tlie  nmniinents  of  war  to  Spain* 
— a  step  -ttliich  called  forth  the  loudest  re- 
monstrances from  the  French  minister  in  Lon- 
don nt  tho  tinie.f  This  ■was  soon  after  fol- 
lowed by  still  more  decisive  measures.  On 
ICth  April,  Lord  Althorpe  brought  forward  a 
motion,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  for  the  re- 
peal of  the  Act  of  1819,  which  prohibited 
liritish  subjects  from  engaging  in  foreign  mili- 
tary service,  or  fitting  out,  in  his  Majesty's 
doiiiinions,  without  the  roj-al  license,  vessels 
for  warlike  purposes ;  and  although  this  pro- 
posal was  thrown  out  by  a  majority  of  210  to 
110,  yet  the  object  was  gained  b}-  the  proof 
atforded  of  the  interest  which  the  cause  of  the 
insurgent  colonies  excited  in  this  country.  In 
June,  Mr.  Canning  refused  to  recognize  the  Re- 
gency established  at  Madrid  after  the  entry  of 
the  Duke  d'Angouleme ;  and  in  Jul}-,  on  a  peti- 
tion from  some  respectable  merchants  in  Lon- 
don engaged  in  the  South  American  trade,  he 
agreed  to  appoint  consuls  to  Mexico,  Columbia, 
Feru,  Chili,  and  Buenos  Ayres.  His  language 
on  this  occasion  was  manly,  and  worthy  of  a 
British  minister.  "  We  will  not,"  said  he,  "  in- 
terfere with  Spain  in  any  attempts  she  may 
make  to  reconquer  what  were  once  her  colo- 
nies, but  we  will  not  permit  any  third  power 
to  attack  them,  or  to  reconquer  them  for  her: 
and  in  granting  or  refusing  our  recognition,  we 
shall  look,  not  to  the  conduct  of  any  European 
j>ower,  but  to  the  actual  circumstances  of  these 
countries."  And  when  Prince  Polignac,  the 
French  minister  in  London,  applied  for  ex]:)lana- 
tions  on  the  subject,  and  urged  the  expedience 
of  establishing,  in  concert  with  the  other  Eu- 
ropean powers,  monarchical  states  in  Soiith 
I  Pari.  Deb.  -A-merica,  Mr.  Canning's  reply  was, 
X.712;  that  "however  desirable  the  estab- 
Martignac,  lishment  of  a  monarchical  form  of 
Re^^lft^"  government  in  any  of  those  pro- 
27,''l45 "  '  vinces  might  be,  his  Govei-nment 
146;  Can-  could  not  take  upon  itself  to  put  it 
ning'sLife,  forward  as  a  condition  of  their  re- 
cognition.  * 
Thus  was  achieved,  mainly  in  consequence 
jQ,  of  the  French  invasion   of  Spain, 

Effects  of      the  recognition  of  the  independence 
this  measure  of  the  South  American  republics. 
t'e"res'ts''''^'°'  "^'^ether  they  were  fitted  for  the 
change — whether  the  cause  of  liber- 

*  "  As  far  as  the  exportation  of  arms  and  ammunition 
was  concerned,  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  Crown  to  re- 
move any  inequality  between  France  and  Spain  simply  by 
an  order  in  council.  Such  an  order  was  accordingly  is- 
sued, and  the  prohibition  of  exporting  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion to  Spain  was  taken  off." — Mr.  Canning's  Speech, 
April  10,  1&23  ;  Pari.  Deb.,  viii.  1051.  It  was  prohibited 
since  1819,  both  to  Spain  and  the  colonies,  on  the  remon- 
strance of  the  Spanish  government. — Ante,  chap.  Iv. 
uect.  95. 

t  "  Uier  je  rne  snis  plaint,  et  tres-vivement,  de  la  per- 
mission d'exporter  en  Espagne  toutes  annes  et  munitions 
«!e  guerre  ;  permission  que  le  ministre  vient  de  donner, 
de  son  propre  rnouvement,  en  1-evoquant  I'arret  qui  s'y 
oppose.  Des  marches  importants  d'arrnes  et  de  muni- 
tions se  traitent ;  des  banquiers,  membres  influents  de  la 
Chambre  des  Communes,  sont  entres  dans  ces  specula- 
tions que  le  gouvemment  encourage  de  la  maniere  la  plus 
manifeste." — .\f.  Marcellus  a  M.  de  Chateaubriand, 
Lonilres,  2Sth  Feb.,  J&23;  .Mahcellus,  131. 


[Cii.u-.  :xii. 

ty  has  been  advanced,  or  the  social  happiness 
of  mankind  advanced,  by  the  substitution  of 
the  nnnrchv  of  independence  for  the  despotism 
of  old  Spain,  and  whether  British  interests 
have  been  benefited  by  the  alteration — may 
be  judged  of  by  the  fact,  that  while  the  ex- 
ports of  Spain  to  her  colonies,  before  the  war 
of  independence  began,  exceeded  £15,000,0(J0 
sterling,  the  greater  part  of  which  consisted  of 
British  manufactures,  conveyed  in  Spanish  bot- 
toms, the  whole  amount  of  our  exports  to 
these  colonies  is  now  (1852),  thirty  years  after 
their  independence  had  been  established,  only 
£5,000,00U ;  and  that  the  republic  of  Bolivia, 
called  after  the  liberator  Bolivar,  has  entirely 
disappeared  from  the  chart  of  British  exports.* 

But  whatever  opinion  may  be  formed  on  this 
point,  one  thing  is  clear,  that  M.  de  joe. 
Chatcaubriandhas  furnished  a  better  M.  de  Cha- 
vindication  of  the  British  interven-  teaubriand's 
tion  in  South  America  than  any  con-  regard  to  the 
sideration  of  commercial  advantages  South  Amer- 
could  have  done.  It  appears  from  a  ican  states, 
revelation  in  his  memoirs,  that  Mr.  Canning 
only  anticipated  his  own  designs  upon  these 
vast  possessions  of  Spain,  and  that,  instead  of 
British  consuls  negotiating  with  independent 
republics,  he  contemplated  monarchical  states 
under  Bourbon  priiices.  "Cobbett,"  sa3's  he, 
"was  the  only  person  in  England  at  that  period 
who  undertook  our  defense,  who  did  us  justice, 
who  judged  calmly  both  of  the  necessity  of 
our  intervention  in  Spain,  and  of  the  view 
which  we  had  to  restore  to  Finance  the  strength 
of  which  it  had  been  deprived.  Happil}'  he 
did  not  divine  our  entire  plan — which  was  to 
break  throur/h  or  modify  the  treaties  of  Vienna, 
and  to  establish  Bourbon  monarchies  in  tS'nith 
America.  Had  he  discerned  this,  and  lifted  the 
vail,  he  would  have  exposed  France  i  congres 
to  great  danger,  for  already  the  alarm  de  Verone, 
had  seized  the  cabinets  of  Europe."'    *•  ^^*^- 

The  great  danger  which  there  was  at  that 
period  of  Europe  being  involved  in         jq- 
a  general  war,  and  the  ardent  feel-  Speech  of 
ings  which  Mr.  Canning  had  on  the  Mr.  Canning 
subject,  can  not  be  better  illustrated  |epJ-'™4°""'- 
than  by  a  speech  which  he  made  at 
Plymouth  in  the  autumn  of  this  year,  memor- 
able alike  from  the  sentiments  it  conveyed  and 
the  beauty  of  the  language  in  which  they  were 
couched.     "Our  ultimate  object,"  said  he,  "is 
the  peace  of  the  world ;  but  let  it  not  be  said 


*  Exports  in  1832  from  Great  Britain  to 

Chili £1,107,494 

Brazil 3,164,394 

Peru J  ,024,007 

Buenos  Ayres  837,538 

Mexico 366,020 

Venezuela 273,7.33 

Central  America 260,669 

Uruguay  615,418 

New  Granada 502,128 


Total  to  South  American  republics  . .  £5,046,963 
—Pari.  Paper,  17th  July,  1853. 

Exports  in  1809  from  Spain  to 

Porto  Rico £2,750,000 

Mexico   5,250,000 

New  Granada I,4i0,000 

Caraccas 2,150,000 

Peru  and  ChUi 2,875,000 

Buenos  Ayres  and  Potosi 875,000 

£13,200,000 
— IIlmboldt,  youvelle  Espagne,  iv.  153,  154. 


ni3T0RY    OF   EUROTE. 


1823.] 

we  cultivate  peace,  either  because  we  fear, 
or  because  we  are  not  prepared  for  war :  oa 
the  contrary,  if,  eight  niontlis  ago,  the  Govern- 
ment did  not  hesitate  to  proclaim  that  the 
country  was  prepared  for  war,  if  war  should 
unfortunately  be  necessary,  every  month  of 
peace  that  has  since  passed  has  made  us  so  much 
the  more  capable  of  exertion.  The  resources 
created  by  peace  are  the  means  of  war.  In 
cherishing  these  resources,  we  but  accumulate 
those  means.  Our  present  repose  is  no  more  a 
proof  of  inability  to  act  than  the  state  of  in- 
ertness and  inactivity  in  which  I  have  seen 
those  mighty  masses  that  float  in  the  waters 
above  your  town,  is  a  proof  they  are  devoid  of 
strength,  and  incapable  of  being  fitted  for  ac- 
tion. You  well  know,  gentlemen,  how  soon 
one  of  those  stupendous  masses,  now  reposing 
on  their  shadows  in  perfect  stillness — how  soon, 
upon  any  call  of  patriotism  or  necessity,  it 
would  assume  the  likeness  of  an  animated 
thing,  instinct  with  life  and  motion — how  soon 
it  would  ruffle,  as  it  were,  its  swelling  plu- 
mage— how  quickly  it  would  put  forth  all  its 
beauty  and  its  bravery,  collect  its  scattered 
elements  of  strength,  and  awake  its  dormant 
tliunders!  Such  as  is  one  of  those  magnificent 
machines  when  springing  from  inaction  into  a 
display  of  its  strengtli — such  is  England  her- 
self: while  apparently  passive  and  motion- 
1  Ann.  Re",  less  she  silently  caused  the  power 
1823, 146,  to  be  put  forth  on  an  adequate  oc- 
^'^''-  casion."' 

The  usual  effects  of  success  appeared  in  the 
result  of  the  elections  which  took 
The  election  place  for  the  renewal  of  the  fifth 
of  1824,  and  of  the  Chamber  in  the  autumn  of 
strength  of  i823.  Nearly  all  were  in  favor  of 
the  Royalists,  ^j^^  Royalists,  who  had  now  ac- 
quired a  decisive  preponderance  in  the  Cham- 
ber, sufficient  to  set  at  defiance  the  united 
strength  oi  tiic  Liberals  and  Centre.  Several 
appointments  were  made  at  tliis  time,  all  of  e.v- 
treme  Royalisis,  indicating  ti>e  acknowledged 
supremacy  of  that  party  in  the  legislature.  M. 
de  Villule  skillfully  availed  himself  of  this  fav- 
orable state  of  aft'aii's  to  contract  a  loan  of 
413,980,981  francs  (£lG,40ft,0()0)  with  the  house 
of  Rothschild  and  Co.,  which,  in  excliange  for  it, 
received  an  inscription  on  th^  Grand  Livre  for 
23,114,000  francs  yearly  (£920,000);  in  other 
words,  they  took  tlie  stock  ci-eatod  at  89.55 
per  cent.  This  advantageous  loan — by  far  the 
most  favorable  for  Government  wliich  had  been 
made  since  the  Restoration — put  the  treasury 
entirely  at  ease,  and  enabled  (Jovernmcnt  to 
clear  off  all  the  outstanding  debts  connected 
with  the  Spanish  war.  Encouraged  by  tliis 
eminently  favorable  state  of  the  public  mind, 
M.  de  Villule  resolved  on  a  dissolution  of  the 
Cliamber,  which  was  done  by  an  ordon- 
nance  on  24tii  December.  The  colleges 
of  arrondisscments  were  by  tiie  ordonnancc  ap- 
pointed to  meet  on  tlu;  25tli  February,  tlioso  of 
the  departments  on  tlie  (Jth  March.  They  met 
accordingly,  and  the  result  was  entirely  favor- 
able to  the  Royalists,  in  Paris,  the  centre  of 
the  Liberal  party,  and  wlicre  they  had  hitherto 
in  general  obt.-iined  all  the  twelve  seals,  they 
succeeded  in  returning  oidy  General  Foy,  j\[. 
Cassimir  Perier,  and  IJonjamin  Constant.  So 
entire  was  the  defeat  of  the  Opposition,  that 


435 


over  all  France  they  succeeded,  out  of  434 
elections,  in  gaining  only  fifteen  seats  in  the 
colleges  of  arrondisscments,  and  two  in  those 
of  departments  —  in  all,  seventeen  —  an  aston- 
ishing result  in  a  country  so  recently  torn  by 
popular  passions,  and  indicating  at  once  the 
great  change  in  the  composition  of  the  legisla- 
ture which  the  institution  of  the  colleges  of  de- 
partments had  made,  and  the  overwhelming 
influence  of  military  success  on  a  people  so  es- 
sentially warlike  in  their  disposition  as  the 
French.  Such  was  the  effect  of  these  circum- 
stauces  on  the  public  funds,  that  notwithstand- 
ing the  great  loan  contracted  for  by  Rothschild, 

and  which  was  not  yet  fully  paid  ,  ,,     . 
.    4.    ii     .  .,     V'-  /'     i.     1  Moniteur, 

mtotlietreasury,  the  In ve  per  Cents  March6  1824- 
rose  in  the  beginning  of  March  to  An.  Hist,  vii.' 
104.80,  an  elevation  which  they  0.7;Cap  viii. 
had  never  even  approached  for  half  yu '270 '  27T* 
a  century.' 

To  all  appearance  the  Government  of  the 
Restoration  was  now  established 
on  the  most  solid  of  all  bases  on  c-eat  effect 
which  ji  constitutional  throne  can  which  this  had 
rest,  for  an  overwhelming  majoritj^  on  the  future 
in  its  favor  had  at  last  been  ob-  p/^'™*''*  °^ 
tained  even  in  the  popular  branch 
of  the  legislature.  Yet  so  closely  are  the  seeds 
of  evil  interwoven  with  those  of  good  in  the 
complicated  maze  of  human  aft'airs,  that  out  of 
this  very  favorable  state  of  affairs  arose  the 
principal  causes  which  in  the  end  occasioned 
its  fall.  It  induced  a  result — fatal  in  a  free 
state  —  that  of  making  Government  consider 
themselves  safe  if  they  could  command  a  ma- 
jority in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies ;  a  very  nat- 
ural opinion  in  men  accustomed  to  look  to  its 
votes  as  determining  the  fate  of  administrations, 
and  even  of  dynasties,  but  of  all  others  the  most 
dangerous,  if  the  period  arrives,  as  it  uuist  do 
in  the  course  of  time,  when  the  public  mind  is 
strongly  excited,  and  the  popular  representa- 
tives do  not  respond  to  its  muta-  o  -^^^  ^^  376 
tions.  This  tendency  revealed  it-  277;  Cap.  viii.' 
self  in  the  very  first  measures  of  220,  224 ;  Ann. 
the  new  legislature.  ="  "'«'•  ^''-  ^'  ^• 

The  Chambers  met  on  the  23d  March,  and  the 
king's   speech   congratulated    the  jjo. 

country  with  reason  on  the  emi-  Moctinsofthc 
nontly  auspicious  circumstances  Cliunibcrs,  and 
under  which  they  were  assembled,  nouiurc'riii'ihc 
"The  triumf)h  of  our  arms,"  said  royal  speech, 
the  monarch,  "  whieli  luis  secured  March  23. 
so  many  guarantees  for  order,  is  due  to  the 
discipline  and  bravery  of  the  French  army, 
conducted  by  my  son  with  as  nuich  wisdom  as 
valor."  At  tiieso  words,  loud  cries  of  "Vive 
le  Roil  Vivo  lo  Due  d'Angoid6me!"  arose  on 
all  sides;  but  subjects  more  likely  to  elicit  dif- 
ference of  ojiinioii  were  next  introduced.  After 
stating  the  inconveniences  which  experience  had 
proved  resulted  from  the  iinnual  election  of  a 
iiflh  of  the  Chamber,  it  announce(l  an  intention 
of  introducing  a  bill  for  extending  the  duration 
of.  the  legislature  to  Rrvr.n  i/rar.i,  subject  to  the 
king's  right  nf  dissolution;  and  another  for  the 
pur])ose  of  "providing  the  means  of  repaying 
th(!  holders  of  Government  annuities,  or  con- 
verting their  rights  into  a  claiiri  for  stuns  annu- 
ally, more  in  acconlanec  with  the  ]ii-esent  stato 
of  oth(!r  transactions;  an  operation  wliicli  caa 
not  fail  to  liave  a  beneficial  iullucnco  on  com- 


::.(S 


HIST  o  u  Y  o  F  E  r  11  o  r  E . 


[ClIAl-.    XII. 


moivc  nml  ngriculturo,  niul  will  onnblo  Govorn- 
„.  ,      mont,  wlion  it  is  carried  into  otVect, 

K.)i,  Miirih  U3,  <^'  »liiiiim»h  tho  public  burdens, 
K->ji,  An.  Hist,  and  close  tlie  last  wounds  of  the 
^"■^-  Kevolution."' 

These  words  announced  the  two  important 
nieasurcsof  the  session,  which  were 
I.svv  ofleptcn-  immediately  brought  forward  by 
iiroiity:  coiisiJ-  CJovernment  So  obvious  were  the 
iratioiis  in  lav-  advantages,  at  first  sight  at  least, 
•^^  °''"-  of  the  first,  that  the  Cabinet  were 

unanimous  on  the  subject.  The  sagacious  and 
practical  M.  de  Villele,  and  the  ardent  and  en- 
thusiastic M.  de  Chateaubriand,  alike  gave  it 
their  cordial  support.  It  was  argued  in  support 
of  this  measure,  "  that  tiie  time  had  now  arrived 
when  it  had  become  practicable  to  remove  tho 
great  dilficulty  with  which  the  Bo\irbons  had 
had  to  contend  since  the  Restoration.  That 
difficulty  was  the  want  of  a  fixed  majority  in 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  upon  which  Govern- 
ment could  rely  for  the  support  of  their  meas- 
ures. The  inevitable  consequence  of  this  was, 
that  any  thing  like  a  consistent  sj'stempf  gov- 
ernment was  impossible.  The  king  was  obliged 
to  take  his  ministers  at  one  time  from  the  Lib- 
eral, at  another  from  the  Royalist  side ;  a  single 
vote  miglit  compel  an  entire  change  in  the  sys- 
tem of  administration,  both  external  and  inter- 
nal ;  one  session  might  undo  every  thing,  how 
beneficial  soever,  which  the  preceding  session 
had  done.  The  effect  of  this  w'as  not  only  to 
deprive  Government  of  any  thing  like  a  fixed 
or  consistent  character,  but  to  keej)  alive  party 
ambition  and  the  spirit  of  faction  in  the  legis- 
lature, from  the  near  prospect  which  was  con- 
stantly afforded  to  either  party  of  dispcssessing 
their  antagonists,  and  seating  themselves  in 
power.  Add  to  this,  that  the  annual  renewal 
of  a  fifth  of  the  Chamber  kept  the  people  in  a 
continual  ferment,  and  aggravated  the  evils  of 
corruption  and  undue  influence,  by  concen- 
trating the  whole  efforts  of  parties  annually  on 
a  fifth  only  of  the  entire  electors.  And  as  to 
the  danger  of  the  legislature  ceasing  to  repre- 
sent public  opinion,  that  was  greater  in  appear- 
ance than  reality,  because,  as  the  king  had  the 
s  An  Hi.st  vii  P^^^^'^r  of  dissolution,  be  could  at 
88,94;  Lam.  vii.  any  time  give  the  people  an  op- 
27fi,  277;  Cap.  portunity  of  making  any  change 
viu.  265,  271.  (jjj  ^i^jg  .\yiii(.ii  they  might  desire."^ 
Strong  as  these  arguments  were,  and  power- 
]j2.  fully  as  they  spoke  to  a  Govern- 

Areument  on  ment  now,  for  the  first  time  for 
tUe  other  side,  ten  years,  in  possession  of  a  decid- 
ed majority  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  legis- 
lature, there  were  considerations  on  the  other 
side,  less  pressing  at  the  moment,  but  perhaps 
still  more  important  in  the  end.  "  The  change," 
it  was  answered,  "  proposes  to  repeal  a  vital 
part  of  the  Charter,  which  expressly  provides 
for  the  annual  renewal  of  a  fifth  of  the  Cham- 
ber, and,  contrary  to  the  whole  principles  of 
representative  government,  goes  to  introduce  an 
entire  change  into  the  constitution.  The  great, 
the  lasting  danger  to  be  apprehenfled  from  the 
alteration  is,  that  it  tends  to  make  the  king 
independent  of  the  popular  voice,  and  may 
bring  his  legislature  into  such  discredit  with 
the  nation  as,  in  troubled  times,  may  induce 
the  most  terrible  convulsions,  in  pacific,  totally 
destroying  its  utility.     What  is  the  use,  where 


is  the  moral  inlluoncc,  of  a  legislature  which  is 
at  variance  witli  tlie  great  body  of  tlie  nation? 
A  senate  which  is  merely  to  record  the  decrees 
of  an  emperor,  in  order  to  take  from  him  their 
resjionsibility,  may  be  a  convenient  appendage 
of  despotism,  but  it  is  no  part  of  the  institutions 
of  a  free  people.  But  the  legislature,  if  elected 
for  seven  years  certain,  witlu>ut  any  means  of 
infusing  into  it,  duiing  that  long  ])criod,  any 
new  blood,  any  fresh  ideas,  runs  the  most  im- 
minent hazard  of  degenerating  into  such  an  in- 
strument of  despotism.  In  vain  are  we  told 
that  the  monarch  may  dissolve  it,  and  thus 
bring  in  another  more  in  harmony  with  the 
general  opinion  at  the  moment.  What  security 
have  we  that  he  will  adopt  this  wise  and  tem- 
perate course?  Is  it  not  next  to  certain  that 
he  will  do  just  the  reverse?  If  the  crown  is  at 
issue  with  the  people  upon  some  question  which 
strongly  interests  both,  is  it  probable  that  the 
Government  will  adopt  the  course  of  dissolving 
a  legislature  which  is  favorable  to  its  views, 
and  introducing  one  which  is  adverse  to  them? 
As  well  may  you  expect  a  general  to  disband 
his  faithful  guards,  and  raise  a  new  body  of 
defenders  from  the  ranks  of  his  enemies.  And 
what  is  to  be  expected  from  such  a  blind  re- 
liance of  the  Crown  on  an  immovable  legisla- 
ture, but  such  an  accumulation  of  discontent 
and  ill-humor  in  the  nation,  as  can  not  fail,  on 
the  first  occasion  when  the  pas-  i  An.  Hist.  vii. 
sions  of  the  people  are  strongly  171,203;  Moni- 
excited.  to  overturn  the  mon-  teur.  May  30, 
archy?"!  1623. 

Notwithstanding  the  strength  of  these  argu- 
ments, the  justice  of  ■which  was  so  fatally  veri- 
fied by  the  event,  the  proposed  bill,  which 
fixed  the  duration  of  the  Chamber  at  seven 
years,  passed  both  branches  of  the  legislatuifc 
by  large  majorities,  the  numbers  in 
the  Deputies  being  292  to  87,  in  the  I^^^^q^  2^3 
Peers  117  to  64.2  .  ' 

The  next  great  measure  of  the  session  encoun- 
tered a  more  serious  opposition,  and 
was  ultimately  unsuccessful.  The  ^aw  for  the 
project  of  Government,  which  was  reduction  of 
brought  forward  by  the  Finance  interest  of 
Minister  on  5th  April,  was  to  take  ^ebt."''* 
advantage  of  the  present  high  rate 
of  interest,  to  convert  the  5  per  cents  into  3 
per  cents,  taking  the  latter  at  75.  They  had 
made  arrangements  with  the  leading  bankers 
in  Paris  to  advance  the  requisite  funds  to  pay 
off  such  of  the  public  creditors  as  should  de- 
cline to  submit  to  the  reduction,  the  lenders 
of  the  money  receiving  the  new  3  per  cents 
stock  at  the  same  rate.  This  measure,  it  was 
calculated,  would  effect  a  reduction  in  the  an- 
nual charge  of  the  debt  of  30,000,000  francs 
(£1,200,000),  and  at  the  same  time  w'ould  estab- 
lish the  credit  of  Government  and  the  nation 
on  the  most  solid  foundation,  by  demonstrating 
the  trust  of  the  leading  capitalists  in  the  in- 
tegrity of  its  administration,  and  the  magni- 
tude of  its  resources;  while,  by  effect-  3  ;^n.  Hist, 
ing  so  great  a  diminution  of  the  pub-  vii.  36,  37  ; 
lie  burdens,  it  might  pave  the  way  ^p^rllg^ V, 
for  ulterior  measures,  which  would  ]623 ;  Cap! 
close  the  last  wounds  of  the  Revolu-  viii.  263, 


tion.' 


285. 


It  was  ascertained  at  this  time  that  there 
were  250,000  persons  in  Frar.ce  holders  of  Gov- 


is:3.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE. 


437 


erament  annuities,  of  whom  more  than  a  half 
1,4  held  right  to  only  500  francs  (£20)  a 
Which  is  year  or  under.  The  public  funds  were 
passed  by  {hus  the  great  savings-bank  of  the 
t^'s^b'tiT"  nation  ;  and  it  might  easilj-  have  been 
thrown  foreseen,  what  the  event  soon  proved, 
out  by  the  that  the  proposal  to  reduce  their  in- 
Peers.  comes  would  excite  the  most  violent 

commotions.  Nothing,  according!}',  could  ex- 
ceed the  violence  with  which  it  was  assailed, 
both  in  the  legislature  and  in  the  public  jour- 
nals ;  and  every  day  that  the  discussion  lasted, 
the  public  excitement  became  greater.  Such, 
however,  was  the  influence  of  Government  in 
the  Royalist  Chamber,  that,  after  a  prolonged 
discussion,  and  having  encountered  the  most 
violent  opposition,  it  passed  the  Deputies,  on 
the  3d  May,  by  a  majority  of  238  to  145.  But 
the  result  was  different  in  the  Peers,  where,  on 
the  31st  July,  it  was  tin-own  out  by  a  majority 
of  34,  the  numbers  being  128  to  94.  It  was 
particularly  observed,  that  M.  de  Chateaubri- 
and, though  holding  the  situation  of 
'  Moniteur,  poreign  Secretary,  did  not  speak  in 
May  4  and    .  °  r  .,  ■    ■  j.     ■   ^  •     l         3 

Aui^ust  1,     favor  of  the  mmisterial  project,  and 

lb23 ;  Ann.  that  several  of  his  party,  both  in  the 

H'^i'oo"'  Peers  and  Commons,  voted  against 
65, 168.        .,  ,  '3 

it.' 

In  forming  an  opinion  on  this  decision,  it  is 
j]5  necessary  to  distinguish  between  the 
Reflections  situation  of  the  holders  of  stock  in 
on  this  de-  the  English  and  French  funds.  In 
ferenee^f''"  ^''^  former,  where  the  whole  debt  has 
the  English  been  contracted  by  money  advanced 
and  French  at  different  times  to  Government,  it 
funds.  jg  impossible  to  dispute  that,  if  a  suc- 

ceeding administration  are  in  a  situation  to  re- 
pay the  capital  sum  borrowed,  the  holder  of 
the  stock  has  no  reason  to  complain.  In  this 
country,  accordingl}",  various  parts  of  the  pub- 
lic debt  have  at  diti'erent  times  undergone  a 
reduction  of  interest,  without  the  slightest 
complaint,  or  imputation  of  injustice  to  Gov- 
ernment. But  tlic  case  is  widely  different  in 
France.  There  the  public  debt  consisted  al- 
most entirely  of  perpetual  annuities  or  "rentcx," 
as  tliey  are  called,  which  were  contracted  by 
Government  for  no  principal  sum  advanced  at 
any  one  time,  but  as  a  ccjmpensation  for  the 
bankruptcies,  spoliations,  and  contis(;ations  of 
the  Revolution,  when  two-thirds  of  the  nation- 
al debt  were  swept  awaj',  or  in  consideration 
of  sums  advanced  to  extricate  (iovernment  from 
its  embarrassments,  or  to  effect  the  liberation 
of  the  territory  in  1818.  It  was  an  essential 
condition  of  all  such  advances  and  arrange- 
ments, that  the  annuity  was  to  be  perpetual, 
and  it  was  the  understanding  that  it  was  to  be 
Buch  wliich  constituted  its  principal  marketable 
value.  To  transfer  to  these  hohhjrs  of  rents  tiic 
principles  rightly  appli(;il  to  the  IJnglisli  loans 
of  capital  was  obviously  unjust,  ami  tliori;fore 
5  .  ..    there  seems  to  l)o  no  doubt  that  the 

277,278;  decision  of  the  House  of  I'ccrs  on  this 
Cap.  viil.  momentous  (pieslion  was  consonant 
303,300.       to  justice.  =* 

The  rejection  of  this  law  gave  tlio  utmost 
jjP  Hatisfa(!tion  in  Paris,  and  was  cclo- 
Splendid  brated  hy  bonfires  in  tlie  streets,  and 
l.o.sition  of  all  tlu^  noisy  chuliitions  of  popiilar 
M.  de  Cha-  ,.(.joif,-itifr.  It,  lod  to  one  result,  liow- 
isauhnand.      •'         P  ■  .  ,  , 

ever,  ol  a  very  miporfant  character, 


and  which,  in  its  ultimate  results,  was  emi- 
nenth'  prejudicial  to  the  Government  of  the 
Restoration.  M.  de  Chateaubriand  was  not  per- 
I  sonally  agreeable  to  Louis  XVIII.,  and  he  was 
1  the  object  of  undisguised  jealousy  to  the  whole 
administration.  This  is  noways  surprising; 
:  genius  always  is  so.  Power  hates  intellectual 
;  influence,  mediocrity  envies  renown,  ambition 
I  dreads  rivalry.  Obsequious  talent,  useful  abil- 
ity', is  what  they  all  desire,  for  they  aid  with- 
out endangering  them.  In  truth,  since  the  suc- 
cessful issue  of  the  Spanish  war,  the  position 
of  Chateaubriand  had  become  so  commanding 
that  it  overbalanced  that  of  the  Prime  Minister 
himself.  He  united  in  his  own  person  the  po- 
litical influence  of  Mr.  Canning,  and  the  literary 
fame  of  Sir  Walter  Scott.  This  was  more  than 
human  nature  could  bear;  a  similar  combina- 
tion of  political  and  military  power  had  roused 
the  jealousy  which  proved  fatal  to  Marlbor- 
ough. The  conduct  of  Chateaubriand  and  his 
friends,  on  the  question  of  reduction  of  the 
rentes,  had  indicated  a  desire  to  court  popular- 
ity, which  was  suspected,  not  without  reason, 
to  spring  from  a  secret  design  to  supplant  the 
Prime  Minister. 

M.  de  Villele  saw  his  danger,  and  resolved 
to  anticipate  the  blow.   The  day  after        j,- 
the  vote  in  the  Peers  on  the  rentes^,  Ilisdismis- 
M.  de  Chateaubriand  received  a  noti-  sal,  and 

fication,  in  the  coldest  terms,  fi-om  11'^'°!.'^''?" 
■,,     ,     -ir-iiM      ,11     ,1.  1  •  •  shal  Victor. 

M.  de  Villele,  that  his  services  were 

no  longer  required  at  the  Foreign  Office ;  and, 
to  make  the  dismissal  the  more  galling,  it  was 
sent  by  a  common  menial.  The  portfolio  of 
Foreign  Affairs  was  bestowed  on  M.  de  Damas; 
and  at  the  same  time  the  office  of  Minister  at 
War  was  given  to  M.  Clermont-Tonnerre,  in 
room  of  Marshal  Victor,  who  received  his  dis- 
missal. Chateaubriand,  who  was  very  ambi- 
tious, and,  with  all  iiis  great  qualities,  inordin- 
ately vain,  felt  his  fall  keenly ;  ho  had  not 
manliness  enough  to  act  a  noble  ,  chatcaubri- 
part  on  the  occasion  ;  he  avenged  and,  Mem. 
the  minister  on  tlie  throne ;  and  the  d'Ouire 
pen  which  had  maitdy  contributed  ''''i'"'.'.?;  \"-^ 

'        ,  .  r     1       i>  1  'l.)i,'l()2;  Ijiim. 

to  the  restoration  of  tlie  l>ourl)ons,  vii.  267,  2'.i2  ; 
became  one  of  the  most  powei-ful  (up.  viii.  3(j7, 
agents  in  bringing  about  their  fall.'   ■'^~- 

The  remainder  of  the  session  j'>rcscntcd  no- 
thing wortliy  of  notice  in  general         j,g 
history  but  the  budget,  which  ex-  statistics  of 
hibited  the  most  flattering  appear-  France  in 
ances.    From  the  ])apers  laid  before  "''"  ^^'"■ 
the  Chamber,  it  appeared  that  the  total   rev- 
enue of  the  state   in   1823  was   l,123,450,UiiO 
francs    (.£40,120,000),    including     100,000,000 
(£4,000,000)  borrowed   for  tiie  Spanish  war, 
and  for  1824,  only  905,300,033  francs  (£30,8()O- 
000),  in  consequence  of  Iho  cessation  of  liostili- 
ties.     The  exiiciiditurc   in   the   first  j'ear  was 
1,118,025,109  francs  (£10,020,000),  and  in  tlie 
second   904,734,000  (£30,240,000),    leaving    in 
each  year  a   trifling   bahinco   of  income   t)vcr 
expenditure.     The    public    debt   in    1823   was 
2,700,720,000  francs  (£115,000,000);  the  army 
mustorod    230,000    comb.-itants,    the  2  ^„   ]\\„i, 
navy   49   ships    of  the   line    and    31   vii.,  App. 
frigates.'  501,  ti-.!7. 

During  this  year  Louis  XVIII.  lived,  but  did 
not  reign.  His  mission  was  acconqilished ;  his 
work  was  done.     The  reception  of  the  Duke 


4n3 


11  isTuii  Y  OF  \:i  lui  ri:. 


[ClIAl-.    .\11. 


J"AngouIcn)o  iiiul  hU  triumphant  host  at  the 
Tuilories  was  the  last  roal  act  ol 
n.M-n'or  '*'^  eventful  earoer;  thenceforward 
LiHiisXVIII.  tlie  roval  functions,  nominally  his 
draws  to  a  own,  were  iii  reality  j>erformeil  by 
close.  itthers.      It  must   be   confessed   he 

could  not  have  terminated  his  reiccu  with  a 
briirliter  ray  of  clory.  The  niaijjnitude  of  the 
.-er\  ices  lie  rendered  to  France  can  only  be  ap- 
preciated by  recollecting  in  what  stale  he  fouiul, 
ar.d  in  what  he  left  it.  He  found  it  divided,  lie 
left  it  united  ;  he  found  it  overrun  by  conquer- 
ors, lie  left  it  returning  from  conquest ;  be  found 
i:  in  slavery,  he  left  it  in  freedom;  he  found  it 
bankrupt,  ho  left  it  affluent;  he  found  it  drain- 
ed of  its  heart's  blood,  he  left  it  teeming  w^ith 
life;  he  found  it  overspread  with  mourning,  he 
l.tt  it  radiant  with  happiness.  An  old  man 
ii:id  vanquished  the  llevolution;  he  had  done 
that  which  Robespierre  and  Napoleon  had  left 
undone.  lie  had  ruled  France,  and  showed  it 
could  be  ruled,  without  either  foreign  conquest 
or  domestic  blood.  Foreign  bayonets  had  placed 
him  on  the  throne,  but  his  own  wisdom  main- 
tained him  on  it.  Other  sovereigns  of  France 
may  have  left  more  durable  records  of  their 
reign,  for  they  have  written  them  in  blood,  and 
engraven  them  in  characters  of  fire  upon  the 
minds  of  men ;  but  none  have  left  so  really 
glorious  a  monument  of  their  rule,  for  it  was 
written  in  the  hearts,  and  might  be  read  in  the 
eyes  of  his  subjects. 

"  This  arduous  and  memorable  reign,  however, 
120.  so  beset  with  difficulties,  so  crossed 
Ilis  declin-  by  obstacles,  so  opposed  by  faction, 
ing  days,  .^^-jjg  now  drawing  to  a  close.  His 
constitution,  long  oppressed  by  a  complication 
of  disorders,  the  result  in  part  of  the  constitu- 
tional disorders  of  his  family,  was  now  worn 
out.  Unable  to  carry  on  the  affairs  of  state, 
siiiking  under  the  load  of  government,  he  silent- 
Iv  relinquished  the  direction  to  M.  de  Yillele 
and  the  Count  d'Artois,  who  really  conducted 
the  administration  of  affaii-s.  Madame  Du  Cayla 
was  the  organ  by  whose  influence  they  direct- 
ed the  royal  mind.  The  pomp  of  the  court  was 
kept  up,  but  Louis  was  a  stranger  to  it ;  he  sat 
at  the  sumptuous  table  of  the  Tuileries,  but  his 
fare  was  that  of  the  hermit  in  his  cell.  He  pre- 
sided at  the  councils  of  his  Ministers,  but  took 
little  part  in  their  deliberations.  His  only  ex- 
citement consisted  in  frequent  excursions  in  his 
carriage,  w^hicli  was  driven  with  the  utmost 
speed ;  the  rapidity  of  the  motion  restored  for  a 
brief  season  his  languid  circulation.  He  felt, 
says  Lamartine,  the  same  pleasure  in  these  ex- 
ercises that  a  captive  does  in  the  presence  of 
the  sun.  During  the  summer  of  1824  he  was 
manifestly  sinking,  and  he  knew  it;  but  no 
symptoms  of  apprehension  appeared  in  his  con- 
versation or  manner.  "Let  us  put  a  good  face 
tipon  it,"  said  he  to  M.  de  Villele,  "and  meet 
death 'as  becomes  a  king."  The  Minister,  how- 
ever, was  more  aware  than  he  was  how  much 
tiic  public  tranquillity  depended  on  his  life ; 
and  to  prevent  alarm  on  the  subject  being  pre- 
maturely excited,  the  liberty  of  the  press  was 
by  royal  edict  provisionally  suspended, 

"^'  ■  by  re-establishing  the  censure.  The 
people  felt  the  motive,  and  had  delicacy  enough 
1o  acquiesce  in  silence  in  the  temporar}'  re- 
etraiiiL     Soon  after,  the  influence  which  now 


gained  ]iossession  of  the  government  appeared 
ill  another  ordonnancc,  which  created 
a  new  ministry,  that  of  "licelesiastieal       ^' 
Afl'airs,"  which  was  bestowed  on  Count  Frays- 
senous,   Bi,-;hop    of  Hermopolis,    Grand-master 
of  the  University.     As  he  was  a  man  of  abil- 
ity, and  the  acknowledged   representative  of 
the    J'arti    Fritre,    this    appoint-  j  ^^^  jjjj.^ 
ment  was  of  sinister  augury  for  vii.  300,  3()l ; 
the  tramiuillitv  of  the  succeeding  Lam-  vii.  308, 
reign. »  '"^• 

The  declining  days  of  this  monarch  were 
chiefl}'  spent  in  conversation,  an  ex-  .„. 
ereise  of  tlie  mind  in  which  he  look  jug  „reat 
the  greatest  delight,  as  is  generally  powers  of 
the  ciise  with  those  whose  intellee-  conversa- 
tual  faculties  in  advanced  years  re- 
main entire,  but  who  are  debarred  by  increas- 
ing infirmities  from  continuing  the  active  duties 
of  life.  "His  natural  talent,"  says  Lamartine, 
"cultivated,  reflective,  and  quick,  full  of  recol- 
lections, rich  in  anecdotes,  nourished  by  philos- 
opliv,  enriched  by  quotations,  never  deformed 
b}'  pedantry,  rendered  him  equal  in  conversa- 
tion to  the  most  renowned  literary  characters 
of  his  age.  M.  de  Chateaubriand  had  not  more 
elegance,  M.  de  Tallej-rand  more  wit,  Madame 
de  Stael  more  brilliancy.  Never  inferior,  al- 
ways equal,  often  superior  to  those  with  whom 
he  conversed  on  every  subject,  j-et  with  more 
tact  and  address  than  they,  he  changed  his  tone 
and  the  subject  of  conversation  witli  those  he 
addressed,  and  yet  was  never  exhausted  by  any 
one.  History,  contemporary  events,  tilings, 
men,  theatres,  books,  poetry,  the  arts,  the  inci- 
dents of  the  day,  formed  the  varied  text  of  his 
conversations.  Since  the  suppers  of  Potsdam, 
where  the  genius  of  Voltaire  met  the  capacity 
of  Frederick  the  Great,  never  had  the  cabinet 
of  a  prince  been  the  sanctuary  of 
more  philosophy,  literature,  talent,  oiy  Tn^"' 
and  taste.'-  ' 

Tliougli  abundantly  sensible  of  the  necessity 
of  the  support  of  religion  to  the 
maintenance  of  his  throne,  and  at  jjjg  religiou.s 
once  careful  and  respectful  in  its  impressions 
outward  observances,  Louis  was  far  'n  his  last 
from  being  a  bigot,  and  in  no  way  ^^^' 
the  slave  of  the  Jesuits,  who  in  his  declining 
dajs  had  got  possession  of  his  palace.  In  secret, 
his  opinions  on  religious  subjects,  though  far 
from  sceptical,  were  still  farther  from  devout: 
he  had  never  surmounted  the  influence  of  the 
philosophers  who,  when  he  began  life,  ruled 
general  opinion  in  Paris.  He  listened  to  the 
suggestions  of  the  priests,  when  they  were  pre- 
sented to  him  from  the  charming  lips  of  ila- 
dame  Du  Cayla ;  but  he  never  permitted  them- 
selves any  nearer  approach  to  his  person.  As 
his  end  was  visibly  approaching,  this  circum- 
stance gave  great  distress  to  the  Count  d'Artois 
and  Duchess  d'Angouleme,  and  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  royal  famih^  who  were  deeply  im- 
pressed with  religious  feelings,  and  dreaded  the 
king's  departing  this  life  without  having  re- 
ceived the  last  benediction  of  the  church.  They 
could  not,  however,  for  long  induce  him  to  send 
for  his  confessor;  and  to  attain  the  object,  they 
were  at  last  obliged  to  recall  to  court  Madame 
Du  Cavla,  who  had  found  her  situation  so  un- 
comfortable, fiom  the  cold  reception  she  e.vpe- 
rieneed  from  the  royal  family,  thai  she  hi;u  lo- 


1823.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROTE. 


4S9 


tired  from  the  palace.  She  came  back  accord- 
ingl}',  and  bv  her  influence  Louis  was  persuaded 
to  send  for  the  priest,  and  after  confessing  re- 
ceived supreme  unction.  "  You  alone,"  said  he, 
taking  her  hand  and  addressing  Madame  Du 
Cayla,  "  could  venture  to  address  me  on  this 
subject  I  will  do  as  you  desire :  Adieu!  We 
■will  meet  in  another  world.  I  have 
oiA*9Q4^"'  ^o^  ^°  longer  any  concern  with 
this.  ' 
At  length  the  last  hour  approaclied.  The 
]23.  extremities  of  the  king  became  cold, 
His  death,  and  sj'mptoms  of  mortification  be- 
Sejjt.  16.  gan  to  appear;  but  his  mind  con- 
tinued as  distinct,  his  courage  as  great  as  ever, 
lie  was  careful  to  conceal  his  most  danger- 
ous symptoms  from  his  attendants.  "A  king 
of  France,"  said  he,  "may  die,  but  he  is 
never  ill ;"  and  around  his  death-bed  he  re- 
ceived the  foreign  diplomatists  and  officers  of 
the  national  guard,  with  whom  he  cheerfully 
conversed  upon  the  affairs  of  the  da}*.  "Love 
each  other,"  said  the  dying  monarch  to  his  fam- 
ily, '•  and  console  yourselves  by  that  afi'eetion 
tor  the  disasters  of  our  house.  Providence  has 
replaced  us  upon  the  throne ;  and  I  have  suc- 
ceeded in  maintaining  you  on  it  by  concessions 
which,  without  weakening  the  real  strength  of 
the  Crown,  have  secured  for  it  the  support  of 
the  people.  The  Charter  is  your  best  inherit- 
ance ;  preserve  it  entire,  my  brothers,  for  me, 
for  our  subjects,  for  ycirselves;"  then  stretch- 
ing out  his  hand  to  the  Duke  de  Bordeaux,  who 
was  brought  to  his  bedside,  he  added,  "and 
also  for  this  dear  child,  to  whom  you  should 
transmit  the  throne  after  my  children  are  gone. 
May  you  be  more  wise  than  your  parents." 
He  then  received  supreme  unction,  thanked  the 
priests  and  his  attendants,  and  bade  adieu  to 
all,  and  especially  M.  Decazes,  who  stood  at  a 
little  distance,  but  whose  sobs  attracted  his  no- 
tice. He  then  composed  himself  to  sleep,  and 
rested  peaceably  during  the  night.  At  day- 
2  Lani.  vii.  break  on  the  following  morning  the 
3'Jl,  3'J7 ;  chief  physician  opened  the  curtains 
'^""■ifw'^'"  ^°  ^^^^  '*'^  pnlse ;  it  was  just  ceasing 
303-  Cap.  *^  beat,  "The  king  is  dead,"  said  he, 
viii.'375,  bowing  to  the  Count  d'Artois — 
3a3.  "  Long  live  the  king!"^ 

Louis  XVIIL,  who  thus  paid  the  debt  of  na- 
124.  ture,  after  having  sat  for  ten  years 

Character  of  on  the  throne  of  France,  during  the 
Louis  XVllI.  most  difficult  and  stormy  period 
in  its  whole  annals,  was  undoubtedly  a  very 
remarkable  man.  Alone  of  all  the  sovereigns 
who  liave  ruled  its  destinies  since  the  Revolu- 
tion, he  succeeded  in  conducting  the  Gfovornincnt 
witiiout  eitiier  serious  foreign  war  or  domestic 
overthrow.  In  this  respect  he  was  more  for- 
tunate, or  rather  more  wise,  than  either  Napo- 
leon, ('liarles  X.,  or  Louis  Philippe  ;  for  tlic  first 
kept  his  seat  on  the  throne  only  by  keeping  tiie 
nation  constantly  in  a  state  of  hostility,  and 
the  two  last  lost  their  crowns  mainly  by  having 
attempted  to  do  without  it.  He  wan  no  com- 
mon man  who  at  such  a  time,  and  with  such  a 
people,  could  succeed  in  effecting  such  a  prod- 
igy. Louis  Pliilippe  aimed  at  being  the  Napo- 
leon of  peace;  but  Louis  XVIII.  really  was  so, 
and  succeeded  so  far  that  he  died  king  of 
France.  The  secret  of  his  success  was,  that  he 
entirely  accommodated  himself  to  the  temper 


of  the  times.  lie  was  the  man  of  the  age — 
neither  before  it,  like  great,  nor  behind  it,  like 
little  men.  Thus  he  succeeded  in  steering  the 
vessel  of  the  state  successfully  through  shoals 
whieh  would  have  in  all  probability  stranded 
a  man  of  greater  or  less  capacit}'.  The  career 
of  Napoleon  illustrated  the  danger  of  the  first, 
that  of  Charles  X.  the  peril  of  the  last. 

In  addition  to  this  tact  and  judgment  which 
enabled  him  to  scan  with  so  much  jgj 
correctness  the  signs  of  the  times,  His  private 
and  choose  his  ministers  and  shape  qualities  and 
his  measures  accordingly,  he  had  weaknesses. 
man\^  qualities  of  essential  value  in  a  constitu- 
tional monarch,  who  must  alwa}'s  be  more  or 
less  guided  by  others.  His  intellect  was  clear, 
his  memory  great,  his  observation  piercing. 
Though  he  ibrmod  strong  opinions  from  his  own 
judgment,  he  was  ready  to  listen  to  considera- 
tions on  the  opposite  side;  often  yielded  to  su- 
perior weight  in  argument,  and  even,  when 
unconvinced,  knew  how  to  yield  when  circum- 
stances rendered  it  expedient  to  do  so.  He  was 
humane  and  benevolent;  few  mouarchs  sur- 
mounted so  many  rebellions  with  so  little  effu- 
sion of  blood ;  and  the  rare  deeds  of  severity 
which  did  occur  during  his  reign  were  forced 
upon  him,  much  against  his  will,  by  the  strength 
of  the  public  voice,  or  the  violence  of  an  over- 
whelming parliamentary  majority.  He  had  his 
weaknesses,  but  they  were  of  a  harmless  kind, 
and  did  not  interfere  with  his  public  conduct. 
Though  opp" '■•ed  in  later  years  with  the  cor- 
pulence hei'c  Jitary  in  his  family,  and  the  victim 
of  gout  and  other  painful  diseases,  he  was  ab- 
stemious in  the  pleasures  of  the  table,  and  gen- 
erally dined  amidst  the  sumptuous  repasts  of 
the  Tuileries  on  two  eggs  and  a  few  glasses  of 
wine.  A  constitutional  coldness,  and  the  in- 
firmities to  which  he  was  latterly  a  victim, 
preserved  him  from  the  well-known  weaknesses 
to  which  his  ancestors  had  so  often  been  the 
slaves;  but  he  yielded  to  none  of  them  in  ap- 
preciation of  tlie  society  of  elegant  and  culti- 
vated women,  and  devoted  all  his  leisure  hours, 
perhaps  to  a  blamable  extent,  to  their  society, 
or  the  daily  correspondence  he  kept  up  with 
them.  But  he  did  not  jicrmit  their  influence 
to  warp  his  judgment  in  afiairs  of  state,  and 
never  yielded  to  it  so  readily  as  when  employed 
in  pleading  on  behalf  of  liie  unfortunate. 

The  final  issue  of  the  Spanish  revolution 
affords  the  clearest  illustration  of 
the  e.\treme  danger  and  inevitable  poiiiif-Ii  infor- 
tendency  of  the  military  treachery  cnccs  from  tlio 
and  revolt  in  which  it  took  its  rise,  •"''•suit  of  the 
No  one  can  doubt  that  the  cause  ,^^';f^{;f"  '"''•''>■ 
of  freedom  in  the  I'eninsula,  ntid 
in  Europe,  was  essentially  and  deeplj'  injured 
by  the  revolt  of  Riego  and  (iuirr)gn  in  the  Isle 
of  Leon  in  18'2i),  which  at  the  lime  was  hailed 
with  such  enthusiasm  l)y  the  whole  friends  of 
freedom  in  the  Old  and  New  World.  It  was 
not  merely  from  th(.' strong  and  general  reaction 
to  which  it  of  necessil}'  gave  rise  that  this  efl'cct 
took  place ;  the  result  was  equally  certain,  and 
would  Imve  been  still  more  swift,  had  the  tri- 
tinii)!)  of  the  revolutionists  continued  uninter- 
rupted. Military  treason,  Prjctorian  revolt, 
even  when  sup]iorted  at  the  time  liy  the  voice 
of  a  vast  majority  of  tiie  ]ici>ple,  can  never  in 
the  cud  terminate  in  any  thing  but  destruction 


,iO 


HISTORY  OF  i:r  no  ri: 


to  the  cause  for  which  it  is  umlertnkcn,  for 
this  phiin  roason,  that,  boing  oarrioil  into  offoot 
\>y  tho  stroiiijost,  it  loaves  society  without  aiiv 
safciruanl  ajxainst  their  excesses.  This  acooril- 
iiiirly  was  what  took  place  in  Spain;  it  was  the 
triumph  of  tho  revolutionists  which,  by  iles- 
trovinij  liberty,  rendered  inevitable  their  fall. 
Tlie  Koyalist  reaction,  and  desolating  civil  war 
to  which  it  gave  rise,  preceded,  not  followed, 
the  invasion  of  the  I'rench.  It  arose  from  the 
oppressive  measures  of  the  Government  ap- 
pointed by  the  military  chiefs,  who  had  been 
the  leaders  of  the  revolt  It  was  Riego,  not 
the  Duke  d'Angouleme,  who  was  the  real  mur- 
derer of  liberty  iu  Spain.  It  was  the  same  in 
England.  Ko  one  supposes  that  either  the  Long 
Pari  lament  or  Cromwell  wore  the  founders  of 
r>ritish  liberty;  what  they  induced  was,  the 
military  tyranny  which  made  all  sigh  for  the 
Restoration,  ^o  cause  ever  j-et  was  advanced 
by  treacher}'  and  treason,  least  of  all  in  the 
armed  defenders  of  law  and  order.  So  true  are 
the  words  of  Wieland,  placed  in  an  inscription 
cu  the  hero's  sword : 

"  Vcrmess  sich  kerner  untugendlich, 
Diess  schwertes  anzumuthen  sich  ■, 
Treugeht  uber  alles 
Untrue  schandet  alles  !"* 

The  French  invasion  of  Spain  in  1823  was 
_  a  model  of  combined  energy  and 

Great  merit  of  moderation,  and  affords  an  apt 
the  French  ex-  illustration  of  observations  made 
pediiion  into  in  another  work  as  to  the  conse- 
Spain  in  1623.  quences  which  might  have  result- 
ed from  a  more  vigorous  action  on  the  part  of 
the  allied  powers  in  their  invasion  of  Cham- 
1  Hist,  of  Eu-  pagne  in  1792.*  Denied  and  passed 
rope,_c.  X.  i)(i  over  in  silence  by  the  Liberal  and 
60,  fi/.  Napoleonist  historians,  who  had  an 

object  in  keeping  out  of  view  its  merits,  it  was 
in  reality  an  expedition  which  reflected  equal 
honor  on  the  government  which  planned,  and 
the  generals  and  soldiers  who  executed  it.  L^n- 
dertaken  in  support  of  Royalist  principles,  and 
to  overcome  a  revolutionary  conviilsion,  it  par- 
took of  the  dangerous  character  which  more  or 
less  belongs  to  all  wars  of  opinion ;  and  had  it 
been  conducted  with  less  vigor  and  moderation, 
it  would  infallibly  have  lighted  a  flame  which 
would  have  involved  Europe  in  conflagration. 
Jealousy  of  France  was  inherent  in  the  Spanish 
character:  it  burned  as  fiercely  in  the  breasts 
of  the  Royalists  as  the  Liberals;  a  spark  might 
have  set  the  whole  country  on  fire.  A  cruel 
massacre,  such  as  that  of  Murat  at  Madrid,  on 
2d  May,  1808— an  act  of  perfid}',  like  that  which 
has  forever  disgraced  the  name  of  Napoleon 
at  Bayonne  —  would  at  once  have  caused  the 
entire  nation  to  run  to  arms.  England,  in  such 
an  event,  could  never  have  remained  a  passive 
spectator  of  the  strife,  and  probably  a  new  Pe- 
ninsular war  would  have  arisen,  "rivaling  in 
blood  and  devastation  that  which  Wellington 
had  brought  to  a  glorious  termination.  But 
by  advancing  with  vigor  and  celerity  at  once 
to  the  capital — by  pa3'ing  for  every  thing,  and 
avoiding  the  execrable  sj'stem  of  making  war 
maintain  war — by  disclaiming  all  intention  of 
territorial  aggrandizement,  and  generously  pro- 

*  "  Scatheless  held  by  virtue's  shield, 
Dare  alone  this  sword  to  wield; 
God  shall  bless  the  faithful  hand — 
Ruin  waits  the  faithless  brand  I" 


[CuAi-.  XIT. 

claiming  an  entire  amnesty  for  jiolitical  offenses, 
they  succeeded  in  detacliing  tlie  revolutionary 
party  from  the  vast  majority  of  the  nation,  and 
etfecting  that  which  ^"alH)leon,  during  six  cani- 
]>aigns,  sought  in  vain  to  accomplish.  Little 
blood  was  shed  in  Spain,  because  the  wisdom 
of  the  measures  adopted  required  little  to  be 
shed ;  and  never  was  eulogium  more  just  than 
the  generous  one  pronounced  on  it  by  Mr, 
Canning,  who  said,  "  Is'ever  was  so 
much  done  at  so  little  cost  of  human  '■''^rjl;  ^Jj?' 


I 


life 


vi.  480,  481. 


So  great  was  the  advantage  gained  by  the 
government  of  the  Restoration,  in 
consequence  of  the  glorious  issue  of  n  hadVearly 
this  campaign,  that  it  went  far  to  established 
establish  it  on  a  lasting  foundation.  "'^  throne  ol 
But  for  the  blind  infatuation  which,  Jfon."*''"''''' 
under  the  direction  of  the  priests, 
guided  the  Government  of  Charles  X.,  it  in  all 
probability  would  have  done  so.  Tlie  pro- 
phecy of  Chateaubriand  had  been  fulfilled  to 
the  letter.  The  Roj-alists  and  Republicans  had 
forgot  their  animosities  under  the  tent;  the 
reigu  of  Louis  XVIII.  terminated  in  a  state  of 
peace  and  unanimity  which  could  not  possibly 
have  been  hoped  for  at  its  commencement.  So 
strong  is  the  military  spirit  in  the  French  peo- 
ple, so  ardent  and  inextinguishable  their  thirst 
for  war,  that  when  these  passions  are  once 
roused,  they  obliterate  for  the  time  every 
other,  and  unite  parties  the  most  opposite,  and 
feelings  the  most  discordant,  in  the  eager  pur- 
suit of  the  ruling  national  desire.  Kapoleon 
himself  could  not  have  preserved  his  throne 
but  for  the  whirl  in  which  his  incessant  wars 
kept  the  minds  of  his  people.  Louis  XIV.  was, 
till  he  became  involved  in  misfortune,  the  most 
popular  monarch  who  ever  sat  upon  the  throne 
of  France;  and  if  circumstances  had  admitted 
of  either  Charles  X.  or  Louis  Philippe  going  to 
war,  and  emerging  victorious  from  its  dangers, 
it  is  not  going  too  far  to  assert  that  the  family 
of  one  or  other  of  them  would  still  have  been 
in  possession  of  it. 

No  doubt  can  now  remain  that  the  French 
invasion  of  Spain,  against  which  jng 
public  feeling  in  this  country  was  The  French 
so  strongly  excited  at  the  time,  was  invasion  of 
not  only  a  wise  measure  on  the  part  ^P^-j?  Y,"^ 
of  the  Bourbon  government,  but 
fully  justifiable  on  the  best  piineiples  of  inter- 
national law.  The  strength  of  this  case  is  to 
be  found,  not  in  the  absurdity  and  peril  of  the 
Spanish  constitution,  or  even  the  imminent 
hazard  to  which  it  exposed  the  roj-al  familj-  in 
that  country,  and  the  (jntire  liberties  and  prop- 
erty of  the  country;  it  is  to  be  found  in  the 
violent  inroads  which  the  Spanish  re'volution- 
ists  and  their  allies  to  the  north  of  the  P3-renees 
were  making  on  France  itself,  and  the  extreme 
hazard  to  which  its  institutions  were  exposed 
in  consequence  of  their  machinations.  Ever 
since  the  Spanish  revolution  broke  out,  France 
had  been  kept  in  a  continual  ferment:  the 
second  in  succession  to  the  throne  had  been 
murdered,  and  his  consort,  when  enceinte  of  an 
heir  to  the  monarch}-,  attempted  to  be  mur- 
dered, by  political  fonatics:  military  conspira- 
cies in  great  numbers  had  been  got  up  to 
imitate  the  example  of  the  soldiers  in  the  Isle 
of  Leon,  and  overturn  the  government;  Paris 


lS-23.] 


HISTORY    OF   EUROPE.- 


441 


had  been  convulsed  by  .in  attempted  revolu- 
tion ;  France  was  covered  with  secret  societies, 
liavinfif  Lafayette,  Benjamin  Constant,  Manuel, 
and  all  the  Liberal  leaders  in  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  at  their  head,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  overthrow  the  Government  by  means 
of  murder,  treason,  and  revolt ;  and  a  band  of 
desperadoes  had  been  collected  on  the  Pj'renees, 
iinder  the  tricolor  flag,  who  openly  invited  tlie 
French  soldiers  to  fraternize  with  them,  throw 
off  the  yoke  of  the  Bourbons,  and  rally  round 
the  standard  of  IS'apoleon  IL  When  such 
measures  were  in  progress,  it  was  evident  that 
the  safety  of  France,  and  the  preservation  of 
its  institutions,  were  seriously  menaced,  and 
that  its  Government  was  warranted  in  taking 
steps  to  extinguish  so  perilous  a  volcano  in  the 
neighboring  state,  by  the  strongest  of  all  rea- 
sons— that  of  self-preservation. 

It  is  more  difficult  to  find  grounds  to  vindi- 

]30.         cate  the  intervention  of  England  in 

Was  the  En-  favor  of  the  insurgent  colonies  in 

glish  inter-     South  America,  which  was  done  in 

vention  m  a:         ■  :3    s- 

behalf  of  ^^  eincacious  a  manner,  and  irom 
South  Amer-  the  success  of  which  consequences 
ica  justifi-  of  such  incalculable  importance  have 
^  ^"  ■  ensued  to  both  hemispheres.     No- 

thing can  be  clearer,  indeed,  than  that  when 
the  colonies  of  Spain  had  become  de  facto  inde- 
pendent, and  Spain  was  obviously  unable  to 
reassert  her  dominion  over  them,  we  were 
warranted  in  treating  with  them  as  independ- 
ent powers,  and  sending  consuls  to  their  chief 
towns  to  guard  British  mercantile  interests. 
If  our  intervention  had  been  limited  to  this, 
the  most  scrupulous  public  morality  could  not 
have  objected  to  the  course  pursued.  But  we 
not  only  did  this — we  did  a  great  deal  more, 
and  of  a  much  more  questionable  character. 
We  repealed  the  laws  against  foreign  enlist- 
ments; permitted  expeditions  of  eight  and  ten 
thousand  men,  manj'  of  them  Wellington's 
veterans,  to  sail  from  the  Thames  under  the 
very  eye  of  Government;  and  advanced  im- 
mense sums  by  loan,  to  enable  the  insurgent 
states  to  prolong  the  contest.  It  was  by  these 
means,  a?id  thac  alone,  that  the  conflict  was 


ultimately  decided  in  favor  of  the  colonies,  and 
against   the  mother  country.      The  i  jjjgj  of 
decisive    battle    of    Carabobo    was  Europe,  c. 
gained  entirely  by  British  battalions  J^vvU.  ^^  69, 
and  a  charge  of  the  British  bayonet.^ 

What  was  the  justification  for  this  armed 
and  powerful  intervention?  Was  \2\, 
the  freedom  of  England  menaced  Its  ultimate 
by  the  re-establishment  of  Spanish  disastrous 
authority  in  South  America  ?  Con-  ''^1^1^°^^' 
fessedly  it  was  not:  the  hope  of 
commercial  advantages,  the  vision  of  a  vast 
trade  with  the  insurgent  states,  was  the  ruling 
motive.  But  commercial  advantages  will  not 
constitute  legal  right,  or  vindicate  acts  of  in- 
justice, any  more  than  the  acquisition  of  prov- 
inces will  justify  an  unprovoked  invasion.  It 
sounds  well  to  say  you  will  call  a  new  world 
into  existence  to  redress  the  balance  of  the  old ; 
but  if  that  new  world  is  to  be  carved  out  of 
the  dominions  of  an  allied  aud  friendly  power, 
it  is  better  to  leave  it  to  itself.  England  saw 
very  clearly  the  iniquity  of  this  insidous  mode 
of  proceeding  when  it  was  applied  to  herself, 
when  Louis  XYI.  allowed  covert  succors  to  the 
American  insurgents  to  sail  from  the  Frencli 
harbors,  and  the  Americans  sent  some  thousand 
sympathizers  to  aid  the  Canadian  revolt  in 
ISSY.  She  loudly  denounced  it  when  the 
Americans  allowed  an  expedition  to  sail  froni 
Xew  Orleans,  in  1852,  to  revolutionize  Cuba; 
and  she  exclaimed  against  the  Irish  democrats, 
who  petitioned  the  French  revolutionary  Gov- 
ernment, in  1848,  to  recognize  a  Hibernian  re- 
public in  the  Emerald  Isle.  But  what  were 
the  two  last  but  following  her  example?  She 
sees  the  mote  in  her  neighbor's  e3-e,  but  can 
not  discover  the  beam  in  her  own.  It  will  ap- 
pear in  the  sequel  of  this  history  whether  En- 
gland in  fact  derived  any  beneiTt,  even  in  a 
commercial  point  of  view,  from  tliis  great  act 
of  disguised  aggression  ;  whetlier  the  cause  of 
freedom  and  the  interests  of  humanity  were 
really  advanced  by  it;  and  whether  the  great- 
est calamities,  public  and  privat.',  its  inhabi- 
tants have  ever  undergone,  ma;  not  be  dis- 
tinctly traced  to  its  conscquenc* 


END  OF  VOL    I. 


llSSSlllSlll  r'^*^  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

AA    001  109  644    3 


D 

1875 
v.l 


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